List of Boxes.List of Field Perspectives.Foreword.Preface.Acknowledgments.Chapter 1: Invitation to Explore.Chapter 2: The Language and Logic of Qualitative Research.Chapter 3: Designing the Study.Chapter 4: Collecting Qualitative Data: The Science and the Art.Chapter 5: Logistics in the Field.Chapter 6: Qualitative Data Analysis.Chapter 7: Putting It into Words: Reporting Qualitative Research Results.Chapter 8: Disseminating Qualitative Research.Appendix 1: Samples of Behavioral Frameworks.Appendix 2: Examples of Oral Consent Forms.Appendix 3: Example of a Qualitative-Quantitative Research Design.Appendix 4: Procedural Guidelines for Managing Focus Group Discussions.Appendix 5: Sample Budget Categories for Planning Focus Group Discussions.Appendix 6: Topic Guides for Focus Group Discussions on Reproductive Health.Appendix 7: Sample Interviewer Training Program Agenda.Appendix 8: Common Errors in Moderating Focus Groups.Appendix 9: Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP): Ten Questions to Help You Make Sense of Qualitative Research.Appendix 10: Where to Publish.Appendix 11: Sample Research Brief on the Female Condom.Appendix 12: Who Is an Author?Appendix 13: Sample Brochure to Share Qualitative Study Findings with Participating Communities.Appendix 14: Making Study Findings Accessible to Other Researchers.Suggested Readings and Selected Internet Resources.References.The Authors.The Contributors.Index.

Qualitative Methods in Public Health: A Field Guide for Applied Research

https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1459&context=utk_infosciepubs

Culture's consequences

The Long Tail: How Technology is turning mass markets into millions of niches. (p. 15). This passage from The Long Tail, pretty much sums it all up. The Long Tail by Chris Anderson is a good and worthwhile read for information scientists, computer scientists, ecommerce researchers, and others interested in all areas of Web research. The central premise of the book is that the combination of (1) the Pareto or Zipf distribution (i.e., power law probability distribution) that is characteristic of Web traffic and (2) the direct access to consumers via Web technology has opened up new business opportunities in the ''long tail''. Producers and advertisers no longer have to target ''the big hits'' at the head of the distribution. Instead, they can target the small, niche communities or even individuals in the tail of the distribution. The long tail is has been studied by Web researchers and has been noted in term usage on search engines, access times to servers, and popularity of Web sites. Andersen points out that the long tail also applies to products sold on the Web. He recounts that a sizeable percentage of Amazon sales come from books that only sell a few copies, a large number of songs from Rhapsody get downloaded only once in a month, and a significant number of movies from Netflix only get ordered occasionally. However, since the storage is in digital form for the songs and music (and Amazon out sources the storage of books) there is little additional inventory cost of these items. This phenomenon across all Web companies has led to a broadening of participation by both producers and consumers that would not have happened without the Web. The idea of the long tail is well known, of course. What Anderson has done is present it in an interesting manner and in a Web ecommerce setting. He applies it to Web businesses and then relates the multitude of other factors ongoing that permit the actual implementation of the long tail effect. Anderson also expands on prior work on the long tail by introducing an element of time, given the distribution a three dimensional effect. All in all, it is a nifty idea. The book is comprised of 14 chapters, plus an Introduction. Chapter 1 presents an overview of what the long tail is. Chapter 2 discusses the ''head'', which is the top of the tail where the …

The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More

From the Publisher: \nThe telephone looms large in our lives, as ever present in modern societies as cars and television. Claude Fischer presents the first social history of this vital but little-studied technologyhow we encountered, tested, and ultimately embraced it with enthusiasm. Using telephone ads, oral histories, telephone industry correspondence, and statistical data, Fischer's work is a colorful exploration of how, when, and why Americans started communicating in this radically new manner. Studying three California communities, Fischer uncovers how the telephone became integrated into the private worlds and community activities of average Americans in the first decades of this century. Women were especially avid in their use, a phenomenon which the industry first vigorously discouraged and then later wholeheartedly promoted. Again and again Fischer finds that the telephone supported a wide-ranging network of social relations and played a crucial role in community life, especially for women, from organizing children's relationships and church activities to alleviating the loneliness and boredom of rural life. Deftly written and meticulously researched, America Calling adds an important new chapter to the social history of our nation and illuminates a fundamental aspect of cultural modernism that is integral to contemporary life. \nAuthor Biography: Claude S. Fischer is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of To Dwell among Fris: Personal Networks in Town and City (1982) and The Urban Experience (1984).

