Akvo.org - See it happen - Latest Comments

Re: How do you value web based platforms?

Deepak — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:19:41 -0000

Hey Peter,

Thank you for thinking and writing about this aspect. Converting the measurements into a traffic signal light is a sound idea, and maybe we might borrow it for India Water Portal as well ! The traffic signal system should be complemented with narratives that make the story complete. Anecdotes help the numbers make sense. I am not a fan of complex measurement metrics, because at its best it is information overload, and at its worst, an implementation nightmare.Questions that are important to ask: Who owns the 'metrics' game? Is it better to centralize the metrics collection? Or decentralize it to individual team members? Is it better to have a static measurement criteria, or add/drop metrics based on learning?Can Technology ease the process?Is it merely a management tool? What do the employees think about this? Let me throw you another challenge."Throw all the metrics in the air, and catch only the ones you really like" Good post, Peter. Got me thinking early in the morning :-)Hope things are swell with you work wise, and otherwise !
Cheers,

Deepak

Re: How do you value web based platforms?

Ben — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:52:48 -0000

I thought this was a pretty interesting read - The full story of "the one important thing" for startups.

http://blog.asmartbear.com/one...

Re: Losing Gino

Zacharysifuentes — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:13:44 -0000

Gino was instrumental in making the Bow & Arrow Press, a letterpress studio in Adams House at Harvard, a real success in the mid 80s. We now run a hugely successful and popular bookmaking and design center on campus, and we owe it to Gino. Our first Open Press Night for the spring semester will be a homecoming and reunion in his honor.

Re: Losing Gino

Kenneth. — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:55:31 -0000

Gino was a amazing creative and wonderful person. I am deeply saddened by his passing.

Re: Akvo and Water For People discuss FLOW

Thomas Bjelkeman-Pettersson — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:04:42 -0000

Noah, don’t hesitate to write about the work we do.

Re: Akvo and Water For People discuss FLOW

Noah Morgenstern — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:07:07 -0000

Wow! Great technology. I would love to feature it on my bog: waterqualityandsecurity.wordpr...

The blog focuses on water quality monitoring technologies and water security issues. Id love for your to check it out and if you're agreeable I will link the story back to akvo.

Thanks,Noah
blog manager
waterqualityandsecurity.wordpr...

Re: Training our South American partners

Chris Amsinger — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 08:35:03 -0000

Great update guys!

Re: Akvo RSR 2.0. Now it’s all about you.

Jvds — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:14:29 -0000

Congratulations with this important step! Jeroen

Re: Building a new Akvo hub in East Africa

Stephen Musyoka — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:24:20 -0000

looking forward

Re: Keeping video really simple – an introduction

Dan Shemie — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:12:56 -0000

Thanks for sharing the the many lessons learned. Brilliant.

Re: Keeping video really simple – an introduction

Isabel Ordoñez — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 06:44:39 -0000

Beautifully put... the video interview in the end is the cherry on top, really. Inspiring

Re: Developing Akvo’s performance indicators

Saskia — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 06:01:27 -0000

Thanks for sharing Stefan! In terms of thinking through impact, you could consider asking questions such as : 'what does the tool/service enable its users to do? How does this relate to the users' own expectations and needs? (in all their diversity)', ' What effective opportunities do AKVO users have to exploit the tool/service?' , ' How can users act on the information obtained via AKVO and run with it to do their own thing?', etc. :) It will be interesting to follow your thoughts further - thanks for sharing them publicly! Cheers!

Re: A bit of history – our new office

Internet Business Ideas — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 00:54:04 -0000

Very interesting bit of information. Having your business establishment in a hostoric building will add value to your firm. It was a nice idea.

Re: Akvo’s World Water Week, Stockholm 2011

Carol — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:00:28 -0000

Good luck at World Water Week. PHLUSH hopes to be there next year. In the meantime, should you get to Portland, Oregon, we'd love to see you. We are launching workshops on emergency sanitation for our earthquake prone region in the period leading up to World Toilet Day.
Carolwww.phlush.org

Re: Moving home, to Amsterdam

Michelle Mendoza — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:37:59 -0000

Hope the move goes well. Thanks for posting your history background.

