Saturday Links 2.27.10

via Meg Rorison's photostream

In Washington, ICT Works writes about the ePayments puzzle in Africa. I'm exploring how law, code and trusted intermediaries can perhaps help mitigate this problem. More soon.

in Port au Prince, IEEE Spectrum interviews a leading Haitian engineer on why Haiti's cellphone network failed.

In Nairobi, Business Day reports that Kenya may cut 3G licenses to help smaller mobile providers compete better.

Thursday Links 11.5.09

BikeStationDC, a stunning new facility at Union Station in DC, via BrooklynByBike

In Capetown, Kevin Donovan applies lessons from the U.S. net neutrality struggle to the Africa digital technology eco-system. I'm embarrassed that I only came across Kevin's blog a few weeks ago!

In Cambridge, John Clippinger and Oliver Goodenough discuss the legal, biological and cultural basis for Berkman's Law Lab.

In Portland, EcoVelo, easily the most beautiful bike blog, hosts an endless summer photo contest.

Also in Capetown, ITNews reports on coming explosion of the mobile content and apps market in the lead up to the World Cup.

Thursday Links 10.22.09

Pigeon Sun, via Meg Rorison's photostream

In route to Geneva, Patrick Meier puts the wraps on the International Crisis on Conflict Mapping, an event that sounded exemplary in both content and structure.

In Conakry, Global Voices explores blogger reactions to reports that on Sept. 28th, 150 opposition party members were massacred by government soldiers while gathering in a football stadium to protest the Gamara government.

In Washington, the Google Public Policy blog reports that 'innovation without permission' is at stake today as the FCC discusses net neutrality.

In Geneva, the ITU approves a single phone charger standard! oh lord yes!

10.15.09 Thursday Links

new orleans cyanotype, via meg rorison's photostream

In Porto, El Oso predicts that next to our digital malls like Amazon, "an artisan internet emerge around open standards like OpenID...led by digital natives yearning to express their individuality in a world of indistinguishable mass-manufacturing."

In Johannesburg, Rick Jourbert's presentation explores the trends of mobile web access in South Africa. He notes that only over 10 million South African's have accessed the web via mobile, and only 30% have access by means other than their phones.

In New York, Jan Chipchase stops by and takes notes at Clay Shirky's NYU course Design for UNICEF.

In the Kolda Region (southern Senegal), folks at the Jokko Initiative blog about the hard, experimental work of deploying a mobile social network to a class of women in a rural village.

Africa Tech News Roundup 1.14.09

Baltimore, via Meg Rorison's photostream

Infrastructure | How to Survive in a Low Growth Year [Balancing Act, 1/11]
http://is.gd/c5g4
Southwood explores what this year may have in store for fixed and mobile operators. "Defending revenues is only half of the game and probably not the important half. The other part is driving down costs."

Spectrum | Broadband in the White Spaces Going Global [Google Policy Blog, 1/9]
http://is.gd/fN7W
"The FCC is taking its work on "white spaces" global. This morning FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced the "White Spaces Fellowship and Training Initiative," giving the Commission a new platform to share advice and insights into "white spaces" with international regulators and spectrum experts." Will this lead to more unlicensed spectrum in Africa?

ICT4D | Fund Loss Staggers Group Giving Laptops to Poor Children [Boston Globe, 1/9]
http://is.gd/fN84
"[OLPC], the Cambridge foundation that sought to transform developing countries by giving free laptop computers to poor children suffered a devastating loss of revenue last year and has been forced to slash its staff in half."

Mobile Innovation | Ugandan Ministry of Health Introduces Telemedicine [Balancing Act, 1/11]
http://is.gd/fN88
"The ministries of health and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are introducing telemedicine to extend quality health care services to rural areas. "Telemedicine is an important tool for providing healthcare services," said ICT minister, Dr. Ham Mulira."

Politics | Letter from Zimbabwe [World Bank Blog, 12/11]
http://is.gd/fqxr
"It is just after midnight in Harare. I have just returned from a midnight tour of the ATMs in Harare with a cousin. There are queues of people still waiting to get their weekly cash withdrawal limit of $100,000,000,000 (US$2.50)." See photos of the queues on Chris Blattman's blog.

