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Learning and Knowledge in the 21st Century: The Development Equation

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Contents

About this Wiki

This wiki is maintained by:
Mr. Arif Jinha GID, University of Ottawa, CA
http://www.stratongina.net
Co- Founder of the GoalCommunity Network.
Visit the GoalCommunity

Professor Moustapha Diack
Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA, USA
Director, MERLOT Africa Network
Co- Founder of the GoalCommunity Network.
Visit the GoalCommunity
Visit MAN About Moustapha

This demonstrates an innovative way of using Wiki as An Environment For Scholarly Conversation, Publishing and Research Advisory that results in Knowledge Development and Dissemination in support of the Access to Knowledge (A2K)Movement . The "Learning and Knowledge in the 21st Century: The Development Equation " Wiki site will result in (1) the authoring of a series of peer reviewed publications focusing on the Solutions of the Development Equation, and (2)the hosting of a Community Wiki that will contribute and share strategies and dicussions around the Foundations of the Development Equation and the indexing of literature on Open Solutions.

Defining Open Solutions (OSs):
We define Open solutions (OSs) as eLearning tools that support the growing view and global framework that Knowledge and the technologies that facilitate its acquisition and redistribution should be free and open for use, to promote universal access and economic development. OSs include Movements and technologies such as Open Education Resources – OER (Open Education Movement), Open Access to Scholarly Publications - OASP (associated with the Access to Knowledge Movement- A2K), Open Access to Educational Textbook, and Open Source Educational Management Software (OSEMS) and web 2.0.
(M. Diack & A.Jinha, 2008)


Please note: This is a work in progress, with the intention of welcoming further collaboration on the wiki after further refinements. Please do not hesitate to send comments and feedback to Moustapha and Arif at the adresses above.

Introduction

“Every young poor student ought to be able to satisfy his learned curiosity just as a rich person does” as emblazoned on the front of the British Museum in 1836; quoted from Harold Varmus founder of PLoS (in Willinksy, 2006, pg. 8)
The words learning, knowledge and 21st century represent the effort in this paper to outline a general approach to understand the changes brought about by contemporary globalization, the digital communications revolution and the global role of the university as they relate to the ongoing development of learning and knowledge activities in human development. Education and research are the university's core functions and relate directly to learning and knowledge. Learning and knowledge, however, encompass a broader human endeavour that transcend the university and its particular form and historical context. They are ubiquitous in human experience and development, and serve to shape institutions in ways that differentiate local culture and society, but also develop it through integration of external influences. Thus, education and research functions of universities provide only a platform for formalizing, communicating and organizing learning and knowledge activities in a society, and cannot lay claim to the beginning and end points of these activities. Learning and knowledge develop over time, and development as the alleviation of poverty, as freedom, and as material and social progress flows from learning and knowledge. Learning can said to be adaptation by individuals and societies to their environments, motivated by not only survival but imagination and intention. Knowledge is learning that has been evaluated and examined, shared, developed, trusted and given authority, can be challenged, deconstructed and reconstructed, and gathered over generations and locations.

The role of universities in contemporary globalization and the application of knowledge in national and international development practice and outcomes are the key focal points of this study. A brief historical look at the development of knowledge from a global perspective will be included to provide continuity with recent developments in higher education and communications. The analysis will be informed by literature, institutional initiatives, and conceptual leaders in three areas relevant to the topic: Access to Knowledge (A2k), Information and Communications Techonology for Development (ICT4D) and Knowledge for Development (K4D). Situating the university amidst these contemporary ideas, we hope to provide a picture of where we may go from here in terms of possibility and challenges.

We are forced to note that the 21st century begins with stark challenges; inequality, poverty, environmental degradation and climate change, violent conflict, migration, new ethical dilemmas, governance crises, the balances and tensions of international relations, the contested space of security, the imbalances of power. We attempt to bring knowledge to bear upon these problems. However, the context itself limits us. Learning and knowledge are unequally accepted and valued, unequally accessed, unequally applied, unequally funded. The quality of opportunities afforded to people globally to learn, know, contribute and participate is varied. The activities and perspectives considered central to knowledge and its development today tend to be dominated by a handful of countries. This dynamic and its ability to adjust may be a core factor in determining whether globalization enhances disparity, or ultimately whether a world of greater inter-relationship reduces it.

The thesis is the university sector is particularly well-placed today to make a considerably greater difference in achieving development outcomes, in achieving success in broad development aims, particularly the Millenium Development Goals, and in correcting the shortcomings of development agendas through critical debate and evidence. These opportunities are brought about by digital technologies for communication, but the outcomes on development are by no means deterministic. They must be identified, reflected upon, discussed and acted upon by decision-makers in the university sector, academic leaders, faculty and students as well in the context of national and international development policy. The primary issue for developing countries and remote regions will be that it will become increasingly costly to societies for its universities to go without stable, broadband internet access. The primary issue for the developed nations, is that unless attention is given to the development equation of online dissemination of knowledge and learning activities, a 'knowledge society' - one which universities are positioned as central actors - will exacerbate the digital and access to knowledge divides between regions, and limit our ability to react and adapt to development problems especially if we take human capability as a whole in reference to all the world's peoples. The ideal of a world in communication where we can apply shared knowledge to deep and complex human problems facing us is lost upon us if we do not attempt to understand how the dynamics of the use of communications technology are being shaped and may be shaped in the future. This paper aims to present a realistic conceptual model for shaping these ideas from the perspective of university development today, that can be applied within and across all regions in a networked partnership approach.

The role of the world's higher education institutions in development should not be understimated, nor should that of the communications revolution, nor that of the reduction of barriers to knowledge resources. Taken together and understood, these factors are a soft power that can transcend traditional barriers to human development. How pivotal and constructive they may become in shaping development remains to be seen. Universities are but one nexus among many, and the purpose of this paper is to articulate how the university sector, its individuals and communities are positioned in the development equation.

Universities, Knowledge and Development

Universities have long played an integral role in national and international development. In the context of contemporary globalization, the information and communication technologies (ICT’s) have accelerated the shift to a knowledge economy. Universities in the North have capitalized on the communications revolution to accelerate and widen the dissemination of and access to knowledge and information. They have also increased their capacity to generate new knowledge through international networks and partnerships. Higher education and research institutions in the developed world attract significant public resources, which they in turn invest in human capital, provide basic research and train researchers and students. Basic research allows educators to develop curricula, entrepreneurs to develop technologies and civil society to promote informed citizenship. Publicly-funded research provides evidence for social and health policy-making and practise and knowledge for the development of public services and infrastructure. Scholarship in the humanities provides critical reflection, preserves and enriches culture and informs ethics. Universities have the technical infrastructure required for the dissemination of knowledge (Willinksy, 2006).

