Papers
Theory
Mobile Telephony
Collaboration
Internet Science
Pre-Internet Science
Gender
Theory
Methods
and Digital Video Ethnography
Reviews, Overviews, & Outreach
Books
Theory
articles
2005. Social Studies of
Science 35 (5): 723-54.
Wesley Shrum
Contemporary discussions
of globalization concentrate on economic dimensions, neglecting
questions about social relationships. This essay addresses the globalization
of science as a process, replacing the concept of development with
the idea of reagency and focusing on the Guest, an identity associated
with specific places. The principal issue is whether the connectivity
initiative centering on the Internet is just another development
program or whether it is different in character, owing to a projective
orientation that changes the relationship between place and identity.
Following the conceptual groundwork, two contrasts are drawn in
the body of the paper, between Guest Houses at two Kenyan research
institutes, and between donor initiatives involving evaluation and
connectivity. A minor thread throughout the essay explains the romantic
interest in the subject, and my transition from a phony donor to
a real one.
Wesley Shrum
Published as "Science and Story in Development."
W. Shrum. 2000. Social Studies of Science 30(1): 95-124
Given the importance of
social location to research practice, a particularly compelling
problem for social studies of science is how research activities
emerge in a new sector. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in
less developed countries are initiating research, often in a style
of 'alternative' agriculture. I account for this development using
concepts from semiotic and structural network approaches.
Mobile Telephony
Antony Palackal,
Loyola College of Social Science, Trivandrum, India
Paul Nyaga Mbatia,
University of Nairobi, Kenya
Dan-Bright Dzorgbo,
University of Ghana
Ricardo B. Duque,
University of Vienna, Austria
Marcus Antonius Ynalvez,
Texas A&M International University, USA
Wesley M. Shrum,
Louisiana State University, USA
Reference: YSSRE1236
Journal title: Social Science Research
Corresponding author: Dr. Wesley Shrum
First author: Dr. Wesley Shrum
PDF offprint dispatch: 3-2-2011
R. Sooryamoothy, B. Paige Miller, W. Shrum.
New Media and Society 2008.
Among the communication technologies introduced in the developing world during the past century, none has grown more rapidly than mobile telephony.Yet the impact of mobile phone use on social relationships has received limited systematic study.
This article examines the factors associated with mobile phone
usage in the south Indian state of Kerala and the social structural consequences of such usage, particularly the composition and location of the social ties maintained through mobile technologies. Bivariate analysis of mobile phone usage and network composition shows that frequent users have fewer local ties and more external ties than non-frequent users. However,
these effects are due largely to the association of email and mobile phone use.The article shows that internet use increases, while mobile phone use decreases the geographical diversity of social ties.The implication is that mobile telephony and internet technologies may have different consequences for the globalization process.
Collaboration
2010. W. Shrum. In Collaboration in the New Life Sciences. Edited by John Parker, Nikki Vermeulen, and Bart Penders. Ashgate Press.
Internet Science
Duque, R. B, W. Shrum, O. Barriga & G. Henriquez.
Scientometrics, 81(1): 239-263 (2009)
The conventional view depicts scientific communities in the developing world as globally
isolated and dependent. Recent studies suggest that individual scientists tend to favor either local
or international ties. Yet there are good reasons to believe that both kinds of ties are beneficial for
knowledge production. Since they allow for the more efficient management of social networks,
Internet technologies are expected to resolve this inverse relationship. They are also expected to
decentralize access to resources within developing regions that have traditionally reflected an
urban male bias. Elaborating upon science, development and social network perspectives, we
examine the impact of the Internet in the Chilean scientific community, addressing the questions ‘to what extent is Internet use and experience associated with the size of foreign and domestic
professional networks?’ and ‘are professional network resources equitably distributed across
regional and demographical dimensions?’
Ynalvez, Marcus, Ricardo B. Duque, Paul Mbatia, R. Sooryamoorthy, Antony Palackal, and Wesley Shrum
Scientometrics Vol.
63 (1), 2005: 39-67.
We examine the diffusion of information and communication technologies
(ICTs) in the knowledge production sectors of three developing areas.
