Change at Hand: Web 2.0 for Development

This issue of Participatory Learning and Action focuses on Web 2.0 tools and approaches that are changing the ways of creating, sharing, collaborating and publishing digital information through the internet. Participatory Web 2.0 for development - or Web2forDev for short - is a way of employing web services to intentionally improve information-sharing and online collaboration for development. Web 2.0 presents new opportunities for change.

This issue shares learning and reflections from practice and considers the ways forward for using Web 2.0 for development:

• Part I introduces both Web 2.0 tools and the concept of Web2forDev.
  
• Part II examines some uses of specific Web 2.0 tools for development purposes.
  
• Part III focuses on the integration of multiple Web 2.0 tools to address specific issues.
  
• Part IV discusses theory and reflections on practice, including lessons learnt from experience, challenges identified, and ways forward.
  
• Part V, "Tips for trainers", provides a collection of short introductions to Web 2.0 tools.

Most of the themed articles are based on presentations made at the Web2forDev conference, September 25-27 2007, at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Italy. The conference was focused on how Web 2.0 tools could be used to the advantage of Southern development actors, operating in the sectors of agriculture, rural development and natural resource management.

A bilingual DVD, available in June 2010, shares learning and reflections from practice and considers the ways forward for using Web 2.0 for development. It contains PDF versions of articles from the conference as well a series of short introductions to Web 2.0 tools, relevant internet resources, tips for trainers, and the following two video documentaries:

• Web 2.0 Tamed: Experiences of rural women in Africa. This 15-minute Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) production documents the experiences of African rural women not previously exposed to information technology, over the course of one year.
•  Web 2.0 in Africa: Agriculture and New Technologies. This 8-minute Business Africa/CTA production documents case studies on the use of Web 2.0 applications in the development sector, specifically among farmers in Uganda.

Participatory Learning and Action 59: Change at Hand: Web 2.0 for Development is co-published and distributed by CTA, free-of-charge under a credit-point scheme, to eligible organisations in African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries through its Publications Distribution Service. To apply for a subscription for an organisation, write to: CTA Publications Distribution Service, P.O. Box 173, 6700 AD Wageningen, The Netherlands or access the CTA catalogue online.

Contents include the following:

Part I: Overview

• Change at hand: Web 2.0 for development - Holly Ashley, Jon Corbett, Ben Garside, Dave Jones, and Giacomo Rambaldi
• The two hands of Web2forDev: a conference summary - Chris Addison
  

Part II: Studies of Web 2.0 Tools

• Exploring the potentials of blogging for development - Christian Kreutz
  
• Web 2.0 tools to promote social networking for the Forest Connect alliance - Duncan Macqueen
  
• Promoting information-sharing in Ghana using video blogging - Prince Deh
  
• Mobile phones: the silver bullet to bridge the digital divide? - Roxanna Samii
  

Part III: Issue-Based Studies

• Anti social-computing: indigenous language, digital video and intellectual property - Jon Corbett and Tim Kulchyski
  
• Tools for enhancing knowledge-sharing in agriculture: improving rural livelihoods in Uganda - Ednah Akiiki Karamagi and Mary Nakirya
  
• Ushahidi or ‘testimony’: Web 2.0 tools for crowdsourcing crisis information - Ory Okolloh
  
• Web 2.0 for Aboriginal cultural survival: a new Australian outback movement - Jon Corbett, Guy Singleton, and Kado Muir

Part IV: Theory and Reflection on Practice

• Circling the point: from ICT4D to Web 2.0 and back again - Anriette Esterhuysen
  
• Web 2.0 tools for development: simple tools for smart people - Ethan Zuckerman
  
• The Web2forDev story: towards a community of practice - Anja Barth and Giacomo Rambaldi
  

Part V: Tips for Trainers Web 2.0 tools: a series of short introductions - Holly Ashley, Dave Jones and Luigi Assom with Jon Corbett, Ben Garside, Christian Kreutz, Kevin Painting, Duncan Macqueen, and Giacomo Rambaldi

• Blogging
• Micro-blogging and Twitter
  
• Wikis
• Online social networking
  
• RSS feeds
  
• Tagging
  
• Social bookmarking
  
• Glossary of Web 2.0 terms
  

Regulars

• Editorial
  
• In Touch (including e-participation)
  
• News from the Resource Centres for Participatory Learning and Action Network (RCPLA)