The evidence would suggest however that Southern universities, having faced numerous obstacles in development, have not yet been able to benefit significantly from dissemination of on-line research and participation in international research networks remains concentrated in the North. Stable, broadband internet access and the technical capacity to maintain a network remains significant obstacle, and in many areas electricity itself cannot be relied upon. Price barriers to access to basic research in the form of peer-reviewed literature present a second obstacle which detracts from the value of returns on investing in ICT's.

Fortunately, the open access movement and subsidized research programs have vastly increased the possibility of access to research in the South in recent years. New technologies and falling technology costs put network access within reach of Southern universities. There is opportunity and rationale therefore, for universities in the North and South to focus their efforts on establishing network and literature access as a primary and basic goal towards developing equitable roles in research and institutional capacity-building parternships. It is predicted that if resources are prioritized towards these capabilities, the development impact flowing from North-South parternships will be more substantial with greater capacity for Southern partners to lead. Digital communication can assist partnership projects to widen their scope and develop more consistent and sustainable programs less dependent on 'development travel'. South-South networks and partnerships, and the sharing of knowledge within and led by the countries most concerned with the development challenges laid out by the Millenium Development Goals should be seen as critical to progress on them, and long-term resilience to regression on those targets. The Millenium Development Goals are focused on basic human rights and needs, on addressing grave social injustice in a world where global social and economic relations are more integrated and observable, and where resources to effect changes exist. Learning and knowledge in the 21st century should be led from a global perspective with the pressing challenges of the global majority in mind, and resources need not be constrained by the concentration of capabilities in a handful of countries as a byproduct of historical injustice. A shift to more equitable participation made possible by communication technologies and open access policies in addition represents the possibility to restore and reflect a history of knowledge which has always been global. Attention to this understanding is critical to avoiding the pitfalls of both the fear and the illusion of 'Western knowledge', and notions that learning and knowledge in any form from scientific method to oral history are constrained within some intractable cultural origin and dominance.

Brief Historical Context of Learning and Knowledge

A chief problem in understanding learning and knowledge in the 21st century is that we enter it with a history still obscured by several centuries on colonialism. The mid-twentieth century saw the end of formal colonial relationships between European and other continental nations. The hegemony over knowledge and its processes was challenged, creating a crisis in the humanities (I have a source for this). Yet, the nature of the history of the development of knowledge, it's accreditation and institutionalization, and its relationship to culture and power in history remain difficult problems to unravel. Part of the difficulty owes to the timing of the first revolution in communication technology in written documents, the printing press, arriving at the beginning of the rise of colonialism. Documents of other civilizations destroyed in the course of war are harder to recover since copies are fewer or nonexistent. Thus, 'literature' can appear to be a tradition dominated by the West along with the monopoly over what is contained in the 'body of literature'. However, progress in historocal research and archaelogy are advancing a more global picture.

The typical core undergraduate courses at universities that teach the history of science, history of philosophy or the humanities still have minimal content and sources that depart from the traditional story of 'Western knowledge'. Internationalization of core curriculum has become a 21st century priority of universities (I can source this), and the emergence of Southern research from a role of collecting information towards research programs directed in Northern institutions to carrying out its own research agenda has been discussed(source to come). The development of research capacity and the ability to disseminate knowledge globally on the part of Southern research insitutions could shed better light on the history of knowledge and the humanities in general.

To provide a brief look at the problem, given the under-development of historical research on knowledge development in the South, I present two alternatives to compare hypotheses on understanding of the origins of modern knowledge; the traditional history of knowledge development as taught typically to undergraduate students now, and a global history more sought after in an internationalized curriculum. Both exist as hypotheses, since the traditional history suffers from gaps, and those gaps are what comprises the global history.

The traditional narrative

In the traditional history, our understanding of knowledge development begins with the accomplishments of the Greeks, a story often beginning with the work of Thales towards developing an empirical understanding of the natural world. Rational inquiry was developed by Plato, Socrates and Aristotle and Hippocrates developed the practises and ethics of medicine before A.D. The progress of intellectual thought was suppressed after the Church in Europe seized upon the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic conception of the universe, since it supported Church doctrine that the Earth was the centre of the universe. This notion, and the ability of thought to develop as free inquiry independent of religious doctrine was limited through the Middle Ages. The discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo that challenged the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic model finally began to unravel the hold with which the Church had on the development of knowledge. The Renaissance was a re-birth of free inquiry and a re-discovery of the Greek texts. The shift in the power balance held by the Church extended to the political landscape, and the Enlightenment gave birth to modern values of secularism, democracy and freedom. Science freed from the constraints of religion was able to rapidly develop in tandem and contributing to further technological advances, military capabilities and ability to manipulate the natural world towards material progress. This heralded in the modern epoch.

The Global Narrative

A global history sees the Greek world as one nexus in time and place of knowledge development, owing its progress to an enabling social and political context. The Greeks however, were influenced through trade and travel by intellectual thought in other regions, particularly the connections with India and North Africa. They drew on such connections and sources in the development of their own. In turn, during the Middle Ages, the progess of knowledge was not interrupted, but rather the nexus shifted location from Europe to the Middle East, North Africa, Persia and Muslim Spain. During the Islamic Golden Age, Greek sources were drawn upon heavily in neo-Platonic Islamic works in philosophy, natural sciences, mathematics, medicine and humanities. The discovery of Persian texts demonstrates mathematical discoveries of Copernicus to have existed in similar form two centuries earlier. Baghdad was known as the cradle of civilization and the world's oldest university Al-Azhar is located in Cairo, established during this era. Baghdad and other cities in the Islamic empires of this period were connected by trade over the Silk Road from Europe, connecting these regions to Central Asia, China, South-East Asia and the Far East. The North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa were connected by land, and Southern Africa, North Africa and India were connected over the Indian Ocean from the civilization of Great Zimbabwe to the South Pacific. The development of knowledge in Greece and in the Muslim world was truly international. Though not completely free of religious interference, the patronage of the Muslim states and the belief among many that the religion supported free intellectual inquiry allowed knowledge to flourish until finally internecine conflicts, the Crusades and the Mongol invasions disrupted or destroyed Muslim institutions. The nexus shifted to Europe, where the development of knowledge in the Renaissance and Enlightenment relied heavily on the transmission of Greek knowledge by neo-Platonic Muslim scholars, and the sources developed within the Muslim world with global influence. During the colonial period and prior, expanding empires encountered indigenous cultures most often at great cost to these. The indigenous cultures had developed generational knowledge that was shared with the expanding civilizations, adopted by them and later attributed to them. Intellectual property issues and indigenous knowledge remain a contentious issue today. In the West, science became dominated by positivism following the Vienna Circle becoming the dominant cultural paradigm in the intellectual world and defining modernism as scientific, rational, secular and technological. However, positivism has undergone challenges in the physical sciences from where it originated. New pluralistic and relativistic paradigms emerged in social sciences and humanities. Health sciences today no longer are reduced to an objective, physical science and together with psychology and influences from indigenous health, individual, community and social health can be looked at in more holistic ways. At Alma Ata, the agenda for Health for All as well as the World Health Organization definition of health was shaped by the presence of indigenous people at the conference.

