Thank you to Ananya Guha (India), Masimba Biriwasha (France), Wendi
Loshe Bernadette (Cameroon), Benoit Couture (Canada), Ken Owino
(Denmark), Samwel Kongere (Kenya), Pamela McLean (UK), Algis Cibulskis
(Lithuania), Peter Ongele (Kenya), Sasha Mrkailo (Serbia), Fred Kayiwa
(Uganda), Tom Ochuka (Kenya), Malcom Duerod (Bosnia) for your comments
on my proposal, My Math Story!

I ask others to comment as well so that we have a good chance of
winning.  Thomas Chepaitis, Josephat Ndibalema, William Wambura, Dennis
Kimambo, Ben de Vries, Jeremy Mason, Kiyavilo Msekwa and all who have
worked or would like to work for Minciu Sodas, please be sure to
comment!  This may mean $50,000 of work for me and $75,000 of work for
our team.

Edward Cherlin, John Harland, Julie Harland, Tom Wayburn, Ricardo and
all who care about math and science education, please do comment!  I
look forward to working with you more closely if my proposal makes it to
the second round.

You can simply reply to this letter with a thought or two and I can post
your comment myself.  Or you can register at
http://dmlcompetition.net/pligg/story.php?title=679

They have also extended the deadline for new proposals to February 15, 2010.

Thank you for your solidarity!

Andrius Kulikauskas, Minciu Sodas, http://www.ms.lt, ms@...

--------------------------------------

http://dmlcompetition.net/pligg/story.php?title=679

My Math Story
$125,000
Andrius Kulikauskas, Ph.D.

We collect mathematical quantities (amounts and units) and classic math
problems (and the deep ideas they illustrate). We thereby foster
mathematical intuition that arises from working with real life problems
as opposed to contrived ones. We link up to help real activists around
the world.

Mathematics is traditionally taught through repetition of contrived
problems which lack any meaningful context and thus destroy mathematical
intuition. Instead, we create formats to encourage the collection of
real life applications. We collect many ourselves, starting with
quantities that arise in the real world (including news stories,
almanacs, technical specifications) and organize them by amount
(increasing) and unit (such as meters, seconds, dollars, grams, liters,
bits, decibels, watts, meters per second, etc.) We create navigation
tools so students can grasp orders of magnitude using their own favorite
examples. We also collect illustrative problems, for example: suppose a
meal at your cafeteria costs X=$9, and at the restaurant it costs
one-third more, but you have a coupon for "one-third off" at the
restaurant, where is it cheaper? (At the restaurant it will be $12 minus
one-third which is $8, which shows that the meaning of "one-third"
changes, and so this classic problem illustrates the deep idea that
algebra is thinking step-by-step.) We show that several dozen thoughtful
problems can teach all of algebra. We create interfaces for students to
generate variants of such problems and post along with comments. We link
the problems to Wolfram Alpha, and also to real life stories of
"witnesses" from news, educational, activist and social networking
sites. We especially encourage real life connections with
witnesses-activists from the developing world, including hundreds that
we organize to help us collect real math applications and to staff a
chat room for interactive learning. Our content will be Public Domain.
We create formats so this activity can be done at wikis (including
Wikipedia), YouTube, Flickr, and shared via RSS. We help a variety of
websites host specialized collections and aggregate feeds so that our
formats take root across the web.

Hi Abinel, I'm not a moderator of Josephat's group so he has to change
the name himself.  I'm happy for your good energy, but I can't help you
myself.  Perhaps Ricardo or Pamela might be interested.  Thank you to
Pamela and Ricardo for beautiful letters, updates and feedback.
Andrius Kulikauskas, Minciu Sodas, http://www.ms.lt, ms@...

Abinel Emmanuel wrote:
> I do signed in mendenyo,HakiElimu and also holistichelping but i have
> got the information from Josephat that we have to change the name
> instead of HakiElimuRafiki it will be Haki ya Elimu.I prefer most in
> this swahili working group because most of the yong people in Tanzania
> they know nothing about English so as its easy for me to have
> discussions with them effectively as far as soon.
>    My plan in this year is about youth to fight against drug abuse,so
> as in Break Down Services there are great number of young people,i
> need to have advices from my fellow independent thinkers which can
> help me to make some changes within this people. Iam together with
> friend of mine who is the owner of that break down,LANDLOVER OLD
> MODEL.His name is Abdul Aziz.
>       I will post mssg's about this issue in our working groups
> especially mendenyo and holistichelping even in globalvillage.I think
> u will get my concept.
>    What is ur advice about it,,..
>         Abinel.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Andrius Kulikauskas <ms@...>
> *To:* Abinel Emmanuel <abinelemmanuel@...>;
> hakielimurafiki@yahoogroups.com; learnhowtolearn@yahoogroups.com;
> mendenyo@yahoogroups.com; help group <holistichelping@yahoogroups.com>
> *Sent:* Fri, January 22, 2010 1:24:38 PM
> *Subject:* Abinel Emmanuel's Break Down Services (Uyoga, Tanzania)
>
> Abinel Emmanuel wrote:
> > Hallow Andrius,how r u?i hope u r fine in this devided year twenty
> ten,Happy new year,for our language we use to say"Heri ya mwaka
> mpya",In swahili.I want to inform u about my projects in this new
> year,together with my comrades we are doing some important services
> loccally,its called BREAK DOWN SERVICES.I will tell you more letter
> b'se my time is too short to lieve  computer,.
> >  I TS ME UR FRIEND,
> >        Abinel from UYOGA org.
>
> Hi Abinel,
> Which of our groups are you signed up for?
> I share your good news.
> Andrius Kulikauskas
> Minciu Sodas
> http://www.ms.lt <http://www.ms.lt/>
> ms@... <mailto:ms@...>
>
>

Hi Andrius

In various postings, you said you're looking for paid work for yourself and a large team. I noticed this story on the Science Daily website...

"Natural-Disaster Mathematical Aid Systems Aid in Decision-Making"

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100211090752.htm

Opening paragraph - "A team of mathematicians from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) has developed a computer application that estimates the magnitude of natural disasters and helps non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the decision making process. "

Last paragraph - "they rely on the support of the IMath-Consolider public financing programme, within the R&D&i National Plan"

http://www.i-math.org/?q=en

A team of Mathematicians from a university in Spain have developed an online service for NGOs to use for free, to help the NGOs find the best way to deploy aid during a natural/man-made disaster, such as the Haiti earthquake, Kenya election, etc.

