Social ICT brings the right people together
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Kazi Rubaiat Imam
ICT (Information and Communication Technology) was, and possibly still is, considered to be a good choice of career by our youth entering into universities for their education. Many foreign companies coming for businesses offer decent to extravagant salaries to our ICT professionals. ICT makes our lives better. Computers make computation faster. Getting things done faster should do us a lot of good. Mobile phones allowing us ubiquitous communication also do us a lot of good. In a multi-layered society as ours, ideas have to be stretched to fit special circumstances to make the best out of ICT available to all. For the introduction, lets just consider the example of Polli-phones or rural-phones. Phones were, even a few years back, a commodity not affordable by the poor. If one could manage a phone somehow, the costs of running it would be too high. In situations like this, we have to ask the right questions, consider the right angles.
Questioning what use would a poor person from a remote village have for a cell phone could be the right or wrong thing to ask, depending on the angle. Think of who would she call? Do enough of her acquaintances have phones so she would call and talk to them? Could she afford the operational costs? These might be the initial direction our minds take us. However, the business ideas that led to the introduction of Polli-phones, asked questions in a different line of course. And this difference is what we'll take a look at and explore here today.
Lets start with simple examples, since within the simplicity of these ideas lay the beauty of its achievement. Lets start with a few websites. Up first is DonorsChoose.org. At their site, they have a section where teachers from different places, schools list project proposals, for which they do not have enough resources to implement it fully. A price tag is usually attached to these projects so that visiting philanthropists can make better judgment on the commitment they can make to these projects financially. This goes with their tagline: 'Teachers Ask. You Choose. Students Learn'. And the resources listed can be simple things like books, dictionaries, to technical equipment like projectors. As part of the process, the receiving students also send back thank you letters and photos to the donor, which pretty sure makes for a very happy ending for everyone.
This site, in a nutshell, performs one very important task - it brings the right people together. There are many out there who have the intent of giving, but not sure how, and where, while schools are struggling to find funds to finance all their needs. DonorsChoose.org is the place where these two parties shake hands. Similar websites are out there which also bring the right people together. Kiva.org is one such site, where micro-financing is given a lift. Micro-financing is usually associated with financial institutions like banks who give out the small loans. Here, the financier is an individual, and through Kiva's help, this donor can find another individual to lend his money out to. The individuals listed as seeking loans are from the developing countries, where sums of money which might be considered small in developed countries, mean a lot. Not to forget, it's still a loan, to be returned at some point to the lender. Kiva doesn't operate entirely independent of MFIs or Micro-Financing Institutions. The MFIs help Kiva pick out the candidates for loans. Similar to DonorsChoose.org, the visiting philanthropist can go through a list of these candidates, see which country they are from, learn their story, what they plan to do with the money, etc. The lenders can thus get a feel for the person they are lending their money to. Actually the loan is handled by an MFI.
As long as we would need to connect, 'Taking IT Global.org' would be relevant. It has been there ever since the oldest social networking websites came into existence, long before 'MySpace', or 'Facebook' came to the scene. Though, not as popular, in terms of media coverage the latter two received, it does have an enormous number of members dispersed all over the globe, who interact with the aim of learning and pursuing social work. A non-profit organisation based in Canada TakingITGlobal connects youth all over the world committed to social change. As stated on their website, their mission is to provide opportunities for learning, capacity-building, cross-cultural awareness and self-development through the use of Information and Communication Technologies. And beneath their logo are these three words - inspire, inform, and involve. With these goals in sight, the site is available in 12 different languages, has a good organisation of information, and provides ample search facilities to locate social activities, organisations, discussions etc. The main navigating system is a menu with the following options (each with many sub options within):
Make Connections - with discussion boards, e-cards with social messages, user defined groups, search facilities for locating members, reading stories on social work or social issues posted by members, newsletters etc.
Take Action - contains guides to how youth can involve themselves in taking action in various fields like climate change, or HIV/AIDS related work etc. These are downloadable electronic documents for free. Sub sections are projects (to create or browse through projects to which the viewer or other users can join depending on the vicinity), an open forum, petitions, commitments (where people can state a commitment, e.g. - to stop using non-biodegradable plastic bags, and others can take pledges to do the same, thus creating a kind of virtual solidarity for a cause). Each commitment gets a page of its own, where its acceptability can be tracked in terms of how many pledges it had targeted and how many pledges it received in reality, and also a blog for the commitment and more.
