The Global Impact Study

Infomediaries: Public access brokers

What is the role of a librarian, cybercafé manager, or telecenter employee? How do people working in public-access venues such as these act as infomediaries — influencing which services people learn, use, and value? The Infomediaries: Brokers of Public Access Study will examine how infomediaries bring people and ICT together, both as service providers (offering advice, training, and content) and mediators (empowering individuals for whom services would otherwise appear unfathomable).

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Phase one findings from Bangladesh, Chile & Lithuania

The Global Impact Study has wrapped up its first phase, which included a year of exploratory fieldwork in three pilot countries — Bangladesh, Chile, and Lithuania. Country Research Teams collected data on several public access venues, looking at user groups and activities, venue characteristics, and the roles venues play in each community. This data provides a snapshot of regional information ecologies — community networks of trusted information sources — and will be used to refine our research design.

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