Kwami Ahiabenu,II Knowledge Chief

Happy New Year, 2007!

by Kwami Ahiabenu,II I have used wiki in the past as the tool for teaching basically providing space for my students to do collaborative writing the key here is to give them a practical experience about how the tool works the free tool I use is called http://pbwiki.com/ peanut butter, is that not very sweet this tool enable you to create a wiki within a second, with option for people to contribute to it by providing them with a password you have the option to upgrade to a premium option if you are ready and willing to pay for it basically you get a ad free wiki among others in recent time, pbwiki just added a page for educators http://pbwiki.com/edu.html using this feature you can create a cool online tool for teaching and learning by getting your syllabus online and empowering students with a tool to collaborate online with their instructors I am looking forward to make use wiki in my next class

YouTube is a popular free video sharing Web site which lets users upload, view, and share video clips. Founded in February 2005 by three employees of PayPal, the San Bruno-based service utilizes Adobe Flash technology to display video. Manage to post some videos online using You Tube recently very easy hope to do more projects with You Tube and use it in teaching as well www.youtube.com

Knowledge Management for Development (KM4Dev) is a community of international development practitioners who are interested in knowledge management and knowledge sharing issues and approaches. Visit the site at http://www.km4dev.org KM4Dev community is found at http://www.dgroups.org/groups / km4dev

An After Action Review(AAR) provides an opportunity for a thorough assessment after a project, programme or a major activity with the main focus on discovering what happened and why among all team players. We can group AARs into three types: formal, informal and personal. Usually formal, AAR process has four steps: Step 1. Planning Step 2. Preparing Step 3. Conducting Step 4. Following up (using AAR results) STEP ONE :PLANNING 1. Undertake a preparatory meeting as soon as possible. 2. List and send out invitation to key team members involved. STEP TWO : PREPARING 3. Appoint a facilitator and ensure all the resources for the AAR are made available. STEP THREE : CONDUCTING 4. Create the right climate 5. Revisit the objectives and key deliverables of the project 6. Use questioning : ‘what went well?’. Find out why, and exchange knowledge about what we have learnt for the future 6. Use questioning : ‘what could have gone better?’. Find ou...

Appreciative Inquiry is the strive to search and find the best in in people, their organizations, and their environment with focus on what is relevant to them at any point in time. According to wikipedia : n Organizational development (OD), Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a process for engaging people across the system in renewal, change and focused performance. The basic idea is to build organizations around what works, rather than trying to fix what doesn't. A proven benefit of the approach is its reliance on the acknowledgement of contribution at the individual level, which leads to trust and organizational alignment. Since the method creates meaning by drawing from stories of concrete successes and lends itself to cross-industrial social activities, it is enjoyable and natural to many managers, who are thought to be naturally social people focused on the bottom line. Appreciative Inquiry was developed by David Cooperrider of Case Western Reserve University . It is now a commonl...

What is podcasting? Kwami Ahiabenu ,II The internet provides us with unlimited opportunities, one interesting example is podcasting which provides content (audio or video) for an audience that wants to listen when they want, where they want, and how they want. Podcasting is the distribution of audio or video files, such as radio programs or music videos, over the Internet for subsequent download on mobile devices and personal computers. A podcast is rich media, such as audio or video, distributed via RSS (Rich Site Summary) or Atom syndication The term podcast can also refer to both the content(video or audio) and the method of delivery. To download files you have two options either you visit Podcasters’ websites for direct download of files or users can subscribe to automatic feeds which deliver new content as and when it is available. It is important to note that a podcast is different from a simple download or real-time streaming . There are a variety of podcasts whic...

The Vice President of the Ghana Journalists Association, GJA, Mr Affail Monney has stressed the need for media organizations in the country to provide their journalists with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to support them in increasing their efficiency and introduction to modernity into their operations. He said with the changing times, it was about time that individual media organizations put in greater efforts at going ICT to be abreast with evolving events to be better placed to inform, entertain and educate the public on pertinent issues that will bring about positive change in their lives. Mr Monney said this on Friday at the closing ceremony of a training workshop for a cross section of Journalists in Accra. About 50 selected Journalists from both the private and state media in three batches were trained under the project funded by the Japanese Funds-in Trust (JFIT) in collaboration with UNESCO's International programme for Development of Communication ...

