Book Project for Poor Students in Uganda Discussions

Group Hiatus

I sent a PM to Kasinja about taking ownership of this group and he declined. It is apparent there is an interruption of continuity in the group discussions here now.

Internet collaboration makes what Clay Shirky calls a “cognitive surplus” visible. Shirky gave a short talk at the Web 2.0 Expo which can be viewed at Eric Hersman's site and Eric has a link to a transcript there as well. Shirky points out that a "surplus" is something we don't know what to do with. So right now people are wildly experimenting with what to do with the the cognitive surplus made visible by the Internet. Wikipedia is generally pointed to as an example of great things that can be created.

I learned so much in the short time I participates at "that other site," Omidyar.net about online collaboration. I am also an active participant on blogs and other online sites where people create and post content. I find so much of value, but also regularly see the sorts of pitfalls and snares that come up with the new social media. We are inventing what to do, so it's not surprising there are bumps along the road. Such interruptions do not negate the optimism that peer to peer collaborations can create great things, just remind that creating any good thing is hard.

When people talk about the Internet in developing countries they always emphasize all the information that people in those countries could consume. That's true, of course, but the other side of the coin: all the information people in those countries could produce is just as important, if not more so.

One of the aspects of this project which has so excited me is the Book Project members in Uganda have hit on a very important part of making the cognitive surplus that the Internet makes visible available to students in Uganda. It will be a while before computers are commonly available there, so there is a need to provide other was to interact with the Web and paper is one obvious way.

Online there are many efforts to make educational materials available. Open Educational Resources OER is but one example. There are several initiatives to make fully vetted and edited textbooks available online. And there are many, many examples of individual authors who make their textbooks freely available online. Make Textbooks Affordable is an initiative in the USA, and the Web site has a wealth of links which are more generally applicable to other parts of the world.

One of the key needs is for a group in countries to make what's already available online accessible for use in their own countries. Clearly one of the ways to do that is to be a source for printed materials. The other key need that this book project has emphasized is producing locally relevant texts in country.

Online collaboration is something new and none of us has really figured out how it should work. Those of us who've been at it a while know there are some predictable pitfalls. People new to online collaboration often have to discover the pitfalls themselves. Surely there will also be many new and undiscovered pitfalls along the way all of us will discover. We are all learners and sometimes we learn the hard way. Having fallen into some traps unawares, I think creates a sense of humility and even humor about it.

I wish the members of Uganda SPACE well! I hope they create great things. I do see some traps that lay in their way. I also understand the frustration felt about people pointing out possible pitfalls when the need is so great. There's a great ballad called All My Children of the Sun which speaks to this very human dilemma whose lyrics might be interesting to some.

Since Kasinja isn't interested in the ownership of the group, he suggested deleting it. But it's hard to predict what information will be useful to others in the future. I think it's very valuable that the progress here be saved because it might be useful.

I also know that the need to make good educational resources more available is a need that's on going. Many of us here at Ned care deeply about education and want to use some of our resources to contribute. Many of us here care deeply about the people of Uganda and have connections to people there. So this group could easily change directions slightly to discuss ways to make materials and make educational materials more available in Uganda, not excluding Uganda SPACE but including other efforts. I will change the group description to reflect that as soon as I can.

Last comment added: Tue, 06 May 2008 03:25:34 PDT

Kicked Out

It's a bit of a glitch, perhaps temporary, but Kasinja wants to sever ties with me. Certainly I don't want to delete the group or discourage this effort in any way. But clearly I need to honor the Kasinja's feelings on this, so I'll stay out of the way here. I'm sure I will read anything posted to the group, if it remains active. I do encourage anyone who has something to offer to support the project. The production of educational materials specific to countries around the world using computer and communication technologies is very much worth supporting.

Last comment added: Tue, 06 May 2008 20:29:47 PDT

Getting equipments for the Organisation

Hello, space members, this thread is about brainstorming on how to get a computer and printer for the Organisation. please suggest to contribute to the growth of Uganda SPACE Organisation. Thank you.

Last comment added: Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:39:44 PDT

Karibu- (Kamongo) Africa Night Portland Oregon

Another Ndombolo/REGGAE Night in Portland.

Please support us "EVERY LAST FRIDAY OF A MONTH", Your support crucual. We will be able to keep the African/Reggae Night in Portland forever. Remember, we are creating a culture so please raise with us. We trust that there is NO place for African/Reggae music in Portland so swing & sway in the African way.... all de way.

The theme of this night is "CONNECTION" people from various parts of the world come together to listen and dance to the sound of African/Reggae music.

WHEN: Friday, April 25th WHERE: The City (424 SW 4th street, downtown PDX) WHY: African Night- Together As One (TAO) COVER: $5.00 ONLY. ("Only Cultivation Can End Starvation And Heal The Nations!") TIME: 10 PM

Brought to you by:

Sir CK(Tanzania), Dj Madness ( Zambia ) BIG RIDDIM… PURE FIRE…. a mixture of Ndombolo, Bongo Flava, Zambian, Roots Reggae, Kenyan Flava & (Katitu style), Soukous, Dancehall, Ugandan, South African, Ragga Muffin.

This is a twice-in-a-lifetime-opportunity to meet those OTHER people from all over the world, particularly, the great continent of AFRICA. Kick back and relax to the sounds of Reggae & African Muziki.

KARIBU (Welcome....)

See you on Friday!

Peace & Guidance

There are no comments.

