*UPDATE* : Combination of various accumulated travel frustrations, cancelled planes, long van journeys, lack of sleep and a few other things – mean I didn’t make it to eBKF in the end and went to Kuching, oops! So no blog about it I’m afraid but if anyone else writes one I would love to read it and maybe do a summary/link here? Have left the original blog intact below just because… well… why not…***
So after my disastrous attempt at getting a visa for Pakistan, and some time in the Phillipines looking at apps for facilitating cash transfers in emergencies (and then some time travelling and seeing some amazing beaches), I have headed to Borneo.
Obviously, I had to visit the Orangutans at Sepilok first (including a hairless one who bears more than a passing resemblance to Gollum, odd!)
The reason for the side-trip to Borneo..? To attend the fifth eBorneo Knowledge Fair (formerly eBario Knowledge Fair).
I’d first heard of eBKF years back when I was reading Telecentre replication initiative in Borneo, Malaysia: The CoERI experience as part of my dissertation at IDPM in Manchester. Since then I have exchanged occasional emails with Professor Roger Harris and so when I realised I was nearby (well the Phillipines is a very short flight from Borneo) and the 5th eBKF was imminent – I thought it would be rude not to go!
It sounds exciting for a few very important reasons:
- Its an Unconference which is very much my kind of thing – at Aptivate we do Open Spaces all the time, and formal “sit and face the so-called-expert at the front” events just never seem to cut it for me any more…
- In its own words it is organised “in conjunction with the local community, bringing together researchers, practitioners and policy makers with the resident indigenous peoples” – which couldn’t be a more textbook example of practicing the participatory approach we preach if it tried!
- It includes sessions on wide-raning topics such as sustainability, innovation, indigenous knowledge, community-based tourism, the impact of research on policy and practice and many more. Given the diverse range of attendees I have high hopes that these will go beyond the usual lip-service so often paid to these kinds of topic!
- It covers a range of technologies – not just mobile phones (which a lot of the ICT4D sector seem to think are the only thing worth paying attention to), but telecentres, aerial photography using drones, digital arts and that old favourite so often forgotten – community radio.
- It’s in a lodge in remote Ba’kelalan, which involves a Twin Otter small aircraft flight and a 4×4 journey to get there, exciting!
So, looking forward to it.
I’ll hopefully get some good notes and photos and do a proper in-depth blog after (either here or more likely on ICT Works so it gets seen more widely).
And in the meantime, I’ll be tweeting as I am sure many others will on #ebkf.
Matt Haikin 