Aidnography

Hi all, Some writing took place ‘behind the scene’ this week, but there’s still time for a great link review with lots to explore across all the themes! Development news: Diabetes in Mexico; malpractice in Ghana; immersive storytelling; organizational growth-what is it good for?; UN bureaucracy in Lebanon; the forests of the Congo Basin; BBC Media Action’s new data portal; gender security for aid workers; case studies on drones for humanitarian use; African podcasts. Our digital lives: Digital newsrooms in Botswana & Sri Lanka; the demands of friendliness; love in the time of cryptography. Publications: New books on industrialization, doughnut economics, cultural anthropology, women in the digital sector & Nepal’s peace process. Academia: A day in the life of an academic mom; rules for academic commentary in media; crowdsourcing needs more scrutiny; the myth of tenured radicals in the neoliberal university. Enjoy! Development news "A career-defining experience...

Hi all, A busy week wrapped up with a fresh book review and the Friday link collage! Development news: Why do expats earn more than locals? Southern online workers (also) get a rough deal; advice on development career starts; Niger Delta suffocating in oil; how dangerous was Zika? More on chickens & cash; Comic Relief needs to become political; gendered leadership gap; the irony of accessing the humanitarian ICT forum remotely; burnout in the field. Our digital lives: Facebook fundraiser individualize risk & support; do-good capitalism is a lie; AI misinformation epidemic; #NakedDiplomacy Academia: Female sessional instructors’ heavy gender toll; Elsevier & Dutch open access; can universities have local and global engagement? Enjoy! New from aidnography Failing in the field (book review) And while the short and very well written text provides some practical insights into how to learn from failure in development field research, the further along t...

I bought Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel’s book Failing in the field: What we can learn when field research goes wrong as a potential addition to our Research Methods course reading list. And while the short and very well written text provides some practical insights into how to learn from failure in development field research, the further along the book I read, the uneasier I grew about some of the underlying discourses of the book. First and foremost, the book is about randomized controlled trials (RCTs), surely the authors’ expertise, and at no point in the book is the view on field research broadened. Today, conversations about poverty alleviation and development are much more focused on evidence than they were before-a shift due, in large part, to the radical drop in the price of data and the growth of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (p.2). This obviously sets the tone for the book, but it also phrases ‘failing’ and ‘field research’ in a certain way right away: Failing happ...

Hi all, Long week, but lots to read for you over the weekend ;)! Development news: US peacekeeping cuts; celebrities helping Somalia; celebrities (different ones…) romanticizing poverty; localizing aid in Syria; gold mine misery in Liberia; India’s suicides; where did the HONY money go in Pakistan? ICT4D in Nepal; teachers, refugees and mobile phones; talking back to Gates. Our digital lives: Karen Attiah and diversity; romanticizing the gig economy. Publications: Besieged universities in Egypt, aid data graveyards (and how to avoid them…).  Academia: Time-sucking job applications; breaking the shackles of medical journal publishing. Enjoy! New from aidnography Academic conferences as neoliberal commodities (book review) Nicolson’s book is a short new book that addresses one of the favorite academic products researchers love to hate. (...) As academic conferences have both been an aspect of my research and my blogging, I want to take this opportunity to add a few aspec...