Development Blogs.com

Sometimes you find an excellent new blog on aginfo and related issues and wonder how it didn't come across your radar before... Anyway, Web Tastings is by IFPRI's Pete Shelton and Stephan Dohrn - writing in their personal capacities. The idea is to "reflect on the usefulness and impact of the social web and its tools and approaches on development cooperation."A recent osting that caught the eye looks at measuring impact on the web - and some experiences from...

One of the opportunities provided by 'new' social media or web 2.0 tools is to help bring research messages to audiences usually not reached. Pathways South Asia, a research and policy NGO in Bangladesh, is using video to communicate research on the empowerment of women.Maheen Sultan of BRAC introduces the project:See more postings on...

Two questions launched to the audience. Gathered on the fly, some might be redundant: The most inspiring thing that you will take home from the conference So much going on All about people Discovered progress achieved in Africa Interdisciplinarity, so many people engaged/interested in these issues RSS feeds to unlock the information on websites The Web 2.0 allows the dissemination of content Some people have already implemented some Web 2.0 applications But there’s still a lot of work to be done, and you have to work hard Even if there are strong barriers to Web 2.0 implementation, most people in developing countries believe that once you have infrastructures (computers, connectivity) the remaining barriers (literacy, change of mind…) will be easily overcome These...

Michael Saunby Climate Change Mashups Climate change: not a change in the climate but (also) a change in the variability of the climate. By looking at the map applications, it is easier to see where e.g. there’ll be water stress in the (nearest) future, or human health crisis due to high ozone levels. Mashups are about e.g. enough people collecting, reusing and distributing public sector information on already existing (commercial) online applications — e.g. Google Earth — so anyone can contribute again and close the loop — and make the scope of diffusion way wider. It’s possible to mashup news RSS feeds with Google Earth so you can geolocate where the news took place. To my (provoking) “concern” that you might be putting all your eggs in one basket, and...

Giacomo Rambaldi The Story of Web2ForDev Used DGroups, Website, Google Analytics, Blog, Wiki, Social Bookmarking, Google Coop, Facebook… and many more. We were technologically not ready when the whole thing began, not even had proper microphones for skype conferences, but they’ve caught up at tremendous speed. Keeping up-to-date with fast changing technologies. Different work style and attitudes required by innovative appraoch and “new” technologies. Rules and regulations within institutions, such as security concerns. Getting to the minimum level of equipment (low investment) Main outputs of the online effort: Trust and respect A virtual community based on DGroups ITrainonline Blog, Wiki, Social bookmarks, RSS Participatory Learning Action and EJISDC articles A...

Ethan Zuckerman Web 2.0: Simple Tools & Smart People It’s not about technology — which, by the way, is quite old —, it’s about people. People have always found ways to communicate through the Internet by using features of applications that were not designed to do so, e.g. chating by using an online chess game. The mobile phone is the biggest revolution in telecommunications — not laptops, not handhelds… — because it changes all the rules of the game. e.g. in Kenya you can pay a taxi with your mobile phone… but you can’t in the United States. Interactive Radio for Justice: radio + mobile phone project. Mobilemonitors.org, to make elections more transparent thanks to mobile enhanced monitoring. Manal and Alaa’s bit bucket, using blogs as a...

Tobias Eigen Wikis, Blogs and Online Profiles for African NGOs at Kabissa – Space for Change in Africa Empower civil society so they can better act as change agents. African organizations are using web 2.0 but not actively in support of their mission, mostly because of lack of understanding of the tools due to poor access, and, sometimes, because they get misled by technical (unnecessary? geeky? cool? trendy?) terminology (buzz? hype?). So, keep it simple, keep it useful, keep it understandable. Caleb Wall Cairo Concept: Village to Village Knowledge Sharing It’s going to be successful it the user finds it useful. Accessible, easy… is just not enough. Set up a Virtual Development Neighborhood, to design together, with the future/potential user, how the network, the...

