[p2p-research] Fwd: The Drum Beat 490 - Virtual Change, Part I

[Michel Bauwens]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: The Drum Beat <drumbeat at comminit.com>
Date: Sat, May 2, 2009 at 9:14 AM
Subject: The Drum Beat 490 - Virtual Change, Part I
To: michelsub2004 at gmail.com



The Drum Beat - Issue 490 - Virtual Change, Part I
May 4 2009


>From The Communication Initiative Network - where communication and media
are central to social and economic development.

Subscribe to The Drum Beat: http://www.comminit.com/en/user/register
Access this issue online at http://www.comminit.com/en/drum_beat_490.html

Drum Beat Subscribers: 44,150
CI Portal User Sessions, past 12 months: 2,799,126


===


Since the early 1990s, information and communication technology (ICT) has
increasingly been used - in increasingly diverse ways - to accelerate and
improve development action around the world. Members of the international
social change community have proceeded with great hope to integrate ICTs
into their efforts to enable the exchange, processing, and management of
information and knowledge. Numerous case studies have explored myriad
examples of these intersections, such as fishermen and women obtaining
up-to-the-minute information on market prices for their catches and women
entrepreneurs setting up rural internet kiosks powered by local energy
sources such as wind and water mills.

Thirty years later, the question examined in a February 2009 paper, written
by Warren Feek of The Communication Initiative and published by FAO's
Research and Extension Division, Natural Resources and Environment
Department, is this: how do we measure the impact of ICT-based interventions
and within which framework would those indicators work? "Virtual Change:
Indicators for Assessing the Impact of ICTs in Development Research and
Extension Division" extends a series of core communication indicators for
assessing the impact of activities and projects using ICTs for development
and suggests appropriate evaluation methodologies for each indicator.

This issue of the Drum Beat is the first part of a two-part series. It draws
out some of the key elements of "Virtual Change: Indicators for Assessing
the Impact of ICTs in Development Research and Extension Division". To
access the full document [PDF], see:
http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?cimo=1&r=ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0494e/i0494e.pdf

A summary of the document may be accessed within our Strategic Thinking
section at this URL: http://www.comminit.com/en/node/287128/307

We ask for your help in creating Part II, to be published next week. Please
send us examples of ICT for development (ICT4D) impact, which illustrate one
or more of the indicators you will read about below. Relevant submissions
will make an appearance in Part II (as space allows), along with other
examples from your peers and from The CI knowledge sections. Send details to
drumbeat at comminit.com


===


The Drum Beat 490 contains:
* CONTEXT: ICT indicators.
* All of The CI's ICT4D knowledge in one place - the ICT4D THEME SITE.
* Vote in a POLL on e-health research and development.
* Understanding THE INDICATORS.
* Become a CI ASSOCIATE!
* Intersections and CONCLUSIONS.
* INVITATION: Send us your ICT impact examples!


===


BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: INDICATORS FOR ICT IMPACT


1.      The Challenge
"...substantial resources have flowed from the international development
community to support expansion of access to new technologies in financially
poor countries and more extensive use of those technologies for improved
development impact. But how...can we demonstrate that the efforts of a
farmer or any of their peers around the world developing equally creative
initiatives, have not been for nought? Accurate measurement requires
'astute' indicators. Which indicators (the small bits from the big picture)
will produce the sharpest information regarding the overall contribution
(positive, negative or neutral) of ICTs on development status?...The paper
is based on a short desk study; there is no original research. It draws from
the practice and thinking already in circulation, looks at the information
and analysis and produces a set of indicators that can be justified by
experience and argument." ["Virtual Change," pages 1-2]


