The central component for every Fulbright application is the two-page Statement of Proposed Study. Here is the most refined version I have drafted to date. Please pass along any comments, as they will be greatly appreciated.
My primary objective is to partner with the leaders and users of Wireless Ghana to develop a digital literacy program reinforcing Wireless Ghana’s mission to promote a reading culture while breaking regional isolation through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Digital Literacy as referred to in this proposal builds upon the traditional literacies of reading and writing to include the skills, strategies, and concepts necessary to successfully use and adapt to rapidly changing ICT [The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences].
Founded in 2005, Wireless Ghana is a community based non-proprietary wireless network located in the Akwapim North district in the Eastern Region of Ghana. With potential to serve the 1.2 million people living in the district, Wireless Ghana is unique because it is an existing infrastructure that is open to everyone. With nodes located in schools, libraries, churches and activity centers, the network covers a 20km range, an area that is expected to double as part of an ongoing expansion.
While Wireless Ghana has been successful in building an ICT infrastructure that provides connectivity between the people living in the region and the world through Internet, a key component is missing. Director of Wireless Ghana, John Atkinson, has observed that “no member of the Wireless Ghana community has seen all the different uses of the networks. People accessing our network in Accra [Ghana’s capital] use more advanced applications than people who use our rural flagship network in Akwapim.” Wireless Ghana’s resources have been dedicated to installing, maintaining, and expanding their network infrastructure. My partnership with Wireless Ghana will help the organization realize its mission, by introducing end-users to the opportunity provided by participatory media on the World Wide Web, while simultaneously researching and documenting the use of that media by different communities
My time working with Wireless Ghana will be structured into two phases. The first phase will last four months (September - December), and be divided into researching how the community uses the wireless network and planning workshops based around the communities desired growth. The remaining six months (January - June) will be used to implement the curriculum in Akwapim’s six major towns, as well as local schools and libraries. Additionally, throughout my ten months in Ghana I will use my technical background and experience to assist in the day to day network operations of Wireless Ghana.
The digital literacy curriculum that I create will be designed to meet the needs of the intended beneficiaries of the Wireless Ghana: teachers, public and private school students, community leaders, small business owners and church groups. Practical outcomes for this curriculum will include fluency in basic Web communication through VoIP and email, information gathering, and utilization of the Internet as a resource to help accomplish goals in the real world.
My first two months in Ghana will be spent familiarizing myself with the Wireless Ghana network and the people who use it. I will interact directly with Boateng Ebenezer and Gideon Amoah, Wireless Ghana’s two staff members. By shadowing these men as they service Wireless Ghana’s 15 nodes, I will learn the specifics of the technology behind the network with the goal of assessing the network’s strengths and weaknesses. During this time I will also conduct formal interviews with Wireless Ghana staff and users about what they desire from the network, the ways in which they currently interact with the network, and their critiques of the network in its current state. In order to locate interview subjects I will build upon Wireless Ghana’s existing relationships with regional schools, churches, and activity centers.
Through these interviews, interactions and observations I will assemble a database that charts end-user expectations. Analysis of this information will structure my planning for workshops and create the basis for personal assessment at the end of the project.
Workshops will address community needs while teaching and reinforcing digital literacy skills and be geared toward groups with specific skill sets, including elementary and secondary school students and adult groups. On the most basic level, workshops will focus on using search engines as a tool for research, identification of credible web pages, and how to avoid malicious content and viruses. Mid-level objectives will focus on using the Internet to communicate and participate in online communities. The most advanced objectives will focus on identifying free and open source applications, and training users on how to use these applications to create their own content for the web. As I take my workshops from town to town, school to school, and group to group I will continue to revise and improve the curriculum based on participant reaction.
While assessment will be dependent on the individual outcomes of the groups that I work with, I will track my progress through periodic surveys and discussions. Although these tools will be useful in measuring the practical outcomes of my work, a more holistic assessment of my time in Ghana will be gauged by my daily interactions with the people in the Wireless Ghana community.
As I work and live in Akwapim, I plan to dedicate time to building a website where I can publish my formal research and the additional work that I have into developing my digital literacy curriculum. By making my curriculum available I hope that the work can critiqued and adopted in a public forum where people can discuss ways to teach digital literacy and ICT, with an emphasis on implementation in under-served rural and urban areas. Not only would this resource be useful for the people using Wireless Ghana after I leave, but I hope that it can be adapted for use around the world.
This project will bridge my work in community based media and content production with my academic desire to study how communities form around media and its creation.
My research and work with Wireless Ghana and the people of Akwapim will not only change their interactions with technology, but it will also greatly inform my understanding of how communities are shaping digital media to tell their stories and express their culture.
Sawyer, R. Keith. “Literacy and the Learning Sciences”. The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Community Based Libraries and Information Technology. Wireless Ghana: A Case Study. 2006.
