A couple of weeks ago I sent out an open invitation for people to contribute to the “ICT4D Postcards Project“. The idea was to gather a collection of postcards from people working in international development who had a technology theme – or influence – in their work. Postcards have been coming in since, and I thought … Continue reading ICT4D postcards: The story so far
Tag: ICT4D
ICT4D postcards
“Luxury Travel Stories is about the idea of connecting the world via ‘stories’ in postcard format. A photo with accompanying text no more than what would fit on the back of a postcard”. Last month I was invited to contribute a postcard to the Luxury Travel Stories project, and chose the photo – and text … Continue reading ICT4D postcards
Spirituality: A home in ICT4D?
Back in the early 90’s, when I started to take a serious interest in international development, I spent many weekends flicking through mail order booklets and “Working Abroad” publications that I had to order by post. Back then there was nothing relevant on the World Wide Web to speak of – actually, there wasn’t really … Continue reading Spirituality: A home in ICT4D?
Spreading the “Mobile Message”
Over the past year or so, it’s become increasingly clear to us that we need to take the “mobile message” out of its technology silo and make it more available – and accessible – to a wider audience. This was the thinking behind our regular series on PC World, and is the thinking behind a … Continue reading Spreading the “Mobile Message”
The folly of “finding what works”
Tuesday 9th November, 2010 Over the past few weeks I’ve found myself drawn into an increasing number of conversations around how we apply models of growth and sustainability to m4d projects. A few early thoughts were posted last week in “Wrong model. Wrong place“. One symptom of “wrong model wrong place” is the number of … Continue reading The folly of “finding what works”
Wrong model. Wrong place.
If conventional wisdom were anything to go by, this is what might typically happen to a social entrepreneur with an idea: Said entrepreneur comes up with an idea. Entrepreneur puts together a sample budget and an early-stage business model. Funding is sought for a pilot or prototype. Said pilot runs and impact/results are measured. If … Continue reading Wrong model. Wrong place.
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
Computer science, meet global development
What happens when you put computer scientists, user interface (UI) specialists, human-computer-interaction (HCI) designers and non-profit work together? You get ICT4D, surely? Well, maybe not as it turns out. I just spent the weekend trying to help figure out that very question at a gathering at UC Berkeley, where people from all backgrounds got together … Continue reading Computer science, meet global development
The community conundrum. Continued…
Last week I was called up by a Researcher at Berkeley wanting me to take part in a survey. After a conference in February this year, intriguingly entitled “The UN Meets Silicon Valley“, a number of initiatives were now beginning to emerge (I was invited to the conference, but it didn’t really seem like my … Continue reading The community conundrum. Continued…
Customer? Care!
At a recent ‘Technologies for Conservation and Development’ (t4cd) Conference I attended in Cambridge, I asked the delegates what I thought was an important yet often under-asked question – where and who were our ‘customers’? The conference was concentrating on the use of technology in global conservation and development work, and there was an interesting … Continue reading Customer? Care!