Andre, I couldn't have said it better My question about he effectiveness of social advocacy campaigns online was not based in an assumption that the campaigns in themselves are beyond reproach. The assumptions behind these campaigns must be critically examined. Because technology design is a product of situated values....we get to be tech deterministic. Because "technology" does not exist "objectively" out there.. .. We do attribute bad or good effects from it. This form of tech determinism is the form revealed when we approach the study from within communities that feel forced into adopting any kind of technology, because if they don't adopt it, they are told they will be "left behind". Users from positions of lesser power in global hierarchies cannot afford not to be technologically deterministic. R On Jul 28, 2012, at 2:50 PM, André Brock <andre.brock@gmail.com> wrote:

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

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-----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

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-- Andre Brock Assistant Professor - Library and Information Science/POROI University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242 _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org 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/

Tracy, Thankyou! I will check your blog and look fwd to more discussion either on or off list. More soon. R Sent from my iPad On Jul 28, 2012, at 9:40 PM, bytetime <bytetime@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all

As part of my work, I routinely work with web developers and go to many industry related gab fests, where usability and accessibility is a key issue, especially in complying with recommendations with the Web Transition Strategy , where all Australian government websites have to be WCAG2 AA compliant by the end of 2012.

I agree with Radhika's comments. The challenge of determining whether written content is accessible and understandable has been a huge part of the challenge of my work with livinggreener.gov.au - a site built using UCD principles and designed to foster sustainable behaviour change. A big focus in the conception of the project was effectively delivering the sustainability message - as research revealed that the average science understanding of the Australian public was around year 5, or 10 years of age.

There are many ways you can test the usability of the interface with analytics and surveys, but to get to whether people understand the written content requires a deeper inquiry into their information needs and if they have been met. We have used detailed surveys in the past focused on the written content in conjunction with usability testing and user feedback to determine site enhancements and improvements. This has worked quite well for us.

If you are interested, here is a recent blog post about Drupal<http://mediakult.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/how-can-government-innovate-with-drupal/>that touches on the challenge of content. Personally, I think there are ways to many ways to deal with the usability and accessibility of an interface - accessibility of content needs to be addressed quite differently. Usable design attract audiences, targeted, appropriate content will keep them there long and bring them back next time.

Tracey

On Sat, Jul 28, 2012 at 8:42 AM, André Brock <andre.brock@gmail.com> wrote:

...

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 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/

-- Dr Tracey M Benson (aka bytetime) Adjunct Postdoctoral Fellow || The Australian National University || School of Music 2012 Artist-in-Residence, Photoaccess You can find *bytetime *on twitter, delicious, scribd, flickr, linkedin, identica, slideshare and facebook. Skype me at *mediakult*

*websites:* www.byte-time.net www.xconnectmedia.com www.fauxonomy.org *blogs:* geokult.com/ <http://geokult.wordpress.com/> dorkbotcbr.wordpress.com/ mediakult.wordpress.com/ *wiki:* mediakult.wetpaint.com/ _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org 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/