After months – maybe years – of badgering by good friend Erik Hersman (he of White African fame), late last December I finally moved my blog over to WordPress. I actually began blogging in February 2006, but started with a plain-old HTML page on the kiwanja website. Shortly after I moved over to Blogger before … Continue reading Blog it, Kenny: Most read posts of 2009
Month: December 2009
Information into action: Africa and beyond
Two organisations I’ve had the pleasure of working with – Tactical Tech and Fahamu – have independently announced the release of a film and a book which cover different aspects of non-profit digital activism. Both are well worth a look. Info-activism.org – a Tactical Tech initiative – explores how rights advocates “use information and digital … Continue reading Information into action: Africa and beyond
Fishing meets texting in Banda Aceh
We continue our recent agriculture theme in this, the eighteenth in our series of FrontlineSMS guest posts. Here, Teddy Syahputra – a System Consultant at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Banda Aceh – talks about their use of the software, and how it is set to underpin a new nationwide SMS service in the … Continue reading Fishing meets texting in Banda Aceh
ICT, emergencies and conflicts
Following their recent examination of the mHealth landscape, the UN/Vodafone Foundation partnership today turned their attention to a new topic – “New Technologies in Emergencies and Conflicts“. The new study, available for download on the UN Foundation website, examines how authorities and humanitarian/aid organisations balance the opportunities and challenges of exploiting different technologies at key … Continue reading ICT, emergencies and conflicts
Mountain-top texting for charity
In the seventeenth in our series of FrontlineSMS guest posts, Laura Hartstone – one of the organisers behind the “3 Peaks 3 Weeks” Challenge – talks about their plans to use FrontlineSMS to provide daily climbing updates to supporters around the world via SMS The 3 Peaks 3 Weeks Challenge is an annual all-female climbing … Continue reading Mountain-top texting for charity
Mechanics vs. motivation: The two faces of social innovation
It’s been a busy and interesting few weeks, and I’ve met many people interested in many of the subjects which also fascinate me – entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, innovation, Africa, mobile technology and appropriate technology, among others. Being on the road is my equivalent of the town hall meeting, of door-to-door canvassing. It’s a great way … Continue reading Mechanics vs. motivation: The two faces of social innovation
Social mobile gets its own “roadmap”
After three workshops on three continents, conversations and meetings with countless NGOs, academics, researchers and technologists, and many hours of conference calls, W3C this week released their “Mobile Web for Social Development Roadmap”, a comprehensive document which sits at the heart of the wider work of the Mobile Web for Development Interest Group (MW4D). According … Continue reading Social mobile gets its own “roadmap”