Lee Thorn -- Jhai -- new opportunities, insights

Dear friends and board,

I hope this finds you and your family well. My family is feeling chipper at the moment which is quite gratifying, of course. Son John will do his graduation walk at the University of California-Santa Cruz on the 14th of June. We're very happy about that.

Work goes well, too, at the moment. My old friend, Ralph Scott, just left for Baltimore after a five day visit with us - and that was wonderful. Ralph decades ago helped design the connectors on Bucky Fuller's geodesic dome, then went on to found Project One, one of the original warehouse communities in the 70s. He's a charmer and my son, Brendan's, godfather, and he helped me think more clearly while here. So that was fun.

Powerpoint as .pdf on advanced ICT4D 4 u

A couple of weeks ago I promised to do a presentation for you that builds on the insights of CIOs recently polled by Harvard and their own association. Here are the slides with my notes:

http://tinyurl.com/28xfdld

Here are the slides without my notes (you might want to look at the former first, then zoom through this one):

http://tinyurl.com/26f777s

I would love to hear your comments on this show and I hope it spurs you to cooperate with Jhai asap.

SE Asia work

I will be visiting Laos and Vietnam for work reasons very soon. All I can say, now, is, it is in regard to testing integrated ICT approaches to medicine, education and livelihood we have developed.

JhaiPC

We will soon field test our new JhaiPC/Server to be used in schools, clinics and community centers - and made available for purchase widely. I can tell you, now, it is over 3.2Ghtz, has 4 Gigs of RAM, and 300gbts of storage. It is meant to be used with clients like nComputing clients in schools and other places, but we also will test it in clinics and hospitals. It is quite low power and the cost will be very reasonable, given its specs. I'm jazzed.

Structure of Jhai

I am on my own time helping colleagues build two kinds of new structures that will be related at arm's length to Jhai Foundation. One is an L3C, a new kind of US limited liability corporation that is specifically designed for social entrepreneurs. The second is 'Jhai Association' now forming in Laos. This is like a local ngo, but is structured specifically for the Lao context. I will report on these further and in more detail later.

Niels Bohr

While working on the ppt I came across a quote from Niels Bohr, the seminal quantum physicist. He said, "An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field."

Well, I figure I have not made all the mistake that can be made in ICT for development, but I'm well on my way. Luckily my collaborators - like you - have also made lots of mistakes - many not the same as mine. So there is hope that one of these days one of you will be become a genuine expert. When that day comes, I am pretty sure I will be spending quite a bit of time in my new garden. I will not be an expert there. I will be a rank amateur. That is where my comfort zone is.

And you?

My pitch

Please send Jhai money. It deserves it and US folks get a tax break.

Also, if you feel you need what we have, let's make a deal.

yours, in Peace,

Lee
--
Lee Thorn
chair, Jhai Foundation
I tweet @leethorn_jhai
Way cool .... see 30 sec video of
2003 JhaiPC bicycle-powered set up at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiZa_A0QrtQ

350 Townsend St., Ste. 309
San Francisco, CA 94107 USA
+1 415 344 0360 (office)
+1 415 420 2870 (mobile)
lee@jhai.org
www.jhai.org

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