Collaborative Research: Research on Information and Communication Technologies in the Educational and Research Communities of Kenya, Ghana, and Kerala

合作研究：肯尼亚、加纳和喀拉拉邦教育和研究界的信息和通信技术研究

• 批准号: 1025481
• 负责人: Wesley Shrum
• 金额: $ 52.81万
• 依托单位: Louisiana State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-09-01 至 2016-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1025481&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Information; Communication; Technologies

This research tracks the impact of new media in the educational and research systems of three low-income countries: Kenya, Ghana, and Kerala (India). A fundamental question in studies of science and technology is the extent to which new technologies are associated with shifts in the structure of social ties. The principal objective of this project is to understand the impact of information and communications technology on the process of networking and knowledge generation, broadly conceived to cover research in traditional institutions such as universities and government research institutes as well as educators and professionals in other institutions. To address this issue, three main data collection activities are employed including: (1) a survey of scientists in the primary research and educational institutions within the capital regions, (2) focused qualitative and quantitative interviews on mobile phones among professionals and educators, and (3) video ethnography of a subset of these scientists and professionals, including scientists first interviewed in 1994. By employing these methods, this research sheds light on questions related to social connectivity and development, arising in debates surrounding the diffusion and use of communication technologies. The key intellectual questions examined include: (1) Why do most scientists have smaller international networks and why do women scientists, in particular, have fewer contacts locally even with greater access to the Internet? (2) Is the increase in Kenyan core networks found in previous studies a temporary phenomenon, owing to the adoption of mobile phones, or is this new technology fundamentally changing communication in sub-Saharan Africa? (3) Are these changes in networks associated with use of mobile phones also occurring in Ghana? (4) Does the use of mobiles? Squeeze out? The Internet, such that time and resources are spent on a technology that is primarily for local communication, with a consequent reduction in international linkages?This project has several broader impacts: (1) providing opportunities for involvement of both faculty and students from major academic institutions in the five main project locations (Baton Rouge, River Falls, Nairobi, Accra, Thiruvananthapuram). This project also provides the opportunity for an expanded set of participating institutions, through the involvement of the University of Wisconsin, River Falls. In this way, the project will create a collaborative network for strengthening multi-institutional, international research and developing a long-term program trajectory focused on an emerging global phenomenon, the development and diffusion of information and communications technology; (2) extending the established, collaborative opportunities created in the PI's previous work to a broader network of researchers concerned with the study of science, technology, and development, e.g. the interest group formed at the 2008 meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science in Rotterdam. This project is poised to serve as a key node in this emergent network not just through communications but by hosting other scholars who wish to study these issues in Africa and India; (3) creating and improving the understanding of the relationship between technological and social change in the long term, by presenting the results in conferences and refereed journals and assisting in the organization of policy forums; (4) reaching beyond academic and policy audiences through video ethnography (our group produced two movies shown at the World Summit on the Information Society; and (5) providing results directly to the leaders of the scientific research systems in Ghana, Kenya, and Kerala.

这项研究跟踪了新媒体在三个低收入国家的教育和研究系统中的影响：肯尼亚，加纳和喀拉拉邦（印度）。 科学和技术研究中的一个基本问题是新技术与社会关系结构的转变相关的程度。 该项目的主要目的是了解信息和通信技术对网络和知识产生过程的影响，以涵盖大学和政府研究机构等传统机构的研究以及其他机构的教育工作者和专业人士。为了解决这个问题，采用了三项主要数据收集活动，包括：（1）对资本区域内主要研究和教育机构中的科学家进行的调查，（（2）针对专业人士和教育者手机手机的定性和定量访谈，以及（3）这些科学家和专业人士的访谈，包括1994年对这些研究的研究，包括这些科学家的访谈，并采用这些研究的研究，并采用这些研究，并采用了这些研究，并采用这些研究，并采用这些研究，并采用了这些研究，该方法是在1994年进行的。在围绕传播技术扩散和使用的辩论中引起。 所检查的关键知识问题包括：（1）为什么大多数科学家的国际网络较小，为什么女性科学家在当地的联系更少，即使访问互联网也更少？ （2）在以前的研究中发现肯尼亚核心网络的增加是由于采用了手机，还是这种新技术在撒哈拉以南非洲的沟通根本改变了？ （3）在加纳的网络中，这些网络中是否还会发生使用手机？ （4）使用手机吗？挤出？互联网，使得时间和资源花在了主要用于本地交流的技术上，随之而来的是国际联系？该项目具有更广泛的影响：（1）为教职员工和来自五个主要项目地点的主要学术机构的学生提供机会，并提供了机会。该项目还通过威斯康星大学河瀑布（River Falls）参与，为扩大的参与机构提供了机会。通过这种方式，该项目将建立一个协作网络，用于加强多机构，国际研究并开发长期计划轨迹，重点是新兴的全球现象，信息和通信技术的发展和扩散； （2）将PI先前工作中建立的合作机会扩展到有关科学，技术和发展研究的更广泛的研究人员网络，例如兴趣小组在鹿特丹社会科学学会2008会议上成立。该项目不仅通过通信，而且通过托管其他希望在非洲和印度研究这些问题的学者来充当这个新兴网络的关键节点。 （3）从长远来看，通过介绍会议和指导期刊的结果并协助组织政策论坛的组织，从而建立和改善对技术与社会变革之间关系的理解； （4）通过视频民族志能够超越学术和政策受众（我们的小组在世界信息社会的世界峰会上显示了两部电影；（5）直接向加纳，肯尼亚和喀拉拉邦的科学研究系统的领导者提供结果。