ICTD2010 - A disappointment - Could I have done better for John? November 8, 2010

It's count-down time for ICTD2010 ICTD2010 - Research needs from a developing world perspective November 3, 2010

Scholarships

Decisions were taken last week about scholarships - so there will be some happy people reading confirmation emails - and probably a far greater number who were disappointed.
I don't know how many people were successful, and I know there is always a lot of competition.  We can't all be winners. We weren't amongst the winners, and I accept that.  (See comment below.)

Although I'm not surprised that John didn't get a scholarship, I confess I am disappointed, and a bit confused. I believe he is exactly the kind of person who should be at ICTD2010. Without a scholarship he won't be there, and I think ICTD2010 will be the poorer for that.

Maybe by considering our experience  we can influence change for the future and enable scholarships to reach more participants who, like us, are not part of the ICTD academic community, but are very active in the field and have something to contribute. Was it how we wrote our applications, or was it that we simply did not fit what ICTD was looking for? But I believe John is so much "what ICTD wants to find" that I can't just say "Oh well, you win some, you lose some" and leave it at that. I want to look at it in more depth, because I believe it is important to keep on trying to build bridges between academia and practice, and to keep learning from experience. My impression is that although ICTD is trying to be more inclusive, the host culture is academic and thinks in terms of financial help for struggling academics and so it unintentionally excludes practitioners. (On the other hand maybe I'm just a bad loser, but either way, I try to learn from my mistakes and disappointments so here goes):

The application process

John applied and I wrote a reference for him, so did Kazanka Comfort.

I certainly felt discouraged when I saw the application form as we didn't seem to tick the right boxes.

The application details said:

1. Have had a paper accepted, or be a speaker in an accepted session (including posters, workshops and demos) at the conference.
2. Be from a country ranked below 100^th on the latest Human Development Index available on 1^st June 2010
3. Be studying for a postgraduate degree
4. Be on a low income (if applying on these grounds, the most recent payslip must be attached as proof of income)

Looking at the criteria

When it comes to ticking those boxes we were obviously not going to score highly - but we did our best. I am not asking John or Comfort to share what they wrote, but here is my attempt to support John's application. Obviously I am wondering if I let him down and could have done better - or if we simply didn't fit.

Supporting John's application
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Reference John Dada's application for a scholarship to attend ICTD2010.

Dear Sir or Madam

John Dada and I have worked together closely since 2004 (he is normally in Nigeria - I am usually in UK). He is an ICT and development practitioner in Nigeria, who is also able to connect with academics (and UK culture) because he obtained his PhD at Leeds University and went on to work as a professor back home in Nigeria before working in community development. We meet online each week for Dadamac UK-Nigeria team meetings. The session that I am leading at ICTD2010 is based very largely on my experiences of working in collaboration with John. It would be a tremendous plus if he could be around to join the session. As well as the benefit he would gain from attending sessions, he would also gain from, and be a great asset to others, throughout ICTD2010 in all kinds of informal networking. He certainly will not be able to attend unless he has a scholarship. He has worked on his community development projects at Fantsuam without pay - but as his main occupation - for years so he is certainly not well paid, as he has so little time available for earning money. He cannot come "under the organisational umbrella" of Fantsuam Foundation, because it is more appropriate to think of him as working to hold the umbrella up, rather than sheltering below it. 

He has tremendous experience of ICT in Nigeria, of holistic community development in Nigeria, and of ICT4D. I could write in much more detail here about his work - but it would be a long list and would not give you a real image of all that he does. I know this because of the time I have spent trying to do justice to his work at the Dadamac.net website which covers a mixture of his work (in Nigeria) and our work together (both online and in Nigeria).

• To read more about him and his work please see what I wrote at http://www.dadamac.net/about/john
• To see and hear him in context watch this 5 minute video

Perhaps I should mention that I am also hoping to get a scholarship - but if it should happen that you have to choose between John and me - please choose him.

ICTD2010 is a wonderful opportunity for practitioners and academics to connect with each other, please enable John Dada to be included in the gathering.

Yours sincerely

Pamela McLean

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Ticking the boxes

I can perfectly well understand how we didn't tick the right boxes and how other people did better at fitting the criteria.

"Not ticking the right boxes" is not just an issues in this instance. It is one of our recurring problems, and it must affect other "outsiders" as well. I wonder if anything can be done, not just for ICTD but for other situations where, somehow, attempts at inclusion aren't as inclusive as perhaps they hope to be.

(In the interest of full disclosure - I also applied for and failed to get a scholarship. As ICTD2010 is in my own country, and I am trying hard to build bridges between academia and practice, I have registered. I am paying from my own pocket, doing it as far as possible "on the cheap". I am hoping I have done right in deciding to spend this money on ICTD2010 rather than on travelling to Nigeria) 

Further details

Submitted Sessions at ICTD2010 - http://www.ictd2010.org/?page_id=118

The Dadamac session - Possibilities and disruptions: how do ICT4D researchers use ICTs in their work?
A quick way to learn from each other –  rather like an online discussion group, but a “no-tech” version (posting  “emails” on the walls with blu-tack).  Anyone can start and respond to discussion threads. You will be on your feet, moving around, finding out who is doing what.

This session is for people who tend to learn more while networking during the breaks than during formal presentations. There will be a minimal amount of one person talking while everyone else listens.

At the opening of the session I’ll explain exactly what to expect and how things will be organised. There will be some time spent in set groups with a shared focus, but you won’t get trapped in long discussions that don’t interest you. You’ll have a lot of control over how you spend your time, who with, and what content you focus on.

Regarding content - that will reflect our overlapping interests and experiences of using ICT in our work. People who are ICT4D researchers are, by definition, interested in ICT and “what it means” in a wide variety of development situations. A lot of time is spent researching how ICT is being used by other people and what impact it is having on how they go about things. But what about the researchers themselves? Is ICT having an impact on how researchers go about things? What is happening? And - out of all researchers - are ICT4D people at the forefront of ICT use? Let’s explore.

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Personal note - I always admire John's equanimity (I tend to "spark" - and calm down later).

He forwarded the rejection note to me earlier today.

I "sparked" back (saying I was sorry to hear it - but in less measured tones)

He calmed me with - Babu wahala Pam, with you there we are all well represented. It would have been nice to see you again after so long.

(We meet online every week, but trips to Nigeria are expensive. Translation note: "wahala' is the first Hausa word I learned from John - it means hassle and problems and all that kind of stuff. Babu wahala is the opposite.)