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Obama Wins.

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December 2, 2008 in Africa, Web 2.0, Blogging, Politics, Create Peace, Democracy, Kenya and youtube. 0 Comments

Ok, yes we all know this by now but I wanted to take this opportunity to take down the campaign banner from my blog as I also peel off the bumper stickers and throw out the yard signs. It’s a great pleasure and source of pride to me that Obama is president-elect, no denying that, but it’s now time to move on. Part of that will be joining MoveOn, Avaaz, SaveDarfur and others to help Obama move this lumbering country to a human rights based relationship with the world.

But first, let me also share my Obama theme song, available through YouTube. This song gave me encouragement throughout the year and helped me to keep going.

I first learned about Coco Tea’s Obama song in a post on the overthinkingit.com blog, which made me nostalgic about Kenya and brought home to me the significance of Obama’s candidacy for Africa and the world:

Last week, I was sitting in a bar in the village of Ngare Ndare in northern Kenya, nursing a Krest Bitter Lemon, and listening to the radio. The radio was tuned to Metro FM, “Kenya’s House of Reggae.” Amidst the chain of nondescript contemporary reggae hits, the refrain of one song in particular caught my attention: “Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama, woi wooooi” As soon as I got back to my computer, I learned that the song is by Jamaican reggae artist Cocoa Tea, whose substantial back catalogue is only probably familiar to reggae and dancehall enthusiasts. Despite Cocoa Tea’s relative obscurity in the US, the song is already becoming massively popular in Kenya, even though it was only released sometime last week.

The lyrics are so great, I looked them up and found them in full at Cocoa Tea - Barack Obama Reggae Song, Video, Lyrics. Reposted below for your pleasure:

Barack Obama Lyrics, Music by Cocoa Tea

Woy woy why why why woy why whyyyy lord
Be bungi yungi dengi yungi denga denga denga deng
diggadiggadiggadiggadeng

Well, this is not about class,
nor color, race, nor creed.
Make no mistake it’s the changes
whey all the people dem need
Dem a shout out…

Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy
Dem say
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy

Now you can hear it in the morning (Obama!),
And you can hear it inna the evening (Obama!),
Black man and white ‘oman shouting (Obama!),
Dem inna the groove and dem is moving (Obama!).
And you can hear them saying…

Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy
Dem say
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy

The momentum is hot (hot)
And no one can’t stop that (that)
Well some of dem a dress back
And some ah take back dem chat
All some of dem who was racist
jumping and dancing in the street
and a shout out…

Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy
Dem say
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy

It is not Hillary Clinton (Obama!)
and it is not John McCain (Obama!)
It is not Chuck Norris (Obama!),
And I know it’s not John Wayne (Obama!),
It is not the one Rambo (Obama!),
And it is not the Terminator (Obama!),
But a new trendsetter (Obama!),
Him hottin’ up the whole America
and dem a shout out…

Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy
Dem say
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy

African-American rise…
and keep your eyes on the prize (Obama!),
Cause now nuff of dem a realize,
the black man is in their eyes. (Obama!)

Well it’s no joke it’s a fact,
we’re gonna paint all the white house black (Obama!),
And nuff cyan believe a true
black house fe run the red, white and blue…
Dem a shout out…

Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy
Dem say
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy

Me callin’ all liberal Indians (Obama!),
whey live up on the reservation (Obama!),
the Japanese and all the Chinee-man (Obama!),
the Indian and all the Mexicans (Obama!),
Arabs and Jews and Palestinians (Obama!),
all time fe we join up as one,
and a shout out…

Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy
Dem say
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy

Cause this is not about class (Obama!),
nor color, race, nor creed (Obama!),
but it’s about the changes (Obama!),
what the Americans need (Obama!).

So, whether you come from California (Obama!),
Or you live in Nort’ Dakota (Obama!)
You could have come from Texas (Obama!),
Or you’re living inna Florida
I want ya join disya line ya (Obama!)
And let me hear you start shout,
Just shout out…

Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy
Dem say
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy

MoveOn.org brings on the Web 2.0 fun and games to encourage Tobias Eigen to vote

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October 23, 2008 in Web 2.0, Politics and Democracy. 0 Comments

I thought this was an enjoyable Web 2.0 gimmick from MoveOn.org to motivate me (and presumably thousands of others) to vote. In it, a fake news program shows talking heads explaining that Tobias Eigen is the single voter responsible for Obama’s defeat in the upcoming election.

