Artifact Day..

I really enjoyed the class this week because we all got to see each other’s presentations. It was a myriad of different experiences, where I was really impressed to see the breadth that we all cover collectively.

I believe that all of our works don’t necessarily fall into a specific category, its more about how we interpret them ourselves based on our interests and viewpoints. I wanted to go deeper into a few of those themes.

Ashley’s take on learning English as a second language in India is something I identify with. Using the mobile platform to teach English to the Indian population is a great option, and the applications she chose and her take on them were really pertinent to what is needed to learn English. “English Seekho” (seekho is the Hindi word for “learn”), is a great platform for Indians to learn English on the go, currently offered by Tata Indicom. My hope is that as the cell phones technology becomes cheaper and more interactive, it will allow organizations to scale their applications and increase audience accessibility at a cheaper price.

Jacob’s presentation on the Israeli - Palestinian conflict is a long standing issue which seems to have no resolution in sight. I remember spending most of my time watching live updates on the Gaza war in 2008 while trying to finish my application to Stanford. The relentless bombing campaign by Israel in the first 48 hours left nearly 400 people dead, and far more injured. People in Gaza lost their children, were severely injured and left disabled for life. My belief is that war breeds terrorism, its really difficult to stand by and remain unaffected when you know you have lost your child because of someone else, and at that point when you have not much to live for, the hatred just grows. The conflict is something where I honestly do not see a resolution in sight, but it is heart warming to see how technology is taking on the challenge to bridge the gap between the citizens of these two nations. In particular I was quite impressed by PeaceMaker, which allows players to play the role of political leader and try to make decisions on conflict resolution. It would be wonderful to publish these stories online to see how people from both sides of the border perceived the possible solutions.

We also saw a movie Yaa made about Street children in east Africa. “The United Nations has defined the term ‘street children’ to include “any boy or girl… for whom the street in the widest sense of the word … has become his or her habitual abode and/or source of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected, supervised, or directed by responsible adults.” “. Organizations like Mkombozi are trying to use education outreach programs amongst other things to try and reach these children and enabling communities to value and protect them. Street kids' international is a ground breaking organization which works to develop locally relevant, innovative trainings that engage youth about entrepreneurship, sexual health, and drug use through interactive activities and animated videos. The “Karate Kid: Mario Gets Sick” is a wonderful video that shows us how HIV/AIDS impacts the lives of street children in Africa, and helps both us and the street children understand the seriousness of the situation and the need to find help.

Interactive 3d learning objects presented by Mike is an innovative research paradigm that delves into the use of virtual reality with learning objects to create solutions. A three year project, which ended in 2009, saw the Naledi3d Factory partnering with World Links Zimbabwe (WLZ) to address issues around water and soil conservation, sorghum, pests and bee-keeping. The i3dlo’s developed are being used at five World Links Community centers, and the local VR committees, established as part of the project, continue to hold their own workshops and field days, some attracting upwards of 200 people. It is one of the most unique methodologies I have seen to help users address their basic need by creating the tools and objects that will help them the most.

Finally I want to address both Janelle and Catherine’s presentations on fighting ADD and Childhood depression. Growing up in a country where the focus is primarily on studying and meeting your basic needs, the psychological issues that affect children is not something which is yet widely studied or vocally addressed in what is a more socially conservative society. As a result, my own knowledge about both these issues is very minor to say the least. For a child dealing with either one is an uphill battle, both in terms of trying to explain to them what the issue really is, and garnering a support system which will stand by them as they learn to deal with these. Both are medical conditions which can be possibly treated with drugs, but I am not really a proponent of giving psychotropic drugs to young children, when their minds are still developing not knowing how it will affect them. It was really great to hear both Janelle and Catherine advocate alternative methods of treatment and go into detail about the causes and means to identify and combat these issues.

There is so much more I want to go into, but in conclusion, the whole presentation was an enlightening event! I learned so much from everyone, and it was wonderful to see the different ways in which we all presented our ideas.