Posted on May 7, 2008 by Eva Schiffer
I use Visualyzer for visualizing and analyzing my Net-Maps and I love it. But while there is a free trial version, in the end it is a software that you have to purchase. As I want to further spread SNA literacy in developing countries, I am looking for free software that is [...]
Filed under: Social Networks, open questions, technical details | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 23, 2008 by Eva Schiffer
In his comment today, Prakash Kashwan asks, whether we have used local materials for doing Net-Map, which reminds me that I wanted to put together a slide show of “stackable things” that could be used as influence towers. So, the answer is yes, and things that we have used include local board game pieces, bicycle [...]
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Posted on April 22, 2008 by Eva Schiffer
When we were net-mapping the innovation systems in poultry and maize in Ethiopia, we wondered: What is the benefit of spending so much time, drawing different links and is it maybe enough to just name the actors and put them on influence towers? So we tried a two step approach: With the first interview partner, [...]
Filed under: case studies, notes from the field, technical details | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 8, 2008 by Eva Schiffer
You know these Russian dolls where a little baby doll sits inside a slightly bigger one that sits inside a slightly bigger one etc.? Sometimes, when doing institutional Net-Maps, I feel like I’m on a Russian tourist market, just surrounded by Matryoshkas. Only that the way organizations are nested inside each other is far more [...]
Filed under: Other people's work, exploring new ideas, technical details, theoretical considerations | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 18, 2008 by Eva Schiffer
Below I have explored the idea of using Net-Map (through two computer applications called Visualyzer and GoToMeeting) in real time with groups all over the world online. While looking at ways how people can think together online, I came across this very instructive post about Online Graphic Organizers by Miguel Guhlin. He explores different free [...]
Filed under: Other people's work, exploring new ideas, technical details | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 6, 2008 by Eva Schiffer
When I ask: “Who can influence this-and-that?” as a first step in a Net-Map exercise, it depends very much on the “this-and-that”, on the context and on the interviewees, whether they will come up with a lot of
organisations (Ministry of XY, NGOs, women’s groups, etc.) or
groups of people who do similar things or have similar [...]
Filed under: Other people's work, exploring new ideas, fine-tuning implementation, technical details | No Comments »
Posted on February 29, 2008 by Eva Schiffer
Could people all over the world sit in front of their internet and net-map together?
Today I discussed with Simone Staiger of the International Center of Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), how they could include a net-map exercise into their web-based knowledge sharing workshop. They have an online-phase, where participants from all over the world will be online [...]
Filed under: exploring new ideas, technical details | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 26, 2008 by Eva Schiffer
Today I had a heated Net-Map session with a group of Nigerian visitors to IFPRI, who are all involved in the Fadama II project (funded by World Bank), that aims at improving the lives of the poorest of the poor in Nigeria, living and farming in the low lying fadama flood-plains. My colleague Ephraim Nkonya [...]
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Posted on February 25, 2008 by Eva Schiffer
“Family portraits” (see below) is only one of the many tools that the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) introduces on their internet portal: “Power Tools“. Brief and engaging descriptions of participatory approaches as diverse as Market Chain Workshops, Interactive Radio Drama or Community Trade-off Assessment.
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Posted on February 15, 2008 by Eva Schiffer
Network Mapping can help you to learn a lot about how and why your project works the way it does. But how do you integrate the 4 steps of Net-Map (Actors, Links, Influence, Goals) into a bigger framework of monitoring and evaluation? Boru Douthwaite and his colleagues call their integrated approach Participatory Impact Pathway Analysis [...]
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