Southern Innovator as a Knowledge and Learning Tool | November 2017

Why even bother printing (on paper) Southern Innovator as a magazine? "What about the trees and we live in the digital age!", some might say.

There is evidence and science supporting the need to always publish Southern Innovator in print as well as online. First, a study of the World Bank's online publications came to a shocking conclusion: A survey in 2014 found a third of World Bank publications are never downloaded, 40 per cent were downloaded just 100 times, and only 13 per cent were downloaded more than 250 times in their lifetime (The Washington Post). As The Washington Post pointed out, these are publicly funded publications with the intention of contributing to policy debates and providing solutions to the world's problems. So, if nobody is reading them, or just a handful are, that actually does matter if you care about positive change in the world.

Secondly, a Norwegian study in 2014 from the Stavanger University (part of Europe-wide research into the impact of digitisation on the reading experience), found "... that paper readers did report higher on measures having to do with empathy and transportation and immersion, and narrative coherence, than iPad readers," according to lead researcher Anne Mangen (The Guardian).

An earlier study the researchers did also found "students who read texts in print scored significantly better on the reading comprehension test than students who read the texts digitally" and that "Studies with students, for instance, have shown that they often prefer to read on paper", continued Mangen in The Guardian.   

Another issue is Internet shutdowns, outages and censorship. All of these have been on the increase, especially in Africa (africanews.com). To put it simply, you cannot electronically shutdown a piece of paper. 

Design to show and teach.

Innovations Summary.

Innovations Summary.

A fast-changing world.

Knowledge Summary.

Knowledge Summary.

Being a Southern Innovator: An Urban Guide.

Turning Waste into Wealth: A Southern Innovator's Guide.

Managing the workflow: Getting things done.

© southerninnovator.com 2017

© David South Consulting 2017