September 25th, 2008
How International Values Shape Communications Technologies Podcast - Episode 1
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(Cross-posted at my fellowship blog — How International Values Shape Communications Technologies)
In the introductory episode of our weekly fellowship podcast, Ben, Pavneet and I explain why our research on social media in BRIC countries is uniquely interdisciplinary, share the personal biases with which we are approaching our research, summarize what we have learned so far, and share our plans for the rest of the year.
The starting point of our research is to understand how differences in culture, access and language in BRIC countries impact the three core values of social media usage — collaboration, community and user generated content — across tools and devices. Pavneet’s focus is on the community and he explores two really important use cases for social media — consumer advocacy and civic engagement. Ben’s focus is on the individual and he explores issues of identity and privacy in the context of social media usage. My role is to pull it all together into a meaningful framework.
So, our research really lies at the intersection of three worlds that (surprisingly) don’t really understand each other — the web 2.0 world, the technology policy world, and the ICT4D world. But, beyond that, it’s really rooted in the tradition of cultural studies and borrows heavily from research related to business, government and development.
Our personal research scopes also tie in neatly with our personal biases. Ben’s experiences as a warblogger partly explain his interest in identity and privacy. Pavneet’s focus on business and government explains his interest in how both of them are being transformed by social media. Finally, my own user-centric approach to the research is biased by my previous avatar as ‘the marketer who understood social media’.
The subsequent episodes of the podcasts will be based around interviews. We already have 2.5GB of audio material waiting to be edited and we have some really interesting interviews lined up for the coming weeks. So, do subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or elsewhere and do stay tuned.
