WWW of 2010: What Went Well and WWNSW – What Went Not So Well.

During the CY2 workshop I learnt new phrases the WWW and WWN’sW which of late I have been using whenever any opportunity arises. To all that are strong believers of resolutions, wishes or some call them plans. I would like to share with you my own experience as a strong believer of wish lists and plans which we usually make yearly before ushering the New Year.

To me this has been part and parcel of my life whereby in 2007 I developed a personal plan (PP3, my own acronym) for 3 years and by the end of this month I will be using the WWW and WWN’sW to review the 3 years that I had planned for while also celebrating what I have achieved. Something to note though is that after laying down your plans it should be flexible and smart enough to review either weekly or monthly but watch that you don’t change the core dream plan to be achieved.

I would urge everyone to make a plan, resolution or wish list for themselves and family come the end of 2010 or every end of year before ushering the New Year, which to me the year 2011 will be the year of breakthrough. I would love to share some tips with you that will keep you through 2011 and beyond this is what I call the’ ten commandments of a doer’.

By the way I came to realize in this World there are 3 types of people which I have come into personal contact with, and also I have read in a series of articles and publications. I agree with the authors and they are;

• Those Who Make Things Happen.
• Those That Watch Things Happen.
• Those Who have no idea what the Hell is Happening.
  

What type of a person are you? In 2011 make that turning point or even make your strategies and strengths very compact for greater success.

These are simple guidelines (the’ 10 commandments of a doer’) to be followed if you want to see the fruit of your labor. These are from my own perspective and experiences.

1. Don’t spend more than you earn.
2. Make a monthly budget and understand your cash flow.
3. Save for the future.
4. Set some realistic project to do.
5. Make everything part of your system. Don’t procrastinate at the start it will be difficult to keep reviewing, checking and balancing but after all it will grow into you. The champion in you…
6. Make the WWW and WWN’sW list to review and channel a strategic direction.
7. Think and make plans that are even more than 1 year. Be optimistic!
8. 3 C’s: Don’t Compete, Complain and Compare.
9. 3 D’s: Dream, Dedication and Determination are the swiftest way to success.
10. P.U.R.P.O.S.E: Pray a lot, Unify, Review, Plan, Organize and Explore.
    

All the above will be success full if you develop a goal around it. For example; Personal goal statement; In the year 2011 I would like to eradicate poverty in my family and be financially stable (example for this article). Ask yourself, Why? How? When? How? Who is involved? This will point to making your goals and objective SMARTA.

What is SMARTA? This stands for;
S – Specific: What do you want to do exactly? Is clear to you and everyone involved?
M – Measurable: Can it be quantified and qualified. How much is the budget? What will be the impact?
A - Attainable: Can you achieve it within all the available avenues and opportunities.
R - Realistic: Can it be done under the circumstances given? Do you have the wheel power for example budgets?
T - Time bond: How long will it take you to achieve the goal?
A - Agreeable: Is it agreed amongst the team? What about the family? What about the authorities? Is it agreeable by you and any other person involved in the implementation process.

Have a lovely festive season and prosperous 2011. In your wish list and plan for 2011 remember to start saving for festivity if you are planning to go somewhere with the entire family, so that you are not caught unawares without any finances to celebrate.

Keep on reading and more to come in 2011, watch the space!

Connecting with yourself : CY2.nl training

What color preference are you? Do you know the right way to give feedback? Do you know a behavior triggers another behavior? This and many more are the lessons content we have been receiving from CY2.nl (Consult Yourself Together) a team from the Netherlands.

First and foremost I would like to thank Nairobits, Butterflyworks and CY2 for organizing the workshop which was very educative and has helped me as a person through understanding myself and how I could use different energies at different situations (green, yellow, red, blue energies).

I would wish the entire World was there at CY2 training. I loved the fun, the approach, team work, time keeping etc. I would recommend any institution to go through the CY2 training, it is really enriching to see how often we take things for granted like how we related to colors and how our behaviors triggers other behaviors, adapting and connecting to situations among other things. Sky is the limit CY2 team…

Watch the video at CY2 training at Nairobits: Learning and working plus fun. I love it!

NairoBits team at the CY2 workshop

Mr. Wouter from CY2 giving lectures.

Wilsenx brand T-shirt is launched

Today is another great day after celebrating 47th birthday of the great republic of Kenya. 'Najivunia kuwa Mkenya' I'm proud to be a Kenyan and I pray that the almighty Father will bless us and keep us in peace, love, unity and tranquility.

Part of my celebration this Jamuhuri day is the launch of my brand T-shirt which is available to anyone who feels like a champion by influencing positive change in the world. It goes at a very minimal fee to support the Wilsenx initiative which shares life experiences with youth either to motivate and inspire them to be champions in whatever positive things they do, and realize their full potentials using their talents and skills.

Below are some T-shirt; Front and back view. If you need one holla me at wilson.masaka@gmail.com

All rights reserved; designed by Wilsenx

Wilsenx T-shirts, launched :)

Ladies v-top available too!

Great achievement: Every little step counts.

NairoBits 10th anniversary

NairoBits is now 10 years old since inception, during the 10 years of hard work and determination I have seen youth with great potentials, enthusiasm, talents, creativity and passion in whatever they do for a greater future and success of the entire Nairobits. Despite many success stories there have been lots of challenges along the way which I’m glad to say we conquered, thus making NairoBits what it is today. My messages to all current and prospective students are;

• Stay focus, work on your weakness, and make your strengths even stronger.

• Let no one distract you by saying that you can’t do it, but choose the way to drive your vehicle, you have the keys to your life. So make the right chooses like enrolling to NairoBits courses, this is one of the many vehicles to the land of success.

• Our backgrounds should not hinder us from achieving whatever we want in life.

• God has a purpose for every one of us in this planet, don’t give up.

• 3D: Dreams, Dedication and Determinations are the swiftest way to succeed.

• 3C: Don’t Compete (positive completion is good but I mean negative), Compare and Complain stay focus.

I take this opportunity to thank everyone who made the NairoBits 10th year anniversary a success and also everyone who was present at the auspicious celebration, may the Bits be with you all!
I shall remember 27th November 2010 in the many years to come as the coordinator 10th year anniversary which is not a minor achievement for me. From the planning, meetings, determination, challenges, follow up etc as made me a stronger person and I have learnt a lot. I thank Nairobits for giving me this opportunity to lead the team.

The doors of perception conference 8 New Delhi, India.

Hello everybody, today I want to share with you my experiences that I had in the last 5 years in India. I got an opportunity to tour New Delhi, India in 2005, it was amazing to see how people live and do business etc, but the prime reason to visit India was to attended the doors of perception conference and showcase the work of Nairobits. I had both good and bad experiences while I was in India with my colleague Geoffrey Otieno ( trainer - Nairobits).

Catch up with me for more fascinating stories about the food, travel, people etc.

For report this is what I/we wrote in 2005; source www.butterfly-works.org/Report_india_conference.doc

About the conference

It was on a Saturday 19th March 2005 when Wilson Masaka and Geoffrey Otieno flew a way to New Delhi, India to represent NairoBits in the Doors of perception 8 conference which was going to bring participants from all-round the globe that are in different disciplines like architecture, media and communication, engineering, fashion, industrial and product design. During the period we were in India we were able to get contacts from people around the globe and the locality, this was a great impact NairoBits made through brochure which we circulated and exchanged business cards as a form of networking.

http://doors8delhi.doorsofperception.com

The proceedings

There were pre- workshops which took place in and around Delhi for 3days which talked about media and communication, architecture among others. Also on the list during the conference were speakers who presented their project and we got the opportunity to learn about the latest development in new media, cultural research and the wire arts. For example we had the Human factors International who presented their project. Basically their mission is to improve the interactions that people have with computers and other digital systems. They offer end –to-end solutions for web/internet and internet-based applications among other things and help make their client existing offerings more user centric, optimized and efficient.

