Response to Sherryl Broverman's Lecture

In my opinion, Sherryl Broverman's lecture was one of the more interesting lecture this semester. In the beginning, she referred to website called Ushahidi.com, which allows users to call in, text, or email information about a certain area. She illustrated that this is especially useful in African countries that are marked with conflict and violence. With technology such as Ushahidi.com, people can find out which parts of the country are dangerous and which parts they should not travel towards. Another website that Broverman referred to was Kiva.org, which allows people to make loans to people in Africa. I thought this was an interesting concept because usually most organizations are looking for donations rather than loans. This technology allows people to help Africans out without directly donating.
The way Broverman explained her project in Kenya seemed to be multi-faceted in that there are many projects going on at the same time. I thought it was interesting there already existed some "internet cafes" in the slums of Kibera. Broverman explained that she and her team were trying to setup a school for women that would also make use of computers. The greater the availability of information at the hands of the people, the easier it is for them to escape their life of poverty. I was surprised when she explained that an educated population of women has so many beneficial effects onthe country, including the economy.
Another aspect of the project I found interesting was that Broverman said her team was attempting to map out specific information of Muhuru Bay and incorporate on a map of the area. In fact, her team is also trying to rent a satellite to take ultra-high resolution pictures of the area so that they can distinguish the relatively wealthy and impoverished areas of the region. The team is also trying to map out a typical day in the life of a young girl in Muhuru Bay in order to figure out where they spend most of their time and how the team can help out and make everything more efficient. In the end, I think that Broverman's project was interesting in that it combined many pertinent fields, such as politics and economics with virtual reality (for example, the mapping may be done on google earth).