Ashoka News & Knowledge Entrepreneurs

Everything is Beta

Keith Hammonds — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:07:07 -0600

At the Ashoka-Lemelson Tech4Society event in Hyderabad, India, I hosted a session on “The Information Explosion.” The basic premise was – I’m quoting myself here – that “inventors once thrived in a world of information balkanization. Those who had access to the best information, won: If you had a technology no one else knew about, or exclusive market intelligence, you enjoyed an advantage. In an increasingly open-source world, that sort of advantage is disappearing. So what’s the new paradigm for invention? (And not least, how do we pay for it?)”

What followed was a remarkable discussion – remarkable because it so closely tracked the anguished breast-beating that the news community has engaged in for the last several years. The dissolution of historical barriers to content production and distribution, and of the historical economics of information, is having exactly the same effects in the world of technological invention. Arguably, more efficient flows of information have enhanced social problem-solving, and better information has created more efficient marketplaces — more informed buyers and sellers, fewer pricing dislocations. Just as arguably, when information is so freely available, there’s the potential for everyone to be an inventor.

Invention + Information = Impact

Keith Hammonds — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:27:29 -0600

I’m back from Hyderabad, India, where nearly 100 inventor-entrepreneurs from around the world gathered for Ashoka’s first Tech4Society conference. It was a typically humbling Ashoka crowd – every conversation with one of these Fellows revealed a daunting social problem attacked with brilliant and often very courageous innovation.

It was also clear that behind every technological innovation, there typically is an impressive information system at play. Indeed, for many of these Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows, the underlying information system is at least as critical to the success of their work as their overlying technology.

So, Andres Martinez Fernandez designs and tests technologies like video microscopes and long-distance stethoscopes that increase the efficiency of rural health centers in Colombia, Peru, and Nicaragua – but those inventions depend on a proprietary communications platform that wirelessly connects those remote health centers to each other, allowing the continuous exchange of data and expertise.

Media Trailblazing

Keith Hammonds — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:54:18 -0600

Next week in Washington, the Geotourism Summit, a partnership between National Geographic and Ashoka’s Changemakers unit, will celebrate the winners of the “Geotourism Challenge,” a global competition to unearth and support innovative ideas in tourism “that celebrate the distinct destinations of the world by honoring culture, cherishing history and enhancing the environment.”

One of the winners is a Spanish outfit called Wikiloc, whose innovation should be of more than passing interest to the news and knowledge world. Wikiloc happens to be concerned with tourism, yes (Wikiloc is short for “Wiki Location”) – but what it’s really about is upending traditional information models, democratizing the machinery of publishing, and getting more and better information to more people at lower cost. Sound familiar?

Haiti's expert editor, pro tem

Keith Hammonds — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:25:03 -0600

As news has flooded from a devastated Haiti in the last week, I've found myself especially engrossed by one seemingly unlikely source.

Melinda Miles is the co-founder of Konbit Pou Ayiti/KONPAY (Working Together for Haiti) a Haitian-American not-for-profit organization focused on building sustainable livelihoods for communities in southeast Haiti. I don't know Miles, but from her various online presences I see that she has worked in Haiti for ten years or so, working on a wide array of projects to support rape victims; at-risk children; artisans; and the environment. She is co-editor of a book called Let Haiti Live, an analysis of social and political development of Haiti and its connection to American policy. KONPAY is very well connected to other NGOs working in and for Haiti.

At 2:34 pm on January 12, on her Twitter page, Miles re-tweeted news from Troy Livesay, an American doing mission work in Port au Prince: "Just experienced a MAJOR earthquake here in Port au Prince - walls were falling down. - we are ALL fine - pray for thos..." Miles herself, it seems, was in Massachusetts, where KONPAY is co-located.

Great idea? Pitch it!

Keith Hammonds — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:50:21 -0600

Just 13 days left to enter the WeMedia PitchIt! Challenge, hosted by Ashoka Changemakers.

What's PitchIt!? We Media and Changemakers are looking for the most innovative ideas that promise to inspire a better world through media. The top finalists will pitch their ideas at We Media Miami, March 9-11, 2010. The best entry in each category — non-profit and business — will receive a $25,000 prize to help launch their new venture. (Check out the winners of last year's PitchIt! competition here.)

