Researching creative applications of new information and communication technologies

This article describes two enthnographic research projects-one in Australia and one in South Asia. These projects stand apart from more traditional ethnographies in the way in which they combine ethnography with action research; they are, in effect, applied ethnographic research. The first project is a UNESCO initiative that uses information and communication technologies in creative and innovative ways to reduce poverty in nine locations across South Asia. The second enables groups of young people from Queensland to become part of a network of active content creators for a streamling audio Website. Both projects reflect an interest in examining the changing processes and applications of creativity, production, and consumption and the desire to gain deeper understandings of what roles new technologies play in all of this. The research attempts to develop answers to some very basic questions about the implications of new technologies on the everyday lives of a wide range of people and the implications of the everyday lives of those people on the uses and potential uses of new technologies.

International Journal of Cultural Studies, March 2004 7: 91-103.