tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21618189928369888922024-03-18T21:25:54.104-06:00Mobilizing Knowledge for Sustainable AgricultureCreating Research Capacity through Partnership DevelopmentGordon A. Gowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17116843398647485965noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-12213564838646320412016-11-21T09:48:00.000-07:002016-11-21T09:48:44.751-07:00Congratulations to team member Chandana JayathilakeA hearty congratulations to team member Chandana Jayathilake, PhD student at Wayamba University of Sri Lanka for receiving Best Presentation award in the "Entrepreneurship & Extension" session at the University of Peradeniya Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture Congress in November. <br />
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Chandana presented his paper "Fostering Technology Stewardship Approach to Promote Knowledge Sharing among Farming Communities in Sri Lanka" at the 28th PGIA Congress. The paper will be published in a forthcoming issue of the <i>Tropical Agriculture Journal</i>.<br />
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Gordon A. Gowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17116843398647485965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-57629709847615862272016-10-21T10:06:00.000-06:002016-10-21T10:06:18.177-06:00Technology stewardship course to promote ICT adoption in agricultural communities of practice<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">The collaborative</span> <span style="line-height: 107%;">Partnership Development research project between Wayamba University of Sri Lanka and the University of Alberta, University of Guelph (Canada), supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), have successfully completed an interactive and hands-on two-day Technology Stewardship workshop. This workshop was conducted to develop capacity among the Department of Export Agriculture (DOEA) staff to be technology stewards and use ICTs for agricultural plus rural development. The workshop was held September 29-30, 2016 at the In-Service Training Institute of the Department of Export Agriculture in Matale, Sri Lanka.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The course was designed as four modules involving 12 hours of classroom instruction over 2 days. After finishing all four training modules, participants received a certificate.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the sessions participants learned:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;">The key principles and activities involved in technology stewardship for inclusive innovation.</span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> To plan design and implement a technology prototype and related activities needed to carry out a limited duration communication campaigning using low-cost<span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> technologies.</span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> To plan, design and implement an evaluation to assess and report on the outcome of the communication campaign and their involvement as a technology steward.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> To lead a community engagement activity to identify a key need or priority for a limited duration communication campaign using low-cost<span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> technologies.</span></span></li>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was a pilot course that was presented as part of an ongoing action research in the project. Thank you to our collaborating institutions and to all the participants and instructors for attending this workshop.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16644888120599504299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-14953990333832808252016-10-20T08:09:00.003-06:002016-10-24T11:23:22.327-06:00Presenting the project at University of ManchesterOn 20 October, project lead Dr. Gordon Gow presented an introduction to the technology stewardship model at the Mobile Technology for Agricultral and Rural Development in the Global South Workshop at the Centre for Development Informatics at the University of Manchester.<br />
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The event focussed on current applications and research-related issues in the ICT4D field specifically with respect to mobile technology and agriculture.<br />
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Here are links to the <a href="https://vimeo.com/170489586" target="_blank">short video</a> and to the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwjZ8EhyDFTNZkNxZEplbXB6Mzg/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">presentation slides</a>.Gordon A. Gowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17116843398647485965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-86897392527312921242016-10-20T08:09:00.001-06:002016-10-20T08:09:48.515-06:00Presenting the project at University of ManchesterOn 20 October, project lead Dr. Gordon Gow presented an introduction to the technology stewardship model at the Mobile Technology for Agricultral and Rural Development in the Global South Workshop at the Centre for Development Informatics at the University of Manchester.<br />
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The event focussed on current applications and research-related issues in the ICT4D field specifically with respect to mobile technology and agriculture.<br />
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The presentation is available <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwjZ8EhyDFTNZkNxZEplbXB6Mzg/edit?usp=docslist_api&filetype=mspresentation" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />Gordon A. Gowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17116843398647485965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-49558596020392426652016-10-20T08:09:00.000-06:002016-10-20T08:09:27.002-06:00Technology Stewardship Workshop 2016<img height="169" src="webkit-fake-url://dd48be1f-13a1-462e-a031-75e1714f27c8/imagejpeg" width="640" /><br />
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With support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and other partners, members of the research team conducted the latest technology workshop with 20 participants from the Department of Export Agriculture and the University of Peradeniya.<br />
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The two-day event was held at the DOEA's In-Service Training Centre in Matale, Sri Lanka. Participants were trained in the principles and practices of technology stewardship, community engagement, rapid prototyping, and evaluation and assessment skills. <br />
