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UBC Theses and Dissertations

Information and communication technology for the dissemination of scholarly knowledge in a public university in the periphery : the case of social sciences and humanities in the Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay Terra Figari, Lucía I.

Abstract

This study examines the process of publication and dissemination of scholarly generated knowledge in the context of technological advances and the internationalization of higher education. Within a world-systems theoretical framework, this study analyzes the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the dissemination of academically-generated knowledge in the social sciences and humanities within a Latin American public university, the Universidad de la Republica (UR), in Uruguay. There, academic life was being readjusted by the latest university reform and proposals for increased state control, changes which in turn were constrained by entrenched institutional culture, a tradition of university autonomy, and the federalist structure that characterizes the UR. The research specifically investigated the strategies that have been used by local researchers to communicate research results in the context of regional undertakings to build portals and virtual libraries, and assessed the value of ICT to disseminate local research. The study is based on information collected from forty four in-depth interviews with key university and other related actors, observations, and published and unpublished documents gathered during a six- month period in 2007 and 2008. The analysis of this case showed that, within the constraints of the institution and location in the periphery, researchers’ behaviours in relationship to dissemination of results followed patterns adequate to local, regional, or international parameters as needed to best reach individual goals. Use of ICT and publication strategies were influenced by discipline, as well as by historical developments of each school, department, and the university culture in general. Yet, regardless of discipline, culture or history, internationalization of higher education and regional ICT developments were increasingly pushing local modes of dissemination of knowledge to standardized modes accepted at the center (e.g., publishing in peer-reviewed journals). The UR case illustrated the need to consider the whole process at multiple levels (from the individual to the international) in order to accurately determine weaknesses (such as need for training in ICT and the development of stronger dissemination strategies) and to devise sustainable and more equitable solutions.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International