Note - some of this requires sources, but for the most part this is to compare two hypotheses.

It is commonly noted that if you do not know your past, you cannot fully appreciate your present situation or the implications for the future. The objective in providing two hypotheses here is not to offer one story as more factual than the other, but in fact to demonstrate a gap in our understanding. A more complete understanding of the history of knowledge globally is needed, and can only be gained through integrating knowledge of the past from sources that include the histories of the people concerned. This endeavour is a global one, and one more reason for partnership by higher education institutions across regions, for shared access to research literature, for a de-centralization geographically of the participation in the production of knowledge, and another significant use of digital technologies in communicating new understanding about the humanities. In essence, the humanities ought to be able to tell a story of all humanity. We need a way for the story of any people to be told by that people, and for other peoples to be able to hear it. Universities have a role to play as centers of knowledge production and dissemination, a role which requires networks that are open.

If the global history of knowledge is more complete than the traditional one, it also demonstrates that the development of science and medicine is not an activity which is attached to a particular culture. It has been a history where knowledge, culture and power have coalesced in particular regions under political contexts which enabled free intellectual inquiry and that the nexus moved geographically and culturally by circumstances of the time. The current circumstances allow for the dispersion of that nexus, or the possibility that centres of innovation, civilizational progress may be developed and belong to cultures anywhere. These cultures will no doubt be shaped by modern and post-modern developments, by external and even global influences, in turn they will re-shape civilizational development. Learning and knowledge, and the university as platform for them, belong to no particular culture.

History of University Development in the 20th century - Canada/US/Africa

During the 1960s investment in education at all levels was a main focus of national and international development throughout the world. Canada greatly expanded post-secondary education between 1964 and 1971 (Banting, 1995). As early as 1945, Harvard president James Conant argued that a strong system of higher education was essential to American democracy, social mobility and egalitarianism (Conant, 1945). Thomas Schulz championed a ‘human capital revolution’ in the approach to development economics through the 1960s (Schultz, 1960). During the independence era in 1966, Nigerian author Dowuona discussed a cycle beginning with the weakness of higher education translating into a lack of trained post-primary teachers culminating in a vacuum of skilled personnel to support the few highly educated Nigerians running the country (Dowuona, 1966). Dowuona saw a critical role for universities in self-determination stating that “until the developing countries build up the right foundations and tradition for training to the highest level, they will not be able to be masters of their own destiny.” In 1968, U.K. statesman Sir Andrew Cohen placed education as the highest priority in African development, and universities as the first concern. He saw a critical role for institutional capacity-building through some 50 arrangements underway between British and mostly African universities – giving the example of the cooperation of medical schools in Nairobi and Glasgow (Cohen, 1968).

Responding to this push for higher education in Africa, international aid and national efforts pushed allocations for education to over 1/5 of national budgets in some developing countries (Lulat, 1982). However, the scale and speed of these initial efforts outpaced development in general, and the expected returns in development outcomes did not materialize. Human capital theory was sidelined in the 1970s when ‘educational reform’ became the development buzz-word. Reforms tried to shift the focus towards basic needs for the rural majority, strategic investment in quality, introduction of technology and nonformal education. However, reforms were not carried through extensively owing to lack of resources and political will (Lulat, 1982).

Following the initial push, the development of tertiary education and research in Africa has been neglected (Birdsall 1996, Bloom, Canning and Chan, 2005). Spending on higher education has sometimes been seen by donors and policy-makers to favour elites and exacerbate inequality (Lulat 1982, Birdsall 1996, Kapur and Crowley 2008). However, some have seen tertiary education not as a distant goal to come after primary education has been dealt with, but as the root for effective national development including the effectiveness of primary education (Schulz 1960, Dowuona 1966, Cohen 1968, Lulat, 1982, Stiglitz, 2000, Cao et. al, 2002, Lorenzo 2002, Colle, 2003, Kapur and Crowley, 2008) and at least one author proposes to focus on the quaternary level with graduate training and research (Birdsall, 1996).

Developing countries have not by and large realized the vision for higher education set out by Cohen, Dowuona and others. As an example, Zambia followed the normative pattern of ambitious investment in the sixties and ambitious reform in the seventies. Zambia’s copper crisis in 1975 led to austerity measures and a focus on more urgent needs. Zambia’s failure in reform was also linked to the mismatch of ideology and political will (Lulat, 1982). More dramatically, at the Juba Health Institute in Southern Sudan, progress in medical and nursing education was halted by a two decade long civil war where the entire academic staff was in exile, emerging only recently with the peace accord signed in 2005. Various patterns of conflict, fiscal crises, ideological constraints, Cold War interference and other circumstances have held back the development of universities in the South and the focus on higher education.

A handful of influential authors have noted the significance of the infrastructure of knowledge creation and dissemination itself to the process of development. A leading voice on knowledge for development is Nobel Prize winner in Economics and former World Bank president Joseph Stiglitz, who stated the following in a speech from 2000:

“If the developing countries are really to be “in the drivers’ seat” they have to have the capacity to analyze the often difficult economic issues which they face. Local researchers, combining the knowledge of local conditions—including knowledge of local political and social structures—with the learning derived from global experiences, provides the best prospects for deriving policies which are both effective and engender broad-based support. That is why locally-based research institutions are so important.” – (Joseph Stiglitz, 2000)

This brings us full circle to Dowuona and Cohen, who were both concerned with capability and self-determination through higher education and research, and the same sentiment is reflected in Stiglitz’s approach to knowledge in general.

Despite the cautions that large-scale investment and reform provide in history, the significance of higher education remains. Along with the Ontario government’s recent announcement of funding for University of Toronto’s ailing infrastructure, Paul Genest of the Council of Ontario Universities stated "The Ontario government clearly understands that universities are the knowledge infrastructure of the province" (Smith, 2008). The question being asked today is how universities in Africa and other developing regions might take advantage of digital technologies, on-line literature and international networks to re-assert a stronger role in development as the knowledge infrastructure of their localities. Knowledge for development is an extension of human capital theory that gives greater attention to institutions and infrastructure for knowledge, with communications technology occupying a central importance (World Bank, 2008). Technology often predicts social change, for better or worse, and we have new choices to make.

