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I agree when David Nemer says the problem about digital divide research is that "quantitative approaches are addressed to answer the wrong questions" Digital Divide Research: one myth, problem and challenge by David Nemer . "Digital Divide" issues are with us every day in the Dadamac community, and they are much more complex than "the easily measurable". Since the turn of the century Dadamac, and its pre-cursors OOCD and Cawdnet, have been crossing the digital divide between UK and various locations in rural Africa. Overcoming "digital divide" challenges has been "part of our being" for over a decade. Infrastruture-related challenges...

After more than four wonderful years involved with Dadamac, I’m sorry to announce that I will be putting my weekly blogs on hold. Of course, the weekly UK-Nigeria meetings will continue, but I’m afraid I won’t have time to file my regular reports and round-ups since I must now turn my attentions to a new social enterprise, Collage Network . This project, which helps people in the UK utilise their skills to find and create employment, is in its embryonic stages and will entail a lot of effort to get fully off the ground. Please know that Dadamac and Fantsuam...

John Dada: Updates from FF: We have taken on a new staff, Helen in the microfinance section.... We have revised and upgraded our microfinance program. We are now more involved in encouraging clients to save rather than borrow. Small groups of clients, up to five, will be assisted to set up their savings account at Fantsuam, and they can now give each other loans from their savings. It is a method of helping clients to provide banking services for themselves. Fantsuam's role is that of facilitator and that is where we will earn our fees. This accords well with our...

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...

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...