This is an archive of the Dadamac.net website, as it was in 2015, it is no longer being updated.

Pamela's Blog

Response to "A Theory of Community Formation"

Submitted by Pamela on 13 August 2013 - 11:05pm
Much of what I do relates to communities and what enables the people in them to collaborate effectively so I was very pleased to disccover A Theory of Community Formation. and responded in the comments box - copied here: The response Thank you for this. I appreciate your insights and hope to think about them more deeply, and ideally to explore them further with you. My interest in this topic includes several experiences of emerging communities, most of them ongoing. One is the gradual emergence, since approximately 2000, of what I now refer to as the Dadamac (online) community, You...

Introducing Ostradef

Submitted by Pamela on 12 August 2013 - 3:53pm
Today I am with my friend Chief Gbade Adejumo from Okeho, in Oke-Ogun, Oyo State, Nigeria. He is visiting the UK and we are taking the opportunity to catch up and to see how we can collaborate in the future. Ostradef Gbade has been telling me about Okeho Strategic Development Foundation (Ostradef). It was founded in 2010, by a group of Okeho indigens who are concerned about the low level of development of the town and want to do something about it. Looking forward Gbade and I are looking at how Dadamac and Ostradef can work together in future. This...

Background reading for a fellow traveller in the #LandscapeOfChange

Submitted by Pamela on 25 July 2013 - 1:14pm
I was impressed by this explanation of The Purpose Economy which arrived this morning via Michel Bauwens and Peer 2 Peer Foundation. I decided to send it to a newly arrived "fellow traveller" in the Landscape of Change, following a conversation we had earlier this week. It covers a lot of ideas that are familiar to (and part of the life experience of) many pioneers in the Landscape of Change. I've been reflecting on the post and on our conversation and the links and thoughts below are the result. Ref "invisible stuff" Despatches from the Invisible Revolution Experiences of Invisible...

World reader - I need someone to explore this site for me

Submitted by Pamela on 22 July 2013 - 2:54pm
This world reader e-books project looks like a great opportunity. E-books would bring huge benefit to various projects I know about. For a start I would love to tell John Dada, Fola Sunday so they could get these e-books to use in their work with disadvantaged communites in North Central Nigeria and in South West Nigeria. Other people and projects also start to spring to mind. Beware of false hopes However I'm cautious. Often I've seen projects that make my heart leap - but when I dig deeper I find that, for one reason or another, there is no way...

Looking forward to this year's Dark Mountain festival

Submitted by Pamela on 22 July 2013 - 1:02pm
I was at the Dark Mountain festivals in 2011 and 2012 and have booked for this year. If you don't know about it then you may appreociate this announcement which just arrived in my inbox. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This year's Dark Mountain festival is approaching! As you attended Uncivilisation 2012, we thought you might want to know about this year's festival, which takes place in just under four week's time. We've been running an annual festival for 4 years now, and we have decided that this will be the last. We don't want the event to go stale, and as we are...

PEI #scienceAfrica UnConference - Enjoy the highlights

Submitted by Pamela on 19 July 2013 - 2:53pm
Last week I blogged enthusiastically about the PEI #scienceAfrica UnConference - Appreciating PEI's "Africa's Scientific Independence" Now the highlights are avaliable - excellently done as a Prezi with embedded video clips. I'll copy some of the announcment below to give you the links and a flavour of the day : It was a fantastic day to explore scientific development in Africa, and we were delighted with the mix of people we gathered to share their thoughts. Having looked back through the material, although there were an enormous range of issues discussed, five key themes emerged: Africa needs to own its...

Academia-practitioner links: encouraging developments

Submitted by Pamela on 18 July 2013 - 11:01pm
Much of my time is spent on practical projects where I'm on a steep learning curve. When I'm learning-by-doing I want to reflect on what I'm learning, and I don't want to do all that reflection alone. The need I always want to fit my practical work into a wider theoretical framework. I want to get insights from people who've had time to explore the areas where I'm working. I want to know about relevant thinking. I want to talk through issues that are puzzling or troubling me. Equally I want to check out ideas and insights that are inspiring...

Appreciating PEI's "Africa's Scientific Independence"

Submitted by Pamela on 11 July 2013 - 11:44pm
This is what I liked best about the Planet Earth Institute's event " Africa's Scientific Independence; How do we get there? ". Panel + Open Plenary I liked the way the "Panel + Open Plenary" gave us a shared focus. The panel members were impressive, with varied perspectives. They could all have spoken at length. However, all spoke only briefly, thanks to the humourous but firm guidance of the chair beforehand. Because they did speak briefly they gave us some excellent, memorable key points to take forward to the "Table working groups" Table working groups, feedback Arrangements for the groups...

Veronica's story

Submitted by Pamela on 7 July 2013 - 7:56pm
This is a story from rural Nigeria of an attempt to learn through the Internet. It is remarkable because of the effort involved in trying to learn, the hurdles that were overcome, and the benefits that could have resulted if it had been successful. However it failed. There are useful lessons to be learned by looking at the details of failure. The experiences of failure can become a firm foundation for systems that are more robust. The learner The learner was Veronica. She is a teacher in rural Nigeria. Like many teachers in rural Nigeria she is also a farmer...

ICT4D - Nigeria, a ginger crop and the Internet

Submitted by Pamela on 7 July 2013 - 1:39pm
I've been reading "Development and ICT4D - Too many pilot projects and not enough regular service" Amongst the stories of failures and success were references to helping farmers. This reminded me of Veronica (who is a teacher and a farmer in rural Nigeria). I thought I would share the story of her experience of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). Veronica's story - the very short version The short version of Veronica's story is this. She was growing ginger for the first time and wanted advice on harvesting and marketing it, so she went to the Internet. The outcome she was...

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