This Workshop Has Core Funding and is Being Planned for February 1997.
A two and one-half day weekend is planned for either Toronto or Ottawa.
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This Prospectus is for Public Distribution and To Encourage Feedback and
Advice with regard to the format and content of the Workshop. Anyone
with a view, comment, opinion or interest is welcomed to contact the
Planning Committee. The workshop is expected to produce modules for
use by similar workshops elsewhere.For further information contact
<[log in to unmask]> or <[log in to unmask]>, Fax: (416) 736-5737 (Toronto).
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Workshop
on
Health Informatics
in
International Development
(Sponsored by the Canadian University Consortium for
Health in International Development)
VISION:
The appropriate introduction of information and communication
technology (ICT) in the pursuit of health objectives in
development activity.
MISSION:
Assisting stakeholders in the areas of education, funding,
policy, programming, project implementation, research and
evaluation to refine their overview and approaches to ICT for
health in development. Stakeholders are defined as those at risk
of gain or loss as a result of activities related to health in
development.
OBJECTIVE:
Information and communication technologies are rapidly creating
an electronic venue, a virtual workspace, with the potential to
support collaborative health activities across time and space.
Major international agencies (CIDA, IDRC, ITU, UNESCO, USAID)
have targeted extending appropriate access and connectivity in
global zones where health regimes face a variety of challenges.
Stakeholders face the challenge of making sense' of what ICT
means for how they are organized, how they conduct their work,
and how they collaborate with others. The electronic venue
challenges traditional approaches to the diffusion of knowledge.
It challenges how professionals combine expert knowledge' with
community wisdom' from the intended community and in the
intended setting.
A workshop on health informatics in international development at
this time in history will differ from the standard workshops in
several key areas. First, it can not be a workshop in which the
state of the art is passed on' by experts. One can compile a
long list of applications of informatics to health services.
However, these narrow-band' applications of informatics (to
medicine in particular) are as likely to be inappropriate as they
are to assist in the pursuit of health objectives. It is not a
question of how to choose between best practice "A" and wrong
practice "B". Second, this is not primarily a hands on' workshop
in which participants are taught how to do this (web pages) or
that (distance education) in an ICT-enhanced environment.
The objective is to strengthen the capacities of stakeholders
with different tasks (policy formation, project development,
proposal evaluation, program and project implementation, project
and program evaluation, education and research) to achieve their
respective objectives.
The objective will be promoted by several properties of the
workshop. First, the workshop uses a conceptual approach in which
ICT is treated as an integral component of the organizational
structure and work process of each of the stakeholder groups. The
approach is functional at every level of aggregation and
disaggregation in the application of ICT to health in
development. This produces a common framework for dialogue and
common protocols for inter-connections between the activities of
different stakeholders.
DESIGN OF THE WORKSHOP:
The workshop will operate at two levels, as a electronic venue
which precedes and continues beyond the literal (face-to-face)
workshop. The electronic venue would operate as a nested set of
on-line conference areas (accessible by simple email) and open at
one level to all interested parties. This electronic workspace'
will be assisted by a simple web site, its contents also
accessible by simple email. The participants in the literal
workshop will have pre-workshop obligations in the electronic
venue, and are encouraged to continue electronic participation
beyond the workshop.
The physical venue is (tentatively) a two-day weekend session,
with a Friday night opening event open to a wider audience.
PARTICIPANTS:
The design of the workshop will draw on three or four
facilitating professionals drawn from academic, research and
other activities dealing with health in development. It will
accept (tentatively) between 15 and 25 participants' drawn from
stakeholders with different tasks (policy formation, project
development, proposal evaluation, program and project
implementation, project and program evaluation, education and
research).
MAJOR COMPONENTS OF WORKSHOP:
* 1. Conceptual Framework for ICT in Social Process
* 2. Evaluation Strategies for ICT and Health Objectives in:
* a. Policy formation
* b. Project/Program formulation
* c. Implementation Strategies
* d. Project/Program Assessment
* e. Outcomes Evaluation
* f. Education and Research
* g. Knowledge Diffusion
* h. Stakeholder Empowerment
* 3. Application Strategies for ICT and Health Objectives
* a. Policy formation
* b. Project/Program formulation
* c. Implementation Strategies
* d. Project/Program Assessment
* e. Outcomes Evaluation
* f. Education and Research
* g. Knowledge Diffusion
* h. Stakeholder Empowerment
(Note: The evaluation module precedes the application strategy module to
ground the conceptual framework in measurable outcomes before exploring
the scope for applications)
* 4. Profiling Major Stakeholders and Their Strategies:
* a. Funding Priorities re: ICT and International Health
* b. Collaboration Models: ICT in International Health
* c. Distance Education: ICT and Human Development
* d. Distance Research: ICT and Participatory Models
* e. Knowledge Diffusion: ICT, Access and Diffusion
* 5. Other Modules: (to be determined in November On-Line
Consultation).
* 6. Future Application of Workshop Materials:
The Workshop will produce several workshop modules, an
framework for ICT and Health Workshops of interest to
broad stakeholder groups, and an on-line venue which
will enrich and be enriched by the weekend workshop.
The modules will be made available through CUCHID.
The Workshops modules will be suitable for strategic
planning workshops across stakeholder settings. A first
international application is being considered in the
English Caribbean. A second application involves a
translation of the Workshop for a Latin American
setting.
* 7. When and Where:
The Workshop is planned for February 1997, to be held
either in Ottawa or Toronto.
* 8. Budget, Funding and Revenue:
The Workshop has an initial budget of from CUCHID with
support from CIDA and IDRC. Other (in kind) support is
expected. Participants will be expected to cover a
significant portion of their own costs. A small amount
will be set aside for bursaries for special needs.
* 9. Planning Structure:
The planning team for the Workshop will lead by Prof.
Sam Lanfranco (York University), in consultation with
the CUCHID Steering Committee and CUCHID Council.
Significant use will be made of the on-line venue as an
iterative venue for public feedback on the planned
workshop strategy.
* 10. Feedback:
The Workshop will create one or more Workshop listserv
conferences on the internet in support of (a) the
planning process and (b) the objectives of the
workshop.
A simple web page will be mounted in support of access
to workshop information.
CUCHID's [log in to unmask] will be used for periodic
reporting out' on the progress of the Workshop
exercise.
The Workshop planning team can be reached at either of:
Sam Lanfranco <[log in to unmask]> or The Distributed
Knowledge Project (DKProj) <[log in to unmask]>.
(File: ictwork.1)/November 10, 1996)
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