[wsfii-discuss] Onward to Africa

[Tracey P. Lauriault]

oops!  on the local/regional list i forgot - North East India - Nagaland 
- 5 participants, and of course north India - Ram!

mia culpa -

so add to - (*Tibetan, Ghadi, Punjabi, South Indian, Philippines and 
Nepal*) *+ North East India, North India*



Tracey P. Lauriault wrote:
> Thanks Juergen!
>
> As a new participant to this sort of event I was saddened to have 
> witnessed and experienced the culture clash. 
>
> I was however *very pleased* with the workshops given by *Elektra*, 
> *Sebastian*, *Juergen*, *Laura* and *Gina*.  I also greatly benefited 
> from the Air Jaldi conference portion of the event as it was a sort of 
> primer to the workshops for a novice like myself.  How often do you 
> get to meet and listen to the pioneers in a field! I however sadly 
> missed *Kloshii*'s radio workshop, *Cvend'*s mesh work and the fun 
> looking video cam stuff *Fred* had going.  However, a Naga friend 
> attended the event, and for him, the roadshow was not exactly attuned 
> to his learning style, so I hooked him up with Kloshii and Fred, et 
> voila, he loved it and really learned allot about  what they were 
> doing, learned allot about himself and  got  to experience for the 
> first time how it is possible to just do what you luv and share it 
> with others.  There was also vlogging workshops conducted by *Ryanne* 
> and *Jay*, and I think many of us missed those while a great number of 
> Tibetan students got some excellent first hand training.
>
> *Logistics.* Again, as a novice, who traveled a very long way at great 
> expense and with a mission, i was torn between what i needed to know, 
> wanted to know and should know. Honestly i had not realized or 
> completely understood what the two spaces were doing.  I think there 
> was a communication thing missing to connect these. I think there was 
> also a bit of a logistical issue for participants, the roadshow was in 
> one building 10 min minutes walk away, the economic workshop in yet 
> another building and Kloshii, Cven and Fred in another, Ryanne and Jay 
> also in another, and the washrooms somewhere in between and lunch 
> another 10 mins away.  It was logistically impossible to attend all 
> concurrent workshops.  I missed one morning of the Roadshow for an 
> interview and it really set me back in terms of learning and i was 
> reluctant to miss another time.  Then there were workshops at lunch 
> to. Also, since restaurants and cafe's were 5 km taxi or walk away, it 
> was hard to stay after the roadshow for another few hours to 
> participate in other workshops.  The day was jammed packed from +/- 
> 9am sometimes right up until 6:30 pm.  All were on separate time zones 
> and some of us also spent many late evenings out! I think location and 
> logistics need to be carefully attended to next time ( i understand 
> how complex it was this time), as well as communication *as all the 
> knowledge WSFII people bring with them combined with the spirit of 
> knowledge sharing is above and beyond what i expected and I would have 
> personally loved to experience it all.* 
>
> The *communication* part was difficult logistically because of the 
> geographic dispersion of the buildings, the time it took to get to 
> stuff, but also because access to the Internet was not always easy 
> (for those without a computer), and there were no paper postings of 
> all of the events, and i think this is how Kloshii's, Cvend's, Fred's, 
> Jay & Ryanne's contributions got missed and they were also not listed 
> on the workshop posting on the air jaldi website.   For overwhelmed 
> time zoned out people like myself this may have helped me get to those 
> other events.  Sadly i missed them, and back here in cold Canada - i 
> kick myself.  The bulletin board later created helped a bit.
>
> *London folks*, I heard lots about them but did not meet any of them 
> in their former colony!
>
> *As for Local participation*, i think the roadshow had +/- 65% 
> local/regional representation (*Tibetan, Ghadi, Punjabi, South Indian, 
> Philippines and Nepal*), *+/- 5 women* participants not including 
> *Gina, Elektra, Laura and Joy* who were workshop 
> teachers/facilitators, and the rest of the participants were from 
> Canada, Germany, US, Africa, and Columbia (did i miss any?).  The 
> conference had only one woman speaker, Elektra, and the audience had a 
> lower local/regional participation perhaps +/- 35 %.  There could have 
> been more Asian countries represented, as surely there are some cool 
> wireless things happening in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Shanghai - China, 
> Sri Lanka, East Timor, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Thailand, Singapore, 
> Laos, Vietnam, Mongolia and Pakistan.  In East Timor, Afghanistan and 
> Pakistan for instance I know of some cool radio activities related to 
> land mine awareness and women - also the best medium for illiterate 
> people.   Travel  funds  would have  helped them attend.
>
> *Future* - Now that I know that WSFII & WSFIIers are an emergent 
> chaordic virtual organization, I know that each of us has to mobilize 
> our individual networks and knowledge to introduce people, initiatives 
> and activities to the events.  I promise to do some digging to find 
> stuff in Africa and get them to you all when the time comes to do so.  
> I also promise to be more engaged next time!
>
> *Questions:*
> 1. If i come across some cool wireless / radio type of initiatives 
> where do i send them?
> 2. Can we put together a list of case studies and if so where would 
> they go?
> 3. If i want to introduce some people to the Ghana organizers, to whom 
> should i introduce them and how should i do this?
> 4. If people need funding to travel, how will this be arranged?
> 5. On Monday, I participated on a wireless skype roundtable, and some 
> people discussed how they allocated funding for participants to attend 
> events, how could we get that knowledge and process shared somewhere?
> 6. Is there some sort of repository/wiki/blog/webpage/dbase to post 
> stuff to?  Joy and I were discussing a centralized repository for this 