Africa Tech News Roundup 12.10.08

worn saturday wall, via Meg Rorison's photostream

Regulation | Minister Orders Audit of Safaricom's M-Pesa Service [Business Daily Africa, 12/10]
http://tinyurl.com/62l6xc
A day before Zain re-launched their own money transfer service, Finance Minister John Michuku ordered an audit of M-Pesa.

Apps | Africa Tech Year in Review 2008 [AppAfrica, 12/8]
http://tinyurl.com/6y6xuc
Jon ranks Google's push into the continent as the number two Africa tech story. Sign up for Jon's podcast, which discusses the use of Twitter in the Ghanaian election, here.

Mobile Internet | Mobile Internet Usage on the Rise in Nigeria [Balancing Act, 12/7]
http://tinyurl.com/33n85
During Q2 and Q3, the percentage of Nigerians accessing the Internet via mobile phones rose 25% while the percentage accessing via a PC grew only 3%, according to a Nielsen survey.

Infrastructure | Nigeria's Suburban Set to Operate a Lagos-Abidjan Regional Terrestrial Fibre Link [Balancing Act, 12/7]
http://tinyurl.com/q7yc8 "As the west coast of Africa prepares for cheaper international bandwidth from three possible contenders (Glo One, Main One and WACS), the race is now on to provide terrestrial fibre links to take traffic to the cheapest landing station."

Politics | Ghana's Elections Go To a Runoff [BBC News, 12/10]
http://tinyurl.com/69yx6p
"Ghana's presidential election must be decided in a second-round vote, the electoral commission has announced." An in-depth analysis is here.

Politics | Why Somalia Matters [Vanity Fair, 12/5]
http://tinyurl.com/6b6wt3
Hartlay argues that if America is not careful, Somalia will become the next Afghanistan.

Tuesday Links 11.25.08

via Meg Rorison's photostream

Mauritanian Dictators Prefer Botnets (Strategy Page, 11/18)
http://tinyurl.com/6658r7
"Mauritanian generals apparently hired several botnets to smother the anti-dictatorship websites with DDOS attacks."

O3B Networks Introduces Bundled IP Trunking Solution for Telcos and ISP's (O3B, 11/18)
http://tinyurl.com/58cgzw
"O3b Networks Ltd. today introduced its first turn-key offering. 'Quick Start Africa' is a, Carrier Managed Service designed for Telcos and ISPs on the African continent who need a high capacity, ultra low latency, carrier class IP trunking solution."

Mobile Finance- Indigenous, Ingenious or Both? (Kiwanji, 11/21)
http://tinyurl.com/5qv8yk
"In Ghana it's popularly known as susu. In Cameroon, tontines or chilembe. And in South Africa, stokfel. Today you'd most likely call it plain-old microfinance, the nearest term we have for it. Age-old indigenous credit schemes have run perfectly well without much outside intervention for generations, although in our excitement to implement new technologies and 'solutions' we sometimes fail to recognise them."

Troop Deployment to DR Congo Good First Step; Immediate Action Still Needed (Refugees International, 11/20)
http://tinyurl.com/5qglk3
While the UN Security Council authorized 3,000 new peace keepers in DRC, "Refugees International continued to call for the European Union to immediately deploy a short-term rapid reaction force that can defend strategic towns until UN reinforcements arrive, and allow the UN peacekeeping mission to reorganize itself."

Africa Tech Weekly Links | 10.21.08

Its autumn. Via Boston.com

MobileActive08: An Idea Whose Time Has Come [Balancing Act, 10/19]
http://tinyurl.com/q7yc8
"As the old Hollywood saying goes, there are only really 5 stories at MobileActive08. Mobiles are now being used to: send out bulk mailings to key target groups (nurses); mobilise supporters; poll people and gather data; to provide answers to inquiries; to offer information support for activities; and raise funds. The majority of this activity is based on the 160 characters available in SMS."

The Problem With Seed Capital in Africa [White African, 10/20]
http://tinyurl.com/55co52
If African entrepreneurs can find seed capital, local funders usually want b/w 40-80% equity stake. "I'm interested in seeing some Y-Combinator style venture funding companies AND communities developing around different regions in Africa. Groups that only fund the very early stages of development ($5000 - $15000) for very short periods of time (3-6 months)."

Innovating From Constraint [My Hearts in Accra, 10/17]
http://tinyurl.com/5ge9sd
Ethan presents 7 rules that help explain how the developing world innovates: (i) innovation comes from constraint; (ii) don't fight culture; (iii) embrace market mechanisms; (iv) use existing platforms; (v) problems are not always obvious from afar; (vi) what you have matters more than what you lack; (vii) infrastructure begets infrastructure.

