May 5th, 2008
For many people, visits to the field represent a chance to meet the beneficiaries of our programs and really get a feel for the difference which we’re making. Unfortunately I’ve chosen the wrong sector for this. Working in supply chain management means that a field trip only involves going to another office, in a remote area. The main difference is that the problems tend to be more complicated, and I’m more powerless to solve them!
March 1st, 2008
One of the other great things about the camp is that it gave me the opportunity to play with the new Fire Pois which I brought myself when I was back home in New Zealand - with some really good photographers around to take photos!
March 1st, 2008
On the final day, we presented our Information Management track project. It was decided that our project would look into social networking at the camp, so a questionnaire was prepared and distributed, asking various questions about the number of friendship people had before during and after the camp, and the best activities for making new friends.
I made a simple Access database to enter the data, while a number of others started planning the project presentation. As the presentation started becoming more of a performance (before the results of the questionnaire were finished), I began to worry that the medium would become the message - but isn’t that always the case?
February 29th, 2008
On the fourth day I ran my session on Database Design. As I was only asked to present this session three days previously, I hadn’t had any spare time to put together anything other than an outline and make rough notes. Fortunately this is a topic which I’ve spent far too much time thinking about, so I was fairly well prepared.
February 28th, 2008
Day 3 became more interesting, but also further increased my information overload, not only from all the new material which I was being exposed to, but from all the new ideas which it was spawning!
The first session introduced the Visualizing Information for Advocacy booklet, which covered different ways to design information. The booklet was produced by Tactical Technology Collective who were helping to run the camp, and I would highly recommend it for a clear, simple and short (43 pages) introduction to information design. It can be downloaded for free.
February 27th, 2008
I don’t know how people live-blog from conferences and workshops. When I haven’t been in the various sessions, I’m talking interesting people, and when I’m not doing that I’m exhausted. Hence this rest of the posts about the camp are several days late! I have also been trying to get some work sorted out, and have felt guilty whenever I’ve been anti-socially hiding behind a laptop. I’m not convinced that having laptops at Conferences/Workshops/Camps is a good idea.
Never-the-less laptops are a handy resource. A Wiki (website which can be editted by anyone, like Wikipedia) was set up for the camp, which allowed people to created the following report, of all the activities in our track. Read the rest of this entry »
February 25th, 2008
Today was the first day of the Mekong ICT (Information Communication Technology) Camp which I am attending in Thailand. The camp is for people from Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, and despite that I am neither from this region, nor working in the region, I felt that Indonesia was close enough, and it sounded interesting, so here I am. The camp is along the lines of a BarCamp, which means that it doesn’t have a ridged schedule and participation is encouraged.
January 16th, 2008
I started off with lofty ambitions to “save the world” by revolutionizing the way NGOs use technology. I have traveled to 3 different countries, worked in 15 different offices for 2 different NGOs, run countless trainings for over 80 participants. But I certainly haven’t revolutionized anything, and on the bad days I worry if I’ve done anything other than rack up Airmiles.
But today, I took some satisfaction is one of the smaller things - teaching 3 of the staff to play Solitaire. Nothing monumental in the grand scheme of things, but rather significant if you’ve never used a computer before. And it’s perhaps the most significant step towards training them to use the Supply Chain Management database I designed.
December 22nd, 2007
It was a beautiful day in Banda Aceh, and a group of us had been talking about going for a trek in the jungle to find “The Secret Beach”. However due to a number of people either working, booking flights or generally being lame, only Dan and myself set out on the expedition on the back of his motorbike.
December 3rd, 2007
Two years ago I had my 24th birthday in Banda Aceh. It was a great day, with a trip to the beach with my Indonesian friends and party in the evening with my expat friends. And now, two years later, I’m back in Banda Aceh for my birthday - I would have never guessed.
Virtually all of my expat friends from when I was first here have moved on, however I planned to have another trip to the beach with the same Indonesian friends. Unfortunately the rainy season forced us to stay at home, but didn’t stop us for barbecuing a couple of fish at my house. It was great to see everyone from the NGO who I volunteered with when I first arrived in Aceh.
They had no problem getting the BBQ started - although I really don’t think it was necessary to drain the fuel pump to get the fire started - again! Read the rest of this entry »