A Year of Reconstruction

Today as we end our year of Reconstruction a new journey lies ahead as we continue the use of technology to empower communities. Having completed part of this exciting journey it is also an opportunity to reflect on how this journey has changed my life and the lives of many others.

How can I ever forget the first day 23 February 2008 when we gathered at CPUT for the first time and the room was full of uncertainty not knowing how long we'll be running this course or what to expect. This year went beyond our wildest dreams and I believe it is the beginning of great things ahead. This year has had its ups and downs, as we unfortunately had 2 of our members not completing the year with us. But that was never going to make our Reconstructed team despondent. They were still persevering under the pressures and decided to complete this year. Not only did we empower the Reconstructed Team but we also launched Mom 2.0 (mothers in the community being empowered with the use of technology). We've had so much fun while learning.We've also had the privilege of meeting great individuals who shared their knowledge with us this year. Special thanks to Rafiq, Ramon, Johan, Gerhard, Nils, Micke and Pam who really empowered the Reconstructed team.

We also presented at the ZA WWW 2008 conference (won best poster of the conference award), Highway Africa Conference, Huddlemind's Nomadic Dinner, 27Dinner in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth just but to name but a few. Another highlight was when we had the opportunity to be live on SABC2's Morning Live on 24th October 2008. This was such a wonderful experience for many of the team as we believe that all our hard work was finally being acknowledged. Not only did we get some attention from the media but we also had the honour of gathering with peers in the Social Media industry.

Seeing how lives were transformed through the use of technology was encouraging. When we started the Drug Advice and Support (DAS) we never expected that it would have such an impact on a nation. Since its inception we've already had more than 50,000 messages, almost 11,000 conversations and closing in on 5000 contacts to date. This in itself was incredible as we began offering advice and support for hundreds of young people on their mobile phones, Tuesdays and Thursdays between 3 and 5pm. The Reconstructed blog also continued to grow as the team increased their contributions with the goal of reaching 1000 blog posts by the end of 2008 (The good news is that they've achieved this goal read all about it here).

The technologies we've used this year and that proved to be useful in the Social Media for Social Change (SMSC) course were:
- Blogging (Using blogger)
- Social Networking (FaceBook and Ning)
- Micro-blogging (Twitter and Spoink)
- Instant Messageging (Google Chat, MXit, The Grid)
- Web Literacy
- VOIP (Skype and Fring)
- PodCasting



The climax of the year was when we had The Reconstruction graduation 12 December 2008 at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). Seeing all the excited graduates and proud parents, family was such a wonderful moment for me personally. We also launched our Podcasts and Angel project at the graduation which was just a cherry on the top.

Well with 2008 almost coming to an end we are looking forward to 2009 and we would like to thank everyone who has contributed and shown interest in the Reconstructed project. We will continue on this journey as we empower communities in tension using technology.

We would like to wish you and your families a wonderful and blessed New Year for 2009.

DAS on Christmas Day

Today while the world is celebrating Christmas Day and enjoying all the festivities, we decided to have a Drug Advice Support (DAS)for those who are in need. Not only were we able to use technology to ensure people have a lifeline on Christmas Day it was also a good opportunity for the DAS advisers just to relax and reflect how good the year has been.

Although it was a worldwide holiday we still had more than 1200 messages coming through to the DAS service. We spoke to 130 people in the 2hour session and I would like to thank the advisers for sacrificing their time with the families in order to use technology to bring about a change in the lives of many others.

Merry Christmas and GOD Bless

Changing the World One Tweet at a Time

With the rise of Twitter in the world of Web2.0 it has been interesting to see how people have used this Micro-blogging social tool. Being used from conversations to reporting, marketing to publishing and generating traffic to you website, to just share information with your network. With the Reconstructed we've decided to use Twitter as a means of reconstructing ex-drug addicts and ex-gang members.

The young men and women were exposed to twitter and given the right to use it in a way they feel would benefit them best. They began using twitter for conversations with one another, sharing positive stories with one another, encouraging each other and to share information relevant to substance abuse and their communities. They also used it for reporting in order for others following them to keep track of how they are feeling or what they busy doing. Twitter has become part of their support structure and being used to leave positive footprints in the world. Not only is Twitter being used to support themselves but they also using it to reach out to other Tweeple who needs to hear a Tweet of hope. They are really changing the World one Tweet at a time...

Help with social problems on MXit

Yesterday Angel was in the news again after being launched a week ago. An article by Yolandé Hayward from The Weekend Post in Port Elizabeh "Help with Social Problems in MXit":

AFTER successfully using MXit to counsel youngsters with drug abuse problems, a young entrepreneur is now using this networking tool to equip them with knowledge on various social issues...read more

Using Free and Open Source Software to fight drug abuse

An article appeared in the UWC campus newsletter...

"An increase in gang and drug activity on the Cape Flats in the Western Cape Province has been causing tension within communities. These activities have a negative impact on citizens in these communities and contribute to a sense of helplessness. Reconstruction or rehabilitation of ex-drug addicts and ex-gangsters are challenging due to communities with tension not being able to empower these citizens or the addicts themselves being unwilling to be rehabilitated. This presented the opportunity for the use of technology as part of the helping substance abusers to rebuild their lives.

A project called DAS@Mxit was the brain child of Marlon Parker, an IT lecturer from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). The project uses mobile and web technologies, including the popular cell phone chat application Mxit. In collaboration between CPUT and UWC's Free Software Innovation Unit in ICS, a system was developed to offer counselling, advice, frequently asked questions for people impacted by drug and substance abuse. DAS@Mxit is aimed at (but not limited to) MXit users. This allows a user to send and receive text and multimedia messages to and from PCs and phones via the Internet, rather than with standard SMS technology." ...

Paul and Wesley, key architects and developers on the DAS project (Source:dkeats.com)

Reconstructed Podcast episode 3: The Story of Craig Ross

With the festive season upon us, many are thinking about what new gadget or technology will make the perfect gift for Christmas. With the reconstructed graduation a week ago and the launch of our Podcast series we are releasing Episode 3 of the Reconstructed Podcast, The Story of Craig Ross, which can be downloaded here.