News

April 23, 2014

TASCHA Research Assistant Professor Araba Sey spent winter quarter 2014 (January-March) in Grahamstown, South Africa as a Visiting Mellon Scholar at Rhodes University. Made possible through both the Mellon Scholarship program and the University of Washington’s Vice Provost International Faculty Exchange (IFEX) program, Araba spent three months with the Journalism and Media Studies department at Rhodes, mostly working with Dr. Lorenzo Dalvit and his graduate students in their New Media and Society class.

April 17, 2014

We recently launched a project that is looking at public internet access and use in Vietnam. One of the main objectives of the study is to understand the role library-like institutions, such as cultural post offices in Vietnam, play in providing public access to information and communication technologies (ICTs). Surveying public access venues, users, and non-users to gather data about public access in Vietnam is a critical component of the study. While critical to answering our research questions, collecting data on a large scale like in this project can be challenging. As such, we are excited to employ a different method of data collection in this study, using the Open Data Kit (ODK), developed here at the University of Washington’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Using Android-based tablets, researchers in the field will implement the surveys and collect data through ODK.

February 6, 2014

In June 2013, I joined TASCHA’s Chris Coward to help launch a project on Innovation Spaces. This work builds on earlier conversations Chris has had with Christine Prefontaine and Beth Kolko, among others. Using a giant whiteboard, we shared, discussed, debated, synced, and altered our understanding over a period of weeks. The office got used to the hijacking of most of the common wall space. We had many questions: What are these spaces and what do we call them? What types of innovation do they foster? Why do people go to them?

January 28, 2014

In our research on innovation spaces, we needed to arrive at a definition of innovation that fit the spaces we were observing. It was not entrepreneurship, as that would be too narrow and not explain many of the uses. Rather, it was about problem solving, and making use of these spaces to find answers to individual questions in ways that were superior than trying to do it alone, on the internet, or otherwise. The works of three authors in particular resonated – Matt Kingdon, Ken Robinson, and Steven Johnson. Here are some snippets…

November 14, 2013

eInclusion – access to ICTs, ICT skill development, and digital literacy – is becoming increasingly important in both developed and developing contexts for social and economic participation. Strategies for shared access (telecenters, libraries, cybercafes, etc.) by eInclusion actors are particularly important for including marginalized populations. Successful investment to support eInclusion actors requires an understanding how venues operate. Commissioned by the European Union’s Joint Research Centre Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), Telecentre-Europe and the Technology & Social Change Group conducted an online survey aiming to provide a ‘map’ of telecentres, libraries, and other eInclusion actors operating in the European Union (EU). The report presenting the findings of this survey, the first of its kind in Europe to collect data from eInclusion actors, is now available.

November 5, 2013

The use of ICTs, such as mobile phones, text messages, and various applications, increases with every emergency situation and disaster we see. The organization Libraries Without Borders (Bibliothèques Sans Frontières) recently held an international symposium, The Urgency of Reading, which brought together experts from all over the world to discuss innovations and good practices in providing access to information, ICTs, and culture in emergency humanitarian situations. Among participants from the United Nations, UNESCO, and various humanitarian foundations, TASCHA’s Maria Garrido was invited to discuss her research on the role of public access ICT venues, such as libraries and telecenters, in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake and tsunami in Chile. Maria presented the main findings of this research, as well as the recommendations based on the findings. Maria focused particularly on the importance of the physical space libraries provide in the aftermath of disasters.

October 22, 2013

Innovation Spaces: From Access to Information to Access to Each Other was the topic of a presentation delivered by TASCHA Director Chris Coward at Cotexto Digital in Bogota Colombia, October 17, 2013. Contexto Digital is a series of events organized by the National Library of Colombia and the Luis Angel Arango Library of Colombia aimed at addressing various topics at the intersection of digital media, culture, and development.

October 5, 2013

Join the Global Impact Study team at USC’s Annenberg School on Monday, October 7, for a review of what they learned, and to discuss how their findings should shape ICTD policies and programming in the years to come. If unable to attend in person, please follow along on Twitter at @TASCHAGroup.

September 25, 2013

TASCHA Director Chris Coward has been invited to present at the 5th Annual European Congress on E-Inclusion (ECEI13) on October 3, 2013. This year’s event, “Building an Inclusive Digital Europe,” will bring together over 100 stakeholders and thought leaders from the public policy, private, not-for-profit, and community sectors in Brussels. Chris will draw on TASCHA’s research to participate on a panel presenting evidence on the role of intermediaries, particularly public libraries, in digital inclusion, skills development, and opportunities for socio-economic empowerment and employability. Chris will present findings from TASCHA’s Global Impact Study of Public Access ICTs and the U.S. IMPACT Study’s Opportunity for All report.

August 13, 2013

Last month, we released the final report of the Global Impact Study of Public Access ICTs, Connecting people for development: Why public access ICTs matter. In addition to the overall analysis presented in the final report, TASCHA researchers also conducted analysis specifically related to ICT access in public libraries in Botswana, Chile, and the Philippines. The report based on this analysis, Public libraries connecting people for development: Findings from the Global Impact Study, is now available for download. Using data from Botswana, Chile, and the Philippines, the report summarizes the study’s key findings with a focus on libraries, situating these venues in the context of national development, discussing some disputed issues, and providing recommendations for policymakers, library practitioners, and researchers.