Christian Kreutz, Web 2.0 for Development Blogger, is in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam Now ... Cambodian Education System Changes To OpenSource Software!

I've been following Christian Kreutz's blog, CrissCrossed Blog, which explores social changes through communication and focuses on the impact, potential and challenges of using Web2.0 tools in different cultures around the world.  He is also interested in approaches network learning and highlights knowledge management for development.  (He did some terrific reporting from the Web2.0 Development Conference in Rome last September)

Through following his twitter stream, I discovered he's on the ground now in Southeast Asia and is coming to Cambodia.  So, I'm posting this here on my blog to alert my Cambodian blogger colleagues (whose email I don't have) that Christian is coming to your country.   Ping him over at his blog.

Christian also sent me some links that answer an earlier question I've had, "How Can We Use Cell Phones to Bring Web 2.0 to places without high speed Internet access like Cambodia?"   

I have heard of interesting examples using mobile phones getting RSS feeds from blogs. One example to publish comes from Africa - here and here. There was also a more technical guide but I cannot find it right now.

On another note, I got an email from Javier Solas (interviewed the Linux Chix on his staff last fall) from Open Institute who has been leading the Khmer OS project and building the educational technology plan for Cambodia letting me know of major project milestone: The Cambodian Education System Changes to Open Source Software and KhmerOS

At a massive ceremony that took place on 22 January 2008, the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport presented its new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Textbook for all schools that have computers, all universities and all teacher training facilities.

The new textbook teaches the use of Khmer language Free and Open Source applications, such as OpenOffice, Mekhala (Firefox) and Moyura (Thunderbird), which have been fully translated to Khmer language (Cambodian). It follows eight months of intensive training during which all new upper secondary school ICT teachers, all ICT teachers at upper secondary schools that have computers, and all ICT Master Trainers from teacher training facilities have been trained to teach this type of software, as well as to maintain their computer facilities. The books are distributed together with a letter from the Ministry indicating that from now on this should be the materials to be taught

 

Comments

[Bob Uva]

Beth,

Thanks for pointing to his blog and writing about his trip. There is so much going on with Cambodia (and SE Asian in general) right now! It's so exciting!

[Brian Plunk]

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