Using interviews with 918 scientists in one South Asian and two
African locations, we address three fundamental questions: (1) To
what degree has the research community in the developing world adopted
the Internet? (2) How can the disparities in Internet adoption best
be characterized? (3) To what extent is Internet use associated
with research productivity? Our findings indicate that while the
vast majority of scientists describe themselves as current email
users, far fewer have ready access to the technology, use it in
diverse ways, or have extensive experience. These results are consistent
with the notion that Internet adoption should not be characterized
as a single act on the part of users. The rapid development of the
Internet and the cumulative skills required for its effective use
are equally important, particularly its impact on productivity.
These findings lead us to qualify crude generalizations about the
diffusion of the Internet in developing areas.
Ricardo B. Duque, Marcus Ynalvez, R. Sooryamoorthy, Paul
Mbatia, Dan-Bright Dzorgbo, and Wesley Shrum
Social Studies of
Science 35 (5): 755-85.
We examine the ways in which the research process differs in developed
and developing areas by focusing on two questions: First, is collaboration
associated with productivity? Second, does the Internet reduce problems
of collaboration? Recent analyses by Bozeman and Lee (2003) and
Walsh and Mahoney (2003) suggest affirmative answers to these questions
for U.S. scientists. Based on a comparative analysis of scientists
in Ghana, Kenya and the State of Kerala in southwestern India (n=918),
we find that (1) collaboration does not lead to any general increment
in productivity, and (2) while access to email does attenuate research
problems, such difficulties are structured more by social context
than by the collaborative process itself. The interpretation of
these results suggests a paradox that raises issues for future studies:
those conditions that unsettle the relationship between collaboration
and productivity in developing areas may undermine the collaborative
benefits of new information and communication technologies.
See also: Appendix on the Field Effect
Sooryamoorthy, R., Ricardo B. Duque, Marcus Ynalvez, Wesley
Shrum
Forthcoming.
Sooryamoorthy, R. and Wesley Shrum
Sociological Bulletin
53 (2), May-August 2004, pp. 207-221.
When knowledge becomes the key for progress and development its generation assumes great significance. Who generates it and how it is done become important issues, and particularly so in developing societies. We attempt to understand both the players and the system of knowledge generation using data from a longitudinal study of 404 scientists in Kerala collected in 1994 and 2000. The analysis focuses on changes occurring during this period in the personal characteristics of the researchers, their professional activities, and their productivity.
Wesley Shrum
Presented at the conference "Forum on Engineering the
Knowledge Society" at the World Summit on the Information
Society.
12 December 2003.
Establishing reliable and efficient connectivity at reasonable
bandwidth is a task that is assumed to be relatively easy and straightforward
in developed countries, but is surprisingly difficult in developing
areas.
Davidson, Theresa, R. Sooryamoorthy, and
W. Shrum
The Internet in Everyday Life. Barry Wellman and Caroline
Haythornthwaite (eds.). Blackwell. 2002
We describe a project to examine the rapid introduction of the
Internet in the south Indian State of Kerala. The "Kerala Model"
is unique in the developing world owing to its combination of high
social development with low economic development. Using qualitative
data from interviews with scientists in universities and governmental
research institutes, we examine early views of the Internet in an
advanced developing area.
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Pre-Internet Science in Africa and India
Patricia Campion and Wesley Shrum
African and Asian Studies (2002) Vol. 37(1): 17-42.
NGOs represent a distinctive sector in terms of their relationship
to the development process. Recently, some NGOs have added a research
component to their array of activities, raising the question of
whether those who pursue research in these organizations are similar
to or different from those in more traditional contexts. Attitudes
of NGO scientists are examined and compared with those in universities
and national research institutes, drawing on a survey of researchers
in Ghana, Kenya and the Indian state of Kerala.
Wesley Shrum and Patricia Campion
Science, Technology, and Society (2000) Vol. 5(1):
1-34.
Most scholars and development experts assume that scientists in
developing countries are isolated, although some posit that they
are part of a global scientific community. This paper seeks to determine
the size of professional networks for scientists in LDCs as well
as the distribution of their ties across organizational contexts
and locations.
Wesley Shrum (1997)
Scientometrics Vol. 40: 215-35.
Much of what we know about science and technology in less developed
countries comes from international databases such as bibliographies
and citation indices. However, it is not clear if researchers whose
work appears in international databases are representative of scientists
in the developing world as a whole, or whether they differ in terms
of important social characteristics. A search of international databases
on agriculture and natural resource management in Ghana, Kenya,
and Kerala was used to compile a bibliography that could be compared
with results from a face-to-face survey of researchers. Results
indicate that many of the characteristics of those who are internationally
visible differ from the wider population of scientists. The implication
is that the "view from afar" based exclusively on information
drawn from international databases does not accurately reflect the
population of researchers or domestic productivity in less developed
countries.
