Powerful Partnerships - Sarvodaya + Microsoft

" Since Microsoft-Sri Lanka inception in 2003, Sarvodaya had been a powerful partner, and we are looking for a greater future ahead "
Mr.Sriyan De Silva Wijeratne, Country Manager, Microsoft Sri Lanka.

Sarvodaya was one of the entities appreciated at the “Microsoft Annual Partner Conference  and Awards Night 2011” aptly titled “ Powerful Partnerships” on Sep 13, 2011 held at Hotel Galadari.

Microsoft’s philosophy stems from Microsoft Corporation Chairman Bill Gates’ desire to see as many people as possible have access to software across the world. We see this as a responsibility, stemming from that philosophy. As a result, when a need is there, Microsoft will stand behind that need. Our focus is very widely spread.

Mr.Sriyan calls this “ creative capitalism”. Taking the ICT benefits to rural Sri Lanka is Microsoft’s aspiration, and Sarvodaya-Fusion had been with them from its’ inception in 2003. He links this to Sri Lanka’s climb in global competitive index from 79 to 52 in 2 years. http://gcr.weforum.org/gcr2011/

Yet technology readiness is an issue. That’s where ‘knowledge creation’ is important. Microsoft plans to do this in coming years with indepth relationships with their partners in private, NGO, and public sector.

I wish them all the best for an active role for a visionary Sri Lanka.

P.S: I dedicate this ‘Fusion Education’ video to Microsoft for their whole heartedness in supporting rural IT education in Sri Lanka.

Why should I be on Twitter?

Research team headed by Prof. Athula Ginige from University of Western Sydney, interacting with community at Udubaddawa Nenasala (telecentre) and Sarvodaya-Fusion team

Last week of August, as I explained, had been a week of interaction and reflection on mobile for development. From meetings, seminars, events to field visits, in every instance, they fueled my imagination for a future with great possibilities.
I love meeting people from different walks of life, and I ask questions on their usage of mobile phones, internet and of course social media. Here I note Q&A from 3 youth I met.

Meet X, a 20 year old editor of an upcoming teen magazine on education and entertainment. She's studying IT at a leading private institute and excited about possibilities of 'android' and smart devices.

Q: Are you on Twitter?
A: No, it's confusing !

I promised to do a guest post on Twitter, for their upcoming edition.

Meet Y, a 18 year old, from a remote village in Kurunegala, aspires a career in bio technology, awaiting his A/L exams next year. He uses 2 mobile phones - one for internet browsing and one for voice/text, totaling 4 mobiles and 1 fixed line in his household of 4 (father, mother, younger sister and him). Not only the team of local and foreign professors, I too was in for a surprise.

Q: Do you use Twitter?
A: Yes, I use it to share my knowledge on technology. Also I follow 'Ada Derana' and registered my mobile number in Twitter. So I get SMS on news alerts for free on my mobile.

Q: How do you manage time on social media?
A: I manage my time consciously. I get good knowledge from wikipedia on my Science studies. As I face A/L exams next year, I have cut down my interaction on social media for a minimal.

I was very happy, to see this mark of responsibility and innovation from a student of 'Fusion Education'.

Meet Z, age 30, an artist making wood handicrafts at a remote village in Kandy.

Q: How can smart phones help you?
A: I know Fusion provided a smartphone to our Sarvodaya society, and our kids are using it for their education. I know the potential and benefit of using internet, facebook and other media. Also I know it is now much more easier to get on line with smart phones. But here's the problem. I know I can input my products and contact details on web. I am very busy, working and selling my craft to make a living. I have no time to be on internet. And even if I do, how do I know if I would ever get a response to my requests? If I get a quick response, I would definitely use it.

In the coming weeks, Sarvodaya-Fusion and a team of researchers will explore the possibilities on how internet/smartphones can cater for such focused requests and quick feedback. May be tweaking of existing social media or an fresh idea for a app (mobile application).

What do you think?
Please share your comments here to spark some imagination.

September - Line up

Last week of August, saw me dashing around meetings, field visits, presentations and networking events. Refresh Colombo on 25th, TweetupSL on 27th, field visit to Udubaddawa and Maharathenna on 29th, a mobile for development workshop on 30th, a presentation at World Bank and finally ICTer conference.