Above is Aditya Dev Sood one of the speakers in the conference, He’s the CEO of CKS (Center of Knowledge Society) consulting PLC.

Social innovation Salon

The social innovation salon brought about 20 – 30 design and research projects from the all over the world. Here is where projects like NairoBits, Butterfly works, Nokia, HP, Human Factors International and Center for Knowledge Society among others were able to show case their work to the general public and the participants who were attending the doors of perception conference. The Out come of the exhibition was great and NairoBits stall had a great honor to present their work to people like Jogi panghaal who is a senior research fellow, Doors of perception, New Delhi. He is also a co-founder life tools, which provided product design and communication design services to communities, both rural and urban, that needed design help.

Above: Geoffrey explaining to some of the guest who visited the NairoBits stand.
Other stands at the exhibition hall.

Informal Meetings / interactions

During the Doors of perception we were invited to the Holi Bruch which was going to bring the participants and some Indian community to celebrate together the Holi -day, by the way this is a national event/holiday in the Indian culture. Again this was an ideal setting for people to get together and interact with people from different places around the globe. This also was some sort of cultural exchange.

Meeting with Debra Solomon and Cybermolla

During the conference we happen to meet Debra Solomon who is an Artist/tutor at the Amsterdam Institute of Arts and also Vivek who is one of the Cybermollah staff members. Cybermollah which is a project within a research organization called Sarai (www.sarai.net) which stands for an enclosed space in a city or a place to rest when in a journey.

Basically Cybermollah which is the project we visited have setup experimental media-labs that run on free software in 3 working class settlements in Delhi, this innovative project is run by young people of the locality to record local history. We had the opportunity to visit their premises and later we went on to visit one of their media lab setups in the southern suburbs of Delhi called Sarva priyah vihar, where we met one of the trainers called Aniruddha Shankar Karim whom we had a lengthy talk with, Part of what we talked about was how they have incorporated the use of free software (Open source) to the communities around Delhi.

They also have computers with only the motherboard and no drives and can only work through a network server (Linux) which is also free software. So generally they are trying to promote the open source community and face off the stereotypical copyright - rights managed systems that don't allow innovation and introducing a technical venture of free software which they call Copy left.

The same day we had a meeting with Sarai/Cybermolla, in the evening we met with Debra Solomon. She was so interested in what NairoBits does and was very enthusiastic about coming to Africa to work on an exchange with African youths about Creativity/Innovations in Art among other things, she said that most of her inspirations come from cultural activities and exchange with other public domains around the world. Being the only people from Africa we were honored to be ambassadors of our country and Africa as a whole. Debra and a group of students will be visiting Nairobi in 2006 hopefully. Still we have some contacts with her on when, where they will like to visit while in Kenya.


Thanks giving

We take this opportunity to thank the Ford Foundation, NairoBits crew, Butterfly-works and everyone who made our trip a success to New Delhi, India. Thanks guys and NairoBits will never be the same again!!

This was five years back and I have achieved a lot since then, in the next article I shall share with you my achievements in the month of November 2010. Keep on reading...

Are you a Designer?

Do you call yourself a designer? This month’s focus and advice will be on people who want to become designers. I have enjoyed my sessions in class last month discussing with my students on how best they can be creative and clear the ‘mental blog’.

First and foremost let us define who is a designer, my own definition is, a designer is someone who creates, innovates with the purpose of communicating to a particular audience or by meeting some set objectives.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designer, a designer is person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object"[1]. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a designer.

Using the word designer is a bit ambiguous because it has a wide range of meanings. By looking at different types of designers out there we will be able to define the designers in a more specific aspect without generalizing. Here are examples of designers;

• Fashion designers
• Web designers
• Interior designers
• Outdoor designers
• Furniture designer etc.
  