Govindan Parayil and Wesley Shrum
Published as "Non-Governmental Research in Kerala."
(1996) Science, Technology & Development Vol. 14: 122-132.
Research in less developed countries has generally been viewed
as the province of universities and national research institutes,
but this no longer adequately describes the contexts in which research
is conducted. Increasingly, non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
have become an important source of knowledge generation. Using Kerala,
India, as a research site, we present a methodology for the identification
and study of non-governmental research organizations (NGROs) in
the agricultural and environmental sectors, contrast them with state
research institutes and universities, and provide examples of the
kinds of work done.
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Gender
B. Paige Miller & Wesley Shrum
This article uses panel data gathered in 2001 and, 2005 to assess the gendered digital divide among researchers employed in three developing
countries: Ghana, Kenya, and India (the state of Kerala). We move the digital divide discussion from an early focus on differentials in adoption and access to an assessment of use as measured by the diversity and intensity of internet and email activity. Using both bivariate and multivariate analyses, our results indicate clear gender disparities within an increasingly technologically saturated environment. Over time, both women and men report significant increases in access to and use of various technologies, yet even after controlling for other factors, women continue to be less technologically oriented than their male counterparts. Although women adopt new technologies around the same time and display similar patterns of email use as men, they are less intense users of both email and the web and they use the web less diversely than men. We conclude by suggesting possibilities for future research and significant policy implications for the assessment of the digital divide in low-income areas.
Meredith Anderson
and W. Shrum
Forthcoming. 2007. Women's Studies in Communication.
This essay draws on ten
years of work in south India to develop an interpretation of empowerment
based on the concept of circumvention. In light of the physical
and social restrictions placed on many Indian women in terms of
both domestic responsibilities and limited physical mobility , a
direct case for the positive impact of new information and communication
technologies (ICTs) on gender equality is difficult to build. The
rigid nature of gender stratification in India is described in terms
of patrifocality, which imposes limitations on women across all
social strata . We show how women professionals use the Internet
to circumvent gender codes that govern behavior, particularly those
that limit access to social capital.
Meredith Anderson.
Forthcoming. 2007. Circumventing the Digital Divide: Lessons
from Kerala Experience. Edited by Antony Palackal and Wesley
Shrum.
Are information and communication
technologies (ICT) actually functioning to promote gender
equality in the developing world? Western development discourse
often views the adoption of ICT by developing nations in an extremely
optimistic manner. Recent feminist critiques of
western development policies, however, hold that these technologies
are ethnocentric in nature and seldom applied in a manner consistent
with local context. This study investigates the degree to which
the diffusion of ICT has improved the resource acquisition capabilities
of female scientists in Kerala , India , over the past decade. By
delimiting the scope of my investigation in this manner, I am able
to account for assess the impact of ICT in a manner consistent with
the sociocultural climate as well as the particular needs and abilities
of the respondents. I conclude that, although the patrifocal social
structure remains firmly in tact, Indian women scientists have taken
advantage of the social and professional opportunities made available
to them by the diffusion of these technologies. As Indian women
scientists utilize ICTs to circumvent limitations imposed by the
patrifocal social structure, they simultaneously advance their disciplines
and promote social equality for women.
Palackal, A., M. Anderson, B. P. Miller, and W. Shrum
2006. In C. Hine (Ed.), New Infrastructures of Knowledge Production: Understanding E-Science. Idea Group Publishing.
Palackal A , M. Anderson, B. P. Miller and W. Shrum
Indian Journal of Gender Studies (2006) Forthcoming
Gender and connectivity initiatives intended to promote development both assume that the Internet can have a significant impact on the careers and lives of women. This assumption is important to test, given prior research establishing the educational and organizational limitations on women in professional careers that increase the likelihood of restricted networks. This study employs recent qualitative data from scientists in Kerala that modifies the conclusions of initial quantitative research based on the data in 2000 and provides some grounds for optimism.
Miller, B.P., R. Sooryamoorthy, M. Anderson, A. Palackal, W. Shrum
2006. Social Science Quarterly 87 (3): 679-689. Forthcoming in September issue.
This paper examines the impact of the Internet on the research careers of female scientists in three developing
areas: Ghana, Kenya, and Kerala, India. Most empirical studies of gender and science focus on the developed world, yet
theoretical accounts emphasize more extreme differences in developing areas. Limited evidence from Africa and Asia shows
gender inequity is restricted to a few key dimensions, broadly related to differences in human and social capital. Specifically,
women are less likely to acquire an advanced degree and more likely to experience educational and organizational “localism.”
