ICT4D
My involvement with Project Nine Mile - promoting it publicly and talking to progressive, young people about it – has significantly increased my learning curve. Most recently, a once active member of IdlerzLounge.com called ‘B.art’ told me about ICT4D. This is a neat acronym for Information and Communication Technologies for Development. Wikipedia gives a good definition and summary of ICT4D. As you can see, Project Nine Mile is all about ICT4D. I find satisfaction in knowing that this is a global trend and even more satisfaction in knowing that the global trend did not play a part in influencing my decision to be involved with this project. It’s always nice to be reassured that one’s genuine passion is leading one in a positive direction for humanity.
Here are some related links:
- A Jamaican ICT4D initiative wins the top award at the Stockholm Challenge in Sweden [taken from B.art's blog]
- ICT4D Jamaica
- Vision 2030 Jamaica: National Development Plan – ICT Sector Plan
Finally, I had done some preliminary research about ICT in August 2007 and I discovered that Jamaica’s ICT platform was ranked #45 in the world at the time. To put things into perspective, the emerging IT giant, India, was ranked #44. Furthermore, looking only at the western hemisphere, Jamaica was ranked 5th behind the USA, Canada – both in the top 20 – Chile at #31 and Barbados at #40. This could imply that Jamaica is quite ready to accommodate more ICT4D projects such as Project Nine Mile.
Lazy Sunday
Sunday is a slow, leisurely day in Jamaica. Most stores aren’t open, there’s not much more to do but relax and enjoy yourself, which is what we were dedicated to today. After breakfast, we hung out and chatted for a while and just as we were thinking about going for a walk around the area so that I could get acquainted, a big storm rolled through. We ended up staying inside and learning a card game named “Grass” that was such an intelligently designed game. I’m going to try to find it and bring it back to play at home.
