The World Bank - Working for a world free of poverty

Views menu

The intersection of the web and the World Bank.

About us

About us

Inside the Web is a blog exploring the intersection of the web, international development, and the World Bank, written by Bank staff that work on online strategy, editorial, content, governance, and technology.

May 2009

The Reading List: May 29

Submitted by Sameer Vasta on Fri, 05/29/2009 - 13:45

Every Friday, I'm going to try and post a selection of the links from our delicious.com account so you can get a quick snapshot of what we're reading this week. Here goes:
 

  • New Media Across Government
    Macon Phillips, New Media Director at The White House, showcases new media efforts at The White House and across the federal government in a Youtube video.
  • Online magazine tries to be a lab for media future
    A quick look at a company that is looking at storytelling from the web perspective first, instead of thinking of print and textual representations and then adapting them for the web.
  • Google Bets Big on HTML 5: News from Google I/O
    Full adoption of HTML 5 may still be a few years away, but Google is already taking advantage of the elements that are already in practice and betting on the future of HTML 5 as it builds its next generation of products.
  • The New Socialism: Global Collectivist Society Is Coming Online
    The increasingly common habit of sharing what you're thinking (Twitter), what you're reading (StumbleUpon), your finances (Wesabe), your everything (the Web) is becoming a foundation of our culture. Doing it while collaboratively building encyclopedias, news agencies, video archives, and software in groups that span continents, with people you don't know and whose class is irrelevant—that makes political socialism seem like the logical next step. (via)
  • The Ten Ways Twitter Will Permanently Change American Business
    Douglas A. McIntyre argues that the opt-in nature of Twitter messaging will help shape the relationship between business and customer in the years to come.
  • Why 60 Percent of Twitterers Quit
    Adam Sternbergh is convinced that Twitter is nothing but a spam tool. I think Adam's missing the point: if you're getting spammed, you're ,em>choosing to follow the wrong people.
  • The A to Z of New Media
    Mark Drapeau adapts his handout from a Washington, D.C. event called “New & Social Media: Leading the Way.”
  • Google Wave Drips with Ambition
    Google just unveiled Wave, which has the possibility to completely change how we communicate on the web from this day forward.
  • WFP Deliver blog- Twitter and other social media pilots
    The World Food Program Deliver project talks about their new internal twitter-like tool. (via)

 

Have any links you want to share with us? Add them to your delicious.com account and tag them for:extweb.

Open data: is it really worth it?

Submitted by Sameer Vasta on Wed, 05/27/2009 - 18:33

The launch of Data.gov last week brought back a slew of discussions on open data and the importance of opening up access to data for it to be used in new ways on the web.

One of the conversations that I haven't heard often, however, is about the true value of open data. I was talking to a friend of mine and we asked the question:

If people aren't using the data that's being opened up, is it worth putting the time, money, and resources into opening it up in the first place?

The easy is answer is yes, it is worth it, and I'd agree with that answer in most cases for the sake of organizational transparency and future value for the data. But another question remains: for organizations that don't necessarily have the in-house skills to work on formatting and releasing structured data, what's the incentive in exhausting resources they don't always have in releasing data that may never be used?

While we all consider the Apps for Democracy project a pretty big success, it's worth noting that only a small percentage of the data sets that were released were actually used in creating all the application submissions. What about all the data that hasn't been used? Should it continue to be updated and maintained?

Data storage - old and new by Ian-S on Flickr

They may not seem like the most pressing questions right now, but as we're trying to encourage developers to use the World Bank API in new and innovative ways right now, they are questions that need to be asked.

Again, I'd argue that opening up all types of data, despite use or underuse, is important at its most basic for the sake of organizational transparency. What data creators need to do, however, is work closely with the data users to find out what kind of data they need and want, and what kind of support they need to use the data in exciting ways.

Of course, that's just what I think. Do you see value in releasing structured data? How can we encourage better use of the data that has already been released?

Loooking forward to your input.

(Photo by Ian-S', from Flickr.)

The Reading List: May 22

Submitted by Sameer Vasta on Sat, 05/23/2009 - 15:26

Apologies for the lack of posts this week: I've been at the O'Reilly Where 2.0 Conference learning more about the geo-spatial web. Lots of neat things coming out of the conference, and I'll be posting more about them in the days to come, promise. In the meantime...

Every Friday — well, Saturday this week — I'm going to try and post a selection of the links from our delicious.com account so you can get a quick snapshot of what we're reading this week. Here goes:
 

  • Scribd and Google Infest the Modern Sewer
    Simon J R Holmes argues that book reading tools from Scribd and Google are eroding copyright.
  • How to break the corporate brick wall against social media
    Simple and concise advice on tactics on how to introduce social media. (via)
  • How Executives Should be Using Social Media
    Some great resources for executives trying to make sense of all the talk about social media, or for those that want to be able to talk to their executives about the importance of collaboration on the web. (via)
  • Second-wave adopters are coming. Are you prepared?
    The general theme is that in the near future we will see more companies starting Enterprise 2.0 projects to increase productivity, reduce cost, improve client relations. While we have seen some early success stories, companies will need to think hard about ways to attract second-wave adopters. (via)
  • Having vs using Enterprise 2.0 software
    Businesses (or vendors) who say “We have a wiki; we have a blog; we’re an Enterprise 2.0 company” remind me businesses in 1995 who said “We have a web page; we’re an internet company”. (via)
  • The brave new world of slacktivism
    “Slacktivism” is an apt term to describe the feel-good online activism that has zero political or social impact. It gives those who participate in “slacktivist” campaigns an illusion of having a meaningful impact on the world without demanding anything more than joining a Facebook group. (via)
  • Online social networking isn't for everyone
    "When we build these systems, we need to build them for everyone. Not just the coolest and most technophilic. We have to build for who our audience really is, not who we wish they would be."
  • My two-line social media policy
    In theory, this is wonderful. But when it comes to HR and protecting people's jobs, you need policy that's more robust that simply two lines.
  • apophenia: answers to questions from Twitter on teen practices
    danah boyd, a premier researcher on the use of social media by young people, shares answers to some of the questions she has been asked on Twitter.
  • The Wisdom of Community
    Derek Powazek talks about what an online (and offline?) community needs to have in order for it to be wise and productive.
  • What kind of open are you looking for?
    We talk a lot about organizations being "open" but do we ever question what we mean by open? Seth Godin breaks it down pretty nicely.

