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Conference Summary
Janet Feldman, director of KAIPPG
International was the lead organizer and moderator
for Global
Learn Day 8 African region segment. The theme
this year was"Health, Education,
Radio, and the Net."
GLD 8 AFRICA highlights included:
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Fred Ouko's outline of the remarkable work
he is doing through KCYP/GAIN (Kenya)
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Sylvie Siyam discussion of PROTEGE (Cameroon)
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Tafadzwa Mupfawa of the Dzidzai Foundation
(Zimbabwe)
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Jeff Buderer/Mark Roest/Ed Cherlin of the
oneVillage Foundation and Simputer (USA)
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Andrius Kulikauskas of Minciu Sodas (Lithuania)
who also did a wonderful job moderating the
content between the chat room and the VOIP
internet and phone rooms.
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Heidi Schaeffer of Developing Countries Farm
Radio Network (Canada), talked about her work
in helping broadcaster promote best practices
among farmers through radio
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Franz Nahrada of GIVE and the Globalvillages
forum (Austria) all connected, made wonderful
contributions, and started us on numerous
other conversations.
Janet notes that there were some tech issues
that may have kept some people from getting into
the discussion - three at least. However it is
important to see that these are very new technologies
as well as methods of organizing and the bugs
have not been completely worked out yet. As testers
of these innovative technologies we are actually
helping the process of innovation. That is why
it is to important that we develop effectives
processes of collecting best practices - as investigators
of new and innovative technologies - so that we
move the process forward as rapidly as possible
in a concerted global effort to address world
urgent issues. If it is our goal to create a better
world, we must ensure that modern systems be more
inclusive in their scope and impact, rather than
simply serving an exclusive club of affluent nations.
A networked bootstrapping strategy can enable
us to come together as socially conscious people
helping each other become more empowered as change
agents dedicated to global transformation.
The greatest success of GLD 8 was its power to
build grassroots networks, bridging not only the
digital divide but also the overall distance between
the developing and developed worlds. GLD8 is a
process which enables the sharing of information
and best practices among our networks.
The next step is to further discuss the key topics
raised in GLD8 and work collectively as a network
to empower African communities. A large part of
our work has focused on working with Doug Engelbart
to explore
the organizational and technological resources
needed to empower human networks.
OVF anticipates the further development of these
web conferencing tools so that their reliability
and effectiveness is improved. We also plan to
consider how they can be utilized by us at some
of the upcoming conferences we will participating
including the UNESCO/Club of Rome sponsored Digital
World Conference and also the proposed Paradox
4 conference at Arcosanti in 2005. We are also
are looking at their application as open and distance
learning tools that can be utilized in our oneVillage
Initiative strategy to build capacity in underserved
communities. If would you be interested in participating
with us in this community building process, please
contact us ([email protected]).
We hope that all of you will continue to come
together with us and explore the various way we
can help each other realize our dreams in relation
to community consultation and appropriate development
approaches. A special thanks from Janet and I
goes to Andrius not only for his "bridging"
today but also for the "wiki" and Flash
mob. These are tools we can use for our communications
now and in future, adding to the foundation we
have built here today. As Janet says, "Let's
use these techniques, email, perhaps a chat forum
and other methods of net/working together, not
only with regard to GLD but whatever work we are
doing and conversations we are having."
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Closing Comments on the
entire GLD8 Conference by Jeff Buderer
See the OVF
Blog for more...
GLD8 African Event Speakers
Over 40 people were scheduled to participate
in the discussion. Go here
to see the list of the GLD8 African Event
Scheduled Speakers and Participants.
Wiki and Flash Mob
Andrius Kulikauskas of Minciu Sodas -along with
Rick Nelson of Solaroof, Franz Nahrada of Globalvillages,
and the folks at OVF - have been discussing how
we might start building upon this GLD gathering
and all the work we are individually and collectively
doing, and have come up with a couple fantastic
ideas...a wiki and a Flash Mob. The GLD
8 Africa Wiki is a way for people to post
information relevant to the conference and to
organize.
Make your Voice Heard!
The WRI Eradicating Poverty Conference
and online Pre-conference
This conference which is taking place in San
Francisco is a way to bring forward your perspective,
needs and aspirations to a larger community of
decision makers and innovators. Of particular
note is the VP of WRI (World Resources Institute)
Al hammond. He along with several people involved
with GLD8 have been involved in one of the pre-conference
online events the GKD-DOTCOM listserv. Go here
to learn more.
Related Network links
Here is a list
of other related/networked organizations and their
Urls. |