Enhancing Empowerment in Social Life Networks Tamara Ginige Supervisor – Prof Deborah Richards

Outline  Overall objective of the collaborative project  Main focus of my research within the collaborative project  User Empowerment  Key Problem – Overall project  Possible solution  Social Networks and Social Life Networks  Research Approach  Progress in the last six months  High Level Conceptual Architecture of Mobile Based Information System  Research plan for next year 2

Overall objective of the collaborative project  To investigate how to develop a Mobile Based Information System (MBIS) to assist the livelihood of people in developing countries using a new concept called Social Life Networks (SLN). 3

Main focus of my research in the collaborative project  To investigate how to design, implement and evaluate software applications in the proposed Mobile Based Information System to facilitate processes to empower individuals and community.  This research will produce  an empowerment model  a software artefact 4

User Empowerment and Empowerment Theory  User empowerment is a process.  Via that process individuals learn to see a closer correspondence between  their goals and sense of how to achieve them  their efforts and life outcomes 1  The empowerment theory suggests that actions, activities or structures may be empowering, and the outcome of each process results in a level of being empowered 2  1 Mechanic, D. (1991). "Adolescents at risk: New Directions." Seventh Annual Conference on Health Policy 12(8):  2 Zimmerman, M. A. (1988). "Citizen participation, perceived control and psychological empowerment " American Journal of Community Psychology 16(5):

Empowerment Processes and Outcomes Level of analysis Process (“empowering”)Outcome (“empowered”) IndividualDecision making skillsSense of control Managing resourcesCritical awareness Team work skillsParticipatory behaviours CommunityAccess to resourcesOrganisational coalitions Accessible governmentImproved community leadership Tolerance for diversityParticipatory behaviours 6

Key Problem – Overall Project  Sri Lankan farmers do not have easy access to farming information.  Information required:  Dynamic: market prices, supply and demand situations for their produce, farming hands, weather patterns  Static: pests, fertilizer, soil types, seeds, transportation  Un-informed decision making  Leads to financial hardship, feeling helpless, frustrated and less empowered 7

Key Problem  Example:  Growing the same crop in an area the same season  Taking these crops to the local market at the same time  Outcome  Oversupply  Wastage 8

Current Information exchange among farmers 9

New opportunities to solve the problem and enhance empowerment  There are new opportunities to solve this problem using Widespread use of mobile phones Features of Web 2.0 Social Networks 10

Mobile Growth in the World Growth of Mobile Phone Usage Penetration by Continents 11

Mobile Growth in Sri Lanka  80% of the population uses a mobile phone 1  ICT usage of farmers 2 :  6% of farmers use computers  68% of farmers own a mobile phone  1 Telecommunications. (2011). "Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka." Retrieved 28/11/2011, from  2 Lokanathan, S. and N. Kapugama (2012). Smallholders and Micro-enterprises in Agriculture. Knowledge-based Economies. Colombo, Sri Lanka, LIRNEasia. 12

Web 1.0 and User Empowerment via Web 2.0  Web 1.0  Two groups: Information consumers and information producers  Web 2.0  Two groups started to merge.  Information consumers have become information producers -> can lead to user empowerment  Results of this empowerment : Blogs and wikis, and websites such as Wikipedia and YouTube  Micro-blogs  Information aggregation 13

Social Networks Connecting People 14

Social Life Networks - SLN Connecting People and Public Resources 15

Creating a better market dispersion LandMarket Market A Mkt B Market C Farmer A Farmer B Farmer C 16

Review of available mobile applications TypeDomainDescriptionCountries Access to Information FarmingmKrish delivers crop advice to farmers in rural India by mobile phone. China Mobile sends information about planting techniques, pest management and market prices to farmers. India, China Mobile as a sensor HealthIn Uganda and Mozambique, new mobile diagnostic equipment are getting used. Uganda and Mozambique eMarketFarmingTradeNet in Ghana links buyers and sellers. CellBazaar provides a text-based classified ad service in Bangladesh Ghana, Bangladesh SellingFisheriesIn India fishermen are using to negotiate price before coming on shore. India mLearningEducationmLearning projects have been piloted in Africa, India and Bangladesh. Africa, India, Bangladesh Money transfer BankingM-PESA, a mobile phone-based money transfer service. Kenya There is no user empowerment in these mobile applications. 17

User Empowerment Given some information How can we assist user to act on that information From user action How can we extract useful information 18

Research Approach  Design science research approach will be used.  Relevance of the problem  Literature review  Design and implementation of empowerment model as an artefact  How to test the artefact  Field testing of the artefact  Evaluation of results  Design changes and continuation of iterative process 19

Progress - last six months  Technology Review  Social Networks, User empowerment through use of Web 2.0, Growth of micro blogging, Social Life Networks, Available mobile applications  Review of information and empowerment needs of farmers  Focus group meetings, surveys, reports  Future interview with other researchers in Sri Lanka - Ethics application has been submitted  Review of empowerment theory and other empowerment studies  Publication of a poster and two international conference papers  Involvement in the design of high level conceptual architecture for Mobile Based Information System 20

High Level Conceptual Architecture of MBIS 21

Collaborative Research Team Agriculture Ontology and localisation of application for SLN by the Sri Lankan research group Information Aggregation Unit by the American research group Mobile User Interface by the Italian research group Empowerment Model by Macquarie University KM and Query Engine by UWS 22

Research Plan – Next 12 months  Analyse of information and empowerment needs of farmers  Design and implementation of possible processes for empowerment  Publication of results in an International Conference 23

Thank You. 24