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The workshop is part of an ongoing initiative to develop and test a technology stewardship training program and curriculum. For more information about the program, please contact the project lead Dr. Gordon Gow.Gordon A. Gowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17116843398647485965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-78781368288435028142016-09-24T11:58:00.000-06:002016-09-24T11:58:52.381-06:00Conference Presentation - 4th Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD) at Columbia University, New York on September 22, 2016. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Faria Rashid presented the paper on our partnership development project at the 4th Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD) at Columbia University, New York on September 22, 2016. </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the second day of the conference, during the Parallel session, Faria presented “<b>Converging Frontline SMS, Freedom Fone and Radio for Mobilizing Knowledge for Sustainable Agriculture in Sri Lanka</b>”. The session had a diverse range of presenters and dynamic panel discussion on Innovation in Technology and Governance for Agriculture Food Security & Nutrition. Many practical solutions towards Sustainable development in Agriculture sector came out from others during the Presentation session. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Faria’s presentation was appreciated with lots of commendable question about the Radio+ concept and the role of the project for Sustainable Agriculture. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Full paper will be published soon in the conference proceedings.<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129;"></span></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16644888120599504299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-22647099285093929782016-09-09T14:05:00.000-06:002016-09-09T14:05:29.825-06:00Paper presentation “Converging Frontline SMS, Freedom Fone and Radio for Mobilizing Knowledge for Sustainable Agriculture in Sri Lanka” on 4th Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD) on September 21 & 22, 2016, at Columbia University, New York. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The Global association of the Master’s in Development Practice Program at the Earth Institute, Columbia University, in partnership with the Sustainable Development Solution Network, will host the 4<sup>th</sup> Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development on September 21 & 22, 2016. (</span><a href="http://ic-sd.org/"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">http://ic-sd.org/</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The aim of the conference is to identify and share practical, evidence-based solutions that can support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This year’s conference theme is “Moving Forward: The SDGs in Practice.” The ICSD provides a unique opportunity to bring together stakeholders from government, academia, the United Nations, international agencies, NGOs, and grassroots organizers to share practical solutions towards the achievement of more sustainable and inclusive societies. This conference is truly a global event. ICSD will host students from around the world’s top universities, its participants include leading scientists and representatives of many governments and the UN.</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Faria Rashid, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">a </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">MSc Candidate from the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development (SEDRD) at the University of Guelph (Canada) and a team member for the project “Mobilizing Knowledge for Sustainable Agriculture” will present a paper entitled “<b>Converging Frontline SMS, Freedom Fone and Radio for Mobilizing Knowledge for Sustainable Agriculture in Sri Lanka</b>” at this conference.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This will be a great opportunity for our project to share our lessons learned on using low-cost information and communication technologies (ICTs) for knowledge mobilization among agricultural communities of practice in Sri Lanka. This includes feedback received from radio staff from farm listeners on the use of radio and ICTs also known as (Radio+) for sustainable agriculture. Below is a copy of the abstract for this paper.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_Toc458995038"><b><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Abstract</span></u></b></a><b><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></u></b></h1>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Information and communications technologies (ICTs) have great potential for sustainable agriculture, especially when broadcast radio is combined with mobile and open source software technologies referred to here as Radio+. This paper examines the Radio+ experiences of six organizations in a community of practice for ICT-enabled farm media convergence in Sri Lanka including Rangiri Radio, Department of Export Agriculture, Wayamba University and LIRNEAsia with researchers at the University of Alberta and University of Guelph in Canada. Our work demonstrates how a “tried and true” technology such as rural radio can expand its reach with FOSS applications. Specifically, collaboration with Rangiri Radio since 2014 has involved testing open source software (Freedom Fone and Frontline SMS) and mobile technologies. Farmers are positive about radio programming that use interactive options including “call-in” audience response programs, multiple text messaging and voice recorded messages. The paper concludes that Radio+ has good potential to strengthen participatory communication for development through a multi-media connection that networks broadcasters, agricultural experts, and farmers. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16644888120599504299noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-61042180313787850462016-08-24T07:03:00.004-06:002016-08-24T07:06:28.912-06:00One Step Closer to the Launch of a course on Technology Stewardship to promote Information and Communication Technology (ICT) adoption in Agricultural Communities of Practice<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white;">We are now drawing closer to the launch of our Technology Stewardship course that is part of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Development Grant supporting a collaborative research project between </span>the University of Alberta, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, and the University of Guelph. We are currently working on finalizing course materials for translation and will begin accepting participant applications in the beginning of September. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Participants will engage in an interactive and hands-on two-day workshop at the In-Service Training Institute of the Department of Export Agriculture, Matale, from September 28-30, 2016. They will take part in 12 hours of classroom instruction and receive a certificate of completion upon finishing all four training modules. Participants will learn firsthand about the principles and practices of technology stewardship and how they can be applied to encourage the adoption and use of new ICTs within agricultural communities of practice. Nancy Smith, Etienne Wenger, and John Smith of the <a href="http://www.fullcirc.com/weblog/2006/12/definition-of-community-technology.htm" target="_blank">Full Circle Blog</a> coined a useful definition of Technology Stewards:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b><span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;">“Technology stewards are people with enough experience of the workings of a community to understand its technology needs, and enough experience with technology to take leadership in addressing those needs. Stewardship typically includes selecting and configuring technology, as well as supporting its use in the practice of the community.”