Roadrunner in Each of Us

It must have been spring of 2007 when I saw the incoming chat on my skype window: Dilip saying hello. A quick call – he’s in the US traveling around. Somewhere near New Orleans if memory serves. He asks me about my own travels and we disconnect pretty soon thereafter. The details of his adventures I would happily follow on his blog as I had since we first met online for a podcast interview some years before.

Photo by DilipDilip’s blog first caught my attention for both its style and its subject matter. Reading his words I recognized the thoughts of someone who could look critically and creatively at his own home country of India. He would also use this way of comparing specific regions or stretches of road in India, to places he had seen himself or heard about from traveling friends. Even beyond the critical analysis and the historical references, these were the words of a born traveler.

Over the course of 2010 I traveled with his book in my backpack. Through Siberia and Mongolia, hanging out in Vienna or Lisbon, on those sleepless nights in Tokyo, and when Kabul would go almost completely dark, I would slowly read and re-read chapters from Roadrunner.

I say slowly because having been raised on computers and the internet, I take forever to consume a book. But I say read and re-read because each chapter in Roadrunner is itself a story. One that I might tell a friend over dinner, or try to re-create on my next trip back to the US.

Roadrunner, by Dilip D'SouzaJust like the writing style that I’ve long enjoyed on his blog, in his book Dilip combines stories from traveling in the US with stories from India. Two lands that on the surface are often said to be very different, but looking at it through his eyes, there is no shortage of similarities. And just as one can point out the social-political problems in India and the US, Dilip also constantly describes beauty that both places share.

Being that my own specialty and passion revolves around human stories, Roadrunner had my undivided attention with each unique individual Dilip would run into as he rambled into yet another forgotten American town. Good and bad experiences alike, his words taught me new things about the very country I was born and raised in, while also showing me things about a land I greatly admire and wish to visit one day soon – India.

When all is said and done, in Roadrunner, the never idle traveler in me immediately recognized the wandering words of another fellow traveler; tired, full of stories, and already thinking about the next adventure.

ctrp361 Flattering the Internets

Berlin, last day of 2010It wouldn’t be the proper start to a new year if there weren’t a podcast featuring Tim Pritlove on citizenreporter.org.  Recording from Berlin on the last night of 2010, Tim and I sit back and dig into the issue of supporting content you appreciate and want to see continue.  More specifically we explain what Flattr is.  This little button that appears more and more throughout the internet and gives people the option to “flattr” content that they enjoy. What is it? How does it work? And why is this a growing service in some parts of the world?

Whether you produce content for the internet, or you enjoy things people are doing on the internet, I highly recommend listening. Plus, I believe Tim is one guest you’ll truly enjoy.

Inspiration from Berlin

5 years of being involved with the Chaos Communication Congress here in Berlin, and one thing that never changes, yet always surprises me, is the tremendous boost this entire event gives me.  The inspiration to move forward in an exciting way, the ideas to try something new, the encouragement that I am on the right track; this magical hacker community has very much become like a family.

It is a family that only gets together once or twice per year, but it is a family that makes sure that meeting is an unforgettable one. A mix of faces and names that I don’t always know, yet it never takes long for me to understand and learn from them. They thank me for bringing them some bit of wisdom or information, yet it is I that am thanking them in my own mind throughout this experience.

The city of Berlin is very special to me, for in the time I have come to know what my mission is in this life, this city was the backdrop for some of the most pivotal moments.  This city, my friends who live in it, and the friends who arrive around this time each year, perhaps without even ever having intended it, have helped shape my unconventional approach to work, travel, and beyond.

For that, as I’ve said so many times before, I salute all my good friends from this congress and from past congresses. I also look forward to many more with you!

The Wall of Light

Watch Me Live @27c3

Photo by zhenech on flickr

Greetings from a very snow covered Berlin, Germany.  Tomorrow, Tuesday the 28th of December, I’ll be giving a talk here at the world’s most infamous hacker congress, the 27C3. It is my fifth talk in five years and I’m excited to have had a run this long. I’m especially pleased to be talking about a topic that is so often on my mind, my experience working in Afghanistan. Specifically my talk is entitled: Adventures in Mapping Afghanistan Elections, The story of 3 Ushahidi mapping and reporting projects.

The talk will take place in Hall 2 and of course I expect most of you reading this are not here in Berlin.. therefore click on this link to find live streams of the talk. It starts at 21h45 CET, thats 3:45PM EST, 12:45PM PST, 00h15 in Kabul. (not that streaming is much of an option there)

Two Years Ago This Week

It is the anniversary, though I don’t need an anniversary to remind me of someone who’s energy, wisdom, and spirit, I carry with me everyday. 2 years ago I wrote this text, and I re-post it because it never stops being true:

When I was a child, he would come over to the US and take family vacations with us.
I would listen to his stories of so many adventures he had just returned from.
He spoke so many languages and had this encyclopedic knowledge of the world.
I think even then as a child, I looked at him and listened to him; I wanted to be like him.
As a teenager I would spend parts of my summer with him in Lisbon, thrilled at the chance to go to work with him.
He had this way of plucking books and artifacts off his shelves, to show me some evidence of some historical occurrence. In the middle of a conversation he would start searching some stack of books or in some drawer for something magical that illustrates a point.
As a young adult and a student, I lived in his place in Lisbon. Spending wonderful days and nights, surrounded by his books and his things. Thrilled to be carrying on the tradition, and comparing notes any chance we would get, about what was going on in the city we both loved.
It should come as no surprise that years later I would plant myself in Amsterdam, with him only three hours away in Brussels. Again whenever I felt alone in my adventures, I took solace in the fact that I had him nearby, always ready with advice or a warm home (and a loving family) for me to visit.
He followed my every move on the internet, the audio, the video… it was all filed away in his computer. Knowing this gave me a sign that I was doing something special, that the person whom I’ve look up to all my life, understood and enjoyed my dedication and purpose.
There was never a time that I wasn’t learning from him, about the world around us, about how we got to where we are, and even now… about life.
It is inadequate to write only one post and only these few lines about someone I love so much and will always love. But when it comes to him, someone who has so much to do with who I am and so much of the joy I’ve had in this life, it is impossible not to tell the stories and shout it from the mountaintops- for all the world to hear.
My dearest cousin, you will always be my inspiration and guide as I make my way through this world. But of course, I know you knew that…

Easter 2006

bmtv120 Retweet Risks

A vlog entry regarding how tweets from conflict zones often get repeated and then expanded or exaggerated and then at some point becomes the story.. even if it isn’t accurate. Not to say twitter should be filled with fun, creative lies, and general randomness.. I like that too. But this is specifically about situations where we are getting our information from twitter about places where we can not go or are not able to get to in a moment.  Places where sometimes, even the people who are there nearby, can still get the story wrong.