Shawn's final project on MPI & Reflection
What I learnt from final project?
I learnt what the MPI is from my final project. Actually, I searched many papers to help me to understand it such as
http://www.itu.int/en/sustainable-world/Pages/report-hlpf-2017.aspx
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1815243
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTINFORMATIONANDCOMMUNICATIONANDTECHNOLOGIES/Resources/The_Role_of_Mobile_Phones_in_Sustainable_Rural_Poverty_Reduction_June_2008.pdf
I decided that I needed to do something that could complement my project partner. The first few days, I do not know much about MPI, and my partner built up the framework of our presentation. I really appreciate him. Later, I find a way to use my strength to improve our presentation. I show my demo to him, and I think I gain respect from him.
Although we have discussions, these discussions are very high level. I need to improve my English! Listen to TED talks every day? What else?
What I learnt from the UN?
The side event conference agenda is always like this. Two or three speakers make public speeches. Some participants have a chance to ask some questions. They may tell the organizer that they will ask questions before the meeting. And if the time is adequate, participants can raise their hands to ask questions. The big conference will have more speakers than the side event conferences. And countries and other NGOs will take turn to ask questions or tell what they have done.
What you do could be more meaningful and change the world. ICT really helps in poverty eradication. Global Pulse is using voice recognition software to analyze trends, better understand gender biases and ultimately inform policy measures to address poverty. Nigeria’s SMDG Information System uses geo-referenced data from mobile phones to provide location-specific information about government services, environmental challenges, water access points etc.
In Saudi Arabia farmers rely on wireless technology to distribute scarce irrigated water for wheat cultivation. In Ethiopia farmers are using mobile phones to check coffee prices. In Bangladesh, more and more women are starting productive phone service businesses, earning a living while expanding access to phones. During disease outbreaks, for example, big data from mobile phones can help track the movement of people, helping to prevent, predict and prepare for the spread of deadly diseases, as was the case in the Ebola crisis in West Africa.
The story of Haoliang Xu is quite attractive. He graduated from Tongji University, then he studied in New York, after that he began to be an intern in UN. Two things I learnt from it. First, you could do more things than just your research field. The other is that an internship is potentially one most important thing in your future career.
Getting the name card of Haoliang Xu taught me that I should not give up, and just try to do it. We did not catch him in the afternoon meeting. But I found out his twitter, and sent him a tweet. Although he did not reply, but we meet again in the evening meeting and I got his card. If you do persevere, it will all work out!