Group One GJA/UNESCO/JFIT COLLABORATION WORKSHOP ON CAPACITY BUILDING IN ICT FOR JOURNALISTS IN GHANA Course Participants Blog Addresses 1.Isabela Gyau Orhin( Public Agenda) http://afri-ghanews.blogspot.com 2. Emmanuel Amoako( Graphic and Instructor) http://recordsagog.blogspot.com 3. Theo Agbam( Ghana Broadcasting Corporation) http://amateurradio-agbam.blogspot.com 4.Dave Agbenu ( Ghanaian Times) www.accraconnection.blogspot.com 5. Lily N Defor ( Ghana Broadcasting Corporation) www.mediainghana.blogspot.com 6. Abu Issa Monnie (Peace FM) www.soccertechniques.blogspot.com 7. Doreen Allotey (Graphic) http://Educategraphic.blogspot.com 8. Zee Adu-Asante (Ghana News Agency- GNA) http://gnacourtzee.blogspot.com 9. Abdulai Mamudu Gariba(Ghana News Agency –GNA) www.gnaportslover.blogspot.com 10. Mathias Tibu (Ghana Institute of Journalism- GIJ) www.ghanatravelwriting.blogspot.com 11. Barbara Maria Gaisie (Ghana Broadcasting Corporation- GBC) http://nationaltv.blogspot.com 12. Ellen Avorgbedor...

Kwami: when did you first create your blog? Remmy: I started blogging after the WSIS preparatory Conference in Accra. Kwami : why create a blog? Remmy : I have this particular need : the ability access to my previous articles electronically online unfortunately, my newspaper does not have an electronic archival system. I saw creating a blog a free way of having my own electronic archival of my past articles Kwami : This is a cool solution, when do you post stories to your blog? Remmy: I usually post stories to my blog after my publication in our newspaper. In this way, I post all articles I have ever written since then. Kwami : what other applications do you put blog to? Remmy: I use content in my blog as background to articles which are similar plus recently I made use of my blog archival in my course work at school ends

At second day of DCI, I spoke to Ethan Zuckerman www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/ on his previous, current work and blogging ++++ Kwami : Tell me last time, I heard about you were at geekcorps www.geekcorps.org/ , what happen since then? Ethan: I left in Sept 2004, the reason being geekcorps merger with IESC http://www.iesc.org/ after this partnership, IESC Geek Corps wanted to focus on doing business with the US government and USAID. This means a change of direction with more focus on countries such Iraq and Afghanistan. The issues the organisation was tackling was no longer important to me so I move on to The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/ethan_zuckerman and currently working on www.globalvoicesonline.org/ issues which are important to me. ++ Kwami : When you were going into the partnership, did you see the risk of drastic changes taking place as mentioned Ethan : well, we saw the risk but we thought we can do a be...

we just finish with breakfast at HOBSON Hall instead of our usual place of Mandela Hall the morning session is about to start this morning the conference holds to look at WE MEDIA what does this mean well Peter Verweji (HU), Matthew Buckland(M & G online) and Tom Johnson ( Inst. for Analytic Journalism) would tell us about WE MEDIA

just found breakfast so going to have it

starts on a cool note, there is no breakfast but we are having internet supply in abundance so i am blogging away

forgive me, I am not structuring my blogging well today hope do not feel disjointed when reading it Chris Roper & Byran Porter(24.com), Juanita Williams (IOL) and Ray Hartley Ray from the Sunday Times of South said that we need to we are still at the begining of blogging movement. what are the characteristics of the new media environment according to Ray, multiprocessing is crucial secondly, the attention span of most audience are now very short half of what is know today was not know 10 yrs ago INFORMATION NAVIGATION is a new literacy which required beyond text and image navigation literacy i find the concept of information navigation interesting, becuase in our current state of so called information overload, you can not survive if you do not have this literacy related to this is the ECONOMIC OF ATTENTION ( Richard A Lanham) i believe here we are talking about how the end user negotiates the information supply and demand landmine BLINK SORRY TOO LATE in this new environment, peo...

Since the organiser of DCI could not still not figure a way of providing internet at the main building that is Rhodes Fine Art building, i have to be moving from back and fro between Fine Art building and Africa Media Matrix, basically catching up with internet at Africa Media Matrix. On one of the my trips back, I heard Web 2 porno (as in pornographic), thinking this was a new buzz word, I was totally wrong the speaker was actually saying Web 2 dot oh is this word web 2 dot zero or web 2 dot oh ( as in the alphabet) ? I walk to Zuckerman's after theis presentation on web 2.0, he confirm that web 2.0 is the american way of combination numbers and alphabet at is web dot oh and nobody was saying web 2 porno of course, the english english would say you it have to be web 2 dot zero hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

just got a mail from contact person at UNESCO Ghana office about the workshop for Ghanaian journalists http://knowledgechief.blogspot.com/2006/08/unescojapan-funds-in-trust-jfit.html starting from 25th September, with this deadline around the corner, I need to finish working on training manuals for this workshop