It uses Fuzzy Logic, to help the NGOs with their decision-making (e.g. how best to send food to a place, taking into account lots of factors like bad roads, crime, risk of loss, etc)...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuzzy_logic

In normal Boolean logic, you make decisions based on combining factors that are 0%/100% completely true or false...

If A=true and B=true and C=true then <action 1> else <action 2>

In fuzzy logic, you can make decisions based by combining things with AND/OR/NOT etc that are each some intermediate 0-100% true value, such as 57% true, 34% true, etc.

You can still write programs in a conventional form, like this, but the fuzzy logic can handle 0.0-1.0 true values.

If A=true and B=true then <action 1> else <action 2>

For example...

If 'the area is flooded' (0-100%) AND 'boats are available' = FALSE (0-100%) then air-drop-food-aid is required else do-nothing

There will be some way to combine the 2 fuzzy values A and B. For example, it's 75% true that the area is flooded and 90% true that there are no boats. Then the A AND B fuzzy-combination must get over a certain threshold before the THEN action is carried out.

The decision support service can help NGOs when the number of factors involved in a decision gets very large and complex. For example, "How do i guarantee with 95% confidence that i can deliver 100 tonnes of food to place X, by dividing food deliveries among 3 different routes with different hazards".

The online service is free to NGOs. Since there are hundreds of different NGOs that could make use of the service, I was thinking, maybe you can find out about the service and see if there is some role for you and a team of Minciu Sodas friends, assisting one or more NGOs. The NGOs probably want to concentrate on their core-activities of food, health, water, etc. Maybe there is a role for you and team, to do some sub-contract/consultancy work and understand the computer/math of the decision-support service, and take that load off the NGOs.

You have Math, Computer, and some Spanish skills, plus knowledge of overseas development, and access to a whole network of other people with relevent skills. Maybe some people you know in the developing countries can act as data-collectors/testers, during a particular NGOs first attempt to use the decision-support online service.

It's just an idea. As I say, if it interests you, you can find out more about it and think of a role.

It might be interesting to see how FrontlineSMS (phones) or Episurveyor (PDA/Smartphones)could be used for the data-collection/event-reporting part of decision-making.

Ricardo

Ricardo,
Thank you very much for thinking of me and Minciu Sodas.  I will think
about this and see how to relate it to other "help room" / emergency
response type activities we might do and people we might work with.
I have created a page here:
http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?DecisionSupport

Andrius

ricardoolpc wrote:
>
>
> Hi Andrius
>
> In various postings, you said you're looking for paid work for
> yourself and a large team. I noticed this story on the Science Daily
> website...
>
> "Natural-Disaster Mathematical Aid Systems Aid in Decision-Making"
>
> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100211090752.htm
>
> Opening paragraph - "A team of mathematicians from the Complutense
> University of Madrid (UCM) has developed a computer application that
> estimates the magnitude of natural disasters and helps
> non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the decision making process. "
>
> Last paragraph - "they rely on the support of the IMath-Consolider
> public financing programme, within the R&D&i National Plan"
>
> http://www.i-math.org/?q=en
>
> A team of Mathematicians from a university in Spain have developed an
> online service for NGOs to use for free, to help the NGOs find the
> best way to deploy aid during a natural/man-made disaster, such as the
> Haiti earthquake, Kenya election, etc.
>
> It uses Fuzzy Logic, to help the NGOs with their decision-making (e.g.
> how best to send food to a place, taking into account lots of factors
> like bad roads, crime, risk of loss, etc)...
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuzzy_logic
>
> In normal Boolean logic, you make decisions based on combining factors
> that are 0%/100% completely true or false...
>
> If A=true and B=true and C=true then <action 1> else <action 2>
>
> In fuzzy logic, you can make decisions based by combining things with
> AND/OR/NOT etc that are each some intermediate 0-100% true value, such
> as 57% true, 34% true, etc.
>
> You can still write programs in a conventional form, like this, but
> the fuzzy logic can handle 0.0-1.0 true values.
>
> If A=true and B=true then <action 1> else <ac tion 2>
>
> For example...
>
> If 'the area is flooded' (0-100%) AND 'boats are available' = FALSE
> (0-100%) then air-drop-food-aid is required else do-nothing
>
> There will be some way to combine the 2 fuzzy values A and B. For
> example, it's 75% true that the area is flooded and 90% true that
> there are no boats. Then the A AND B fuzzy-combination must get over a
> certain threshold before the THEN action is carried out.
>
> The decision support service can help NGOs when the number of factors
> involved in a decision gets very large and complex. For example, "How
> do i guarantee with 95% confidence that i can deliver 100 tonnes of
> food to place X, by dividing food deliveries among 3 different routes
> with different hazards".
>
> The online service is free to NGOs. Since there are hundreds of
> different NGOs that could make use of the service, I was thinking,
> maybe you can find out about the service and see if there is some role
> for you and a team of Minciu Sodas friends, assisting one or more
> NGOs. The NGOs probably want to concentrate on their core-activities
> of food, health, water, etc. Maybe there is a role for you and team,
> to do some sub-contract/consultancy work and understand
> the computer/math of the decision-support service, and take that load
> off the NGOs.
>
> You have Math, Computer, and some Spanish skills, plus knowledge of
> overseas development, and access to a whole network of other people
> with relevent skills. Maybe some people you know in the developing
> countries can act as data-collectors/testers, during a particular NGOs
> first attempt to use the decision-support online service.
>
> It's just an idea. As I say, if it interests you, you can find out
> more about it and think of a role.
>
> It might be interesting to see how FrontlineSMS (phones) or
> Episurveyor (PDA/Smartphones)could be used for the
> data-collection/event-reporting part of decision-making.
>
> Ricardo
>
>
>
> & nbsp;
>
>
>
>
>
>

Dear All

Peter Burgess and I were recently discussing (by email) help-reporting in Haiti. Peter said 'his interest is a little bit of date that helps to improve knowledge a lot' (knowledge of the current situation, where help is needed, etc). 

I noticed a news article in the New York Times called "Cries for Help via Text Messages Are Used to Direct Aid to Haiti" it said that during the current Haiti disaster, a message was sent to every phone on the Haitian networks, telling people they can report problems and request help by sending an SMS text-message to 4636.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/world/americas/21text.html?ref=technology

This Ushahidi blog page says that the service has been set up and operated by Ushahidi (the developers of the SMS facility) and lots of volunteers.

http://blog.ushahidi.com/index.php/2010/01/17/the-4636-sms-shortcode-for-reporting-in-haiti/

It describes how it operates, as follows...