Banking Crisis Will Be Felt in Africa [CDG Blog, 10/13]
http://tinyurl.com/667jdq "After the Nordic crisis of 1991, Norway's foreign aid fell 10%, Sweden's 17%, and Finland's 62%--from peak to trough after adjusting for inflation."

Africa Tech Monday Links 10.13.08

Barcamp Africa Panel: Technology and Education
http://tiny.cc/Pv41b
Watch the video of one of the hottest panels at BarCamp Africa (hosted this weekend at Google Mountain View), featuring Guy Kawasaki (Garage Tech Ventures, Entrepreneur Magazine), David Kobia (Ushahidi), Martin Fisher (KickStart), and Jon Gosier (Appfrica).

Kelele- The African Bloggers Conference [White African, 10/12]
http://tiny.cc/nMftP
One of the announcements at Barcamp Africa was Kelele- The African Bloggers Conference, set to take place in Nairobi on August 13-16.

Africa: Communications Technologies Transform Elections [IHT, 10/1]
http://tiny.cc/NVuOp
Wonderful aggregation of incidents where technology played a role in keeping African leaders accountable.

Reframing Brand Africa (Tech) [White African, 10/6]
http://tiny.cc/ssZ6z
'If it works in Africa, it will work everywhere.' Thats why Africa exports technology to the world. Success stories include Fring, Ubuntu, FrontlineSMS, Ushahidu, Softtribe and Qik.

Opportunity Knocks [Economist, 10/9]
http://tiny.cc/izs50
"Despite the litany of problems, the 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa are, by several measures, enjoying a period of unparalleled economic success. And despite the turmoil in the world's financial markets, international investors still think they can make money there."

Wednesday Links 4.16.08

Tam to San Francisco, via mbonocore. I'll be there all summer! More on that soon.

In Orlando, Hash links to a fascinating way to visualize internet connectivity in Africa.

In Cambridge, Jen registers Congolese blogosphere reaction of a recent horrific plane crash.
In Kigali, a promising new capital market opens.
In Cambridge, our Berkman Center I&D research on Iran is covered in NYT.

Wednesday Links 2.13.08

Busboys and Poets (great coffee shop/bar/performance space/activist bookstore in D.C.) via Shana Lee's photostream

In Washington D.C., where I'm headed today, I'm looking forward to a great week of jazz.

In Cape Town, TED Africa 2008, the most important conference in Africa, opens its registration.

In Portland, Kevin Caroll writes about Kicking It, a new documentary bought by ESPN about football and homelessness.

In Washington D.C., Peter Levine makes an interesting point about American states that have a civic movement tradition and their willingness to engage in the Obama narrative of 'Yes WE Can."

In New Haven, Chris Blattman has a useful redux of recent congressional testimony about the role of the U.S. in post-election Kenya. This post shows concretely what the U.S. could have done differently when chaos broke loose in Kenya. I wonder what AFRICOM would have done.

In Istanbul, blogger and online activist Mustafa Domanic offers one opinion on Post Global on the repeal of the headscarf ban in Istanbul.

Wednesday Links 2.5.07

View from the Daphne Hotel-Istanbul, via Argenberg's photostream

In Washington, Michael Dirda writes about Vermeer's Hat, which describes how at the dawn of globalization, "the lure of China's wealth haunted the seventeenth-century world."

In London, Tom Barnett explains the continental aspirations of U.S. Africa Command.

In New Haven, Chris Blattman lists an excellent African reading list.

In Cambridge, eon: dean of cyberspace gives us something to ponder.

Wednesday Links 01.08.07

Istanbul, via Ingsoc's photostream

In Washington, Peter Levine has an excellent piece on tension between grassroots economic development and citizen participation communities in the US. It got me thinking about a similar tension on the global level.

In London, the Economist writes about the economics of exporting democracy.

In New Haven, my favorite new blog by Chris Blattman imagines what an established AFRICOM would do to intervene in Kenya.

In Silicon Valley, the TED blog follows the crisis in Kenya.

Wednesday Links 12.10.07

Paramos, from our camping trip in Zion National Park, via Meg Rorison's photostream

In Medford, my annual oatmeal, honey, and cinnamon infused martini makes a winter comeback.

