As I see it - what John Dada and I do is "ICTD" - in a totally integrated way. We tick all the boxes when it comes to:

• Information (collection, creation and sharing of)
• Communication (between people with strongly overlapping interests - from various viewpoints - located in different parts of the world)
• Technology (use of - for communication and for "appropriate tech")
• Development (needs-led in rural Africa)

Not only that but we offer an effective communication channel which we invite others to share.

I went to ICTD2010 because:

• It was on my doorstep
• It was run by Tim Unwin
• It emphasised connection between practitioners and academics.

As a reflective practitioner, with a long term interest in better connections between practitioners and academics, I came away from ICTD2010 with a deeper understanding of why it is so hard to achieve this connection in what I think of as ICTD. I was particularly struck by a keynote on the Wednesday. There I learned that ICTD suffers from being cross disciplinary and - given the structure and career path in academia - it is hard for the academics to work across different disciplines - even the disciplines that all come under what I thought of as the umbrella of ICTD. In fact it seems there is no such umbrella. It is more that there is the term ICTD - but it only seems to reflect some now-and-again overlap between separate disciplines which actually struggle to communicate with each other.

I realised that if academics struggle to connect beyond their own disciplines then it is unlikely they will have the energy, interest or motivation to reach out even further to practitioners - especially practitioners who are cross disciplinary. Why would such academics be interested in connecting with ICTD practitioners like me? (Personally, as a reflective practitioner I think there are quite a few good reasons - but I'm biased.)

Anyhow - the call for papers is out for ICTD 2012

I'm encouraged to see:

• a greater cross discipllnary emphasis (see above for why that matters)
• some preliminary help for people who may not yet have the skills to put forwards papers of the right academic standard (so a willingness to reach out beyond the established in-group)

I'm disappointed, but not surprised, to see an emphasis on academia alone - none of Tim's 2010 outreach to practitioners - just  "international forum for scholarly researchers".  (From my viewpoint if the academics are only concerned with talking to each other then it makes little difference to me if they are talking to each other or just talking within their own disciplines.)

Anyhow - I wish them well - and for any academics out there - with the time and budget to go to a scholarly forum in America - here is the call for papers. (I don't think I even have the heart to delve into the website later to see if there will be any online access to any of the conference. My prejudice suggests it will be traditional face to face and enclosed in a physical space - but I hope I'm wrong. Maybe someone will let me know. After all, this is ICTD.)

Oops - wrong again Pamela - see Face Book

After writing the comment above I decided that I would clicked the facebook link (reluctantly, as FB is not one of my favourite online spaces). There I find a more wide reaching welcome, emphasising the Peer Mentorship Program and saying

As the ICTD community has grown, it has become widely recognized that our members bring to the conference a diverse array of skills and experience – whether as students, researchers, practitioners, or otherwise – in many different disciplines. In an effort to encourage broader representation in the conference program, we invite anyone who is interested, especially junior researchers and pre-doctoral students, to participate in a peer mentorship program and help each other refine submission drafts leading up to the conference deadline in June.

Applicants should submit early drafts of conference submissions to mentorship@ictd2012.org by May 1, 2011. A committee of PhD students from the host institution will match applicants with peers who have similar interests and complementary skill-sets. Peer mentors will review each others' papers, suggesting areas that could be improved prior to formal submission to the conference. Applicants may also have the opportunity to participate in additional pre-conference networking activities.

Maybe I should try it, even if only for the possibility of making a connection with an appropriate academic. Given I'm not an academic I don't have an institution to fund my trip even if my paper is accepted - but even so - maybe I should make the effort to respond positively to this outreach offer.

Deadline

I'll keep an open mind on it  - and will at least note the deadline - Paper submission deadline: July 22, 2011 (11:59pm UTC -

Submit early paper drafts by May 1st to get feedback from matched peers.

 

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Call for Papers

Conference website: http://www.ictd2012.org

Contact us at: program@ictd2012.org

Twitter: @ICTD2012 Facebook: ICTD 2012 Atlanta

ICTD provides an international forum for scholarly researchers exploring the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in social, political, and economic development. The conference program and accepted papers will reflect and deepen the multidisciplinary nature of ICTD research, with anticipated representation from anthropology, computer science, communication, design, economics, electrical engineering, geography, information science, political science, public health, sociology, and so on.

(snip)

ICTD2012 is the fifth of an ongoing series of conferences occurring every one-and-a-half years; previous conferences have taken place in: Berkeley, CA (USA) ICTD 2006; Bangalore (India) ICTD 2007; Doha (Qatar) ICTD 2009; and London (United Kingdom) 2010.

For the purposes of this conference the term "ICT" comprises electronic technologies for information processing and communication, as well as platforms that are built on such technologies. "Development" means international development, including, but not restricted to, poverty alleviation, education, agriculture, healthcare, general communication, gender equality, governance, infrastructure, environment and sustainable livelihoods. Papers considering novel designs, new technologies, project assessments, policy analyses, impact studies, theoretical contributions, social issues around ICT and development, and so forth will be considered. Well-analyzed negative results from which generalizable conclusions can be drawn are also sought.

Relevant papers reporting high-quality original research are solicited. Full papers will be reviewed by a multidisciplinary panel, and evaluated according to their novel research contribution, methodological soundness, theoretical framing and reference to related work, quality of analysis, and quality of writing and presentation. Authors are encouraged (but not required) to address the diversity of approaches in ICTD research by providing context, implications, and actionable guidance to researchers and practitioners beyond the authors’ primary domains.

Only original, unpublished, full research papers in English will be considered. Submissions not meeting a minimum bar of academic research writing will be rejected without full review. Papers should contain a maximum of 8000 words. Reviews are double blind, so papers should not include author names or other information that would identify the authors (references to previous work by the authors should be in the third person).

Authors should follow IEEE formats and styles described here. Samples of this are also available in PDF and MS Word formats. Authors will be required to sign a copyright release for publication in the conference proceedings.

Additional submission details will be posted on the conference website as the information becomes available.

As a new opportunity for 2012, we are offering a peer mentorship program for paper submissions. Submit your paper early (by May 1st, 2011) to this program and get feedback from peer mentors ahead of the normal submission process and June deadline. See the mentorship page for details.

More at http://ictd2012.org/