• Arul Chib, PhD, is the assistant director of the Singapore Internet Research Center. Dr. Arul Chib examines the impact of development campaigns delivered via a range of innovative information and communication technologies (ICTD or ICT4D). Dr. Chib studies mobile phone healthcare systems, particularly in resource-constrained environments of developing countries. Dr. Chib won the 2011 Prosper.NET-Scopus Award for the use of ICTs for sustainable development. In March 2012, Dr. Chib, along with Dr. Roger Harris, released a new volume, 'Linking research to practice: Strengthening ICT for Development Research Capacity in Asia', Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Chib, A., Wilkin, van Velthoven, M. H. M. M. T, Car, J. (forthcoming). mHealth adoption in low-resource environments: A review of the use of mobile healthcare in developing countries. Journal of Health Communication.
Chib, A., Wilkin, H., & Hoefman, B. (2013). Vulnerabilities in mHealth implementation: Ugandan HIV/AIDS SMS campaign. Global Health Promotion, 20(Supp.1), 26-32.
Chib, A., Chia, W. S., Ng, S. H., Tran, K., P. (2013). Enabling informal digital “guanxi” for rural doctors in Shaanxi, China. Chinese Journal of Communication, 6(1), 1-19.
Chib, A. (2013). The promise and peril of mHealth for developing countries. Mobile Media & Communication, 1(1), 69-75.
Chib, A., Cheong, Y. J., Lee, L. C. L., Ng, C. H. C., Tan, C. K., & Kameswari, V.L.V. (2012). ASHA: The hope of information communication technologies in Indian rural healthcare. Journal of Health Informatics in Developing Countries, 6(1), 406-421.
Chib, A; Law, F., Ahmad, N., & Ismail, N. (2012). Moving mountains with mobiles: Spatio-temporal perspectives on mHealth in Nepal. MedienKultur, 52, 100-114.
Chib, A., Wilkin, H., Leow, X. L., Hoefman, B., & van Bejima, H. (2012). Evaluating the effectiveness of a Text Message HIV/AIDS campaign in North West Uganda. Journal of Health Communication,17:sup1, 146-157.
Ale, K. & Chib, A. (2011). Community factors in technology adoption in primary education: Perspectives from rural India. Information Technologies & International Development, 7(4), 53-68.
Lee, S., Chib, A., & Kim, J-N. (2011). Midwives’ Mobile Phone Use and Health Knowledge in Rural Communities. Journal of Health Communication, 16(9), 1006-1023.
Chib, A. & Chen, V.H.H. (2011). Midwives with mobiles: A dialectical perspective on gender arising from technology introduction in rural Indonesia. New Media & Society, 12(3), 486-501.
Zheng, W., Chib, A., Gao, P, & Wang, K. (2011). Factors influencing physicians’ intention to share electronic medical records: An empirical investigation in China. Media Asia, 38(1), 14-21.
Chib, A. (2010). The Aceh Besar midwives with mobile phones project: Design and evaluation perspectives using the information and communication technologies for healthcare development model. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 15(3), 500-525.
Chib, A., Lwin, M.O., Lee, Z., Ng, W.V., & Wong, H.P.P. (2010). Learning AIDS in Singapore: Examining the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS efficacy messages for adolescents using ICTs. Knowledge Management & E-Learning, 2(2), 169-187.
Chib, A., Chiew, H. J., Kumar, C., Lim, G. C., & Ale, K . (2009). [minus]plastic: Influencing pro-environmental attitudes among Singaporean youth. Environmental Education Research, 15(6), 679-696.
Chib, A., Lwin, M.O., & Jung, Y. (2009). Adoption of mobile phones to enhance health care: A technology acceptance study of maternal care workers in Indonesia. Media Asia, 36(4), 216-222.
Chib, A., Lwin, M., O, Ang, J., Lin, H. & Santoso, F. (2008). Mobiles and midwives: Improving healthcare communications via mobile phones in Aceh Besar, Indonesia. Asian Journal of Communication, 18(4), 348-364.
Sinnreich, A., Chib, A. Gilbert, J. (2008). Modeling information equality: Social and media latency effects on information diffusion. International Journal of Communication, 2, 132-159. |
Dr. Arul Chib focuses on mobile phone healthcare systems, and pursues action-oriented research in varied cross-cultural contexts, particularly in resource-constrained environments. He investigates the key factors influencing the adoption of technology for positive health outcomes, and has engaged in the design and development of healthcare technology systems spanning online and mobile platforms. Global collaborations with IDRC, UNICEF, and UNFPA have led to research grants of S$3.7Mn.
His work with Acehnese midwives has led to great interest in the field of mobile health (mHealth) technologies. Of note is that the original JAVA application for mobile phones was developed in 2006, well in advance of the latest innovations in mobile-based applications. This ground-breaking technology to improve maternal and infant health was developed for 223 rural midwives based in the tsunami-affected region of Aceh Besar, Indonesia, impacting as many as 600 villages. This ICT project, facilitated by cell phones and data sending mobile technology, uses the existing pool of knowledge in the rural health system to bolster local resources. Prior to working on tsunami relief, Dr. Chib collaborated with a Peruvian NGO, Instituto Peruano de Paternidad Responsable, to develop an interactive computer-based multimedia game to deliver information about sexual and reproductive health, particularly about HIV/AIDS. Dr. Chib is currently extending his work in mHealth by examining issues of power and influence caused by the mobile phone usage amongst community healthcare workers in Papaua New Guinea, Thailand, India, and China.
Dr. Chib's contributions have led to a number of research awards, including the 2011 Prosper.NET-Scopus Award for the use of ICTs for sustainable development. This award was accompanied by a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, one of the highest honours within the European scholarly tradition. He has been awarded fellowships at Ludwig Maxmilians University and University of Southern California, and the Best Graduate Student Award of S. I. Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University. He serves on the editorial boards of Human Communication Research and Communication Yearbook, the flagship publications of the International Communication Association.
Chib has published in the best refereed journals, such as the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, ranked first amongst Thompson Reuters communication journals, the Journal of Health Communication, ranked first amongst health communication journals, and Information Technologies & International Development, ranked first amongst journals in the field of information and communication technologies for development. He has contributed to book chapters from leading publishers such as Cambridge Scholars, Hampton Press, Springer, and Taylor & Francis. In 2012, along with Dr. Roger Harris, he released the edited volume, Linking Research to Practice (2012, ISEAS Singapore). His research papers have been adopted as syllabi in institutions in Copenhagen, Geneva, Manila, and Virginia. He is currently working on the authored book, mHealth in Developing Countries (forthcoming, Taylor & Francis UK).
Dr. Chib’s work in as many as nine countries has been profiled in media outlets ranging from the United Nations Chronicle to the Singaporean press. He has been a guest speaker at numerous global events, and in 2012, gave the keynote speech at the Media Health Communication Conference in Munich. He is a member of the organizing committees of the IFIP 8.6 2013 and ICTD 2012 conferences.
As Assistant Director at the Singapore Internet Research Center, Dr. Chib leads the Strengthening Information Society Research Capacity Alliance programme. This multi-year capacity building programme has mentored 30 emerging researchers in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and organized training events in Atlanta, Bangkok, Jamaica, and Singapore. |