Polio - its lastminute.com for Polio and we need to be inclusive and eradicate it now!

Martha Lane Fox the founder of lastminute.com and the UK govt lead on Digital Inclusion was at the Bill Gates Richard Dimbleby lecture that I attended on the invitation of the BBC, her blog gets the point across perfectly http://marthalanefoxblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/bills-big-and-brilliant-ambition/

If!

#IF

How open data can save lives | Forum:Blog | The World Economic Forum

Another view:
How open data can save lives | Forum:Blog | The World Economic Forum
"
Data drives our decision-making. But in this information age, new data sources are making sharing, analysing and applying all this data far more difficult.
For example, we now have crowdsourcing (the ability to communicate directly with the communities we are working in); open data (large data sets provided free of charge by governments and agencies); and big data (massive data sets created as a by-product of transactions in systems such as mobile networks).
And let’s not forget “small data” – the operational and internal data we need to run our organizations efficiently. Small data is hard to collect, making it difficult to draw solid evidence-based conclusions. It is often stuck in silos where it can’t be shared. We need to release it. If we share our small data, collective large data sets will emerge, potentially offering useful insights in how to deal with complex situations more innovatively."

Big Data

Referencing the previous comments Ive made over the years about Linked Data and Big Data
http://nickhorslen.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=linked+data
http://nickhorslen.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=big+data
http://nickhorslen.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=visualisation
http://nickhorslen.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=hans

Its interesting to see just how much inpact BIG DATA is starting to have in key areas such as:

• National and Global Health http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21045594
• Crime and police management http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/09/microsoft_domain_awareness_system/
• Commerce and consumer behaviour http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/09/big-data-retail-iphone-nfc-mobile-commerce.html
• Weather and Climate change modeling http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2012/10/30/sandy-hurricane-models/1668867/
• Infrastructure and development of cities http://civic.mit.edu/blog/kanarinka/cities-and-big-data-opening-panel-of-the-urban-code-conference-at-mit AND http://www.future-internet.eu/home/future-internet-assembly/aalborg-may-2012/31-smart-cities-and-big-data.html
• International development and facets of the MDG's http://www.unglobalpulse.org/taxonomy/term/791 AND http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/data.aspx AND dont forget www.gapminder.com and other visualisations I have featured before from www.TED.com

Anywhere now that data is catpure realtime and/or in processes, where pc's, mobiles, internet devices (The Internet of Things) is throwing up massive amounts of data, which can unluck new understanding for economists, business, government and NGO's.

With the hugh stides in technology development from Storage and Capture, to Processing and Mining data, the whole wave of the semantic web, web2.0, augmented reality, data mining and semantic processing algorithms makes this so interesting to watch.

I will post further links that illustrate these points later.
personally with the huge numbers and issues around the MDG's and International development, this is set to be tremendous for progress in the rest of this decade.

Africa: Waste Not, Want Not, Incentivise Not - What to Do About Food Waste? (Page 1 of 2)

This latest report on food waste is pretty shocking when you think of the environmental impact in terms of wasted water, soil and methane from rotting, not to mention the economics or ethics behind the issue!
http://www.imeche.org/knowledge/themes/environment/global-food?WT.mc_id=HP_130007

allAfrica.com: Africa: Waste Not, Want Not, Incentivise Not - What to Do About Food Waste? (Page 1 of 2)

In my GPP role we talk about £18Bn pounds of food thrown out in the UK each year when the World Food Program busget is only 10Bn. We also spend 37Bn on bottled water when the UN estimates it would only cost 18Bn to get clean water to everyone. We should see some progress in the next ten years on this. Lets look back then!

www.globalpovertyproject.com

And it was at this point with the House of Lords celebration event for LiveBelowTheLine that EA Effective Altruism came into the discussion and on my radar for evidence based thought and action and using research such as www.givewell.org

Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Shakti lights up rural backwaters

Grameen Shakti lights up rural backwaters leading the Triple Bottom Line world again!

"
Prof Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Shakti team were showered with praises from people of all strata for installing more than one million solar home systems across the country.
Economists, academics, development partners and diplomats also urged the Nobel laureate to move on to greater heights by lighting up the rural Bangladesh and transforming lives.
The acclaim came at an event, which was organised to celebrate the milestone set by Grameen Shakti.
Speaking at the programme at Radisson Hotel in Dhaka, Ellen Goldstein, country director of the World Bank, said this is an impressive achievement.
“When the programme was initiated, the target was only 500,000 solar home systems in five years. Now the partners are installing 60,000 systems per month.”
"

First post of 2013!

While I fill in those coffee breaks and lunch times with FB and Twitter posts, i havent posted to my blog yet this year so i thought Id start by reminding myself what an amazing year 2012 was for me and my family.

We had two graduations, our elder boys getting top grades in their BA and MA.
We had julies 50th and watch the Madrid Open in the sunshine in may.
We had the Olympics and paralympics and other sporting highlights with England at Wembley as well.
Reading festival was fantastic as ever the Foo's and all the other 100+ bands never dissappoint the best music crowd in britain.
Watching Louis sing with his school choir in venice.

BUT really interestingly......
I learnt all about the definition of extreme poverty and what we are going to do to irradicate it.
I also used skype for more than just my business, i got to know and help a couple of young people in Uganda and Pakistan and to hear first hand of their aspirations and challenges and to hear how fantastic these people are, how keen to develop their education and to work and to really understand how difficult it is to kick start things at their end compared to my end. I realised just how important it is to listen carefully and to think differently.

2013 is going to be another good year I can feel it, even with my elderly father in hospital this week.
I sense the minds of people, the application of technology and the hearts and minds of people and the internet will further the aim of making our world a better, more just and equitable one. I thank everyone locally and globally who helped make 2012 so interesting for me and I will do my little bit in return as I get busy again with work and family in 2013.

Highlights:
www.globalpovertyproject.com
www.livebelowtheline.com

http://butterflyproject.thecitizensmedia.com/

www.outofthedark.org.uk

www.readingfestival.com

http://www.london2012.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx02rYTk5J8 my 12yr old son ad'libing for a crowd!

and all my Facebook and twitter posts and photo's!

Good people, go cause some trouble today!