</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As mentioned, this pilot course is being delivered as part of an ongoing action research project with Sri Lankan and Canadian academic partners. Course developers and instructors include representatives from the University of Alberta, the University of Guelph, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, the University of Peradeniya, Sahana Software Foundation (Sri Lanka), and FrontlineSMS. Besides directly benefitting course participants and their communities, this course is intended to enhance collaboration between researchers, practitioners, and non-profit sectors by promoting the sharing of research results and facilitating knowledge exchange across diverse sectors.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-42205495585404291832016-03-09T09:56:00.001-07:002016-03-09T09:56:14.719-07:00The project enters a new phase with Technology Stewardship workshop in September 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Work on the SSHRC Partnership Development Grant has moved into a new phase of activities, with a Technology Stewardship Workshop planned for September 29-Oct. 2 at Wayamba University of Sri Lanka.<br />
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The workshop will build on the achievements of the SSHRC-PDG and establish a foundation for further research in the area of technology stewardship and inclusive innovation. The team was awarded a SSHRC Connections Grant to provide funding support for the workshop and we are looking forward to inviting new partners to join us in this work.<br />
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More information about the Workshop will be coming soon.<br />
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<br />Gordon A. Gowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17116843398647485965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-55848579213215125642015-10-27T11:20:00.000-06:002015-10-27T11:20:49.151-06:00Canadian graduate student visits Rangiri Radio Station in Sri Lanka to collect feedback from the use of radio and ICTs (Radio+) for sustainable agriculture.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Faria Rashid, MSc candidate from the School of Environmental
Design and Rural Development at the University of Guelph (Canada), visited Rangiri
Radio Station, Sri Lanka in October 2015 to understand innovation in farm radio
in Sri Lanka. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Rangiri Radio staff has been collaborating with the
project titled “Mobilizing Knowledge for Sustainable Agriculture” where open
source software and mobile technologies are tested. The project is led by
University of Alberta (Canada) and partners with University of Wayamba (Sri
Lanka). Various technologies (Frontline SMS, Freedom Fone, etc.) were tested by
Rangiri to support programming such as “Call – in” audience response programs,
multiple text messaging and voice recorded messages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Faria also discussed feedback from the Rangiri Radio
technicians and broadcasters about the farm radio program and further
opportunities to use mobile technologies and open source software. Radio+
combines radio with new ICTs enabling radio and agricultural communities to
create innovations such as rapid relay of information about sustainable farming
to listeners. She discovered that open software such as Freedom Fone and Frontline
SMS make the radio program more popular to farmer listeners. Rangiri Radio staff
mentioned that after using the open source software in their farm program, responses
from farmer listeners increased dramatically. The main strength of this
experience for understanding ICT-enabled radio or “Radio+” is that it creates a
strong communication relation as well as a multi-media connection between
agricultural experts and farmers. Radio+ enhances farm radio programs. Farmers can
get their problems solved quickly and easily by accessing important information
from agricultural experts when they ask questions through the open source
software channels. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Faria and the rest of the project team greatly
appreciate</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> the work of Rangiri Radio and their support to make
this visit successful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16644888120599504299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-61273736110850330292015-10-17T01:04:00.000-06:002015-10-17T01:04:04.569-06:00Wold Food Day - October 16th<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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World Food Day Highlights Importance of Resilience in Agriculture Development </h3>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #58595b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">This year’s World Food Day on October 16 is a reminder that building resilience to climate change and other shocks and stresses is critical to achieving food security. Increasing food production alone is not enough to combat poverty and hunger among the world’s most vulnerable communities. Roughly 1.2 billion people worldwide live in extreme poverty, with 78 percent of them living in rural areas where agriculture is the main driving force of the economy. Programs to better manage drought cycles, revolutionize farming in traditionally unproductive zones, connect farmers to early warning data, and promote access to financial services can truly transform livelihoods and break the cycle of chronic food insecurity.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #58595b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Several of the winning Global Resilience Challenge teams are demonstrating how these approaches can build resilience among some of the world’s vulnerable populations:</span> <a href="http://us9.campaign-archive2.com/?u=e26d7fda6e16d45b6f21e9f4d&id=16529fc172&e=fa09b07010">CLICK TO READ MORE</a>.</blockquote>
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Nuwan T. Waidyanathahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16021214999057094847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-69887075519180573752015-09-11T10:08:00.002-06:002015-09-11T10:10:08.945-06:00The Future of Knowledge Sharing in a Digital Age: Exploring Impacts and Policy Implications for Development <a href="http://www.ids.ac.uk/publication/the-future-of-knowledge-sharing-in-a-digital-age-exploring-impacts-and-policy-implications-for-development" target="_blank">http://www.ids.ac.uk/publication/the-future-of-knowledge-sharing-in-a-digital-age-exploring-impacts-and-policy-implications-for-development</a> <br />
<br />
IDS Evidence Report 125 by Gregson, J., Brownlee, J.M., Playforth, R. and Bimbe, N.<br />
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Over the next 15 years, developing countries are likely to experience
sweeping changes in how states and societies engage with knowledge.
