digitalcommons

Recent Posts

  • Navman GPS device
  • XO laptop arrives
  • Cultural Hotspots meeting, Hewlett Foundation
  • One Laptop Per Child
  • XO Laptop as an e-book reader
  • Taking Innovation to the Next Stage
  • Tech Awards, Wednesday night
  • Tech Awards, Wednesday
  • Tech Awards Week in San Jose
  • Technolgy benefitting humanity

Sources

  • April 21 Conference Site
  • eldis
    About 15,000 documents dealing with development
  • Incoumminicado
    Many entries in on digitalcommons have come from this mailing list about ICT and development.

Navman GPS device

Navman N40i

Navmanpix The Europeans have stopped fighting about Galileo , the rival GPS service they are building.They don't want to depend on the American system which could be cut off at the discretion of the Department of Defense. Right now that's the main way we have of getting fairly accurate latitude and longitude, and it's free. Others are using triangulation of mobile phone signals.

I noticed that the number of GPS devices offered this Christmas season had increased over last year, and I succumbed to a deal on woot.com the site that offers one special deal each day. The Navman N40i cost $160 and included AC adaptor, auto charger, mounting device for the car (though California forbids any dash-mounted gear), CDs with other maps, and a small carrying case.

It mainly serves as a touch screen car navigation aid with maps of Canada and the United States already loaded. Voice prompts are in any of eight European languages, and you have your choice of UK, US, or Australian English. However, the inclusion of a 1 megapixel camera was the main attraction for me. The images are stored internally and can serve as destination points or just points of interest. There is an SD card slot (or cable) for moving the images and GPS info to a computer. I'll report back  on how much I use it during a trip to  Southern California.

December 22, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (10)

XO laptop arrives

In November I decided to take part in the Give One Get One program for the One Laptop Per Child. For about $400 one XO will be sent to a child in Haiti, Cambodia, or Rwanda, and another is sent to the donor. On Saturday, December 15, Federal Express handed me a small box just as we were leaving for Santa Cruz. While my wife drove, I unpacked the computer, installed the battery, and plugged it into a converter in the car.  It boots slowly, but once on it detected a number of wireless networks as we drove past Los Gatos.

Photo_26We were staying at my in-laws house which has wireles. I finally got the right  configuration for the security password, and was able to  connect to the Internet. Each application is called an Action. Browse allows one screen at a time, and the scroll bar is very narrow and a bit hard to use, but response was good. However there is no open source equivalent of Flash (though John Gilmore says they are working on Gnash) so you won't be able to view programs such as YouTube. There is an MPEG player in Etoys, another action, but I did not have very good luck using it.  The News Reader could not detect the RSS feeds already installed. 

The XO is tiny; you can't touch type unless you have the hands of an 9 year old, but I liked most of the design decisions. The problem is that documenation online is very uneven. Important details are glossed Coast1over, a sure sign that the writer knows the software but forgets that you don't and makes leaps when he should be going step by step.

One of the most popular applications with the kids (and me) is the camera and mike for recording still photos, sounds, and video clips with sound. The 640 x 480 is enough to give some detail on landscapes, and closeups are even better. Again, consider what
Weeds2_2 they packed into this machine for less than $200. Both of these photos were taken in Santa Cruz near Natural Bridges State Park.

December 16, 2007 in Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (4)

Cultural Hotspots meeting, Hewlett Foundation

Panel_2

left to right: J. P. Barlow, L. Lessig, G. Gil, G. Knox, M. smith, B. Kahle

Cultural Hotpots in Brazil (Pontos de Cultura): taking them glocal.

December 14 the Hewlett Foundation in Palo Alto, Californian, hosted a meeting to discuss the cultural hotspot program in Brazil and what steps will take it glocal through the establishment of a non-profit called the International Observatory of Digital Culture.  Claudio Prado from the ministry of culture explained the existing program which began a few years ago, and with just $8 million has spread to more than 600 sites, about 150 of which are online.  The emphasis is on providing recycled computers to the underserved, as well as open source software for multi-media production (sound, music, images), and for the participant to think of creating and uploading first, rather than consuming and downloading.  This depends on broadband access to the Internet which some hotspots don't have. He said the program is not about the technology but for the participants to move ahead and to be happy as they create their own art and music.  Gilbert Gil, the Minister of Culture was delayed by bad weather in Canada, and he arrived around lunch.

