If you are interested in reading this report, please email me at s.mclennan (at) massey.ac.nz.

In tribute, here is a couple of my favourite quotes from J.K. Gibson Graham. Just recently I taped the first one to my computer to remind me as I write to always look for openings, what they have also termed “glimmers of possibility” :

“What if we were to accept that the goal of theory is not to extend knowledge by confirming what we already know, that the world is a place of economic domination, conflict and oppression? What if we asked theory instead to help us see openings, to enable us to find happiness, to provide a space of freedom and possibility?”

“This is, we believe, the stuff of a postdevelopment discourse- a mode of thinking that is generative, uncertain, hopeful, and yet fully grounded in an understanding of the material and discursive violences and promises of the long history of development interventions.”

For more information on Julie Graham is here – http://forjuliegraham.wordpress.com

After leaving Honduras in early February I participated in the Doctoral Colloquium at the CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) conference in Savannah, Georgia. It was a very interesting experience, which reinforced the relevance of a study of projecthonduras.com. In the midst of a sea of brand new applications and web tools, the more than ten years of experience projecthonduras.com has was of great interest to many. While I went there to learn more about CSCW and computing, I found that I spent a lot of my time sharing what I have learned from projecthonduras.com. As there seemed to be a lot of interest I am currently thinking about expanding my presentation into a journal article (see previous posts for the presentation and a PDF of my research poster).

While there is much I could write (and will write) about the computing aspects of this study, this is a development studies thesis, and my interest is evolving well beyond the internet networking. Marco uses the term ‘human capital’ to refer to people’s “time, energy, expertise, experience, talent, and contacts”. As I continue my analysis and start writing it is the people and organisations within projecthonduras.com and what they are saying and doing that is capturing more and more of my attention. I’m also interested in the philosophy of the network (constructive, positive and apolitical) and how people in the network interpret and work within that space, and how this all interrelates as a model for development.

So onwards I go. I am still trying to finish up some last minute interviews via the internet, and working on transcribing and coding those that I have completed. Within the next few weeks I hope to finally start putting some words on paper (or at least on the screen) and starting to write. I’ll let you know how it goes!

2009

Confirmed! After completing 2 large literature reviews and a longish proposal in March I underwent the ritual of confirmation.  This is the process by which the university assesses whether a PhD candidate has met the requirements of the first year of the program, and has a research proposal that is sound academically and ethically. Prior to this a candidate is on a provisional registration, following success at confirmation the student is fully registered… and the clock is ticking to completion!

Data Collection: Following confirmation most of my energy could finally be directed towards actually doing the research. As with most fieldwork, things didn’t quite go completely to plan, with delays and changes due to political and family crises.  While I haven’t done as many visits and interviews as I originally anticipated my data file is packed, and growing with over 40 interviews (about 2/3 in person and the remainder online or by email), more than 200 forum posts, around 50 Facebook posts, a dozen conference recordings and nearly 100 web pages, articles, blog posts and other related online data. Thats over 400 data “sources”, not including the notebooks and computer files  of  fieldnotes I’ve made myself over the past year. Whew.

Conference: Despite the ongoing crisis and curfews the Conference on Honduras went ahead more or less to plan in September, and I presented a brief report on the progress of my research and early findings.  At the time I thought it went well, although I didn’t receive a lot of feedback.  More important than the presentation was the opportunity to reconnect with people I’d met in 2008, and to meet others, which is really the whole point of the conference anyway!

Living in Honduras: While I have been married to a Honduran for 8 years, and have made 3 previous visits of 2-4 months to the country, this was my first opportunity to actually live here.  It’s been wonderful… mostly.  We found a lovely place to live in the mountains outside Tegucigalpa, and I have enjoyed getting to know the culture and people of Honduras in a much deeper way.  My Spanish is slowly improving too!

2010

So what is on the agenda for 2010?

Finish data collection and analysis: I have just four weeks and a few interviews to finish up here in Honduras before returning to NZ.  I have already started working through the data and will continue the process in NZ.

CSCW: As previously mentioned I will be attending the doctoral colloquium at the conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work In Savannah, Georgia in February (after leaving Honduras and before returning to NZ!).  This is a great opportunity to share my research and learn from others, and I am very much looking forward to it.

Writing: This is the main challenge for the year.  Although I have two more years of enrolment to finish the thesis, I have just one more year of scholarship money so I’d really like to get it done as much as possible.  The goal?  A complete draft completed before the DevNet (Aotearoa New Zealand International Development Studies Network) conference in December which I will be helping to organise.

This should be more than enough to keep me busy, along with family commitments and the usual new years “resolutions” to eat better and exercise more!  Keep this site bookmarked (or subscribe to the RSS feed in the top right corner) to keep track of my progress and possibly even to be among the first to see some of my results and writing!

Thank you so much for your participation in the projecthonduras.com research project. I wish you and your family a very happy Christmas & best wishes for 2010.

I have also been hoping to start writing this month, and even have some thoughts sketched out for a first chapter or two of my thesis.  Al the moment finishing up with interviews and visits here in Honduras is my priority, but I still plan to try and get some time to start writing.  I also hope in the process to add some excerpts here for your interest, and to get feedback on what you think, so keep watching this space!  There should be more to be ‘un-wrapped’ here sometime soon.

