CI notes of interest...

Manual Castell's characterization of the on/off world accurately describes life for the past few weeks. Because we do not deal specifically with ICT development there is a culture of "off" at work that is very difficult for me to adapt to. There are of course IT people and projects within the organization, but they are managed like other resources. They are locked down -- I needed permission from the country representative to be able to turn on my MSN messenger. Our connection runs through a proxy server which requires login -- to which I as an employee do not have access. Effectively I am turned off to the more progressive applications and uses of the internet.

Now that I am serving in the role of program assistant, writing grants, evaluating projects and the like, I am amazed at the amount of information that I am asked to manage without any real system to do so. Part of my problem is tht I am not adequately enculturated. There is an extensive vocabulary of accronyms and jargon which allows people to mentally characterize information. I can imagine, however, that this system of codification make working with outsiders more difficult.