How it works

The basic process for this project follows is this:

1. Put word out that people on the ground can send [Name, location, status/message]
2. SMS submitted, with varying levels of structure/detail
3. Enters database
4. Passed to a mechanical turk-type outfit of volunteers for structuring
5. Message is structured in the database
6. Gets passed off to orgs (via Sahana) that can do something about the issue

And to bring all this information, requests and reports together in a useable form, it says they set up an online database...

 "Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes, Brian Herbert worked with Josh, Luke Beckman from InSTEDD, Paul Goodman from DAI, and Rob Munro to structure content. They created an online database at http://4636.ushahidi.com where incoming raw SMS reports can be tagged and mapped." 

They also have volunteers monitoring Facebook and Twitter, to see where help is needed.

Anyway, please read the whole Ushahidi blog page if it interests you.

It interests me when i think about Peter's question "How could someone gather a small amount of data that would improve knowledge a lot".

With Ushahidi's system, thousands of survivors and NGOs are sending in all sorts of SMS reports and it takes an army of volunteers to process it all. I'm thinking about "In a future disaster situation, where fewer volunteers and resources are available, is there a simpler way to get an adequate overview of the situation?". You have to bear in mind that there may not be NGO staff, helath-workers, etc, everywhere, to send in well-formatted, statistically-valid reports by SMS, just ordinary people. How little information would one need to gather, to allocate food-aid etc correctly?

Google Earth Map

I also noticed that Google has produced a Google Earth .KML file for Haiti, that you can download and open in the Google Earth program, to see Haiti (Port Au Prince, etc) as it is after the earthquake, with destroyed buildings. (If you just use the ordinary Google Earth service, it still shows Haiti as it was before the earthquake).

http://www.google.com/relief/haitiearthquake/

Ricardo

Hi Andrius

On the subject of paid employment again, a long time ago, I mentioned the Amazon
Mechanical Turk website, where people can employ large numbers of online workers
to do simple, fairly repetative tasks that only humans can do, not computers.
For example, identifying objects in pictures, image-tagging, music-tagging,
eliminating duplicate entries from databases, such as...

Jon Smith, 23 Main St, Newtown
Jonathan Smith, 23 Main Street, Newtown

This FAQ page says how it works.

https://www.mturk.com/mturk/help?helpPage=overview

From the Wikipedia article about 'Amazon Mechanical Turk', I've found out a bit
more information than before, about who can sign-up as a worker (any country,
not just U.S. residents) and how they are treated for tax-purposes (file it as
self-employment income).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Mechanical_Turk

The employers need to be US-based, but the workers can be anywhere.

If you use the 'search' facility on this page, and try words like Photo,
Database, Image, music, etc, you can see what range of jobs are available.
Normally, it just shows Time Alloted (max), Reward and Number of Tasks(called
HITS, Human Intelligence Tasks). If you click 'All details', it shows the
description of the job as well.

https://www.mturk.com/mturk/help?helpPage=overview

Some tasks are really low-paid, but shouldn't take long. Like $0.01 per image to
add tags to images.

"Given a set of images, provide some relevant and non-obvious tags."
Reward $0.01
HITS available 849 (number of human tasks)

But some tasks are higher paid, such as 23 HITS (tasks) at $0.40. You just need
to think in terms of how-much-per-hour, of course.

I was thinking, maybe you can sign-up and get tasks, but you and group of
friends in Lithuania or elsewhere can actually do them.

Also, you might consider, are there any tasks, such as databases, that you could
speed-up and semi-automate with scripts/programs, like the 'eliminate duplicate
databases entries' task? Your script/program quickly finds the possible
duplicates by fuzzy-matching, then asks you for a final yes/no check.

Even if this sort of work doesn't suit you, it might be worth browsing or
searching the tasks to see if it gives you any ideas for other kinds of work.

Ricardo

Hi Ricardo, Thank you very much for thinking of us!  I appreciate your
help as I look for work.  I share with some other groups.  Andrius, ms@...

ricardoolpc wrote:
> Hi Andrius
>
> On the subject of paid employment again, a long time ago, I mentioned the
Amazon Mechanical Turk website, where people can employ large numbers of online
workers to do simple, fairly repetative tasks that only humans can do, not
computers. For example, identifying objects in pictures, image-tagging,
music-tagging, eliminating duplicate entries from databases, such as...
>
> Jon Smith, 23 Main St, Newtown
> Jonathan Smith, 23 Main Street, Newtown
>
> This FAQ page says how it works.
>
> https://www.mturk.com/mturk/help?helpPage=overview
>
> >From the Wikipedia article about 'Amazon Mechanical Turk', I've found out a
bit more information than before, about who can sign-up as a worker (any
country, not just U.S. residents) and how they are treated for tax-purposes
(file it as self-employment income).
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Mechanical_Turk
>
> The employers need to be US-based, but the workers can be anywhere.
>
> If you use the 'search' facility on this page, and try words like Photo,
Database, Image, music, etc, you can see what range of jobs are available.
Normally, it just shows Time Alloted (max), Reward and Number of Tasks(called
HITS, Human Intelligence Tasks). If you click 'All details', it shows the
description of the job as well.
>
> https://www.mturk.com/mturk/help?helpPage=overview
>
> Some tasks are really low-paid, but shouldn't take long. Like $0.01 per image
to add tags to images.
>
> "Given a set of images, provide some relevant and non-obvious tags."
> Reward $0.01
> HITS available 849 (number of human tasks)
>
> But some tasks are higher paid, such as 23 HITS (tasks) at $0.40. You just
need to think in terms of how-much-per-hour, of course.
>
> I was thinking, maybe you can sign-up and get tasks, but you and group of
friends in Lithuania or elsewhere can actually do them.
>
> Also, you might consider, are there any tasks, such as databases, that you
could speed-up and semi-automate with scripts/programs, like the 'eliminate
duplicate databases entries' task? Your script/program quickly finds the
possible duplicates by fuzzy-matching, then asks you for a final yes/no check.
>
> Even if this sort of work doesn't suit you, it might be worth browsing or
searching the tasks to see if it gives you any ideas for other kinds of work.
>
> Ricardo
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> A Focus is being made on having a wireless internet connection for the
> community to help them have a place for information handling and
> transfer. There is motive of taking risks to help the community Develop.
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>

Ricardo, I alert Suresh Fernando to this SMS alert system, especially
the work flow system, because he's interested in this kind of
collaboration on a massive scale.  That's the kind of effort I'd like to
help Open Kollab take note of, map, link up with, develop funding for.
I also alert Tiffany Von Emmel and the Dreamfish community because she's
also pioneering new online work flows.  Janet Feldman has many years
worth of contacts in Haiti, is helping with efforts there, and is
working with Ushahidi, perhaps on this project.  I share also with her
Holistic Helping group.  Andrius Kulikauskas

ricardoolpc wrote:
> Dear All
>
> Peter Burgess and I were recently discussing (by email) help-reporting
> in Haiti. Peter said 'his interest is a little bit of data that helps
> to improve knowledge a lot' (knowledge of the current situation, where
> help is needed, etc).
>
> I noticed a news article in the New York Times called "Cries for Help
> via Text Messages Are Used to Direct Aid to Haiti" it said that during
> the current Haiti disaster, a message was sent to every phone on the
> Haitian networks, telling people they can report problems and request
> help by sending an SMS text-message to 4636.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/world/americas/21text.html?ref=technology
>
> This Ushahidi blog page says that the service has been set up and
> operated by Ushahidi (the developers of the SMS facility) and lots of
> volunteers.
>
>
http://blog.ushahidi.com/index.php/2010/01/17/the-4636-sms-shortcode-for-reporti\
ng-in-haiti/
>
> It describes how it operates, as follows...
>
>
>       /How it works/
>
> /The basic process for this project follows is this:/
>
>    1. /Put word out that people on the ground can send [Name,
>       location, status/message]/
>    2. /SMS submitted, with varying levels of structure/detail/
>    3. /Enters database/
>    4. /Passed to a mechanical turk-type outfit of volunteers for
>       structuring/
>    5. /Message is structured in the database/
>    6. /Gets passed off to orgs (via //Sahana/
>       <http://haiti-orgs.sahanafoundation.org/prod/>/) that can do
>       something about the issue/
>
> And to bring all this information, requests and reports together in a
> useable form, it says they set up an online database...
>
> / "Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes, Brian Herbert worked with Josh, Luke
> Beckman from //InSTEDD/ <http://instedd.org/>/, //Paul Goodman/
> <http://pdgoodman.com/>/ from //DAI/ <http://www.dai.com/>/, and Rob
> Munro to structure content. They created an online database at
> //http://4636.ushahidi.com/ <http://4636.USHAHIDI.COM>/ where incoming
> raw SMS reports can be tagged and mapped."/
>
> They also have volunteers monitoring Facebook and Twitter, to see
> where help is needed.
>
> Anyway, please read the whole Ushahidi blog page if it interests you.
>
> It interests me when i think about Peter's question "How could someone
> gather a small amount of data that would improve knowledge a lot".
>
> With Ushahidi's system, thousands of survivors and NGOs are sending in
> all sorts of SMS reports and it takes an army of volunteers to process
> it all. I'm thinking about "In a future disaster situation, where
> fewer volunteers and resources are available, is there a simpler way
> to get an adequate overview of the situation?". You have to bear in
> mind that there may not be NGO staff, helath-workers, etc, everywhere,
> to send in well-formatted, statistically-valid reports by SMS, just
> ordinary people. How little information would one need to gather, to
> allocate food-aid etc correctly?
>
> _Google Earth Map_
>
> I also noticed that Google has produced a Google Earth .KML file for
> Haiti, that you can download and open in the Google Earth program, to
> see Haiti (Port Au Prince, etc) as it is after the earthquake, with
> destroyed buildings. (If you just use the ordinary Google Earth
> service, it still shows Haiti as it was before the earthquake).
>
> http://www.google.com/relief/haitiearthquake/
>
> Ricardo
>
>
>
>

Dear Andrius, Ricardo, Peter, and All,

Thanks for this excellent posting, and yes, I am working now with Ushahidi!

Something very exciting and seredipitous--or perhaps synchronous--has occurred
during the past few months:  in the late fall, I was contacted by Ushahidi reps
both in Kenya and internationally, to ask if I would network for them to women's
groups in particular, who might want to use their system.

Right at that time, unfortunately, I was coping with some difficult family
matters, so did not do networking then. I want to pick up this thread of
conversation at Holistic Helping, in fact, seeing as we have some women's groups
and their reps here, from Kenya, Cameroon, and elsewhere. I'm sure Ushahidi will
also be interested in working with mixed and men's groups or individuals as
well.

In any case, just as I was clearing a path in early January to do some
networking for them, the earthquake in Haiti hit, and the next thing I knew, I
was reading that the heart of the crisis response center in the USA is at the
graduate school I attended 20+ years ago, the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy at Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston.

I did not know how to hook up with that effort directly, but when two urgent
messages came my way from another source, someone else urged me to post those to
the Ushahidi Haiti site, which I did, and in that process have connected with
the team at Fletcher who is doing the crisis mapping.

We have made contact, and are trying to find help for, a group of about 250
people in a town some ways from Port-au-Prince. We have also been trying to get
some help to a larger group of 1500, who live on a mountain outside of the
capital.

The latter has been a mixed experience, in that we can locate the place they are
in, but the maps we have cannot pinpoint the location. The official response
system--which includes govts and NGOs organized into what is called a "cluster
system", based on areas of interest, such as shelter and health--is also
concerned about them, esp because of rains and possible mudslides.

I posted about their needs to an "official" cluster site, and the cluster head
actually responded, something they did not do when I posted about the first
urgent case. I have been trying to reach the woman who sent out the SOS (an
American and founder of an org called Trees for Life Haiti), but alas, she is
not responding to emails, and her phone number is not in service (I called her
as a last-ditch effort the other day to reach her).

In the first case there is active communication, but so far, no concrete help
has emerged. However, a number of excellent contacts have been brought into the
conversation by Ushahidi, so I hope that will translate into some material help
arriving soon.

There are a number of stories of individuals who did text and have received
help--even being dug out from the rubble--but a number have also died while
waiting for help, and local phone lines have been jammed or non-operational.
This is partly what Ushahidi has been trying to address.

Technology has been both incredibly helpful and even life-saving, in other
words, but sometimes SMS and other tech tools are only as good as the larger
infrastructural setting in which they operate, and sometimes they in themselves
are simply not able to address the myriad of other issues that crop up in
reporting emergencies and other alerts.

The scale of this disaster, and its swiftness, coupled with the already
"challenged" state of the infrastructure in Haiti, has made for what will
probably be seen as a "mixed bag" in terms of "information" vs "ability to
respond effectively".

I think it's a miracle that this type of communications system can work at all,
and I'm sure it will only improve each time it is used. For example, I think
response effectiveness in situations of war and/or civil conflict is much more
developed than it was in Kenya--where Ushahidi began--as it has been applied in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo and elsewhere.

This is the first natural disaster, I believe, so some of the principles and
tools are the same from Kenya to Haiti, but modifications can and surely will be
made for the next time this technology is used to address natural disasters.

There are other such tools and approaches also being used, and in concert with
Ushahidi, such as the InSTEDD system. Andrius met some of these folks a couple
years ago, and one was at HH for a bit. I tried to engage her in a conversation
about MS and InSTEDD working together (around the time of our peace project),
but did not get a response.

There are plans now to hand over the Ushahidi response system formulated in and
for Haiti to Haitians themselves, when the time is right.

Each time it is used, I believe, there is a hope both for "localization" and
"globalization" of Ushahidi as a tool and concept, by which I mean that the
Ushahidi folks envision and plan for "locals" taking over the specific project
set up to help address their needs, while at the same time the tool and "idea"
of Ushahidi becomes expanded (in the minds of its creators and those who use it)
to include more situations, and new or refined means to achieve similar ends.

Our own MS-linked "emergency response system"--developed during the peace
project in Kenya--has some unique aspects to it, and this could be further
developed to provide our own valuable tool to add to the toolchest being
developed to address situations of crisis and need.

I am going to cycle back to the notes written a month or so ago by Mark,
Sherrie, Peter, and others here, and give you some feedback about ways that you
and we might be helpful now in Haiti.

I look forward to discussing and hopefully collaborating around that, and thanks
to everyone for your interest and caring!  With all best wishes and blessings,
Janet


-----Original Message-----
>From: Andrius Kulikauskas <ms@...>
>Sent: Feb 21, 2010 7:08 AM
>To: mendenyo@yahoogroups.com, help group <holistichelping@yahoogroups.com>,
openkollab@googlegroups.com, dreamfish@googlegroups.com
>Subject: [holistichelping] SMS alert system in Haiti
>
>Ricardo, I alert Suresh Fernando to this SMS alert system, especially
>the work flow system, because he's interested in this kind of
>collaboration on a massive scale.  That's the kind of effort I'd like to
>help Open Kollab take note of, map, link up with, develop funding for.
>I also alert Tiffany Von Emmel and the Dreamfish community because she's
>also pioneering new online work flows.  Janet Feldman has many years
>worth of contacts in Haiti, is helping with efforts there, and is
>working with Ushahidi, perhaps on this project.  I share also with her
>Holistic Helping group.  Andrius Kulikauskas
>
>ricardoolpc wrote:
>> Dear All
>>
>> Peter Burgess and I were recently discussing (by email) help-reporting
>> in Haiti. Peter said 'his interest is a little bit of data that helps
>> to improve knowledge a lot' (knowledge of the current situation, where
>> help is needed, etc).
>>
>> I noticed a news article in the New York Times called "Cries for Help
>> via Text Messages Are Used to Direct Aid to Haiti" it said that during
>> the current Haiti disaster, a message was sent to every phone on the
>> Haitian networks, telling people they can report problems and request
>> help by sending an SMS text-message to 4636.
>>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/world/americas/21text.html?ref=technology
>>
>> This Ushahidi blog page says that the service has been set up and
>> operated by Ushahidi (the developers of the SMS facility) and lots of
>> volunteers.
>>
>>
http://blog.ushahidi.com/index.php/2010/01/17/the-4636-sms-shortcode-for-reporti\
ng-in-haiti/
>>
>> It describes how it operates, as follows...
>>
>>
>>       /How it works/
>>
>> /The basic process for this project follows is this:/
>>
>>    1. /Put word out that people on the ground can send [Name,
>>       location, status/message]/
>>    2. /SMS submitted, with varying levels of structure/detail/
>>    3. /Enters database/
>>    4. /Passed to a mechanical turk-type outfit of volunteers for
>>       structuring/
>>    5. /Message is structured in the database/
>>    6. /Gets passed off to orgs (via //Sahana/
>>       <http://haiti-orgs.sahanafoundation.org/prod/>/) that can do
>>       something about the issue/
>>
>> And to bring all this information, requests and reports together in a
>> useable form, it says they set up an online database...
>>
>> / "Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes, Brian Herbert worked with Josh, Luke
>> Beckman from //InSTEDD/ <http://instedd.org/>/, //Paul Goodman/
>> <http://pdgoodman.com/>/ from //DAI/ <http://www.dai.com/>/, and Rob
>> Munro to structure content. They created an online database at
>> //http://4636.ushahidi.com/ <http://4636.USHAHIDI.COM>/ where incoming
>> raw SMS reports can be tagged and mapped."/
>>
>> They also have volunteers monitoring Facebook and Twitter, to see
>> where help is needed.
>>
>> Anyway, please read the whole Ushahidi blog page if it interests you.
>>
>> It interests me when i think about Peter's question "How could someone
>> gather a small amount of data that would improve knowledge a lot".
>>
>> With Ushahidi's system, thousands of survivors and NGOs are sending in
>> all sorts of SMS reports and it takes an army of volunteers to process
>> it all. I'm thinking about "In a future disaster situation, where
>> fewer volunteers and resources are available, is there a simpler way
>> to get an adequate overview of the situation?". You have to bear in
>> mind that there may not be NGO staff, helath-workers, etc, everywhere,
>> to send in well-formatted, statistically-valid reports by SMS, just
>> ordinary people. How little information would one need to gather, to
>> allocate food-aid etc correctly?
>>
>> _Google Earth Map_
>>
>> I also noticed that Google has produced a Google Earth .KML file for
>> Haiti, that you can download and open in the Google Earth program, to
>> see Haiti (Port Au Prince, etc) as it is after the earthquake, with
>> destroyed buildings. (If you just use the ordinary Google Earth
>> service, it still shows Haiti as it was before the earthquake).
>>
>> http://www.google.com/relief/haitiearthquake/
>>
>> Ricardo
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>------------------------------------
>
>http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?HolisticHelping
>
>Please note our rule: Each letter sent to the Holistic Helping group enters the
PUBLIC DOMAIN unless it explicitly states otherwise.  Thank you! 
http://www.ethicalpublicdomain.org
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

Hi Janet, I share your letter with Tiffany Von Emmel and Dreamfish
because I think she knows many women's groups and might help you network
with them.  I share with Joy Tang of One Village Foundation likewise,
and I keep Suresh Fernando and Open Kollab posted because of their
interest in large scale collaborations for the big problems in the
world.  Andrius Kulikauskas, Minciu Sodas, http://www.ms.lt, ms@...


Janet Feldman wrote:
> Dear Andrius, Ricardo, Peter, and All,
>
> Thanks for this excellent posting, and yes, I am working now with Ushahidi!
>
> Something very exciting and seredipitous--or perhaps synchronous--has occurred
during the past few months:  in the late fall, I was contacted by Ushahidi reps
both in Kenya and internationally, to ask if I would network for them to women's
groups in particular, who might want to use their system.
>
> Right at that time, unfortunately, I was coping with some difficult family
matters, so did not do networking then. I want to pick up this thread of
conversation at Holistic Helping, in fact, seeing as we have some women's groups
and their reps here, from Kenya, Cameroon, and elsewhere. I'm sure Ushahidi will
also be interested in working with mixed and men's groups or individuals as
well.
>
> In any case, just as I was clearing a path in early January to do some
networking for them, the earthquake in Haiti hit, and the next thing I knew, I
was reading that the heart of the crisis response center in the USA is at the
graduate school I attended 20+ years ago, the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy at Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston.
>
> I did not know how to hook up with that effort directly, but when two urgent
messages came my way from another source, someone else urged me to post those to
the Ushahidi Haiti site, which I did, and in that process have connected with
the team at Fletcher who is doing the crisis mapping.
>
> We have made contact, and are trying to find help for, a group of about 250
people in a town some ways from Port-au-Prince. We have also been trying to get
some help to a larger group of 1500, who live on a mountain outside of the
capital.
>
> The latter has been a mixed experience, in that we can locate the place they
are in, but the maps we have cannot pinpoint the location. The official response
system--which includes govts and NGOs organized into what is called a "cluster
system", based on areas of interest, such as shelter and health--is also
concerned about them, esp because of rains and possible mudslides.
>
> I posted about their needs to an "official" cluster site, and the cluster head
actually responded, something they did not do when I posted about the first
urgent case. I have been trying to reach the woman who sent out the SOS (an
American and founder of an org called Trees for Life Haiti), but alas, she is
not responding to emails, and her phone number is not in service (I called her
as a last-ditch effort the other day to reach her).
>
> In the first case there is active communication, but so far, no concrete help
has emerged. However, a number of excellent contacts have been brought into the
conversation by Ushahidi, so I hope that will translate into some material help
arriving soon.
>
> There are a number of stories of individuals who did text and have received
help--even being dug out from the rubble--but a number have also died while
waiting for help, and local phone lines have been jammed or non-operational.
This is partly what Ushahidi has been trying to address.
>
> Technology has been both incredibly helpful and even life-saving, in other
words, but sometimes SMS and other tech tools are only as good as the larger
infrastructural setting in which they operate, and sometimes they in themselves
are simply not able to address the myriad of other issues that crop up in
reporting emergencies and other alerts.
>
> The scale of this disaster, and its swiftness, coupled with the already
"challenged" state of the infrastructure in Haiti, has made for what will
probably be seen as a "mixed bag" in terms of "information" vs "ability to
respond effectively".
>
> I think it's a miracle that this type of communications system can work at
all, and I'm sure it will only improve each time it is used. For example, I
think response effectiveness in situations of war and/or civil conflict is much
more developed than it was in Kenya--where Ushahidi began--as it has been
applied in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and elsewhere.
>
> This is the first natural disaster, I believe, so some of the principles and
tools are the same from Kenya to Haiti, but modifications can and surely will be
made for the next time this technology is used to address natural disasters.
>
> There are other such tools and approaches also being used, and in concert with
Ushahidi, such as the InSTEDD system. Andrius met some of these folks a couple
years ago, and one was at HH for a bit. I tried to engage her in a conversation
about MS and InSTEDD working together (around the time of our peace project),
but did not get a response.
>
> There are plans now to hand over the Ushahidi response system formulated in
and for Haiti to Haitians themselves, when the time is right.
>
> Each time it is used, I believe, there is a hope both for "localization" and
"globalization" of Ushahidi as a tool and concept, by which I mean that the
Ushahidi folks envision and plan for "locals" taking over the specific project
set up to help address their needs, while at the same time the tool and "idea"
of Ushahidi becomes expanded (in the minds of its creators and those who use it)
to include more situations, and new or refined means to achieve similar ends.
>
> Our own MS-linked "emergency response system"--developed during the peace
project in Kenya--has some unique aspects to it, and this could be further
developed to provide our own valuable tool to add to the toolchest being
developed to address situations of crisis and need.
>
> I am going to cycle back to the notes written a month or so ago by Mark,
Sherrie, Peter, and others here, and give you some feedback about ways that you
and we might be helpful now in Haiti.
>
> I look forward to discussing and hopefully collaborating around that, and
thanks to everyone for your interest and caring!  With all best wishes and
blessings, Janet
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
>> From: Andrius Kulikauskas <ms@...>
>> Sent: Feb 21, 2010 7:08 AM
>> To: mendenyo@yahoogroups.com, help group <holistichelping@yahoogroups.com>,
openkollab@googlegroups.com, dreamfish@googlegroups.com
>> Subject: [holistichelping] SMS alert system in Haiti
>>
>> Ricardo, I alert Suresh Fernando to this SMS alert system, especially
>> the work flow system, because he's interested in this kind of
>> collaboration on a massive scale.  That's the kind of effort I'd like to
>> help Open Kollab take note of, map, link up with, develop funding for.
>> I also alert Tiffany Von Emmel and the Dreamfish community because she's
>> also pioneering new online work flows.  Janet Feldman has many years
>> worth of contacts in Haiti, is helping with efforts there, and is
>> working with Ushahidi, perhaps on this project.  I share also with her
>> Holistic Helping group.  Andrius Kulikauskas
>>
>> ricardoolpc wrote:
>>
>>> Dear All
>>>
>>> Peter Burgess and I were recently discussing (by email) help-reporting
>>> in Haiti. Peter said 'his interest is a little bit of data that helps
>>> to improve knowledge a lot' (knowledge of the current situation, where
>>> help is needed, etc).
>>>
>>> I noticed a news article in the New York Times called "Cries for Help
>>> via Text Messages Are Used to Direct Aid to Haiti" it said that during
>>> the current Haiti disaster, a message was sent to every phone on the
>>> Haitian networks, telling people they can report problems and request
>>> help by sending an SMS text-message to 4636.
>>>
>>> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/world/americas/21text.html?ref=technology
>>>
>>> This Ushahidi blog page says that the service has been set up and
>>> operated by Ushahidi (the developers of the SMS facility) and lots of
>>> volunteers.
>>>
>>>
http://blog.ushahidi.com/index.php/2010/01/17/the-4636-sms-shortcode-for-reporti\
ng-in-haiti/
>>>
>>> It describes how it operates, as follows...
>>>
>>>
>>>       /How it works/
>>>
>>> /The basic process for this project follows is this:/
>>>
>>>    1. /Put word out that people on the ground can send [Name,
>>>       location, status/message]/
>>>    2. /SMS submitted, with varying levels of structure/detail/
>>>    3. /Enters database/
>>>    4. /Passed to a mechanical turk-type outfit of volunteers for
>>>       structuring/
>>>    5. /Message is structured in the database/
>>>    6. /Gets passed off to orgs (via //Sahana/
>>>       <http://haiti-orgs.sahanafoundation.org/prod/>/) that can do
>>>       something about the issue/
>>>
>>> And to bring all this information, requests and reports together in a
>>> useable form, it says they set up an online database...
>>>
>>> / "Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes, Brian Herbert worked with Josh, Luke
>>> Beckman from //InSTEDD/ <http://instedd.org/>/, //Paul Goodman/
>>> <http://pdgoodman.com/>/ from //DAI/ <http://www.dai.com/>/, and Rob
>>> Munro to structure content. They created an online database at
>>> //http://4636.ushahidi.com/ <http://4636.USHAHIDI.COM>/ where incoming
>>> raw SMS reports can be tagged and mapped."/
>>>
>>> They also have volunteers monitoring Facebook and Twitter, to see
>>> where help is needed.
>>>
>>> Anyway, please read the whole Ushahidi blog page if it interests you.
>>>
>>> It interests me when i think about Peter's question "How could someone
>>> gather a small amount of data that would improve knowledge a lot".
>>>
>>> With Ushahidi's system, thousands of survivors and NGOs are sending in
>>> all sorts of SMS reports and it takes an army of volunteers to process
>>> it all. I'm thinking about "In a future disaster situation, where
>>> fewer volunteers and resources are available, is there a simpler way
>>> to get an adequate overview of the situation?". You have to bear in
>>> mind that there may not be NGO staff, helath-workers, etc, everywhere,
>>> to send in well-formatted, statistically-valid reports by SMS, just
>>> ordinary people. How little information would one need to gather, to
>>> allocate food-aid etc correctly?
>>>
>>> _Google Earth Map_
>>>
>>> I also noticed that Google has produced a Google Earth .KML file for
>>> Haiti, that you can download and open in the Google Earth program, to
>>> see Haiti (Port Au Prince, etc) as it is after the earthquake, with
>>> destroyed buildings. (If you just use the ordinary Google Earth
>>> service, it still shows Haiti as it was before the earthquake).
>>>
>>> http://www.google.com/relief/haitiearthquake/
>>>
>>> Ricardo
>>>

Dear Colleagues

Many of you know of my concern about accountability and are aware of
my ongoing effort to implement an initiative to improve the system of
metrics for socio-economic progress and performance.

This is moving to reality with Community Analytics (CA).

Change.org recently launched the 2010 Ideas for Change in America
competition, and I've submitted "Community Analytics (CA)."

To win the competition the idea needs votes ... and quickly!

To support this idea, all you have to do is click on the link below
and you can vote in less than a minute.
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/community_analytics_ca

The top 10 voted ideas will be presented at an event in Washington, DC
to relevant members of the Obama Administration, and then promoted to
Change.org's full community of more than 1 million people. So we could
have a real impact.

If you can reach out to others that would be appreciated!

Thanks for the help! Very much appreciated.

Peter Burgess
___________
Peter Burgess
Community Analytics (CA)
http://communityanalyticsca.blogspot.com
skype: peterburgessnyc

Hi Andrius and all

I hope you are all doing fine. I would like to take this opportunity to thank
everyone and above all God for giving us the chance to live as we continue to
help each other in developing one anther. I would also like to send my sincere
appologies to all of you for not being supportive due to college activities that
took place and I hope I might be able to share many ideas with you.

Last year Andrius grant me the privillages to lead the includer project. I have
think all about it and I hope I am ready to start the project now. However I
suggested that if I can find a way to learn more about the project it self then
it can be a good opportunity for me to know how the concerned device works and
it might help me explore more ideas that might associate related matters.

I would like to invite you all in the collaboration team project that might work
on the includer project. Since am only a computer science student this might be
a great opportunity for me to learn more things from electronics technicians and
other members of related specialty.  Before I continue I think it might be great
if I explain exactly what it means.

Andrius sent me the gumstix processor for creating the includer. I clearly
understood the idea but I did not understand more about the gumstix itself. So I
somehow wanted to find a way in which I can use to understand how I can create
the device that has the same features but built up from a PIC microcontroller.
What gave me the hard time was I was able to buy the Programmer Kit that can be
useful for programming the PIC's I also bought a Microchip PIC15F877 for
starting the programming stuff. I have downloaded the books and several diodes
that might be useful. However I still need assistance from people who worked
with such devices to show me how I learn about the PIC inorder to develop such
device.

So I would like to ask you or anyone out there who can help me out find ways to
get used with this devices so that we can make such device. If you have no idea
about the includer please read more details from here http://www.includer.org I
hope you will find information that will help you understand what is going on.

As for now I don't have much to say but I hope I will get more support and ideas
from all of you which will help us create the device together and not all by
myself. This is an open work which needs community development and will work as
ab open collaboration.

I hope you have understand what I meant to say and hope to hear more from you.

Yours

Kiyavilo

Hi Kims

Here's a couple of PIC discussion sites that I found. They might let you make friends with some experienced PIC programmers.

PICList.com - An email-based mailing-list and question/answer system, started by MIT students. See FAQ link for details of how to send/receive emails and the Beginners link.

http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist/index.htm

Circuit Cellar discussion forums. See Processors/Controllers sub-forum.

http://bbs.circuitcellar.com/phpbb/

If you find these sites/email-list hard to use, you can at least ask people what other PIC discussion sites they use.

Is the PIC processor number you stated below correct (PIC15F877)? There seems to be more pages on the internet for PIC16F877 than PIC15F877.

Ricardo

--- In mendenyo@yahoogroups.com, Kiyavilo Msekwa <kims00748@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Andrius and all
>
> I hope you are all doing fine. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone and above all God for giving us the chance to live as we continue to help each other in developing one anther. I would also like to send my sincere appologies to all of you for not being supportive due to college activities that took place and I hope I might be able to share many ideas with you.
>
> Last year Andrius grant me the privillages to lead the includer project. I have think all about it and I hope I am ready to start the project now. However I suggested that if I can find a way to learn more about the project it self then it can be a good opportunity for me to know how the concerned device works and it might help me explore more ideas that might associate related matters.
>
> I would like to invite you all in the collaboration team project that might work on the includer project. Since am only a computer science student this might be a great opportunity for me to learn more things from electronics technicians and other members of related specialty. Before I continue I think it might be great if I explain exactly what it means.
>
> Andrius sent me the gumstix processor for creating the includer. I clearly understood the idea but I did not understand more about the gumstix itself. So I somehow wanted to find a way in which I can use to understand how I can create the device that has the same features but built up from a PIC microcontroller. What gave me the hard time was I was able to buy the Programmer Kit that can be useful for programming the PIC's I also bought a Microchip PIC15F877 for starting the programming stuff. I have downloaded the books and several diodes that might be useful. However I still need assistance from people who worked with such devices to show me how I learn about the PIC inorder to develop such device.
>
> So I would like to ask you or anyone out there who can help me out find ways to get used with this devices so that we can make such device. If you have no idea about the includer please read more details from here http://www.includer.org I hope you will find information that will help you understand what is going on.
>
> As for now I don't have much to say but I hope I will get more support and ideas from all of you which will help us create the device together and not all by myself. This is an open work which needs community development and will work as ab open collaboration.
>
> I hope you have understand what I meant to say and hope to hear more from you.
>
> Yours
>
> Kiyavilo
>

Dear Andrius, Kims and all

I was browsing through the Hackaday website today, where people hack electronic devices to re-purpose them, and I noticed this article...

"Is that some new type of Kindle?"

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/22/is-that-some-type-of-new-kindle/

A contributor called Mike Szczys has turned a digital photo-frame into an eBook Reader by using a Python script to produce JPEG images of text pages, then display them like photos on the photo-frame.

I've added a comment to say that the free MS Windows Program called Bullzip can print anything (text, web-pages, etc) straight to a set of JPEG pages (good for prototyping photo-frame eReader projects), or you can use 2 free programs together, PrimoPDF to print to PDF, then IrfanView to convert PDF to JPEGs.

Mike Szczys might be someone worth talking to about eReader or Includer ideas. We don't have any production facilities to manufacture new hardware, but using off-the-shelf digital photo frames, plus our own software might be feasible.

My comment in full was...

"I was wondering myself whether a digital photo frame might make a cheap eBook Reader for developing countries. Some have built-in batteries. I found a free MS Windows program called Bullzip that installs as a printer drive and prints to a set of auto-numbered JPEG pages. It could be good for prototyping photo-frame text display projects. Alternatively, PrimoPDF etc can print to PDF, then use IrfanView (Options, Extract All Frames) to convert PDF to numbered JPEGs."

Ricardo 

Hi Ricardo,
Thanks for thinking about this issue. Yes I know about this, but in my humble
opinion it's to little to late. Also its just in one direction, dont remember if
only sending or receiving. Nothing special.
Anyway it still doesn't work. Here politicians often promise to much...
  Moneybookers was excellent for me until US laws forbade its use for US citizens
for some strange reason.
Good to see you online again!

--- In mendenyo@yahoogroups.com, "ricardoolpc" <ricardoolpc@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Sasha (Mrkailo)   I saw this news story written in June 2009 about
> plans for Serbia to join Paypal in 2010. Do you know if it's true or
> not? It would be good news if true, to let you buy computer/phone parts
> on eBay.
> http://www.metamorfozis.org.mk/world/serbia-to-join-paypal-in-2010.html
> <http://www.metamorfozis.org.mk/world/serbia-to-join-paypal-in-2010.html\
> >    Serbia to join PayPal in 2010
> Friday, 12 June 2009 15:40
> Serbian telecommunications minister Jasna Matic stated during an
> internet conference that there are plans to include Serbia in the
> "PayPal" internet payment system by the year 2010.
> Serbia's accession to this system, which would be free for the
> users, would be an incentive for e-commerce and business in Serbia.
> Matic stated that the number of internet connections had increased by
> 300.000 in 2008, thanks to the development of 3G mobile internet. She
> also said that not everyone who has the opportunity to use the internet
> is actually using it, and therefore the popularization and reduction of
> the price would positively influence its expansion. According to Matic,
> the tax on mobile telephony tax could slow this process a bit.   Namely,
> the two-day conference "I front" was also attended by Simon
> Bruconi – promoter of Amazon.com's internet services in Europe,
> David Rogers – PayPal payment system researcher, as well as Cisco
> representatives, and representatives of the online sale company
> "e-shop" and the Serbian national internet domain register.
>
> Ricardo
>

Dear Peter Burgess

I saw this article on an ICT4D Blog by an academic, Christopher T Coward, and I thought it might interest you, in relation to Community Analytics.

http://secondrecess.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/transparency-and-public-libraries/

Here's an extract :-

"This speech reminded me of a visit I made last year to a rural library in Guatemala supported by the Riecken Foundation. As I walked through the library I was struck by this poster and asked the library manager what it was about. The answer – "This is our transparency corner. Every month we post the budget of the library for our patrons to see, and if they wish, comment on. For instance, we've received suggestions to spend more money on books, or on community events, or whatever. It's a way to get the community engaged in how the library can best serve their needs."  How cool is that?"

It struck me that the general idea of a 'Transparency Corner' is really important. It's not sufficient to collect information on spending and it's affect, and take it away for analysis and decision-making. It's much more effective to show that information to the local people who use the service, so they can see what money is being spent on, what they want it to be spent on, identifying waste, etc. If information is hidden-away, it may as well not exist. For example, just analysed back at an NGO HQ or fed back to foreign donors.

Does Community Analytics include this local feedback already? Discussing how best to present data to local people may be a good way to generate interest in Community Analytics. As people in the USA/Europe get into a lively discussion over the relative merits of tables versus bar-charts versus pie-charts, etc, and what's best for semi-literate people, it might get them more interested in the whole subject.

Ricardo

Hi Andrius, Janet, Peter and all
                                 if anyone you know who is US-resident is looking
for funding or publicity for a project (individual, non-profit org or
social-business), then Pepsi run a 'submit your ideas' contest each month. I saw
this in a Global Giving newsletter. Catagories are health, arts, food, the
planet, neighbourhoods, education.

Prizes each month are...

10 x $5,000, 10 x $25,000, 10 x $50,000, 2 x $250,000

In the How it Works page FAQ, it says you submit ideas between 1st - 15th of the
month, but get in fast, just after midnight 12:01 Eastern Time on the 1st, as
they only consider the first 1000 ideas received each month. Judging is the
second half of the month.

http://www.refresheverything.com/index

Ricardo

Dear All
         I'm sorry if any of you received an almost-blank "~~ Hi Ricardo" email
from my email address recently. I had a virus on my PC that was sending
automatic emails to everyone in my address book. If you get any similar
messages, please ignore them.

I've run a full anti-virus sweep, and I think I've eliminated it now.

Ricardo