Global Pulse 2010: Online Development Dialogue

For the past three days I participated in USAID’s online dialogue about various international development topics.  Called “Global Pulse 2010, “ USAID has the following to say about it:

...a 3-day, online collaboration event, that will bring together individual socially-engaged participants and organizations from around the world. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is sponsoring the Global Pulse 2010, in partnership with the Departments of State, Education, Commerce, and Health and Human Services.

As the name implies, the event will take the pulse of thousands of participants on key issues facing communities around the world. Global Pulse 2010 will connect participants who are champions for the same social issues to build new, or strengthen existing relationships, and inform U.S. foreign assistance and diplomatic strategies on major themes and ideas that emerge across the span of the event.

According to Josh Miller at Devex, the inspiration for Global Pulse 2010 came from Barack Obama himself:

Last year in Cairo, President Barack Obama pledged to engage the global community in shaping his administration’s approach to foreign assistance. So, USAID, along with other government agencies, began brainstorming – or “imagineering ” – means to make that happen.

Miller explains how it worked:

To populate and power its jam, USAID issued an open invitation to people interested in international development. Inside, participants, or “jammers,” interact with other attendees, facilitators and distinguished guests — from USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah to best-selling author Deepak Chopra — on around 10 core topics: empowering women and girls; enabling essential education; building stronger partnerships; exercising political and civil rights; inspiring a new generation; promoting global health; advancing entrepreneurship, trade and economic opportunity; foster science, technology and innovation; supporting a sustainable planet; and, pursuing grand challenges. Jammers are given individual accounts and may track particular personalities and dialogues that they find pertinent.

As of 6 p.m. of March 30, more than 11,000 jammers from upwards of 150 countries had combined to write approximately 7,000 posts. The discussion threads will remain available to registered attendees even after the event concludes.

I found it interesting to be a jammer (so called because the dialogue used IBM’s jam technology)  and the level of discussion was generally very good to excellent.  I participated in a fascinating conversation on the role of contractors in development and also the usefulness of higher education partnerships in support of development goals.  Overall, it seemed to be an excellent way to use technology as part of global engagement.  I will be curious to see how the ideas gathered in this exercise will be used to inform policy or at least the debates about real policy issues and choices.  If it does then further editions of Global Pulse 2010 will attract even more attention.  If there is no effect then I suspect that it will be seen as a high-tech novelty that amounted to little more than a talking shop.  But I am willing to give the organizers the benefit of the doubt. This first step was done very well and I look forward to the next.