from the horizon

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?

We also faced a fairly major problem when were were entering the data, because the names that people had written on the questionnaire varied slightly from the names in the participant list – why couldn’t we all have numbers instead! I also think that our data quality also suffered because we didn’t quantify “friend”.

I tested out the computer which we would be used for our presentation – I’d never used Ubuntu before!

In the end our performance went really well – I really do think that using action and movement is one of the best (and most fun) ways of transferring knowledge – for the participants and the audience.

Finally, as part of our questionaire people were asked to name 5 new foreign friends. The idea was to select a Mr. and Ms. ICT Camp. I was somewhat opposed to the to the idea, as I didn’t see the need to create a “popularity contest”, and even more opposed when I saw the results of the questionnaire and the loin cloth prop which they were going to have to wear. After all, the question was rather weighted against someone who was the only person from his country, foreign to everyone, and a foot taller than most of the participants!

We finished off the intense week of work with an amazing buffet, singing, dancing and beer by the pool (I think I may have picked the wrong South East Asian country to work in!).

Over all, I found the process of the camp much more interesting than the content. I think that this participatory approach to running an event, which has developed from the technological Open Source movement, has many potential cross-overs and applications in the field of Development. The key is run an event with the right balance between the dynamic, fuild, participatory approach and well defined content, to ensure that the participants get the knowledge the need.

This is something I would like to try in the future…