Browser Resources - with search capabilities to locate organisations, events, financial opportunities (scholarships, grants), professional opportunities (internships, volunteer positions, etc) and publications.
Express Yourself - with a global gallery (a potpourri of art, poetry, and other creative outlets that the members want to express themselves through), an online magazine called Panorama, and a printed publication called TIG Magazine, and the member blogs.
Understand Issues - with a list of internationally declared special days celebrating different causes, small games demonstrating different global issues, and whole sections dedicated to the following topics: Art and Media, Health and Wellness, Human Rights and Equity, etc.
Explore the World - Has data organised according to countries, and also a separate section on Aboriginal Canada.
The organisation of information is multifold, in the sense that it is presented in many perspectives, categorised under appropriate tags. The categories in 'Understanding the Issues' are available for selection using the search facility under the link Browse Resources to locate organisations, financial opportunities, etc. Similarly, 'International Days' is a sub category under 'Understand the Issues', yet, if someone is viewing the issue of 'Health and Wellness' from the 'Issues list' also under 'Browse Resources', that page will also list the international days related to health and wellness. This makes sure that the readers access to all information presented from all angles on any topic.
'TakingITGlobal' sends to its members a monthly dispatch which outlines the topics covered in its 'Panorama' magazine, and other updates on the activities of its members. Its vast database of resources, plus its community approach, its creative outlets, make it, quite ideal for use even students in schools, colleges, and maybe universities to get them organised in social and community activities. TIG realises the potential for use of its resources and toolkits for educating children about social issues, and thus one can find the link 'For Educators' right below its 'About Us' link. That outlines what they call 'TIGed' ('TIG for Educators' made short), which support the issues presented as easy to understand lessons and also lets the teachers create virtual classrooms where students are taught to use tools to write and speak on social issues. The tools are basically blogs, podcasting (audio/video content in digital formats that can be subscribed to) software, digital image galleries discussion boards, etc., put together to good use. (The writer is a software engineer at Therap (BD) Ltd., and can be reached at parthib@gmail.com)
ICT (Information and Communication Technology) was, and possibly still is, considered to be a good choice of career by our youth entering into universities for their education. Many foreign companies coming for businesses offer decent to extravagant salaries to our ICT professionals. ICT makes our lives better. Computers make computation faster. Getting things done faster should do us a lot of good. Mobile phones allowing us ubiquitous communication also do us a lot of good. In a multi-layered society as ours, ideas have to be stretched to fit special circumstances to make the best out of ICT available to all. For the introduction, lets just consider the example of Polli-phones or rural-phones. Phones were, even a few years back, a commodity not affordable by the poor. If one could manage a phone somehow, the costs of running it would be too high. In situations like this, we have to ask the right questions, consider the right angles.
Questioning what use would a poor person from a remote village have for a cell phone could be the right or wrong thing to ask, depending on the angle. Think of who would she call? Do enough of her acquaintances have phones so she would call and talk to them? Could she afford the operational costs? These might be the initial direction our minds take us. However, the business ideas that led to the introduction of Polli-phones, asked questions in a different line of course. And this difference is what we'll take a look at and explore here today.
Lets start with simple examples, since within the simplicity of these ideas lay the beauty of its achievement. Lets start with a few websites. Up first is DonorsChoose.org. At their site, they have a section where teachers from different places, schools list project proposals, for which they do not have enough resources to implement it fully. A price tag is usually attached to these projects so that visiting philanthropists can make better judgment on the commitment they can make to these projects financially. This goes with their tagline: 'Teachers Ask. You Choose. Students Learn'. And the resources listed can be simple things like books, dictionaries, to technical equipment like projectors. As part of the process, the receiving students also send back thank you letters and photos to the donor, which pretty sure makes for a very happy ending for everyone.
