didn’t make it to the next round but looking forward…

Fifty-one entries were chosen to move on to the next round of the Knight Networks News Challenge. OURY Digital Dialogues was not one of them.

Things to think about… talk about…

This is an extract from Ryan Jacoby’s summary after reading ALL OF THE ENTRIES in the challenge, over 1000 of them (including the private ones). Wish we could talk with him sometime…


Looking forward, … Here are some provocations to get you thinking.

Interacting with a connected environment: With Internet-connected devices, “pinned” locations, digital archives, and cloud storage, we are able to associate data to objects and places. In this world of the “Internet with Things,” the challenge becomes how to create new valuable knowledge and engage with it in a productive way. How can we interact, be informed, and learn in this hyper-connected world to benefit our communities?

Crowdsourced big data analysis and synthesis: Algorithms will be unleashed on “big data,” yet human insight and effort has a role to play. Could activation of the populace uncover new connections, provide higher level analysis of issues, or solve small critical parts of big problems? How might we all help to “paint” our environment with new knowledge and information?

Re-distribution, syndication, and time-shifting of information: Cheap storage and the web leads to persistent and accessible archives of information. How might networks help content creators leverage back-catalogs to serve the information and journalistic needs of global communities? How might we better serve diasporic communities?

Adjacencies and intersections: Innovation is amplified by diversity and is the product of adjacent ideas and communities. What perspectives and value can be created by connecting disparate networks together? How would technologists and scientists reinvent journalism?

What themes and possibilities do you see?


The first and third paragraphs resonate most. Can we unpack and elaborate for our own context?


A couple more (unrelated) first impressions:

One sort of strange thing we noticed was that none of the entries we chose as possible models for our own project made it to the next round… How do we feel about that?

Also, kinda interesting that Ryan Jacoby is from IDEO. We will be using IDEO’s new HCD Connect as we move forward this summer with OURY Digital Dialogues. We thinkg we’re on the right track…


Pay As You Go Sunshine: How Solar Energy and Mobile Phones are Powering the Developing World

poptech:

Samuel Kimani in Kenya. (Photo: Eight19 Ltd)

Wow. This system makes it possible for stories to be shared via mobile even when electricity is not available to charge the phones (as is often the case in the camps). And it is solar (yes), so small carbon footprint.

Every night, something unusual happens in Samuel Kimani’s home on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. Samuel, 48, lives with his wife Mary and their three children. Their family supports itself day-to-day through their main source of income, their cow Baraka, whose milk is collected daily and sold directly to customers for about $1.8 a day. Their township has few amenities and grid electricity is available only to the few who can afford it. But at Samuel’s house, two bright lights shine all through the evening.

Read more…

video, video, video

Just want to be sure we are clear about this…

What we want perhaps most of all is to be able to share video content and also edit that content collaboratively, optimally using our phones rather than a bunch of expensive computers with expensive editing software. This is why we are working, first of all, with Stroome.

“Collaborative video remixing - share and edit together with anyone, anytime, any place around the globe,
all in the cloud…”


p.s. Stroome is number 1 on Daily Tekk’s list for online video creation/production/editing.

Smallbean Citizen Archivist Project

Just found out about this and think that there are some great ideas to take away from the Citizen Archivist Project for how to get peers in the refugee camps involved in in the OURY Digital Dialogues. Their project includes a curriculum for teaching technology skills that could be a useful model for us, though we will need to be modify for mobile technology.

Here is an example of their curriculum, this unit on photography…

From their curriculum

Knight News Challenge: Rising Voices Everywhere

Why did we not know about Rising Voices before?

Affiliated with Global Voices at MIT.

newschallenge:

1. What do you propose to do? [20 words]

Leverage Global Voices’ network of citizen media mentors to support grassroots media projects and systematically drive under-represented content online.

2. Is anyone doing something like this now and how is your project different? [30 words]

…

Knight News Challenge: Youth Radio Network: South Africa

Not Oakland-based Youth Radio.

Relies on MIT infrastructure.

newschallenge:

1. What do you propose to do? [20 words]

1. Build a national correspondent network of South African youth radio journalists who broadcast, collaborate, and share content across radio stations.

2. Is anyone doing something like this now and how is your project different? [30 words]

1. This new model integrates pre-existing audio platforms (SoundCloud, VoIP Drupal, Hindenberg audio editing software) to enable community-based youth radio reporters to produce and distribute well-informed news content aimed at youth.