Aidnography

Hi all, The fourth annual Örecomm Festival is in its early planning stages and this year I am part of the organizing team and responsible for two panels: Philanthropy? Market? Crowd? Poverty? The present and future of development journalism Amidst the disrupture and transformations of the media industry international development journalism is exploring new avenues to connect with different audiences and communicate social change. This panel will highlight new innovative approaches as well as discuss their limitations in an age where ‘everybody is a broadcaster’.   ICT4D without ICT4G? What role for gender in communication for development? As photos of all-male ICT4D conference panels and technology fairs dominated by men in suits are circulated regularly on social networks questions about gender issues in ICT4D research and practice may be more pressing than ever. What can ICT4D learn from other contemporary development debates, e.g. on masculinities, conflict or sexuali...

Dear all, The link review is back! New publications on climate change and peacebuilding in Nepal & women and ICT. More on 'ghost polls' in Afghanistan, Madonna in Malawi and a great piece on the 'w hite tourist burden'. The social media & development reading list and a case study on Twitter activism are interesting as well. Does open data need corporate capacity building? Anthropology features ethnography of application processes in Silicon Valley, Academia looks at training ‘disciplinary drones’, predatory publishing and an open access journal issue on ‘measuring Africa’ Enjoy! Development Climate Change Mitigation, Peacebuilding, and Resilience The findings show that micro-hydropower development in Nepal has not contributed to peacebuilding on a state level. This is because these measures do not strengthen the political legitimacy of the post-conflict authorities, a crucial measure for successful peacebuilding. Actually, in the short run this measure of cli...

Dear all, The link review is back! A trip to South Africa, quick reflections on Afghanistan's elections (see posts below) and some work in Sweden later, the link review is back-a bit more comprehensive as some good material kept piling up since the last one in March! So more to discover for your critical reading enjoyment! Some of my highlights include: A longer ICT4D section, literary reflections on the new/old Baghdad, great open access anthropological reading & insights into the 'long, lonely job of Homo Academicus'. Enjoy! New on aidnography Post-conference reflections on 'Transforming education through technological innovation' Burkas, ballots & the unbearable lightness of democratic rituals Development Pornography, Pleasure, Gender and Sex Education in Bangladesh Drawing on research undertaken over several months in the backstreets of Dhaka, this publication sheds new light on the city’s changing economic and sexual landscape. Migration and the r...

I think it was the moment the elections in Afghanistan got ‘buzzfeeded’ ( 30 Powerful Photos From Afghanistan ’s Historic 2014 Election ) that I decided to write a short comment around the issues of representation, rituals, liberal peacebuilding and how elections have become one of the most powerful contemporary signifiers of ‘development’ and ‘democracy’ . Media meet governmentality The changing (social) media landscape plays an important part in the spectacular rise of election coverage and its overstated representational role. Long gone are the good old days when all you saw was a guy emptying a ballot box in the back offices of the election commission in the capital city. Just enough for a BBC/CNN 60-second clip. Today, the state and international peacebuilding/development apparatus becomes visible in many more forms. I remember the ‘highest’ polling station in Nepal, ballot boxes being transported by helicopter, queues in front of polling stations and a 90 year-old lady who was p...

I am back from Stellenbosch and Cape Town. The Glocal Classroom conference and ComDev seminar provided interesting food for thought for a researcher who is a relatively new professional in the field of ICT and global education. As always, these are my personal reflections, by no means trying to summarize the conference or to provide a comprehensive picture of all the presentations or discussions. My reflections will be focusing on three particular issues for the sake of keeping within the limits of a reasonably short and readable blog post: First, the admin-teacher gap in the ICT and education discourses, second, the powerful presence of multinational companies and third, challenges of designing a digital learning infrastructure beyond university-wide learning platforms or blogs. Assumptions and incentives, or: Dear administrators, please talk to the teachers! Most participants of the conference were actually not teaching staff of universities. Administrators from student or IT...

Hi all, This week is a more essential and shorter link review as I am getting ready for my trip to South Africa. Great food for thought from MSF, WhyDev , on funding the revolution, aid in Kenya & 'studying up' in design anthropology! Enjoy! New from aidnography Aidnography in Stellenbosch & Cape Town I will be part of our ComDev/Glocal Classroom team that is going to travel to South Africa for a conference on ICT and education organized by Stellenbosch University as well as a seminar with colleagues in Cape Town. Two exciting and different events and you are most welcome to join us online or in person! Development Opinion and Debate: Either… Or - Building resilience is still not compatible with humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid does not offer a transformative agenda; it is a way of standing in solidarity with people in crisis as opposed to people in the West (still) trying to help ‘them’ bounce back. When I told colleagues and friends in Beirut that I was engag...

Hi all, I will be part of our ComDev/Glocal Classroom team that is going to travel to South Africa for a conference on ICT and education organized by Stellenbosch University as well as a seminar with colleagues in Cape Town. Two exciting and different events and you are most welcome to join us online or in person! Stellenbosch Seboka 'Transforming education through technological innovation', 25 & 26 March The first day will be focusing on the experiences of the global network of partner universities which will lead to the second with a diverse range of presentations and discussants: • Keynote speakers focusing on examples of innovation and transformation of various industries through the utilization of Information and Communication Technologies. • Panels consisting of university senior management members as respondents focusing on how the integration of ICTs has potential for innovation and transformation of their particular universities. • Case studies focusing on be...