Ataharul Chowdhury
Assistant Professor
School of Environmental Design & Rural Development
University of Guelph
RECENT PROJECTS
Project |01 Embedded Video in Social Media Applications: Practices and Potential for Agricultural and Rural Innovation Systems | 2012-2014
I am conducting this project with the Post-doctoral fellowship support of the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The research is being conducted within the faculty auspices of the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development of the University of Guelph. I am particularly working with the Associate Professor Dr. Helen Hambly Odame.
In agriculture and rural development sectors, innovation is increasingly recognized as a process of exchanging information, knowledge, and technology while transposing relations in multiple social networks so that different stakeholders can make use of these for continuous social and economic change. Communication plays important roles in getting contact and re-ordering of relations among various inter-dependent social agents not only in professional ways but also in many informal and personal settings. The lines of communication between towns, cities and entire nations are merging. We increasingly live and work within a 'communication media' landscape. Web 2.0 tools and software influence many aspects of communication providing users with more opportunities for informal and interpersonal approaches to information-sharing. We can witness transformations in top-down, and corporate-based communication processes to a more individualized, participatory and democratic approach whereby users are creators, consumers and repeat innovators of the web content.
The central question of this project is to understand how social media tools, (or lack thereof) leads to the enhancement of innovation systems in the agricultural and rural sector, both within Canada and internationally. With a specific focus on the use of video applications for knowledge dissemination, the project strives to understand the roles of virtual and mediated communication platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs) in enabling agricultural and rural development innovation. For details, please see the blog of the project.
Project |01
Project |02
Project |02 Social Media for Engaging Stakeholders, Mapping, and Mobilizing Rural Assets in the Headwaters Region (Dufferin County, Town of Caledon, & Town of Erin)| 2012-2013
I am coordinating this project, which is financed by the Agri-food & Rural Link- a Knowledge Translation and Transfer (KTT) partnership program of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) & University of Guelph (UoGuelph). The project aims to support tourism and rural economic development in the Headwaters region- which is a collection of ten rural Ontario municipalities- through using dynamic, shared & scalable platform (mobile apps). The apps will allow integration and meaningful interpretation of mapped assets and of data in consumer web platforms that will highlight “market-ready” businesses in each of the defined product sectors (e.g. equine, culture & heritage, local food etc.), and will allow for the development of agricultural and rural tourism “trails”, as well as support enhanced consumer marketing. The objectives of the project are- i) Mobilizing social network and media to provide information and share knowledge about economic, social, cultural and environmental
assets in the Headwaters Region, ii) Developing a shared and dynamic technological platform that can be leveraged between sector and municipal stakeholders, that
provides a consistent and scalable platform for future development, iii) Enabling and supporting tourism and related economic development in the Headwaters region, in participation for the 2015 PanAm Games. The project partners include UoGuelph, OMAFRA, Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture & Sports, The Hills of Headwaters Tourism Association.
Project |03
Project |03 The Power of Moving Pictures. Participatory Video Enables Learning and Agricultural Innovation in Bangladesh |2007-2011
This is my doctoral research project financed by the Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research, and Austrian Development Cooperation. The research was supervised by the Dr. Michael Hauser, and Dr. Christian R Vogl, University of Natural Resources an Life Sciences, Vienna
The challenges for enabling effective learning pathways have poised agricultural innovation system to respond to the emerging demographic, economic, market forces in many developing countries. As such agricultural extension services in these countries miss the opportunities to reduce poverty in a cost-effective way. Sustainable agricultural development reckons the approaches, methods, and techniques that help circulating critical capacities of multiple actors (e.g. researchers, extensions, input dealers) with an aim to develop farmers’ abilities to tackle the nascent farming challenges. However, this is more complicated for an agrarian country like Bangladesh, where huge population growth increased numerous food security challenges. The participatory extension process is not enough to fulfil the capacity demands of the majority smallholders in Bangladesh. This calls for a ‘new thinking’ on how to strengthen interactive agricultural development process.
The research investigates potential applications of participatory video (PV) to enable learning and local agricultural innovation in Bangladesh. The research applies the theoretical lens of agricultural innovation system, learning and capital assets building to guide the research process, data collection techniques and analysis. Embedded in an action research methodology, the study investigates PV applications in the north-west region of Bangladesh. The research methodology integrates case study approach and particularly addresses the topics of crop seed and pest management. Data were collected using various techniques, which include literature review, participant observation, in-depth interviews, group discussion, workshop and a survey.
Read the publication of the project
Project |04 Fostering Women Voices through Videos in Bangladesh |2010-2012
This partnership project is a spin off initiative of my doctoral research project. Insights into the strength of different approaches of video application for fostering learning and innovation among agricultural and rural communities in Bangladesh inspired us to undertaking this development project with the financial assistance of the Karl Kahane Foundation (KKF), Switzerland.
Women have been neglected in agricultural development in the past, raising their voices is critical for equaling development in the future. In its recent report, the World Bank has heralded women’s vital role for poverty reduction and food security. At the same time, it is evident that rural women’s efforts in food production, especially in soil health, post-harvest activities, and crop seed processing are very important for community based food security in Bangladesh. According to the findings of the doctoral research project (see project 03 ) and earlier initiatives (e.g. rice seed health videos), video-mediated learning is an effective process of strengthening rural women’s innovation capacity in agriculture, food, environments and rural development. Participatory video (PV) is a potential technique for empowering rural women and raising their voices. PV facilitates representation of illiterate (e.g. rural men women) through their verbal and visual language, which otherwise might not be possible i.e. through written language. This is especially an advantage in a country like Bangladesh where two-thirds of the women live in rural areas and the majority of them are illiterate. These women will have opportunity to learn and experiment innovative practices from the video developed with their peers. The project will foster voices of 600 rural women through developing local capacities for ‘women-to-women’ PV development and dissemination in Bangladesh. The Centre for Development Research (CDR), University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna , is facilitating the partnership with Bangladesh Agricultural University (local hub), Rural Development Academy, several farmers' organization, and rural development organizations (Non-Government Organization, and Extension agency).
The project aims to achieve the following objectives: i) Organisation and strengthening of two PV teams (one in the north-western region and another one in the north-eastern region of the country); ii) Development of three training and learning videos, with a strong emphasis on the incorporation of rural women’s local knowledge and innovation in agricultural production activities; iii) Development and strengthening of agricultural production capacity of 600 resource-poor women farmers by organizing video-mediated training and learning sessions, accompanies with close coaching and follow-up support; iv) Enhancing institutional change and policy awareness at regional, national and international level to support women’s capacities in agricultural production activities at farm level, mainly through the usage and dissemination of the produced videos.
Project |04
These are some sample of my work. To discuss more and possible work >>
PUBLICATION