Overview
Professor Cogburn is an expert on global information and communication technology policy and in the use of ICTs for socio-economic development. His research interests include the institutional mechanisms for global governance of ICTs; transnational policy-actor networks and epistemic communities, especially for non-governmental organizations and global civil society; and the socio-technical infrastructure for geographically distributed collaboration in knowledge work.
In addition to being an associate professor at the iSchool, he is a senior research associate at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs at the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs at SU.
He serves as director of the award-winning Center for Research on Collaboratories and Technology Enhanced Learning Communities (Cotelco) that investigates the socio-technical factors influencing geographically distributed collaborative knowledge work, particularly between developed and developing countries. Cotelco is an affiliated center of the Burton Blatt Institute, Centers of Innovation on Disability, where Cogburn serves on the Leadership Council and the Internal Advisory Board.
He is also a faculty affiliate with the Convergence Center; a principal and member of the Scientific Committee of the Internet Governance Project; chair of the Communication Committee for the Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet); and a faculty member of the Syracuse University Africa Initiative. In addition, Cogburn is an adjunct professor of international communication at the School of International Service at American University; an adjunct professor at the International School of Information Management at the University of Mysore in southern India; and an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Public and Development Management at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Cogburn is also the president of the Information Technology and Politics section of the American Political Science Association as well as president of the International Communication section of the International Studies Association. Cogburn also serves as CEO of the Praxis Global Group Inc., a specialized consulting firm organized to provide analysis of global affairs and strategic opportunities driven and facilitated by globalization and information and communication technologies. Praxis also provides mixed-methods research consulting, specializing in evaluation and community-based approaches.
Professor Cogburn received his Ph.D. in political science (International Relations, Political Economy, and Comparative Politics) from Howard University in 1996, where he was a W.K. Kellogg doctoral fellow at the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center. He also received his MA in political science (Comparative Politics Africa, Political Economy) from Howard University in 1994, and his BA in history (Ancient Near Eastern and Africa)/political science (International Relations) from the University of Oklahoma in 1992.
Research Interests
Professor Cogburn's research program explores the impact of socio-technical collaboration infrastructure on civic participation in global information and communication technology (ICT) policy processes, and more broadly on international development and global governance.
Cotelco is currently studying the role of elite policy conferences in the formation of transnational advocacy networks working in the global ICT policy arena. Specifically, they are examining the impact of policy collaboratories on the interaction and density of these global policy networks within the United Nations-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and on the epistemic communities that nourish them.
He has been involved in more than $15 million dollars of federal and privately-funded research (as either PI, co-PI, or investigator), has edited two books, has published seven book chapters, over twenty articles, nine government and international organization reports, and delivered nearly 100 national (64) and international (34) invited lectures and conference presentations.
Teaching Interests
Professor Cogburn teaches a geographically distributed advanced graduate seminar on globalization and the information society: information, communication and development. This seminar, which is closely integrated into Dr. Cogburns research program, is taught using rich-media web-based collaboration tools and is comprised of students from various universities around the world working in global virtual teams. Other graduate and undergraduate courses taught by Dr. Cogburn include global electronic commerce, information policy & decision-making; community information; the theory and practice of geographically distributed collaboration; and the design and practice of social science research using mixed method approaches.
Professional Interests
Professor Cogburn serves as an active member of the International Studies Association (ISA), especially the International Communication section (where he is a former member of the executive committee) and the International Political Economy section. In addition, he serves as an active member of the International Communication Association (ICA), where he participates in the Communication Law & Policy (CLAP) division, as well as the Organizational Communication, and Intercultural and Development Communication divisions.
From 1994-1995, Cogburn served as International Research Fellow in the Library of Congress at the Congressional Research Service, Division of Foreign Affairs and National Defense, Europe, Africa & Middle East Section. In 1995, he joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), serving as Telecommunications Research Fellow in the International Communication program. He was also a founding member of the Global Information Infrastructure Commission (GIIC), where he served as Africa Director, and subsequently, founding executive director of the regional spin-off organization GIIC Africa until 2000.
Since 1995, Cogburn has had several appointments with the United Nations, including: the High-Level Working Group on ICTs, the Technical Advisory Committee for the African Development Forum, and the African Information Society Initiative at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA); the Working Group on ICTs for Business Development at the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); and the Program Committee for Africa Telecom and the Expert Group on Internet Governance at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU); and most recently the High-Level Panel of Advisors with the UN Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technology and Development (GAID).
Cogburn also served on the board of the World Bank program World Links for Development, and as a World Bank consultant for the Information Society and Development (ISAD) Conference in South Africa.
Previously, Cogburn served on the faculty at the School of Information at the University of Michigan and chair of the South Africa Initiatives Office in the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, Cogburn lived and worked in South Africa for five years, where he served as director of the Center for Information Society Development in Africa, based at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria.