Knock Twice

This is my Statement of Proposed Study, as it was sent to Fulbright. I have officially applied.
I propose to investigate the ways in which communities with local area wireless networks socialize around digital media, with an emphasis on understanding how these communities are using their networks to develop digital literacy. Using an existing local network in the Eastern region of Ghana as a case study, I will research how communities that have traditionally been underexposed to technology are adapting to newly installed information and communications technologies (ICT).

In his 2006 book, Convergence Culture, Henry Jenkins makes the case for an active educational investment geared toward overcoming what he calls the ‘participatory gap.’ This gap describes the disparity between people who are capable of participating in the creation of media messages versus those who merely observe. As the global community moves its interactions online, digital literacy will increasingly replace traditional literacy to become the new benchmark for economic competitiveness. In this proposal, digital literacy 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 implications resulting from the introduction of ICT to developing countries or under resourced communities merit closer study, as users will utilize and socialize around this technology largely without instruction or precedent. However, existing published research on this subject only briefly addresses the economic or social realities of these user populations, and their findings are seldom applicable beyond the contexts of formal education and classroom instruction in the United States. Studies of community socialization around technology are limited to a handful of scholars, notably Jenkins, Yochai Benkler, and Michael Schudson. Their research focuses on how people interact with the Internet at large, not on local area networks such as exist in Ghana, which are unique because they possess the capacity to post content locally, independent of the Internet. Users of these local networks shape their own norms of digital interaction through use of these technological tools, revealing new understandings and potential for community growth. In conducting research on this topic, I hope to contribute to the emerging field of media anthropology.

Ghana is an ideal location to study how people are learning to use new ICT. With adult literacy rates of 75% in the dominant language of English, most citizens already have the foundation for developing digital literacy. Also, as the first democracy in sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana’s relative stability means that both business and ICT infrastructures can be expected to function in the long-term. My study will examine the users and infrastructure of Wireless Ghana, a community-based, non profit wireless network located in the Akwapim North district in the Eastern region of Ghana. Only two years old, this network reaches over twenty square kilometers and serves a potential 1.2 million people in both rural and urban areas. The users of Wireless Ghana have diverse expectations and needs based on the geography and economy of the region: from basic Web communication such as email and voice-over IP, to research and information gathering, to the utilization of the Internet as a resource to accomplish political or economic goals within the region.

The director of Wireless Ghana, John Atkinson, has invited me to partner with this organization to research the various ways people utilize the network and to evaluate the success of the network’s the mission of promoting a reading culture while breaking isolation through the use of ICT. At the conclusion of my work in Ghana I will present recommendations and strategies to improve network effectiveness.

Working with the network administrators, Boateng Ebenezer and Gideon Amoah, as they service the network infrastructure and assist the users in each wireless outlet, I will build relationships with Wireless Ghana’s numerous beneficiaries, including: teachers, public and private school students, community leaders, elected officials, doctors, small business owners and church groups. Through extensive interviews and observations I will collect data to determine how these users are shaping the network to meet their needs. Identification of trends in network usage, user demographics and expectations, the acquisition of digital literacy, and the utilization of web-based resources will be supplemented by day-to-day interactions with the Wireless Ghana community. Since my project is concerned not only with the wireless network’s impact on end-users but also on the region at large, I plan to interview subjects who do not directly participate in the Wireless Ghana network. These subjects may include politicians and other community members who are in communication with people who do use the network.

This information will be used to build a website where I will publish my formal research as well as supplementary interviews and data. Making my research available will allow the work to be critiqued and discussed in a public forum, with an emphasis on how it can be applied to other developing communities. The result of this discussion, together with my research, will provide the basis for recommendations on how to improve network effectiveness.

If I receive this fellowship, I will arrive in Ghana for the beginning of the local school year in September of 2008 and will complete my research by June of 2009. In preparation for this project I plan to take graduate level coursework in research methodology that will supplement my experience as a journalist. To ensure that my interactions with the communities in Akwapim are centered on cultural respect and empowerment, I have devised two essential questions that will inform my work: How can I share my passion for new media with Wireless Ghana users in a way that is culturally relevant to their lives? What steps can I take to ensure that my research respects the process of cultural exchange?

I am driven by a fascination with media anthropology and the ways in which communities socialize around media. Although the primary focus of my Fulbright will be research, I am eager to share my technical background and experience by working alongside the Wireless Ghana community in their daily operations while simultaneously benefiting from exposure to their cultural understandings of technology. My ultimate goal is to work with communities and NGOs with the aim of using media technology to preserve culture while sharing that culture in an increasingly global world. 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 cultural identity.