Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

Video Blogging in Rural Cambodian Province

Photo by MeanLux

Last August, I was invited organizers of the Cambodian Bloggers Summit to give a keynote and teach Web2.0 and video blogging workshops in Cambodia.   I launched a personal fundraising campaign so I could help be a sponsor for the conference and get over there with video cameras, shwag (t-shirts and stickers donated by nonprofits and tech companies) and teaching resources.   Folks from the video blogging community - like Jay Dedman, Ryanne Hodson and Coffee With Doug came up with the idea of video blogging kits and donated some cameras.

Mean Lux emailed to let me know that they had taken the cameras up to a Youth Festival and Training in a remote corner of Cambodia called Pursat!   Viirak (the guy behind the stickered laptop) and Be Chantra were there to help.  Mean Lux wrote a blog post, but it is in Khmer can't translate fully.  May Mean Lux will drop a comment in english?

Videos to come shortly!  Meanwhile, enjoy these photos.   I am thinking now that Flickr 90 second video would be awesome, although I'm sure the Internet access in that remote province is definitely cell and slow ..

BarCamp in Cambodia?

Last summer it was the Cambodia Blogger's Summit, this year might be BarCamp in Cambodia ....

Christian Kreutz, Web 2.0 for Development Blogger, is in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam Now ... Cambodian Education System Changes To OpenSource Software!

I've been following Christian Kreutz's blog, CrissCrossed Blog, which explores social changes through communication and focuses on the impact, potential and challenges of using Web2.0 tools in different cultures around the world.  He is also interested in approaches network learning and highlights knowledge management for development.  (He did some terrific reporting from the Web2.0 Development Conference in Rome last September)

Through following his twitter stream, I discovered he's on the ground now in Southeast Asia and is coming to Cambodia.  So, I'm posting this here on my blog to alert my Cambodian blogger colleagues (whose email I don't have) that Christian is coming to your country.   Ping him over at his blog.

Christian also sent me some links that answer an earlier question I've had, "How Can We Use Cell Phones to Bring Web 2.0 to places without high speed Internet access like Cambodia?"   

I have heard of interesting examples using mobile phones getting RSS feeds from blogs. One example to publish comes from Africa - here and here. There was also a more technical guide but I cannot find it right now.

On another note, I got an email from Javier Solas (interviewed the Linux Chix on his staff last fall) from Open Institute who has been leading the Khmer OS project and building the educational technology plan for Cambodia letting me know of major project milestone: The Cambodian Education System Changes to Open Source Software and KhmerOS

At a massive ceremony that took place on 22 January 2008, the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport presented its new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Textbook for all schools that have computers, all universities and all teacher training facilities.

The new textbook teaches the use of Khmer language Free and Open Source applications, such as OpenOffice, Mekhala (Firefox) and Moyura (Thunderbird), which have been fully translated to Khmer language (Cambodian). It follows eight months of intensive training during which all new upper secondary school ICT teachers, all ICT teachers at upper secondary schools that have computers, and all ICT Master Trainers from teacher training facilities have been trained to teach this type of software, as well as to maintain their computer facilities. The books are distributed together with a letter from the Ministry indicating that from now on this should be the materials to be taught

 

Sok Sidon's Blog and Advice About Self-Learning

That's Sok Sidon, a blogger I met in Cambodia.   He is trainer and you learn more about his background on his blog's about page.  He wrote a post called "Learning and Teaching Methods for Self-Development" where he talks about 7 principles for reflection.   The 5th and 7th principles reflect some of my core values for this blog:

"Teach other of what you have learnt"
"Many heads are better than one"

He goes to describe what these mean:

Try to build leaders surrounding you. Do not afraid that others will be better than you. It will not decrease your ability, but it even help to improve your knowledge and capacity. We will create a multiplied impact.

Our plan is kept improving by sharing with others. Also we can build our social communication and characters. Competency without Character, we fail. But Competency with Character, we will achieve our goal.

What are your principles for personal learning?

Cambodian Bloggers MeetUp in Boston at the Elephant Walk

My Flickr Photo

When I went to Cambodia last summer for the Cambodian Bloggers Summit (Cloggers), there were two Cambodian bloggers I didn't get a chance to see while in Phnom Penh. Both are in the US on Fulbright Scholarships. Kalyan Keo, a member of the cloggers team, is at Syracuse University getting a degree in public administration.   She participated via Skype from the US.  Mongkol who has been here since Fall, 2006 and we've had the pleasure of meeting - was leaving Phnom Penh just finishing his tour with Kong Nay.

We had a fantastic dinner at the Elephant Walk Restaurant.   Kalyan Keo noticed that the traditional Khmer dishes were seasoned for American tastes though.

Cambodia Video Blogging: Farming in Rural Cambodia

Mandevu got one of the video cameras that I brought over to Cambodia last summer where I did the video blogging workshop for the Cloggers Summit.  Read what Jinja had to say.

If English is your Second Language, What Language do you blog in?

