Dadamac is an unusual combination of:
- Practical grass-roots action in Africa
- Innovative ICT
- Educational explorations
- Theoretical analysis
- Reseach and development
- Appropriate technologies
- Local and online communities
- Seriousness and fun
The founders of Dadamac are John Dada and Pamela McLean.
John's interests relate to his practical community development work at Fantsuam Foundation in Nigeria, which began with micro-credit. See the people, the place and the work in a 5 minute video at YouTube or visit the Fantsuam Foundation website. John says that people at Fantsuam learn twice, once by learning, and once by sharing what they know (Dadamac helps them to learn and to share). John is also an ICT innovator - with the innovation driven by local needs.
Pam is interested in how the Internet can help people to learn. She believes most of us enjoy learning new things - until we get put off by being taught things that don't interest us. She loves the opportunities for informal learning provided by the Internet, and is exploring with John the implications for education and training at Fantsuam and places like it. She has a blog Learn By Doing and leads two online groups LearningFromEachOther and Dadamac Learners Pam is based in the UK but does practical work in Africa.
Collaboration
John and Pam have been collaborating informally since 2003, thanks to the Internet. They started the Teachers Talking programme at Fantsuam in 2004 and are currently working with Dadamac Learning Groups at the Knowledge Resource Centre there. Dadamac has already shared the Teachers Talking (TT) programme with teachers in other parts of Nigeria and there has been a TT in Kenya. Dadamac hopes to share other projects too.
Dadamac's collaborations for learning are done through unpaid work and an open exchange of skills and knowledge - with all sides benefitting.
There is also a complementary company Dadamac Ltd - Knowledge Brokers - a vehicle for formal collaboration which enables people to access our knowledge and networks, and to use our sites for research and developent.
Dadamac helps Fantsuam Foundation to reach out to others through the Intenet and also helps others to connect and collaborate with Fantsuam Foundation. It is concerned with the two way exchange of information. Projects this year include an experiment in distance learning about photography, collaboration with Steve Thompson of Teeside Univerisity on the People and Place project, and the visit to Fantsuam by Marcus Simmons from Ecoshelter to do some field work and practical training. If you share any Dadamac interests then you are welcome to join in (add a comment here or email pam54321@googlemail.com to introduce yourself). There are plenty of opportunities for collaboration.
