It was a very busy February with CHI WIP submissions/notification and GRAND 2013happenings. GRAND is the fourth annual digital media conference, taking place May 14-16, 2013, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (read more about it below).
Our accepted CHI WIP was primary authored by Erick Oduor, a PhD student who is also a member of cLab at SFU. His WIP focuses on Family Communication in Rural and Slum Regions of Kenya and can be viewed here.
Abstract: We report the findings of an ethnographic study exploring how 13 participants from rural and slum regions of Kenya communicated with remote family members using technology. We focus on communication practices that enabled family members to support economic sustenance activities and also investigate the social aspects of using technology to provide or receive moral, emotional or other forms of support from distributed family members.
More About GRAND
GRAND is a research network and commercialization engine whose goal is to address complex issues in digital media and transform multidisciplinary research into user-centred solutions. GRAND explores the use and application of digital media in a variety of settings including entertainment, healthcare, education, environmental sustainability, and public policy.
GRAND is a federally-funded Network of Centres of Excellence supporting 34 research projects divided into 5 cross-pollinating themes involving researchers at 26 universities across Canada with more than 60 industry, government, and nonprofit partners.