These changes hold the potential to improve people’s lives by making
information more available, increasing avenues for political and
economic engagement, and making government more transparent and
responsive.....<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04531185560181739667noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-61243374850252145752015-09-10T14:26:00.000-06:002015-09-10T14:26:00.436-06:00Forthcoming presentation at the Partnership for Progress on the Digital Divide Conference<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="text-align: justify;">We are pleased have received word that our presentation "Supporting effective use through a technology stewardship model" accepted at the <a href="http://www.ppdd.org/" target="_blank">PPDD 2015 conference in Scottsdale, Arizona</a>. </span><br />
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Dr. Gow will presenting the preliminary results of our research at this event, hoping to generate further discussion on our approach to inclusive innovation and technology stewardship.</div>
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<br />Gordon A. Gowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17116843398647485965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-85028489272767200322015-09-02T23:00:00.000-06:002016-03-27T23:11:10.039-06:00Communications Policy South, Taiwan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The paper, "<a href="http://www.cprsouth.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/CPRsouth2015_TechStewardKnowledgeMobilizationAgri_PP66.pdf">Technology Stewarding method for Knowledge Mobilizationin Agriculture Communities of Practice</a>", authors: Nuwan Waidyanatha , Gordon Gow , Chandana Jayathilake ,
Timothy Barlott , Helen Hambly, and Mahmuda Anwar; was presented at <a href="http://www.cprsouth.org/past-conferences/cprsouth-2015-call-for-abstracts/">CPRsouth2015 </a>in Taipei, Taiwan. The event was hosted by <span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: -webkit-center; vertical-align: baseline;">Innovation Center for Big Data and Digital Convergence, </span><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: -webkit-center; vertical-align: baseline;">Yuan Ze University, Taiwan.</span></div>
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Nuwan T. Waidyanathahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16021214999057094847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-72418179498580914642015-09-02T03:43:00.002-06:002015-09-27T01:11:07.167-06:00Abstract presentation at KDU-IRC 2015 in Colombo<div class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was glad to present an abstract on our partnership development project in the 8th
International Research Conference at the
<a href="http://www.kdu.ac.lk/" target="_blank">General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University</a>, Colombo, Sri Lanka on 28<sup>th</sup> August 2015. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I was the first presenter on the second day of the conference under the "Computing in Governance" session. Participants were interested on the Frontlinesms and FreedomFone FOSS and the "rapid prototyping, campaign concept".</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q88NHuJByvM" target="_blank">watch on you tube</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04531185560181739667noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-9859130536052919402015-07-14T17:25:00.000-06:002015-07-20T11:34:55.048-06:00Project presentation at IAMCR 2015 in Montreal<div style="text-align: center;">
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I was pleased to debut a short film about our partnership development project at the <a href="http://iamcr.org/" target="_blank">International Association of Media and Communication Researchers (IAMCR)</a> Conference in Montreal, on July 16. We had a small but interested group at the presentation with lots of good questions about the role of the technology stewards in the project.<br />
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I'd like to extend my thanks to Ranmalee Gamage and the Dinesh Gunaratne from <a href="http://skitworks.com/" target="_blank">Skitworks</a> for their contributions to the video. Nuwan Waidyanatha also played an important role in coordinating the conversation as we planned and edited the video.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/133452632" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> </div>
<br />Gordon A. Gowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17116843398647485965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-18556538706156676722015-07-08T19:41:00.001-06:002015-07-08T19:47:01.895-06:00Presentation notes - 7th International Conference on Communities and TechnologiesI recently returned home to Brisbane, Australia after a whirlwind trip to Limerick, Ireland. It was a pleasure to present our Work-in-Progress paper at the 7th International Conference on Communities and Technologies as previously, <a href="http://mobilizingknowledge.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/work-in-progress-paper-presented-at-7th.html" target="_blank">previously posted by Gordon</a>. This paper focused on our technology stewardship model for inclusive innovation.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I was the final presenter on the first day of the conference (June 29, 2015). The day kicked off with reflective initial keynote with Michael Gurstein, who initially developed the field of community informatics and is the editor of the Journal of Community Informatics. It was a full day, with a diverse range of presenters and lively panel discussion on communities and technologies. Despite being at the end of the day, participants remained engaged and there were a number of questions and comments on our presentation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The attendees & other presenters, being from a C&T and community informatics perspective, commented that our current technology stewardship model may build sponsor capacity more than community capacity. Another participant queried whether tech stewards were leaned on too heavily, asking "<i>what happens if you develop highly capable tech steward, but then they leave?