ICT4D

ICT’s for Development

“History bears witness,” writes a sociologist, “to the cataclysmic effect on society of inventions of new media for the transmission of information among persons. The development of writing, and later the development of printing, are examples.” - N. St. John, Book review, The American Journal of Sociology 73 (1967): 255

Though by now the internet has become ubiquitous in the West, this is not the case globally. The concept of the digital divide examines the divergence in capability that ICT’s have created, granting vast opportunities to those who have access to these technologies who then move further ahead of those who do not. As the significance of ICT’s to opportunity increases, so does the significance of the divide and the need to address information poverty before inequalities become rigid, particularly with regard to the divide between rich and poor countries (Norris, 2001). Kofi Annan has long been a champion of ICT’s for development, and in March 2001, the U.N. Economic and Social Council launched the U.N. ICT Task Force devoted to transforming the digital divide into digital opportunity for all humanity (U.N. ICT Task Force, 2008). Attention has been given to ICT for development in university contexts through the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). NEPAD provides definitions of ICT development and ICT’s for development in this particular context.

ICT Development in the university context refers to building media and digital facilities to support university internal functions, along with an academic and research programs that prepare students to function effectively in an information society - in both the public and the private sectors;

ICT for Development refers to the university applying ICT in programs outside its walls in the service of communities and the nation. (Quoted from NEPAD in Colle, 2005).

<In light of these definitions, some alterations to the use of ICT4D may be warranted for precision and consistency.> Arif

The relationships in between internet access, access to literature and research capacity for universities are ultimately straightforward and simple. The activity of getting on the internet and accessing research can be very straightforward and simple as we are used to in the West. This is promising as it allows stakeholders to envision opportunities that are likely within their reach. However, the implications and the surrounding issues present a great many challenges discussed within mountain of literature that now exists on ICT4D. These issues will be examined further in this study, as they caution us against moving forward without giving attention to the complexities that will arise in implementation and that will follow from that point.

A2k/OA

The Access Principle - a commitment to the value and quality of research carries with it a responsibility to extend the circulation of such work as far as possible and ideally to all who are interested in it and all who might profit (Willinksy, 2006, pg. xiii).
The World Health Organization conducted a study in 2003 which found that 56% of research and academic institutions in least developed countries (per-capita GNP < $1000) carried zero subscriptions to any academic journal, and 21% carried an average of 2. In the next income-tier (per-capita GNP < $1000-$3000) countries 34% of institutions carried no subscriptions, and 34% carried an average of 2 to 5. Researchers and academics identified ‘priced literature’ as their most pressing information problem (Ochs, Aronson, Wu, 2004). As a result of the recognition of these needs, the environment, health and agriculture organizations of the U.N. (WHO, UNEP and FAO) now provide free access to thousands of journals to the poorest countries, with the permission of the publishers. The price barriers to literature have also been the motivation behind the Open Access movement and are one of the key intellectual property concerns of the Access to Knowledge movement (A2k draft treaty, 2005). In terms of development, access to knowledge is particulary critical to knowledge workers – a nation’s doctors, nurses, librarians, civil servants, lawyers, civil society workers, entrepreuners, etc. These knowledge workers’ effectiveness is dependent on the ability to combine local and global knowledge (Stiglitz, 1999).

Price barriers also constrain public funding to library budgets in the North, a structure where public money is spent on research in a system that limits public access to the results. According to the E.U.’s study on the technical evolution of scientific publishing markets, the crisis orginally occurred before the digital revolution when libraries faced increase in prices of journals 300% beyond inflation, a problem only partially corrected by on-line closed access publishing. Even after libraries formed into consortia to increase their bargaining power “researchers themselves have become dissatisfied that their libraries can no longer afford to buy back their research output and that of their co-workers, even though this was provided free of cost to the publishers” and “organizations that fund the research have become concerned that the published results of their funding are largely unread and that scientific progress is retarded through inadequate access to related research conducted globally.” (European Commission, 2006). The E.U. study’s first recommendation was that government funding agencies should mandate that the research they fund be made available without charge on the internet. The recommendation became a campaign and is supported by a 27,000 strong petition from the global research community including many high-profile scientists and several Nobel Prize winners. The Budapest Open Access Initiative that began in 2001 (2008), the Bethesda (2003) and Berlin (2003) Declarations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Final Communique (2004), the Geneva Declaration on the future of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) (2004), the Access to Knowledge Draft Treaty (2005), the mandates on open access of the American National Institutes for Health (NIH) (2008) and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) (2008) are among many national and international pronouncements and actions that have been taken in support of greater access and policy change. As a final example, the Government of Canada’s Task Force National Consultation on Access to Scientific Research Data (2005) released its final report in 2005 urging ‘immediate and pressing consideration of our Report, and recommend the earliest possible implementation, as a national priority, of the step-by-step approach proposed that will lead to early and effective implementation of a national plan for open access to publicly funded scientific research data'.

According to UNESCO (1982), “the research base of a country has a profound effect on its economic development and its ability to address problems in such areas as public health, infectious diseases, agriculture, environmental management, or industrial progress.” Researchers from the developing world comprise a fraction of participation in research, even though they are best positioned to contribute on the key challenges facing the world, resulting in a growing recognition of gaping holes of ‘missing knowledge’. The 1990 Commission on Health Research for Development (2006) estimated that less than 10% of the global health research resources were being applied to the health problems of developing countries, which accounted for over 90% of the world’s health problems – an imbalance captured in the term the ‘10/90 gap’15. A 2004 study found that 31 countries contribute 98% of the world’s mostly highly cited research output with eight of those contributing 85% while another 162 countries contribute less than 2% (King, 2004). In Africa, only South Africa ranks in the top countries at 29. UBC author John Willinsky theorizes that what he calls the ‘Access Principle’ is the natural ethic of the research author, since every author’s contribution depends on their role as a research reader and user (Willinsky, 2006).

Toward a Model for Measuring Change in the Development Equation - Research Proposal

Theoretical Model
In order to articulate the general approach and to apply it to the specific objective, the author proposes a theoretical model that explains the relationships between ICT’s for development (ICT4D), access to knowledge (A2K), networked partnership (NP) and knowledge for development (K4D) (Figure 1). The model situates the university as a hub for knowledge-based development. Partnerships and networks are both seen as natural activities for a university and as vehicles for institutional capacity-building. A preliminary diagram has been constructed by the author and is posted in the key concepts section below, with greater elaboration to come during the research itself.

