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Current News
| Some Disasters Compel Us to Give |
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In Some Disasters Compel Us to Give, the Washington Post reports on what sorts of calamities bring in the money and what sorts do not. Their conclusions are revealing: (1) "Natural" disasters beat manmade disasters. (2) Sudden disasters beat slow-moving crises. (3) TV counts. (4) Drama counts. (5) Timing counts. (6) Ease of giving makes a big difference. (7) Personal experience helps. (8) Simple beats complex. (9) Disaster giving doesn't supplant donations to other causes.
Posted: 11/13/05; 10:30:16 PM # |
| Information and Communications Technology for Sustainable Development |
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I have become increasingly interested in the topic of information technology and development. It's discouraging to me how often development projects end up benefiting local elites and multinational corporations. My own interests with regard to ICT have therefore focused on the empowerment of the poor and on sustainability. Rahul Tongia, Eswaran Subrahmanian and V. S. Arunachalam have written a book entitled Information and Communications Technology for Sustainable Development and made it available for free online. Their conclusions are realistic and focus on the politics and process of ICT planning more than on ICTs themselves.
Posted: 11/13/05; 10:16:46 PM # |
| Catawba River Foundation |
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Tonight, I learned about the successful use of a weblog by the Catawba River Foundation in fighting the environmental practices of the Wal-Mart Corporation. The company's stores were putting pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers into the river by leaving the bags out in their parking lots as a matter of corporate policy. No amount of direct contact with Wal-Mart ever got any response, but when the Catawba River Keepers started a weblog documenting their attempts to get the company to even return phone calls, then they got some serious press attention. Wal-Mart changed their practices almost overnight.
Posted: 11/13/05; 10:10:04 PM # |
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