</i>" Though critical, there was an overall positive reception to the presentation, the project and technology stewardship. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The session chair wondered whether we had planned to develop a community of practice among tech stewards themselves, which is part of our future tech steward training plans. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Would be nice to work towards a full paper at this conference next year</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">. </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-84407045786878949732015-06-29T13:55:00.000-06:002015-06-29T13:55:09.011-06:00Scanvenger Hunts in Techology Steward Training<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2675240">Gonzales, Fiesler, and Bruckman [1]</a> had studied the choice of technology with communities engaging in a <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Scavenger-Hunt">scavenger hunt</a>. <i><b>Spreadsheets</b></i> and <i><b>Word</b></i> documents were favoured over specialized applications. <a href="http://mobilizingknowledge.blogspot.ca/2015/03/chose-appropriate-digital-technolgoy.html">Simple low-cost solutions are easier to replicate</a>.<br />
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Gordon and I had discussed this concept a while back - leveraging scavenger hunts as means for Technology Stewards to train with the community. The FrontlineSMS, Freedom Fone, and Ushahidi tools can be combined to exchange clues and information.<br />
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[1] Joseph A. Gonzales, Casey Fiesler, Amy S. Bruckman (2015). <a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2675240">Towards an Appropriate CSCW Tool Ecology: Lessons from the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen</a>, Computer Supported Collaborative Work (#cscw205), Vancouver, Canada.</div>
Nuwan T. Waidyanathahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16021214999057094847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-51651766355346574102015-06-29T13:54:00.000-06:002015-06-29T13:54:40.712-06:00Work-in-Progress Paper presented at 7th International Conference on Communities and Technologies in Limerick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today, team member Tim Barlott will present a work-in-progress paper at the <a href="http://comtech.community/" target="_blank">7th International Conference on Communities and Technologies</a> in Limerick, Ireland. <br />
<br />
We wish Tim lots of luck at the conference!<br />
<br />
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwjZ8EhyDFTNaHV4bXBtZWNIdUk/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">A copy of the paper is available here</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />Gordon A. Gowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17116843398647485965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-37485665512773071712015-06-21T17:27:00.000-06:002015-06-29T13:55:00.757-06:00Sri Lankan side expressed interest in learning from the experience of Bangladesh in Community Radio!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU3d6RrwgPqiKU2gxi0q5VPsXx3kJP3SrceMnIVoV-LICeIzYsJe72wDE6LdUa2Q9E9KEnYziedgDILM91Bf1VEMrxvOknkk5DYOyaoj29rv7wBQJQmR9w41XY4UoUyeiYoclCWi5XaJE/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU3d6RrwgPqiKU2gxi0q5VPsXx3kJP3SrceMnIVoV-LICeIzYsJe72wDE6LdUa2Q9E9KEnYziedgDILM91Bf1VEMrxvOknkk5DYOyaoj29rv7wBQJQmR9w41XY4UoUyeiYoclCWi5XaJE/s1600/download.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Information Minister
Hasanul Haq Inu, MP,Bangladesh, on his current visit to Sri Lanka (June 2015)
met Mass Media and Information Minister H E Gayantha Karunathilaka. Notable to our project Mobilizing Knowledge
for Sustainable Agriculture is that the Sri Lankan side expressed interest in
learning from the experience of Bangladesh in implementing Right to Information
Act and in introducing Community Radio.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh are two countries in S. Asia which have distinctly different
experiences in community radio for rural development. Sri Lanka has had a long
history of rural and regional radio stations. In its SLBC network there are
reportedly 15 stations now on-air in the country, aiming to ensure empowerment
and right to information for the rural community. They are broadcasting
altogether 125 hours program per day on information, education, and local
entertainment and development motivation activities. Around 1000 youth are now
working with those stations throughout the country as rural broadcasters. Sri
Lanka has 5.5 million rural people in 68 upazillas under 14 districts. Sri
Lanka stated that another 17 community-based radio stations will be on air by
December 2016. Our project has collaborated with radio stations including
Rangiri Radio and Wayamba.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Bangladesh NGOs
Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) actively works to improve
recognition of the community electronic media sector [Community Radio |
Community TV | Community Film] & its work in and involvement with the
communities it seeks to serve. BNNRC represent the community electronic media
sector to Government, Industry, Regulatory Bodies, Media, Academia and
Development Partners from 2000. The BNNRC provides leadership and support for
rural initiators to facilitate independent electronic community broadcasting
services and to build and strengthen rural communities with the support from
Free Press Unlimited.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Currently there are
15 radio Stations are on-air in the country, aiming to ensure empowerment and
right to information for the rural community. They are broadcasting altogether
120 hours program per day on information, education, and local entertainment
and development motivation activities. Around 1000 Youth Women & Youth are
now working with those Stations throughout the country as rural broadcasters.
15 community radio stations presently cover more than 4.6 million listeners of
67 upazilla of 13 districts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The community radio
movement is important in S. Asia. It has tremendous potential to mobilize
agricultural knowledge as well as add value to new information and