This reminded me of an excellent spoof on The Onion about the guy who took down the Internet by doing too much stuff at the same time - but this time it was ME the spoof is targeting!

Good thing I already voted by mail in ballot!

Dear MoveOn member,

Oversleeping. Getting the car fixed. Having to pick up the second-cousin’s stepkids on the other side of town. These are just a few of the reasons millions of Americans won’t vote on November 4th.

It’s not like they hate voting. They want to do it. They know they should. And mostly, they intend to. But some of your friends won’t get around to actually voting because they haven’t been reminded vividly enough.

That’s why we developed this funny, scary video. It shows people what it might look like if we lose the election by a single vote: theirs.

Here’s a version we prepared for you. You’re in it—seriously, you. Check it out—and if you like it, send it to your friends:

Watch it: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=31274&nid=RBtIiRY7BXiD6LQJVhUW4zc0MjM5OA–&id=14592-1111187-GhNqfqx&t=3

Thanks for all you do.

–Peter, Joan, Carrie, Daniel and the rest of the team

I, Tobias Eigen, am blogging about Africa at Kabissa.org

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August 20, 2008 in Africa, Civil Society, Kabissa, Bainbridge Island, Web 2.0, Social Networking, WordPress, Blogging, Free/Libre Open Source Software, ICT4D, Drupal, web2fordev and freecycle. 0 Comments

Visitors to saidia.org may be wondering what is happening here - not much it seems. I set up this blog some time ago as an experiment, to learn about the ins and outs of blogging and to learn about the free and open source WordPress blogging tool that makes this particular blog possible. My reasons for carrying out the experiment were personal but also related to Kabissa, the organization I started 9 years ago to enable me to be a reliable technology partner for African civil society. The Kabissa team was exploring the participatory web, also known as Web 2.0, and the blogosphere was - and remains - an important part of that, so having some of us blogging was an important part of our research. Outcomes from that along the way have been a research paper available on the Kabissa wiki, a “wikified” version of Kabissa’s Time To Get Online training manual in English, French and Arabic, and of course various articles, interviews and presentations we gave at Netsquared and Web2fordev. These are floating in the blogosphere and hopefully useful to folks seeking to explore the power of Web 2.0 in civil society no matter where in the world.

In February 2008, Kabissa watchers will have noted the launch of our new online community website at http://www.kabissa.org including blogs for staff of all 1200+ member organizations. This includes me! I am now blogging there very regularly, along with Sokari Ekine, Kabissa’s in-house blogger and community coordinator, and a range of very idealistic and courageous people working in African civil society. Check out the blog at http://www.kabissa.org/blog

Thanks to the Drupal open source content management system we are using, the site has some very powerful functionality we are exploring that is relevant and useful for African organizations. This includes a granular notification system allowing registered site users to subscribe to posts by specific bloggers or containing specific tags or a range of other combinable filtering methods. We also are able to do special mailings containing opportunities and timely announcements addressed to a subset of our membership (eg in a specific city or region, or working in a specific thematic area) and then to generate reports on the effectiveness of the mailings. Our monthly member newsletter contains a selection of our best content from the past month along with a member spotlight and “Dear Mimi” Internet advice column. One of the niftiest new tools we are playing with is a blog-by-email gizmo, allowing our members to send email to a specific email address to be posted (by them) on the blog, or to reply to notifications to add comments to blog posts.

So this is the long way for me to tell you quite simply - looking for posts by Tobias Eigen about tech in Africa? Go to http://www.kabissa.org/blog/1 to see them! While you are there, please go ahead and sign up and join the Kabissa community, and if you have something to say please start blogging yourself and participate in blog discussions with others that share your passion about African civil society and the role technology can play.

And as for saidia.org - I like having my own personal blog where I can speak out on my own recognizance without concern for the bylaws of Kabissa or any other organization, and also talk about any topic that spurs me to post.