3 words to distill the packed week would be : mobile, mobile, mobile.

Why?

1. Hype created by media, research and seminars
2. Most importantly rural communities are embracing the potential of mobile phones for their development.

I'll write a series of blogs in September around this mobile thing, capturing my direct experience.
So how would it affect us?

2 good questions to ask yourself at this moment would be,

1. Mobile .. for what?
2. Ok....so what?

Stay tuned for September.

TweetupSL 2 - Yin Yang today !

pic credit: blog.gremln.com

 Small actions create big change. In the last decade social networking revolutionized the way people communicate online. On twitter, each second 600 tweets and 'tweeted'. It's an exponential growth.

Think of it. If we make use of these expanding communications and collaborations, imagine the difference we can make in our communities.

Most do not get what twitter is. Even some die hard social networkers I meet, have doubts on it. I also had doubts. I joined twitter in April 2009, and played around a little and disappeared for one year, until I realized its' potential. (see my moment of truth here)

I am a firm believer of Yin Yang.

It's a Chinese symbol synonymous with Kung fu which describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world.

In short, I believe in Offline and Online - Yin Yang.

It's true that lot of stuff is happening online. Yet offline face 2 face interaction is priceless.

80% of the followers / following in my profile @isura are online friends. I have not met them face 2 face. Today I have the chance to meet them. TweetupSL second edition is happening today at Dialog World at 5 PM.

The hype and the expectation of meeting 300 odd tweeps in Sri Lanka is creating frenzy on time lines of Sri Lankan tweeps. Last evening they were all online, trending #tweetupSL. I am sure they' ll be up today for some kick ass action.

Folks.....It's time to blend. Very much looking forward. !


Related Articles:

TweetupSL official site: http://www.tweetupsl.org/app/


Indi on first Edition on 26th Aug 2010:  http://indi.ca/2010/08/twitter-meetup-today-tweetupsl/

Amisampath on First edition: http://www.amisampath.com/2010/08/tweetupsl-first-ever-public-tweetup-in.html

Gihangamos video on first edition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ikHJ6jp6IYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ikHJ6jp6IY

Daily Mirror article on second edition; http://print.dailymirror.lk/life/132-life/54115.htmlhttp://print.dailymirror.lk/life/132-life/54115.html

Mission of my blog

 Photo Credit: John Lund /Digital vision/Getty Images

This is a very valid question. This was asked by many readers. Though there are only few comments on the blog, thanks to social media, emails and my increased face-to-face interactions lately, I was able to get first hand feedback on my writing and stuff.

FYI- This blog was started in January 2010, with this purpose: To tune my mind to live a meaningful life, each day, one step at a time. So they were just random posts on stuff that made meaning to my life.

Then with some encouragement from peer bloggers, I thought of writing as a routine. Like say, 2 times a week. Then it hit on me, that the more you write, the more focused you get on what is important to you. And while I was thinking on stuff that is important to me, I 've got comments from readers, which was a quite happy feeling. Incidentally  what readers want and what I wanted to write, was kind of the same. Then I re-read my own post on making a mission statement for life. And here I am tweaking the mission of my blog, right in-front of you all :)

Like many of the readers told me, I should write more on what I do at work - e-Empowerment of communities, and how ICT is accelerating the growth potential for social entrepreneurs. Yeah, it makes sense. This is my bread and butter, and it will come from the bottom of my heart, and yes, it will be tossed with happiness tips and fried with practical action suggestions. That creates my new menu at isura.biz !

Happiness tips for [ social entrepreneurs ] , [ building communities ] & [ ICT ]

A stupid question

Section of the Mech Engineering students at the "Social/community projects" lecture

Last week, on 10th August 2011, I presented Sarvodaya-Fusion's social enterprise work to second year students from Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Moratuwa. Dr.Vinya Ariyaratne, General Secretary, Sarvodaya, gave overall view of Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya. Suchith Abeywikrama & Manoj Silva presented on projects in 5R  (Relief, Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Reconciliation and Reawakening) and disaster management respectively.

This was part of a lecture on the latest module "Social/ Community projects".