This site, in a nutshell, performs one very important task - it brings the right people together. There are many out there who have the intent of giving, but not sure how, and where, while schools are struggling to find funds to finance all their needs. DonorsChoose.org is the place where these two parties shake hands. Similar websites are out there which also bring the right people together. Kiva.org is one such site, where micro-financing is given a lift. Micro-financing is usually associated with financial institutions like banks who give out the small loans. Here, the financier is an individual, and through Kiva's help, this donor can find another individual to lend his money out to. The individuals listed as seeking loans are from the developing countries, where sums of money which might be considered small in developed countries, mean a lot. Not to forget, it's still a loan, to be returned at some point to the lender. Kiva doesn't operate entirely independent of MFIs or Micro-Financing Institutions. The MFIs help Kiva pick out the candidates for loans. Similar to DonorsChoose.org, the visiting philanthropist can go through a list of these candidates, see which country they are from, learn their story, what they plan to do with the money, etc. The lenders can thus get a feel for the person they are lending their money to. Actually the loan is handled by an MFI.
As long as we would need to connect, 'Taking IT Global.org' would be relevant. It has been there ever since the oldest social networking websites came into existence, long before 'MySpace', or 'Facebook' came to the scene. Though, not as popular, in terms of media coverage the latter two received, it does have an enormous number of members dispersed all over the globe, who interact with the aim of learning and pursuing social work. A non-profit organisation based in Canada TakingITGlobal connects youth all over the world committed to social change. As stated on their website, their mission is to provide opportunities for learning, capacity-building, cross-cultural awareness and self-development through the use of Information and Communication Technologies. And beneath their logo are these three words - inspire, inform, and involve. With these goals in sight, the site is available in 12 different languages, has a good organisation of information, and provides ample search facilities to locate social activities, organisations, discussions etc. The main navigating system is a menu with the following options (each with many sub options within):
Make Connections - with discussion boards, e-cards with social messages, user defined groups, search facilities for locating members, reading stories on social work or social issues posted by members, newsletters etc.
Take Action - contains guides to how youth can involve themselves in taking action in various fields like climate change, or HIV/AIDS related work etc. These are downloadable electronic documents for free. Sub sections are projects (to create or browse through projects to which the viewer or other users can join depending on the vicinity), an open forum, petitions, commitments (where people can state a commitment, e.g. - to stop using non-biodegradable plastic bags, and others can take pledges to do the same, thus creating a kind of virtual solidarity for a cause). Each commitment gets a page of its own, where its acceptability can be tracked in terms of how many pledges it had targeted and how many pledges it received in reality, and also a blog for the commitment and more.
Browser Resources - with search capabilities to locate organisations, events, financial opportunities (scholarships, grants), professional opportunities (internships, volunteer positions, etc) and publications.
Express Yourself - with a global gallery (a potpourri of art, poetry, and other creative outlets that the members want to express themselves through), an online magazine called Panorama, and a printed publication called TIG Magazine, and the member blogs.
Understand Issues - with a list of internationally declared special days celebrating different causes, small games demonstrating different global issues, and whole sections dedicated to the following topics: Art and Media, Health and Wellness, Human Rights and Equity, etc.
Explore the World - Has data organised according to countries, and also a separate section on Aboriginal Canada.
The organisation of information is multifold, in the sense that it is presented in many perspectives, categorised under appropriate tags. The categories in 'Understanding the Issues' are available for selection using the search facility under the link Browse Resources to locate organisations, financial opportunities, etc. Similarly, 'International Days' is a sub category under 'Understand the Issues', yet, if someone is viewing the issue of 'Health and Wellness' from the 'Issues list' also under 'Browse Resources', that page will also list the international days related to health and wellness. This makes sure that the readers access to all information presented from all angles on any topic.
'TakingITGlobal' sends to its members a monthly dispatch which outlines the topics covered in its 'Panorama' magazine, and other updates on the activities of its members. Its vast database of resources, plus its community approach, its creative outlets, make it, quite ideal for use even students in schools, colleges, and maybe universities to get them organised in social and community activities. TIG realises the potential for use of its resources and toolkits for educating children about social issues, and thus one can find the link 'For Educators' right below its 'About Us' link. That outlines what they call 'TIGed' ('TIG for Educators' made short), which support the issues presented as easy to understand lessons and also lets the teachers create virtual classrooms where students are taught to use tools to write and speak on social issues. The tools are basically blogs, podcasting (audio/video content in digital formats that can be subscribed to) software, digital image galleries discussion boards, etc., put together to good use. (The writer is a software engineer at Therap (BD) Ltd., and can be reached at parthib@gmail.com)