Thursday, June 19, 2008

Podcasts from CBS on use of cell phones in Africa

I am not much of an audio person but have taken to accumulating a collection of podcasts that I can listen to when I take the dog out for a long walk on Saturday or Sunday mornings. Unfortunately, I have accumulated enough to keep the dog & me walking all the daylight hours of Saturday & Sunday in order to get through all of them. So I did a good review of the types of podcast that would pay dividends and the one that came up trumps was one from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The SPARK podcast is hosted by Nora Young & contains a very good coverage of various technological happenings around the world. This weeks podcast is an interview with Ken Banks, an anthropologist working in Africa who is studying the impact of the cell phone on rural and disadvantaged communities. We can all learn from Africa about how to make use of cell phones in a more intrinsically useful way. The podcast also highlights the inherent ingenuity of humans in how they are able to make use of technology that is dependent on electricity in the absence of a stable electricity supply. Ken is involved in several projects that make use of mobile technology to assist in building connections with various NGOs. All of the projects contribute to the mlearning knowledge base.

I also occasionally follow the local community radio, Plains FM podcasts. One of our chef tutors, Dave Tame, presents regularly on this with his podcast on cooking trends. It is a great way for CPIT staff to share their expertise with the general public.

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