Purpose of the orientation is to ‘recognize diverse needs of the society and fulfilling social responsibilities as engineers’ 

Needless to say, I am so happy to see this. I believe this will break the monotony of semester rat race of exams & assignments. As a person been through it all, I am so excited to be a part of this new wave.


Here is my presentation.  This is with few tweaks from the presentation I did for M.Sc students at University of Colombo a month back.
Overall, I am getting valuable feedback. Connecting with young minds is always refreshing.

Sarvodaya-Fusion at University of Moratuwa

View more presentations from isura silva

I started my presentation by sharing this story.

" Exactly 10 years back when I was in first year at the mechanical lab down there, we were given an orientation to the lab. We had this very curious friend, who would ask many many questions from the instructor. That instructor was very compassionate and answered every question my friend asked. My friend was obsessed with the 'power in' of every equipment he saw. So he was checking for 'power in' of every unit he laid his eyes on. Then he hit the bull's eye. He couldn't find power in at one equipment. He asked the instructor, again. Instructor was now having a faint smile in his face.

He replied " Ah.. malli (brother), this is a unit where you don't get power in, it only gives power out. This is a generator !"

We used to kid our friend on this for a long time, but his insatiable urge to query never stopped. That's why he's now doing well as an Electrical Engineer outside Sri Lanka!

[ There is no stupid question. Every question has its' unique context and purpose. ]

In my presentation, not surprisingly, students asked only 3 questions. This was the case from our times too (I studied at this same uni from 2001 to 2004). We were afraid to ask questions, fearing humiliation.

Well, this coming week, it will be my turn to ask stupid questions. 16 groups of 3 students each, will pitch their  ‘problem definition’ in pursuit of making their idea to see day light as a social/community project.

Why I should ask stupid questions? I need to know exactly what they mean by the words they say, and to assess if what they say is realistic to kick of a project. This is kinda BBC's Dragon's Den (a series in which budding entrepreneurs get three minutes to pitch their business ideas to five multi-millionaires willing to invest their own cash). Love it !

5 reasons for why you should be at 'Refresh Colombo'

It's been 9 months since I've been exposed to Refresh Colombo. I presented Sarvodaya-Fusion's work at December 2010 meet up (presentation here).
Many thanks to Gihan for introducing me to Aloka, Nazly, Milad, and Milinda who were behind the scenes of Refresh Colombo from its' inception, and for capturing me on video.

Here are 5 reasons why you also should be there.

1. To connect

It's exciting to connect with youth, the buzzing geek energy a.k.a Generation Y. So simply showing up at the meet up is a good starting point. You may not get it at first, but do stay on. It's refreshing to bump in to happy new faces once a month.

2. To connect, virtually

Once I connect face2face, I keep in touch with them on twitter. It gives me access to their timelines, and vice versa, until I meet them offline again in next meet up. I learn a lot on twitter. Trust me on this.

3. To learn and to be open

I've learnt atleast twenty new trends by listening to some awesome presentations, which are very interactive. I like the Q & A setup. It's an open forum. Each of us knows little, but if you are open about it, you'll learn more. It gets better each month.

4. To be happy

I go there to be happy about the future of this country. So many talents of youth in Sri Lanka go unnoticed, because they don't get a platform. Search for talent is a global war. So they migrate. I don't blame them.
To see Sri Lankan youth pitch it out there and get whacked by an energetic audience is a sight worth a million.

5. It's growing

I missed the last (July) meet up. It was the biggest so far with 120 + on board. I did my pitch in December for a mere 30. Though I missed the latest party, I studied the whole session, thanks to some bloggers who took time to share what they saw.

Indi said,

Why I’m so happy is that groups like Refresh Colombo are growing and that there are kids on Kottu and all over who are interested in Linux or Android or obscure databases and bits of javascript. That’s cool. That’s how it should be. I pray that kids in the north and east will get the same chance. 

 Chamindra notes,

To sum up, the whole meet up was a success and the 120 odd people who came to the meet up got some valuable knowledge on all the topics that were discussed during the evening. Personally, I was really happy that I made it this time and meeting up with all those tweeps was simply great. I wish the team at Refresh Colombo all the very best for the future and hope they will grow from strength to strength to enable awesome talents of Sri Lanka to share their knowledge with their peers and help Sri Lanka to glow at the world stage.