That is the title of a post on ProBlogger today.  It jogged my memory of a session at the Cambodian Bloggers Summit, "Is It Better To Blog in English or Khmer?"  David Saski took great notes that day, but wanted to pull out his points on that session:

Later in the day there was a debate between Javier Solá and Preetam Rai (moderated by John Weeks) about whether it is better to blog in Khmer or English. Here is the case for both sides, bulleted:

Why blog in English:

• You can also blog in your own language, but when you blog in English, you’re sharing your lives and your community with the entire world.
• It provides important information
• You are making Cambodia more visible on Google and you are portraying Cambodia from a local’s perspective rather than a foreigner’s perspective.
• English is more search engine friendly - more online software is available in English than Khmer.
• Bloggers in Cambodia can connect with their relatives who live in the USA and other countries.

Why blog in Khmer:

• Blogging is about communication. When you are blogging you are trying to communicate something.
• You are writing to a targeted audience and you should speak the language of that audience.
• Do you want to be read by a lot of people all over the world or a specific group of people in your community?
• Are you trying to reach the 1 or 2% of Cambodians who speak English or all Cambodians who can access a computer?
• As it is, there is an over-abundance of information on the web in English, but there is a lack of content on the web in Khmer and you can help change that.
• Your language has your culture in it. Language and culture go together. So if you are trying to communicate with other Cambodians, you are limiting yourself if you do it in English.

Another Cambodian Video Blogger .. Yeah!

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Earlier today I posted about discovering some new photo blogs, podcasts, and videos from Cambodian Bloggers.  Vuthasurf left me a comment that he created a video clip, uploaded to blip.tv, but was having trouble getting the video to display in his word press blog. 

So I posted it on my wordpress blog and discovered that perhaps he didn't use the drop down menu to set it to word press.  So, I made a quick screencast with jing project to illustrate the steps. 

I also suggest to Vutha that he do the following:

• Post the video (use the word press setting - see flickr)
• Write one paragraph describing the setting for the video.  Where is it?  Who are those kids? Is this what a vacation resort looks like?  Why did you capture this?
• Write one paragraph describing what you learned about shooting a video or how you might improve what you shoot the next time.

Any other video bloggers want to offer some advice?

I also noticed in the comments that Pagna wants to do some video blogging too!

Some Cambodian Photo Blogs, Podcasts, and Video Blogs!

Starting to get reports of podcasts, videos blogs, and photo blogs from Cambodia.

Norbert Klein has started a photoblog - I love the photo of family on the motorbike.   A typical scene in Phnom Penh. Norbert is a long-time ex-pat and perhaps the first person to bring Internet access to Cambodia via a Unix to DOS program and using a dial up modem.

Denith has posted a new photo album that contains pictures of Udong Mountain, aka Phnom Preah Reach-
ja-troub. In my opinion, in the next few years, this place will be a good place for tourist site, because the Buddish Centre will be completed soon. I found only a few foreign tourists when i visited that place last sunday, but i hope there will be more. I will find more information about Udong Mountain.  He's also been putting some videos on YouTube.

Chesda Sar has started podcasting! 

The Power of Web 2.0

 

A recent newspaper article about the Cambodian Bloggers Summit mentioned that the video cameras were donated by American companies.   Actually, they were purchased with donations from individuals to the personal fundraising campaign.   The idea came Doug who contributed the first batch of cameras that Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson took over to the Sharing Foundation computer school in July.   Maybe in the future we can convince Hasbro or another company to donate them.

A few Expat Bloggers in Cambodia

Photo by Mythicaldude

The Cambodian Blog community has many facets, including an active group of "ex-pat" bloggers.   Ex-pats are people who are citizens from other countries, but are living in Cambodia.   Perhaps my friend, John Weeks, in the photograph above has the precise definition.

Details Are Sketchy is an anonymous blogger who writes about life in Cambodia.  Her short, pithy, and witty posts are not only fun to read, but also very informative.   I love her authentic style.  She also has the definitive list of Cambodian BlogHers here.

John Weeks (aka jinja) has lived in Cambodia for a long time and has been blogging for many years.  I think he might be the first ex-pat Cambodian blogger.   He writes about Cambodian culture, arts, comics, and many other topics.  Hi blog is always informative.  He is an active tagger and expert in social networking sites.  He is also  runs a Web development company based in Cambodia called House32.  His clients are primarily Cambodian NGOs and small businesses in country, but if you like his work you can certainly send him an inquiry.   His company was a sponsor of the conference.

Thomas Wanhoff in Cambodia recently arrived in Cambodia from Germany.  He did a presentation on podcasting - his first in English!  He was a participant in the small group role play on social media and we had great fun.

Andy Roberts is a doctoral student from the New York Botanical Garden doing his research in a rural province in Cambodia.   He had some great insights about the cultural differences.

Phil Lees writes a blog called phnomenon.com focused on food and restaurants in Cambodia. He presented a session called "Content is King" with John Weeks. 


Preetam Rai is not technically an ex-pat Cambodian blogger.  He is the Southeast Asian regional editor for Global Voices Online and his personal blog is "betterdays" I first discovered Preetam Rai back in April, 2005 when he wrote the definitive tutorial on bloglines.    Also at the conference was Geoffrey Cain from Global Voices who recently left to go back to the states, but is still blogging about Cambodia.

Videos: Leng Sopharath and Google Lesson in Roteang

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I didn't spend any of my free time being a tourist.   On Monday, when I landed, I went straight from the airport to meet Leng Sopharath, the college student our family sponsors through the Sharing Foundation's program. (Some of you may remember that I used Chipin for my first personal fundraising campaign last November to sponsor her and write a case study here.)