Re: Open Data for Development Camp – Day One

F Vanoostveen — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:49:10 -0000

Mark, thanks very helpful! Great interview with Edward of Worldbank. Although I could not join today, felt like I have catched up really good with your blog with all links to videos!

Re: WaterCube collage

Mark Charmer — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 09:01:22 -0000

Thomas was bugging me about the original collage - he felt it cut off abruptly - so I've tweaked it :-)

Re: Two near-identical campaigns. Why has one raised four times as much?

Mark Charmer — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 03:13:25 -0000

Thanks Else - really helpful input this... Mark

Re: Two near-identical campaigns. Why has one raised four times as much?

Else Boutkan — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 11:09:14 -0000

Dear Jo,

Thanks for this interesting blog and thanks for raising this question.

After reading the blog I had a look at both websites. What I learned is that the 110000km project pays more attention to fundraising en sponsoring than Cycle for Water.
On the 110000km project website a clear instruction for sponsoring is presented: method(s) for sponsoring are explained and also a amount of money is suggested.
Another strength of 11000km project is the personal relation with the waterproject.

Cycle for Water did some wonderful storytelling of the project they support. I would recommend them to give this story (or a short version) a more prominent place on their website (sponsoring page). Apparently an Akvo widget isn't enough: a (personal) story might help the readers to make the essential next step: click on the widget.

I hope this is helpful, although it is a personal analysis.

I wish both project good luck. They are heroes and both deserve much success in their fundraising efforts.

With kind regards,

Else Boutkan
www.elseboutkan.nl

Re: Two near-identical campaigns. Why has one raised four times as much?

Jo Pratt — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 05:23:43 -0000

Thanks, Carole. Interesting insights! The Africa vs Latin America thought is very interesting, and raises all kinds of issues. I think the Guiness World Record thing may also be a factor as it adds an additional element of kudos and excitement, although from experience, there isn't a machine that gets behind attempts of this kind. It's generally down to the wannabe record breakers to publicise their own attempts.

Re: Two near-identical campaigns. Why has one raised four times as much?

Carole Ayoul — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:34:14 -0000

It is puzzling indeed. I found the website of Cycle for Water a lot lighter and interactive with incredibly beautiful pictures. The mood is set for a voyage as well as a mission. I found the other one bland and rigid in comparison but I'll humbly admit the fact I couldn't read it had a lot to do with it.
Something to do with the big money Guiness Book of Records machine perhaps? Or is it maybe that people on the whole feel more prone to sponsoring a project on the African continent? Just a thought... well done though Jo. I thoroughly enjoy this.

Re: Two near-identical campaigns. Why has one raised four times as much?

Jo Pratt — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 10:26:22 -0000

Thanks, Joost. It does seem apt, doesn't it? Although I wouldn't call your story "easy"! And I'm sure it's sometimes painful (if also sometimes fun). But the question still remains about why the different responses to your story and Robert's African version.

Re: Two near-identical campaigns. Why has one raised four times as much?

Joost — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 18:41:45 -0000

Something I read not two days ago: "To be a story is easy, and sometimes fun; To change reality is difficult and sometimes painful" - Thomas Friedman in From Beirut to Jerusalem. You think this applies here.... ?

Re: A shared online services platform for the development sector

Mark Charmer — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:09:12 -0000

Hi Rebecca, nice to hear from you. I've not come across a really useful service of that kind, but I find my Twitter network is very powerful from that perspective. Everyone's really helpful in sharing experiences and links to new and useful tools. Quite a lot of the people who appear in our "#akvo" Twitter sidebar alongside this blog are good to follow.

There are some helpful blogs focused on NGO communications too - a nice starting point is Beth Kanter's blog - "The networked non-profit". http://www.bethkanter.org/ She's good to follow on Twitter, too. There are plenty more. Again, I'd say start using Twitter and following the kind of people in our sidebar and things will start to come together.

p.s. Whereabouts are you in South Africa? We'll be in Cape Town later this month.

Re: A shared online services platform for the development sector

Rebecca — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 07:00:05 -0000

I am new to the techie side of NGO communications and find the field quite intimidating. I have worked in various African NGOs doing communications for years, but now in my first NGO that's making a real foray into the cyber world -- there are so many apps out there that it's really hard to know what to use (what is free and what is worth paying for?). Could you maybe set up a service where we can direct questions and get good answers from more tech savvy people? (I work in South Africa)