Aidnography

Hello all, Welcome to another tour de force through digital writings on, in and about development! From research on how global reports have contributed to a 'pathologisation' of DRC to links between public finance reform and marathon in Nepal and Colombia's pressure to survive in the global trade system there is a good range of country case studies. At 'home' Bono talks like a politician, American evangelical churches fuel the orphan industry and the unionisation in the aid industry enters the agenda. The final questions are whether you live your CV or your eulogy and why paternalism has such a bad image; plus, two great pieces on the 'college admissions industry' in the U.S. and scholarship in the digital age-from Tweet to peer-reviewed article. Enjoy! Not quite new, but relevant (again) from aidnography Social Media and Global Development Rituals: a content analysis of blogs and tweets on the 2010 MDG Summit Investigating the United Nations High-level Ple...

Dear all, I have recovered from a long & interesting conference and even managed to compile some interesting links on new publications, popular representations and misrepresentations of development, development's good wives, poverty barons and visiting impact consultants...last not least an essay on fashion blogging raises interesting questions for 'our' blogosphere and a great post on teaching design and ethnography round off this week's review! Enjoy! New on aidnography 7 things I learned at the Örecomm festival 2013 After four days in three cities and two countries at the Örecomm festival I needed a few days to rest and reflect on the experience; as with the theme of the conference, Memory on Trial, the memories that I am sharing are eclectic, possibly even a bit random, but a few interesting clusters emerged nonetheless. Development The media of Pakistan: Fostering inclusion in a fragile democracy? This briefing shows how a changing media landscape in ...

After four days in three cities and two countries at the Örecomm festival I needed a few days to rest and reflect on the experience; as with the theme of the conference, Memory on Trial , the memories that I am sharing are eclectic, possibly even a bit random, but a few interesting clusters emerged nonetheless. My focus will be on the virtual classroom of the ComDev MA program that was an integral part of the conference, emerging and continuous research themes and a few other topics that caught my attention. As you can imagine, my musings are shaped by only being able to attend a small sample of panels, missing out on some film screenings and sitting behind my MacBook for most of the time… Zac's reflections may be a good additional read about the conference from another perspective. So what caught my attention? 1. Take broadcasting your conference online seriously Making a conference available in the virtual sphere is gaining momentum and I remembered my own humble beginnin...

Dear all, Before my social media and facilitation efforts will be tested at the forthcoming Örecomm conference I want to make sure that more good readings are shared. Starting with my own comment on the use of LinkedIn for development professionals, this week's review features new critical material on 'philanthropy 2.0', the different consequences of the militarization of development as an aidworker suicide and an embedded anthropologist's death are discussed. The World Bank goes Hollywood and in a great mock-interview a celebrity goes to Africa. On a more serious note, the new Norwegian study fund for persecuted students and the limitations of online courses from a recruiter's perspective are included-which bring this week's review full circle to questions about networking in real and virtual worlds... Enjoy! New on aidnography Is there any use of LinkedIn for development professionals? Between annoying motivational advice, a great address book & develop...

When it comes to the meta-level of LinkedIn networking discourse analysis Ann Friedman’s recent essay ‘ All LinkedIn with Nowhere to Go ’ from The Baffler pretty much nails the issue: The networking site burrows its way into users’ inboxes with updates spinning the gossamer dream of successful and frictionless advancement up the career ladder. Just add one crucial contact who’s only a few degrees removed from you (...), or update your skill set in a more market-friendly fashion, and one of the site’s 187 million or so users will pluck you from a stalled career and offer professional redemption. There are many annoying LinkedIn features, the 'news feed' with its empty business-lingo and pseudo insider career tips being probably the worst-Ann Friedman just puts in more beautiful language: And in the same circular fashion, the point of encouraging users to connect and follow and exchange points of view on LinkedIn is to marshal those users behind the simple, world-conquerin...

Dear all, Welcome to a jam-packed link review this week! After a short rant about book publishing choices, there is more on (unpaid) internships and the charity industry, the use of 'cash' in development, innovative data visualisations, celebrity humanitarianism and a new critical book on Jeff Sachs. Great anthropological reflections on early big data debates in the 1960s and 70s lead to an expanded academia section: From 'Storming Wikipedia' as a feminist student project to a special section on the technicalities, challenges, joys and changes in (academic) writing and publishing. I also want to take this opportunity to welcome the new ComDev students to my blog; especially in the context of the New Media, ICT & Development course and the assignments involving blogs/blogging this may be a useful source of inspiration-why not check out some of my previous highlights ?! Enjoy! Development It is usually not my style to start the link review off with a rant, but my #...