You may recall from past blog posts, Web Foundation founder Tim Berners-Lee, Director Rosemary Leith, and program manager Stephane Boyera had really interesting visits with many people in Egpyt, Kenya and Uganda during November 2009. I don’t think we have previously pointed you to a cool video that Tim took himself (and took of himself)…
Read MoreW4RA Workshop in Ouagadougou
During our recent visit to Burkina Faso for the Web-alliance for Regreening Africa (W4RA) project , we organized a two days workshop and invited a mixed audience of people working in agriculture/agroforestry in Burkina, people working in the ICT sector in Burkina, and people from development agencies (e.g. IICD), or international organizations working on agroforestry…
Read MoreFarmers and Promoters in Burkina Faso: More Videos and Pictures
I returned to Boston from Ouagadougou, after 27 hours in transit. Stephane and I will have much more to relay from this exciting visit. This post relays a number of additional observations, as well as still and moving images, from our 31 January – 1 February visits north of Ouaga (the towns of Dori,…
Read MoreVideos from Day 1 of Visit with Farmer Innovators in Burkina Faso
Chris Reij from VU University – Amsterdam led a group including Stephane Boyera, George Sadowsky and me from the Web Foundation on an educational tour of the desert regions north of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The purpose was to orient participants in the new Web-alliance for Regreening in Africa (W4RA) and others on the progress…
Read MoreWeb Scale: Tim Berners-Lee at the World Economic Forum, Davos
Tim Berners-Lee spoke today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland about the future of the Web and the value of working at “Web Scale”. The next generation of the Web promises greater opportunity for advancing human intelligence, creativity, collaboration, and commerce by linking the underlying data representing knowledge, opinions, activities, personal…
Read MoreRegreening in Africa
The Web Foundation starts work on the Web-alliance for Regreening in Africa (W4RA) during the first week of February, with Steve Bratt and Stephane Boyera doing field investigations and planning with our partners in Burkina Faso.
Leveraging the Web, mobile phones, community radio and local expertise, W4RA will expand the collection and sharing of knowledge on…
The Man Who Stopped the Desert: Helping Others to Do the Same
The Web-alliance for Regreening in Africa (W4RA) — the Web Foundation’s first project — starts in earnest in a bit over a week. We are all quite excited, to say the least. We are also collecting other experiences in the use of the Web to support agricultural projects. So please comment below or send email…
Read MoreThe Importance of the Web to Help Disaster Relief in Haiti
The days following the earthquake in Haiti have shown just how vital — and often too scarce — reliable information is. Aid organizations and government agencies need to know what’s happening on the ground so they can effectively allocate their resources. These organizations and agencies must be able to share information in order to effectively coordinate…
Read MoreICT4D and Business Models
Let me start with my best wishes for 2010!
I’m starting to investigate the business side of ICT4D projects. Identifying the business model is (or should be!) obviously a critical dimension for most ICT4D projects. Indeed, that’s the study of how to make services at least self-sustainable, or to provide revenue to the provider.
Identifying the cost…
Mobile vs. Radio vs. TV vs. the Web
I recently found a very interesting article by Kevin Randall from Fast Company “The Boob-Tube, Not YouTube, Is Transforming the World”. This is a good opportunity to clarify a bit where the Web Foundation stands in that discussion. In few words, the article is about the power and impact of the Web on social and…
Read MoreAdvance the Web. Empower People.
We envision a Web that empowers all people, including billions excluded today, by providing new opportunities for creativity, collaboration, teaching, learning, enterprise and a better life. To reach this goal, the Web Foundation will put the power of the Web into the hands of people around the world through effective, high-impact programs.
The Foundation works to…