My Blog

First Thursday - you were interested in the details - hope you can make it. March 30, 2010

Another new month just around the corner, so another reminder that you are welcome to visit the chat room to join me and my friends in our usual networking and discussion session. I'm putting essential information near the top of this post (for easy reference) then I'll tell you what we are going to do and who is likely to be at First Thursday.

Essential information
Date:Thursday April 1st.
Time: I have put the local start times below for the places that "First Thursday people" are most likely to log in from.

08.00 EDT Eastern Daylight Time
12.00 GMT/UTC Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time
13.00 WAT West African Time
13.00 BST British Summer Time
14.00 CEST – Central European Summer Time
15.00 EAT East African Time
15.00 EEST East European Summer Time
17.30 IST (Delhi - for Vijay)
20.00 MYT (Kuala Lumpur for Dary)

Logging on - log on at http://www.worknets.org/chat/base/  If you are new then this additional information on using the chatroom may be helpful.

Come earlier or later for informal chat The main session lasts about an hour. You are welcome to turn up earlier to meet and greet other early arrivals and to stay on later to continue chatting. During the main session we are aiming for a more focussed discussion - what I have in mind is not quite as formal as a meeting with an agenda - but heading in that direction. I won't try to explain - I'll just show you what I mean on Thursday when I start controlling the direction of the conversations more than usual. The greater control is in response to feedback from people who have been attending First Thursday and ask for more structure. I shall try out various approaches over the coming months, so please give me feedback. We still want to welcome newcomers and help people to get to know each other, but we also want to get beyond friendly greetings and introductions, and concentrate on what people have come to discuss.

People and their interests - First Thursdays are "open house" so I never know who is going to drop in. However from what I have been told so far people who plan to be there are:

  • Three people from the Dadamac team at Fantsuam - Kelechi, Bala and John (Iruaga) - they are involved in many Dadamac and Fantsuam Foundation projects  - and are also full of general local knowledge of course. Their specific interests include:
    • rural connectivity (Bala manages Zittnet - leading provider of Internet connectivity in rural Nigeria)
    • Open Source Software (Kelechi is using Open Source to manage the Fantusm Foundation Academy, and it is also used by Zittnet)
    • Appropriate power (Bala is leading our new Dadamac Special Interest Group on this)
    • Social Media (people have different interests on this - John is starting to use Twitter (Andy and Elaine are giving hints from the UK)
    • Permaculture (Bala was with Marcus Simmons on the visit to Benin to see what is done there - he is helping with local implementation)
  • Graham Knight of DIY solar - he is interested in all kinds of alternative power - not just solar and electricity - (and is also interested in biochar)
  • Elaine - in Ireland - getting to know everyone at Dadamac and First Thursdays
  • Nikki, and me from the UK side of Dadamac - interested in helping people to meet up and learn from each other
  • Andy Broomfield (who is my "social media mentor" and is responsible for the things that look good at www.dadamac.net) - meeting the people behind the stories on the website
  • Marcus Simmons - (hoping to attend, but not able to confirm yet) - he's our "technology transfer guru"  (until I can think of a better description) 
Usually we get some "regulars" from Minciu Sodas at First Thursday and people who have discovered First Thursdays in other ways. The idea is to discover shared interests, to learn "who knows what" about them and, where appropriate, to find ways to follow those interests up in more detail. Obviously if only a handful of people turn up then we can go into a single topic in greater depth - but that is not the main objective of First Thursday. The objective is to discover our shared interests, to start to rub minds on them, and then find ways to go into topics in more depth beyond the First Thursday chats. (This is a more formal than some chat room sessions.)

Any problems or uncertainties about using the chat room please let me know. Obviously the people who arrive know how to get there - but there may be other people who need more help to find their way in. Please email me at pamela.mclean@dadamac.net if there are ever any difficulties getting in so we can sort them for next time (or maybe immediately). We do not want anyone to be left outside the chatroom.

My usual thanks to Andrius for making it possible for us to hold First Thursday in the chat room.

Pamela