[Originally posted on my blog harinjaka]

I was just back from a business trip Friday and saw Lova’s announcement on Facebook about his Seminar/workshop on crowdsourcing information in times of crisis in Madagascar… It’s a BarCamp.

To be honest, I decided to attend this BarCamp_mada 2.0 by curiousity and also to support my friend Lova Rakotomalala who was the guestblogger of this time event. I haven’t joined any BarCamp yet before, and missed the very first edition in Madagascar last year.

The keynote speakers was the former journalist at L’Express de Madagascar Alain Andriamiandravola … opening the un-conference with a short welcoming kabary. I have missed that ...

I arrived when Lova Rakotomalala the master of the ceremony called for increased collaboration between journalists and bloggers, especially in times of rapidly unfolding events.

-Avylavitra, @jentilisa, @saveoursmile, but also FBC from all over the country talked about their personal experience of on site reporting and photo shooting during the protests.

-Thierry Andriamirado @tandriamirado made a terrific presentation on the role of social network in distributing information ( twitter, facebook, friendfeed)

-The former minister of Culture Mr Tsilavina Ralaindimby talked about new media and the war of content, he have end his talk by saying that FOKO will be a part of the commission of codification of the internet but Also the journalism codification in the country... have to be discussed but the invite is so cool.

-Christi Turner (of radioactive) have presented Radio Meva Ankarana 98.0 FM, Antsaravibe, Madagascar - Christi has just finished four years of community development work as a Peace Corps Volunteer in northern Madagascar. She coordinated the creation of a community radio station for the village, the first fully solar powered, wholly independent community radio station in the country. she and her team showed us some Radio station equipement wich was really interresting …her fluency in the Malagasy language is quite remarkable too.

-Lalah and Tahina were supposed to explain the details of Foko-Ushahidi project and how they manage the site but I have steal their time accidentally … after Claire Ulrich @claireinparis speech on the current state of online censorship worldwide.

Lova convinced me to participate and I knew that I had to share something. This is the main rule of a BarCamp right ? @pakisse suggested me to talk about MEGASEEDS and how we will bring peace and save Madagascar from political violence by planting high-yield rice…

After hesitation, I just took few minutes to explain to the crowd about how Foko and Ushahidi gathering and the chance we have in Madagascar on been part of Ushahidi beta program since almost a year now. We are also one of the countries and project that are using Ushahidi Engine to report violence.

My hope is that the violence happened in Madagascar on February 2009 won’t happen anymore again and many Malagasy people will be using the Foko-Ushahidi tool for other causes and events like Malagasy next election on 2010 for example.

People across the country can report fairly on the elections and relate events through SMS, email, and the web.

Foko-Ushahidi open many possibility for citizen reporting in Madagascar. @jelona, the coordinator from FBC Fianarantsoa is already volunteer for mobile health initiatives.

Many issues and organizations can be connected. I am wondering what’s will happen if we are using Ushahidi tool for corruption reporting in Madagascar or for conservation of the biodiversity mapping using GPS technology and digital camera, to store biodiversity data collected by rural communities... but those are an early thoughts and need huge financial and human resources.

I can say that Foko and Ushahidi team made big progress on this issue. Lalah,Tahina and all Foko members in field did a great step forward and effort too, and there is still a lot to do : like increasing awareness and vulgarising the phone numbers for the SMS’s, translating the web site in other language, especially in Malagasy to reach rural communities and more … involving private sectors like local phone "foza orana" operators and public sector like NGO’s and local communities.

During this Barcamp, my friend @RandyDonny from Randydoit share his strong experience in journalism with the crowd and close his session with a quick shot about a Radio Station that me and him are actually working on this time on furthering peace in Madagascar by dissipating rumors, avoiding propaganda and focusing attention on hard facts. Work's in progress …setting up Media for Peace and Human Dignity.

All this listed above were the part of the experience I felt during that camp. Also, I'd like to congratulate Lova Rakotomalala and Foko activists for bringing something great and beneficial for the youth in the country.

#TWISI: The Way I See It... (photo courtesy Avylavitra)

Barcamp_mada 2.0 was a huge success!

I have just realize how strong is FOKO - Madagascar today. @pakysse did a great Job as community organizer and "blogger evangelist".

It was really impressive to see all those Foko members … in real life.

The quality of BarCamp_mada 2.0 attendees were various and picture out the technology scene in Madagascar today.

Everyone in the audience could communicate in twitter language and enthusiastically engaged in each discussion on ideas, lesson learned from Madagascar 2009 crisis and the new media in 140-character.

A wifi connection problem and lack of plugs handicapped the live twitting and live blogging but the snacks and beverages was finger-licking so the organizational team is forgivable.

The hashtag #barcamp_mada or #madagascar was among the top trending topics on Twitter, but also #barcamp. I myself made a lot of mistakes that day, I have written #baramp instead of barcamp sometimes ... It's because of my sunglasses.