ICT and Democratic Empowerment

This is an interesting article I read on African Path on how two Kenyan women are making a difference to peoples' lives in Kenya using ICTs.

On to another book

Yeah! I FINALLY finished Bluebeard's Egg by Margaret Atwood (will update my sidebar soon). It was good, but I was reminded why short stories are really not my thing. With each new story, you need to get acquainted with a fresh set of characters and just when you're getting into their story, it ends; often abruptly and I'm left feeling shortchanged.

Now, I'm on The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver. It's my first book by the author and I'm excited to start it. The premise sounds *very* interesting.

Scholarships for ICTs for Development Masters Study in Manchester

I seriously hope that I am not getting to be such a slack blogger that I'm recycling old posts. This one, in particular, looked kind of familiar...... Ah well.

The University of Manchester is offering scholarships to succesful candidates for the one-year MSc ICTs for Development degree, which aims to create "ICT4D champions" who combine technical competencies in information systems and project management with an understanding of development context and practice:
http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/courses/06237/index.asp

Applicants who have applied, received and accepted a formal offer by 30 June 2008 will be considered for two fee-waiver scholarship opportunities. The IDPM Golden Jubilee Scholarship, worth £11,000, is available on a competitive basis for applicants from developing countries to any of IDPM's Masters degrees. The IDPM ICT4D Scholarship, worth £5,500, is available exclusively for developing country applicants to the MSc ICT4D programme. There is no specific application process for the scholarships but candidates are welcome to include a scholarship statement when applying for the MSc programme.

Details on other funding sources and on part-time employment opportunities while studying in Manchester can be found at:
http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/postgraduate/taught/funding/

Biyi Bandele Book Reading

I attended the Biyi Bandele book reading over the weekend at the British Council. I'd have loved to do a proper post about it, but seeing as I missed most of it, I'm really not in a position to. I was running late, having had an earlier appointment, and I hoped that this would be one of those events that observed African time, but I guess even if they did, it still started early enough that I missed the actual readings.

I am not a fan of stories about war, so while I'd seen the book Burma Boy around, I'd not considered buying it. Plus, I already have too many unread books sitting on my bookshelf. However, I like attending book readings still, whether I've read the book or not; or intending to read the book or not.

Biyi Bandele, the author, appeared to be a very laid-back and chilled individual. He had an accomodating manner, as he responded to most of the questions pleasantly. There had been a fair amount of publicity for the event, as evidenced by the huge turn-out (standing room only); or perhaps this was a testament to the author's popularity. This might have been one of the most relaxed readings that I've been to in a while too; with the audience laughing easily at both intended and accidental humour; sniggering wickedly at sarcastic comments by the commentator; and sighing with impatience at questions that meandered just a bit too long.

Today

I attended the Titans of Tech's Women in ICT forum today at the MUSON Centre. It was interesting and, as it is with these things, I finally met someone who I've corresponded with many times by email and have spoken to on the phone. I was really tripped that she gave me a shout out after I asked a question and introduced myself. Woohoo! I'll have to blog about the event later; including the 'well-meaning' but sometimes off-the-mark comments on women working in technology.

Anyway, I've spent what looked like it would be a promising evening in front of my computer trying to figure out how to convert a TIF file to a PDF document. I mean, really, how hard can it be? Well, VERY trying as I was to find out. After several hours spent cruising the web for software that could do such conversions, downloading different applications and trying them out, I finally ended up with 3 that were able to do the job - albeit it with ugly watermarks across them. Ah well, they were trial versions, so I took what I could get. So, that was my 'relaxing' evening. Technology helps and yet it can really stress you out sometimes. Now, I'm going to really relax with a very, very late dinner, Top Chef and Project Runway.