Significance
In light of the global development discourse on knowledge, communication and digital technology, networks and partnership - one possible approach is for Northern and Southern partners to focus on the basics of research and education capacity in the digital context, attempting to approximate symmetry in these basics between partners. This is an approach to institutional capacity-building where the Southern partner quickly shifts from beneficiary and follower-partner to leader and contributor. The hypothesis is that such a shift is not possible without network access, and that with network access alone, the investment in access has smaller returns. This is because the web resources most relevant to universities are high quality knowledge resources that are the focus of the open access and access to knowledge movements. Network and literature access without partnership may also not be enough, given the literature vacuum that developing country institutions have faced over many years. Certainly the purpose of partnership is the mutual development of knowledge and capacity. The model proposes that under the conditions of equitable access to research and of network access, the partnership has vastly increased potential for impact on development for both partners. Finally, ‘capacity-building’ and ‘knowledge transfer’ have too long been development goals where the longer they remain a concern, the more they can be said have been unsuccessful on the whole. It is hoped that where successful, the basic approach taken in this model can tip the scales on an institution by institution basis.

Variables
There are four main variables in the model describing the dynamics of network access (ict4d) and access to literature (a2k), networked partnerships (np) and their relationship to development through knowledge (k4d). Variables (note the small caps refer to the variables not the concepts)

a. a2k – Level of access to literature. This variable is observeable through indicators and can change (like an independent variable if this were an experiment.). The primary influence on the a2k variable is policy change.

b. ict4d – Level of network access (access to the internet). This variable is observeable through valid indicators and can change (like an independent variable if this were an experiment.). The primary influence on change for ict4d is technological intervention, though policy is relevant over the long-term.

recently added c. np - networked partnership - can compare networked partnerships with partnerships past and present that do not focus on this - networked partnerships would be distinguished as focusing on communication technologies for human networks at individual/departmental/institutional levels, ICT development and ICT for development, and utilizing digital library resources/accessing research online. ie. they would be addressing 'learning and knowledge in the 21st century', bridging digital divides and harnessing those potentials. *Need to look at indicators for this variable.

d. k4d – Impact of knowledge on development. This variable is observeable through a wide variety of indicators. It is hypothesized that changes in ict4d and a2k will affect k4d, since communication, dissemination and access are thought to be critical to gaining and using knowledge. (The k4d variable is similar to a dependent variable.)

Indicators - Several indicators are proposed for the model. Some indicators are statistical in nature, while others describe the policy and legal environment. Tables to be posted shortly.

Research Design

Objective 1 – Situating the University in the Knowledge Economy and Development. Each main concept in the model (ICT4D, A2K and K4D) has been discussed vigorously in the literature over recent years, along with longer standing literature on higher education as well as North-South research and institutional partnerships. Essentially situating the university’s role will not only require a thorough review of the literature, but an attempt at synthesis and integration of these concepts with the university as the main actor. Therefore, in fulfilling the objective, the author should be able to describe how universities are active development actors who currently access unequal opportunities to use communication technologies and on-line literature as well as networks and partnerships to generate and disseminate knowledge, and this analysis should describe the nature of the inequality. It should evaluate the degree to which such opportunities are central to the capability of knowledge institutions to have an impact on development outcomes locally and globally. Finally, the discussion will lead to what new opportunities exist along the ICT4D-A2K-K4D axis, and what realistic priorities can be set to empower knowledge institutions globally in their ability to contribute to human development.

Objective 2 – Model for University-based development
The support for and any challenges to the general theoretical model will be analysed through existing data, concepts, theories and expert opinion. Specific indicators are proposed to empirically assess the unequal development from North to South along the three main variables, and the relative impact or obstruction to development associated with their development or under-development. The validity of indicators to variables to concepts to development will be suggested by the first objective and validated through expert consultation. Finally, the indicators describing ict4d, a2k and k4d can be related to traditional human development indicators, both economic and social. The model should be developed in a way that can provide a useful framework for analysis by policy-makers and institutional decision-makers, and can be applied to specific partnership projects or national policy.

Methods
a. Existing data and literature search
b. Literature review/synthesis using Google Scholar with keywords and the database ERIC. This is a search for the conceptual grounding of the model. Theoretical leaders will be identified along with empirical studies.
c. Web Search of Reports and Statistics Databases for Indicator Data
Search for reports by UN organizations, NGO’s, governments or other research institutions to gather information on indicators.
d. Knowledge Assessment Methodology KAM – World Bank This web-based tool allows the user to make country profiles and country to country comparisons on several knowledge economy and human capital indicators.
e. Expert consultation.

Existing Data Analysis.
The general approach to literature synthesis and data analysis will a) to verify the meaning and relevance of the indicators, possibility dropping some or adding others b) give relative weight to the indicators based on their relevance to the model and c) Simplify the statistics through creating categories for interpreting the data according to the constructs in the model and d) Interpret the simplified data with regard to the objectives. Appendix II contains a chart indicating how variables are measured under several conditions (Table 1), similar to an experimental design. Appendix III (Tables 2, 3 and 4) lists the indicators suggested so far.

Cost-value-benefit analysis
a. Estimates of the cost of network access. Existing data will provide estimated costs of network access and maintenance. An effort will be made to establish funding and subsidy opportunities.
b. Value of literature. The value of literature access will be defined in three ways, cost of production, market value and use value. The use value is more difficult to put a dollar figure on, and will be described based on the theoretical analysis and in relation to K4D indicators.

Theoretical Analysis - bringing it together following analyses

Testing/applying the model

- there are at least two North/South partnerships known to the authors that are in the initial stages of developing along the priorities of network access, library capacity-building (both physical and digital), and access to research literature, as stated priorities of the Southern partner. The model can expand to national, regional and global analyses and can also zoom in and treat the unit of study at the institutional level observing change in two or more partners.

The approach in developing this model is non-interventionist, it is to provide a framework for addressing all of the factors, obstacles, opportunities, best practises, costs and benefits to network partnerships based on the development equation, open solutions and information and communication plus access to knowledge for development(icta2k4d), to be used, shared, distributed and modified in good faith, with content here published under Creative Commons license. Thus the theoretical model is an open model. We believe that there are many possible research questions that can be derived from this model. In order to express caution, it will be important to provide a brief overview of the relationship between models, theories and evidence, and what the role, limitations and usefulness of models in research.

More to Come

More to come, many thanks for your interest. We will be working on utilizing the wiki's capabilities for better presentation and organization of the content.

