Two Hands of Web2forDev
From Web2forDev
Topic of Web2.0 for Development is like fingers of two hands. Each finger represents one component of development work.
We find ourself with a left hand full of web 2 tools, a thumb of blogs and vlogs to publish our content in words, speech or images, a second finger of wikis and social network tools to jointly develop ideas and exchange, a third finger of tags to order our thoughts. The fourth finger of feeds spreads the word to other sites and across the net and the last finger is for mash-ups to bring a view of the web together for ourselves and others.
These tools are no use for development if we don't use our right hand of approaches. The thumb to look at the people we use the tools with and for - considering needs. The second finger to remember access, (connectivity and language), the third to support participation, (considering motivations) the fourth for issues of content- (style, media and type) and finally none of this is worth while without the fifth - change, (a positive change of progress and innovation.
Contents |
Left hand: Tools
blog
- Lot of technologies were thought to be for entertainment, but these can be used for business
- “reach as many people as possible with your ideas”
- Vlogging seems important to civil society organisations
- Use blogs to highlight unread material
wikis
- “exciting, immediate, and empowering--everyone has a say”
tags
- “I’m not disappointed that tagging isn’t as comprehensive, reliable, or meticulous as taxonomy. It serves different – and complementary – purposes”
- “tags have a social dimension, organizing information better for other searchers who use those keywords”
- Tagging things with web2fordev
feeds
- Move to RSS feeds to unlock content from website(FAO)
- “If you're resisting RSS, that's understandable. But it's the thought leaders, the proverbial creative class (dreadful term) that are using it ... and if that's the kind of organization you have or the kind of career you're building, it's time to get over that resistance”
mashup
- “a lot of talk about Web 2.0, web mashups, etc..which in my mind are all facets of the same phenomenon: that information and presentation are being separated in ways that allow for novel forms of reuse”
- Need to digest (chew?)
Right hand: The people
people
- “it’s not about the tools, it’s about the people who are connected by these tools”
- All about people
access
- “english is not enough anymore, you need select, translate and put the content into context”
Mobile applications so important
participation
- “the new web gives voice to the people”
- Web2 in presentations alone doesn’t work need for participatory web sessions
content
- ‘the new web allows proliferation of content”
- change
- Progress achieved by Africa
- “development workers can take actions for change to happen”
change
Questions
- What is the one most inspiring thing you will take home from this conference?
- How will you take what you have learned and apply it when you get home?
Observations
- So much going on
- International exchange is valuable
- So many different people
- Wanted to organise training session back home
- Uganda presentation
- Interdisciplinarity
- Need to use existing applications more
- anthropology and technology needed
- Can’t wait to get back home and follow up
- Exchanges outside were so enrichening
- Brilliant to be able to send sms to blog
- We’re not weird!!!
- Just a few examples of web2 there are many more
- Convinced to contaminate web2.
- Share this experience with colleagues
- Join facebook
- takehome paper
- Take home email addresses
- Write an article for NORAD, norway
- Need to go home and explore which is relevant to me