> type of content on skype yesterday.  Any ideas?
> 7.  What would be a good way to start a travel fund?
>
> Yikes!  This is really long! Sorry gang! *Lets just say, I am inspired 
> by you all*!
>
> Love
> tracey
>
> skype - lauriault123
> pers. blog - serendipityoucity.blogsome.com
> formal bio - https://gcrc.carleton.ca/confluence/display/GCRCWEB/Lauriault
>
>
>
>
>
> Juergen Neumann wrote:
>> Hi Armin and all, 
>>
>>   
>>> as plans are already made for Africa, those who did not make it to 
>>> India like me still wonder how it was. Could anyone post a report?
>>>     
>>
>> I can only speek for myself here, but others can always join
>> in/disagree, of course - please!
>>
>> This answer will be al little longer and needs to be split in some
>> sections I think:
>>
>> - The people who came
>>
>> Where all great! I made so many new friends and the whole atmosphere
>> amongst us, the late night sessions, the party - everything about that
>> was great. I am very happy I went there, as I thought to be happy
>> meeting just a few I could get along with - that turned into everyone
>> who came!!! I am very much looking forward to seeing you all again!
>> Thanks again to Fred and Thomas and many others for their engagement to
>> make the socializing happen! It also gave us a change to meet some of
>> the local helpers/supporters from the staff and make friends.
>>
>> - The place and local hosting 
>>
>> A great venue - a beautiful place. Locations, food, etc. were all
>> perfect. I felt save and really enjoyed the good logistics, food and tea
>> every day.
>>
>> - The number of asian/local attendees
>>
>> Was very poor. There were about 150 people over all, may be thirty or
>> forty locals. I was expecting much more people from asia. I think Thomas
>> has addressed this issue in his last mail quite well.
>>
>> - The airjaldi.summit
>>
>> Was a long days panel talk with many speakers with "high reputation",
>> like e.g. Richard Stallman (see website). I am very thankful towards Jim
>> Foster who came in and gave us, the WSFIIers a little (more) space on
>> this. Otherwise I think, we wouldn't have had a chance to say anything
>> there at all - because of:
>>
>> - The culture clash
>>
>> ... Was not amongst the the people who came, but between the local
>> organizer and very many of the rest. Technically we had all the support
>> but from the heart, there was a deep gap! I must reinsist on something,
>> a rule, we WSFIIers had made early after Djursland: Those who are going
>> to host a WSFII should have been visiting one before hand. We did not
>> stick to this rule in this case. We had lots of promblems in advance,
>> because of that. It was topped shortly before, by a heavy attac towards
>> one of us that was really in a tone which I found completely
>> unacceptable. But we were so close to the event that many people tryed
>> to save us from a desaster. Especially Bjarke helped a lot with his
>> engagement.
>>  
>> So I thought, may be things might change once we will meet. But it
>> really didn't change. The official side ignored the whole WSFII
>> activists until Jim Foster turned in. At the end of the conference there
>> was not a word of thanks or a mentioning to those who had also helped to
>> make airjaldi happen (especially Fred who was on place before and did
>> much more to let it happen). I am not angry about that, but I am very
>> sad! We missed so many chances - just because we coulnd't find a way to
>> coop. This can't be explained rational by me. It just felt like two too
>> different mindsets were clashing together. I am sure "the other side" is
>> not happy about that either.   
>>
>> - The wireless roadshow
>>
>> ... is such a very important part of WSFII and was really great.
>> Sebastian and Elektra were very flexible and managed to integrate a lot
>> of other workshops into the courses, to give everyone a chance not to
>> miss anything. I think to those attending the worshops it was of great
>> venue and Elektra has a new fanclub now ;-).
>>
>> - The free hackers spirit
>>
>> ... was hard to to find on the campus. Those few like Kloshi, cven and
>> some others had a hard time. One reason was the culture clash mentioned
>> above. Another reason was, that the number of people not taking part on
>> the workshops, the hackers and others, were way too few. We all missed
>> "The London Boys" and their creativity, and many more. As a result of
>> only so few being there, those who where there not taking part in
>> workshops felt really like being at the wrong place. That is very sad,
>> too, and it was really frustrating for them - trying their best to
>> organize interesting things (like local radio broadcasts or advanced
>> meshing workshops) that weren't attended by anyone or only too few in
>> the end.
>>
>> - My conclusion
>>
>> With all that frustration from many sides, WSFII is in danger. Some
>> might think: not again with those hackers, other might think: not again
>> with the roadshow, others might think: not again a conference. I think,
>> we really need these three components, but we need more people who
>> understand why these three components need to stick togehter. And we
>> have to make sure, that the number of people of all "groups" is of
>> relevant size and respect each other. And we need organizers who are
>> able to bring in more locales and support this idea of bridging
>> different cultures and are able to spread a good atmosphere and respect
>> to all of the people helping to make it happen and atending. We need
>> good vibes and free spirit!
>>
>> - The Future
>>
>> I am very much looking forward to Barcelona. I think it is a good change
>> to bring toghether a lot of people again and to build a good ground to
>> go to Afrika. I am happy that many who are taking us to Afrika have been
>> to Dharamsala and will hopefully come to Barcelona, so that we hopefully
>> manage to find back to our roots and spirits: we can work ad-hoc and
>> practically in place and that we can learn about local needs and how to
>> contribute techical knowledge and solutions and build real
>> infrastructures to the local community.
>>
>> Just my 2 cents.
>>
>> JuergeN
>>
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