About IDEV4100: ICT4D

The content of this blog is generated by students enrolled in Tulane University’s IDEV4100: Information & Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) course. Students in the course are generally junior and senior students, majoring in International Development through the Payson Center at Tulane. Below is some information on the student participants, organized by semester, and a sampling of some of their work. Please follow our class Twitter account: @TulaneICT4D.

This course is currently taught by Adjunct Faculty Jessica H. Ports @jessicaports, http://portsinthestorm.com/

2013 Spring Semester

Spring 2013 Student Contributors

 

2012 Fall Semester

Fall 2012 Student Contributors

This fall, as in the past few semesters, students will explore the technological capacity of a country of their choice and conduct an analysis of the country’s national ICT policy. We’re looking forward to exploring new countries that haven’t been looked at in previous courses! Below is a map of the countries being studied by students this semester.

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2012 Spring Semester

Spring 2012 Student Contributors

This semester, students will explore the technological capacity of a country of their choice and conduct an analysis of the country’s national ICT policy. We have quite a variety of countries represented this semester!

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2011 Fall Semester

Student Contributors, Fall 2011 Semester

Final Case Study Projects

Using concepts and knowledge of best practices in ICT4D learned during the first half of the course, students developed case studies of local New Orleans organizations, agencies, or companies that have employed an ICT project within the past 6 years. Students conducted background research on the organization and the ICT employed by them, including copies of any literature they may have used in promoting or marketing the project, web-based sources, and any available outside literature that may have been written about it, including academic papers, independent evaluations, news coverage, or reports. Students then conducted a face-to-face interview with a key informant from the organization to ask questions specifically related to the implementation of the ICT.

Points addressed in the case studies included a description of the agency/organization/company, including its mission/goals/constituents, and a description of the ICT itself. A discussion on the development and application of the ICT, including the mechanisms such as mobile phones, internet, or other technology, and what needs the ICT was designed to address or the problem it was intended to solve. Case studies also included a discussion of stakeholders, budgeting, training, monitoring & evaluation, and detailed implementation steps, followed by an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the ICT and lessons learned.

Students then applied lessons learned from their case to a developing country context, to determine the potential applications of the ICT under different circumstances and with different populations, taking into account challenges of infrastructure, language, resources, training, barriers to access and the digital divide.

Students & Case Studies for Fall 2011:

• Eliza Arnold – The Innocence Project Website for Advocacy
• Tasneem Chowdhury - iVacuate iPhone App
• Ashley Fox - HandsOn Connect
• Julian Guelig - GIS Mapping in Post-Katrina New Orleans
• Isabella Iupe – HIV/AIDS Surveillance in Latino Men
• Danielle Kraus - Schedulist
• Sarah Levine - NolaStat Website for Advocacy
• Christina Murphy – Tulane University Emergency Communication System
• Lisa Podolsky – ArboNet
• Alexandra Quarles - iPads for Teach for America
• Alan David Reyes - City of New Orleans Kiosks
• Lana Samad - Orleans Parish School Board District Technology Plan
• Suzannah Schneider - UPS TrackPad Technology in Haiti
• Jessica Schofield – FEWS.net
• Jesse Seng - Louisiana Bucket Brigade, Ushahidi & the Gulf Oil Spill
• Hannah Smalley - Homeless Management Information System
• Emily Swietlik - ArtFully AWARE & Participatory Media for Empowerment
• Jennifer Triplett - Tip Collection by Crimestoppers of Greater New Orleans