Ethan Zuckerman, during his keynote gave an overview of blogging as a whole and narrows his presentation to blogging in Africa, you can listen and read about this address at DCI website http://dci.ru.ac.za/blog/?p=22

a two day blogging conference starts at Rhodes University, South Africa from today 14th september to 15 september check at the conference blog at http://dci.ru.ac.za/blog/ the venue of the conference is the Fine Art Building, unfortunately does not have Internet something to do with the "conference WIFI" which provides access to conference delegates on the rhodes network is not working in the particular building in order for blogging conference delegates to get access in the fine Art building, they must be given access to "rhodes WIFI" which is not possible we see how this precious asset = internet is made available in the Fine Art Building so I am sitting at Africa Media Matrix, the new home of Rhodes Journalism and Media Studies department blogging instead of sitting in the opening ceremony though I would walk over there soon

over 400 journalists from all over africa are attending a three day conference at highway africa SEE STORY BELLOW 12 September 2006 (AfricaNews/ HANA ) - More than 500 delegates from 42 countries have gathered in Grahamstown, South Africa, for the 10th Highway Africa conference, the biggest ICT conference in Africa.The conference will assess the state of African media, particularly with regards to harnessing new technologies as well as the crucial role that new media has played in democracy and development. This year's gathering of media practitioners, private companies and NGOs will no doubt be a reflection and celebration of the past ten years and a springboard for the future of the organisation.Addressing the delegates, director of Highway Africa Chris Kabwato said it was possible for African journalists to shatter the myths that dictate how issues should be covered and represented through the media."Let us dare to challenge the economic policies and issues of democracy in ...

You have a lot about Nigeria, especially the interesting Lagos on my way from Lagos island to the Lagos Murtal Muhammed International Airport http://www.wordtravels.com/Airports/Nigeria/Lagos+M+Muhammed+Airport I decided to buy airtime for my vmobile I accidently gave this guy 1000 naira instead of 100 naira plus 400 naira so instead 500 naira, he had 1400 naira, something to about mistakenly notes which you are not familar this great guy with a kind heart chase my car after some few metres and return the 1000 naira note and got a 100 naira notes back from me great, still there is kindness in lagos

By Engr. Ernest C. A. Ndukwe FNSE, OFR Executive Vice Chairman Nigerian Communications Commission Voice Over Internet Protocol is a generic term used for the conveyance of voice, fax and related services, partially or wholly over packet-switched, IP based networks. According to the Chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission, Michael Powel, VoIP “is probably the most significant paradigm shift in the entire history of modern communications, since the invention of the telephone.” VoIP is one example of a cross-sector convergence technology that utilizes packet-switched networks (often, the Internet) to make voice telephone calls. By sharing bandwidth with other data or Internet applications, VoIP Providers offer these telephone calls at often cheaper rates than conventional telephony. The emergence of voice over packet switches VoIP services began to be offered in direct competition to public switched service between the mid-1990s and the peak of the “dotcom bubble” in 2000, ...

Muson Centre, Lagos, 21-23 August 2006 PRESENTATIONS (Main conference 21-22 August 2006) DAY 1 - Monday 21 August 2pm Conference Opening Welcome Remarks by Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, President of KNOWLEDGE MEDIA INTERNATIONAL LIMITED (publishers of IT Edge/www.itedgenews.com). Welcome Speech & Official Opening Chief Cornelius Adebayo, Minister of Communications, Nigeria Keynote 1: Regulatory challenges and achievements in the VoIP arena Eng Ernest Ndukwe, Vice-Chairman/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission Keynote 2: VoIP as part of an ISP’s survival strategy Eng Sam Adeleke, President, ISP Association of Nigeria (ISPAN) Keynote 3: How Nigeria’s communication companies have responded to the challenges and opportunities created by VoIP Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) 4pm Refreshment Break Keynote 4: The impact of VoIP on African voice markets Russell Southwood, CEO, Balancing Act looks at how VoIP impacts on voice market...

currently in Lagos for the African VoIP forum at the muson centre with delegates from Africa, Europe and USA

________________________________________ New initiative to provide computers for all in Ghana A new enterprise between the Ghana government and multinational computer microchip maker Intel, is expected to bring affordable computer ownership within reach of thousands of Ghana households and small business owners over the next three years. A range of inexpensive, brand new computers, supplied with access to the internet, will go a long way towards improving the level of computer literacy amongst the nation’s workforce and will help students with home study as well as improving their computing skills in readiness for employment. And to make it easy for salaried workers to buy the package, an installment payment plan will be available through their employer or trade association. A new partnership between computer re-sellers, internet service providers and banks was inaugurated at a workshop for potential stakeholders and beneficiaries of the project held in Accra. At the workshop, over 150...

