I am working on that. Right now. As you read this.

Annnndddd . . . it’s fixed. COME BACK AND READ, PEOPLE!

But does it?

Is this thing on? Taking a look at Alex King’s Twitter Tools.

I’ve noticed that, as I write less often, the quality of my writing has suffered. And as I’m loath to put anything less than stellar online, when I *do* write, I don’t publish. My goal is to blog once a day until the new year. Apologies if posts are disjointed or inconsistent. I’m a little bit rusty, it turns out.

Blogging was hella easier when I was just journaling about my experiences here in West Africa. I may get back to doing that soon.

Some quick notes: Wordpress 2.7 is the love. We now have an internet connection in our apartment. I am on a social media kick. And everyone in Benin keeps congratulating me on Obama’s victory. As if it’s a personal victory that I somehow brought about all by myself.

Also, what do you think of the new theme?  I’m debating whether to keep it or just hack something together myself.

There are a million challenges to web development here in West Africa, not the least of which are poor and/ or expensive internet connections, a general ignorance of what the web can do (this is actually true all over the world, including the States), and computer illiteracy.

What do you do when someone who’s never sat down in front of a computer wants a website? And what do you do when they’re standard for professionalism is yahoo.fr? “Lots of zoom,” they tell us. Zoom = “moving flashing things like on yahoo.” And how do we teach these people how to update their websites?

I’m starting this blog taking this blog in a new direction so that I can explore some of these questions. People Online has a French-language blog, but it’s hard to write in French, and I’m lazy. And that blog doesn’t really have a direction yet. That is, we’re busy publishing articles, but we haven’t quite figured out what we want. This blog will be more focused. And hopefully, as I find my voice in English, I’ll find it that much easier to reproduce the effort in French.

So who am I?

I’m an American, working with a small NGO here in Cotonou, Benin. Our goal is to make technology more accessible to small and medium sized businesses. We set out to change the way the IT services sector, and specifically web development, works here. People Online’s motto is “Getting Benin Online” (La mise en ligne du Bénin), and so far, it’s working.

I do make websites. I also do a lot of book keeping, managing freelancers, and keeping the business side of the non-profit running correctly. Mostly, I work with Wordpress. I’m a fan girl, which is embarrassing (for a web application? who falls in love with a web application?!?!). And I like to play.

Anyway. We’ll see where this goes. Professional blogging is probably harder than it looks.

Wish me luck!

One of the hardest things about living here in Benin is the complete and utter disregard for women that I experience every day. I don’t talk about it much over here because it’s most often dismissed as the shrill complaints of a silly (white) female who just doesn’t understand how well she’s got it.

Today, I left a meeting wanted to tear out my hair, and this oh-so-timely article explains a lot.

Anyway. It’s a good read for men and women alike. Certainly, it puts a voice to some of the frustrations I feel here every day.