For example, I have been mulling over a decision to leave freecycle Bainbridge Island, a really neat Yahoo group community I have been part of for three years now. This would be a big decision for me but if I take it I don’t want to do so alone - thanks to my blog I wouldn’t have to. If I do leave, then I would post my explanation on the blog to try to start a discussion in my community about it so I can understand better how best I personally and we as an island community can keep items out of the landfill that others might still be able to use.

Projects in Kenya and Uganda among winners of nGOmobile competition!

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February 13, 2008 in Africa, nptech, Uganda, SMS, MobileActive and Kenya. 0 Comments

In September last year, I blogged about the very innovative nGOmobile competition - well, it seems it was a resounding success! I received an email today from Ken announcing that the winners have been chosen and profiled yesterday at the Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona. (Sokari blogged earlier about Ken’s encounter threre with a $20 screenless mobile phone!).

More info, links and photos to come soon on the nGOmobile website, but in the meantime - congratulations to the winners! According to the website, there were over 70 applications, from which the following four winners were selected by a panel of judges:

Participatory rapid response forest management system (Kenya)
This project is working with local communities to promote the protection and sustainable use of environmental resources. They plan to implement messaging services to help with reporting, field communications and to provide an early warning system to help combat poaching and illegal logging

Ask NETWAS a water, sanitation and hygiene question and get an answer (Uganda)
This NGO plans to launch an SMS-based service for rural communities allowing them to ask a range of water-based questions on topics such as sanitation, hygiene, water harvesting, and water technologies

Continue reading ‘Projects in Kenya and Uganda among winners of nGOmobile competition!’

This email confirms that you have paid OLPC Foundation $847.90 USD using PayPal.

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November 20, 2007 in Africa, nptech, OLPC, ICT4D, Loband, Poverty, Education and Children. 0 Comments

My kids can’t read, so I can safely share the news here that my father has very generously given me the go ahead to buy them OLPC Laptops for Christmas. Believe you me, they (and I) are going to be very excited to rip open their presents this year. The deadline for participating is November 26th, 2007 - so as of this writing it’s still not too late to order yours!

I complain alot about the OLPC project, but at the end of the day I am excited about the devices and am pleased that my children will finally get to have one - and in the process help to make sure that some kids (hopefully in Africa) also get to have them. I am also pleased at least to perceive that Nicholas Negroponte and his OLPC Foundation appear to be coming back to earth and are developing realistic plans for deploying millions of these laptops in the third world. Perhaps I will even stop calling it a dam project with bunny ears.

Despite my excitement, I can’t help but continue complaining a little. It’s not so much about the devices but the attitude of Negroponte and the appearance of OLPC as traditional, very costly, top-heavy and not especially participative development project.

According to the Terms of “Give One Get One” page on the laptopgiving.org website (reposted below), that $847.90 purchase has involved us irrevocably in a global educational movement - participation may not be cancelled - even though there are no assurances as to when our devices will actually get here. The reason for this is that their priority is not me but the children in poor countries that will get the donated machines. If we decide to change our minds and ask for our money back, we have to act within 30 days, even if the devices are not in our possession and we haven’t decided if the laptops work well for us. And once we have them we will be seeking help using it from friends, family and bloggers. Wow!

I’m a geek and am used to getting help online, and everyone who knows me can attest that I am always eager to join global movements for change, especially when they involve creative uses of computers and the Internet, but these terms are still fairly heavy handed.
Continue reading ‘This email confirms that you have paid OLPC Foundation $847.90 USD using PayPal.’

Run, don’t walk to vote for Pambazuka News in Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics

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September 20, 2007 in Africa, Civil Society, nptech, Kabissa, Web 2.0, Politics, Create Peace, Democracy and Poverty. 0 Comments

If you haven’t done so already, go now to vote for Pambazuka News!

It’s easy to do. No login required, just go to http://tinyurl.com/2yo3vy, look for PAMBAZUKA NEWS on the list and click the “Vote” button.

Vote for Pambazuka News!

For the third year running, Pambazuka News has been selected as one of 25 finalists for the Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics.

Pambazuka News is produced by a pan-African community of some 300 citizens and organisations - academics, policy makers, social activists, women’s organisations, civil society organisations, writers, artists, poets, bloggers, and commentators.