2.      The Data
"The task of defining core indicators to demonstrate the impact of ICT
interventions on overall development status would be greatly eased by the
availability of quality data - quantitative and qualitative. Such data is
difficult to find even in the most advanced technology countries....This
study shows that, even in the multi-billion dollar world of eHealth in the
most sophisticated technology country in the world, there is scant data and
what data there is, is considered unreliable. It is therefore not surprising
that there is little reliable data evaluating the application of ICTs to
thorny development issues such as rural poverty, gender equity and
HIV/AIDS....Most of the documents reviewed for this paper could best be
characterized as opinion pieces or personal perspectives and testimonies..."
["Virtual Change," pages 2-3]


3.      The Rationale
"...ICTs...are simply tools. There is nothing inherent in the new
technologies that prompts positive development....Even the one-to-one and
many-to-many interactive capacities of the new technologies, which many cite
as providing an essential positive dynamic for development, can be misused
for other purposes. It is insufficient to measure, for example, household or
village access to the Internet as a predictor of positive future social and
economic progress. What if the headman in the village or the senior male in
the family monopolizes use and information flow?" ["Virtual Change," page 3]


4.      Schools of Thought
Warren Feek lays the groundwork for his series of indicators, exploring 2
schools of thought: FAO's Participatory Rural Communication Appraisal
approach, and the communication for social change strategic thinking
facilitated by The Rockefeller Foundation. He provides 3 main reasons for
choosing these models:

  a. Both the change models and their strategic thinking derive from a
combination of experiences of communication for development practitioners
and of research and evaluation data.
  b. Both approaches share an emphasis on community engagement and
management, participation, empowerment, local capacities, ownership, and
negotiation between vested interest groups.
  c. Communication for Social Change is a comparatively recent theoretical
and strategic approach to communication for development, while the
Participatory Rural Communication Appraisal approach is drawn from the
long-standing participatory rural appraisal strategies. "This combination of
new and established thinking provides a credible lens."
["Virtual Change," page 4]


* Related summaries from The CI website:

Participatory Rural Communication Appraisal (PRCA)
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/201222/307

Evaluating Social Change and Communication For Social Change: New
Perspectives
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/286700

Monitoring and Indicators for Communication for Development
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/71216

Measuring and Evaluating Communication for Social Change
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/1849

Can New Technology Promote Dialogue?
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/275322/307


===


You will find a rich array of ICT for Development materials on our dedicated
theme site - http://www.comminit.com/en/ict4d.html - where you may also
contribute to various debates through our poll.

If you'd like to receive our bimonthly ICT4D mailing, please email
it4d at comminit.com with your request.


===


Please VOTE in our current ICT4D Poll:

In what direction should current e-Health research and technical development
go?

Direction:
* Diagnosing through mobile phones.
* Certifying phone services as coming from authentic health providers.
* Building a menu of types of health providers (e.g., MD, traditional,
clinic, pharmacy) into mobiles.
* Linking remote clinics with specialists.
* Linking communities in "the last mile" with hospital or clinic diagnosis
and care centres.

VOTE and COMMENT at http://www.comminit.com/en/node/288646/307


===


THE INDICATORS


5.      Criteria for Indicator Selection
"The basic requirement is to establish a connection between a given
development intervention (e.g. increased internet access) and changes in the
area of development in question (e.g. improved governance)....Secondly,
there is a need to link a specific strategy to specific outcomes within the
overall issue being addressed." With these demands in mind, Feek has
identified a series of indicators based on the 2 aforementioned overall
social change development strategies, which he states have proven impact. He
stresses that they are informed (and reinforced) by the perspectives
emerging from the ICT evaluation literature. They also provide short-term
measurements that predict long-term change, are simple and practical, and
are applicable across the full range of development contexts. ["Virtual
Change," page 8]


6.      The 18 indicators may be grouped as follows:

I.      Holistic dialogue: "If there is no dialogue there is no
development....From a development perspective, holistic refers to a full and
varied assessment of both the situation and the options for action, from a
range of perspectives..." ["Virtual Change," pages 9-10] Feek's review of
the literature reveals 3 ways in which ICT has the potential to greatly
expand dialogue: a) ICTs can serve as a community meeting space for feedback
and permanent learning, one where two-way and horizontal communication can
take place with few intermediaries. b) ICTs can function as an efficient
means of knowledge sharing. c) ICTs ensure that anyone can access the
information and contribute to the dialogue from anywhere.