In Chicago, Joshua Wanyama launches African Path Village, a new social networking site for making connection to and within Africa.

In London, the Economist recognizes that virtual worlds are most useful when they make things in the real world easier.

In Beijing, BBC News reports on Chinese peasants traveling to Africa to seek their fortunes.

Wednesday Links 11.18.07

Mitch, via Meg Rorison's Photostream

In New York, I briefly escaped the academic confines of Fletcher. Meg also took some pics of us at the URB Magazine 150th Issue party.

In Washington, WaPo Book Review, the greatest American weekly book section, starts Short Stack, a book blog by the staff. They blogged about travel books this week, and tragically left out any Kapuscinski.

In Cambridge, Iqbal Quadir launches the Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT with $50 million from a private Dubai based firm. This could mean good things for the Africa digerati.

In Kampala, Jeremy follows the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGUM). This is a great blog to read if its been a while since you've been to Uganda (10 months for me!) and want to know the changes. Free wireless across downtown Kampala!?!

10.19.07 Wednesday Links

Royce Bannon and Knox via Meg Rorison's photostream

In Cambridge, Dani Rodrik writes about why the econ-blogosphere is here to stay.

In Washington, Peter Levine puts a new spin on Christopher Marlow's poem 'Passionate Shepard To His Love' to reflect what love means to our generation.

In Beijing, Jen asks why Paris Hilton is going to Rwanda.

In Cambridge, David Weinberger live blogs Oliver Goodenough's Berkman fascinating talk about how technology facilitaties a new understanding of cooperation in the world of economics and law.

Wednesday Links 10.11.07

'Are Moments Reflective' via Meg Rorison's photostream

In Heine (China), Le Monde interviews Mikhail Titarenko about the Russian-Chinese border. Without planning, they have created a fascinating equilibrium about the exchange workers and capital across borders.

In Kampala, Rebekah interviews prominent blogger Dennis Matanda, who was forced to flee Uganda after supporting gay rights.

In Medford, Daniel Drezner writes about the challenges that rising powers face in global diplomacy.

In Freetown, Steve Radelet writes about the economic and political changes that are taking place under President Sirleaf in Liberia.

Wednesday Links 10.03.07

via Meg Rorison's photosteam

In Yangoon, the Junta violently responds to protests, and shuts down the Internet, severly limiting information flows.

In Cairo, Ogle Earth shows fascinating satellite images that document human rights abuses in Burma.

In Arusha, Jen Brea points me to Vusi Malasela's amazing performance of 'Thula Mama.'

In London, The Economist's Free Exchange blog wonders what makes someone qualify as an economist.

In Boston, Red Sox win the pennant. I was there!

Wednesday Links 9.27.07

ludlow, via Meg Rorison's photosteam

In Kampala, El Oso has a conversation with Kampala's premier break dancer for social change, and wonderful friend, Abramz Tekya.

In Brooklyn, Meg Rorison, a talented photographer and writer, starts blogging at Urb.

In Washington, Andy Mack pushes back on Ethan Zuckerman's incremental infrastructure as a economic development strategy in Africa.

In Berlin, Evgeny Morozov writes about making cyber-activism more effective.

08.06.07 Wednesday Links

Fascinating ideas that all deserve elaborate posts of their own. But this week I'm hauling to the finish line on my summer research paper for Berkman.

In Cambridge, Ethan Zuckerman goes mainstream media with his 'incrementalism' idea for economic development, presented in yesterday's Boston Globe. EZ presented this idea at Berkman's Summer Doctoral Program a few weeks ago and got great push back from Mike Best on questions of scale. EZ discusses the session here.

In Copenhagen, The Economist covers the Homeless World Cup (HWC). This is great coverage for the annual soccer tournament that brings together kids who have lived tough lives from all over the world. Global Youth Partnership for Africa (GYPA) has been the managing organization for HWC's Uganda Team, comprised of youth displaced from the northern Uganda conflict, for the last two years. You should check out the game-by-game coverage of the Uganda team available on the GYPA blog.

In Kampala, Comrade comes through with an absolutely harrowing post about the things you see when you are stuck in traffic in a Kampala rainstorm. Gave me the shivers.

In Kampala, Global Voices covers the robust discussion around last weeks Iweala article.

In Baltimore: Is Salim the new Talib? Great hip hop.