January 2010 - change - Mailing Lists

Reminder: iWorld Panel on International Careers in Information Science
by Melody Clark 24 Jan '10

24 Jan '10

Hello! Just a quick reminder about *Tuesday evening's event at 6pm (all details below)*. See you there! iWorld *Details:* iWorld is hosting a panel of professionals working in information science in an international context on January 26, 2010 at 6pm. Join us for engaging conversation, insights into working with international populations and internationally, and yummy snacks and refreshments! *When:* Tuesday, January 26, 2010 from 6pm-7:30pm *Where: *Mary Gates Hall (MGH) 420 *Why:* You are considering a career in an international context, either working here in the States or abroad *What:* Engaging dialogue, refreshments, and fun, interesting people! *Who is on the panel: * *Darren Hoerner:* Darren Hoerner is a program officer in the Global Libraries (GL) initiative at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In this role, Darren spearheads the exploration of opportunities for partnerships in Africa and the Middle East. He also manages a current grant in Botswana to improve people’s lives through increasing access to information technology in public libraries. Darren is also working on numerous grants to support and encourage young leaders, innovation, and training of librarians in the information professions internationally. Darren joined the foundation in 1997 to provide research and analysis for a program that connected 11,000 public libraries in the United States to the Internet. He holds a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Washington. * Ricardo Gomez:* *Ricardo Gomez is Assistant Professor at University of Washington's Information School. He specializes in the social impacts of communication technologies, especially in community development settings. He is also interested in qualitative research methods, and in group facilitation and process design. He seeks creative ways to communicate complex ideas and research results in everyday language. He has worked with private, public and non-profit sectors around the world, with a particular focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. Before joining the University of Washington he worked with Microsoft Community Affairs, and with the International Development Research Center in Canada. He holds an MA from Université du Québec à Montréal (1992) and a Ph.D. from Cornell University (1997).* *Valerie Wonder: *Valerie Wonder is a librarian at The Seattle Public Library with many years of experience working with immigrants and refugees in Washington State. Valerie spent three years as Immigrant and Refugee Program Manager at the library, prior to which she worked as Community Programs Manager at the International Rescue Committee. Valerie has done capacity building and training in libraries throughout the United States and Africa, first as a trainer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, later as a volunteer for the World Library Partnership and the Peace Corps, and most recently as a consultant for U.S. Embassies in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. Valerie received her masters degrees in Library and Information Science and Public Administration from the University of Washington. *Questions?:* Contact Melody Clark at melclark(a)uw.edu<melody.r.clark(a)gmail.com>or 206.303.7910 See you there! iWorld -- Melody Clark MLIS Candidate 2010 - University of Washington Gates Foundation Global Libraries Graduate Research Assistant Getty Images Search Intern ALISS Co-President 2009-2010 iWorld Co-Chair 2009-2010 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: mobile: 206.303.7910 email: melody.r.clark(a)gmail.com or melclark(a)u.washington.edu

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Richard Anderson on Building an ICT Portfolio at PATH
by Yaw Anokwa 23 Jan '10

23 Jan '10

This Thursday at Change, UW CSE professor Richard Anderson will presenting on his work building an ICT Portfolio at PATH. PATH is a Seattle based NGO with the mission to “improve the health of people around the world by: advancing technologies, strengthening systems, and encouraging healthy behaviors”. Richard is spending his sabbatical working with PATH as part of their nascent effort in Health Information Systems. In this talk, he will provide an overview of projects that are underway. These include developing a device for communication with rural health clinics, using cell phones for tracking TB cases in Tanzania, building a software application for modeling national scale vaccine refrigeration capacity, and creating a framework for deriving requirements for global health information systems. Richard will also describe what he learned about the Nicaraguan public health system in a recent visit, focusing on how the existing information flows might be made more efficient with improved communication technologies. What: Richard Anderson on Building an ICT Portfolio at PATH When: Thursday, January 21 at Noon Where: UW, Paul Allen Center, Room 203

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Carnegie Mellon Qatar and Asian University for Women are Hiring
by Yaw Anokwa 23 Jan '10

