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• November 07, 2008
• 21:17

  On why Obama’s win matters to Africa and what the continent expects from America

   » ‎ citizen.africa
  Today in the Daily Nation, Kenya’s premier newsprint, there is a beautifully written article on Obama’s win, what it means to the country that gives him his last name, and what Africa expects from an Obama-Biden administration. On what Africa expects from the United States: Africa does not expect alms from the United States now that an [...]
• 20:19

  What just happed in America on Nov 4th, 2008 with Obama’s win

   » ‎ citizen.africa
  These pictures were were taken at the election eve rally at the Prince William Fairgrounds in Prince William county, a few hundred yards from the city limits of Manassas, Virginia, November 3, 2008. Related articles by Zemanta Obama: “Change Has Come to America” Barack Obama - President 2.0? Obama addresses economy in first press conference after election win 85,000 In [...]
• 19:09

  Why Ushahidi must succeed in the DRC Congo and how to help?

   » ‎ citizen.africa
  The DRC deployment can be found at http://DRC.ushahidi.com, and the mobile number to send SMS reports to is +243992592111 Full Photo Set from the DRC here: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/11/conflict_in_congo_refugees_on.html The Ushahidi team released an instance of their crowd sourced crisis reporting engine for the Congo today. Just days after announcing their alpha release Ushahidi already has it’s first major crisis [...]

• 13:56

  Ushahidi deploys in DRC

   » ‎ Kenyan Pundit

  Tags:  Ushahidi  

  After a week of scrambling we are finally going live today with an Ushahidi site dedicated to DRC. There has been quite a bit of media attention being paid to the renewed fighting in Eastern Congo and the resulting humanitarian crisis, but given the complexities of the situation we thought it would be worthwhile to try and get additional view points from people actually on the ground. For more details about the deployment, please see Erik’s post here.

  At this point the site is still very much a work in progress, but we decided to go public given the urgency of the situation and fine-tune as we go along…I guess it’s becoming our trademark - rapid prototyping!

  We really need your help getting the word out so that we can have robust data being submitted.

  Also I’m desperate for English to French translators who are willing to help us translate incoming reports (website itself should be translated shortly). If you are interested (the workload will be light), please drop me a line - kenyanpundit-at-gmail

• 9:34

  AfriGadget at “A Better World by Design”

   » ‎ AfriGadget

  Tags:  AfriGadget  

  This weekend I’m at Brown University in Rhode Island for A Better World by Design, a conference focused on answering the question, “How can we use technology to improve the world?” The line up of speakers is quite impressive. I’ll be speaking tomorrow on AfriGadget during in the time slot allocated on technologies that can kickstart economies. I speak after my new friend Paul Polak and before my old friend Ken Banks in the morning.

  Thoughts from some of the speakers

  (Note: I’ll likely keep this as a running liveblog today - as much as I can keep up with it anyway, I’m not Ethan Zuckerman… My pictures will be up in this Flickr set.)

  

  Jocelyn Wyatt of IDEO, comes to the stage asking, “how can design have positive social impact?” They did interviews with 143 organizations and individuals and came away with the following two common themes for their report (download the PDF):

  “Frustration with the progress in addressing problems we all care about.”

  “Design thinking can make a big contribution to the social sector.”

  What is design thinking? It’s looking at problems through the lens of what is desirable by people. Design thinking contributes through empathy, prototyping and storytelling. Empathy is about connecting with people and seeing the world from their perspective, not yours. Prototyping is about building to think - it helps us get answers fast (drawing, legos, etc.). Storytelling is about taking key elements and making them real.

  The elephant in the room - there’s a tension between wanting to do the projects and needing to run a business.

  When Nature Calls - Architecture in the Face of Change

  

  Lukas Feireiss, well known architecture author who wrote “Architecture of Change“, addresses how our new global world sees technology spread to all the corners of the earth. He talks about the solar panels attached to camels that are being used by nomads in the Sahel desert in Northern Africa for refrigeration.

  A survival guide for do-gooders

  Ross Evans, of Worldbike and Xtracycle is up. I’m a big fan of what Ross is doing, he lives his work.

  

  One of his ideas was to build a bike trailer, because he thought it might be useful in Nicaragua, back in 1995. However, he found that they weren’t used much. It’s hard to get the wagon wheels and trailer’s don’t really work well with footpaths. This moved him to a new idea, which was a longer wheelbase bicycle that might work more within that cultural context.

  He cautions against galloping in on a white horse. It’s really important to watch what happens after you leave. His idea is “Three - One - Three”. This idea is around intercultural iteration, from the third world to the first world, back to the third world.

  

  “When you go to a new place, and have an open mind, then you see new things. If you’re trying to solve problems within a context you already have, you’re going to have a hard time.”

  Make sure you live with the people that you’re trying to study and help through design. Do what they do - eat with your hands, sleep on the floor, whatever it takes to immerse yourself in that context.

  “She who laughs, lasts” - pace yourself and have fun.

  “What do you do with naysayers? Thank them for the compost.”

  “Start with the assumption that they don’t need your idea.”

  

  Cameron Sinclair, of Architecture for Humanity, is talking on creating systemic change through design.

  Notes: in the wake of these disasters that happen around the world, the design and architecture community:

  “We are not humanitarian workers. We are not recovery experts. We arm communities to buld base don sustainable prosperity. After an emergency, people don’t want a house, they want a job.”