Logo and Branding

I was chatting with Kasinja the other evening. Something we discussed was branding of SPACE assets. We talked about how the various projects can be linked together. I asked about whether they had a logo and Kasinja said they needed one. He also pointed out that it was very expensive to have that sort of work done in Uganda. I said I wasn't suggesting registering a trademark, rather simply making decisions about a look that the various assets of the project might share.

I don't know much about how to do graphic design. All the software on my computer and I know how to use a tiny fraction of what the software can do. I can learn, even if I'm a slow learner. But in point of fact it is really important to learn a bit about graphic design to be in the publishing business. Clearly we can't pay others to do it, but others may be helpful in showing us how to do it. I suggested that we try and Kasinja said something like, "Okay, you first."

I thought about ideas for a logo. One idea I like is an imprint called Rocket Books with a cartoon picture of a rocket ship rising into the sky. But of course what we want is a logo for the organization as a whole. Another thought was a histogram using the colors of the Ugandan Flag, but that didn't seem to convey any information really--I mean the attempt was to connect the Uganda with Science but graphically it didn't do it for me. So I thought of another obscure reference. Professor Ron Eglash has written about African Fractals. For those with fast Internet his Ted Talk is worthwhile. One of the African fractals he provides is the Ethiopian Cross. There is an applet that's interesting to explore about the pattern. The first iteration of the Ethiopian Cross is graphically simple and so I wanted to play around a bit more with it as a possible logo.

All right the shape is very simple, and should be easy to create using software I already have. But as I point out, I'm ignorant about how to use the software. I first tried using the Draw component of Open Office. I think it's easy, but couldn't really figure it out. I tried opening an ancient--and legitimate license--of an ancient edition of PhotoShop Elements, but it wouldn't open for me today. So I tried GIMP an Open Source image manipulation program. It's a powerful program, but I don't know how to use it. So I just drew the image.

I'm incompetent, and that's what Kasinja was worried about too I think. But we can learn and in particular we can learn from others. Creating a logo should be within our abilities, especially with advice from others. So I hope people will contribute to the discussion.

Photo Link

Also I uploaded a PDF of Uganda SPACE in various fonts as well as how the logo might look on a letterhead. I do think that the Ethiopian Cross has potential for the logo. It would be good to make the shape with computer tools. Then it could be scaled well and be exactly square to make good a Favicon. The image could be stacked or placed side to side with the text in between. I even found some cool manipulations of the image using the tools in GIMP, one example I put up at Flickr. So if you care to, play around with this image. Or better yet come up with your own ideas and share them.

There are Web sites that make it easy to create logos, and the cost is not too steep, for example at this site the cost was $70. I didn't read the license agreement because I think that this sort of graphic design is something the organization must develop in house. So the logo provides a learning opportunity. I hope that members will take an interest.

Last comment added: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:51:47 PDT

CDWO Community Development Planning

Kasinja Tonny Henry posted on the Volunteers thread about the groups planning for their Community Development organization. The topic is well worth discussion and a thread for it seemed appropriate. Here's his comment:

The name of the CBO:

We have thought of a name that encompasses all our programs and it is:

Community Development watch organisation ( CDWO) and it will have programs like:

-Book project for poor students: publishing and distribution of reading materials, distribution of exercise books, pens, pencils to students. -The school project: offering voluntary teaching services to schools, donation of furniture, computers, connecting schools to internet,chalk,textbooks,renovation of existing schools and constructing new schools for poor students. -Antipoverty program: Providing interest free loans to people in the community, provision of technical financial assistance to the community, creating partenerships with different organisations in the same cause.

Please you are welcome to comment. Thanks

Last comment added: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 05:54:27 PST

Possible Partners

This thread will allow us to talk about possible partners.

Last comment added: Wed, 28 May 2008 04:13:49 PDT

Brainstorming Income Generating Ideas

This is a thread for discussing ways to produce educational materials which produce income.

Brainstorming is a way of thinking out loud. The important thing is to generate ideas. All of the ideas will be incomplete and need more work at first. In fact the point about generating ideas isn't to develop all of them, but to have ideas to choose from. With a list a few ideas might be worth investing time to develop. So the idea of brainstorming is to generate ideas without too much worry how good they are at first.

I hope I'm not confusing things by starting too many threads!

[edit: to add what brainstorming is]

Last comment added: Sat, 31 May 2008 07:10:30 PDT

Volunteers in Editing , design and graphics, teaching will make this project sucessful

Hey; I think we need experts in book editing, design of book covers , binding and teaching will make this project a sucess. If we can connect to a number of experts all over the world who can train our members in the different fields of book publishing, i think will be of help.We need also teachers all over the world who can volunteer in different schools in uganda to make this project a sucess.So any one who can have information about that can help!!

Last comment added: Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:06:45 PST

Copyright and Intellectual Property

Copyrights are a way to provide authors with rights to control the use of their work and to provide exclusive publishing rights. Understanding copyright isn't so easy, and I'm not an expert. But understanding copyright is very important to this project. So this thread is to discuss and explore this important issue.

Digital publishing presents new challenges to publishing. While print publishing requires a printing press of some sort, and the money that goes with that, making copies of digital files on the Internet requires little money. The result has been that many people illegally appropriate rights to works which are not their own. That's a problem, but it is a great advantage to be able to make digital files widely available. The Creative Commons is one approach to making author's works available for sharing legally. The various types of Creative Commons (CC) licenses provide a way to look at the rights copyright provides in more specific ways.

Every author or person who creates a work should be credited with their accomplishment as they want to be. Thinking about how the rights of creative people can be asserted and protected is an important issue for publishers of any kind to consider.

Last comment added: Tue, 04 Mar 2008 04:49:59 PST