23 Jan '10

Carnegie Mellon University's Qatar Campus is hiring CS professors, and the Asian University for Women (a newly established institution in Bangladesh) is looking for Undergraduate Faculty and Visiting Faculty on Sabbatical. Both have interests in graduates with a background in ICTD. http://www.qatar.cmu.edu/cs/positions http://www.asian-university.org/careersAtAUW/teaching.htm

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CFP: Bridging Digital Divides through Mobile and Ubiquitous technology: Experiences and Perspectives
by Yaw Anokwa 19 Jan '10

19 Jan '10

***Call for Journal Papers: Special Issue of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, Springer Bridging Digital Divides through Mobile and Ubiquitous technology: Experiences and Perspectives Editors Matt Jones, Swansea University, UK Gary Marsden, University of Cape Town, South Africa Lucia Terrenghi, Vodafone GROUP Services R&D, Germany Synopsis Ubicomp – everywhere, everybody technology and systems. But are we really fully exploring inclusive visions? Is the full potential of mobile and ubicomp technology for everyone or only the relatively affluent? The research community's work to date has been focused on the so-called 'developed' world – contexts where there are already well-established technical infrastructures and digital resources. These contexts have users who are relatively highly computer literate, typically have high degrees of textual literacy and have undergone a formal education. Examples include sophisticated 'smart' homes with digital noticeboards and even interactive fridge doors (Taylor et al, 2007); embedded technologies for amusement parks (Schnädelbach et al, 2008); and, cities and urban dwellers with time to, "marvel at mundane everyday experiences and objects that evoke mystery, doubt, and uncertainty. How many newspapers has that person sold today? When was that bus last repaired? How far have I walked today? How many people have ever sat on that bench? Does that woman own a cat? Did a child or adult spit that gum onto the sidewalk?" (Paulos & Beckmann 2006). This Special Issue is about the billions of people who do not fit these sorts of context. There are hundreds of millions of users, and billions to come in the next 5 years, in places like India, China and Africa, whose first, and perhaps only, experience of computing will be in the form of mobile and other ubicomp technologies. Many of these users will never live in the sorts of home, or work in the types of office, or daydream in the parks, or take a day-off for the sorts of amusement park envisaged by earlier research. But it is not just 'developing' countries. What about the marginalised in our 'developed' world – the urban poor, the ill-educated, the homeless, the computer non-literate; i.e. those without access to what many of us take as essential digital infrastructure? We invite contributions considering these contexts too. Topics which are relevant for this issue include, although are not limited to: -elicitation of requirements in these new, challenging contexts (methodologies, results…) -case-study descriptions of projects aiming at bridging digital divides: we want to learn about successes, failures and lessons learned -mobile and ubicomp guidelines and/or manifestos for marginalised communities (e.g., rural areas, developing countries, elderly people, disabled people) -interface and interaction issues -devices and infrastructure -examples of appropriation of a mobile or ubicomp technology in a community previously unconnected -examples/ideas about how to sensitize social responsibility in the networked society (e.g., recycling hardware, stimulating social networks…) Submission details Submissions should be between 4000 and 6000 words and authors are encouraged to use the Springer guidelines for authors, available at ftp://ftp.springer.de/pub/Word/journals. Submission in pdf electronic format should be emailed to gaz(a)acm.org Important dates 12th March: deadline for full paper submission 31st May: notification from reviewers 2nd July: Submission of final papers December: Final publication of special edition Reviewing Committee: Russell Beale, University of Birmingham Jan Blom, Nokia Research, Bangalore Stephen Brewster, Glasgow University Abigail Sellen, Microsoft Research, Cambridge, UK Andy Dearden, Sheffield Hallam University, UK Ann Light, Sheffield Hallam University, UK Anxo Cereijo-Roibas, Vodafone GROUP Services, UK Derrick L. Cogburn, Syracuse University, USA Edwin Blake, University of Cape Town, South Africa Eli Blevis, University of Indiana, USA Ingrid Mulder, TU DElft. Keith Cheverst, Lancaster University, UK Mike Best, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA Nic Bidwell, James Cook University, Australia Pan Hui, Deutsche Telekom Laboratories, Germany Jussi Impio, Nokia Research Africa Tim Kindberg, Matter 2 Media Amit A Nanavati, IBM Research, New Delhi Yvonne Rogers, Open University, UK. Kentaro Toyama, Microsoft Research, India Jonathan Donner, Microsoft Research Matthew Kam, CMU Susan Dray, Dray & Associates Sriram Subramanian, University of Bristol References Paulos, E. and Beckmann, C. 2006. Sashay: designing for wonderment. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Montréal, Québec, Canada, April 22 - 27, 2006). R. Grinter, T. Rodden, P. Aoki, E. Cutrell, R. Jeffries, and G. Olson, Eds. CHI '06. ACM, New York, NY, 881- 884. Schnädelbach, H., Rennick Egglestone, S., Reeves, S., Benford, S., Walker, B., and Wright, M. 2008. Performing thrill: designing telemetry systems and spectator interfaces for amusement rides. In Proceeding of the Twenty-Sixth Annual SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Florence, Italy, April 05 - 10, 2008). CHI '08. ACM, New York, NY, 1167-1176. Taylor, A. S., Harper, R., Swan, L., Izadi, S., Sellen, A., and Perry, M. 2007. Homes that make us smart. Personal Ubiquitous Comput. 11, 5 (Jun. 2007), 383-393.

