@article {595, title = {Innovation, technical assistance, and development: The importance of technology users}, journal = {World Development}, volume = {16}, year = {1988}, month = {June 1988}, pages = {711-721}, abstract = {In both industrialized and developing country situations technology users play a key role in generating successful new products and processes. Both "high-tech" innovation, such as the design of the Boeing 747 aircraft and IBM computer software, and innovative technologies for the rural poor, such as Vietnamese expeller pumps and Bangladeshi hybrid rice strains, owe much to the creativity and skill not of research scientist, but of local housewives, farmers and artisans. New approaches to technical assistance which increase the interaction between R\&D institutions and these technology users are needed in order to tap this important innovation resource. The incorporation of such an interactive research strategy into the work of the Sudan Energy Research Council led to highly successful initiatives in the fields of charcoal production, improved charcoal stoves, and agroforestry. (author)}, keywords = {charcoal , innovation, Sudan Energy Research Council, technical assistance}, doi = {10.1016/0305-750X(88)90177-5}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0305750X88901775}, author = {Matthew S. Gamser} } @mastersthesis {445, title = {Philippine rural cultivators in transition: Operational reality and cognized models in agricultural decision making}, year = {1987}, month = {1987}, school = {University of Kentucky}, address = {Lexington, Kentucky}, abstract = {

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy at The University of Kentucky.

This study investigates the agricultural decision making processes and patterns of different categories of individuals and households in a rural Philippine community. The variability of adaptive responses to changing social, economic, and ecological conditions is analyzed in relation to indigenous knowledge systems and the decision maker\&$\#$39;s position in the internal differentiation of society.

Cognized models are conceptualized as personal and cultural constructs in the mind of the decision maker while operational reality is defined as the objective, material referent which provides the context, opportunities, and constraints in agricultural decision making. Examination and comparison of graphic mental maps and local criteria of major land use options revealed a patterning in the social distribution of indigenous knowledge that is influenced by the individual\&$\#$39;s socioeconomic status and gender.

Sexual division of labor has sensitized males and females to different aspects of their environment as evidenced by the difference in relative salience of community infrastructure, services, and resources to males and females. Likewise, in terms of socioeconomic standing, differences were observed among informants in their cognizance of various alternative or innovative options. It appears that high socioeconomic status individuals are the most knowledgeable about various features in their environment and also possess the most compact and general models for causes, consequences, and relationships obtaining in both agriculture and aquaculture.

It is argued that access to resources and access to knowledge are mutually reinforcing\—a property that would tend to accelerate polarization and asymmetric relations. Social knowledge appeared to be differentially distributed due to the socialization each individual receives in his or her niche. Such socialization imbues the individual with different selective filters\—or pre-attentive patterns\—which make him or her unconsciously regard some options as non-feasible or undesirable. Choices regarding time allocation, food consumption, and land use are constrained, leading to behavioral outcomes that may not be logical from the point of view of maximization. However, those below, whose latitude for decision making appears to be the most narrow still have some leeway for \"working the system.\" The operational reality seems to be wide enough to admit the possibility of social mobility for those endowed with resourcefulness and entrepreneurial skills.

}, keywords = {farmer experimentation, innovation, rice-fish culture, social structure decision-making, women}, url = {http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/19564885}, author = {Virginia D. Nazarea-Sandoval} } @article {659, title = {Strategies for enhancing the adoptability of agroforestry innovations}, journal = {Agroforestry Systems}, volume = {1}, year = {1983}, month = {September 1983}, pages = {173-187}, abstract = {Agroforestry has been given a broad and hopeful mandate to assist in devising productive and sustainable systems of land management to meet the demographic and ecological challenges of mankind{\textquoteright}s somewhat uncertain future. As a new and explicity interdisciplinary field of applied scientific research and technological synthesis, agroforestry is in a unique position to benefit from recent advances in our understanding of the rural development process which, if properly integrated into the emerging paradigm for agroforestry research and development, will greatly enhance its chances of fulfilling its potential as a source of solutions to many interrelated problems of tropical land use. Drawing on lessons from the literature on the adoption and diffusion of innovations, a number of research strategies and design tactics are proposed by which agroforestry R \& D teams may improve on their ability to generate relevant and adoptable technologies and, thus, stand a better chance of having the kind of practical impact on land use systems which is expected of agroforestry.}, keywords = {agroforestry, innovation, population pressure, rural development, technology design}, doi = {10.1007/BF00130606}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00130606}, author = {J. B. Raintree} } @article {517, title = {Appropriate technology in rural Mexico: Antecedents and consequences of an indigenous peasant innovation}, journal = {Technology and Culture}, volume = {19}, year = {1978}, month = {January 1978}, pages = {32-52}, abstract = {

This paper describes some of the social, ecological, and economic conditions that led to the development of the seed plow in the Valley of Temascalcingo. It briefly examines the history of the plow, documents the socioeconomic changes its use has engendered, and concludes with an exploration of the theoretical and pragmatic implications of this case of modernization.

}, keywords = {corn, edijos, innovation, maize, Mexico, seeder plows}, doi = {10.2307/3103307}, url = {https://www.jstor.org/stable/3103307}, author = {Billie R. DeWalt} }