If you're a storyteller, a connector, an influencer, or just an idea person, you qualify to enter. All you need is the great idea. And you have until January 20.

“To live in hope — and risk disappointment”

Keith Hammonds — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:04:33 -0600

Sanjana Hattotuwa is founder of GroundViews, a Sri Lankan website that provides both a secure channel for citizen reporting and a platform for critical debate amid one of the world’s most repressive environments for press and speech freedom.

We asked Sanjana and other Ashoka Fellows to offer predictions for 2010. Their collected responses will be excerpted soon in an Ashoka eBook — but Sanjana’s were compelling enough to merit full exposure here. He reflects on emerging technologies and a changed information user, but also on the historic role of journalists in documenting truth and challenging both convention and injustice. The result: an invigorating declaration of purpose.

The Journalist-Organizer

Keith Hammonds — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:11:18 -0600

If you want to understand what journalists could look like in the future, it’s worth talking with Kara Andrade. She does not come from any single, traditional mold; rather, her emerging career -- and I'm not sure she would call it that -- synthesizes multiple skill sets and perspectives in ways both appealing and important.

Kara began in social services after college: She worked in an assisted living facility, then did outreach for a rape crisis center, developed a street outreach plan targeting HIV-vulnerable homeless and drug users; and worked with an alcohol and drug advocacy program.

She went to journalism school, and turned herself into a writer-photographer. She has reported on New Orleans flood workers and emergency workers; technology trends, bioterrorism; and environmental conflict in Guatemala, among other issues. At the same time, she has developed Web content for the Maynard Institute, a non-profit that pushes for diversity in the media world; directed online strategy for Youth Radio; organized a series of training conferences for the Renaissance Journalism Center; and, most recently, headed fundraising and community organizing at Spot.Us, David Cohn’s effort to crowdfund investigative journalism.

Reza and Massoud, on NG Television

Keith Hammonds — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:28:28 -0600

Ashoka Senior Fellow Reza Deghati, a renowned Irani photographer whose group AINA has built vital independent media in Afghanistan, will be appear in a National Geographic Channel feature airing Dec. 22 (8 and 11 pm) and 29 (8 pm). The NG Series, "National Geographic's Most Incredible Photos," tells the story of Reza's portrait of Afghan rebel leader Ahmed shah Massoud, who was killed by Al Queda a few days before the 9/11 attacks. From the channel's listing: "Now, NGC takes you on assignment through war-torn Afghanistan as Reza returns to the scene of the famous photo and works to capture an image that could become a new national icon."

The Future of News (in 140 Characters or Less)

Keith Hammonds — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:12:18 -0600

It can get lonely cooped up in this blog. So this week, the "Tomorrow's News" team took its act to Twitter, hosting a real-time discussion at #SocEntChat on "The Future of News." (#SocEntChat is a Twitter conversation, presented by Ashoka on the first Wednesday of each month, that invites current and aspiring social entrepreneurs, funders, media, and suppporters to share their ideas, discuss the state of the field, identify the latest innovations and pinpoint areas requiring more exploration.)

If you've participated in this sort of conversation on Twitter, you know that it can be random; exhilerating; scattered; intelligent; disjointed; and hilarious -- often, all at once. To the point, it can be an efficient way of surfacing smart ideas from a diverse, global network. Which is what this #SocEntChat turned out to be. Here's what we learned:

How will people get/use/share information a decade from now? What will be the biggest changes from today? First of all, they will in fact get, use, and share – as opposed to just reading/listening/watching.

Google Goes to Iraq

Keith Hammonds — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:56:35 -0600

World Wide Web, meet Iraq. Iraq, this is the Web. Google recently launched a fascinating two-pronged initiative in Baghdad, part of an apparent State Dept. strategy to deploy social media for democracy in Iraq. First, CEO Eric Schmidt announced a plan to digitize (at its own expense) the collections of the Iraq National Museum. The next day, the Iraqi government introduced its first Youtube channel. Read more at Ashoka's Peace Blog.