Proposed Indicators (first attempt)

[Image:ictable1.jpg] [Image:ictable2.jpg] [Image:ictable3.jpg] [Image:ictable4.jpg]

Conceptual Maps (using Freemind)

[Image:OS.jpeg]

[Image:University.jpeg]

[Image:A2K.jpeg]

Brainstorming Key Concepts

Conceptual Leaders

Economics
Fritz Malchup - Knowledge Industries

Open Access
Peter Suber
John Willinsky
Michael Geist

Key Concept Outline

[Image:icta2k4d.jpg]

Proposed definitions

As existing concepts, these are definitions in the context of our approach to the development equation. Networked parternship is a concept developed by Moustapha Diack, the term and slight variations have been proposed elsewhere. See also Google Scholar search
University
- knowledge user and generator, insitution of higher education, research, training, academic community of faculty, students and adminstrators, partner to communities locally, often partner with governments, to other academic communities, and part of global network.
ICT4D
- information and communication technologies for development - in this context as driven by universities (in applying information/knowledge gained through digital access for development, and in providing the platform for networks/partnerships)
A2K
- access to knowledge, in this context gaining access to most relevant and useful content on internet - research articles, educational resources/curricular materials/textbooks, distance education - focusing on open models without price barriers and relates to copyright and alternative licensing of intellectual property, also in relation to intellectual property in regards to patents and alternatives (such as open source), ie. gaining access to knowledge for technological development and through use of technologies - again focusing on open models with fewer to no price barriers. Relates to static efficiency and dynamic efficiency in the knowledge economy balance. Universities have a particular interest in knowledge as a public good and in eliminating barriers to sharing of basic research, and finding balances in regards to dynamic efficiency in research and development for commercialization.
K4D
- term coined by World Bank referring to knowledge for economic and social development, its use here is not confined to World Bank assumptions. The application of knowledge to problems of development, policy, critique of development agenda, measurement and theory of development, development as change brought about by learning and knowledge.
Research - pluralism of methodological routes to knowledge production - concerned with discovery, understanding, epistemology, relevance to human societies, planet and universe, representation of reality and meaning (ontology/interpretation). Education - formal transfer of knowledge from generation to generation, and in lifelong learning.
Networks and Parternships and NP - networked parterships (Diack)
Networks - referring to human networks, at the very basic level a network can exist with simply 'knowledge of' another person who has 'knowledge of' yet another person - the network exists by recognition of this mutual recognition of individuals (groups as well can form networks). It's basic potential is realized when people who do not know of each other can be connected in some way to a purpose through points in the network they share (an individual they both know of, or through a communication platform, or both). Without communication, a network is basically static. A research network can form around a discipline, or around a particular issue or problem toward the increasing trend of interdisciplinary research networks. Research networks have always been international, at periods in history more or less so, and in this period the communications revolution has vastly expanded the importance of international research networks with the potential of global research networks. The digital divide puts those with digital capability much farther ahead and isolates those who do not have it. Crossing the digital divide can end the isolation of local research communities. It is widely accepted that scientific and social research requires networks and is based on sharing of research results, inclusion is a good and isolation is a bad.
Partnerships - informal partnerships are endeavours undertaken with an agreed upon purpose between partners. Formal partnerships are the same but with formal agreements and terms of reference. Agreement on actions towards a specific and often time-limited purpose is what distinguishes a partnership from a network which remains open-ended. Networks provide the possibility for partnerships. Partnership in development is sometimes restricted to refer to agreements involving financial contributions.
NP - Networked Partnership (Diack)
- a partnership that utilizes digital and human networks as the basis for communication, and combines both the open-ended possibilities of networks and the ability to achieve specific outcomes in partnership. Here the networks if nurtured and managed well, provide for sustainability of collective work. By the time certain goals are achieved, networks allow spin-offs of project activities to be undertaken which will have progressed. Networked partnership is a new opportunity, but could provide tremendous possibilities to allow specific outcomes of related work to more easily contribute to general impacts in the long-term, given the interrelatedness of development problems. Complex problems cannot be solved by one-dimensional solutions, for instance, reducing the cost of ARVs has a much reduced impact on outcomes for people with HIV/AIDS if infrastructure for clinical facilities, training, education and nutrition are absent.



Equations

Main Equation
F(ICT4D,A2k,K4D)+NP

Equations from model
NPU - University moving towards networked partnership model.
ict4d (small caps) - a variable derived from the concept referring to institution's digital capability, can range from no digital access, poor/minimal, to optimal (broadband, optimized, best practices, and useful to stakeholders).
a2k (small caps) - a variable derived from the concept referring to level of access of knowledge resources as a function of use of OA and OER, partnerships, funding and access to other technologies.
k4d (small caps) - impact on change as a result of exploitation of knowledge resources, related to development indicators, but can be related to inclusion in the discourse of development where development indicators and priorities are set.
R - Research
D- Development
E- Education
N - networks
P - partnerships

In each equation, digital access and access to research, along with partnerships allow the university to leapfrog in capacity for development contribution locally, nationally and globally, leveraging these resources and partner assistance to overcome initial asymettry in North/South partnerships, developing South/South networks and partnerships, toward leadership and net global contribution to knowledge and development from the South, joining global networks and enabling equitable North/South/South partnerships. Reflecting the competitive/cooperative dynamics in the globalization of universities, the emergence of hubs and centres of excellence in the South is a likely outcome. The model encourages the enterprise of individuals, individual universities by leveraging a cooperative and barrier-free platform of sharing of basic research and a balanced approach to intellectual property in technology innovation/invention.

A. NPU(ict4d+a2k)(R+D)= k4d(A)
k4d(A) - research and development for public goods (eg. health system), commercialization (eg. basic research leads to innovation to production for economic development), evidence-based development policy and implementation (eg. research leads to changing social welfare policy).

B. NPU(ict4d+a2k)(R+E)=k4d(B)
k4d(B) - research and education under this model allows for the development of locally relevant curriculum and educational resources. In addition, the education of each nation's people about the rest of the world will be enhanced through communication where local scholarship is recongized. The model predicts opportunities for faculty development and continuing education of a nation's knowledge workers.

C. NPU(ict4d+a2k)(E+N+P)=k4d(C)
k4d(C)- education development at a univesrity through networks and partnerships. We see enhanced quality of student and faculty exchanges where digital communications keeps academic communities more closely connected. On a larger scale, institutional capacity building in the area of education development is vastly enhanced where the recipient partner gains access to the knowledge resources than can allow them to take leadership and control over development as an outcome of the partnership.

D. NPU(ict4d+a2k)(R+N+P)=k4d(D)
k4d(D) - ending isolation to international research networks through collaborative work and mentoring with partners, digital access, access to literature. Partnerships for institutional capacity-building alongside collaborative research projects, transfer/development of research capacity (rather than just knowledge).

Next addition will be a visual concept map elaborating the wider context of Learning and Knowledge and issues as elaborated below.

Concepts
Learning and Knowledge in the 21st century: the Development Equation
needs cleaning up for formatting.

