Thursday, March 12, 2015

KULE Institute: the Springboard to this Project

Going forward with this 'stewarding technology and agriculture knowledge mobilization project', the research team is exploring ways of a joint education and training initiative in technology stewardship with University Wayamba and University of Alberta, University of Guelph, and other partners. We met with Geoffrey Rockwell (Director, KIAS) and Oliver Rossier (Senior Officer) at the Kule Institute for Advance Studies (KIAS) to explore these ideas with an intent to discuss ways for funding such an initiative.

ICT Rapid Prototyping Research Team at KIAS
The intial KIAS funding lead to this SSHRC grant. Therefore, it was important that we shared the research findings, face-to-face, with them (Left-to-Right: Chandana Jayathilake, Nuwan Waidyanatha, Geoffrey Rockwell, Helen Hambley, Gordon Gow, and Oliver Rossier); especially, the success of the KIAS seed funding leading to a SSHRC funded partnership development project and that in turn leading to new areas of research and development in Information Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D); i.e. successfully cultivating a strong research partnership through a participatory action research approach.

Sri Lanka Department of Export Agriculture (DOEA) is a keen sponsor who has realized the impact and efficiency gains of the technology steward model for knowledge mobilization. They have expressed their interest to scale the model within the Province spanning Kurunegala and Puttlam Districts. Therefore, there is a growing need to develop a Technology Steward training program. One that can potentially be advocated and managed through the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka ICT Center. The University of Alberta and the University of Wayamba would support developing such a joint education training initiative that requires a multidisciplinary approach.

The training would involve concepts evolving from Radio+, use of low-cost ICTs, user centric development, action research, short term limited duration campaigns, design, and evaluation methods. The Research Team is keen in exploring opportunities in developing such a program that can be leveraged by the ICT4D and Community Informatics Researchers and Practitioners.


No comments:

Post a Comment