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Building capacity for Asian ICT policy and regulatory reform

Rohan Samarajiva & Sujata GamageExecutive Director & Director of Knowledge Networks

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Agenda LIRNEasia and its mission Building capacity

Mobilizing existing expertise Producing and reproducing scholars

S&T project that serves as model What’s different in the social sciences

What is proposed for ICT policy and regulation scholars in Asia ICT P&R scholars in universities

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LIRNEasia and its mission Non-profit organization incorporated in Sri Lanka;

working in region; South Asia and out Still in 1st year: launched September ’04 Current projects in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia,

Nepal, and Sri Lanka Mission: To improve the lives the people of Asia by

making it easier to make  use of  the information and communication technologies they need; by facilitating the reform of the laws, policies and regulations to enable those uses; by building Asia-based human capacity through research, training, consulting and advocacy.

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Who focuses on what part of the ICT value chain now

Infrastructure (Telecom networks)

Internetgovernance NTU School of Communication &

Information?

LIRNEasia

Telecom strategies of the poor

Least cost subsidies in Nepal

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What does building Asia-based capacity mean?

1. Mobilizing existing expertisea. Repurposing existing expertise

2. Producing and reproducing expertise

LIRNEasia working on 1 Only universities can do 2

Do universities have to be Asia-based? How many Asian universities have

strengths in ICT P&R?

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Our proposal A systematic approach to identifying

existing ICT expertise on Asian ICT policy and regulation Going beyond conventional casual

networking/snowballing approach Research on conditions for

Building a virtual community of Asian ICT policy and regulation scholars

Improving production & reproduction of scholars

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Proposal builds on “Best practices in North-South

research collaborations: A case study of Sri Lanka” US National Science Foundation, Science

and Technology Studies Program (SES-0328729, independent scholar award)

Visiting Scholar (2003-05) at Research Value Mapping Group, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta GA, USA

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Objective of NSF study

Identify best practices in building S&T capacity in Sri Lanka and the relative role of North-South collaborations

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Knowledge networks

KN membership captured through Memberships in associations Co-authorships Citations in publications and/or Citations in patents

But this data by themselves do not explain how KNs are created or the conditions for their sustainability

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Research methodology No universal typology Define the desired outcome Start with any kind of KN

Mapped through methods such as publications in ISI journals and citation analysis

Identify key members Use interviews and surveys to discover

conditions for success

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In the NSF study

Desired outcome = active researchers located in Sri Lanka building local capacity Defined as production of at least one

PhD in Sri Lanka who has published at least one ISI journal article

This is being redefined in the course of the research

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NSF study

Start with co-authorship based population

Cluster into KNs Identify key researchers Then survey using questionnaire Conduct interviews

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Starting point of KN mapping

Publications in Science Citation Index 1993-02 with Sri Lanka in the address field, e.g.,

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Sample RecordAuthors: Taniguchi-Y Nagao-T Maeda-H Kameyama-Y

Warnakulasuriya-KAASTitle: Epithelial-Cell Proliferation in Oral Lichen-PlanusFull source: CELL PROLIFERATION 2002, Vol 35, Iss S1, pp 103-

109. . . . . . . . . No. Related Records: 20No. cited references: 19Addresses: AICHI-GAKUIN-UNIV, SCH DENT, DEPT ORAL &

MAXILLOFACIAL SURG 2, NAGOYA, AICHI 464, JAPAN AICHI-GAKUIN-UNIV, SCH DENT, DEPT PATHOL,

NAGOYA, AICHI 464, JAPAN FAC-DENT-SCI, PERADENIYA, SRI-LANKA UNIV-LONDON-KINGS-COLL, GUYS KINGS & ST

THOMAS DENT INST, DEPT ORAL MED & PATHOL, LONDON WC2R-2LS,ENGLAND

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Population then clustered into KNs

Based on common keywords, e.g., Solid State Physics/Chemistry Malaria/Filaria Other Diseases Crops/Livestock/Food Natural Resources

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Sample of solid state physics KN

Author Collaborator Author Count

Collab Count

Auth&Collab Count

Auth Percent

Collab Percent

Bandara-J Tennakone-K 8 56 6 75% 11%

Bandara-J Kiwi-J 8 3 3 38% -

Bandara-J Mielczarski-JA 8 2 2 25% -

Bandara-J Bandaranayake-PKM 8 2 1 13% 50%

Bandara-J Binduhewa-P 8 1 1 13% 100%

Bandara-J Konno-A 8 8 1 13% 13%

Bandara-J Kumara-GRRA 8 25 1 13% 4%

Bandara-J Lopez-A 8 1 1 13% -

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Sri Lanka-based KN-1: Solid state physics

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Solid state physics KN

Groups and group leaders can be identified

Some groups do not interact Some are linked through a few

researchers Intensity of relations not shown

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Solid state physics KN

Inputs: Materials ($s, consumables, equipment) Knowledge (explicit, tacit)

Outputs: Expertise (PhDs/MPhils/BScs/Other)

Placement of experts Professional development

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Hard science networks v. social science networks

Multiple authorships the norm in hard sciences Co-authorship analysis yields useful network

maps Those at nodes tend to be senior researchers Snap shots at different points of time will show

“graduation” of researchers from subordinate to superior roles From periphery to center

SCI is a good indicator

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Hard science networks v. social science networks

Multiple authorships less common in social sciences Co-authorship analysis may be

inadequate by itself Have to supplement with citation

analysis Limitations in SSCI & HCI, especially

for policy researchers

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What is proposed for Asian ICT policy & regulation KNs

KN mapping using keywords in Google Scholar, SSCI and HCI Ideally identify multiple KNs

corresponding to different parts of the ICT value chain

Because we start from ICT policy and regulation research on Asia, assume two main subsets within each KN Those located in Asia Those located outside Asia

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But problems exist . . .

Ang and Rivera publish journal article on telecom regulation in Singapore using Samarajiva chapter in 2002 ITU Trends in Telecom Reform Report, but cite as ITU not Samarajiva

Samarajiva, Ang and Rivera belong to same KN but data may not reveal relationships

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ICT P&R researcher population located in Asia Those with research in areas of current LIRNEasia

research will be invited to participate in LIRNEasia activities Active website

23 registered users; 24 mB content; 30/day repeat users; another 30 or so first-time/day; ave. 100 page loads/day

Discussion threads with over 60 comments Participation in networking meeting, scheduled for

September 2005 Participation in virtual community: web discussions;

real-time participation in colloquia, etc. Joint research projects

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ICT P&R researchers located in universities (Asian and other)

Will be studied in terms of “reproduction” Who produces PhD and MAs? What are the factors conducive to reproduction? What are the constraints?

Question: should we privilege reproduction in Asia?

What can be done to enable greater reproduction?

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If NTU participates . . .

Full spectrum of ICT P&R research will be studied

NTU can use the research to consolidate its position as a leading center in Asia