Posts Tagged ‘Social Capital’

GLIDE10: Maria Rogal/Indigenous Design in Maya

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In the US we take a lot for-granted when in comes to access to technology that’s not universally available. For example my friends that teach at University of Federal in  Bahia use PCs over Macs due to cost of hardware.

Discusses her project of working the Mayan indigenous culture to expand there communities to be self-sustaining. This was a collaborative project Maria shares her experiences. Check out  www.design4development.org &www.mariarogal.com.

Technology: (referring to people in rural areas): Mobile phones usage is cheaply available; Families with teenagers own computers, however Internet access is rare due to cost some in rural area use satellite. Text messages are much cheaper; Age distinction with use of computers viewed as a tool for younger people.

Online banking transactions: Online bill paying is not totally embraced by all the people; Trust is a big factor in dealing with banks, ATMS etc.

Open Source resources: People have computers but no money for software; Identify access to free shareware such as google sketch-up.

Design Activist: deeply socially oreientated, involoving a variety of actors in the chain of events.

Working together Maria feels it’s important to use the term partners.

AK Kuxtal Workshop: Access to information is key to expanding knowledge in making products.

Ability to get students to work using unfamiliar technology and new ways of thinking about how to develop their products.

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10 2010