 

Have any links you want to share with us? Add them to your delicious.com account and tag them for:extweb.

The Reading List: May 15

Submitted by Sameer Vasta on Fri, 05/15/2009 - 08:19

Every Friday, I'm going to try and post a selection of the links from our delicious.com account so you can get a quick snapshot of what we're reading this week. Here goes:
 

  • A development 2.0 manifesto
    Giulio Quaggiotto takes a stab at creating a set of principles for the application of web 2.0 principles to the development sector. An excellent first attempt.
  • People don't trust company blogs. What you should do about it.
    Josh Bernoff talks about corporate blogs and how the public doesn't trust them. While I think his analysis is over simplistic and lacks nuance, it's a good message to remember before thinking that a blog will solve all your communications problems.
  • Times Wire - The New York Times
    The New York Times is experimenting with Times Wire, a constantly updating stream of news in a similar vein to Friendfeed or Twitter.
  • How-To: Search the Social Web - Ultimate Toolkit
    The social web is growing rapidly, and we all need links to help navigate the information overload. (via)
  • Just Landed - 36 Hours
    A remarkable visualization of the travel patterns of Twitter users based on the search query "just landed" on Twitter. Interesting stuff as we explore new kinds of data (and implicit data) visualization.
  • Fortune 500 blogging study
    A recent study found that eighty-one (16%) of the 2008 Fortune 500 have a public-facing corporate blog -- and the numbers get bigger as you dig deeper. (via)
  • 12 Rules For Bringing 'Social' To Your Business
    Incorporating social aspects to an organization doesn't simply involve starting a Twitter account. Here's a good look at some of the steps to be taken to engage in the social space. (via)
  • Official Google Blog: More Search Options
    Google just released more search options including time-based search results and search results by multimedia type. Can Google harness real time search next?
  • Twitter Culture Wars at 'The Times'
    Reporters from the New York Times are tweeting about private internal meetings. What does this mean for the culture of communications in the organization?

 

Have any links you want to share with us? Add them to your delicious.com account and tag them for:extweb.

Mobile adoption in Africa and rethinking the mobile web experience

Submitted by Sameer Vasta on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 16:13

Amir pointed me towards this great presentation by Christian Kreutz that shared some thoughts on mobile activism in Africa. A few facts from the presentation that jumped out at me:

  • 99% of Tanzanians are in direct reach of a mobile phone.
  • The highest traffic to the BBC mobile websites comes from Africa.

 
You can see the whole presentation here:

 

We've all known that mobile adoption in Africa and other parts of the developing world has been growing at a remarkable pace, but what to do with that information? How are we changing the way we engage with our stakeholders (development practitioners, civil society organizations, parliamentarians, project beneficiaries, etc.) knowing that many of them are using mobile interfaces?

More importantly, where do we draw the line between the traditional corporate website and the mobile interface? Is there a line to be drawn, or is it blurring constantly to the point where the traditional site is actually part of the mobile experience? Are any organizations doing this well already?

A few questions that I've been playing with here. If you have any insight, let me know. Thanks!

The Reading List: May 8

Submitted by Sameer Vasta on Fri, 05/08/2009 - 08:09

Every day, there are a ton of really great articles and posts on the web that pique our interest here at the Web Program Office. We've decided to start a delicious.com account to keep a track of a few of them that we'd like to share.

Every Friday, I'm going to try and post a selection of the links from our delicious.com account so you can get a quick snapshot of what we're reading this week. Here goes:

 

 

Have any links you want to share with us? Add them to your delicious.com account and tag them for:extweb.

Delivering content to the developing world

Submitted by Sameer Vasta on Mon, 05/04/2009 - 13:47

IT training for kids who live in the surrounding farm areas of Stutterheim outside East London in the Eastern Cape. South Africa. Photo: Trevor Samson / World Bank Blog reader Vickesh, after reading my last post about the choice between different video communities on the web, pointed me in the direction of a recent article in the New York Times about the difficulties of providing web services to developing countries and still making a profit.

Of particular interest? The decision by Veoh to stop offering video to users in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe because of high bandwidth costs:

"I believe in free, open communications, but these people are so hungry for this content. They sit and they watch and watch and watch. The problem is they are eating up bandwidth, and it’s very difficult to derive revenue from it." -Veoh Chief Executive Dmitry Shapiro

Read the full article for a lot more examples from other services — Joost, Facebook, Youtube, etc — that weigh in on both sides of this discussion.

As someone that thinks about online strategy here at a global organization like the World Bank, this discussion is particularly important to me. One question that I keep asking myself: how we can provide content and engage in conversation that is happening across the web while also being accessible to a diverse international audience?

The fact that our global economic reality can make it hard for content communities like Veoh to deliver accessible content in certain parts of the world wasn't always a consideration in my answers to that question, but now I guess it should be.

(Photo by Trevor Samson, from the World Bank Flickr account.)