Aidnography

Hi all, I'm a bit proud of myself that the Link Review has become a regular weekly feature again amidst the approaching grande final of the semester! Development news with more great career advice; sexual harassment at ICT4D events; the second disaster of unwanted donations; migrant brides-it’s complicated; World Humanitarian Summit is a mess (file under ‘Breaking news’…); celebrities and designer activism; Our digital lives on people and ideas that make it into rankings and not beyond; knowledge economy myths; OKCupid data ethics. A detailed analysis of communication in Sierra Leone is Hot off the digital press . Academia with data, metrics and publishing capital(ism); and an anthropological take on Beyonce’s fashion brand disaster. Enjoy! New from aidnography Development tourism without adult supervision-Reflections on Aftenposten’s Sweatshop documentary I like the idea that a group of young women takes initiative, is active, inquisitive, speaks up and talks on the

I just watched the second season of Sweatsho p , a documentary produced for the Norwegian newspaper Aft e n posten (with English subtitles). Four No rwegian fashion bloggers continue their investigation into the garment industry in Cambodia and their quest to lobby for a living wage for factory workers after sp ending the first season inside sweatshops . Spoiler alert: Not much really happens in the 45 minutes the viewer is allowed to travel with the four young female fashion bloggers and yet, the documentary is an interesting case study in the context of ‘communication for development’. While I will be critical and while it is difficult not to personalize the review, I do not want to expose the four fashion bloggers. They are playing a role, they have good intentions and they seem genuinely compassionate about the women and their lives they encounter during the journey . Aesthetically, the documentary moves between music video imagery, gap-year tourism and an often pseudo-i

Hi all, Development news starts with 2 powerful pieces on orphanage tourism and a sustainable future for global volunteering; how aid became big business; #allmalepanels and introducing female speakers; aid corruption in Turkey and Syria; risk management manuals are not all bad; tobacco firms supported AIDS agenda to distract from their product. Digital lives on Re:Publica; writing in a violent world & India’s urban social media stupid. Academia with a Canadian university's bold move to cancel 2000 Springer journals; how to comment on a draft policy paper; interview with the UNESCO chairs for community based research & it was never easy to find academic employment. Enjoy! New from aidnography Bei #allmalepanels geht es um mehr als um (nicht) redende Frauen In a guest post for my German colleague Claire Grauer I summarize the #allmalepanel debate and add a few basic 'dos' and 'don'ts' about panel diversity. Development news Children as products: the re

Hi all, It’s Friday again-and it has been quite a busy week link-wise! Development news : In addition to the story of the week that MSF pulls out of the World Humanitarian Summit there is more food for thought on what the summit can or cannot address and achieve; how refugee situation is changing journalism; t he complexities around Gambian asylum seekers; frontline photojournalist on dilemmas of telling stories with the one picture; street children in Bangladesh; a scathing review of humanitarian failure in Nepal; the politics of inclusive development; office jargon Our digital lives on empowerment and disempowerment in the digital age; TED founder on how we all will be better off watching more TED talks Some great new readings , including IDS anniversary bulletin; a classic book on gender and sexuality is rediscovered; what ‘open’ means and how scholars look in their scholarly online profiles. Finally, Academia with 21st century reflections on ethnography and writing an

I never planned this when I started my blog, but it is interesting how one of the themes that keeps (re-)emerging here is topic of how new forms of capitalism inform, interact with and inspire the aid industry.  Some of my posts in the last few years addressed MBAs and their limited merit for development , how precarious labor spreads through a growing volunteering sector in EU countries as well as book reviews on philanthrocapitalism , social entrepreneurship or the self-help myth . Therefore, I was not surprised when the Wall Street Journal presented Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff as a 'trailblazer' for a new generation of companies and executives who are keen on combining people's needs with profits - Silicon Valley start-up-style... Thank you @WSJ and @monicalangley for allowing us to discuss the new corporate social responsibility https://t.co/FfWu6CJXq9 — Marc Benioff (@Benioff) May 2, 2016 As important as his initiative is to speak out against North Caro

Hi all, Your Friday and weekend deserve some new, critical reading suggestions! Development news on Thomas Friedman’s ‘just ask two people’ journalism; Barbie Savior is fun-so what? @UN is slowly catching up on social media discussions; a new short documentary to ‘Kick at the Darkness’ of aid worker stress; advocating against ‘conflict minerals’-it’s complicated; EdTech in Africa under neoliberal conditions; ICT4D and the absence of ‘the poor’; inside the development innovation machine; Nepal misses yet another opportunity to recover from crisis; Our digital lives on designing tech not just for men; the ‘polite’ open data movement is often politely ignored; video advocacy as evidence. Academia : Feminist hacking & Making and a critical look at the ‘slow professor’ manifesto. Enjoy! New from aidnography A former ‘frustrated senior aid official’ talks-and the Daily Mail is happy to spin a story of waste and lying bureaucrats But the question is whether talking to an outlet like t