What do you think? Is there any more reasons to why we all should be at Refresh? Do drop a comment here.

---------
Here are 4 related links to dig more in to July meet up.

Indi's blog: http://indi.ca/2011/07/refresh-colombo-refreshing/

Chamindra's blog: http://chamindrah.wordpress.com/2011/07/31/review-refresh-colombo-july-meetup-2011/

Ada Derana report on the July meet up : http://adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=14304

Malinthe's photo assignment for July meet up is here.
(Picture credit for all pictures appearing in this blog except for Refresh Colombo logo is attributed to Malinthe)

Cups of energy

I was walking down an aisle of a big supermarket. This was after a draining day at work and some 20 kilometers of traffic. Mind was urging the comfort of a peaceful place to unwind. I was itching to get back home soon.

Then these cups took my attention. They filled me with energy. It helped me to focus and inspired me to review my day. The effect was wonderful. Energy can come from very unlikely places. Hope these cups will fill your day too :)

TEAM = Together Everyone Achieves More
We can't spell SUCCESS with out U

If you are failing to plan, you are planning to fail.
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams
Success is 10% inspiration, 90% last minute changes

Coming together is a beginning, beginning together is progress, progressing together is success
A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd

127 HOURS

There are enough spoilers on web, that would kill your excitement of watching "127 hours."
So I will not explain the story line, would rather share the trailer and a role play to entice you to see " 127 hours."



A and B are 2 friends. A had watched the movie, and he shares it with B. Here it goes.

(Role play starts)

A: You should watch it. It's directed by Danny Boyle.
B: Who?
A: You know that guy who made " slum dog millionaire?
B: No
A: That Same guy made 127 hours
B: Oh...should be good then.
A: It's awesome
B: Filmed in India?
A: No, this is filmed in Utah, in the beautiful wilderness of Blue John Canyon in USA.
B: I heard this is about a guy who got stuck in a boulder...
A: True, just watch it man...BTW, the music is done by A.R.Rahman, He's rocking.
B: Really ? !
A: Yes, and he has done a duet with Dido, which is a treat.



B: Ok, I'll watch it.
A: Sure, and don't read the story before seeing the movie, FYI, It's a true story, published in Readers Digest.

B: Is this film that special?

A: Yeah, you know why? It changed my perspective of life. It showed me that life is most precious, when we are stuck in a deep abyss.
It showed me when in deep trouble, to look at all the available resources and " just think" !
B: Ok, I ll see it.
A: Super, do let me know, what you feel, after watching it. May be comment here, twitter, FB, G+ where ever, just spread the message.

(Role play ends)

P.S: If anybody is interested, I have a good copy to share.

Thanks Udara for sharing a worthy movie, and Thameera for the story lead on Readers Digest.

Rumours

The old story:

Once a father took his son and donkey on a trip. They started all on foot. Seeing this, a guy said "What a waste of resource." Hearing this, father put his son on donkey.

Then a woman came " What a shame, a son rides in comfort, while the father's on foot."
Now father got on to donkey, son stepped down.

Down the road, seeing this, an elder said " What's wrong with this world? A father letting his son walk!"
Exasperated, both the father and son got on top of donkey, and they continued, until they heard this.
"Oh my, how unkind humans can be? Look at this poor creature."

Ashamed, both father and son got down, back to where they started.

Morale #1 : There's no morale !


Extension to old story:
Father and son went back to their village after the trip. They found almost everybody talking about them. Lot of them bugged father and his son, individually.

It was getting acute. Son started hating his father. Father ended up in guilt.


Morale #2: Rumours spread fast. Best to ignore them. BUT make sure the team have a common message to deliver. Eg: Father and son should have talked over the incident and agreed on one message. When both of them give the same message, rumours run dry, with no drama.

Precaution: You should talk to donkey too. You may never know when donkey starts talking!

Wisdom: Plan your trip in advance. Know where you are going. Be mindful of the journey. Anticipate bumps. Complete the trip and review. Communicate one message.