Tag: Stanford

Waking up in unexpected places

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If you’d have sat me down ten years ago and asked me what my ideal job would be, I’d probably have described something that didn’t exist. It would have been a strange mixture of conservation, people, Africa and technology – maybe an extra one or two for luck – all spiced up with a touch of positive change and a dash of stubborn determination. The chances of finding something like that were remote, if not impossible. But there’s a saying: “If you can’t predict the future, invent it”. And, it would seem, I have managed to do just that.

Along the way I’ve probably taken the term ‘multidisciplinary’ to a new level, but what do you do when you can’t decide, well, what to do? If you’re passionate about a number of things it seems unfair to be forced to make a choice, so I didn’t. My revised strap line, which came out of an early meeting at Stanford with my old friend, Erik Sundelof, describes quite perfectly what I now do. And it has all the right ingredients – conservation, people, Africa and technology. I was told many-a-time along the way that I should concentrate on one thing, that my message was unclear, but I’m glad I stuck with it.

Eight months have passed since I arrived at Stanford to take up a Fellowship on the Reuters Digital Vision Program. It has been an incredibly positive experience, and interest in my work is at an all-time high. This has come at a time when interest in the interface between people and technology in developing countries – and mobile in particular – is about to hit a steep upward curve. It might sound odd, but I feel like I’ve suddenly woken up in this strange place.

The place I dreamed of all those years ago…

On the eve of India, fame at last? ;o)

I’m not sure if anything I’ve done before has ever made homepage news. Maybe FrontlineSMS when it hit the streets late last year? Or maybe wildlive!, backed by the ‘Vodafone factor’? Homepages have moved on, so I’ll never know…

So maybe the news of my impending trip to India, on the Reuters Digital Vision Program website, is my homepage debut. It’s only taken 13 years.


In just two days time I fly to Bangalore, my first ever visit to the Asian continent, to talk and Chair and scribe at the W3C Workshop on the Mobile Web in Developing Countries (they’re making the most of me over the two days, for sure). I was invited to apply, which is a new experience for me. Usually I have to beg, steal and borrow to get to these kinds of things, so some kind of recognition of my work is certainly a welcome change to my own personal little status quo. Being offered funding to fly there was also a new experience. And, of course, I’ll be planting a tree to offset my carbon emissions. Although it’s a long flight, so maybe that’ll need to be two?

I usually get extremely frustrated at these kinds of gatherings – lots of talk and hot air and often no tangible results to show for all the cost and effort. I’m hoping that this one will be different, and with such an active involvement in proceedings I have the best opportunity yet to have a positive impact. My presentation, not surprisingly, is about keeping the mobile web relevant. Because let’s not forget that this is not just about technology – at the end of that mouse, or mobile phone, is a real person. Someone with their own problems, issues, concerns and needs. By being there I hope to represent these people, and give them a voice in something which is more than likely, at some stage in their future, to have an impact of some kind on their lives.

You can find out a little more about the workshop on the W3C site, including a sneak preview of the presentation I will be giving. Lucky you.

Playing and learning in the global village

I admit that I’m not too much of a gaming freak these days, although I did go through a spell a ‘few’ years back when I was the proud owner of a 16-bit Sega Megadrive. There are enough challenges and puzzles in real life to be getting on with – I don’t need a bunch of virtual ones to add to the list.


So when a game manages to grab my attention for more than just a few brief moments, it’s worth taking a look. The game is called Village, and it’s a multiplayer online strategy game (in the style of Warcraft, Second Life and so on) which immerses the player into the role of an entrepreneur. The overall objective is to build companies to bring prosperity to the villages of the third world.

“Fly over a remote village watching people walking about, farmers tending to their crops, people buying and selling goods in the town markets. Browse anybody in the village and see what income, jobs, education they have. View the stores in the town centre to find out what is selling well, and what’s missing entirely. Set up your own store fronts to offer microcredit, kickstart pumps, solar cell rentals, all the self-sustaining businesses that will have the greatest impact on the villagers. Watch as farms flourish, villagers build new homes, and schools grow larger with more healthy children”

The Village is certainly a grand vision, and an incredibly innovative one at that. There’s even hope that some day the virtual villages – or components of them – may become a reality. Imagine… Some organisations have also been quick off the mark and picked up on the fundraising and awareness raising potential of the game. According to Darian Hickman, the Village ‘leader’, “Organisations such as Ashoka, Technoserve, Acumen Fund and Habitat for Humanity have a vested interest in seeing this game reach a wide audience as it will bring awareness and donations to their causes”.

People are already beginning to make quite tidy sums buying and selling in the virtual world. Adding philanthropy to the mix is a very neat, and a very nice, idea.

Keep an eye out for the Alpha version of the game, due in the new year, on the Village website.