In the interim a panel, organized by Gordon Knox of the Montalvo Center for the Arts in Saratoga, California,  addressed different issues and ideas.  Mike Smith, who heads the education initiative at Hewlett, outlined the program on open education resources (which our Center at Santa Clara University is quite involved in) and how this might apply as they expand the program and perhaps try to replicate a hotspot in Africa or elsewhere. Remixing media is at the heart of these activities, and Smith noted that the remixing is a learning experience.

Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive gave a rundown of their activities: on demand printing, scanning out of copyright books, archiving as much of the Internet as possible since 1996(?), and the challenges of media management as one video format falls out of favor and for a short time a new one is used for archiving. Besides the archive in San Francisco (on a fault zone), he has placed one in Egypt (the stable middle east), and in Amsterdam (a flood zone). He is passionate about a very modest goal: using unlimited storage and bandwidth to make all the world's knowledge available  to all at no cost.

Joel Slayton of Cadre, San Jose State University, reminded us that all these words we use (open, sharing, community, identity) have different meanings depending on the circumstances, and that we should not be romantic about this project. We need to look at new models of open source education and consider why networks cannot be autonomous.

Lawrence Lessig told the story of the highly paid lawyers at Universal going after a woman who had uploaded a video of her child dancing with the faint background music from Prince. What prompts such unbalanced efforts on the part of copyright holders?

Gil spoke after lunch and said his government tried to be unobtrusive in this program. They had made various discoveries including the existence of many Quilombola communities around the Brazil. These are the vestiges of slave communities which had been invisible to most Brazilians, and now they are telling their stories and recording their music.

Gordon Knox then opened the floor to questions and suggestions from the audience which numbered about forty. While there was an enthusiastic response to the meeting and the proposal, but at this meeting nobody stepped forward to take concrete action except Brewster Kahle who proposed having a contest for the hot spots and donated 10 $1,000 prizes for competitions.  Gordon said they would probably start a blog, contact all those interested, and assemble further ideas and comments after the New Year. In February or March there would be another meeting of what might be a steering committee, and in March or April a trip to Brazil to see what is going on in some exemplary hotspots.  At the Zero One festival in San Jose this summer the project would be formally launched.

There are a host of questions to answer, and in my work with a Latin American network of telecenters, somos@telecentros, there was not always agreement on how big a tent the network should be, or if it should be confined to those who shared a core set of values. For instance, if the observatory decides that the emphasis on free software is paramount, will hotspots using Adobe and Microsoft tools be welcome? While the emphasis is on combinations of media, mixing, and re-use, some indigenous and local groups see outside influences, including media, as corrosive to their own culture, nor do they want to always wish to share what they have created. How will groups such as these be accomodated?

Videos on the Pontos de Cultura
:
The International Observatory of Digital Culture is not online at the time of this report.
Hewlett Foundation, open education resources

December 14, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (8)

One Laptop Per Child

FddbadgeThe One Laptop Per Child program has a program where you can pay $399 and donate one XO computer for a program in Haiti, Cambodia, Afghanistan, or Rwanda and also receive one yourself. Give One Get One.

I was a donor on the first day, hence the badge at the left of the screen.


November 29, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1)

XO Laptop as an e-book reader

I visited the Internet Archive in San Francisco where Brewster Kahle showed me the XO laptop used as an e-book reader.

November 25, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (19)

Taking Innovation to the Next Stage

Thursday, November 8, our Center held a conference Technology Benefiting Humanity:
Taking Innovation to the Next Stage
which provided a 90 minute breakout session for the Tech Awards Laureates to present their projects. Unfortunately, the morning and afternoon crowd had thinned out, and attendance was patchy.

Anil








Anil Chitrakar, Nepal

Craig









Mathias Craig, Nicaragua

G




Dipal Barua, Bangladesh
Antoine








Antoine Horellou, W. Africa

November 13, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tech Awards, Wednesday night

Gordon Moore, whose Law is so famous, was honored at tonight's Tech Award ceremony. He received the James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award. In his acceptance speech he mentioned that he had helped cause some of the problems facing the earth, and through his philanthropy he hoped to help solve some of them. Environmental causes seem to be his foundation's major focus.

