ICTworks

Welcome to the ICTworks bi-weekly ICT4D Retrospective, where we condense the last two weeks of news into a succinct list of links for your perusal. If you want your news to be featured, email them to ritse [at] ritseonline [dot] com. To get these links faster, follow me on Twitter: @RitseOnline

Mobile and Its Many Uses: If you were unable to attend M4D2010, organized by Karlstad University (Sweden) and Makerere University (Uganda), you might be interested in reviewing some of the speeches or papers (pdf) presented by researchers and practitioners alike. Also check out the Makerere Mobile Mission, a call-to-action and commitment adopted by conference participants.

Crowdsourcing 2.0: The team behind the Ushahidi platform has just released a new version of the software, Ushahidi 2.0 (Luanda). Go download it, play with it and put it to good use.

Poverty Solved: Over the last two weeks, we’ve enjoyed a lively online debate on the merits of solving the challenges of poverty with information and communication technologies. Now that all the articles are live, stop by the forum and catch up on anything you might have missed.

Information Overload? The great promise of ICT is access to information but information overload seems to be the game we are now forced to play. This helpful little primer (pdf) from Huridocs provides a simple strategy for staying on top of the news and information you really want. While it is targeted at the human rights community, the tips provided are applicable to a variety of situations.

Speaking of Design: So, you’ve heard of Appropriate Technology (AT), Human-Centered Design (HCD), and Participatory Design (PD) and you wonder if they are just fancy terms for the same thing. Take a look at the New America Foundation’s article “Collaborative Design Strategies for Community Technology” for a brief overview of each design framework. Also see “Mobile UI Design for Non-Literate Users”, a presentation given by the folks at Grameen’s AppLab (from M4D2010).

Get a Job in ICT4D
Computer Aid International (London, UK): Interim Chief Executive Officer
ICTWorks (San Francisco, CA or Washington DC, US): ICT Intern

Finally…the ICT4D Spotlight of the Week: Villages in Action (VIA), an initiative of Project Diaspora
Join TMS Ruge on Saturday, Nov 27, 2010 at a one-day conference that seeks to “showcase the grassroots efforts driving economic development and improving the welfare of the community – all with little or no assistance from international aid organizations.” Since it just might be too late to purchase a Uganda-bound plane ticket, you can follow along on Twitter and Facebook.