[this project is no longer in operation.]Connect Cambodia was a Kinyei facilitated initiative using community wireless deployments to facilitate information access in Cambodian communities. Currently in the process of setting up initial testbed deployments around Battambang, we’re always looking for additional collaboration.

Back in October, some folks got together in Phnom Penh for the city’s second ever Barcamp. We went along and shot some footage of the event which our good friend Martin Potter over at SCY kindly put together in the form of a rocking little clip of our experiences there:

The event attracted about 850 participants in the end, from over 12 countries and really showcased the region’s vibrant web and open culture community. While the event’s central focus is emerging tech and skill sharing, the sessions covered a massive range of topics from online journalism to lucid dreaming. SE Asian bloggers such as KK, 31o5 and Viirak were out in full force along with CNNGo’s Preetam Rai.

Kinyei put together a presentation on ad hoc volunteering and discovered in the process a really cool local initiative called ShareVision. Entirely volunteer based, the Share Vision team run seminars to share real world skills and expertise that students don’t get within the scope of their formal education.

Other projects up our alley included InSTEDD’s GeoChat and Mesh4x – open-source projects which enable dispersed teams to communicate with each other (a critical need for NGOs working with Cambodia’s primarily rural population) – and the Meking ICT 4 Development camp which tries to bring NGOs together to generate innovative solutions to problems using ICT.

The weekend was a huge success (here are some photos) so hats off to the organizers and their team of volunteers, and a big shout out to the generation of open collaborators, journalists, bloggers and developers in and around Cambodia who look poised to shape the future of the region.

Buddhism For Development, one of Cambodia’s largest and oldest continually operating local NGOs, has agreed to partner with Kinyei to promote and run the Shout human rights day event here in Battambang. BFD brings with it strong ties to the local community and will be an essential component to making Shout a huge event for Battambang. We’re excited.

Partnering with the Cambodian NGO, Support Children and Young People, this project will engage young citizens of Battambang in a series of workshops teaching media skills to ultimately produce small human rights documentaries. These will be a pivotal part of Shout! the Human Rights festival to be held on the banks of the river Sangke in Battambang on December 10th, 2009.

The Profile Project is an experiment in ad hoc collaboration in the international development sector. Short video profiles will showcase the human rights work being done on the ground in Battambang and screened at the Shout! Human Rights Festival on December 10th, 2009.

The Profile Project works like this:

1. International volunteer writes up an idea for a video
2. Cambodian volunteers here in Battambang gather the footage for it
3. International volunteer edits the video together and sends it over for the Human Rights Day festival in Battambang

The Profile Project is always looking for additional collaborators to produce videos. If you have the ability to edit video and the desire to engage with local reps and NGOs who are working support human rights in Cambodia, sign up and join the discussion.

To get started, check out the list of participating NGOs, then ask some questions or put your hand up in the Project Profile forum.

We’re in Phnom Penh tonight, getting some materials together for Barcamp Phnom Penh (2). At time of writing there are 1146 participants currently registered from 12 countries, which I gather is something of a record. It’s certainly floored us.

I’m amazed by the response that the event has attracted (the entire attendance of the last two barcamps I attended wouldn’t have made up bcpp2’s organization committee..) and am really excited to see what themes emerge in this intersection of collaborative, web 2.0 and free culture with South East Asian – and specifically Cambodian – perspectives.

It’ll also be great to catch up with several folks here utilizing FrontlineSMS for SMS based information systems, and finding out a bit more about what goes on down at InSTEDD.