Random Musings

its an amazing figure, isnt it? almost 1 billion illiterate adults in the world - stunning.

this is the problem that cliff schmidt is trying to tackle - getting information and knowledge to the 1 billion illiterate adults living on less than $2/day in developing countries.  i met cliff via our mutual friend, susan wu.  they know each other from apache software foundation work.

cliff and his non-profit, literacy bridge, “are building the Talking Book Device, a low cost audio player and recorder, for children and adults in the developing world. Children and adults will use the device for literacy learning and knowledge sharing.” it will be an affordable, open source device that can be used by illiterate adults to gain access to information immediately.

basic use cases: think of the value of a 2 min audio program on how to treat infant dehydration for an illiterate mother, or medicine dosing instructions, or maybe how to filter water?  the impact would be immediate and immense. and personally, i see this as addressing some major gaps left by one-laptop-per-child (olpc).

one of cliff’s stories hit me like a brick: on one of his trips doing research for this project, one mother who could not read had told him the only time she felt ashamed of being illiterate was when her child was sick.  she could not remember the doctor’s instructions for how to administer the child’s medicine and she could not read the label. if she had a literacy bridge device, she could have recorded the doctor’s instructions for playback.

i believe that cliff is on to something. i believe in his project.  but unfortunately, the economic crisis has hurt non-profits in a major way. donations have essentially stopped - and literacy bridge needs just about $15K to get to their planned device pilot program in ghana this winter. so i am putting my money where my mouth is - its going to be a tough year ahead for all of us, i dont doubt that. but you are online and reading my blog, chances are, you are better off than most.  most in the US and definitely most in the world.

i decided to give a $500 challenge donation to literacy bridge - and their challenge is to raise $5,000 in 2 weeks.  we are now a few days into the challenge and so far only $25 has come in. literacy bridge needs to raise $15K by the end of december or else they cannot pay for the pilot program. i hope this challenge donation helps jump start the fundraising. it would be shame if a project with such great potential never makes it to pilot.  if this kind of application of technology to a social cause catches your interest, i suggest you visit their website and consider donating anything to help literacy bridge reach their $5,000 goal. even $10. its like skipping only 2 starbucks lattes!

remember, 1 billion people is ALOT of people who need information and knowledge.

Koream ran a feature article series on Korean-American web entrepreneurs and does one on soompi!

this week i started watching pushing daisies - the fairy tale forensic mystery series on abc. (quick cap: man has mysterious ability to bring dead people back to life with a touch. but they can only stay alive for 60 seconds or else someone else dies.  if he touches said dead person again, either within the 60 second limit or after, the person dies again for good).

i really started to enjoy the whimsical visuals of the show,  the quirkiness of the characters, and the ridiculously cute wardrobe of the two female characters, chuck and olive. after getting 5 episodes deep in season 1, i did a quick google search of the show to read up a bit on its background. lo and behold, the very week i decide that i am falling for pushing daisies, its cancellation is announced.

so sad. first firefly. now my pushing daisies. tv gods, please dont take away sarah conner chronicles…

but there is a glimmer of hope. as i was digging through the blog posts narrating the show’s demise, i came across this nugget of news.  the produce of the show, bryan fuller, was one of the talents behind the amazing season 1 of heroes.  and now that heroes has lost so much talent with the firing of jesse alexander (who i saw speak at om and liz’s new tee vee live conference) and jeph loeb, the future of the show seems so much more…boring.  this last season hasnt quite caused my heartbeat to race like it did in seasons past. but, EW is reporting that now that pushing daisies is canceled, fuller may return to heroes!

there may be a silver lining in the cloud afterall.

this week I have spoken to two local tv stations about their internet strategy. one station has already made an investment in developing their website - adding video players and bulking up the amount of free content on their site. but my sense is that they have not seen the returns that they wanted. the other station has made less progress and only uses their site as a bulletin board - telling their TV viewers what is coming on and when - i assume they do not get much traffic. both acknowledge that the internet is a medium that they need to focus on, but it seems as if neither has figured out how to do it.

the TV business is very capital intensive and there is no doubt that the web is more capital efficient than TV. but with ad revenue for forecasts for 2009 looking doom and gloom, how are local tv stations going to make ends meet? can they figure out a good way to diversify revenue by adding an online component? and has anyone figured out a way to monetize the local internet market?

every major media network is trying to do an internet play, ala hulu. at the same time, no one has quite figured out how to monetize that traffic (although there are rumors that hulu may be cash flow positive this year). but what does that mean for local stations? for stations that have an affiliate relationship with a nbc or cbs, they may be able to get hand-me downs, like CBS rolling out their hyperlocal ad network to make it easier for local stations to monetize. yet, this says nothing for independent stations.

i know i have raised a number of questions here and have given no answers. so, if you have an answer, let me know! if you have seen good examples of local, independant tv stations making progress in their web properties or presence, please send them my way - i would love to learn more.

Travel memories:

- accidentally spilling water on the NW flight btwn bangkok and tokyo and the flight attendant sees this and gives me 3, count them three, mini napkins to clean up.  when i ask for more, she rolls her eyes.

- the worst tasting veggie airline meals i have ever had. (note to self, never fly northwest airlines. every aspect of the flight was subpar)

Obama-themed memories (all before the election):

- Chao Phraya Express Boat driver asking an american on board if she likes mccain or obama.  she replied obama and he said “me too!”

- at three pagoda pass, burma/thailand border crossing, a coffee shop owner telling us he thinks obama is “a very good man! good man!”

- waiter from dinner on ko samet island asking ted if he would vote for obama even though their skin color is different. ted replied yes. waiter said, “i dont think so” and ted replied, “i already did before i came to thailand.”

- on bangkok to toyko flt, the election results being announced. the plane full of asian passengers bursts out in applause.

Baan Dada memories:

- sleeping in a tent in a bamboo drying hut

- learning that roosters do not crow only once and only at sunrise from the rooster that lived next to the aforementioned bamboo drying hut

- during a sudden really heavy downpour, all the lil kids stripped down to their undies and started to dance in the rain, laughing

- ted eating an orange, hitting seeds and saying “what is this? o yea, fruit has seeds!”

- kamput asking me if i would be back for christmas