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ICTD 2010 Call for Papers and Sessions
by Yaw Anokwa 19 Jan '10

19 Jan '10

Welcome to ICTD2010 – one of the most exciting ICT4D-related events of 2010. CALLS FOR PAPERS AND SESSIONS NOW AVAILABLE The conference is the latest in the series of highly successful international ICTD conferences held in Doha (2009), Bangalore (2007) and Berkeley (2006). It aims to provide a forum for researchers, practitioners and all those with interests in the use of information and communication technologies in development practice to meet to discuss the latest research advances in the field. Building on the success of its predecessors, ICTD2010 will combine two days of plenary peer-reviewed paper sessions, with two days of workshops, panel sessions, discussion forums, demos and sessions in both Spanish and French. A particular feature will be the opportunity that it will provide for participatory involvement from people from a diversity of backgrounds. ICTD2010 is being hosted by the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D and the multidisciplinary ICT4D Research Centre at Royal Holloway, University of London’s magnificent campus situated only 20 minutes from London’s Heathrow airport. Key Dates: Registration opens 15th April 2010; early registration deadline 15th September 2010; registration will close on 30th November 2010 Calls for Papers (http://www.ictd2010.org/?page_id=93) and Workshop Sessions (http://www.ictd2010.org/?page_id=118) are now open; deadline 2nd April 2010; decisions on acceptance should be available by 11th June 2010

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iWorld Panel: International Careers in Library and Information Sciences
by Yaw Anokwa 16 Jan '10

16 Jan '10

iWorld is hosting a panel of professionals working in information science in an international context on January 26, 2010 at 6pm. Join them for engaging conversation, insights into working with international populations and internationally, and yummy snacks and refreshments! When: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 from 6pm-7:30pm Where: Mary Gates Hall (MGH) 420 Why: You are considering a career in an international context, either working here in the States or abroad Who is on the panel: Darren Hoerner: Darren Hoerner is a program officer in the Global Libraries (GL) initiative at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In this role, Darren spearheads the exploration of opportunities for partnerships in Africa and the Middle East. He also manages a current grant in Botswana to improve people’s lives through increasing access to information technology in public libraries. Darren is also working on numerous grants to support and encourage young leaders, innovation, and training of librarians internationally. Darren joined the foundation in 1997 to provide research and analysis for a program that connected 11,000 public libraries in the United States to the Internet. He holds a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Washington. Ricardo Gomez: Ricardo Gomez is Assistant Professor at University of Washington's Information School. He specializes in the social impacts of communication technologies, especially in community development settings. He is also interested in qualitative research methods, and in group facilitation and process design. He seeks creative ways to communicate complex ideas and research results in everyday language. He has worked with private, public and non-profit sectors around the world, with a particular focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. Before joining the University of Washington he worked with Microsoft Community Affairs, and with the International Development Research Center in Canada. He holds an MA from Université du Québec à Montréal (1992) and a Ph.D. from Cornell University (1997). Valerie Wonder: Valerie Wonder is a librarian at The Seattle Public Library with many years of experience working with immigrants and refugees in Washington State. Valerie spent three years as Immigrant and Refugee Program Manager at the library, prior to which she worked as Community Programs Manager at the International Rescue Committee. Valerie has done capacity building and training in libraries throughout the United States and Africa, first as a trainer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, later as a volunteer for the World Library Partnership and the Peace Corps, and most recently as a consultant for U.S. Embassies in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. Valerie received her masters degrees in Library and Information Science and Public Administration from the University of Washington. Questions?: Contact Melody Clark at melody.r.clark(a)gmail.com or 206.303.7910 What: Engaging dialogue, refreshments, and fun, interesting people!

