Growing Interest in Digital Divide

Since I lead an Open Space session on IT and the developing world, at last weeks conference, I have met a few people with interesting thoughts on the matter of helping people less fortunate than one-self, on technology in the developing world, and generally on the difference between worth-while passtimes and just plain passtimes.

Today I was fortunate enough to have lunch with Louise Strøyberg who was atg the above Open Space session after being pointed in my direction by common acquaintance Mygdal-Madsen.

We had a long and interesting talk about GeekCorps, Ghana and life, the universe and everything. Once in a while it's a real relief meeting people that share my idea's and emotions on what is worthwhile and what is definitely not.

At times, telling people that I quit my job to focus as much as possible on working with IT in the developing world, in a private project, gets me some strange stares and incomprehensive grunts, of "Oh!, How Wonderful". It seems, either you have that desire to do things differently, in which case people are genuinely interested, or you don't have that desire, in which case people are stunned.

Sometimes it even gets you responses bordering on aggression, as if, by not subscribing to the general point of view that haveing a 9-to-5 job, and by wanting to sacrifice wealthe for welfare, I have some how transgressed an unseen border. As if there is a silenmt agreement that as long as everyoine accepts the absurdities of our societies we can peacefully ignore them, carry on with our lives and never stop to think if there was a different way.

And then sometimes I meet people like Louise, Ethan or Sebastian (...of wire.less.dk fame), and it brightens up my day.

I may be a freak of conscience, buit at least there's a tribe of us out there...

And if you think you're one of them, toss me an e-mail.