On October 22-23, 2007, IDRC hosted a workshop to launch the Global Impact Study, convening over 40 researchers and stakeholders with recognized expertise in a variety of disciplines and backgrounds. Two days of rich discussions generated a wide range of ideas for the project organizers to incorporate into the research design. Among many highlights, the meeting generated:

• A more focused set of research questions
• A plausible overarching framework model that can be used to operationalize the research objectives of the project
• Better understanding of the historical, current and possible future landscape of public access to ICTs in Lithuania, India, Chile, and South Africa
• The importance of including least developed countries as part of the pilot when testing the research methodology
• Suggestions on ways to build a stronger gender perspective into the project design/framework and a better understanding how gender can also affect it
• Clarified the interest and availability of participants on the different research and advisory roles identified for the project (through interviews)
• Broader understanding of issues that need to be considered in the use of possible theories and methodologies for the research (but also affirmed the benefit of combining more than one approach)

Workshop outputs:

• Workshop Final Report, IDRC
• Presentation: Assessing the impact of public internet access in Lithuania, Ugne Rutkauskiene & Kestutis Juskevicius, Bibliotekos pažangai (Libraries for Innovation)
• Presentation: A Research Design Framework on Public Access & ICTs: Exploring the India Context, Anita Gurumurthy, IT for Change