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iSchool Research Conversations - 'Evaluating outcomes and impacts of public access ICTs', Speaker: Shaun Pather
by Yaw Anokwa 15 Jan '10

15 Jan '10

this sounds like a very relevant talk from our friends at the ischool. i've added it to the change calendar. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Madeline Sanabria <mms2(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 12:06 Subject: [dub] iSchool Research Conversations - 'Evaluating outcomes and impacts of public access ICTs', Speaker: Shaun Pather *FOOD WILL BE PROVIDED. PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN DRINK.* WHEN: Monday, January 25, 2010, 12:00-1:20pm WHERE: Mary Gates Hall 420 TITLE : Evaluating outcomes and impacts of public access ICTs Over the years business researchers have been challenged in their quest to develop evaluation models and instruments to evaluate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) effectiveness. In the current era in which ICT4D (ICT for Development) has been firmly entrenched in the social and development agenda, researchers have been confronted with the same challenge. In this presentation Dr. Pather will reflect on the Information Systems evaluation literature; discuss an investigation, in which we designed a study to evaluate socio economic outcomes of a national programme of community based telecentres in South Africa; and lastly examine some of the challenges faced in the ICT4D evaluation arena with a view to frame critical areas for this research agenda. QUESTIONS 1. Which extant theories and models are adaptable to the ICT4D evaluation context? 2. Are causal paradigms for evaluation useful in this context? 3. What are the most suitable approaches and methods, including those developed within programme-evaluation research paradigms, to evaluate outcomes and impacts facilitated through ICTs in a developmental context? OBJECTIVES The objective of this presentation is to : * provide an overview of the context and environment of ICT4D in a (semi) developing country, using South Africa as an example; * further the discourse on ICT4D evaluation, and seek directions for the refinement and progress of my research agenda. * harness the wealth of experience of i-Schoolers in this area, drawing especially on work being done in similar projects (e.g. global impact study, landscape study, us impact study) and thus entrench the basis for future North-South research collaboration. BIO Shaun Pather is an Associate Professor of Informatics in the Faculty of Informatics & Design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa and a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Information School, University of Washington (2009-2010). Shaun has over twenty years of experience in the public and private education and training environment and joined academe as a Lecturer of Information Systems in 1996. His post graduate qualifications include a Doctoral degree in Information Technology, and a Masters degree in Public Administration. His research has focused on the evaluation of Information Systems (IS) effectiveness, particularly within e-Commerce, e-Government and other web enabled contexts. He has developed models for evaluating e-Commerce success, and also has an interest in the application of e-Service Quality evaluation. Shaun has also extended his interest in IS evaluation into practical community engagement and Information Society issues, centered around societal upliftment facilitated by ICT's. He has published several articles, conference papers, book chapters and technical reports on both the former and latter. In pursuance of his research goals, Shaun has led several projects with partners i! n both the private and public sector. Shaun also serves on several conference committees, and the editorial boards of the Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation (as editor), Journal of Community Informatics and the International Journal of ICT Research and Development in Africa. Shaun has a rich history of association with civic, NGOs and the public sector in South Africa and is a board member of the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA).