communication technologies such as mobile phones. Our project has encouraged
the convergence of Open Source Software such as Frontline SMS and Freedom Fone.
Such opportunities are an encouragement for rural areas who want to access
knowledge and communicate. There is great potential in community based
programming in both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. We welcome the international
networking of these countries collaborating and wish them all the best in their
policy development and activities to support the radio+ stations!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16644888120599504299noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-88177578328437282292015-03-29T22:05:00.000-06:002015-04-08T02:30:13.949-06:00Poster Presentation @ CSCW2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The 18th ACM
Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (<a href="http://cscw.acm.org/2015/index.php">CSCW 2015</a>) was held at the Westin
Bayshore hotel in Vancouver, BC, Canada from 14<sup>th</sup> -18<sup>th</sup>
March 2015. We presented our poster titled <i>“<a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2685553.2699007">Technology
Stewardship, Text Messaging, and Collaboration in Agricultural Work:
Preliminary Results from an Action Research Study in Sri Lanka</a>”</i> on 16<sup>th</sup>
March on this conference. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJa4w4XaS7lgBSEdRNhm5tC6QR4hqLIy7kq0t6PikUpfSVahMLuMe4Za84ciniZeEDRKlgt8gMXJDBxsbNq8B6zpE5BVmdOFkubgXnAbwQlKEA5kfuHi7eYSfTvPRTQ31wSEcPPC4eQ/s1600/pp1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJa4w4XaS7lgBSEdRNhm5tC6QR4hqLIy7kq0t6PikUpfSVahMLuMe4Za84ciniZeEDRKlgt8gMXJDBxsbNq8B6zpE5BVmdOFkubgXnAbwQlKEA5kfuHi7eYSfTvPRTQ31wSEcPPC4eQ/s1600/pp1.gif" height="436" width="640" /></a></div>
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Many conference participants were interested in our work carried out in this project. Some of them
were very keen on our technology use and the concept of technology stewardship. They
were surprised as to how this much of collaborations was possible in this project. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(because several Canadian Universities, Sri Lankan
Institutes and University and NGOs involvement) we described them how this was
possible. Another question they had was on how the Sri Lankan partners collaborate and how they run the campaigns. We elaborated the process <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">from end-to-end. </span><br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Held a N</span>ational Workshop - conducted
in Peradeniya and invited all the agricultural institute and NGOs )</li>
<li>Community Rapid Prototyping - We identified several potential Sponsors from the workshop to follow up with Community Rapid Prototyping</li>
<li>Technology Stewardship Training - Tech-savvy individuals from communities were given hands-on experience on the technologies practiced in the campaign </li>
<li>A series of field experiment termed as " Campaign"- this was short duration (2-3 months) activity specifically-designed to characterize the geography and communities belong to agriculture </li>
</ol>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFxVEKgeW3QCyEMJ1BNcIpneQJ0A1eCw6e_nF8n_OMNTN5DuXH2oc4UnRmXh57xrCSkosvFZ6Fc98HVmCeuvB8fwt-QBgIgwWOeu-D6t7WxucHnCMQe0CX6YB2ivNOFIcIFATTfAUrIDg/s1600/Agro_Waidaynatha+cscw2015poster_45x45_v4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFxVEKgeW3QCyEMJ1BNcIpneQJ0A1eCw6e_nF8n_OMNTN5DuXH2oc4UnRmXh57xrCSkosvFZ6Fc98HVmCeuvB8fwt-QBgIgwWOeu-D6t7WxucHnCMQe0CX6YB2ivNOFIcIFATTfAUrIDg/s1600/Agro_Waidaynatha+cscw2015poster_45x45_v4.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04531185560181739667noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-21308090941780448472015-03-22T22:31:00.000-06:002015-03-22T22:36:11.121-06:00Brainstorming the Proportional Actor Influence Metric<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEruQPkXIeK-vkm8_OqUS6c2KQiFZSJUimpf-ZYriUg7Wc-P_F-zFB_qZJObutxTgsmyR9YVi54F_jGeVQ7XdjPkBtWGvNY_YEiXrO2OlgV-7RD8jrbYwMH7-zgwXkbuhX07PkFQN6lqs/s1600/metricmeeting.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEruQPkXIeK-vkm8_OqUS6c2KQiFZSJUimpf-ZYriUg7Wc-P_F-zFB_qZJObutxTgsmyR9YVi54F_jGeVQ7XdjPkBtWGvNY_YEiXrO2OlgV-7RD8jrbYwMH7-zgwXkbuhX07PkFQN6lqs/s1600/metricmeeting.png" height="156" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2015 March 12, meeting at the University of Alberta Faculty of Extension</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The campaigns carried out in Sri Lanka revealed to be worthy and the model for <b>stewarding technology</b> to be further examined. A question the ICTRaP [1] Research Team found was a need for a simple and easy to use evaluation metric that the Actors: Sponsor, Technology Steward, and Community could use in determining their strengths and weakness. Those factors would decide whether or not they should re-assess and re-design or simply continue on. It is ideal if the minimal set of inputs to the evaluation model would result in a simple green, amber, red output signal.<br />
<br />
Gordon Gow arranged for us to meeting with Jason Daniels (Associate Director) and Stanley Varnhagen (Academic Director) from the <a href="http://www.extension.ualberta.ca/services/evaluation/">Evaluation and Research Services, Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta</a>. A challenge during the meeting was with breaking down the problem in a mathematically comprehensible way and second with arriving at a set recommnedations to pursue towards developing the <b>stewarding technology evaluation metric</b>.<br />
<br />
ICTRaP team agreed on a plan based on the recommendations to pursue with a set of activities towards confirming the<b> model</b>: <br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Verify the currently perceived metric with campaign actors and identify good examples of those that are representative; Identify differences between the four quadrants, then develop characteristics for each of the quadrants; document case studies relating to the quadrant </li>
<li>Formulate a structural equation model to confirm the theoretical model; develop the data collection and analysis procedures for testing the model</li>
<li>Simplify the model to such that 20% of the model would provide 80% of the evaluation requirements: a simplified decision metric.</li>