Indicators:
i. The ICTs are increasingly used for dialogue and debate.

ii. Policy and programme knowledge is increasingly communicated through the
ICTs.

iii. There are increased levels of access to the ICT processes.


II.     Community and individual voice: "When major development successes
are assessed, there is a clear correlation between the prominence of the
voices of those most affected by the issues in question and the
effectiveness of the action....Specific groups of people, those most often
marginalized both in communities and in the development process, are
highlighted as being vital to engage for effective use of ICTs." ["Virtual
Change," pages 13-14]

Indicators:
iv. The opinions and ideas expressed through ICT channels are increasingly
those of the people most affected by development issues in any given
context.

v. The people most affected by development issues in any given context
increasingly dominate the physical use of the ICTs.

vi. Technical experts on ICT for development increasingly respond to and
implement the technical requirements voiced by those most affected.


III.    Participatory decision-making: "Lack of involvement of the people
most affected is a consistent failing in development programming....The
added value of ICTs for enhancing the engagement of the people most affected
in decision-making about action on the issues that most concern them is
reflected in the ICT literature at two levels: decision-making about the
priority use and development of the ICTs themselves; and using the ICTs to
engage more people centrally affected by development issues in overall
decision-making processes." ["Virtual Change," pages 15-17]

Indicators:
vii. A minimum of 40% of the people involved in the management are directly
affected by the development issues that the ICTs being mobilised are
designed to address.

viii. There are x (the number inserted here depends on the scale and nature
of the programme being evaluated) examples in the last 12 months of the use
of the ICTs for engaging people directly affected by development issues in
overall programme management and/or policy development.


IV.     Building communication platforms: "The approach to development
projects by donors and international agencies is predominantly narrow;
projects are designed to address particular issues....The platform approach
takes an entirely different communication tack. Rather than attempting to
directly and discretely address an issue, a communication platform
seeks...to: Provide a general communication base that allows for
consideration of and action on a full range of development issues...[and]
Provide, communicate and facilitate the essential information that people
and organizations require to be more effective in their work..." Feek
indicates that researchers, commentators, and policy analysts agree that
"the new ICTs provide an excellent means to operationalize" these platforms
when it comes to: sharing knowledge, developing communication processes
within the institutions, establishing the "spaces" to communicate, and
recognising the strongest characteristics of each communica!
 tion medium." ["Virtual Change," pages 19-20]

Indicators:
ix. The ICTs are increasingly used to draw relationships between different
development issues.

x. The ICTs are increasingly used as a communication platform to identify
and negotiate the specific strategic and technical support that development
organisations require.

xi. The ICTs are increasingly used as the source for the core information
needed to better inform individual development activities.

xii. The ICTs are increasingly used as the gathering point for like-focused
organisations and groups.


V.      Change symbols: "symbols and images that serve the very powerful
purposes of highlighting the 'cause', embodying the case and provoking the
necessary dialogue and debate....ICTs provide some distinct advantages for
highlighting, multiplying and conveying meaning related to the symbols and
images that are core components of any social change strategy..." ["Virtual
Change," pages 22-23]

Indicators:
xiii. The ICTs are increasingly used to highlight emerging symbols and
images related to action on the development issue(s) in question.

xiv. The ICTs are increasingly used to multiply strong symbols and/or images
that are emerging from the struggle.

xv. The ICTs are increasingly used to both convey meaning and deepen debate
and dialogue through the symbols and images presented.