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poverty action lab is hiring
by Yaw Anokwa 15 Jan '10

15 Jan '10

the poverty action lab out of mit is a group does a lot of evidence based approaches to development. their core activities are: 1. running randomized trials of specific policies and programs to generate evidence about what works; 2. building the capacity of others to run randomized trials further expanding the evidence base on which policy makers can act; 3. disseminating the results of high quality randomized evaluations carried out by j-pal’s and others to policymakers and drawing out general lessons. they are now accepting applications for positions starting in late spring/early summer 2010, as well as for immediate openings. if you have an econ background, you might be a good fit.

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Nokia's Growth Economy Venture Challenge
by Yaw Anokwa 14 Jan '10

14 Jan '10

Nokia announced a million dollar venture challenge to encourage innovators to create a mobile product or service aimed at benefiting populations in developing countries. Named Growth Economy Venture Challenge, Nokia’s latest challenge is part of Nokia’s global Calling All Innovators competition announced on January 7 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). According to Nokia CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, mobile solutions can be profitable and not exploitive in the same time for both innovators and consumers. Growth economies are able now more than ever to enjoy further growth given the mobility available to enhance the lives of consumers and further technology investments will focus on the developing market, as opposed to the saturated ones. “We’ve seen what the tech community can do when it focuses on problems that are also opportunities. We want to channel that energy toward improving lives in the developing world”, Kallasvuo said. Any submissions dedicated to boost the target growth economy and provide a potential return on investment will be considered, including software, hardware, mobile and Internet adoption and beyond mobile phones. The contest is not limited to solutions that use a Nokia device or software platform, explained Kallasvuo, citing several solutions and projects developed for growing economies, such as Nokia Life Tools and Nokia Tej. Nokia’s projects can be viewed at http://theprogressproject.com/. The million dollars will be awarded in June 2010 to the contestant with the best idea, as decided by judges from Nokia Growth Partners, Nokia’s venture arm, and Forum Nokia, Nokia’s organization dedicated to 3rd party developers and other innovators. Also, ten finalists will have the chance to present their business models to Nokia business people and private venture capitalists in order to receive guidance and possible funding. Submissions are open until April 18 at www.callingallinnovators.com and all finalists will be announced by May 2010. Through Nokia Growth Partners and Forum Nokia, Nokia offers developers and innovators potential funding, expert technical support and marketing programs designed to assist and promote third party activities on Nokia platforms. Nokia Growth Partners is a leading global growth stage venture firm focused on mobile technology, services and media. Nokia’s global developer program, Forum Nokia connects developers to tools, technical information, support, and distribution channels they can use to build and market applications around the globe. Nokia is the world’s leading maker of mobile devices. The company also provides digital map information through NAVTEQ and equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.

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Brian DeRenzi on eIMCI and CommCare
by Yaw Anokwa 11 Jan '10

11 Jan '10

This Thursday at Change, Brian DeRenzi will be discussing his work using mobile phone as job aids for healthcare workers in Tanzania. "Mobile phones and devices are rapidly becoming Ubiquitous in low-resource regions of the world. I will be talking about two different projects I have been involved with in Tanzania that use mobile phones as job aids for people working in health related fields. The first, e-IMCI is a project for health workers in facility to assist with the IMCI protocol. The application guides health workers through a decision tree for the treatment of common ailments of childhood health. A small initial study in 2007 found that users were more likely to follow the protocol when using the e-IMCI software. The second project, CommCare, is an application that runs on mobile phones to help support community health workers (CHWs). The goal of the project is to provide a tool that CHWs can use to help manage their household and data collection needs. The phone also provides a way to complete the feedback loop by sending information back to CHWs instead of making it a one way street. I will be discussing some of the open-ended challenges with these projects as well as presenting preliminary results. While I will have slides prepared, this will be an informal talk to introduce two projects we are doing in the mobile health space, with the hopes of spurring more discussion." What: Brian DeRenzi on eIMCI and CommCare When: Thursday, January 14 at Noon Where: UW, Paul Allen Center, Room 203

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