The Digital Villages Research Network

We’ve had some really successful workshops on interviewing over the past month both in Carlin How and Saltburn. The research network training has covered interview skills, ethics, creating an interview schedule and thinking about who to interview. We have consumed around 10 packets of biscuits and in excess of 60 cups of tea and coffee by my calculations, all much needed by researchers starting a new phase of research. They have been great sessions, full of discussion and fantastic ideas. I’m looking forward to putting these into practice.

I have personally really enjoyed collaborating on developing the questions we are going to ask and thinking in depth about the different things people do with ICTs and the meanings they have for us in our daily lives. I’m really grateful too for all the hard work put in by the researchers on this.

We are starting soon with the pilot interviews with research network members and then we can look forward to starting work in the research areas.

The network continues to grow with new researchers Martin Jefferson and Cheryl Sanderson joining the project. Yesterday, Martin, Cheryl, John & Colin joined Paul and me in Redcar for an introduction to the project and an overview of research ethics.

Great news in Moorsholm – Terry has delivered all 150 surveys to households in the village and in Stanghow. We are very grateful to those who have returned completed surveys and are looking forward to finding out how people are using computers and the internet.

The prize draw for Moorsholm takes place soon – Friday 27th November. Keep a look out for the winning number…

Skelton and Redcar researchers will receive their surveys this week and we look forward to starting there. Meanwhile, Carlin How and Skinningrove are making good progress and we look forward to the results from these villages.

Lynne, Steve, Roger, Paul and myself met up today in Redcar for the ethics workshop and plans for the survey in Skelton. We have had positive feedback on the ethics workshops in the past and this workshop was another good session in which we discussed approaches to informed consent, confidentiality and anonymity. Lynne and Steve made plans for distributing the survey with the help of Carlin How’s expertise and will be starting soon. It’s great to have a new research node on board and we are looking forward to starting work in the area.

Yesterday we had an excellent workshop with the Carlin How researchers at Carlin How Community Centre.

Things are moving fast on the project and the Carlin How team have come up with a strategy for distributing the survey around the village.

Roger, Amanda and Marion developed a tailor-made approach for this research node including an Ethics and Safety plan, an information and awareness raising strategy for local residents, and a street-by-street distribution guide (see pictures below). We plan to start the survey in early October and look forward to getting some interesting results.

The second Carlin How workshop took place yesterday at the local community centre. The workshop focused on research ethics and safety in the field. We had some really interesting discussions about confidentiality and anonymity in small communities where many people know each other. We also discussed ways of keeping safe when out and about doing research. This research group will soon be able to join the first research group at Margrove Park for the next phase of workshops (4 and onwards) and the survey phase of the research.

The Carlin How group are starting their own research soon by mapping local organisations and access to ICTs in the village. This will provide us with more information about village needs. Meanwhile, researchers from cohort 1 are continuing to collect their datasheets in neighbouring areas.

The second workshop for the first cohort of community researchers took place today at Margrove Park Village Hall. Faciliated by Paul, Eileen and Carrie, the group tackled some of the complex and challenging issues which underpin good research practice. We had some great discussion about consent, confidentiality and anonymity using ‘real world’ examples as a means of generating debate and anticipating issues which will shape how we conduct the research.