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I’ve recently started following the database technology called FluidINFO. Data can be dynamically organised, shared, combined, augmented and searched. FluidINFO is conceptually simple:
This makes it possible for data to be social as a network of interrelated data, information and annotations builds up. cittadelcapo – your capetonian guide to the mother city">cittadelcapo - your capetonian guide to the mother cityCountryman Media recently developed Citta’ del Capo. A travel site is designed for Italians visiting the Mother city. The site is built to achieve two primary user experiences: 1. Find places of interest on the map. 2. Find accommodation in the area that’s right for you. Citta’ del Capo connects users with local information in the international language of images, maps and tags. This intuitive connection to local information gives the user the ability to find what they want. The site provides location-based services, in English and Italian, through the Geodjango geographic web framework. Hotel reservation and transport reservation is enabled through booking.com and opodo.it respectively. Deployment is through the mod_wsgi module running on Apache 2 behind an nginx proxy. Akvo.org – the open source for water and sanitation">Akvo.org – the open source for water and sanitationOver the weekend I attended the AID Information Challenge. The event was held at the Guardian in London and was part of the Guardian Open Platform. I was fortunate enough to meet the AKVO team. Thomass Bjelkemann-Pettersson presented an overview of the organisation. We create and share internet and mobile phone tools that for the first time make it easy for everyone to reach out and fund thousands of new water and sanitation projects. This is really important, because today 2.6 billion people lack sanitation facilities and 1.1 billion still can’t access safe drinking water. Fix this, and people climb out of poverty fast. You get healthy people, who don’t have to spend hours fetching water and can make a better living. Akvo addresses the following problems:Information exchangeInformation about low cost sustainable water and sanitation solutions is available, but spread over a large number of sources, and essentially disorganised. FundingThe water and sanitation community struggles to attract additional flows of money and connect funds directly to where the demand is. ReportingThe sector is stuck in a ‘thick Word report’ process, and struggles to share and visualise results in an appealing way to funders and the general public. Akvo makes it much easier to do four things:1. Find projects to fundAkvo makes it clear where your money goes. Funders choose the projects they want and watch progress unfold as the community teams share updates via SMS, photos and movie clips. 2. Find donors to fund your projectAkvo cuts bureaucracy and paperwork for NGOs around the world who today find that process burdensome. They can post projects in a simple manner without being forced through complex steps. All partners are from trusted networks. We make it easier and quicker for them to find the right kind of funds. Professional development organisations assist in carefully selecting the field partners that are allowed to post projects online. Every project in Akvo has a field partner (project executor) and a support partner (responsible for monitoring) to make sure we meet the highest quality requirements. The online payment system that Akvo uses is set-up in close cooperation with our strategic partner, the Rabobank. 3. Report on project progressAkvo Really Simple Reporting (RSR) makes it easy for local communities and field teams to share short text updates, images 4. Share water and sanitation knowledgeAkvopedia works just like Wikipedia. It is filled with information on smart and affordable water and sanitation technology in rural or urban settings. Anyone can contribute knowledge and edit Akvopedia. Local field workers get access to new ideas for their projects, and can share knowledge in new ways. For those with good content but who are short of time to share it, Akvopedia offers free editorial services. GOAL 1:ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY & HUNGERTarget 1: Target 2: Target 3: GOAL 2:ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATIONTarget 1: GOAL 3:PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMENTarget 1: GOAL 4:REDUCE CHILD MORTALITYTarget 1: GOAL 5:IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTHTarget 1: Target 2: GOAL 6:COMBAT HIV/AIDS, MALARIA AND OTHER DISEASESTarget 1: S Target 2: Target 3: GOAL 7:ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITYTarget 1: Target 2: Target 3: Target 4: GOAL 8:DEVELOP A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENTTarget 1: Target 2: Target 3: Target 4: Target 5: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ I’ve just returned from a fantasic holiday to Sri Lanka. We’d heard about the the incredible beauty of the island and were attracted by this and the charm of Sri Lankan culture. We had a great trip and were looked after by most most courteous fun loving people. As soon as our South African nationality was known smiles appeared and cricket conversations blossomed. We passed through many military checkpoints and it’s clear that the country is just beginning to emerge from 30 years of civil war. As Naomi Klein explained so well in her book ‘ The Shock Doctrine’ the island is experiencing radical socio-economic change in the aftermath of war and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami In addition to the charm of Sri Lankan people the environment and sport are two major drawcards for this country. I hope they are able to develop these resources wisely. Sri Lanka has a strong tea growing tradition and the deforestation affects of this are well known.
My hope is that the leaders of Sri Lanka are able to move out of the mentality war and the colonial tea growing mentality. Focus now needs to be placed on the countries emerging economic strengths. These include environmental tourism and sporting events like one day cricket internationals. |
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