The winners of the $50,000 cash prizes in each category included:
Craig Economic Development: blueEnergy San Francisco, California, is working on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua to install wind power systems to bring electricity to an area where 75% of the population has none. (Mathias Craig pictured at left.)
Environment: Fundacion Terram, Santiago, Chile. Chile is a major exporter of farmed salmon, but the excess nitrogen is affecting other fish and abalone. This project uses kelp to absorb the wastes from aquaculture and gives indigenous communities a source of income as they raise and harvest the seaweed.
Helen Health: Diagnostic Development Unit-Univ. of Cambridge & Diagnostics for the Real World. They invented technology to test for infectious diseases quickly and in conditions of extreme temperature. For instance, there are dual litmus tests for both Hepatitis B and HIV.
Education: TakingITGlobal, Toronto, Canada. The team used open source tools and designed an online platform to involve youth for social change. At present they have 150,000 members in 192 countries. Because many young people in other countries share computers in cybercafes and school, news about the site traveled by word of mouth.
Foot Equality: Devendra Raj Mehta in Jaipur, India, engineers low-cost prosthetic limbs for amputees. These are provided at no cost, and most are able to return to work in a couple of days and have the ability to run, ride a bicycle, or drive a car. The Jaipur Foot project has been replicated in other countries as well.

November 07, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tech Awards, Wednesday

This morning the Tech Award Laureates had a showcase at the San Jose Convention Center. Attending were 150 journalists, funders, supporters, and others wanting more information on the individual projects.  I spent some time speaking with several laureates.

Canal

Lúcia Araújo is with Canal Futura in Brazil. It is an educational channel using UHF/VHF, satellite, and cable to reach most of the young people in Brazil. They work with the Pontos de Cultura where teams of youth produce their own programming. I put her in contact with a local arts organization: MACLA/ Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana which is also doing programming with youth here in San Jose.

Ledoux Marc Andre Ledoux is a Canadian living in Senegal where, among other things, he does electronic publishing of Senegalese legal documents. However, for the Tech Awards he organized a consortium, Consortium SudEco Industrie to address the problem of invasive plants clogging the rivers in Senegal. Though there is not web site, here's an image of the problem. A Canadian engineer designed a machine to process the dried plants and extrude them into fuel pellets used for cooking. This addresses some of the deforestation problems in Senegal which has a shortage of imported gas, as well as diesel to drive the generators in the electrical grid.

Tuki Anil Chitrakar showed the Solar Tuki project, one of many for Environmental Projects for Conservation Awareness, based in Kathmandu, Nepal. A small solar powered LED light can be assembled by villagers, and besides providing a cost effective replacement for kerosene or candle light, the battery can charge a cell phone, radio, and they have added other devices for cleaning water (UV treatment and bleach). He has a sensible economic model that is relatively easy to explain to low income customers.

Tonight is the awards ceremony where each category winner receives $50,000.

November 07, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tech Awards Week in San Jose

The Center for Science, Technology, and Society where I work handles the judging for the annual Tech Awards. Yesterday the 25 finalists or Laureates arrived for the kickoff event, a welcoming meeting at the Tech Museum of Innovation. I sat in on the introductions and then introduced myself.  I had written email to all of them, corresponded with some, spoke on the phone with others, and knew a couple of them from other meetings.  My goal is to interest them in helping to design the KnowledeX network that will support them after they return home.

Their projects are very diverse, and after dinner for each of the five domains (environment, equality, econmic development, health, and education) nine of the laureates came over to the hotel for a short taped interview with me.  We asked three questions: 1. who are you and what do you do? 2. tell us a great story that illustrates your work. 3. Looking ahead ten years what is your hope for the world (or your project?)

Today I attended the presentation by the PR firm Ogilvy which is helping the laureates with connections to journalists and bloggers, some of whom will attend the showcase tomorrow, Wednesday, and perhaps the big ceremony at night.  This event will be webcast. I will post the URL when it is made public. Ogilvy has started a group on Facebook for the laureates.

November 06, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Technolgy benefitting humanity

On November 8,2007, the Center for Science, Technology, and Society will hold a one day conference Technology Benefiting Humanity:Taking Innovation to the Next Stage in Santa Clara University’s California Mission Room,Benson Center 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Keynote by Manuel Castells.  Admission is free, but you will need to register by sending mail to [email protected]. 

October 11, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

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