This is an archive of the Dadamac.net website, as it was in 2015, it is no longer being updated.

Pamela's Blog

Gems from last week

Submitted by Pamela on 12 January 2013 - 11:31am
It's wonderful when things fall into place. Two examples from last week are Wednesday's Meetup on Informal Learning and Learning Networks, and Friday's visibility session with Julliet Makhapila. Learning Networks On Wednesday I led a GlobalNet21 Meetup called - The 21st Century - An Age of Informal Learning and Learning Networks . This has emerged from overlapping interests with Francis Sealey, founder of GlobalNet21. I won't list all the areas of overlap in detail, but they include systemic change in the 21st century and ongoing education as an attitude to life. Last year, when Francis and I were first exploring...

Appreciating all the volunteers

Submitted by Pamela on 11 January 2013 - 6:09pm
Following my blog about Julliet Makhapila's work in Kenya (which she organised from the UK) these are some comments Julliet asked to write here; I want to appreciate the work of the Volunteer Cordinator, Paul Njuguna, and the efforts of all the volunteers. Well done everyone. I want to appreciate Pamela and her generousity in setting up this website and letting us use it freely. We enjoy sharing the similarites and differences about our projects. We are learning together and helping each other. We are experimenting together about the benefits of making projects like ours visible. We have a lot...

Julliet Makhapila and Diversity in Kenya Communities

Submitted by Pamela on 11 January 2013 - 4:45pm
Today Julliet Makhapila told me about her Diversity in Kenya Communites project in Njoro, Nakuru, Kenya. She told me about the event that she arranged there on 17th November 2012. She showed me the programme which is copied below. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 17-Nov_2012 DIVERSITY IN KENYA COMMUNITIES The event promises to be a weekend packed with presentations, workshops and debates to inspire and inform members of the community about the services we provide and how the community can get involved about its own community. Come along to support our cause and you are welcome to become members using our services at a...

Networks, groups, organisations and emergence - Dadamac and me.

Submitted by Pamela on 6 January 2013 - 2:16pm
1 - Organisational questions that ask about affiliations and roles always cause me problems. I do many things - but I seldom work on them alone, so I prefer to say "we" not "I". However that raises the question "When I say 'we' who is being included?" In organisations with tight heirarchies that is comparatively easy to answer - "we" are the people who are with me in my department, my region, my unit, my college, my regiment, my faculty, my firm, my committee, or whatever it is that is makes up my "group with a clearly defined boundary". My...

First Week In January

Submitted by Pamela on 5 January 2013 - 11:15am
1 - The new year kicked off with "Everything Unplugged" on Wednesday. On Thursday it was the first "First Thursday" of the year - which Nikki kindly hosted as I was at a Christmas family-happening. On Friday there was New Tuttle, followed by some website work with Andy Broomfield, then a useful Tuttle follow-up meeting, and a quick visit to Hub Westminster on my way home - which conveniently happened to overlap Mix at Six. (This blog could be bursting with live links - but if I tried to add them all it would never get published. I'm happy to...

Congratulations on first Fast Tractor repayment

Submitted by Pamela on 2 January 2013 - 3:09pm
Fast Tractor update. I have some wonderful news to start the New Year. The "Fast Tractor" tractor is earning its keep and starting to pay for its initial investment. I've checked the bank balance for Dadamac Foundation (umbrella organisation for Fast Tractor). We have a repayment of £500, which has come from the committee at Fantsuam which is managing the use of the tractor. Originally John Dada simply wanted to borrow money to purchase the tractor, and Steve Podmore wanted to organise some kind of impact investment arrangement to help - but time was short and it was too complicated...

Life-long learning or livelihood - the Dadamac Ltd idea

Submitted by Pamela on 31 December 2012 - 2:41pm
This post continues from Dadamac - taking stock for 2013 which is a personal account, helping me to take some decisions for 2013. Part way through a section on "Financial, organisational and motivational issues" I needed to stop and think in more depth, so I wrote Motivation for my work in Nigeria . That made sense of things up to a few years ago. It's important for me to see how things are changing because I do have some serious decisions to take, and there are implications for other people as well, so I want to get the decisions right...

Motivation for my work in Nigeria

Submitted by Pamela on 30 December 2012 - 4:51pm
1 - For the context of this blog see Dadamac - taking stock for 2013 paragraph on "Financial, organisational and motivational issues" which led to this statement : I remember being challenged about what I was doing by a friend (a techie who helped me in many ways). His challenge related to what little difference I could make. Like me he had studied with the OU. The conversation mentioned above happened some years after 2000, when my UK-Nigeria ICT, Education and Development involvement had become a habit. I'm not sure of the exact date, but I think it was probably...

Dadamac - taking stock for 2013

Submitted by Pamela on 30 December 2012 - 11:56am
This is an open letter to anyone who has an interest in Dadamac, and its past, present or future. Depending on how you measure things Dadamac to date has been an amazing success, or a spectacular failure. It's time to take stock and decide the structure and direction for next year. Before deciding where to go next, it would be a good idea to check where we are now, and how and why we got here. "We" or "I"? To keep things clear and simple it might be a better idea to narrow this account down further. I have some...

One day between Christmas and New Year sets the direction for 2013

Submitted by Pamela on 28 December 2012 - 11:42pm
I thought I knew how today would go - but I was wrong. Plan A Plan A was about new beginnings, and the big picture. Each year I set myself up with a new online office. I use google docs and spreadsheets. I maintain some of the core structures from the previous year in my new "master office". (All the old clutter of the abandonned master office is only a click away, should I need it.) What gets copied to the new one is what I really need and value. It's a fresh start. Today I came back online 'for...

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