Research on social media usage by Dutch aid & development agencies

Social Media For International Development Definition Map of social media context of international development Connecting with other people via social networks; Collaborating and doing things with other people; Creating and sharing content; and Finding, using, organising and reusing content. Zuniga and White (2009) ICT as a powerful enabler : by improving communication and the exchange of information to create and strengthen economic and social development(UNDP, 2001) Examples Conceptual framework Research design (Crotty, 1998) Theoretical research framework Pictures adapted from Technology Adoption Lifecycle (source: Wikimedia). Cases = organisations Semi-structured interviews List of topics & questions loosely followed Prior consent for recording Transcribed Qualitative data management & analysis software (NVivo) Prelimanary data gathering Own social network community Data analysis approach with Grounded Theory Anand Sheombar @ Manchester Metropolitan University Business School & Utrecht University of Applied Sciences Data connected to theory building Analysis and data gathering go hand in hand Combination of case studies and grounded theory rewarding for information science research; cf. Lehmann (2001) and Allan (2003) Sensitivity (professional experience or knowledge) facilitates understanding 2011 Annual Conference of the International Network for Postgraduate Students in the Area of ICT4D @anandstweets SoMe4D.ning.com anand.sheombar@gmail.com Terms social media and web 2.0 are often interchanged.Many definitions, one is: "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content". Kaplan and Haenlein(2010) Characteristics of all definitions (Mayfield, 2008): Openness, Participation, Connectedness and Community. Research problem What (issues and opportunities) do the major Dutch development agencies encounter when using social media to engage their stakeholders with their projects? # Theory building # Contribution to development organisations www.theconversationprism.com World map Research method SoMe4D.ning.com Study design critique Strengths: Weaknesses Ethics: Limitations: Steep learning curve grounded theory method Privacy of respondents Prior consent before recordings Focus social media, Little understanding of the organisation beyond their use of information technology. Data sampling Multiple case study Yin (2003) Tools Comparing chosen method with other methods Survey Methods Ethnographic research and participant observation Unstructured Interviewing Focus Group Actor-Network Theory Social Capital Explores how relations between objects, people, and concepts are formed, rather than why they are formed Social capital is about the value of social networks, bonding similar people and bridging between diverse people, with norms of reciprocity (Dekker and Uslaner 2001; Uslaner 2001) Developed by Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholars Michel Callon and Bruno Latour, the sociologist John Law, and others. Question to you: Are these good concepts to use for this research?