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Kampuchea Crossings

Bump to baby on the beaten expat track

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ifttt: such a simple app, so useful

5 February 2012 by Nathalie Abejero Leave a Comment

Some privacy concerns I have with it are mentioned at the bottom of this post, but for the most part I’ve found ifttt to be a very handy web app. It solved one of the problems Google created when they revamped Reader several months ago.

Like many users, I was very unhappy with the Google Reader changes. I subscribe to hundreds of columns, blogs and alerts via RSS, then scan the headlines in GR for items I want to read in full. GR allowed me to mark articles I found interesting (from my RSS feeds or from anywhere on the web) and post it to my feed/page with just one click. Also through the GR interface I was able to share and see/comment on (or vice versa) items that friends marked interesting in their feeds, so I got exposed to a range of interest areas.

But after carefully building up this content chugging service and community – which was different from my twitter, facebook or bookmarking networks – Google killed it without notice!, presumably to force users into sharing on their G+ platform.

There are probably myriad ways to recreate the above setup. Unfortunately most are beyond my tech-unsavvy abilities, especially since the baby allows me much less time these days to tinker on the web. I still miss those lost GR functionalities though (sharing articles with friends and having an RSS feed for the posts I found interesting), so this weekend I dedicated some time to investigate options.

On the first problem I simply lost that network and slowly had to migrate back to Twitter – not ideal since now my attention is divided between two services instead of GR being my one go-to platform for consuming media. On the second problem I now use Tumblr to get an RSS feed of my collection of posts; there’s a “Send To” feature from GR which sends articles to Tumblr. But some mobile devices don’t allow this.

Enter the handy tool ifttt.com. So simple it’s incredibly useful. It allows you to write macros across different web apps in this format: If This Then That. Given certain triggers on your specified channels, a set of actions can be activated by ifttt on other channel(s). In my case, when I mark an article interesting (eg star it in Google Reader), ifttt grabs that article and posts it to my Tumbler. There are hundreds of formulas, with many pre-made on the site. It’s a great tool, and I’m playing with it a lot right now.

  • If there’s snow in the forecast, send a text to my phone.
  • If someone tags me in a Facebook photo, call me plus download that photo to a dropbox file (helps you track and keep your image clean)
  • If I favorite a tweet, send it to Evernote.
  • Apartment Therapy illustrates how ifttt can help jobseekers scour jobs sites for relevant posts.

Note on privacy concerns, though: I don’t know how much data ifttt can mine when it’s allowed access to, say, your Google and Tumblr accounts. Plus, the more channels you give ifttt access to, the better you’re centralizing a data trove of your life!

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: evernote, facebook, Google, Google Reader, ifttt, job sites, twitter

crisis innovations

10 March 2010 by Nathalie Abejero Leave a Comment

One of the frustrations of working on a development project with a focus on policy work is that the impact on very urgent needs is years away. There is certainly value to shaping the legal environment to pave the way for changes to set roots. But as I mentioned in an earlier post about why I use twitter, I’m interested in how social issues are tackled now, across different continents.

So check out the practical ideas borne out of  crises around the world. One of them hit the NY Times lately, Africa’s Gift to Silicon Valley: How to Track a Crisis.

@Ushahidi suggests a new paradigm in humanitarian work. The old paradigm was one-to-many: foreign journalists and aid workers jet in, report on a calamity and dispense aid with whatever data they have. The new paradigm is many-to-many-to-many: victims supply on-the-ground data; a self-organizing mob of global volunteers translates text messages and helps to orchestrate relief; journalists and aid workers use the data to target the response.

Ushahidi also represents a new frontier of innovation. Silicon Valley has been the reigning paradigm of innovation, with its universities, financiers, mentors, immigrants and robust patents. Ushahidi comes from another world, in which entrepreneurship is born of hardship and innovators focus on doing more with less, rather than on selling you new and improved stuff.

Because Ushahidi originated in crisis, no one tried to patent and monopolize it. Because Kenya is poor, with computers out of reach for many, Ushahidi made its system work on cellphones. Because Ushahidi had no venture-capital backing, it used open-source software and was thus free to let others remix its tool for new projects.

This and other platforms eg @frontlinesms are available to help villagers self-organise so that resources can be targeted to meet their needs. It has great potential for maternal and child health problems, and for access to health care issues.

It’s time to bounce ideas around..

Filed Under: Work Tagged With: africa, aid, crisis, development, technology, twitter

#FollowFriday

24 September 2009 by Nathalie Abejero 1 Comment

Extended isolation is wretched dull. Boundless gems brewing in the Kingdom notwithstanding, there’s nothing like the left-thinking stimulation from people who are so totally different than you’re daily engaging with. I love the witty babble and people who facilitate mental bridges. That said, here are some streams with a lot of smarts, a dash of personality, and a little bit of sassy.

Must-follow for their critical views:

@pdenlinger China, China-US, Asia-West business and politics

@kawdess @elizrael @jerusalembureau @3arabawy @asteris @alexlobov  Mid-East and North Africa

@AriCostello @atomiota (@kevindoylejones #socap/#socent) (@kiwanja @tmsruge #socap/#socent in Africa) Investing

@teresakopec @yatpundit @davidbadash @scobleizer (also see his follow list)  US happenings (stateside perspectives)

@jayrosen_nyu @fuzheado  journalism, media matters

@sagarikaghose @sardesairajdeep @gregorylent  India and Asia life and politics

For their expertise / interest areas:

@meryl333 Consumer advocacy in the US; grassroots health, safe food and farming initiatives

@fridley  IT and social networks, and news on Japan and Australia — see his very cool-designed blog and #FollowFriday recommendations

@marabg a connector– a warm, generous, big-hearted people-person

@imrananwar  news on Pakistan, Afghanistan

@tri26 @terryfrd @saksith @ktiu on the escalating troubles of Thailand [Read more…] about #FollowFriday

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: followfriday, twitter

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Those little feet pitter-pattering about rule our lives lately. But on the occasional free moment I get to tap out scatterbrained bursts of consciousness about raising toddlers in Cambodia, traveling with them and working abroad. These posts are my personal updates to friends and family. But since you’re here, have a look around. Thanks for stopping by…

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