I got to spend about an hour and half with Leng Sopharath.  She showed me her room, her photo album, talked about her family, her daily activities, her job goals and how much she appreciated the opportunity to attend the university. I was touched that our photos and the kids drawings that we exchange on a quarterly basis were on her wall.  I took this video so I could show it to the kids.

I got a tour of the girls dorm.  Later the boys arrived and we sat and talked. I presented them with some of the tech shirts. The young woman with the google t-shirt is a IT major!  The shirts were very much appreciated. In contrast to my blogging friends, I asked the college students if they knew what a blog was. They were not sure. They were familiar with google and yahoo and they use the Internet for email, but blogging was a new term for them as it is for many Cambodians.

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The next day I went out to Roteang and observed a google search lesson being taught at the Sharing Foundation computer school by Mam Sary the head of the Sharing Foundation's English School program. (You can read more about the program over at the Sharing Foundation's web site).   Mam Sary is able to access the Internet via his cell phone connection.  It's slow, but he is able to teach a lesson to the students about how to find supplementary materials for their school assignments.   One of the students asked if Google was the best search engine.  Mam Sary said, 'Yes, Google is the best."   This is quite amazing because several years ago these students would have had no idea about the Internet.

Mam Sary also received several of the video cameras that Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson brought over.  So, I invited to the Cambodian Bloggers Summit and he was thrilled to learn about the Web2.0 and is very interested incorporating some of the ideas into his instruction.

BlogHers, Gender Blogging, and Linux Chix in Cambodia!

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Here a round up of some the fabulous women Bloghers in Cambodia and Linux Chix that I met.

Dee Dee is one of two women on the five-person Clogger Team responsible for organizing the Cambodian Bloggers Summit.   (Viirak interviewed her during the video blogging workshop)  She presented in the morning of the first day about why blogging has been useful to her.  I observed her sharing her knowledge with other women at the conference.

Dee Dee with the BlogHer bag!

David Saski from Global Voices summarized her presentation:

Dee Dee's 10 minute introduction to why she blogs and what she got out of it put a big smile on my face. It had nothing to do with saving the world or strengthening Cambodia’s democracy - it was just about showing the beauty of her country, sharing her experiences in school, and learning from her peers and fellow students. DeeDee is also part of the team that brings Personal Information Technology Workshops to university campuses around the country, sharing tips about how to take advantage of the web.

Some points that DeeDee made that perfectly illustrate the usefulness of blogs in educational context:

• Blogging helped her English improve
• Helped with her IT assignments
• Her friends helped her improve her writing
• Wasn't that difficult to set up and learn how to do, just ten minutes
• Learn more about the comments.

The other woman on the Clogger Team is Keo Kalyan.  She could not attend the Cambodian Bloggers Summit because she is in the US on a fellowship studying for an advanced degree.   Viirak had set up the live connection using Ustream.TV and Skype and everyone was impressed to see the possibilities of connecting with someone they knew from Cambodia who was in the US.  (Good how to resource here)

In this photo, Pagna is on the left.     She was the facilitator for the event and did an excellent job keeping everyone on track and picking up key themes.    Her post summing up the conference:

Honestly, I appreciate everyone commitment to BLOGGING; I understand that BLOG raise the awareness of many new things from different people worldwide. In the past, literature is the window telling how and what it is about one society but maybe literature is quite an ancient window now. Yet, quite contrast to another view of mine, Cambodia is not in a very need of BLOG or modern Technology while more than half of the nation’s population is living in and under poverty and whereas the country’s economy still depends heavily on foreign loan and aid to survive. SO…? - How can BLOG (technology) help to make the situation better?

On the right, is Sopheap who I interviewed for BlogHer.  I am enjoying reading her blog.   She facilitated the session on "Gender Blogging" on Friday afternoon.  (That's when I was dehydrated and suffering from the effects of previous night's dinner and had trouble concentrating and saying anything coherent).  Sopheap did an excellent facilitating the group.   Some key points:

• Sopheak presented some research that what women blog about is family and more internal thoughts and that men blog about politics.  She notes that women can blog about politics.
• It is difficult for some women to write blogs because it requires going into an Internet cafe and women do not always feel welcome.
• There were some questions about whether at some point gender relationships in Cambodia (which can be difficult) will translate to the online experience.

Photo by Thomas Wanhaff

These two young women were in the small group role play exercise.  The woman in the pink came up with the initial idea for our skit.  The woman wearing the green t-shirt played the role of my daughter.  I wrote down their names, but ended up loosing the piece of paper.  Can someone please leave their names in the comments?

The day before the conference, I spent some time at the Open Institute, the NGO that hosts the KhmerOS (Open Source Software) project.   The executive director,  Chim Manavy, was on the Cyber Cambodian panel and spoke about Cambodia's need for a telecommunications policy and action plan.   I got to spend some time with incredible women who run technology related programs at Open Institute.  They were:

Hok Kakada who I interviewed for Global Voices two years ago!  It was great to meet her face-to-face and spend some time learning about her work.  She is an Open Source Engineer and Coordinator of the Development team - a rocking Linux Chix.  She a lot of leadership potential.