America Calling: A Social History of the Telephone to 1940

This paper reviews roughly 200 recent studies of mobile (cellular) phone use in the developing world, and identifies major concentrations of research. It categorizes studies along two dimensions. One dimension distinguishes studies of the determinants of mobile adoption from those that assess the impacts of mobile use, and from those focused on the interrelationships between mobile technologies and users. A secondary dimension identifies a subset of studies with a strong economic development perspective. The discussion considers the implications of the resulting review and typology for future research.

Research Approaches to Mobile Use in the Developing World: A Review of the Literature

The Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004 was one of the greatest natural disasters; it was also the first internet-mediated natural disaster. Despite the presumed ubiquity and power of advanced technologies including satellites and the internet, no advance warning was given to the affected coastal populations by their governments or others. This article examines the conditions for the supply of effective early warnings of disasters, drawing from the experience of both the 26 December 2004 tsunami and the false warnings issued after another great earthquake in the Sunda Trench on 28 March 2005. The potential of information and communication technologies for prompt communication of hazard detection and monitoring information and for effective dissemination of alert and warning messages is examined. The factors contributing to the absence of institutions necessary for the realization of that potential are explored.

Policy Commentary Mobilizing information and communications technologies for effective disaster warning: lessons from the 2004 tsunami

The Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26th, 2004 was one of the greatest natural disasters; it was also the first Internet-mediated natural disaster. Despite the presumed ubiquity and power of advanced technologies including satellites and the Internet, no advance warning was given to the affected coastal populations by their governments or others. This article examines the conditions for the supply of effective early warnings of disasters, drawing from the experience of both the December 26th, 2004 tsunami and the false warnings issued on March 28th, 2005. The potential of information and communication technologies for prompt communication of hazard detection and monitoring information and for effective dissemination of alert and warning messages is examined. The factors contributing to the absence of institutions necessary for the realization of that potential are explored.

http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN025930.pdf

Mobilizing Information and Communications Technologies for Effective Disaster Warning: Lessons from the 2004 Tsunami

Many studies conclude that a significant gender divide in access to the telephone exists, particularly in developing countries. Furthermore, women are also said to use telephones in a different manner from men — making and receiving more calls, spending more time on calls and using telephones primarily for ‘relationship maintenance’ purposes. Much of this research is based on small-sample studies in affluent developed countries. This article shows that a significant gender divide in access to telephones exists in Pakistan and India, to a lesser extent in Sri Lanka, but is absent in the Philippines and Thailand. It also challenges the findings which claim that women’s and men’s use is fundamentally different, at least at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ in developing countries.

/pdf/who-s-got-the-phone-gender-and-the-use-of-the-telephone-at-1f7nknex0j.pdf

Who’s got the phone? Gender and the use of the telephone at the bottom of the pyramid

The role of competition in institutional reform of telecommunications: lessons from Sri Lanka

Introduction: What is... and What Could Have Been... I: DEMAND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID What do Users at the Bottom of the Pyramid Want? - Ayesha Zainudeen Strategies on a Shoestring - Ayesha Zainudeen and Tahani Iqbal I Just Called to Say: Teleuse Under a Ceasefire - Rohan Samarajiva, Mariam Hameed and Ayesha Zainudeen II: ACCESS, AGAINST ALL ODDS Geektivism Making a Business Out of a Village Phone - Malathy Knight-John Wi-Fi: The Network Fix - Divakar Goswami III: REGULATION: TO STIFLE OR ENABLE? One Backbone, or Two? - Harsha Vardhana Singh and Rohan Samarajiva The Dumbing-down of Smart Subsidies - Harsha De Silva Universal Service Obligations: To Incumbents - Payal Malik Access Deficit Tax? - Harsha De Silva IV: WHAT COULD BE... High AMPU from Low - Arpu Mahinda B Herath Regulating for the Next Billion - Rajendra Singh and Siddhartha Raja ... Through the Markets - Visoot Phongsathorn Appendices Index

Rohan Samarajiva

Papers

Policy Commentary Mobilizing information and communications technologies for effective disaster warning: lessons from the 2004 tsunami

Mobilizing Information and Communications Technologies for Effective Disaster Warning: Lessons from the 2004 Tsunami

Who’s got the phone? Gender and the use of the telephone at the bottom of the pyramid

The role of competition in institutional reform of telecommunications: lessons from Sri Lanka

ICT infrastructure in emerging Asia : policy and regulatory roadblocks