Adam Thompson - InfoActivist » citad

Day 14 – Pictures, Trainings and More Achabas

admin — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:22:45 +0000

First order of business is to let you all know that Eugene has photos on his flickr site which you should all check out. It’s very difficult to live up to his consistency and quality of photography but Scott and I are trying very hard. Eugene also posted various videos from the week he was here. The only one I can load on this connection was from our tour of COBTAK. I’ll link to more when I can find them or you can click on “more from user” to see his other videos from the trip.

Second since I’m only here for 9 more days panic has set in about being able to finish what we set out to do. Scott and I are going to wrap up our web design training tomorrow afternoon with a open session on html/css and WordPress for content management. We will also do a morning session tomorrow possibly on databases or data analysis with spreadsheets (TBD from our review this evening). In the meantime I’m cranking away on Insaan (the RH Leaders DB tool built in rails). Also we have plans to develop 2 additional sites for partner groups the Mumbayya House (Center for Democratic Research and Training) and possibly the Health Tech Institute in Makarfi. If that’s not enough we still need to spend time at dRPC to go over computer maintenance, the website and their email situation.

Lastly we spent more time at Spice Foods and met a friend from Jos who is originally from the Philippines . It was an fun an educational night the ended up with Scott and I sharing ONE bike home in the rain after midnight. It also turns out there are police road blocks everywhere after midnight in Kano (so be careful).

update: more videos from Eugene

Web Trainings @ CITAD

admin — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:31:42 +0000

Day 2 of the 3 day (maybe 4) web design and content management training at CITAD and GIIP is now complete. The review and evaluations for day 1 are available on our training resource site http://citad.org/trainings.

The materials above provide the main breakdown and detail of how everything went. Mostly day 1 was challenging because we were trying to gauge where we were all stood and make it fun and interactive. This goal to make it user driven really worked and then the generator blew up and caught on fire (not kidding). This shortened the training partly because the computers were out and we only had a few laptops but mostly because with no electricity to power the fans it was way too hot to be there.

Day 2 we picked up where we left off and a few folks had completed there homework even (side note: I think I need to figure out homework for the end of every class, it’s not mandatory but everyone liked the idea). Everyone is really eager to learn and wanted to spend even more time than allocated. Today we reviewed poorly designed sites, and spent the rest of the time building an html/css template (using heavily materials from maxdesign).

Other things we noticed: viruses and spyware are pervasive and have crippled a lot of the available computers. So we are going to fit in a short MS Windows maintenance and security training and perhaps even and Intro to Linux session. Simple free AV software (clam, avg) could have a significant impact on reducing this problem if we can get people access to it (the web here is too slow to download it). Other trainings up coming this next week are introduction to databases and data analysis using spreadsheets.

Also today we took a ride on “achabas” (sp?) or motorbike taxis, a very popular and cheap mode of transportation. We went over to Spice Foods for really great food and beer (shhh!). We got some great time in with the restaurant owner talking about the deteriorating situation in Kano amongst other things and then we took the “achabas” back home. The motorbike ride is not nearly as scary as I thought even at night. Whether I’m up to it during daily traffic is another story.

Sai anjima!

Heading Off to Nigeria

admin — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:30:04 +0000

I’m departing for Kano, Nigeria this Friday (June 20)… I have no idea how this happened so fast. I’m going to arrive and work with the Institute for International Education (http://iiesf.org/), dRPC (http://www.drpc-ng.org/), and CITAD (http://www.citad.interconnection.org/). The goals are to improve the “database” application that I’ve been developing over the last couple years to keep track of Reproductive Health Leaders in several countries around the globe. In addition Scott (see Scott’s Notes) and I are going to work with local organizations to perform information technology trainings and assessments. The end goal of the assessements is increased organizational capacity through more effective use it ICTs and potentially a body of knowledge we can use in GIIP to further develop projects and internships in Nigeria and other parts of the world.

I’m hoping everyone can stay in contact with me while I’m away (only until July 15). You can always use Skype to contact me (email me for my info) and my location in Kano will be at the Tahir Guest Palace:

Tahir Guest Palace, No. 4 Ibrahim Natsugune Rd, Off Ahmadu Bellow Way, Nassarawa GRA, Kano State, Nigeria. Tel:234-064-632057, 646988, 649710 Website: http://www.tahirguestpalace.com.

Lastly if you haven’t seen the early California Voices release check it out and let me know your feedback. A LOT more work will go into this when I return.

Check back in for pictures, videos and notes from the trip. Hopefully I’ll keep up blogging when I return.