Heng Chantheng, a master trainer and Linux Training Coordinator.   She gave a presentation at the conference on the Khmer OS unicode and current strategy for a national educational technology plan incorporating the use of Khmer OS in schools.  She did a fantastic job of presenting, despite technical problems with the projector.   The verbal part of the presentation was in Khmer, but I could follow along with the powerpoint which was in English.  (I must track that down)

Kong Sidaroth coordinates the Open Institute's Women and E-learning project (two separate projects).   They are currently doing research on issues impacting women and ICT in Cambodia.    From what I learned during the gender and blogging discussion, the issues are familiar but also vastly different than in US.  They will be launching a women's web portal soon.

Technorati Tags: cloggersummit2007

Cross posted at BlogHer

Bugs for Lunch (and frogs for dinner)

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On Friday, I ate lunch with Tharum, Hok Kakada, Heng Chantheng, Mam Sary, and others at Pannasastra University cafeteria.   I had just finished presenting the video blogging workshop on very little sleep and was dehydrated.. 

The night before I went out to dinner with the group at a Cambodian  pub, a beer garden featuring khmer food.  We got to the restaurant via tuk tuk. (see video).   The restaurant was an enclosed patio with christmas lights hanging from the ceiling and khmer music blaring.  There were plastic bags filled with water hanging from the ceiling (later I was told they were used to disorient flying insects.)  The food was a version of Korean Bar-B-Que - skillets on the table and an assortment of meat, veggies, and shrimp to fry. 




Photo by David Saski

A dish was brought to the table and the Cambodian bloggers insisted that I try it.   It was fried ants, grasshoppers and frogs legs.  After significant peer pressure from the crew at Global Voices, I had no choice but to eat it.  It actually didn't taste bad, but all I could imagine ants crawling down my throat.  I didn't sleep much because I imagined ants in crawling around in my stomach and insects did not agree with me.   Read what Sopheap had to say.

It reminded of the last time I was in Cambodia.   Elephant, the Sharing Foundation in-country director, took us to the Central market where he purchased a cricket and ate for us.  He said "hmm .. delicious ... just like chicken."  I thought I'd never eat a bug.

So the idea of eating bugs for lunch had been in my head.  Bugs for lunch.  That's the title of a book that I used to read my kids at bedtime.   It was about what birds eat.  In the appendix there was a page that showed different people who eat bugs and it included an illustration of Khmer family eating bugs for lunch.  Harry always asked, "Mommy, if I lived in Cambodia, would we be eating bugs for lunch."  I answered no.  But now, I can tell him - you can eat ants for lunch!

Steve Goodman's Flickr Presentation at Cambodian Bloggers Summit

Photo by Steve Goodman

Steve Goodman is a photographer and ex-pat living in Cambodia.  He's an awesome photographer.   One of the best souvenirs from my trip is the photo her took me!   Now, a great photo.  Not only do I have some proof that I went to Cambodia, but a fabulous photo.

You can find his presentation materials and resources over at his blog.

Thank you Steve for the fantastic photo.

Cambodia Bloggers Summit: Social Media Role Play, Social Media Game, and Angkun - Seeds of the Future

Friday after lunch and following the t-shirt giveaway, it was time to play the Khmer version of the Social Media Game.    (Watch the video that  Preetam Rai took to see the game in action and the video by Thomas Wanhoff to see a report out of the game.).  The game has been remixed into different languages and used in different training contexts, but this is the first time it has been to Southeast Asia. 

I created this version of the game before I attended the Summit and had intended to tweak it prior to the conference, but didn't have time.  The task, to pick the tools for a particular situation, was just not right in this context.  There was not enough of a knowledge base of the Web2.0 tools and ideas.  If I wasn't so dehydrated and still feeling stomach problems from the previous night's dinner, I might have tweaked it on the spot with some of these ideas:

• Assign group leaders to each small group who knew more about the tools.   
• If there was all-day instruction on the Web 2.0 tools, this would have worked as a culminating activity. 
• Activity geared to just becoming familiar with the tools and concepts.    Perhaps have them flip through the cards and come up with a list of questions.
• Used fewer cards and focused on the content of the half-hour web2.0 workshop

There is a certain humility you experience as a trainer when something doesn't work perfectly .... but that is the interesting part, the process of continuous improvement and that is where most of my real learning has taken place.  And, while not the most enjoyable process in the world, it is definitely the most valuable.

In reflection, after watching both Preetam's video and Thomas Wanoff's video of the game in process, I guess I should be so hard on myself.

I wasn't sure whether I was feeling awful from being dehydrated or from the experience of something not translating well, but this young woman approached me afterwards and asked if she could keep the cards and to use in her class.   She was a teacher.   That made my day!  I noticed that none of the other card decks were returned, so maybe the others will be put to good use ...

During the Web2.0 workshop, I spoke about tagging.  I tried very hard to use Cambodian photos and images in the curriculum, but was not able to find something that represented tagging.  I used the pen image that I've used before and I knew that it would not translate.  After the workshop, John Weeks created a Khmer image for tagging using Angkun.