Firstly I have to say I was very impressed with the number of conferees that made it to Copan.  The day before the conference, when the country was under curfew and the airports were closed I wrote: “I will be very interested to see who is able to make it, and how the conference will work under such conditions.”    Luckily the curfew was lifted and over 100 conferees did make it, some re-routing through Guatemala City to avoid the airport at San Pedro Sula.  This to me is clear evidence of the importance of the conference to many, and their commitment to the idea that is projecthonduras.com.

Amongst those 100 or so conferees I was very pleased to see many familiar faces.  It was quite a change from last year’s conference when I walked into a room full of strangers and wondered how (with my quiet personality and wall-flower tendencies) I was ever going to make enough contacts to get this research going.  Somehow I did, and over the past year I have had the privilege of travelling Honduras and the Internet, and meeting many kind and wonderful people, so that now, when I entered the conference hall I no longer felt like a stranger.

Some highlights:

Guillermo Anderson! While the star factor was obviously present, I think it was Guillermo’s presentation that really caught most people’s attention. Guillermo spoke as a Honduran about mobilising the youth of Honduras.  One of the things I have been following in my research is the participation of Hondurans in projecthonduras.com and online, and Guillermo’s presentation was a great way to kick off the conference.  In addition, the children’s concert he gave the next day was a great way to entertain my daughter!

Another speaker I was very interested to hear was Critt Jarvis, who spoke on extending the actual conference into a virtual online conference.  I was particularly interested in this because his ideas reflect the suggestions of several others I have interviewed.  Unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of time to talk at the conference (and I’m still waiting to hear more about his ideas!) but I am following his blog and twitter stream with great interest.

On a personal level other speakers who particularly caught my attention were John Donaghy and Janet Kawas of Integrar. John’s presentation interested me as he focused less on services provided (clinics, schools etc) and more on solidarity, research and advocacy work.

Janet was the only speaker to receive a standing ovation.  She spoke passionately from her experience, capturing the hearts of the audience (particularly those of us who are mothers I suspect).  Her presentation reminded me of how the roots of many small organisations (and some larger ones) are in the experiences of the founder, and in their compassionate response to the needs of others.

Ideas to chew on:

For me there are several themes of interest that have come out of this conference, and that I will be chewing over for a while.  The first was the social networking aspect of the conference.  Critt’s presentation was obviously part of this, but he wasn’t alone. Overall I noticed much more interest in this than last year, with increasing references to social media, including blogs, Facebook and Twitter, and discussion of novel ideas such as posting needs as a wish list on Amazon.com. However while projecthonduras.com is founded on the idea of being an online network, much has changed in the field of social networking in the past few years and many projecthonduras.com participants and conferees are clearly in the process of working out what to do with the new tools.  It will be fascinating to see how the network changes as people become adapted to using the tools, and how much of an impact it will have on the day-to-day work of organisations in Honduras.

Another theme I noted was the involvement of Hondurans. There seemed to be a much larger proportion of Hondurans at this conference, perhaps because many North Americans were unable to get there, but Hondurans in country could. Guillermo’s presentation was just one of several Honduran presentations, most of which were done in Spanish. More than the presentations, I was struck by the number of Hondurans getting up and asking questions.  The US and English language dominance at the last conference bothered me a bit (this is Honduras after all), and although US Americans still outnumber Honduras, it was great to see the participation increase.  ”Hondurans do volunteer” was the message to conferees from one Honduran student present, and indeed they do.

The apolitical approach of projecthonduras.com is another theme that has given me much to think about.  This conference was held in the middle of some of the most divisive and ugly political events in recent Honduran history. After days of watching the news and talking about the crisis walking into the conference venue felt a little like walking into a bubble.  Apart from some personal conversations and a few sideways references from speakers (mostly about the travel disruptions), politics was left at the door.  This allowed for the conference to remain focused on the main themes of the conference – education, healthcare and community building – and to avoid disruptive conflict.  Yet it didn’t always feel natural and political worries seemed to simmer blow the surface.  I wonder if it would have been helpful to address these more directly.  I guess if the proposed Peace and Reconciliation Forum had been held alongside the conference that might have been a space for discussing such issues.

Another interesting theme that got some airtime at the conference was the idea of social entrepreneurship. In particular Chris from Tegu Toys, and Charles George of Vegas Electric discussed the idea of using a for profit business model to fund and drive development in Honduras.  While many of us remain skeptical of how the values of capitalism and social justice might merge, this is an idea that is gaining attention globally and probably worthwhile of a whole thesis of it’s own (I’m sure somebody’s doing it).

If you were at the conference and have any thoughts on these themes, or anything else regarding the conference I’d love it if you would leave a comment here, or send me an email (smclennan (at) hondurasresearch.net).  This research is about networking and connecting people and the more dialogue and conversation I can have with you the richer and more relevant the research will be.

Finally, a big thanks to those who spoke to me at the conference and answered questions, and a very special thanks to those who helped look for and entertain my daughter Maya (especially to Marco’s girls). It’s not easy to focus on conference presentations and on research while trying to be a Mum but I love that she is  able to be there and is welcomed.  Thank you all.