Congratulations to team member Chandana Jayathilake

A 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.

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 Tropical Agriculture Journal.

Technology stewardship course to promote ICT adoption in agricultural communities of practice

The collaborative 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.

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.

In the sessions participants learned:

•    The key principles and activities involved in technology stewardship for inclusive innovation.

•   To plan design and implement a technology prototype and related activities needed to carry out a limited duration communication campaigning using low-cost technologies.

•   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.

•  To lead a community engagement activity to identify a key need or priority for a limited duration communication campaign using low-cost technologies.

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.

Presenting the project at University of Manchester

On 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.

The event focussed on current applications and research-related issues in the ICT4D field specifically with respect to mobile technology and agriculture.

Here are links to the short video and to the presentation slides.

Presenting the project at University of Manchester

On 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.

The event focussed on current applications and research-related issues in the ICT4D field specifically with respect to mobile technology and agriculture.

The presentation is available here.

Technology Stewardship Workshop 2016

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.

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.

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.

Conference Presentation - 4th Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD) at Columbia University, New York on September 22, 2016.

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.

In the second day of the conference, during the Parallel session, Faria presented “Converging Frontline SMS, Freedom Fone and Radio for Mobilizing Knowledge for Sustainable Agriculture in Sri Lanka”. 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.

Faria’s presentation was appreciated with lots of commendable question about the Radio+ concept and the role of the project for Sustainable Agriculture.

Full paper will be published soon in the conference proceedings.

Paper 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.

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^th Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development on September 21 & 22, 2016. (http://ic-sd.org/)

The aim of the conference is to identify and share practical, evidence-based solutions that can support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 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.

Faria Rashid, a 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 “Converging Frontline SMS, Freedom Fone and Radio for Mobilizing Knowledge for Sustainable Agriculture in Sri Lanka” at this conference.

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.

Abstract

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. 

One Step Closer to the Launch of a course on Technology Stewardship to promote Information and Communication Technology (ICT) adoption in Agricultural Communities of Practice

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 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.

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 Full Circle Blog coined a useful definition of Technology Stewards:

 “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.”

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.

The project enters a new phase with Technology Stewardship workshop in September 2016

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.

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.

More information about the Workshop will be coming soon.

Canadian graduate student visits Rangiri Radio Station in Sri Lanka to collect feedback from the use of radio and ICTs (Radio+) for sustainable agriculture.

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.

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.

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. 

Faria and the rest of the project team greatly appreciate the work of Rangiri Radio and their support to make this visit successful.

Wold Food Day - October 16th

World Food Day Highlights Importance of Resilience in Agriculture Development 

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.

Several of the winning Global Resilience Challenge teams are demonstrating how these approaches can build resilience among some of the world’s vulnerable populations: CLICK TO READ MORE.

The Future of Knowledge Sharing in a Digital Age: Exploring Impacts and Policy Implications for Development

http://www.ids.ac.uk/publication/the-future-of-knowledge-sharing-in-a-digital-age-exploring-impacts-and-policy-implications-for-development 

IDS Evidence Report 125 by Gregson, J., Brownlee, J.M., Playforth, R. and Bimbe, N.

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.....

Forthcoming presentation at the Partnership for Progress on the Digital Divide Conference

We are pleased have received word that our presentation "Supporting effective use through a technology stewardship model" accepted at the PPDD 2015 conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.  

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.

Communications Policy South, Taiwan

The paper, "Technology Stewarding method for Knowledge Mobilizationin Agriculture Communities of Practice", authors: Nuwan Waidyanatha , Gordon Gow , Chandana Jayathilake , Timothy Barlott , Helen Hambly, and Mahmuda Anwar; was presented at CPRsouth2015 in Taipei, Taiwan. The event was hosted by Innovation Center for Big Data and Digital Convergence, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan.

Abstract presentation at KDU-IRC 2015 in Colombo

I was glad to present an abstract on our partnership development project in the 8th International Research Conference at the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Colombo, Sri Lanka on 28^th August 2015.
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".

watch on you tube

Project presentation at IAMCR 2015 in Montreal

I was pleased to debut a short film about our partnership development project at the International Association of Media and Communication Researchers (IAMCR) 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.

I'd like to extend my thanks to Ranmalee Gamage and the Dinesh Gunaratne from Skitworks for their contributions to the video.  Nuwan Waidyanatha also played an important role in coordinating the conversation as we planned and edited the video.

Presentation notes - 7th International Conference on Communities and Technologies

I 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, previously posted by Gordon. This paper focused on our technology stewardship model for inclusive innovation.

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. 

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 "what happens if you develop highly capable tech steward, but then they leave?" Though critical, there was an overall positive reception to the presentation, the project and technology stewardship. 

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.  

Would be nice to work towards a full paper at this conference next year. 

Scanvenger Hunts in Techology Steward Training

Gonzales, Fiesler, and Bruckman [1] had studied the choice of technology with communities engaging in a scavenger hunt. Spreadsheets and Word documents were favoured over specialized applications. Simple low-cost solutions are easier to replicate.

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.

[1] Joseph A. Gonzales, Casey Fiesler, Amy S. Bruckman (2015). Towards an Appropriate CSCW Tool Ecology: Lessons from the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen, Computer Supported Collaborative Work (#cscw205), Vancouver, Canada.

Work-in-Progress Paper presented at 7th International Conference on Communities and Technologies in Limerick

Today, team member Tim Barlott will present a work-in-progress paper at the 7th International Conference on Communities and Technologies in Limerick, Ireland.

We wish Tim lots of luck at the conference!

A copy of the paper is available here.

Sri Lankan side expressed interest in learning from the experience of Bangladesh in Community Radio!

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!