The Angkun was used for the another activity that we might use "sticky" dots for in the US.  Baskets labeled with future projects for the Cambodian bloggers to do as a community were set out.  People were given two angkuns and asked to vote for the project and to sign up if they wanted to help with the project. Maybe my next visit to Cambodia I will have time to get to local market and pick some up for souvenirs.  Here's what Lux wrote about the Angkun:

angkunh: as we approached the closing of the summit, one beautiful student asked “why do you give all of us the angkunh“. a great answer from john: “because u r the seeds of new generation of bloggers. angkunh is a kind of seed.” i asked myself then “john, u think i’m old?” i don’t mind about it anyway.

Photos from Thomas Wanhaff

The afternoon also included a small group role play exercise.   We were divided into small groups, were handed a bunch of props, and a concept.   My group was assigned to "Social Media."   First we discussed the definition of the term.  It became clear that social media in Cambodia means "any media that can solve social issues."    The young woman in the pink shirt suggested that we create a role play around how media might help resolve the issue of domestic violence.

From there, we created a play about how a woman  who was beaten by her husband (played by Thomas Wanhoff) learned about blog by an NGO from her friend and went to an Internet cafe in the village where she was able to get help and make her situation better.  I got to play the role of the woman (and thankfully no photos of me in performance, but if view Thomas Wanhoff's entire video you'll see our group right before we go on stage).   We were able to do a great job at the performance because Denith helped coordinate the play.  He also narrated.   Despite being dehydrated and recovering from dining on ants the previous night,  I learned a lot from participating in this exercise.

Tech and NGO T-Shirts for Cambodia

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Whenever I've travel over to Cambodia, I have the opportunity to check two large suitcases up to 70 pounds each.  I never pack anything personal in those suitcases.  Instead, we bring over supplies for the Sharing Foundation, mostly in-kind donations of clothing, medicine, or other items that can't be easily acquired or are cheaper in the US.  This trip, I carried over two large suitcases of technology t-shirts for the Cambodian Bloggers that were donated by the generous readers of my blog and included nonprofits and web2.0 companies.   

Since I could not visit Cambodia without carrying over some items for the Sharing Foundation, I had a third checked piece of luggage, a portable crib for orphanage.  Since no good deed goes unpunished, I had to pay an extra luggage fee.

There were more than enough t-shirts for the Cambodian bloggers (probably enough for some bloggers to get more than one).   There were also children's t-shirts contributed, so I distributed these to the kids in the orphanage and some of the extra t-shirts to the college students being sponsored by the Sharing Foundation.   The photo opportunity in the orphanage was a very low keyed and orderly event.  They said thank in Khmer and bowed without being prompted!   The college students enjoyed the  t-shirts too even though they were not aware of the companies.

The college students and the orphanage children had never heard the word "blog" before!  Maybe someday,  they will blog their thank you, like this one from Lux Mean or this one Vutha Surf or Soben.

In contrast, the t-shirt distribution to the Cambodia bloggers was a high energy event.  After lunch, bloggers came back into the main meeting room.  The clogger team got on stage with the bags of t-shirts and started to pull them out one-by-one.   Like street hawkers. "Google? TechSoup?  Nten? Scrapblog? TechSoup? YouthNoise?"  Bloggers were shouting, pointing,  laughing, and gesturing.  They were very excited to get the t-shirts.   It was all done in Khmer, so I have no idea what was being said, although I'm sure the generous t-shirt donors were thanked. 

Vutha wearing t-shirt

I ran around trying to get as many photos and videos of the Cambodian bloggers wearing the t-shirts.  The room was very hot, despite being air conditioned and I was dehydrated from not enough water and dizzy.  So, I apologize if I missed any.   There was a group photo at the end and we sang Arapee Yah and there was some Khmer dancing. I was dancing so I put down my camera, so you won't see me dance in the video above, but you can see it in Preetam's video.    Great fun!

I love what Lux wrote about the t-shirts:

new t-shirts on the street: don’t be surprised if u r on the way to somewhere sometime and see cambodians on bicycles or motorbikes wearing t-shirs of technorati, creative commons, secondlife, techsoup, and so on…, beth kanter brought all of those for cloggers. now i’m wearing “i digg” writing this post.

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In addition, many people generously contributed additional items like swag (including lots from Tara Hunt and Chris Messina, founders of barcamp.   There was even some talk about a barcamp in Southeast Asia.  In the video above, Preetam Rai explains why he thinks a barcamp in Southeast Asia would be a great opportunity.   

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The Cambodian Bloggers Summit had wonderful laptop stickers!  I also collected stickers from different Web 2.0 companies.   In the video above, Virak is placing laptop stickers on his laptop.

I would also like to thank KhmerOS for the KhmerOS t-shirts. I did not have a minute to do any souvenir shopping, so I very much appreciated that Chantra gave me two t-shirts for the kids.   I also received a Cambodian Bloggers Summit T-shirt upon my arrival (and a Khmer keyboard from Javier Sola at KhmerOS)


Photo from Beth's Flickr Stream

Cambodian Bloggers Summit T-Shirt

Technorati Tags: barcamp, cloggersummit2007

Cloggers Awards Ceremony

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Note:  I am now home with fast Internet access and extreme jet lag.  I am beginning to post the photos, videos, and notes that I took while I was there.

August 31st:  Cambodia Bloggers Awards Ceremony

As many of you may have already read, part of my project budget was to include video blogging camera kits to give as prizes or awards to encourage video bloggers.   The idea for the kits came from the video blogging community when  I blogged about wanting to see more video blogging in Cambodia and through the generosity of Coffee with Doug video blog, I sent over 3 camera kits with Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson to the Sharing Foundation's computer school. 

