Recent Publications

Skuse A. et al. (2020) Solving ‘wicked problems’ in the app co-design process. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies.

Skuse, A. (2020) Claiming the State: the political economy of social welfare access in rural South Africa. In Governance and Societal Adaptation in Fragile States. Editors: Ware H, Lahai JI . 189-209. Palgrave MacMillan, Cham, Switzerland. 

Skuse, A. (2019) Wikis and Knowledge Management in Complex Emergencies: a Rapid Guide, Government of Australia/Australian Civil-Military Centre - use of wikis and other collaborative knowledge sharing/generation tools have become commonplace during emergencies and enhance the situational awareness of emergency personnel and reduce duplication in terms of knowledge generation.

Skuse, A. (2019) Short Messaging in Complex Emergencies: A Rapid Guide, Government of Australia/Australian Civil-Military Centre - the wide availability of mobile phones makes SMS and ‘apps’ important channels for sending alerts about impending emergencies or of key risks associated with the post-emergency period. Users closely observe mobile phones during periods of crisis, though ensuring reliability of infrastructure during emergencies is paramount. Emergency ‘apps’ are also widely used know to enhance disaster preparedness and response.

Skuse, A. (2019) Social Media in Complex Emergencies: a Rapid Guide, Government of Australia/Australian Civil-Military Centre - social media has become a mainstay of emergency responses and crisis situations in recent years. Social media are useful for dispelling rumours, providing up-to-the-minute information on an evolving crisis and for gathering data resulting from engaging in a dialogue with affected communities. Moderation of social media is critical and poor moderation can lead to misinformation reaching the public.

Skuse, A. (2019) Crowdsourcing and Crisis-Mapping in Complex Emergencies: a Rapid Guide, Government of Australia/Australian Civil-Military Centre - information drawn from disaster affected communities, or ‘the crowd’, can enhance the humanitarian response and increase situational awareness. Data may be received from volunteers utilizing ‘apps’ in disaster-affected areas or directly from those affected through SMS messaging or social media. Crowdsourced data is often used to create crisis maps, which provide real-time mapping of emergencies as they evolve and which, help to focus the emergency response.

Skuse, A. (2019) Complex Emergencies in a Digital World: a Rapid Guide, Government of Australia/Australian Civil-Military Centre - this paper collates material on wikis and knowledge management, SMS, social media and crowdsourcing/crisis mapping into a usable guide designed to inform humanitarian organisations and practitioners.

Research Interests

My principal research contribution focuses on the roles that communication and access to information play in supporting processes of development, poverty reduction, empowerment, humanitarianism and social change. Much of this work has involved revealing how poor people use information communication technologies in developing country contexts, often in the face of acute emergencies. My research to date has made a number of specific contributions to this field that include:

1. Communication and complex emergencies: my work on the role of communication and complex emergencies has helped to inform both academic and practitioner audiences. I have undertaken a systematic review (2012) for AusAID that looked at the factors that contribute to successful communication interventions in fragile states. This work involved a partnership between InterMedia, ABC International Development and Joanna Briggs Institute and has been disseminated to the influential International Lessons Leaned community, which explores the interface between military and civil actors working in conflict-affected countries. Recent work with the Australian Civil-Military Centre providing has examined the impact of social media and networking in recent conflicts/emergencies. This has resulted in the publication of three papers, an extensive annotated bibliography, an issues paper on social media, social networking and complex emergencies, as well as a comprehensive resource guide for communication practitioners. These publications can be viewed at: https://www.acmc.gov.au/publications/communication-and-complex-emergencies-project/
2. Entertainment-Education, mass media and development: my work on entertainment-education has been influential in developing both an ethnographic analysis on audience impact, while also analysing the intriguing politics of drama production. The Sage Publications volume Drama for Development (2011), for which I was lead editor and a significant contributor, represents a key output in this area and reflects a close partnership between the University of Adelaide, The Open University, SOAS and University of Amsterdam. This book was a major output of the ‘Tuning-in: Research Diasporas at the BBC World Service’ project of the Diasporas Migration and Identities Research Program, United Kingdom Arts and Humanities Research Council. Details may be viewed at: https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/cam/drama-for-development/book236788.
3. ICTs, poverty and empowerment: my work on information and communication technologies, poverty and empowerment has helped to advance our understanding of contemporary poverty issues. This body of work examines how poor people integrate themselves into networks (either technological or social) and are able to make use of critical information flows that impact upon the sustainability of their livelihoods. Work on ARC Linkage projects with partners such as UNESCO, UNDP and Equal Access, has yielded influential analyses of poverty, ICTs and digital exclusion in South Asia that has been used up by a number of development organisations, as well as analysis of the complexity of information and communication networks at the local level. See: http://betterevaluation.org/sites/default/files/EA_PM%26E_toolkit_front_pages%26introduction_for_publication.pdf
4. Media sector strengthening: My work in the field of media sector strengthening has supported initiatives such as the AusAID-funded ABC International Development Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS). Such work, in partnership with local media organisations, especially state media, aims to improve their practice and professionalism. Such improvements, especially around news reporting, supports better governance by increasing accountability and transparency. In this respect, my work has had a clear focus on media sector assessment and has informed discussion of sectoral benchmarking (for media freedoms and diversity), monitoring and evaluation processes, and gender mainstreaming. An example of my work around media strengthening for increased accountability work can be found http://www.pacmas.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/MDI-SANA-final.pdf
5. Social and behavioural change: much the work that I have engaged in throughout my career has concerned aspects of social and behavioural change. My work has helped to advance our understanding of how normative culture can constrain behaviour change at individual and community levels and block social change. I have worked in the areas of heath, media strengthening, risk reduction, conflict reduction and human trafficking with organisations such as the ABC International Development, Philippines National TB Control Program, Government of Tonga, MTV EXIT and WHO. Most recently I have developed an extensive toolkit for UNICEF (New York) that enables UNICEF staff and other communication practitioners to rapidly develop communication strategies for use during emergencies. UNICEF is currently formatting the Communication for Humanitarian Action Toolkit for publication. My work with MTV on the End Trafficking and Exploitation Program (EXIT) yielded a number of outputs including a comprehensive Phase IV Project Document and review. See: http://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/Documents/mtv-exit-iii-review-report.pdf
6. Methodological tools and program evaluation: my work has advanced the development of a range of methodological tools that have supported the ability of C4D practitioners to collect and analyse data. My work on ARC Linkage grants concerned both academic and methodological dimensions, and especially how methods can give poor people an opportunity to participate, as well as to capture aspects of social change. Notably, my work has helped to extend initial work on the Ethnographic Action Research methodology through the addition of a much stronger focus on participatory methods and tools. This methodology provides a dedicated ICT-focused set of tools that help to inform program development and evaluation principally at the community level.  Details of some of this work can be found at: http://ear.findingavoice.org