With sadness we announce the passing of Prof. V.K. Samaranayake. Dr. Sam, as he liked to call himself, was an illustrious figure in the world of ICT for developement in Sri Lanka. In the brief time he was at Stanford Dr. Sam was an inspiration to his fellow fellows. He was a vissionary, a teacher, and a mentor to an entire nation. Forceful and graceful. He will be missed.

Sri Lanka Daily News Item

The Digital Vision Program would like to send our condolences and all of our thoughts and prayers to his family and friends.

Ken Banks’ organisation, kiwanja.net, in collaboration with Stanford University, has been awarded a $200,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to build on its work with FrontlineSMS. The MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grantmaking institution dedicated to helping groups and individuals foster lasting improvement in the human condition. Read the rest of this entry »

Ken Banks has just returned from a ‘Mobile Activism in Africa’ workshop organised by Fahamu and Tactical Tech, held in Nairobi, Kenya. The purpose of the meeting was to enable activists to exchange experiences and plan strategies to support their work. There are also plans to establish an African regional network of social justice advocates who use mobile technologies, and to facilitate an ongoing support network for these organisations

Following a successful presentation at the W3C Workshop in Bangalore last December, Ken Banks was interviewed about his work with kiwanja.net in Africa for Nokia’s “Emerging Horizons” magazine. “Emerging Horizons” is a quarterly newsletter targeted at anyone interested in new growth markets and reaching the next billion subscriber milestone. It also provides industry insights from different players, including operators, regulators and research companies. A PDF of the interview can be read here.