Dadamac

A typical day in Dadamac Read now

It's 7.45 am here in the UK so I'm a bit earlier that usual starting work, and thinking it might be interesting to make notes through the day.

A "water cooler" moment.

So far I've read a blog comment that Vijay wrote and responded to it. Then I went to check my emails. The chat box was open. It had a one-line message from Vijay - so I wrote a line back and he wrote one to me, and then we both went back to our tasks. it's the virtual equivalent of a smile and a wave, or a momentary exchange of pleasantries with a colleague at the water cooler. For me it was a pleasant way to start the day.. and for him... well he's in Delhi.. so .. maybe a good way to end to his mornings work.

Blogs I haven't written Read now

You may have been directed to this blog because I want to give you background to an ongoing story. Well the truth is that I may not have written it yet. I'm trying to exchange a vicious circle for a virtuous one. In the vicious circle - here and now - I need to refer people (like you perhaps) to previous events or ideas that I haven't actually blogged about. In the virtuous circle every unfolding story is readily to hand (including the one specially for you). Hmm - How to make the flip over?

The ideal solution

My friend Omo suggests a"person multiplier" - He wrote "This is a gizmo which allows you to determine how many copies of yourself are required for the tasks on your schedule and creates them - are you running one?"

Back from Streaming Sharing and Learning Read now

I am back from the Video Bridge  Streaming Sharing and Learning workshop in Vienna. Over the next few days I will be reflecting on what went on, looking for patterns, and seeing how things might continue in ways that are relevant (both to the Dadamac community and to me as a learner). This may result in a flurry of blogs - if it does please forgive me.

At the workshop Franz did a great job of enabling the participants to become a community. The participants all represented communities of some kind.

Dadamac beyond Nigeria Read now

Usually Wednesday morning is dominated by the UK-Nigeria online team meeting - but today we are getting close to Christmas so there is no meeting and I am taking time to think about Dadamac beyond Nigeria, and about including more of my wider network (present and future) here at www.dadamac.net.

Dadamac.net online community

The idea behind dadamac.net is that it will be less like a website, and more like an online "home/office/meeting-place/study-space/club/whatever-we-want-it-to-be" for people (present and future) who are connected with Dadamac ideas and activities.

Week ending Dec 3rd Read now

So much happening, so little time to write.

Streaming Learning and Sharing

Last Thursday, November 29th. Franz Nahrada held a skype planning meeting for the January video bridge, Streaming Learning and Sharing workshop http://twurl.nl/hlkeqy. I was there with other participants. it was our first online meeting.

Developing Technologies

Friday, November 30th - Meeting with Femi Longe (Africa Plus Plus and New Ideas for Africa)and Ron Bridges (www.developing technologies.org) at City University. That meeting ties in with our recycling plastic project.

Can Dadamac Become a Virtual Organisation? Read now

Hi Pam,

Some months ago, in one of your initial E-conversations with me, you gave me a detailed description about your plan and vision for Dadamac. We also talked about building a roadmap for the future.

This week, as I was reading an interesting piece about the virtual organisation on the Economist website, it struck me that Dadamac probably has all the makings of becoming one. 

Dadamac Day at BarCamp Africa and in Nigeria Read now

Dadamac Day 2009 was a new and exciting extension of our annual online celebration. Usually it is pretty much "a family affair" - reuniting people who already know each other. This time we widened our reach, both in the UK and in rural Nigeria, so there were extra guests at the celebration.

Wednesday's meeting from Nikki Read now

I need to remind myself not to become blasé about today's extraordinary and productive meeting, how privileged I am to be part of such a fantastic and innovative team . . . and just how much we managed to achieve in the space of a single hour!

It was our usual Wednesday online meeting.

Africa Gathering, Business Fights Poverty, and more Read now

Things are getting very busy here, and it is hard to share it all as much as I would like to do. I hope that (once more of Dadamac's activities have "moved in" to this single online space that is dadamac.net ) life will get simpler and it will be easier for everyone to know what is going on. 

A couple of years ago I hardly ever went to any face to face events connected with my Dadamac interests (back before Dadamac developed out of Cawdnet). I simply worked away online - or went on working holidays to Africa. Now there are so many related activites in London that it is hard to know which to attend (even if you apply my usual rule of - if it's going to cost money then its probably out of my range)

These are the two most recent events:

Meetings: Skype or Yahoo? Read now

When Dadamac started to have regular UK-Nigeria team meetings we used Yahoo. (It was the natural choice, because people in the team already knew Yahoo and had Yahoo IDs.) Then we had problems with the reliability of Yahoo and moved over to Skype instead. (By then some people were using - or trying to use - Skype for transnational voice chats, so the interface was not completely unfamiliar.) This week, when we gathered at our various locations ready for our online session, Skype had a glitch, which seriously interupted the business of the meeting. That glitch prompts this consideration of what we had chosen for our meetings, and why, and what plan we should have to be better prepared for future glitches.