Concepts

Organic -----Institutional

Learning ----- Education

Knowledge ----- Research

Institution

           - organization, governance, mission and situation/position/role in society
           - its physical campus and community of people
           - public or private 

Knowledge and institutions

           - knowledge-using institutions - hospital, school, training, business, government
           - knowledge-generating institutions - university/research

Our focus is on knowledge-generating institutions, which are knowledge-using also by default. Tertiary/quaternary education/research institutions as the nexus of national development of knowledge and link to global knowledge

21st century Contemporary context - globalization, interdependence, communication

Local to Global knowledge - organic to institutional level - integration/synthesis/compatibilities/challenges/conflicts/asymmetry

Communication - technologies and human development - relationship to L&K - political economy of communication - relational aspects of knowledge - power - shapes learning and knowledge - is dynamic akin to physical energy

energy - communication

change - learning

output- knowledge

effect - development

Development as - problem-solving, problems of development - self-determination, rights-based - freedom

KT - knowledge translation

Open Solutions - focuses on opportunities for communication capabilities for knowledge instutions through eliminating price barriers to

  - software, networks, operating system for computers (FLOSS/open source)
  - content - open access literature, open courseware, other free academic content accessible through the internet

Literature central to research, curricular materials and literature to education development

Access a2k/OA

- access relates to self-determination, access is not imposed/received as with assistance, but removes barriers to privileges sought out independently - access to literature enables ability to determine Research agenda - access to literature and curricular materials enhances ability to shape Education agenda - problem of starting point, prior lack of access and dominance in research output by handful of countries - need for knowledge generation and research output, research capacity - partnerships that reduce asymmetry on the basis of access as a core component, transfer of research capacity, rather than transfer of knowledge - level of access is affected by policy changes - OA, subsidized programs etc. - OA requires network access

Network Access - ICT4D - a question of physical infrastructure at institutional level, relates to telecommunications infrastructure at national level - not free like Open Solutions, but technology costs falling, can be optimized with better performance and sustainability - Open Solutions increase returns on investment in ICT4D by increasing value of content freely accessible on the internet and lowering/eliminating software costs, value of content is in increased quality directly related to activity of the institution - academic content, peer-reviewed, data etc. - dynamic of investment returns in context of Open Solutions can be described quantitatively and qualitatively, but must be interpreted in terms of actual effects on development.

ICT4D and Open Solutions necessary, not sufficient for knowledge for development (K4D) - requires learning and negotiating change - requires attention to starting points of imbalance in global academic content - requires networks and partnerships for participation in international research development, to avoid duplication of past research efforts, to gain research and administrative expertise required to lead research agenda - requires buy-in of southern researchers and institutions toward communication-based changes to research development - requires library development - requires KT to development problems

Opposing Viewpoints - idea that digital culture is a negative for development - scarce resources and priorities - academics too far removed from pressing problems, spending in tertiary/quaternary education and research institutions favours elites, priorities to help in urgent circumstances, projects, saving lives, economic concerns etc., rather than to develop the root of capacity to prevent and help on one's own. - idea that research culture is western, and is opposed to indigenous or local traditions - resistance to technology and content - open access charges author fees, presents a barrier to research dissemination for southern

researchers.

K4D impacts theorized - application of knowledge to development problems, movement on MDGs - locally-driven development means more resources retained locally - parallel development - the development of knowledge and human capital in the course of application to problems - developing the university sector as contributor to national economy and society - development of civil society, political dissent, policy development, evidence-based development - local knowledge workers more effective in working with local populations - stronger partners in development - self-determination in development - participation in global development discourse from developing country contributors, wherein the most significant human development problems are faced by developing countries - developing opportunity for mobility within a country, reversing the brain drain, retention of intellectual capital - contribution to global knowledge, expanding the depth and breadth of knowledge of the world - capability theory, upstream development, knowledge as power - learning and knowledge as freeing, development as freedom - catalyst for a learning society, in a global knowledge society - training of educators, locally relevant and culturally relevant curriculum, strenghtening of primary and secondary education - training and access to knowledge for knowledge workers, strengthening of other sectors (health, business, public, legal, civil society etc.)

Ideal

The development of strong universities in the South - MITs, Harvards, Oxfords of the South and smaller institutions with strong communities - potentiating the dynamics of networks/partnerships, competition/cooperation thus raising the capacity of Southern universities on the whole. Attracting researchers, faculty and students to facilities with network acess, digital library resources, access to literature. Contribution to local development, economic and social opportunity for graduates. Net brain gain. Self-determined development. Tackling unfreedoms, alleviating poverty, solving development problems. Freedom, equity, equitability, substantive equality, human rights and meritocracy within and among nations. Restoration of the status of indigenous nations, integration, syncretic creativity, dynamic culture (re-mix), reconciliation of tradition and social progress. Leapfrogging development. Africa as a learning continent, a continent of knowledge, a leading benign power in the world (Yes we can!).

Resources

  1. The Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Learning and Learning Objects
  2. The UN Millenium goals
  3. Knowledge and Responsibility, John Sulston on the World Knowledge Dialogue
  4. Knowledge Ecology International


Key References and Models

  1. Models of Sustainable OER Programs
  2. 21st Century Skills, Education and Competitiveness:
  3. Second Decade of Education: African Union
  4. Stiglitz:Knowledge As a Global Plubic Good
  5. Policy documents
  6. Commonwealth of Learning Partners
  7. Access to Knowledge ToolKit (A2K)
  8. Giving Knowledge for Free_THE EMERGENCE OF OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
  9. [ http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTUNIKAM/Resources/KAM_v4.pdf MEASURING KNOWLEDGE IN THE WORLD ECONOMIES]
  10. Knowledge Assessment MethodologyThe KAM is an interactive benchmarking tool created by the Knowledge for Development Program to help countries identify the challenges and opportunities they face in making the transition to the knowledge-based economy.

Wiki and Blog

  1. News from the open access movement
  2. Wiki: An Environment For Scholarly Conversation and Publishing
  3. The Open Knowledge Foundation Wiki
  4. The University’s Mandate to Mandate Open Access
  5. OPEN STUDENTS: Students for Open Access to Research

OA and Developing Countries

  1. Open Access more harm than good for developing countries
  2. Facilitating the use of ICT for community development through collaborative partnerships between universities, governments and communities

Pro/Cons Arguments. See the letters to Nature for pros and cons arguments about this publication.
The Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D)
The Threat of Technological Protection Measures to a Development-Oriented Information Society
Resource Sharing in the Digital Age: Prospects and Problems in African Universities

HIGHER EDUCATION & International Educational Databases & Statistics

UN International Bureau for Education IBE
Africa Regional Higher Education Summit
World Development Report 2007: Development and the Next Generation
international-digital-divide-statistics

CONFERENCES & Workshops

The A2K Conference
OAI workshops: Workshop on Innovations in Scholarly Communication
An Open Letter to the U.S. Congress Signed by 33 Nobel Prize Winners

OER Links

  1. OER & HEATH EDUCATION

OER IN HEALTH White Paper
[http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all?content=10.1080/01421590701881665 Expanding the reach of health sciences education and empowering others: the OpenCourseWare initiative at Tufts University ]

