SI 575 F06

The DFE Proposal I submitted in the fall went forward, and I thought I would blog some of my experiences thus far.

Sara Naab has been an exceptional mentor. I would strongly recommend that anyone interested in learning more about thinking through information strategies in an international setting get in touch with her, even just to talk. Our weekly phone calls have been a real help this semester, even just to share information and struggles.

On a plane ride from Chicago to Detroit on Tuesday, Garin and I had an hour-long brainstorming session where we came up with some ideas about sustainability for Community Informatics at the School of Information. Garin typed up our notes that night and we polished up a paper the following day. You'll find the working document below - we've sent it to the CiC faculty group (Maurita, Paul, Steve, and Joan) for review, hoping to glean some comments. We wanted to throw it out to the entire CiC student group as well, but could not before sending it off to the faculty in time for a meeting.

I tried to make some changes to work on scope and time issues, and tried to tighten the connection to SI skills. Organization The Kettering Foundation is a private operating foundation in Dayton OH that researches democracy and how to make it work better through the practice of deliberative democracy. The Foundation produces a number of research papers every year, has a substantial network of contract researchers producing papers, and works with National Issues Forums to create forums on public policy issues around the country.

Freedom From Hunger

From the Freedom From Hunger website: "Founded in 1946, Freedom from Hunger is a nonprofit, international development organization that brings innovative and sustainable self-help solutions to the fight against chronic hunger and poverty." FFH is a training organization focusing on microcredit, health and food security. For more information, I would recommend their content management system at http://www.ffhtechnical.org.

Organization: The Stewardship Network, a Michigan non-profit with its headquarters office in Ann Arbor, has for the last 5+ years been working to develop a statewide network that will connect individuals, organizations, and businesses that are interested in and working to protect Michigan’s natural lands and waters. It seeks to make this work more effective by helping interested parties share ideas, resources, and information.