By Kwami Ahiabenu,II Introduction The internet is growing in bounds and leaps since it inception in 1969 and by 1996 the word "Internet" assumed widespread public use. It quite obvious that the Internet is undergoing tremendous evolution and this is reflected in the numerous new technologies and concepts contributing to this progression. So are we on the path of development a “new internet” which would replace our good “old internet”? This is a billion dollar question which we must strive to answer because this would bring us closer to translating the potential of the “new internet” into reality. If there is any new word which brings this subject mater into a very sharp focus it would be Web 2.0. How did Web 2.O begin? It beginnings is quite easily traceable to a conference brainstorming session in 2003 toward the end of the dotcom depression, between Tim O'Reilly the founder of O’Reilly Media and Dale Dougherty, web pioneer. Mr. Dougherty dropped the term “Web 2.0” as...

FROM LEFT KWAMI AHIABENU,II ,RT. HON. LORD HOPE OF CRAIGHEAD OF U.K http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hope,_Baron_Hope_of_Craighead , AND JUSTICE ACQUAH( THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF REP.OF GH.) AT THE OPENING OF COMMONWEALTH MAGISTRATES AND JUDGES ASSOCIATION MEETING IN "05.

This is not my hut, taking cool drink after taking a boat ride on the volta lake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volta_River this building is part of Senchi Resort http://www.senchiresort.com/ , near Akosombo which house a Akosombo hydro dam built on one of the largest man made lake, the volta lake

I have got an invitation to serve as an instructor for UNESCO/JAPAN Funds-In-Trust (JFIT) PROJECT NO. 552/GHA/5000 working with the Ghana Journalists Association to develope the capacity of Journalists in Ghana in the area of ICT Journalism. I strongly believe that ICT can contribute to the vision of improving the level of journalism. The workshop is scheduled for september to october 2006, in all we hope to train sixty journalists drawn from all regions of Ghana. Have to spend some time on developing a training manual for the participants, excited about working with my fellow journalists during this workshop, it is going to be hard work and fun

Just got the news that, we are going to work on The Government Assisted PC Programme (GAPP) in Ghana. GAPP is an Intel Corporation and Government of Ghana initiative. It is run with Governments worldwide to promote accessibility to PC’s and the Internet. The vision of the programme is to create a knowledge economy, digital inclusion; bridge the digital divide (internal & external), increase access, increase PC and Internet penetration in homes, schools and small and medium enterprises (SME). The objective of the project is to increase Home ownership and Access to PCs at an affordable rate in Ghana. It also seeks to compliment Internet access, connectivity and enrich local content development. Novotel, Accra is going to host a day's GAPP workshop on 17TH August 2006 visit my blog for more information

I am not sure what business Kofi is doing with the police, I guess it is a monkey business !!!!!!!

The internet provides us with unlimited opportunities, one interesting example is podcasting which provides content (audio or video) for an audience that wants to listen when they want, where they want, and how they want. Podcasting is the distribution of audio or video files, such as radio programs or music videos, over the Internet for subsequent download on mobile devices and personal computers. A podcast is rich media, such as audio or video, distributed via RSS (Rich Site Summary) or Atom syndication .The term podcast can also refers to both the content(video or audio) and the method of delivery. To download files you have two options either you Podcasters’ websites for direct download of files or users can subscribe to automatic feeds which deliver new content as and when it is available. It is important to note that a podcast is different from a simple download or real-time streaming . There are a variety of podcasts which can include one type of "show" with new epi...

Just saw this information today on the web, hope to participate in this meeting, it sounds exciting First African citizen media and blogging conference on 14 and 15 September 2006 Africa's first blogging and citizen media Indaba - the Digital Citizen Indaba (DCI) on Blogging, has been officially announced and will take place in Grahamstown 14-15 September What will follow in September are two days of informal discussions, excellent networking opportunities, active participation and skills-workshops run by experts from various fields including Ethan Zuckerman from Global Voices. The event is hosted by the New Media Lab as part of Highway Africa 2006 and will take place in the Africa Media Matrix Building on Rhodes University Campus in Grahamstown, South Africa. In true blogger style, attendance of the event is free, provided you can get here on your own steam and we are happy to help with travel arrangements. If you would like to apply for sponsorship to attend the DCI and Highwa...