Aidnography

Dear all, As I am still working on a storified account of the Sida talk from earlier this week below is a slightly belated and shorter weekly link review-nonetheless, there is some great stuff, or, more precisely, some great people featured this week! Ian Thorpe features a nice group post by UNICEF colleagues on what 2014 might bring-and then there are celebrity efforts gone wrong (Elizabeth McGovern), Africa's first female coffee quality instructor, a radical artist's view on China's 'discovery' of Africa-and Norma who speaks out at a meeting and sums development challenges up better than any policy paper could ever do. A Balkan expert reflects on the political economy of urban change in Skopje, an ethnographer reflects on an EPIC conference, plus, a great piece of investigative journalism on Balkan academic corruption and degree mills. A bit different, eclectic--but hopefully stimulating food for though! Enjoy! Development Popular Representations of Developm

Hi all, Happy New Year and welcome back to Aidnography ! I just returned from the official Popular Representations of Development book launch in London -and I will be in another European capital next week to talk more about new (social) media. Photo courtesy of Dennis Rodgers As always, there is also an eclectic mix of interesting reads that I have come across: There is the 'stuff to read' subsection about 'World 3.0', a history of celebrity engagement and a great reading list on peace & conflict; obesity, the 'hype cycle' and tribalism in South Sudan are three of the 'bigger issues' featured in the next section; 'in other news' 'the field', Jennifer Lentfer and Shawn Humphrey are back with new gigs; and then there is great essay on why the political right likes open developments, more on MOOCs and an old-school Foucault lecture from 1980 for your Ipod! Enjoy! New on aidnography SIDA/ComDev seminar 'Communication for d

Aidnography is back from the holidays and wishes his readers a very happy and successful 2014! Together with my colleague Oscar Hemer I will be in Stockholm next week for a couple of meetings and seminars. Our colleagues (including some very energetic, proactive students from our ComDev MA program ) at Sida have invited us to discuss new (social) media, ICT, development and social change and we are really looking forward to the debate between academia, teaching and development policy and practice! In the words of the official seminar announcement: The emergence and global spread of new ICT's has changed the landscape in the area of Communication for Development and created new tools for actors for social change. This momentum presents new possibilities and challenges within the field. Malmö högskola and Sida invite you to an afternoon to discuss and exchange ideas. More information about the afternoon and how to attend if you are in or near Stockholm can be found on Sida's

Dear all, Welcome to the final edition of my link review for 2013! I was busy finalizing my annual end of year development blogging review (see below), but now it's time for some links, things and thoughts you may want to read as you are heading out to connect with loved ones for the holidays! There is a great new guide on children's participation as well as harrowing insights into human trafficking from Eritrea and the how girls have become a 'disposable' commodity in Colombian narco culture; there is more on humanitarian complexities in Ethiopia, complexity theory, mobile phone data use and insights into the gangs of Chicago; Reflections on women technology writers and Twitter scholars, a lecture on the global expulsion through capitalism and the myth of going to college to 'provide' in a meaningful way wrap up the review. Enjoy--but more importantly: Have a great holiday time and a happy New Year! New on aidnography My development blogging review 2013 I wan

It is a bit hard to believe that this is already my third annual personal development blogging review after 2012 and 2011 ! As difficult as it is to come up with a ‘theme’ or ‘trend’ for an entire year (in 2011 I wrote about bloggers leaving and writing for a growing student audience, in 2012 the K-bomb dropped...), this year’s apparent absence of the one big event may actually be a good sign; consolidation sounds rather unspectacular as many bloggers continue their work, research on development and social media gains momentum and many aspects of aid and aid work are almost naturally discussed in connection with blogs and social media. It is now clear (at least for me) that the virtual domain is the marketplace where theory and practice, reflections and snark or news and rumors meet. No surprises there. I want to unpack the consolidation among four topics that are guiding this review: My own professional development in 2013, a review of development and communication and social media

Dear all, I totally forgot to celebrate blog post #250 last week! But in fact my book review of Chouliaraki's 'Ironic Spectator' marked yet another blogging anniversary this year. Yeah! This week's review breaks a little bit with the conventions to keep things interesting...there are fewer links this week, but I included a 'special section' and a longer comment on the 'Biopolitics of academic publishing' at the end. But before that, some new items on development & anthropology, featuring a new critical documentary on the WWF, hypocritical awareness and investments, a great discussion on 'Does aid work?', insights from the social entrepreneurial gift economy & design for development. Enjoy! Updated on aidnography In June 2011 I wrote on The WWF and the industry-What role for environmental organisations in the age of multinationals and biofuels? The German documentary and research project that I mentioned in my post are now available in En