It seems courses in business and innovation are getting a hard time these days. First, Peter Jones, a 49-year-old serial entrepreneur in the UK, said he believed that hands-on experience was far more valuable to potential business leaders than several years studying theory in a lecture theatre. Then we had the likes of Peter Thiel, Scott Cook and … Continue reading ICT4D students: The world is your classroom
Tag: Technology
Technology and the democratisation of development
I was recently invited to contribute an article to BBC Future‘s A Matter of Life and Tech, a series which features a “range of voices from people helping to build Africa’s tech future”. In the article, I argue that technology has become a vital tool in the fight against poverty, allowing people to participate in … Continue reading Technology and the democratisation of development
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
Predicting Africa’s multiple futures
“Amid all the uncertainty surrounding disruptive technologies, managers can always count on one thing: Expert forecasts will always be wrong. It is simply impossible to predict with any useful degree of precision how disruptive products will be used, or how large their markets will be” “The Innovator’s Dilemma”, Clayton M. Christensen Predicting the future of … Continue reading Predicting Africa’s multiple futures
The unnatural evolution of living
From the primordial soup, to the rain forest, to the African savanna, to… this. Welcome to Sci-Fi City, United Arab Emirates. Not only the future of cities – the future of living! “Here, residents will live with driverless electric cars, shaded streets cooled by a huge wind tower, and a Big Brother-style ‘green policeman’ monitoring … Continue reading The unnatural evolution of living
A History of the World in 101 Objects?
“A History of the World in 100 Objects” is a fascinating book. A joint project of the British Museum and BBC Radio 4, it uses objects of ancient art, industry and technology as an introduction to key events in human history. It was never going to be easy narrowing the field down to a mere hundred, but given … Continue reading A History of the World in 101 Objects?
Dissecting “m4d”: Back to basics
Do the majority of people working in “mobiles for development” work in mobile, or development? It may seem like an odd question, but how people approach “m4d” may have more of an impact on success or failure than we think. The world of social mobile isn’t short of anecdotes. “Put the user first”, “Consider the … Continue reading Dissecting “m4d”: Back to basics
Doing the right thing by development
“How can a future global population of nine billion people all be fed healthily and sustainably?” This is the question a gathering of agricultural projects and experts will seek to address at a workshop in Nairobi next week. Unfortunately, as with almost all things ‘development’, it raises more questions than it could ever hope to … Continue reading Doing the right thing by development
The Social Mobile Long Tail explained
What follows is a short extract from the recent “Soul of the New Machine” human rights/technology conference hosted by UC Berkeley, in which I explain my theory of the Social Mobile Long Tail. This video is also available on the FrontlineSMS Community pages A full video of the session – PDA’s and Phones for Data … Continue reading The Social Mobile Long Tail explained
When help comes in a box
For those of you who don’t know, Tactical Tech is an international NGO specialising in helping human rights advocates use information, communications and digital technologies to maximise the impact of their advocacy work. They empower by providing advocates with guides, tools, training and consultancy which help them develop the skills and tactics they need to … Continue reading When help comes in a box
Missing the point?
[Appropriate] technology. It’s not the fact that it runs on low-end devices, or the latest Android phone, or is platform independent, or seamlessly connects with the “cloud” or the rest of the solution ecosystem, or that it has the smartest user interface ever designed, or that it meets recognised data compatibility standards. It’s whether or … Continue reading Missing the point?