Alioune Thioune, Fatou Dieng Sarr Dispositif de Collaboration et Partage de Données pour la Communauté Scientifique: Cas du Système d’Information Scientifique et Technique (SIST) du Sénégal [Collaboration and Data Sharing Device por the Scientific Community: Senegal’s Scientific and Technical Information System case] Twofold goal: make available information about Senegal for everyone and make accessible information from developed countries for Senegal researchers. Find information: syndicated search Exchange: discussion fora, wikis Know and let know: e-mail subscriptions, RSS feeds More info: Thierry Helmer - L’accès à l’Information Scientifique et Technique: Dispositif SIST [Access to Scientific and Technical Information: SIST Device on a previous session on the...

Armelle Arrou Open Training Platform Open Training Platform to share training materials. Open solutions allowing localization of the resources. Content provided by UN agencies, development agencies, NGOs, foundations, associations… and in contact with Knowledge Centers, City Learning Centers, Civic Media Centers, IT kiosks, etc. Avoid duplications, maximize existing resources circulation. Prince Deh Promoting Information and Knowledge Sharing through Vlogging Vlogging requires low expertise or digital literacy, and there are plenty of (free) (online) tools to create, edit and upload your videos. Major challenges On the other hand, the major challenges are connectivity and/or access the difficulty to get people share information and knowledge Cost of equipment: camcorder,...

Thierry Helmer L’accès à l’Information Scientifique et Technique: Dispositif SIST [Access to Scientific and Technical Information: SIST Dispositive Strong bet for open archiving. Meta search engines for syndicated search: A single question to ask several databases, open access archives, websites, RSS feeds, etc. A single RSS format for results representation. Systematic access to the original source of data. SIST also serves not only as a search engine, but also as a way of monitoring news and everything that’s happening on the Internet. More info Piece of news about CIRAD’s SIST Mark Davies Agric Market Information Systems 2.0: Making it Private, Profitable and Peer2Peer Tradenet is open source software product to manage information: realtime SMS uploads from...

Luz Marina Alvaré, Nancy Walczak Web 2.0 and IFPRI: Looking out and Looking in Reach Internet users potentially interested in IFPRI’s work and engage them in a dialog. Goal: extend web presence beyond institutional website Goalk: establish dialogue on food policy issues: Blog World Hunger Goal: help dispersed teams work more effectively: CGVlibrary Goal: Quickly and collaboratively crate a list of best resources, e.g. by using del.icio.us But also looking inside Goal: increase participation, open communication, and create community: Let’s blog IFPRI, a blog on IFPRI’s intranet Goal: to simplify the entry of content into IFPRI’s Intranet: using wikis as a content management system, avoiding bottlenecks, fostering initiative on the content creator/responsible...

Juha Hautakangas Global Partnerships for Sharing Forest Related Information through the GFIS-Gateway at www.gfis.net GFIS: information service that stores metadata on forestry “under the same roof”, providing accurate search results and reliable information. The system interacts with other databases all over the world using RSS format, and using the Open Search specification as a standard interface for search engines. Multilingual search aggregator, where content comes from RSS feeds generated through searches. Ismael Peña-López The personal research portal: web 2.0 driven individual commitment with open access for development There is unchallenged evidence that both researchers and research interests in developing countries are underrepresented in mainstream academic...

Amit Dasgupta Leveraging Web 2.0 to Develop Better Applications for Rural Communities Despite the progress in technology in India, the benefits have not reached the agricultural community — 60% of India’s population. Mostly because of lack of access to information and knowledge. But: Without a large user base, difficult to justify cost Large user base only if regional variations and localization needs are addressed Web 2.0 can help: Improve quality of information by linking information from multiple data sources Reducte cost of content creating and deployment Better access through multiple devicesw Richer content using collective intelligence Effective information exchange and knowledge management across geography through collaborative platforms Besides the well known blogs...

The Web2forDev - Participatory Web for Development Conference is taking place at FAO Headquarters in Rome, organized by FAO, CTA, IICD, GTZ, UBC, IFAD, CGIAR, euforic, UCAD, APC, ACP and the European Commission. Here come my notes. Presentation: Anton Mangstl It’s the first time that the revolution is not about the development of systems, but empowerment. Presentation: Hansjörg Neun Holidays for me is getting no internet and no GSM. It is important not to get drowned by technologies, but to master them. Jacques Diouf, Director-General Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Keynote Speech: Anriette Esterhuysen The importance of ICTs in leapfrogging. Skilled development, that can be enhanced/fostered by ICTs, and has traditionally been forgotten from the...