OA Links

Global IOpen Access IOpen Access

DOAJ - Directory of Open Access Journals

Open Access Journal Directory and Search

DOAJ - Directory of Open Access Journals

Open J-gate - over 4000 OA English journals

Scientific Commons - over 1,000,000 publications, 898 repositories

Open Access Repository Directory and Search

Open DOAR

Economics database

IDEAS

Internet Search

Internet Archive search engine for a wide variety of academic and non-academic free content]

MasterKey

Internet Public Library - free resource database for a variety of topics

Open Access Health

Bio-med central

Pub Med Central

Global Library Search

WorldCat

Open Access Books

Project Gutenberg

Open Archives Search

Open Achives Initiative - archived digital resources from global contributors

Open Learning Content

MERLOT

A2k, ICT4D Advocacy and Resources

Open Access Bibliography

SPARC - Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition

Information Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications

Publishing

Open Journal Systems - Public Knowledge Project

Open Research Networks and Communities

WAYS - young scientists worldwide

Africa

African on-line journal search

African Journals On-line

Dissemination of E-journals (free access to pay journals)

Science Dissemination Unit- Electronic Journals Dissemination Service

Math Database, Search and Resource

E-Math for Africa

Bibliographic Sources

A2k draft treaty (2005). CP-tech. available at http://www.cptech.org/a2k

Banting, Keith. 1995. Social Policy Reform in Canada. In Moralez-Gomez. Social Policy in a Global Society. International Development Research Centre/Earthscan On-Line Books. Retrieved December 12th from http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-27520-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and the Humanities. 2003. Max Planck Gesellschaft. http://oa.mpg.de/openaccess-berlin/berlindeclaration.html

Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing. 2003. available at http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/bethesda.htm

Birdsall, N. 1996. Public spending on higher education in developing countries: Too much or too little?Economics of Education Review 15, (4): 407-19.

Bloom, D., D. Canning, and K. Chan. 2005. Higher education and economic development in africa. Research Commissioned by the World Bank (AFTHD), http://www.Worldbank.Org.

Cao, C., QZ Feng, Y. Gao, F. Gu, JX Si, YF Sui, W. Tian, HT Wang, LL Wang, and QT Zeng. 2002. Progress in the development of national knowledge infrastructure. Journal of Computer Science and Technology 17, (5): 523-34.

CIHR. 2008. Policy in Development: Access to Products of Research. Retrieved April 12th, 2008 from Canadian Institutes of Health Research website: http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/30818.html

Canada’s Task Force for the National Consultation on Access to Research Data. 2005. National Consultation on Access to Research Data Final Report. Her Majesty in the Right of Canada. http://ncasrd-cnadrs.scitech.gc.ca/NCASRDReport_e.pdf

Cohen, A. 1968. Development in Africa: The problems of today. African Affairs 67, (266): 44-54.

Colle, R. D. 2005. Building ICT4D capacity in and by African universities. International Journal of Education and Development using ICT 1, (1).

Colle, R. D., and R. Roman. 2003. ICT4D: A frontier for higher education in developing nations. African and Asian Studies 2, (4): 381-420.

Commission on Health Research for Development. 2006. The 10/90 gap: Now. Global Health Research Forum. Retrieved March 12, 2006 from Global Forum for Health Research website: http://www.globalforumhealth.org/Site/002__What%20we%20do/005__Publications/001__10%2090%20reports.php

Conant, J. B. 1945. General education in a free society: Report of the Harvard Committee. Harvard University Press.

Dowuona, M. 259. Training for development in Africa. African Affairs 65, (259): 135-47.

European Commission. 2006. Study on the Economic and Technical Evolution of the Scientific Publications Market in Europe. Science and Society.

Geneva Declaration on the Future of WIPO. 2004. Available at http://www.cptech.org/ip/wipo/genevadeclaration.html

Kapur D, Crowley M. 2008. Beyond the ABC’s: Higher Education in Developing Countries. Center for Global Development Working Paper No. 139 Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1099934

King, D. A. (2004). The scientific impact of nations. Nature, 430(15 July 2004), 311-316

Lorenzo, G. 2002. World bank's global development learning network: Sharing knowledge electronically between nations to" fight poverty". USDLA Journal 16, (5).

Lulat, Y. G. M. 1982. Political constraints on educational reform for development: Lessons from an African experience. Comparative Education Review 26, (2): 235-53.

Merton, R. K. 1972. Insiders and outsiders: A chapter in the sociology of knowledge. The American Journal of Sociology 78, (1): 9-47.

National Institutes of Health (2008). National Institutes of Health Public Access. Retrieved April 12th, 2008 rom U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website: http://publicaccess.nih.gov/

Norris, P. 2000. The world-wide digital divide. The John F. Kennedy School of Government. Harvard University.

Norris, Pippa. 2001. Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide. Cambridge University Press.

Ochs M, Aronson B, Wu J. 2004. HINARI and AGORA : Revolutionizing Access in the Developing World. Journal for the Serials Community: 17(2).

Schultz, Theodore W. (1960), ‘Capital formation by education’, The Journal of Political Economy, (68) 6: 571-583.

Smith, E (2008). U of T receives $25.6 million in provincial infrastructure funding. Retrieved February 28, 2008, from News@UofT Web site: http://www.news.utoronto.ca/bin6/080131-3600.asp

Stiglitz, J. 2000. 2 scan globally, reinvent locally knowledge infrastructure and the localisation of knowledge. Banking on Knowledge: The Genesis of the Global Development Network.

Stiglitz J. 1999. Knowledge as a Global Public Good. In Kaul, Grunberg and Stern: Global Public Goods. Oxford University Press.

Suber, P. 2003. Scholarly communication - removing barriers to research: An introduction to open access for librarians. College & Research Libraries News 64, (2).

UN ICT Task Force (2008). Plan of Action of the ICT Task Force. Retrieved February 22, 2008 from United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force website: http://www.unicttaskforce.org/about/planofaction.html

UNESCO. 1982. Draft medium-term plan (1984–1989). Second part, VII (pp. 135–143), Information systems and access to knowledge. General conference fourth extraordinary session, Paris (1982), Paris, UNESCO http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0005/000507/050794eo.pdf

Willinksy, John. 2006. The Access Principle. MIT, Cambridge Press.

World Bank. 2008. Knowledge for Development (K4D) program. Retrieved March 12, 2008 from: http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/knowledgefordevelopment

Approaches to Open Access in Scientific Publishing. Retrieved November 19, 2008 from: http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0811/0811.2603v2.pdf

PRESENTATIONS

Prof. M. Diack panel presentation
Open Sesame Panel: Open Software and Open Resources—Does it help Higher Education
14th Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning
Orlando Florida, Nov -5-7, 2008
The Development Equation

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