I also contributed my used Olympus digital recorder that I purchased when I read about it from Andy Carvin.  I figured it would have a better life in Cambodia since there was a presentation about podcasting.  David Saski from Global Voices contributed these $10 digital cameras.

We announced the day before that prizes would be awarded and to apply, they had to leave a comment on the conference blog with how they would use the camera or record.   Details Are Sketchy suggested:

Our vote goes to  Nguon Chan Sokhom — for honesty. "on my free time i like to liseting music,so i want to win a flash mediaplayer."

The awards announcement post is here (Note it is written in both English and Khmer.  If you do not have Khmer Unicode installed on your computer, you won't be able to read the Khmer version of the announcement.  I have a long post about Khmer unicode in the que)

Source: Denith

Denith won a digital camera.  I participated in the role play exercise with him and he is a strong leader.  Here is what he wrote:

I want a digital camera for helping attract more tourism for Cambodia. As you can see in my blog, the given one, there is a picture box contain many categories. Some categories are for view of Cambodia such as Siem Reap Angkor, The cultural Village, and other views. Of course, i associate with a Khmer who is working with a Chinese organization. Unfortunately, I do not have any details about that organizations, but, I’m sure they are really interesting in seeing picture of Cambodia. Recently, he asked me if i can take some pictures of around Phnom Penh, and particularly, the Central Market. I do not have a digital camera in possession and i am considering obtaining one as soon as possible. I really want to help tourism of Cambodia, I make friends with foreign people and try to attract them to visit Cambodia. Two of my German friends will visit Cambodia next month, as a result of my effort. I hope i can attract more, from both my blog and the picture i take.

Tuosaman

If I am a winner and get a video camera I will use it with my project. Now I have one group of computer teacher whom teach the computer to children who leaving in the orphanage center. Our project is making some interesting topic (traditional, culture and Khmer script) in Cambodia with concept mapping. Our mission will make many interviews to some people who know on topic above and will travel to some where in Cambodia which relate to topic. (Read his blog post about winning)

 

 

Kim Pichda

I am Kim Pichda, a third year law student in PUC and also an administrative assistance and librarian of PUC Legal Clinic. Under the legal clinic program, my team and I have been teaching street laws to high students in Phom Penh and in the provinces. So, I will have a chance to tell them about what the blog is and even tell them how to create blog by their owns. I am writing to ask for Video camera so that i can use for my own interest and the clinic.

 

Mam Sary

I have a great opportunity to join this summit. I have learnt many things about blogging. I wish to get an MP3 because I have got a digital camera. Let’s other people get it eventhough it is more expensive than an MP3. If I win an MP3, I will record and blog on my own so that many people can listen to my interesting podcasts

The Complete List of Awards Winners

Digital Cameras
SaoCheng
Samith Vatnak Oudom
Heng Phan 
CHUI Chanthou
Sok Sidon
Denith  (check out his photos of the Cloggers Awards)
Chheang You

Video
Kim Pichda
Tuosaman

Audio Recorder
Mam Sary

Video of Cloggers Summit by Preetam

Just found this video from Preetam via Lux and just had to blog it!

Demonstration of Clogging by Javier Sola

Click To Play

I'm back after 36 hours of travel.  I edited the many videos I took. I'm starting with the last one first - the grand finale of Javier Sola demonstrating clogging.  Clogging or cloggers also stands for "cambodian blogger or clogger"   Now, for some sleep!  More later

Meet A Cambodian BlogHer: Sopheap Chak

photo by Oso

Sopheap blogs at ifocus with the tagline “three dimensions of life.” She is the Advocacy and Public Relation Officer for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.    She has worked for that NGO for almost two years.  She started her blog this year in May, 2007 because it was an opportunity for self-expression. Her blog covers social, political, and economic global issues from the perspective of young Cambodian professional.   She is also a terrific live blogger!  I am grateful for her detailed notes from the Cambodian Bloggers Summit. 

She also lead the session on "Gender and Blogging" (I will post a summary of that session as soon as recover from jet lag!)


Why did you start to blog?

I took a trip to Ratanakiri, a remote province to the north and indigenous people.   This was a trip to bring urban young people to experience life in a rural area and to deliver school supplies for children who live in the province and are very poor.     Be Chantra, a member of the clogger team, had introduced the young people to the idea and benefits of blogging.   This is where I learned to set up a blog and I wrote about the trip here.   

I did not have a computer backround, so it was difficult in the beginning because I wanted to design and have it look nice but didn't know how do it. With the commitment to start the blog, I asked expert people and used self-learnin to master the techniques.   I found other blogs and looked at the styling so I could figure out what the possibilities.

What are some of the benefits?

I can communicate with other people who I know face-to-face and those who I don't know.    I like the fact that I can have conversations with my readers in the comments.   I can talk about my volunteer efforts to help poor children in the remote province.   So, people who find my blog can learn about these efforts and maybe help.    Also, the donors can see that they accomplished their mission.  I hope that my blog can be a discussion space.

Do you write about your job or work?

