Latest News
Doctoral student and COTELCO research associate Benjamin Addom has been selected to present his work at Doctoral Consortium of the Communication and Information Technologies Section of the American Sociological Association (CITASA).
Benjamin, along with other scholars that hail from universities around the globe, will present his work to a panel of senior researchers interested in the sociology of communications or information technologies.
Dr. Cogburn and COTELCO research associates Fatima Espinoza and David James have been invited to present their paper entitled "Exploring the Impact of Virtual Organization Structures on Geographically Distributed Collaboration in University-Based Diversity Efforts in the STEM Disciplines", at the Participatory Communication Research Section of the IAMCR Conference.
Scholars invited to present in the section will showcase research that addresses issues related to communication between community members and other stakeholders that are engaged in processes of social change.
Research Fellows Benjamin Addom and Miao Chen will attend the Third annual iConference, which has "iFutures:Systems, Selves and Society" as a theme. The iConference features paper sessions, a poster session, roundtables, and ample opportunities for conversations to understand and create the future role of information in all human endeavors. Ben and Miao will gather with other scholars professionals to exchange ideas on the following topics:
Community technologies and networking
Cultural information systems
Information policy, ethics and law
Ran Liu, former COTELCO research associate and Globalization seminar student has won the D’Aniello Top Intern of the Semester Award for Fall 2008. Ran was one of eight students selected to participate in the competitive internship program. During her internship experience, Ran worked directly with the CEO of AquaTox Research Inc., to develop a marketing plan that targets China.
Dr. Derrick Cogburn, Dean Liz Liddy, and Dr. Kevin Crowston (virtually) have been invited by NSF to attend an innovative workshop on Building Effective Virtual Organizations (BEVO) to discuss the best practices, commonly found issues and lessons learned from implementing Virtual Organizations.
Social scientists, researchers and technologists experienced in Virtual Organizations will also convene at this meeting to discuss their perspectives on the technology and infrastructure in this arena.
Going Global, Locally
Cotelco
The Center for Research on Collaboratories and Technology Enhanced Learning Communities (Cotelco) is a social science research center in the School of Information Studies (iSchool) at Syracuse University, and is organized to explore the socio-technical infrastructure required to support geographically distributed collaboration and knowledge work, particularly between developed and developing countries. Cotelco is also an affiliated center of the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI): Centers of Innovation on Disability.
Research Agenda
Our broad research agenda uses mixed-methods approaches to investigate three inter-related themes. The first theme takes an interdisciplinary social science approach to explore the institutional mechanisms for global governance and international regime formation for the Internet and information and communication technology, with a particular focus on epistemic communities and transnational policy networks. Applied, use-inspired research drives the second theme, which focuses on designing, implementing, and evaluating accessible cyberinfrastructure, collaboratories and virtual organizations to support geographically distributed collaboration at national and international levels. Finally, the third theme integrates lessons learned from these streams into an exploration of geographically distributed collaborative learning environments. In 2002, John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, nominated Cotelco for a Computerworld Honors Award (also known as the Smithsonian Innovation Award) for its contribution to building the Information Society. A case study on Cotelco is on deposit in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC and in museums and archives around the world.
Research Themes
Global Governance and Transnational Networks
Cyberinfrastructure and Virtual Organizations
Geographically Distributed Collaborative Learning
Supporting Organizations
Alliance for Community Technology (ACT)
Collaboratory for Research on Electronic Work
Microsoft Research
National Science Foundation
Cisco Systems
United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization
Partners at Syracuse University
Selected Publications
(Myhill, Cogburn, et al, in press) "Accessible Cyberinfrastsructure-enabled Knowledge Communities in the Disabiliy Community." 18 Assistive Technology Journal (in press).
(Cogburn 2004) Elite Decision Making
(Cogburn & Levinson 2003) US - Africa Virtual Collaboration in Globalization Studies
(Cogburn & Adeya, 2001) Prospects for the Digital Economy in South Africa: Technology, Policy, People and Strategies
more publications
Events
Upcoming Events
COTELCO invites you to attend its iFaire and Mayfest session on: “Collaborative Technology for Global Communication” The research staff will showcase the center’s projects You may join us physically in Hinds Hall Room 111, Syracuse University or virtually at http://cotelcocave.syr.edu, Room Name: “iFaire Session: Collaborative Technology for Global Communication” April 22nd, from 12 noon – 2:00 EST
The COTELCO Lab meets every Wednesday virtually via Elluminate Live!. Project specific meeting schedules can be found from the respective project websites.
University Partners
Syracuse UniversityAmerican UniversityHoward UniversityWits UniversityUniversity of Fort HareUniversity of Pretoria