Such localism is related to constraints on physical mobility that are widely expected to diminish with the introduction of the
Internet. Methods. Using longitudinal data on 1147 scientists in Ghana, Kenya, and South India, we examine gender
differences in human and social capital by conducting a series of t-tests and chi-square tests. Results. We show that higher
education and Internet access increased dramatically, but localism has not been reduced significantly and may be increasing.
Conclusions. This finding casts doubt on the presumption that the removal of communication constraints will soon reduce career
differentials resulting from the mobility constraints on women professionals.
Patricia Campion
and Wesley Shrum
Science, Technology, and Human Values (2004) Vol. 29(4):
459-485.
Why do women have more
difficulty pursuing research careers than men? Although this topic
has been extensively investigated in industrialized countries, prior
studies provide little comparative evidence from less developed
areas. Based on a survey of 293 scientists in Ghana, Kenya, and
the Indian state of Kerala, we examine gender differences on a variety
of individual, social, and organizational dimensions.
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Methods
and Digital Video Ethnography
Published in “Geographies of Science“, edited by Peter Meusburger, David
Livingston and Heike Jöns.
Wesley Shrum,
Ricardo Duque, Marcus Ynalvez
Technology
In Society
This piece discusses epistemological
& methodological issues in video ethnography, with particular
attention to the experiences of filming in the Lower Ninth Ward
of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Wesley Shrum,
Ricardo Duque, Timothy Brown
Digital
Video as Research Practice: Methodology for the Millennium (Published
Version)
Journal of Research
Practice, 1(1), Article M4, 2005
The main argument of
this essay is that a convergence of digital video technologies with
practices of social surveillance portends a methodological shift
towards a new variety of qualitative methodology. Digital video
is changing the way that students of the social world practice their
craft, offering not just new ways of presenting but new ways of
practicing field research.
W. Shrum and Jack Beggs
1997. Knowledge and Policy 9(4): 62-85.
We describe a multi-faceted approach for generating systematic
information on scientific and technological institutions in developing
countries based on the concept of the research system as a multi-organizational
network. By providing an account of how this approach was implemented
in a three country study we hope to shed light on several related
problems in developing information for policy.
Wesley Shrum
International Service for National Agricultural Research
(ISNAR). Briefing Paper #36. 1997.
This paper describes a social network approach to developing country
research systems, taking into account the primary sectors involved
in agriculture and natural resource management. It outlines a methodology
for producing an inventory of the set of relationships that actually
occur rather than purely formal linkages that may or may not have
consequences. It describes the kinds of information sources that
may be generated through such a technique. Summary results are presented
from a study of 137 organizations involved in agriculture and natural
resource management in Kenya, Ghana, and Kerala.
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Reviews, Overviews, and Outreach
W. Shrum
International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Edited by Neil Smelser
and Paul Baltes.
W. Shrum and Yehouda Shenhav
1995. Handbook of Science, Technology, and Society. Edited
by Sheila Jasanoff, Gerald Markle, James Peterson, and Trevor Pinch.
Newbury Park: Sage.
Science & Development Network featured the following article on the project following the the World Summit on the Information Society.
Project findings reported in The Hindu
More Internet access needed' for science to go global
Books
Structures of Scientific Collaboration. Wesley Shrum, Joel Genuth, and Ivan Chompalov. MIT Press. 2007.
Past, Present, and Future of Research in the Information Society. Edited by Wesley Shrum, Keith Benson, Wiebe Bijker, and Klaus Brunnstein. New York: Springer. 2007.
Information Society and Development: The Kerala Experience. Edited by Antony Palackal & Wesley Shrum. 2007. Rawat Books.
Vivarasmoohavum vikasanavum – keralathinte anubhavapadangal (Malayalam) Palackal, Antony and Shrum, Wesley. 2007. Kozhikode: Olive Publications.
Annotated Bibliography of Science and Technology in Less Developed Countries. Scarecrow Press. 1995. W. Shrum, Carl Bankston, and D. Stephen Voss.
Organized Technology: Networks and Innovation in Technical Systems. Purdue University Press. 1985.
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