</ol>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBdaaqYHvylKW6FdiLtPMPU8WVyaQHr8-jKJkBBAqQff8be96jxdW4sx1aTC1RPqCwMJsWOG4ej-Q15nSwe4v2rMsjuUG8-9yvqyiwRPGzO4Y8THZJO_9qtQF83C2LfH6uTIUENuhd8W4/s1600/actor_dependecies.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBdaaqYHvylKW6FdiLtPMPU8WVyaQHr8-jKJkBBAqQff8be96jxdW4sx1aTC1RPqCwMJsWOG4ej-Q15nSwe4v2rMsjuUG8-9yvqyiwRPGzO4Y8THZJO_9qtQF83C2LfH6uTIUENuhd8W4/s1600/actor_dependecies.png" height="218" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hypothetical dependencies between the actors</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
There are certain dependencies between the four Actors, illustrated by the nodes in the graph to the left. It may be possible to identify common dependencies such as <i>campaign</i> is coherent between the Community, Technology Steward, and the Technology. There may be unique dependencies with making the Community trust facilitating technology stewarding for knowledge mobilization. Treating the edges between the Actor nodes would result in a set of independent variables. <br />
<br />
<div>
A team of Researchers in the United Kingdom [2] are beginning to quantify the term "effort"; more specifically additional effort and interpersonal communication. One may relate to the amount of "work", in the mechanical sense. However, effort is more related to human related collaborative work but taking in to consideration the efforts related to evading distractions. In that sense, perhaps simply considering the time put in might the simplest and effective way to consider the individual effort in each of the variables such as campaign, training, facilitation, so on and so forth.<br />
<br />
[1] ICTRaP - Information Communication Technology Rapid Prototyping <br />
[2] Ryan Kelly, Daniel Gooch, and Leon Watts. (2015). Is ‘Additional’ Effort Always Negative? Understanding Discretionary Work in Interpersonal Communications, Proceedings of the Computing-supported Collaborative Works (CSCW2015), Association of Computing Machinery.</div>
</div>
Nuwan T. Waidyanathahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16021214999057094847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-52655012319451652532015-03-20T19:49:00.001-06:002015-03-20T19:49:44.580-06:00SSHRC PDG project now featured on SANCOM website<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-hOhDIODvXeZuEHpV7wM33ZUuhTJC60Uv5rA_NNK8shdZsV7T9qaJLGRUXP1MDLqQPCKLIqgzflwPRI67cTVVbco_4UvrKdKZiUCixP9WRkSwRULRh4Ov59SAXhkYm8fYi5515nC11MA/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-hOhDIODvXeZuEHpV7wM33ZUuhTJC60Uv5rA_NNK8shdZsV7T9qaJLGRUXP1MDLqQPCKLIqgzflwPRI67cTVVbco_4UvrKdKZiUCixP9WRkSwRULRh4Ov59SAXhkYm8fYi5515nC11MA/s1600/unnamed.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 0.24in; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 0.24in; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The South Asia
Network for Community Media (SANCOM) have connected to the
'Mobilizing Knowledge for Sustainable Development' blog. See the
Resources section of the SANCOM website. What a great opportunity for
our SSHRC PDG project to share our results with this regional
network! </span></span>
</div>
<h1 align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.24in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">SANCOM
(</span></span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.sancomonline.net/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;">www.sancomonline.net</span></a></u></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)
was launched on February 13, 2015 at the World Radio Day event in New
Delhi, India, organized jointly by UNESCO and the Commonwealth
Educational Media Centre in Asia (CEMCA). SANCOM emerged from an
international initiative round table entitled ‘Towards a South Asia
Network for Community Media’ receiving support from UNESCO and the
University of Hyderabad, India. Currently, the eight SAARC countries
(Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, The Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka) are involved with the SANCOM initiative. </span></span></span></span>
</h1>
<h1 align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.24in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
South Asia Network for Community Media (SANCOM) identifies seven
objectives for the network. Firstly, SANCOM advocates for a more free
and open policy environment for community media to flourish in the
region. Secondly, SANCOM uses the network for exchange of information
regarding community media related initiatives and activities in the
region. Thirdly, it </span></span></span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">encourages
</span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
the building or sharing of capacities for community media production
and management across national boundaries. Fourthly, it documents and
disseminates best practices and explores possibilities of replicating
success stories. Fifthly, SANCOM encourages comparative research
that could help gain greater awareness and deeper understanding of
community media in different national contexts in the region.
Sixthly, their networking promotes peer learning and
self-evaluation. Lastly, SANCOM builds alliances with other national,
regional and global networks, both of community media as well as of
broader social movements.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="line-height: 0.24in; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 0.24in; text-align: left;">We
hope you will also join SANCOM and share your experiences with our
networks! </span></span></span></span></span></h1>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16644888120599504299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161818992836988892.post-32034668089399454002015-03-16T12:29:00.002-06:002015-03-16T12:30:34.178-06:00Digital Technology for Community Engagement: A talk at the University of Alberta Faculty of Extension<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
University of Alberta, Faculty of Extension, Engagement Talks</h4>
On Thursday, March 12 the project Research Team was pleased to present our preliminary findings at the University of Alberta <i>Faculty of Extension Engagement Talks</i>.
