For some totally random reason – in the last week and till today, i was always put in situations where i needed to escape characters.

So i found the list on this site, but each time i have to find the damn one, i’d spend 15 mins looking for it – so here it! I hope i don’t forget my own URL or that at least, i’ll stop needing them that often!

If you happened to have an old install of frontlinesms – and you want to un-install – removing the folder in /applications alone won’t do. (if you re-install again, you will see all “your stuff” again)

So to fully un-install (on osx) :

- shutdown frontlinesms

- command + space – type terminal (launch the little “black application”)

- type in : cd /users/replace-this-with-your-username

(to find out your user, on the command line, simply type in: whoami)

- type in : rm -f -r .frontlinesms2

- in Finder – go to /Application – delete the frontlinesms folder

Voila.

Now you are ready for a second fresh install

Random ramblings/scattered thoughts on Big Data vs Stories/Small Narratives in development

Stories pattern and train people into ways to see the world.
There is no genetic difference between us – the difference is in the stories of the society in which we grew up in.

Therefore for empowerment to happen – the stories people tell or share are one of the things you wanna change.

if you can change the stories the people tell, you change the way they see themselves and the way they see things around them.
But you wanna do that in a bottom up approach, not in a top down manipulative way…

traditional research/approach is hypothesis based and inductive with roots in science … it deals with objects, not subjects.
It does not allow for subjectivity, it assumes there is something objective to be discovered and measured.
its practices have crossed over to the development community including social sciences.

Experts gather stories from the fields – mostly using un-human or unfair ways like mass survey or SMS polls and tag them – their expertise/background is what actually counts.
Then those stories get structured and interpreted and redistributed by those experts as best practices and policy points.

But instead of experts, the stories that people tell to each other in very few sentences – are the stories who filter the way we see data and visualize it.

numbers create objectivity – they gain attention – so people believe them
stories create rich context so the people actually change – get moved.

Then those stories and narratives need to flow at a horizontal level (thanks to the internet) which is gonna create far more innovation and hopefully empowerment

in a typical matrix scene – a geek would see things made of codes and binaries animated in a cool way, usually in black and green… but reality is…well… a bit more disappointing – yet it is true…algorithms ARE everywhere – and it is not just bits of binaries, it is smart stuff.

Each website implements social media features and more targeted marketing approaches – with the use of cookies, tracking software and what not. Also with RFID, cam monitoring (trapwire anyone?) censors and geo location sharing/analysis tool… i started to realize – algorithms are everywhere – tracking, monitoring, reporting, suggesting things to buy, showing me ads, telling me how the weather will be, what time the metro gets in and if there are free seats for the movie i am considering.

Some of those algorithms are annoying – i don’t like how after i google “robot to clean house” – facebook starts to show me ads about different types – it is creepy and invades privacy. I don’t like trapwire either etc.

Other algorithms are useful – they tell me about the weather, metro time and useful stuff.

But here is a spin – algorithms are never complex enough or smart enough specially if you were trying to “trick” them.

Let me give you an idea – go to amazon – search for an item of your choice – leave – if you wanna be more mean add it to basket but don’t buy it.

After a few days – amazon will send you either a discount – similar items in the same categories but at cheaper prices etc.

Same for example while you are buying a hosting – provide just enough info like your email – don’t buy the item – wait a few days and more likely in a few days – after the algorithm determines that you are probably not interested in buying – they will send you an email with discount codes trying to lure you in.

Same for renewing subscriptions in magazines and stuff… foursquare checkings etc..

With a little bit of trickery – you can either get discounts or for example save yourself time. Instead of searching for a product – let the algorithm find you the alternatives and suggestions.

Point is – lots of business/govts are relying on automated algorithms… algorithms can be analysed (specially if you are a programmer) and taken advantage of if you have the will/time to get that 20% benefit or additional value.

Spot the algorithm – This is one interesting idea to keep at the back of your head – and why not trick it/hack it :)

If you ever were un-happy with youtube html5 support or had to look on self hosting your own videos and publishing them to get rid of youtube ads at the end – then you must probably ran into video.js.

“Video.js is a JavaScript and CSS library that makes it easier to work with and build on HTML5 video, today.
This is also known as an “HTML5 Video Player”.
Video.js provides a common controls skin built in HTML/CSS, fixes cross-browser inconsistencies, adds additional features like fullscreen and subtitles, manages the fallback to Flash or other playback technologies when HTML5 video isn’t supported, and also provides a consistent JavaScript API for interacting with the video.”