Winning this award would be a tribute to all the many contributors who have made Pambazuka News essential reading for all concerned with the cause of justice and freedom in Africa.

With your help, we could win this award. Please vote for us at: http://tinyurl.com/2yo3vy

NGOs going mobile… join the nGOmobile.org competition for grassroots groups in the third world

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September 18, 2007 in Africa, Civil Society, nptech, Kabissa, Web 2.0, ICT4D, Loband, web2fordev, SMS and MobileActive. 2 Comments

Via the mobileactive mailing list, I learned today about the nGOmobile competition, which is kicking off today! Grassroots groups in the third world seeking the tools and resources to use mobile phones and SMS in pursuit of their missions are invited to participate.

I am particularly excited because I have observed over the last two years, since participating in the first Mobile Active Convergence in Toronto back in 2005, that the opportunities of mobile phones for advocacy in the third world have been out there and available, but not fully exploited. The case studies (what works and what does not work) have not been widely shared and discussed for others around the continent to benefit from. More civil society groups need to see examples of how this technology is empowering others - and can empower them.

This competition will go a long way to remedying that problem - so hats off to kiwanja.net, 160 Characters and the others involved in putting on this competition. Read on to see the announcement, or go straight to ngomobile.org to learn more. Please help spread the word about this terrific initiative. Continue reading ‘NGOs going mobile… join the nGOmobile.org competition for grassroots groups in the third world’

Small Price Laptop

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September 14, 2007 in nptech, OLPC, ICT4D, Loband and Nigeria. 8 Comments

Tope Famayegun, a colleague and Time To Get Online training partner in Lagos, Nigeria, asked a poignant question in an email to our all-trainers mailing list today:

Does anyone know what has happened to Professor
Negroponte and the $100.00 Laptop per Child Project?

I was struck by this since she is in Lagos and probably held the laptop as it made the rounds in the audience during Negroponte’s speach at the Digital World Africa 2006 Conference in Abuja.

Since Nigeria signed up to be in the first round of recipients of the device, I’d be interested in hearing more from our Nigerian colleagues about how the project is unfolding there. Continue reading ‘Small Price Laptop’

Images FOR Africa - Flickr group promotes Creative Commons and sharing of Images FOR Africa

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September 4, 2007 in Africa, nptech, Web 2.0, WordPress, Blogging, Media, ICT4D, Flickr, web2fordev and Creative Commons. 1 Comment

I love Creative Commons. I love pictures. And I love Africa! So I was very pleased to encounter - and promptly join - the Images of Africa - Images FOR Africa group on Flickr. The group gathers images of Africa by people who want to share them with others. The photos shared by the group can be used freely under a generous Creative Commons license, and of course can be browsed, discussed or searched in the usual nifty Flickr ways.

There is even a beautiful Flickr map so you can place your own photos on the map and allow people to browse them by country.

I am enthusiastic about the new channels this provides for building networks of shared interest among likeminded and generous people in Africa.

I would gather that Flickr groups like this with such a clear common benefit for group members will provide a wonderfully gentle route into Creative Commons for people that otherwise are skeptical of the hype surrounding Web 2.0.
Continue reading ‘Images FOR Africa - Flickr group promotes Creative Commons and sharing of Images FOR Africa’

Interview with Walter Turner on Kabissa, Web 2.0, African civil society and more…

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September 4, 2007 in Africa, Civil Society, nptech, Kabissa, Web 2.0, Social Networking, WordPress, Blogging, Free/Libre Open Source Software, Democracy and web2fordev. 0 Comments

I was pleased to learn from Nunu Kidane (Priority Africa Network) this morning that an interview Kim Lowery and I did with Walter Turner back in May aired on KPFA in Berkeley yesterday and is available online.

The interview came on the heels of the Netsquared conference on “remixing the web for social change”, so Kim and I were very much jazzed up by - and no doubt still processing - the attention our Kabissa 2.0 proposal received at the conference and the many remarkable projects and ideas we were exposed to. We discussed Web 2.0 concepts but Walter Turner also challenged us to go into detail about the history and justification for Kabissa, on what we think civil society is and how we support the important work of organizations in Africa.

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