Greetings all! So I wanted to post something quickly before I head to London tomorrow, and then finally home on Tuesday. I'll have more to write, and some reviews of the papers from the Tech4Dev conference later this week when I can sit with the conference proceedings and give the papers a good review. I … Continue reading Wrapping up in Geneva
Some initial thoughts from Tech4Dev
Whew, halfway through the week at the Tech4Dev conference at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. It's really interesting to compare this conference to ICTD 2012 at Georgia Tech in March, and seems to underline a distinct difference in the approach to ICTs and development in the United States and Europe. First, what a fantastic mix of … Continue reading Some initial thoughts from Tech4Dev
Some thoughts on James Mittelman’s “Hyperconflict”
As globalization increasingly impacts the global system of governance and statecraft, traditional analytic frames of sovereignty, power and risk are increasingly unable to account for the emerging challenges of the modern security environment. James Mittelman describes this new brand of risk as “hyperconflict”, driven by “hyperpower” and “hypercompetition”. While he does not use the same … Continue reading Some thoughts on James Mittelman’s “Hyperconflict”
So I felt like I should add something about tech…
So the last few things that went up were academic self-critique and a book review. Since "tech" is in the blog title, I thought I should put something up that touches on the digital world. For now, we'll revisit something a little older and I'll make sure I get something new up this week that's tech for … Continue reading So I felt like I should add something about tech…
Daniel Posner’s “Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa”
Systematic analysis of ethno-linguistic cleavages and competition in Africa, and the world more broadly, are often chalked up to “ancient ethnic hatred” or over-simplistic cultural analyses of legacy political economics. Daniel Posner’s “Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa” takes the question of ethnicity in African politics and unpacks the cleavages between ethno-linguistic groups in Zambia … Continue reading Daniel Posner’s “Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa”
Thinking about my academic tribe…what’s yours?
During the semester I good fortune to take Dr. Mara Schoeny’s course on qualitative research for the social sciences at George Mason University's School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. We kept logs about the experience and we dealt with questions pertaining to ethics and interpersonal aspects of conflict analysis and resolution. While these were important, what … Continue reading Thinking about my academic tribe…what’s yours?
Presenting at Tech4Dev in May!
Hey everybody, I'm pretty excited to have had a paper accepted to the Tech4Dev conference hosted by the UNESCO Chair at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. I'll be focusing on the impact that distance learning technology can have on knowledge co-creation across geographic boundaries, with a particular focus on technology applications for development and … Continue reading Presenting at Tech4Dev in May!
Another video about a TechChange course
Eli Sinkus (@elisinkus) does it again. For those who might be interested in how technology can make your research better/easier/more robust, TC-110: Social Media and Technology Tools for Research might be useful to you. TC-110 from TechChange on Vimeo.
A video describing my new course at TechChange: Technology for Conflict Management and Prevention
For those who don't like reading, but want to learn a little about my new course TC-109: Technology for Conflict Management and Prevention! TC:109 from TechChange on Vimeo.
A few thoughts on Beatrice Hibou’s “The Force of Obedience”
The political economy of repression is a fascinating way to understand how deposed Tunisian president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali’s regime had created an entire economy of obedience and control based on economic and banking factors, social-political economic engineering, and the creation of an economic and financial reform mythology that provided a space for the … Continue reading A few thoughts on Beatrice Hibou’s “The Force of Obedience”
Charles P. Martin-Shields 