Maria Garrido presented an outstanding TASCHA Talk on Monday on the role of ICT in the revolution in Egypt. It’s easy to get hooked on the news narrative that made events in Iran and Egypt “Twitter Revolutions,” however Maria and her team were emphatic that such a narrative overemphasizes the role of technology. The technology [...]
March 26: From a Facebook event to a Social Movement: The trajectory of the April 6th youth movement and the revolution in Egypt
This TASCHA Talk, in conjunction with the iSchool Research Conversation series, examines the different uses of information and communication technology (ICT) tools in the trajectory and evolution of the April 6th Youth Movement in Egypt which evolved into a broad social movement, providing a powerful narrative for social struggle as well as innovative strategies for collective action and mobilization, garnering a broad level of support that crystallized around the January 2011 protests.
Public access venues provide first experience with computers and Internet for many
Do you remember where you first used a computer? Where you first used the Internet? School, work, maybe even at home? Findings from our user survey indicate that, with the exception of Brazil, around half of public access ICT users first used a computer at a public access venue, such as a cybercafe, telecenter, or library. More impressive is that between 55%-75% of users first used the Internet in a public access venue, even in Chile, where connectivity is high. In Brazil, with the lowest percentages, over a third of users first used a computer and the Internet at a public access venue. This data illustrates that public access venues provide many people with their first opportunity to enter the digital age and gain experience with computers and the Internet.
Survey instruments available
We are pleased to announce that our survey instruments are now available for download and use. As part of our open research approach, we have released the survey instruments, corresponding survey codebooks, and the methodology report for other organizations and research projects to use and adapt for public access ICT survey needs. The user, venue, and non-user survey instruments and codebooks are available for download in our web library. Free registration and sign-in is required for instrument and codebook downloads. The methodology report can also be found in the web library.
Aggregating Election Social Media to Prevent Conflict
Mike Best and his team at Georgia Tech have designed a real-time election monitoring tool that aggregates social media content from about 20 different sources, including Twitter, Facebook, Ushahidi, blogs, and SMS messages.
