Methodological Framework and Methodology Guide
The development of a research methodology is a central aspect of the research and part of the project activities. The methodology framework consists of the identification of key sociological and urban factors, questions, and comparable elements. More specifically the methodology framework of the project relays on the aca2k methodology guide (aca2k 2008; Armstrong et al. 2010) and it develops it further by adapting it to the specific needs of the project. aca2k (African Copyright and Access to Knowledge) is an interdisciplinary and comparative research methodology guide developed with the support of Canada’s International Development Research Center and South Africa’s Shuttleworth Foundation, and managed by the link Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand Graduate School of Public and Development Management. The methodology guide was conceived in the African continent to produce a specific and comparative research on copyright and access to knowledge in eight countries: Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda.

Data Collection
Field research collects data, information, and multimedia contents. The field research produces images and videos, digitize written documents, record or digitize analog audio/video material, it produces research on current and historical archives. The field research benefits from the collaboration of the local partners.

Information Visualization
The data are visualized through and implemented into multimedia maps with geopositioned points of interest, in order to provide documentation on primary sources available online. The lack of primary sources and organized documentation is a main concern in this study. The use of information visualization contributes to the data comparative analysis and allows a better distribution system.

Qualitative Data Analysis
Contexts of public art and cultural events are analyzed according to sociological and urban factors. Qualitative data connected to case studies and concerning livability, civil cohabitation and social cohesion (the main features of urban safety) are collected, analyzed and represented accordingly. Field researchers proceed to impact assessment interviews in order to have information about the intended and actual effects of art installations and cultural events on the urban context. The selection of interview subjects is made together with local partners and it includes: government departments responsible for arts and culture, city, council urban authorities, local communities, artists, curators, policy-makers in the field of funding for arts and culture, fund-raisers, educators and ict companies. All the subjects are classified into four groups: government and policymaking; educational communities and content distributors; authors and producers; users and audience. Interviews are individual or in form of focus groups. Researchers make all effort in involving in focus groups women and young people with a social and gender inclusive approach, in order to give voice to categories whose opinions are often neglected. Interviews envision questions concerning the
protocol for the production of art installations and cultural events, their purported purposes, their actual effect as assessed by interviewees. Results of this survey are analyzed in order to produce an impact assessment of the case studies.

Comparative Analysis
Panoramic reports, web-based multimedia maps, detailed case studies reports, implemented with feedback produced by advisors in their assessments, are implemented in a final, comparative analysis of the results. The international team contributes to the research with comparative analysis, adjusting and confronting the resulting to the three very different contexts. The outcomes are mapped into research summaries and papers, and disseminated for promoting awareness and change in the policy-making communities.
Copyright
The data and the analysis produced by the project are distributed under Public Domain or
Creative Commons attribution share-alike 3.0, licenses which allow the widest use of the
documentation for educational purposes and which are compatible with Wikipedia.