The audience comprised researchers and students interested in the use of text
messaging for mobilizing knowledge in communities of practice.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4q_7MA8Ul6PShyeEXZVga_PpvT8smnFp6lyU1cdRhdyJ26KAZyXF8QmJysdG5rWLwRZlYkaGkVfWiuwB5SNM2N1r25aZJ8KMaHWJ4sAv4uumwIkW-kpuWGOXy39KGFyRAIdyX4MeObiQ/s1600/foetalk2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4q_7MA8Ul6PShyeEXZVga_PpvT8smnFp6lyU1cdRhdyJ26KAZyXF8QmJysdG5rWLwRZlYkaGkVfWiuwB5SNM2N1r25aZJ8KMaHWJ4sAv4uumwIkW-kpuWGOXy39KGFyRAIdyX4MeObiQ/s1600/foetalk2.png" height="299" width="640" /></a><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-770a65d7-1a29-ed89-35e5-1d40368c9e2f">The speakers were challenged to a discussion on the choice of using text messaging over other technologies. The pre-campaign survey results on the Farmers' choice of technology use is illustrated in the bargraph in the image below. It clearly shows that voice calls and radio are the technologies used mostly for seeking agriculture information. The question was, "why did the campaigns chose FrontlineSMS to serve in the preliminary activities of the campaign?"</span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-770a65d7-1a29-ed89-35e5-1d40368c9e2f"><br /></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-770a65d7-1a29-ed89-35e5-1d40368c9e2f">Ken Banks, Kiwanja Foundation, illustrates in his social mobile's long tail graph that simple + low cost implementations are probabilistically higher to replicate. Therefore, the participatory approach to the campaign design along with the rapid prototyping exercises realized that the simple to use FrontlineSMS text-messaging would foster an immediate win and confidence building for the Community, Technology Stewards, and the Sponsors. Freedom Fone Interactive Voice Response system was perceived to be relatively complex and the chances of replication proved cumbersome. However, now that the primary campaign activities are complete and have proven success, the Department of Export Agriculture and Rangiri Radio Station are moving in to IVR supported implementations. </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5IA3Urw8n5fDfvXFP1Y3jZrmvjYRw8mNeeKIeH-Vx8pSA3lDnX4tfRIUd9ODb4g_Cn8EQz8KFdyzkC6YvmkR5DHFch6fgkcQWgJhmnFdT4Mx18b0cRU9DPda7uajWVUQyxyMCPF3SBU/s1600/foetalk3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5IA3Urw8n5fDfvXFP1Y3jZrmvjYRw8mNeeKIeH-Vx8pSA3lDnX4tfRIUd9ODb4g_Cn8EQz8KFdyzkC6YvmkR5DHFch6fgkcQWgJhmnFdT4Mx18b0cRU9DPda7uajWVUQyxyMCPF3SBU/s1600/foetalk3.png" height="284" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Farmers' choice of technology and preliminary campaign's choice of technology</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-770a65d7-1a29-ed89-35e5-1d40368c9e2f"> Other discussions were on the stratification of gender and age in realizing the disparities in the survey results. However, out analysis shows that there were no noticeable difference between the two genders in their choice of answer. The farmers interviewed were all between the age of 35-50 and the surveys did not capture youth farmers, for example. </span></div>
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Going forward with this 'stewarding technology and agriculture knowledge mobilization project', the research team is <span style="font-size: small;">exploring ways<span style="background-color: white;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-92dd2d77-0b4c-ff40-d373-53e22cca1a98" style="font-family: Calibri; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
of a joint education and training initiative in technology stewardship
with University Wayamba and University of Alberta, University of Guelph,
and other partne<span style="font-size: small;">rs. </span></span></span></span>We met with Geoffrey Rockwell (Director, KIAS) and Oliver Rossier (Senior Officer) at the Kule Institute for Advance Studies (KIAS) to explore these ideas with an intent to discuss ways for funding such an initiative.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPASNU05n84PvcEqXiwvXFiO1lXDAnt5rneURMydL-1dgs3RtgXkeD3VwToiFA4QywznVd28zt89qNMf1hbg36uG5w1NXDcdmhGM3bk6294LbZ2c2qUiAmS1afOWfqFjjXoE7a-v65Qdc/s1600/KIAS.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPASNU05n84PvcEqXiwvXFiO1lXDAnt5rneURMydL-1dgs3RtgXkeD3VwToiFA4QywznVd28zt89qNMf1hbg36uG5w1NXDcdmhGM3bk6294LbZ2c2qUiAmS1afOWfqFjjXoE7a-v65Qdc/s1600/KIAS.JPG" height="157" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ICT Rapid Prototyping Research Team at KIAS</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The intial <a href="https://kuleinstitute.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/kias-funding-leads-to-sshrc-grant/">KIAS funding lead to this SSHRC grant</a>. Therefore, it was important that we shared the research findings, face-to-face, with them (Left-to-Right: Chandana Jayathilake, Nuwan Waidyanatha, Geoffrey Rockwell, Helen Hambley, Gordon Gow, and Oliver Rossier); especially, the success of the KIAS seed funding leading to a SSHRC funded partnership development project and that in turn leading to new areas of research and development in Information Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D); i.e. successfully cultivating a strong research partnership through a participatory action research approach.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.exportagridept.gov.lk/web/">Sri Lanka Department of Export Agriculture</a> (DOEA) is a keen sponsor who has realized the impact and efficiency gains of the technology steward model for knowledge mobilization. They have expressed their interest to scale the model within the Province spanning Kurunegala and Puttlam Districts. Therefore, there is a growing need to develop a Technology Steward training program. One that can potentially be advocated and managed through the<a href="http://www.wyb.ac.lk/academics/ict-center"> Wayamba University of Sri Lanka ICT Center</a>. The University of Alberta and the University of Wayamba would support developing such a joint education training initiative that requires a multidisciplinary approach.<br />
<br />
The training would involve concepts evolving from Radio+, use of low-cost ICTs, user centric development, action research, short term limited duration campaigns, design, and evaluation methods. The Research Team is keen in exploring opportunities in developing such a program that can be leveraged by the ICT4D and Community Informatics Researchers and Practitioners.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Nuwan T. Waidyanathahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16021214999057094847noreply@blogger.com0