Just gave an invitee only talk at the London International Development Centre.  Even if I usually get gut-wrenching indigestion when we talk about classical development politics, overall it was an interesting event trying to bring together industry, technologists and academics.   Not sure yet which one I identified with.   In any case, below is the abstract for the talk and the non-Powerpoint picture slide show that accompanied the presentation.  They are going to have quite a few student events in the coming year so, if nothing else, now you have a snitch inside …

The Flash file takes a while to download and you can use space to move down.  Just testing this here …

Abstract as follows:

During the past month I have been working on a pilot project in Ethiopia that combines two unusual bedfellows: mobiles phones and climate change. The idea has been to develop a system that would channel carbon sequestration funds to hundreds of thousands of rural farmers in Ethiopia in support of their reforestation efforts. A simple concept: more carbon tied to biomass through growing trees; more money produced. All of this would be then mediated by the mobile phone from data gathering to calculating biomass patterns to remuneration. This talk will present some of the problems and challenges the use of mobile phones raises in a country such as Ethiopia. It will look explain the current stage of the pilot project, describe some of the technical and political challenges we have encountered as well as extrapolate some broader theoretical implications of trying to leapfrog the digital divide through the use of mobile technology.

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