Utilization-focused evaluation for agricultural innovation

Utilization-focused evaluation (UFE) is based on the principle that an evaluation should be judged by its utility. So no matter how technically sound and methodologically elegant, an evaluation is not truly a good evaluation unless the findings are used. UFE is a framework for enhancing the likelihood that evaluation findings will be used and lessons will be learnt from the evaluation process. This Brief, based on the book Utilization-focused evaluation, introduces this approach to evaluation, outlines key steps in the evaluation process, identifies some of the main benefits of UFE, and provides two examples of UFE in the context of programmes aimed at promoting agricultural innovation

Entretien avec Michael Quinn Patton

Version anglaise disponible dans la Bibliothèque numérique du CRDI: In conversation : Michael Quinn Patto

In conversation : Michael Quinn Patton

French version available in IDRC Digital Library: Entretien avec Michael Quinn Patto

The diffusion of IP telephony and vendors' commercialisation strategies

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in the Journal of Information Technology. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available at the link below.The Internet telephony (IP telephony) has been presented as a technology that can replace existing fixed-line services and disrupt the telecommunications industry by offering new low-priced services. This study investigates the diffusion of IP telephony in Denmark by focusing on vendors’ commercialisation strategies. The theory of disruptive innovation is introduced to investigate vendors’ perceptions about IP telephony and explore their strategies that affect the diffusion process in the residential market. The analysis is based on interview data collected from the key market players. The study's findings suggest that IP telephony is treated as a sustaining innovation that goes beyond the typical voice transmission and enables provision of advanced services such as video telephony

Are they ‘worth their weight in gold’? Sport for older adults: benefits and barriers of their participation for sporting organisations

The ageing global population has led to an increased focus on health for older adults. However, older adults have not been a specific priority for some sporting organisations (SOs). Thus, there is an emerging opportunity for this age group to be considered within international sport policy. The aim of this study was to understand the benefits and barriers that SOs encounter when engaging older adults. Eight focus group interviews (n = 49) were held with representatives of Australian national sporting organisations (NSOs), and older adults who were either sport club or non-sport club members. The socioecological model domains, interpersonal, organisational and policy, were used as a framework for thematic analysis, and organisational capacity building concepts were utilised to explain the findings. Common perceived benefits included interpersonal benefits (intergenerational opportunities and role models) and organisational benefits (volunteering, financial contributions and maximised facility usage) for engaging older adults. Common perceived barriers included interpersonal barriers (competing priorities and perceived societal expectations), organisational barriers (lack of appropriate playing opportunities, lack of facility access and lack of club capacity) and policy barriers (strategic organisational focus on children and elite sport and risk management). Whilst participation in sport is not common for older adults, their involvement can be invaluable for sport clubs. It is not anticipated that any policy focus on older adults will significantly increase active participation for this age group. However, any increase in older adults’ sport participation either through actively playing, supporting family and friends and/or volunteering will contribute to the positive health of individuals, sport clubs and the community.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Experiences of learning through collaborative evaluation from a masters programme in professional education

This paper presents findings from a collaborative evaluation project within a masters programme in professional education. The project aimed to increase knowledge of research methodologies and methods through authentic learning where participants worked in partnership with the tutor to evaluate the module which they were studying. The project processes, areas of the course evaluated and the data collection methods are outlined. The findings focus on key themes from evaluating the effectiveness of using a collaborative evaluation approach, including: enhanced student engagement; creativity of the collaborative evaluation approach; equality between the tutor and students; and enhanced research skills. Discussion focuses on the outcomes and effectiveness of the project and tutor reflections on adopting a collaborative approach. This paper highlights lessons from the project relevant to those interested in staff-student partnership approaches and those facilitating postgraduate learning and teaching programmes and educational research courses

An exploration of concepts of community through a case study of UK university web production

