In May 2012 Nairobi’s *iHub released a report detailing the impact of the Hub on Kenyan entrepreneurs. You can read the launch post and download the report from the iHub website. Here’s the abstract. This research aimed to understand the impact of the ICT Hubs to entrepreneurs. An …
I have all these great conversations with Silvia Caicedo. We debate, help each other, work out ideas. She’s amazing. Finally I decided to record one of our talks and make it into the first Facilitating Change Podcast (yipeee!!!!!!!). There’s a too-long intro about innovation spaces. …
OK so here’s my latest attempt to come up with a practical definition of innovation spaces and why they matter for development. Innovation spaces are environments that foster community, creativity, and production. They provide a physical place to explore, experiment, and engage with new …
I’m writing a brief for Beyond Access: Libraries Powering Development — on innovation spaces. In it, I start by defining a range of innovation spaces: telecentre, hackerspace, coworking, fablab. (I’m working open: see and comment on messy work process.) The definition of a …
The open-source, maker/hacker, DIY ethic is a driver of innovation and civic engagement. To hack is to engage with something and figure out how to make it work for you. It involves pushing boundaries, breaking a few rules, trying out something new, remixing, modifying, creating. Underlying this …
We all know that providing information does not equal change. But it’s part of the process. As researchers, we can chunk and package and share our findings and recommendations in ways that make them more accessible. I like to call this edible evidence. And, if we’re really good …
The magnificent and brilliant Silvia Caicedo (who needs to start a blog already) sent me this based on a conversation we had where I was freaking out about helping civil society organizations use social media and cloud services. Let me explain: I am a geek. I love tech. I’m often the …
In Digital Activism 101, Mary Joyce writes that activists can use digital technology to do only five things: shape public opinion, plan an action, protect activists, share a call to action, or take action. Then rinse and repeat. (Heh I love that phrase; stole it from Gunner’s …
