Thursday, July 30, 2009

The World Wants to Know

Appfrica reports on The World Wants to know(WW2K) a "data visualization suite of questions being asked by rural populations around the globe.":
It’s an exercise in data visualization and offers insight as to the types of information these populations are interested in. Before you ask what the answers are, we do give them to the callers but to protect their identities as well as the interests of our pilot partners, that information (unfortunately) cannot be shared...The WW2K application works by querying a server located at my office in Uganda which is currently on a 192kbps connection with spotty power

More here

1 comments:

Lars said...

I am contacting you concerning The World Log (http://theworldlog.org), a web platform that spreads user generated content (blogs, photos, video and newsletters) related to development cooperation to larger audiences.

The Swedish International Development Coorporation Agency (Sida) has developed the on-line platform to bring the general public closer to the realities of development work throughout the world and to involve them in the issues. The target audiences for the site are professionals, people involved in development issues and the general public. The goal of the platform is to raise awareness and generate discussion prior to, during and after the European Development Days (http://www.eudevdays.eu/) in Stockholm this October, and to engage the general public in the debate and questions of international development. The World Log is bringing the tools of the 21st century to bare on the issues to be discussed .

The World Log shows real stories and discussions from development work around the world in an easily accessible way. Entries are plotted on Google maps and marked up by topic, making your blog and others easliy available to those not versed in blog search tools. The platform will be heavily promoted during the European Development Days through several official sites such as the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Swedish EU Presidency website and the Sida website. The goal of the platform is to drive as many people as possible to the actual blogs, such as yours, and engage them in actual development work discussions and activities from around the world.

Registration for the site is free and will take roughly 10 minutes of your time. You can attach your blog by simply copying and pasting in your RSS feed into your World Log profile. You can set up standard tags for your entries, such as the country you are working in or writing about and the issues that you regularly address such as AIDS or water. This way when someone searches for articles, blogs and discussions about, for example, water, you will be part of the results. You can also add specific tags for specific articles. For example if you regularly write about agricultural development in Rwanda but write a blog entry about women's issues in Central Africa, you can tag that specific blog entry to reflect the different topic.

The World Log is not limited to blogs alone. Newsletters, photos and videos are all supported and encouraged. All you need is the RSS feed. The platform also supports discussions and comments based on entries so that you can follow what your readers are saying. Readers who click on your entry are directed to your site so you register the hit. We have developed a widget that you can embed in your site if you wish your readers to see on-going discussions and topic on the World Log related to what you write about. And we also have badges that you can attach to your site to show your affiliation with the World Log. There are no strings attached, we do this to promote discussion and engage the public, though we encourage you to promote the site for your and others benefit.

I really hope that you will consider being a part of the discussion. You are passionate about the issues and development (which is why I am contacting you) and so are we. I can send you the conditions of use and more detailed information about the site including an easy to use set up guide. If you would like help setting up your account, I would be happy to assist you and if you have any questions, please ask.

The World Log is an opportunity for you to reach new readers and have your voice heard in the build up to, during and after the European Development Days conference.

Thank you for your help and time
Lars Hansen
larsworldlog@gmail.com