Pamela's Blog

A TV programme in 2011 was a turning point for me. The programme followed a familiar format. There were four participants, all facing similar difficult situations. They were shown struggling on their own; a guru offered advice; they acted on it. When the credits rolled a voiceover updated us on their situations a few months later. This is an account of what happened as I watched the programme, and what I did as a result. First I'll describe the programme itself and how I responded to it. Later I'll write about the action I took, progress so far, and what...

My December diary - heading towards the Christmas break and the close of the year. It's a varied collection of diary dates - and I hope during 2012 it may become more obvious how all these things are connected with each other. Thursday 1st - GlobalNet21 webinar - Supporting Local Groups and Activists - Given that I'm developing "Landscape of Change" workshops that will feed into collaboration groups (and those groups will be active in their local communities) I appreciate learning more about community organisations. Monday 5th - Eirenicon Africa Public Lecture Series inaugural lecture by Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Governor...

A quick skim through my diary for the second half of November shows: Thursday 17th and 18th - SHINE UnConference Monday 21st - Globalnet21 Meetup - Crisis In Care and its Impact On All Our Futures Thusday 24th - Dadamac Meetup - Stronger together - entrepreneurs and collaboration Saturday 26th - TEDx Euston (Nigerian event in London) Monday 28th - The Feeling’s Mutual: Is it time for STEPPING OUT of the public sector? Tuesday 29th - Globalnet21 Meetup - Making Social Media Work To Achieve a Purpose

When we started the dadamac.net site our first priorities included: raising the visibility of our work in Nigeria, demonstrating the effectiveness of our UK-Nigeria collaboration, finding out about using Drupal for Dadamac's information (both publicly visible information and also information hidden behind the scenes for internal use) setting up effective administrative structures developing an "online home" for the various activities of the dadamac community. We're happy (but not complacent) with what we've achieved regarding 1,2 ,3 and 4. We've made good progress and have created a useful body of evidence about our UK-Nigeria work. All kinds of things have emerged...

This post is prompted by The University Project and an invitation to share personal experiences Let's make room for sharing our own experiences of university - as students, academics, parents, people who never went to university - and of the other places in which we've found a home for our curiosity and company in our learning. It prompted me to think about my own experiences: I haven't been to a traditional university. I did an Open University degree which stretched my mind and altered my thinking, while relating strongly to my "real life". My ongoing nonformal studies complement what I...