I cover the topics that relate to my job, but not my organization.   I want to share information.   For example, there are many human rights violations in our country.   I hope that people can find out the information and what is really happening and what the Cambodian perspective is.   There are some specific issues related to women that I'm not scared to speak my mind about this issue because I feel it is important to bring attention to it.

Many people in Cambodia are afraid to express their ideas about human rights and other issues.  People are afraid to implement their rights.   So, I want to use my blog to exercise my right to freedom of expression or otherwise we are self-censoring.

How come there are not so many BlogHers in Cambodia?

There are women blogging in Cambodia.  Not as many women here at the conference  because it is happening during a work day and the women are working.

I found people saying that women only blog for personal blogs.  Gender in blogging is about personality.   Many females in Cambodia are majoring in politics and economics and like to discuss those issues, but the obstacle is the technical work - knowing how to use the computer.   Of course, there is problem with Internet access.

Not many women like to study technology and computer use in Cambodia.   There is a cultural bias towards men to be IT majors.   Mostly women prefer to major in subjects that require critical thinking versus hands-on technical knowledge like computers.

Cross posted on BlogHer

Reflectons from Video Blogging Session at Cambodian Bloggers Summit

 

On Friday,  I co-presented the video blogging presentation at the Cambodian Bloggers Summit with Virak, Cambodia's first Cambodian video blogger (I think).   The curriculum is here

I did a lot of preparation for this workshop to document as much of the how-tos and resources because I only had 30 minutes to present.  Upon my arrival in Cambodia and actually experiencing the how slow the Internet is, how long it takes to upload, and that the videos posted to hosting sites don't necessarily play here.   A lot of the reaction to video blogging can be summed up by Chandee's face below which I included in the presentation materials I revised the day before.

The most challenging part of training is the skills transfer and adoption.   You can come in as a expert, do a presentation, provide some hands on exercises, and leave behind well documented manuals.  But what happens when you leave?   How do you build capacity.    So, my initial goal was to find someone who was interested in doing video blogging, had the ability to train, and understood the technical stuff.  That person, ended up being Virak.   I worked with him on Wednesday afternoon so he could be resource to the others who might want to video blogging.   Here's Virak's first video blog post. 

I was impressed with how quickly he picked it up and invited him to co-present with me.   Train the trainer in action!  Since Virak was also one of the organizers and I was also doing too many other things, we didn't have the luxury of indepth planning and we had never worked together!  So, we did a bit of improvisation.

When I co-train with other trainers and we speak the same language it is easy to trade of roles.   For example, one person may be talking while the other is demonstrating on the computer.  Virak narrated, but in Khmer - so I had to guess approximately what he was saying.  I had to turn it into a little bit of comedy act and the audience laughed.  They got a kick out my Vanna White style of demonstrating how to take the SD card out of the camera and put it into the card reader.

Of course, the ideal way to accomplish this would be been to have more time to transfer the skills to the trainers, model the skill transfer, and observe it.   Nonetheless, I'm confident that there will be more video bloggers in Cambodia.

Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson brought over 3 video blogging kits to the computer school in Roteang.  Sari, the computer teacher is here today and he brought along his camera.  He also told me that based on yesterday, he started a blog.  At lunch, we talked some student lessons he could do to have the kids at Roteang document their village.   Of course, his Internet access is very slow - via cell phone.  So, he may need to travel into Phnom Penh to send or copy onto a CD and give to a sharing foundation rep on their regular visits.    So, now he is another resource and Cambodian video blogger!

And, of course, there were the winners of the Clogger Awards which included the two other video blogging kits I brought over.   I will be following up with a post about the winners once I get back to the US (now in the Singapore airport before my 18 hour flight)

Some notes:

• Incorporate the people into the presentation.  Take photos while in country and incorporate into your presentation material.
• Listen for resistance and incorporate that in your teaching materials.   Name it and claim it.

more later.

Cyber Cambodian Session - Cambodian Bloggers Summit

Cyber Cambodian – by Chanthan Ken (CCS), Mark Sarath (YCC), Chotana (City Link), Chim Manavy (Open Institute)

Disclaimer:  Live blog post from Cloggers Summit and there may be typos or missed facts.   This is especially true because this session is in Khmer.   Lux Mean is on my right and someone I don't know is on my left side. They are translating for  me as I transcribe what they are saying.   This is my first experience live blogging something in a different language!  I see several other Cambodian bloggers live blogging and will links to their posts.

Many people in Phnom Penh know how to use the computers and the Internet, but in the rural areas many people do not.  So, IT people have a responsible to teach people.

In our dictionary in Khmer, no word for cyber, but we have a cyber law.

How many people can use Internet in  Cambodia?  They are researching that right now, but it is very low compared to other countries.

Some organizations have no Internet access and in the provinces, there is no access to the Internet.  Journalists can't use the Internet in the provinces and in the city.   Many also write by hand, not on the computer if one is available.    This is a topic we need to discuss today.

Open Institute Chim Manavy is speaking.   She wants to know the meaning of the word blog in Khmer.  Is there a word?  ITC is the new knowledge in Cambodia.   Cambodia does not have computers made in the country so we have to import.  Now some people learn to use computer really well.   But now the government of Cambodia, also cares that people learn how to use computers and ICT.   We have also a telecommunications department in the government.

The word blog has no meaning in Cambodian so we had to learn the definition in English.   