The paper explores the inter-relation and differences between the concepts of occupational community, community of practice, online community and social network. It uses as a case study illustration the domain of UK university web site production and specifically a listserv for those involved in it. Different latent occupational communities are explored, and the potential for the listserv to help realize these as an active sense of community is considered. The listserv is not (for most participants) a tight knit community of practice, indeed it fails many criteria for an online community. It is perhaps best conceived as a loose knit network of practice, valued for information, implicit support and for the maintenance of weak ties. Through the analysis the case for using strict definitions of the theoretical concepts is made

A Mechanism-Based Explanation of the Institutionalization of Semantic Technologies in the Financial Industry

Part 3: Creating Value through ApplicationsInternational audienceThis paper explains how the financial industry is solving its data, risk management, and associated vocabulary problems using semantic technologies. The paper is the first to examine this phenomenon and to identify the social and institutional mechanisms being applied to socially construct a standard common vocabulary using ontology-based models. This standardized ontology-based common vocabulary will underpin the design of next generation of semantically-enabled information systems (IS) for the financial industry. The mechanisms that are helping institutionalize this common vocabulary are identified using a longitudinal case study, whose embedded units of analysis focus on central agents of change—the Enterprise Data Management Council and the Object Management Group. All this has important implications for society, as it is intended that semantically-enabled IS will, for example, provide stakeholders, such as regulators, with better transparency over systemic risks to national and international financial systems, thereby mitigating or avoiding future financial crises

Actitudes y percepciones de los docentes universitarios en el proceso de adopción de una innovación. La iniciativa OpenCourseWare en la Universidad de Valencia (España)

El proyecto OpenCourseWare, repositorio de recursos educativos en abierto, se inició en la Universidad de Valencia en 2008 y en 2009, sólo incluía 10 asignaturas, ninguna de ellas del área de ciencias de la salud. El objetivo de este trabajo es investigar las actitudes de los docentes de esta área así como sus percepciones con relación a este repositorio para determinar cuáles son las estrategias necesarias para extender su uso. Se parte de la teoría de la difusión de las innovaciones de Rogers (2003) y de un enfoque cualitativo a través del muestreo teórico, entrevistas semiestructuradas y codificación abierta. Los resultados indican la existencia de dos grandes grupos de profesores. Los adoptantes tempranos con una predisposición alta a participar en la iniciativa y con una percepción positiva de sus atributos y los mainstream o corriente principal más reacios a participar y con una percepción negativa respecto a alguno de sus atributos. La identificación de las características de estos dos grandes grupos marca las líneas de acción y de investigación futura en el ámbito del marketing y difusión, formación, sensibilización y motivación para extender el uso del OCW. The OpenCourseWare project, an open learning resource repository, was set up at the University of Valencia between 2008 and 2009. It initially consisted of only 10 subjects, none of which was in the field of health sciences. The objective of this research is to investigate the attitudes and perceptions of teaching staff in the field of health sciences with regard to the project in order to identify strategies to increase its use and expand its coverage. The diffusion of innovations theory as propounded by Rogers is used, along with a qualitative approach using theoretical sampling, semi-structured interviews and open coding. The results indicate the existence of two categories of teaching staff. Firstly, those who adopt an innovation early, have a marked inclination to participate in the initiative and a positive perception of the characteristics of the innovation. Secondly, a larger category of those more reluctant to participate in it and with a negative perception of one or more of its characteristics. Identifying the nature of these two groups provides guidelines for future action and research in the marketing and distribution of such projects, and the training, awareness and motivation required in order to extend the use of OCW

Norms and trust-shaping relationships among food-exporting SMEs in Ghana

There is a marked paucity of empirically rigorous research that focuses on the impact that indigenous institutional influences can have on the internationalization strategies of entrepreneurs operating in developing countries. This study therefore explores the complex processes through which owner-managers of food-exporting SMEs in Ghana draw on cultural norms to build networks that enable internationalization, in the absence of formal institutional support. The results facilitate a better understanding of the hybridization of indigenous and global norms that underpin SME internationalization in Ghana and other developing economies, particularly in Africa. The study contributes to the theory and practice of interorganizational relationships and to international entrepreneurship in an African context