VI.     Working alliances: "Effective and sustainable change requires an
alliance of interests rather than a single, centralized programme of
action....The writers reviewed expressed a strong belief that ICTs add
substantively to the process of partnership building, as well as
contributing to attaining higher levels of influence, to enhancing social
support, to networking and to building consensus..." ["Virtual Change," page
24]

Indicators:
xvi. The ICTs are increasingly used to build working strategic and/or
operational partnerships with other organisations that have similar vested
interests.

xvii. The ICTs are increasingly used to participate in networks of
like-focused organisations.

xviii. The ICTs are increasingly used to both provide support to others
involved in compatible action and to receive support from such
organisations.


===


BECOME A CI ASSOCIATE!

Please consider the possibility of supporting The CI's work through the CI
Associates process - details and sign-up at
http://www.comminit.com/en/ci_associates/ Also see Warren Feek's note in The
Drum Beat 485 at http://www.comminit.com/en/drum_beat_485.html Thank you.


===


INTERSECTIONS and CONCLUSION


7.       Relationship between the Indicators
Feek explains - and illustrates, through a diagram on page 26 - that little
will be gained from a massive increase in one element of the process - for
example, just focusing on getting as many people directly affected as
possible involved in the management of the programme or initiative.
Attention to that element of the process needs to be matched by
corresponding improvements in action in the other 5 areas. That is, there
must be a balanced and harmonious relationship between all the elements
above.


8.      Methodologies for Indicator Measurement
Feek uses the first 4 categories of indicators to highlight the possible
ways in which evaluation methodologies can be used to collect the relevant
information. He examines the following methods:
a. content analysis
b. structured and unstructured interviews
c. surveys and questionnaires, and
d. participant and non-participant observation
["Virtual Change," pages 29-34]


9.      Conclusion
Feek concludes with 2 core observations. First, "[t]here is a
chicken-and-egg quality to the perspective presented above. Which should
come first when developing indicators to measure the impact of ICTs on
development issues: the evidence from research or the assertions from
experience and thinking? He explains that, though there is no compelling
data at this time, the assertions are nonetheless important because they
provide one framework through which the research can be funnelled. Also,
Feek recognises that "[w]hen people and organizations know the criteria by
which they will be assessed, they tend to work to strengthen those
factors....If the dominant thinking assesses ICT developments according to
these evaluation indicators, this will drive programming towards those
elements." ["Virtual Change," pages 34-35]


===


To access "Virtual Change: Indicators for Assessing the Impact of ICTs in
Development Research and Extension Division" [PDF], see:
http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?cimo=1&r=ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0494e/i0494e.pdf

For further information about "Virtual Change: Indicators for Assessing the
Impact of ICTs in Development Research and Extension Division", please
contact: Clare O'Farrell, Communication for Development Officer, FAO at
comdev at fao.org


===


SEND US ICT4D IMPACT EXAMPLES

We want to hear from you! Do you have reports or examples to share of how
your organisation has evaluated the impact of ICT in a social change
context? Please send information about the indicator(s) you have drawn on in
your work to drumbeat at comminit.com as soon as possible for potential
inclusion in Part II of this Drum Beat!


===


This issue of The Drum Beat was written by Kier Olsen DeVries.


===


The Drum Beat is the email and web network of The Communication Initiative
Partnership - ANDI, BBC World Service Trust, Bernard van Leer Foundation,
Calandria, CFSC Consortium, CIDA, DFID, FAO, Fundación Nuevo Periodismo
Iberoamericano, Ford Foundation, Healthlink Worldwide, Inter-American
Development Bank, International Institute for Communication and Development,
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication
Programs, MISA, PAHO, The Panos Institute, The Rockefeller Foundation,
SAfAIDS, Sesame Workshop, Soul City, Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNICEF, USAID, WHO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Chair of the Partners Group: Garth Japhet, Founder, Soul City
garth at heartlines.org.za
Executive Director: Warren Feek wfeek at comminit.com


===


The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development
activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by
The Partners.


Please send material for The Drum Beat to the Editor - Deborah Heimann
dheimann at comminit.com


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