I agree that measuring social change over the short term - in any discipline - is difficult. My issue, however, is that much of the measuring is done ere an assessment/evaluation schema is ever applied. Why do we (and I include myself) uncritically assume that information and The Digital* are transformative when it comes to underrepresented groups? I know firsthand of the difficulty; particularly when many of the underserved are vehemently technologically determinist themselves...how do you argue with someone's belief about their own community? Just once I'd lke to see some research on how The Digital* shaped the political behaviors of wealthy donors to a GOP Super PAC. I bet we'd see a multivariate, critical analysis of ALL the information behaviors they brought to the table, rather than a blanket assumption that The Digital* changed them. /end rant. André __________________________ * "The Digital" (see 'The Sugar' as a Black euphemism for diabetes) refers to ICTs, their content, protocols, practices, users, designers, AND beliefs. You're welcome. On Saturday, July 28, 2012, John McNutt wrote:
I think the problem is that measuring the effectiveness of social change techniques, especially in the political arena (this is about advocacy, right?), isn't all that easy. The link between technique > Application > result is full of confounding variables and alternative possibilities. It is easy to see when something happens, much more work to substantiate the cause.
John
John G. McNutt, Professor University of Delaware School of Public Policy and Administration Coordinator, MPA Nonprofit Concentration Newark, DE 19716 Voice: 302.831.0765 Fax 302.831.4425 mcnuttjg@udel.edu <javascript:;>
UD Experts http://udapps.nss.udel.edu/experts/17480775379-John_G_McNutt Be ashamed to die until you've won some victory for humanity-Horace Mann Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pitiful that it has to be us. Jerry Garcia
**************************************************************************** ***********
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org <javascript:;> [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org <javascript:;>] On Behalf Of André Brock Sent: Friday, July 27, 2012 6:43 PM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org <javascript:;> Subject: [Air-L] social change?
via Radhika:
I find many usability surveys that test for how the interface is usable or not - but they dont necessarily test for the effectiveness of content in relation to conveying the social change and advocacy part …
This describes information science in a nutshell. Can i steal?
André _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org <javascript:;> mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Andre Brock Assistant Professor - Library and Information Science/POROI University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242