Research

telecentre.org, in partnership with the Center for Information & Society at the University of Washington Information School, manages Investigating the Social and Economic Impact of Public Access to Information and Communication Technology (IPAI), a five-year (2007-2012), US $7.2-million research project sponsored by Canada’s International Development Research Centre and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Looking at telecentres, libraries, and other venues that provide public access to information and communication technologies (ICT), this project examines the impact of ICT access in a number of areas including employment and income, education, civic engagement, democracy and governmental transparency, cultural and language preservation, and health. Visit the the IPAI website to learn more.

In addition to the IPAI project, telecentre.org research activities (as part of its social investment program) include:

• Exploratory research to learn more about particular networks, issues, or geographic areas
• Building partners' research capacity so that they are better able to contribute and share their learning
• Learning studies that focus on assessing and improving our own ways of working

telecentre.org also supports grassroots innovators and young researchers actively engaged in action research as a way to document and share practical telecentre experiences. telecentre.org publications reflect some of the outcomes of this work.

Respecting intellectual property, enabling community members to build on each others' work, and translating research findings into action is important to us, so all findings from telecentre.org-supported research efforts are licensed using a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license.