Representative from CityLink the Internet provider in Phnom Penh.   He is talking about the importance of the computers in his company.  He can only see people who use the Internet.   He mentioned that the percentage of people who can use the computer in Cambodia is very low.  But if we compare IT in Cambodia with other South Asian countries likeThailand or Vietnam, we still have limited penetration.

If you go to other provinces to do the workshop, the participants cannot know the meaning exactly of the word blog.   They only just participate in the workshop- but don't know meaning very well.  So he try reduce the cost of using Internet to be lower for the students. 

Mark Sarath from YCC.  What is the strategy to development our student's knowledge of using computers and Internet?

The Internet is connecting him to people in the provinces.

When he asked students if they want to use the computer, the student say yes.   They really want to use the computer.   They talk about obstacles - not having enough computer labs for student practice using the computer.   In 2000 people, only 82 have email addresses.   During 2003 election, they provided Internet for free in the provinces and tried to connect young people in the province and create email addresses.  Of the 82 people, two people have blogs!   Not much to write - a few lines and a few pictures.    Sometimes they do chat, but they blocked the chat for young people.

Lux volunteered to train people about blogging in several provinces in 2005.   How the people in his organization are using the Internet.   4% of his organization use the Internet - volunteer and his staff at Internet Cafe.  The cost of the Internet is very high in Province is cost $3 per one hour.    They want it to be free.

They are talking about business people opening Internet Cafe to make money, but not in the poorer provinces.   They are only several provinces with Internet cafes.  Tourists locations have the Internet, but not other provinces. 

Before computer use was only in the US offices in Cambodia.   The Internet was available to expats, then to government and business (rich people) and now coming all people.   

"We don't have a clear policy to promote information technology in Cambodia.  If the government has special policy, we think the Internet connection will be cheaper and easier to use and faster.  The government can build a better infrastructure to the rural areas and so young people need to express their demand to the government about the need and importance of Internet access.   Young people need to make their voices heard.

So, now the ICT policy ngos want try to make the software available in Khmer Language so it is more accessible.    The government isn't pushing Internet policy and when no one push it is forgotten or ignored. 

I would like the bloggers to write about need for Internet access.   He wants bloggers to advocate about a telecommunications policy.  Other countries have the demand and then the government responds.    CCS Ken Chanthan gave an overview of what e-government policy looks like in a powerpoint presentation.  (find link on the clogger site)  Says that Cambodian bloggers should demand that the government create an acton plan to realize existing e-policy. 

Chimm Manavy from Open Institute.  The Internet has another side - it is being used for trafficking and other bad purposes.    Technology is good, but need policy to prevent using the Internet for sex trafficking or other illegal purposes.  Technology user should be aware of their using the Internet - don't use it in a bad way.  Even though telephone/cell phone.

We need a law for new technology and ICT in Cambodia.   Our government representative of our 123 people, only one has their own web site. 

Summary

• Cyber Cambodian discussion is still in the early stages.  There are many challenges to providing access to the Internet.
• They discussed the pros/cons of using the Internet. 
• The role of Cambodian youth to promote ICT.
• There is a lack of Cambodian telecommunications policy and action plan.  This issue needs to be discussed - this is the role of youth in this area.   
• Youth has a role in promoting cyber society.

I will update with other blog posts from native khmer speakers when I find them.

The First Video Cambodian Video Blogger in Cambodia

Click To Play

Meet Virak, Phnom Penh Geek, and a member of the Cambodian Bloggers Summit team.  Yesterday,  I taught him how to use the video cameras and he made his first video blog post.  It is here.   We have two other cameras to give.  Virak has promised to blog about what he is learning about video blogging in Cambodia.  The major challenge is the Internet connection is slow.  He sees this a creative challenge - how to make brief videos that tell a story and sit with text.  I also now have a co-presenter for tomorrow.  In fact, Virak learned so fast that I might site in the audience ..... I'm able to post this now as I'm at the University and just finished my keynote.  The conversation is fantastic. You can listen live here.   

More later.

Meeting Leng Sopharath

Meeting Leng Sopharath
Originally uploaded by cambodia4kidsorg.

The Internet connection in Cambodia is small pipeline and slow. Typepad login page won't load! Or maybe they are down. So, I am blogging via flickr. After making the photos really small so they will upload quickly and disabled image load, I am blog reblog to typepad from my flickr account.

So, here's an account of meeting Leng Sopharath. I'm off to Roteang today.



The other highlight of my day was meeting Leng Sopharath, the college student our family sponsors through the Sharing Foundation's program. Elephant and I visited the girls dorm and we were greeted by Leng Sopharath. I got to spend about an hour and half with her - she showed me her room, her photo album, talked about her family, her daily activities, her job goals and how much appreciated the opportunity to attend the university. I was touched that our photos and the kids drawings that we exchange on a quarterly basis were on her wall.

Her dorm mates that were around gave me a tour of their rooms and we took photos. Later the boys arrived and we sat and talked. I presented them with some of the tech shirts. The young woman with the google t-shirt is a IT major! So, the shirts were very much appreciated.

In contrast to my blogging friends, I asked the college students if they knew what a blog was. They were not sure. They were familiar with google and yahoo and they use the Internet for email, but blogging was a new term for them.