This is an archive of the Dadamac.net website, as it was in 2015, it is no longer being updated.

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Help needed to save Rural Training Centre - do you know anyone in Cisco?

Submitted by Pamela on 12 April 2013 - 11:53am
We need help from someone who knows someone in Cisco.Please spread the word. Due to some kind of administrative error and confusion the future life chances of 23 youths in rural Nigeria are threatened. The problem The youths are on a Cisco training course at Fantsuam, where successful training has been taking place, against all the odds, since 2004. Now this amazing centre, which should be the jewel in the crown of Cisco CSR faces closure due to an administrative error. The equipment needed for training the youths needs upgrading. However, due to some communication confusions the rural centre is...

UK Free University Network

Submitted by Pamela on 11 April 2013 - 11:59am
Interesting news via Fred Garnett about Gary Saunders UK Free University Network. Relevant to recent blogs on Experiences of Invisible College in Action and Learning - Invisible College, Virtual Academia and Established Academia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am currently working on a public map that offers a counter-cartography to mainstream higher education (see link: http://goo.gl/maps/V7yrC ). This counter-cartography is part of a militant/-research project that is attempting to link groups that are thinking critically about higher education provision and offer alternative models. I have started to provide information in collaboration with some of the groups that provide free higher education, although groups...

Identity Issues and Hub Westminster Videos

Submitted by Pamela on 8 April 2013 - 5:02pm
Brian Griffin at Hub Westminster is encouraging all the "Hubbers" to get in the habit of making a brief video every month. The first one should say who we are, why we're at the Hub, and some good things from the previous month - and if we turn up this Wednesday Brian'll help us to make it. Hence these thoughts about the kind of thing I might say. Who am I? I'm a social innovator and analyst, and I work in collaboration with others under the name of Dadamac. On a practical level I've got a good track record of...

Three pieces of news in one.

Submitted by Frances on 5 April 2013 - 9:39pm
Progress on the toilet block The first piece of news that John gave us at the Dadamac meeting this week was that the toilet block in the new market in Kafanchan has been roofed! Now they are working on the doors and windows. The building which is so vital to the well being of the traders in the market, particularly the women, has one block with 7 toilets constructed from locally made compressed bricks. More value for the money The project has been funded by the Kitchen Table Trust and the American Embassy. The further news is that although the...

Learning - Invisible College, Virtual Academia and Established Academia

Submitted by Pamela on 4 April 2013 - 2:36pm
1 - What and how I've been using the Internet for non-forrmal, peer-to-peer learning and collaboration since 2000. I'm not just interested in what I'm learning. I'm also deeply interested in how I learn i.e. the opportunites that have been opening up thanks to the Internet. I care about inclusion, about the impact (actual and potential) of digital technologies on the roles of teachers and learners, the opportunities for knowledge creation, and much more besides. I don't just "care" about these things. I do stuff, I think deeply about what I do, and I explore ideas with others. 2 -...

Mike Gurstein - WSIS +10 - and me

Submitted by Pamela on 31 March 2013 - 11:09pm
Mike Gurstein recently blogged on " World Summit on the Information Society: Looking Back and Looking Forward: My Comments To a WSIS +10 Review Plenary " It got me thinking, and prompted this response: Thank you Mike. Once again you are speaking in an arena where I never go - and you are speaking of "realities" that "people there" often seem distanced from - realities that are on my heart and reflect my experiences. Ref - reputable bodies including some attending the Review are claiming that the Digital Divide and issues of Digital Inclusion have been resolved and most notably...

From water sachets to flip flops

Submitted by Frances on 27 March 2013 - 6:26pm
Waste plastics When I first went to Nigeria nearly 30 years ago, I always took my own bags to the market when I went shopping . There were few plastic bags and the fruit and veg and even the eggs were sold loose. Shoppers took their own empty bottle if they wanted to buy groundnut oil for cooking. In Nigeria plastic bags have become more common but in addition drinking water is sold in individual plastic sachets. These are useful for those who are travelling or to help people through their school or working day if there is no other...

Preparing for the rains

Submitted by Frances on 22 March 2013 - 9:16am
Earth and concrete ponds At the previous meeting John told us how the earth fish ponds had been dredged by 10 young men so that they could be stocked with juvenile fish. At the meeting on Tuesday he told us that they were unable to get buy the 8 week old fish they had planned but have purchased 2,000 4 week old fingerlings which will be reared and harvested in the earth ponds. But earth ponds are no use when the rains start as they will get clogged up and overflow, and the fish will be lost into the River...

Experiences of Invisible College in Action

Submitted by Pamela on 21 March 2013 - 12:04pm
Dougald Hine has been talking about the “Invisible College” that’s growing around the edges of our education systems. I have been a free-range learner who is also enabling others to learn outside the formal system since around 2000, so I found much to appreciate in what he was saying. Dougald's talk A Storm is Blowing from Paradise is about the future role of universities, but he begins with a much wider overview of how things are changing. These are ideas he's been developing for some time, and as I've been influenced by his thinking I'm delighted to have so much...

#LandscapeOfChange and Dadamacademy's "Art and Change Department"

Submitted by Pamela on 17 March 2013 - 10:55pm
Landscape of Change is starting to demonstrate its usefulness, through the variety of people who are starting to "meet me there" in their imaginations.This is the story of one of them In "What's the Good of Landscape of Change?" I explained that: It enables me to bring together in my imagination many different individuals, initiatives, institutions, ideas and trends. I can "place" them all in this "Landscape of Change" which I picture as a largely unexplored landscape stretching ahead from the familiar places of the known Landscape of the Present that is already easily represented through photos and maps. As...

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