Aidnography

Hi all, Long week, but lots to read for you over the weekend ;)! Development news: US peacekeeping cuts; celebrities helping Somalia; celebrities (different ones…) romanticizing poverty; localizing aid in Syria; gold mine misery in Liberia; India’s suicides; where did the HONY money go in Pakistan? ICT4D in Nepal; teachers, refugees and mobile phones; talking back to Gates. Our digital lives: Karen Attiah and diversity; romanticizing the gig economy. Publications: Besieged universities in Egypt, aid data graveyards (and how to avoid them…).  Academia: Time-sucking job applications; breaking the shackles of medical journal publishing. Enjoy! New from aidnography Academic conferences as neoliberal commodities (book review) Nicolson’s book is a short new book that addresses one of the favorite academic products researchers love to hate. (...) As academic conferences have both been an aspect of my research and my blogging, I want to take this opportunity to add a few aspects f

Donald J. Nicolson’s Academic Conferences as Neoliberal Commodities is a short new book that addresses one of the favorite academic products researchers love to hate. Nicolson’s book offers a fresh and concise overview over the topic based on his own experiences primarily in the field of health science and additional interviews with a sample of academics from different disciplines. His “ exploratory examination ” (p.8) is structured along a fictitious conference proceedings table of content and in many ways he does take us on a journey to explore gatherings of academics in the neoliberal age. He starts with a short historical exploration into conferences and, at least for me, with a reminder that there really was a time when they fulfilled the expectation of “ intellectual communication (and) to enable people to present and discuss findings from research ” (p.5). Nicolson introduces his neoliberal framework early on, but for me it remains somewhat abstract throughout the book, but

Hi all, I'll keep it short and simple as I'm more than ready to leave the office this Friday afternoon...enjoy your readings! Development news: Humanitarian Dating; breaking the hunger cycle in Bangladesh; the limits of digital disaster response; stop giving ‘voice to voiceless’!; also stop ‘raising awareness’!; World Bank & behavior change; UNDP & innovation; ODI & influencing high-level panels; the WDR is great!; better peacebuilding; the end of aid’s golden age; Nepal shuns returning experts; the limits of hip-hop for social change.  Our digital lives: ‘Fearless Girl’ is fake corporate feminism; gender quotas push out mediocre men; #allmalepanels are bad; digital surveillance of women in Colombia. Publication: Labor migration and remittances in Nepal. Academia: What if sociologists influenced policy? Enjoy! Development news "Provide evidence", they said; "Show impact", they said; "Do #Rct ", they said; warning 4 #globald

Hi all, After a week spent mostly working from home, focusing on two research papers, I am happy to focus on 'lighter' writing in a way with the latest link review! Development news: Humanitarian access in South Sudan and Turkey/Syria; 360 degree immersion in Sudan; Sierra Leone’s unfair tax system; The struggles of Kenya’s middle-class; Garment production in capitalistic Myanmar; social relationships and evidence; responding to unsolicited feedback; #mediadev and accountability; Can Chicago learn from Bogota? Reflections on traveling, volunteering and photographing abroad. Our digital lives: Lovewashing is the new greenwashing; avoiding #allmalepanel (except when American political consultants meet); the happiness industry is a burden. Publications: Improving aid HR; studying the datafied society; the Internet as history; big data and sexual surveillance. Academia: What do Economists actually know? (It’s a long-read, not a rant!); women and scientific authorship; higher e