  It’s important to let communites “own” projects. Let them get involved in the design process, and don’t slap your branded sign on it. A “Ronald McDonald House for Tsunami Victims” strips away ownership faster than anything else. Plus, everyone expects Ronald McDonald to come fix things when they break.

  The role of engineers in poverty reduction

  Bernard Amadei, Founding President of Engineers Without Borders - USA and co-founder of Engineers Without Borders-International, is on stage to talk about how it’s the small, unsexy engineering projects tend to make the biggest impact.

  Bernard asks, “why do engineering for the developing world?” And goes through the numbers on everything from food supply to water preservation to transportation, healthcare and waste disposal (impressive numbers).

  “In the next two decades, almost 2 billion additional people will populate the earth. This growth will create demands on an unprecedented scale.”

  Lights

  Sheila Kennedy, of the Portable Light Project, is showing how they have created a completely customizable solar powered portable light device. She’s giving a really amazing talk about technology use around the world, and how a seemingly small thing (light), can be so game changing.

  

  Creating Opportunities

  Clarice Odhiambo, of the newly founded Africa Center for Engineering Social Solutions (ACESS). Clarice was the one running a lot of the Coca-Cola clean water projects in Africa over the last decade.

  “There is no country in Africa that I haven’t been to. There has been so much aid pumped into Africa, so I asked, why is nothing changing? They are not in the situation they are in because they are lazy or dumb. They are there because they lack the supporting structures and lacking opportunities. People are idle. People with degrees and who could be working productively somewhere, but there are no opportunities.”

  

  My motto in life is, “Don’t wait for the other person. If the world is to change, it is up to me.”

  Basic principles:
  It should not be about us, but the sensible thing to do for “the world we leave”. No competition - don’t just duplicate each others efforts. Collaborate for synergy. Generate income while you go about it. When we don’t pay attention and address the effects from our designs, the inevitable happens.

  People engage in destructive practices - not by choice, but of necessity (deforestation, pollution, etc…).

• 4:59

  Historically Black Hysterical Homophobia - We are not OK!

   » ‎ Black Looks
  Anyone regularly reading this blog will by now have a fairly good idea of the long hard struggle faced by the African LGBTI community against homophobic bigots, even in South African where LGBTI rights are enshrined in the constitution and where same-sex marriage became a reality in 2006. However we often imagine that things [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Historically Black Hysterical Homophobia - We are not OK!", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/historically_black_hysterical_homophobia_-_we_are_not_ok.html" });
• 2:52

  Surving Zimbabwe just gets harder and harder

   » ‎ Black Looks
  3 weeks after being arrested WOZA activists, Jenni Williams and Magodonga have finally been released from Mlondolozi Prison.. They report some horrific conditions such as having to share cells with mental health patients and being subjected to body searches everyday whilst male prison guards are free to wonder around. The extreme hunger [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Surving Zimbabwe just gets harder and harder", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/surving_zimbabwe_just_gets_harder_and_harder.html" });

• 0:23

  A New Day Has Come & Other Things............

   » ‎ My part of the world.......
  
  
  In true Acolyte like fashion, I walk into the party after the confetti has settled. So we are all aware that a new day has dawned in America with the election of the first non-white President. Please note I did not say black, one thing I learned in an Anthropology class is that race is a social construct. To society Obama is black but when it comes to genetics he is bi-racial, feel free to debate that issue.
  
  I do say that it is a new day but not a new age, the world and America are still far from their own lions laying down with lambs in the racial arena but I will concede and say that some progress has been made. But I also give marks to Obama for running as a candidate for all people regardless of race. This should also inspire the younger generation that sometimes it is possible for some dreams to come true regardless of what color you are.
  
  Given the havoc Bush and his ilk have reeked for the last 8 years it truly was time for change. And for that alone I understand why the world celebrated. It is also a wonderful thing of course that Obama is of Kenyan descent via his father. And in true African style we have claimed him as one of our own. Well sorry to say this but that is like a dead beat dad only showing up when the son he left behind joins the NBA. At the end of the day Obama is more American than African. So for us as Kenyans to think that since he is in the White House that we shall be favored amongst African nations is a dream. Obama's first priority first and foremost will be America and to quote myself, "if you cut him, he shall bleed red, white and blue."
  
  Anyway Obama has hardly anytime to rest on his laurels and celebrate, the U.S is in a state and a half and all eyes are on him to set things right. Call me paranoid but studies have shown that companies are more liable to employ a female or minority to a high ranking position so as to set them up to be a scape goat when things go down the drain. Well we all know that many parties were dead set against Obama so this isn't the same situation but very similar in my opinion given the size of the task he has to face.
  
  Oh well let me stop being a wet blanket. Go out there and share the cheer! Make chickens and bulls regret the day they were born! Make the breweries groan!
  
  ps: In my true snarky manner, was Jesse Jackson crying at at Grant Park because his career is in the pits? Remember this is the the same chap who wanted to cut off Obama's nuts for "talking down" to black people. Well, I'm sure he saw the light and pocketed his burdizzo (thank you 8-4-4!) and will be more of an asset to Obama in the future.
  
  pps: Another wonderful reason not to get drunk around certain people.