About

This is a blog I kept during my travels in the summer and fall of 2006. Along with 8 other students in Volunteers in Latin America (VILA), I spent the summer working at Casa de la Ninez, a shelter for working children in Quito, Ecuador. Many of the children we worked with lived in unstable homes, often plagued with physical, verbal and sexual abuse.

Although technology was not a primary focus of our curriculum, I also aimed to examine the role that technology plays in developing countries and its potential for supporting development. I began volunteering for Fundación ChasquiNet, an NGO based in Quito that partners with underserved populations to set up community telecenters.

Directly after leaving Ecuador I sailed with Semester at Sea, a study abroad program aboard a ship that travels around the world, making ports of call in ten countries. We started in San Diego, California and sailed west, porting in Japan, China, Vietnam, Burma, India, Egypt, Turkey, Croatia, and Spain.

My interest in social media and other communication technologies for the social sector stems from an intersection between my interests in international development and social justice and my interests in information science.
I’m intrigued by how people access, organize, and retrieve information, particularly when they work in collaboration. Following these interests, I’m majoring in Science, Technology, and Society (STS) with a concentration in Information & Society at Stanford University.

I also enjoy learning languages, both to communicate and to gain insight into the cultures of different peoples. I’m pursuing a minor in Modern Languages (Spanish & Mandarin). I have also studied American Sign Language and Cantonese.

Oh, and I’m also into gymnastics, rock climbing, and tennis, and being outside in the sunshine.

Many thanks to Brandon for the lovely header image of this blog.