All cool and nice and easy to implement and skin – however there is one tiny missing feature. A share button.

You can probably create your own skin and shit – but I found a quick workaround that makes it look like you added a share button.
I am publishing cuz I did not find many search results that solve this – and there could be a poor or lazy soul looking for this.

You can download the workaround here and take a look at the compressed file containing the code and play the video featuring one of my favorite singers.

Here is a link to the page preview.

Ahla!

Did open source culture become mainstream without us knowing it?

“Openness” is becoming mainstream in culture and policies:
It somehow started with open data initiatives done by international organizations and governments in EU, US, UN, WorldBank, ITU, etc…Then somehow came in “Open Education” in lead universities like Harvard, Yale, Caltech.
Open Education became available through websites like Academic Earth and Khan Academy to name just two and not to mention the “topic specific” learning websites.
Soon enough government and big organizations joined the same spirit of “Open Education” by using a slightly different word: “Open Knowledge”.
Under “Open Knowledge” – research papers, processes, best practices that sat on dusty shelves became available on the internet.

If the “Open source” keep going that way, new grounds are being prepared for open budgets (Netherlands, worldbank is opening up their budgets in what seems to be a first step to start bullying countries to do the same)
Open budget simply sets the ground for open development, which in other terms democratizes economy or attempts to.

This is all hip and cool – but what does it have to do with my tech blog?

I was thinking about “when was the first time we saw openess in design and delivery/implementation/feedback? which industry?”

As hard as I thought – only one answer came to mind: Open source software development…Open source is a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review, transparency of process to create community driven and shareable/free to use and re-use/morph software.

In all the above we see tech as a main component in delivering open data, open knowledge , open budget…Also the same mechanisms, processes and patterns are being re-used but with a different terminology. It is far more than a coincidence if you look at it.

From the looks of it, by connecting the above dots in “openness” history – open-stuff is a spin off of the open source culture/cult – it first started with code, then data (nerdy natural thing to become open) and moved to education/learning (which is what actually open source is about) – now it is being applied to other business and governance processes.

I know i am probably biased and applying my tech perspective to life – but as I seriously ponder again on examples of open design/license/development – i fail to find it in medicine or manufacturing for example… the only other exception I could find is: cooking.
Cooking is the earliest form of “open source” (designing a meal and sharing it via recipes – taking the pride in it)
Who knew our geekness could be a spinoff from mum’s kitchen?
and have we – the open source geeks – started that butterfly effect that might change or at least twist the world and not noticed it?

I was tasked to shortlist and test different types of ICT tools that can be used in governance. Since mobile penetration is really high worldwide – I started investigating SMS polling and survey tools. mobile (85.5%) vs internet (32.35%) – worldwide graphs – ITU
After some research – here is the shortlist I ended up with – I made sure to diversify the tools. I didn’t want to end up with list of stuff that do the same thing but under different logos. Other factors were that those tools had to be robust enough for big implementations… easy to use, open source, can be extended etc. I know that probably there are some amazing software that i skipped – this is a shortlist after all – not an extensive one – so feel free to share in the comments your favorite tool… I could have missed it and if it is awesome, I will re-add it. In each review I will share:

• Background info on the tool, how it started, why, by whom, links to their sites or social media or further readings.
• Where it was used and by whom.
• Ease of use, installing experience, personal feedback.
• Scenario based recommendations – comparaison vs other tools.

I had a discussion with a colleague on the possibilities of using USSD instead/with SMS to run surveys or polls. The main point of interest was that USSD are free – which can lower dramatically the cost of operations/running surveys on large scale.

Here are some excerpts of a little search that may showcase other advantage like speed – share your thoughts and experience!

I am intrigued on “how come something that can be free is not widely implemented yet” or “why are SMS surveys the popular ones?”

The WorldBank did open its treasure chest of data and release it as Open Data and now there is a tumblr you can check for super fancy visualizations *drool*

http://worldbank.tumblr.com/

Here is one of the visualizations that got my attention – it is on Global Human Migration…You know, us lebanese being so proud of our Diaspora – it is good to put a number on it (:

• Full Link for lebanese infographic with lebanon’s filter : http://peoplemov.in/#f_LB
• Original datasets from the 2010 datasets is here

in other words we have 16% Emigration rates

since the vis makes it hard to see the numbers in the top 10 countries – here is one image as a shortcut to save the scrolling