TechPlus+ | Technology & Development Redux
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Heading to Baghdad II: So close but yet so far
Read more: Heading to Baghdad II: So close but yet so farIt still seemed like the middle of the night when we exited the plane and started walking on the tarmac. A UN security guide was leading us into the US Army base located at the airport. The base is called Camp Sather (see here for more details) and has been in place since the invasion…
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Heading to Baghdad I: A step at a time
Read more: Heading to Baghdad I: A step at a timeThis is the third time in the last 4 months that I have done the NY-Amman leg. I have been to Jordan several times since 2003. But this was the first time I was coming to Jordan to take off the following day to another country. The original plan, designed many weeks ago, was to…
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Best Films – 2009
Read more: Best Films – 2009I saw over 130 films this year. Below are the ones I liked the most. They are listed in chronological order, according to the dates in which I saw them. Silent Light/Stellet licht – Carlos Reygadas The Beaches of Agnes/Les plages d’Agnès – Agnes Varda Hunger – Steve McQueen Revanche – Gotz Spielmann Julia –…
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Antalya: Going to the Airport
Read more: Antalya: Going to the AirportThe eGovShare 2009 meeting (http://edem.egovshare2009.org/ organized by the Government of Turkey and UNDP (among others) was held in the Kervansaray Hotel which is located in Lara, to the east of Antalya. The hotel has a U-shape. There is a 300 meter long hall in the middle of the U. All rooms face outwards and the…
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Latinux Magazine Interview
Read more: Latinux Magazine Interview“Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are not an end in itself but rather a means to reach people and enhance their lives.” (Raúl Zambrano) Born in Colombia, Raul Zambrano is trained as an engineer, sociologist and economist. He currently works as ICT and e-governance policy advisor at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) headquarters in…
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ICTs and the Millennium Villages: A Research Proposal
Read more: ICTs and the Millennium Villages: A Research ProposalBackground There is no question that the last 20 years have witnessed the explosive deployment and grow throughout the globe of the new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). This growth has been usually identified with Internet access which, according to the latest statistics, has almost 1.6 billion users -or close to 24% of the world’s…
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Economic Crisis Book
Read more: Economic Crisis BookI just finished reading “The Origin of the Financial Crises” by George Cooper which was published last year. The book is subtitled Central Banks, Credit bubbles and the Efficient Market Fallacy which reveals right away the approach the author is will be taking. This is an excellent book and a must read for anyone to…
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Comments on the Economic Crisis
Read more: Comments on the Economic CrisisAlthough the root causes of the current financial and economic crisis are still being debated (and will continue until the next large crisis hits), one issue that stems out of of the current discussions is the softening in the last 20 or so years of government regulations in the financial markets. Starting with the Reagan…
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e-governance Assessment Mehodology
Read more: e-governance Assessment MehodologyMethodology Framework The proposed methodology framework focuses on measuring the value delivered by e-governance projects to different stakeholders and beneficiaries, as well as the effectiveness in the way UNDP implements and manages such projects. In general, a positive correlation is expected to exist between larger impact and good implementation and management but, on the other…
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Mobile Technologies (MTs) and Human Development: Harnessing the potential to tackle social exclusion
Read more: Mobile Technologies (MTs) and Human Development: Harnessing the potential to tackle social exclusionBrief Concept Note Prepared for Ericsson Background The exponential growth of mobile technologies in the last 8 years surprised even the more optimistic observers. Today, close to 3.5 million people have access to a cell phone, a number that dwarfs the existing number of Internet users (about 1.2 billion), particularly in developing countries. Africa is…
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Wiki
Read more: WikiI have installed MediaWiki and started playing with it. The idea is to test it with the upcoming Governance and MDG discussion and measure country demand for tools like this. The link to the site is this one: http://sdnhq.undp.org/wiki Raul
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Comments on Draft Governance Assessments Global Programme
Read more: Comments on Draft Governance Assessments Global ProgrammeDate: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:14:45 -0500 (EST) From: Raul Zambrano To: Noha El-mikawy Cc: Terence D Jones , Bjoern Foerde , Pauline Tamesis, Joachim Nahem , Veronica Perera Dear Noha,As mentioned in my previous message, here are some comments on the draft. I will skip all formalities and get right into the subject matter.…
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e-gov and gender
Read more: e-gov and genderI am still I am still working on the e-gov and gender paper. It is taking longer than expected but then again the previous draft was a bit all over the place. I hope to finish this in a couple of days. Drafts can be found here http://sdnhq.undp.org/~raul/egov/gender Raul
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No Way Back for My Bad Back
Read more: No Way Back for My Bad BackAlthough I am feeling better – my left leg pain is now minimal but I still cannot sit for more than 5-10 minutes in a row, it seems that one of my trilogy of hernias in my back has decided to go astray and attack, without any scruples, one of my root nerves in my…
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Bad Back Back Again
Read more: Bad Back Back AgainSoon after my return from London early this month, I started to feel a sharp pain in my left leg, from the hip to the big toe. Fascinating stuff, needless to say. I initially thought it was just a temporary thing. But as the days went by, the pain started to get worse to become…