Design by itself is beyond the scope of this article but let us look at what are the common denominators of designers, what do they put into consideration within their work.

First and foremost before we look at personal traits of designers we have the following, Element of design and Principles of design as the guiding fundamentals for all designers.

Element of design.

• Line
• Shape
• Color
• Space
• Direction
• Size
• Texture
• Value
  

Principle of design.

• Unity
• Proximity
• Perspective
• Visual Hierarchy
• Symmetry / Asymmetry
• Repetition
• Contrast
• Dynamics
• Emphasis
• Dominance
• Harmony
  

As a designer you have to put the above in mind when designing anything, you don’t need a degree or a diploma to start using them, these are vital in design field but it not a must to put them all in a composition.

How do designers source for inspiration? This is a common question amongst junior designers. I shall share with you how I get ideas and get inspired to be creative and open the ‘mental blocks’.
The following is what I do;

• Learning about the environment
• The visual communication ( seeing more than an ordinary person)
• Translate other concept to my own ideas.
• Learn from other peoples work.
• Learn from other designers not necessary in my field.
• Learn from books, magazines, TV, Movies etc. Multimedia
• Put myself in the position of the target audience and try to see if the designer did it right.

Martin a fine artist at the Go Down art Center giving lectures at one of my sessions.

NairoBits students paying attention to Martin teachings.

Soon I will help Martin run a personal blog, thanks a lot Martin you are a inspiration to many and your lesson was great.

Wilson @ Maker Faire Africa 2010

Maker Faire Africa is a celebration of African ingenuity, innovation and creation. Here you will find the Makers who showed their work at the 2010 event in Nairobi Kenya. Work ranges from time saving devices for agriculture to alternative energy sources from design with recycled objects to social media applications for mobile phones. Per maker you will find a short synopsis of their work, their contacts details plus a possibility to collaborate with them. Match your skills with one of the Makers. Click the thumbnail on the left to open my video.

Mission - Zanzibits - Zanzibar

From Zanzibits "Wilson is a web developer and trainer with Nairobits. In previous visits to Zanzibits, he has given lessons to both students and trainers. This time he focused just on the trainers, offering advice on administration, HR issues, managing staff and students, problem solving, bookkeeping, finances, and back-end management..." click here to read more.

The dressing code +254

This month I would like to share with you my views about dressing code or your wardrobe. Do you care about what you wear? What matters most to you? Is it the label, the designer, origin, the fabric, color or...

In this month post I would like us to look at dressing code which some of us might say it is obvious or simple. I'm not that a fashion guy but I have some sense of reflection when it comes to what I put on.

Why do people wear clothes? Is it to cover them selves, look attractive and fashionable, and follow some protocol in a company or an institution (uniform)? There are many other reasons that you have and list is endless no doubt about it. The fact is that every one of us is unique and self-driven in different ways and so dresses in a particular way for a reason. Let us look at some of these reasons;

• The work you do.
• Religion.
• Origin.
• Climate and weather patterns.
• Age.
• Fashion.
• Your body size.
• Occupation.
• Culture and traditions.
• Events.
• Occasions
• Etc.

How can your dressing code cost you a job or an opportunity? Come to think of this it applies to both boys and girls and every one of us has a personal style (what I call the "Me" culture) on how they dress and do things. To some extent I agree but when it comes to other situations some "Me" culture needs to be dropped and replaced by new ones.

I don't have answers for this but you look around and dress to what you can term is appropriate in your environment. Have you ever come a cross the saying that says, first impression counts?

I know this can be used in many contexts but using it to address the subject, the part of impression is also what you wear and also inline with the subject we have got different arrays of cultures which also influences the way we dress for example; the youth culture, older generation, singles, married, young and the restless etc. Whichever category you fall I urge you to dress appropriately (You know what's best for you where and when).

Are there any bench marks to the way we dress? From my point of view the answer is yes. Let us look at one practical example, the way you would dress for work is not the same as when going to a disco party or a football match. There are though lots of exceptions to how we dress in the 21st century whereby our offices are just within the living room.

Meaning you can work at home and still deliver. Amazingly in some organizations or companies dressing code doesn't count, you are flexible to put any clothes (descent in this case, you can't come to work with a vest) and what counts is if you deliver or not. But still remember it depends with many factors to be in this kind of a situation some I have mentioned above.

My advice to youth out there who are preparing for job interviews is to dress appropriately when going for the interviews. This might cost you an opportunity if you don't take it into account.

Lastly if you succeed in getting the job please learn the organizations culture and adapt to it. In some cases during the interview the interviewer might share with you the dressing code for the job or in unexpected situations your might be told while you are on the job.

This is October's edition till next month thanks for reading. Travel outside your continent, country, region, city, town, neighborhood you name it. You will see why dressing code is such an important thing in our society.

Pictures of the month

Life is like the football we juggle, you need to focus and keep the ball in control...

Focus on the goal and don't let the opportunity pass as you watch!

Be flexible and adjust to situations...

Leadership in perspective

How many of us out there dreamed of one day to be a leader in a church, youth groups, football club etc. Amazingly the list is endless with a few only are able to live their dreams. Come to think of it I have witness my peers debating about leadership , if leaders are made or born? I know everyone has got their own view about this topic and it’s hard to convince the masses which side has got majority of votes when it comes to the debate.

This month I want to share with you my understanding about leadership. First and foremost what is leadership? What is good leadership?

Web results:

• Leadership has been described as the "process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership

• Best site check this out - http://www.leadersdirect.com/leadership-defined

To be a leader you don’t have to be a CEO (Chief Executive Officer) in a big firm but my understanding is that leadership starts at the grass root level with what you do, how you react to situation, how you tackle problem and challenges , how you relate to your peers etc, all this will nature you to a great leader. You can go to school to learn about leadership but to some extent it is something intuitive and intimate.

Some of the common adjectives which springs to our mind about leadership are- honesty, dependable, fair-minded, co-operative, good aptitude , to name a few. For one to be a good leader you have to uphold some virtues, mind you making long speeches will not contribute to being a good leader.

Below are some insights about good leadership in perspective;

1. Integrity: Not compromising on your principles and being honest to both your work and yourself is the most important trait of a good leader.

2. Valuing time: Time is money.

3. Communication: The level of communication you have with your subordinates goes a long way in reinforcing your leadership quality.

4. Teamwork: Build a team around you for support and consultation will see your leadership being appreciated and valued.

5. Motivation: One of the main goals of a leader is motivating their group.

6. Decision-making: Making a decision is an art depending on the requirement at the moment.

7. Flexibility: Taking all negative circumstances in your stride and adapting accordingly shows fortitude and patience.

8. Empathy: Try to leave the four walls of your office and mingle with your subordinates outside in their own environment.

There are many things to consider before you can be called a good leader. Remember everybody can be a leader but the question is how many people can be good leaders? Yes you can I don't disagree but if you only consider the above list and many other factors.

Please feel free to share with me your personal stories on your roles as a youthful leader in the community and what you can term to be successful under your leadership.

Email me through wilson.masaka@gmail.com

Pictures speak louder than words.

My trip upcountry was fun, relaxing and adventurous. One thing I have come to notice with photographers they never leave their camera with them because you don’t know when that best picture might present itself. Below are some of my best photos with captions for you to think about and relate with yourself. Trip mid July!

Love and Respect your elders.

Take a bird’s eye view to everything you do

There’s light at the end of the tunnel keep on going.

No matter how little you think you are, you are still valuable and visible from a distance. You make that difference so don’t under estimate yourself.