Journey by Dmitri Dawkins

Slash Roots 2012: Developing The Caribbean

// January 23rd, 2012 // No Comments » // Technology

Click for High Res

World Bank Open Data evangelist, Dr Tariq Khokhar will deliver the keynote address at the Opening Plenary of the Mona School of Business-hosted SlashRoots-Caribbean Open Data Conference, which is being presented under the theme, “Developing the Caribbean.” Describing his interests as being “where technology, transparency, poverty
and data meet”, Dr. Khokhar will speak on the topic: “Open Data: The New Revolution”. The Conference which takes place January 26-27, in the Faculty of Law building at the Mona campus, opens on the first day of the University of the West Indies’ “Research Day.”

As a co-organizer I invite you to attend the conference for the keynote address and more. Please see below:

Agenda for Jamaica: http://developingcaribbean.org/jamaica-agenda/

Event Registration: http://developingthecaribbean.eventbrite.com/

Talent or Hard Work?

// November 30th, 2011 // No Comments » // Life

Recently I got an email with this article and comments. I thought it would be interesting to share and get the views of others:

I read this interesting study on whether talent or hard work counts for the most in achieving success. of course, hard work won out over talent. Here are some excerpts:

People of great accomplishment tend to be highly intelligent. Yet, the view that creative geniuses accomplish more on account of their inherent ability does not stand up. When intellectually gifted children were followed up in middle age, their creative achievements were astonishingly small according to a celebrated study by Lewis Terman. High intelligence may be necessary for creative accomplishment but it is clearly not sufficient. Achievement in most creative fields calls for a lot of work and effort. Mastery requires many years of single-minded pursuit. Music and performance arts are something of an exception where child stars emerge much more quickly thanks, presumably, to specialized talents with which they may indeed be born given that musical ability runs in families. For most other endeavors, achievement is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.

The concept of genius is nothing but comforting fiction. For it helps explain why most of us do not achieve at the highest level in our chosen field: we are not geniuses. The trouble is that there is little compelling evidence in psychology for any such latent superiority. The concept of the genius may be comforting to the rest of us. Yet, it remains a fiction. 

But the following excerpts on IQ and financial success were also very interesting:

An interesting article by the economist Garett Jones of George Mason University on “National IQ and National Productivity,” essentially shows that a nation’s intelligence level is associated with a number of important economic outcomes. (Me: hence what is happening in Ja. with our educational abyss within the general population.) In the article, Jones stresses that “policymakers should include measures of national average IQ when reporting a nation’s level of human development” as at present no nation appears to do so. He also points out that one way of raising a nation’s IQ level is to allow smarter immigrants into the country. (Me: This is not a new concept, for years company’s have sought the brightest employees that they can get to increase their growth and profitability. Look at Apple. Or even IBM, worldwide as here in Ja., which has kept IBM relevant.)

Now psychologists Heiner Rindermann of Chemnitz University of Technology and James Thompson of University College London have published a paper in the journal Psychological Science on the concept of “Cognitive Capitalism: The Effect of Cognitive Ability on Wealth, as Mediated Through Scientific Achievement and Economic Freedom.” The authors examined cognitive ability datasets from over 90 countries to show that average IQ is essentially the decisive factor of human capital and that it is really the top 5% of a country’s population – or the smart fraction - that largely impacts a nation’s wealth. The authors write that “Cognitive ability influences wealth through its effects on high achievement …” (Me: that is high achievers are generally smarter people. As the first paragraph says: People of great accomplishment tend to be highly intelligent.)

Dr. Rindermann told me that because the modern cognitive demands of work and everyday life are growing, essentially “wealth has become cognitive wealth,” and in particular “high ability wealth” or the smart fraction of the population is what matters.  It is the absolute ability level of this fraction of the population that makes the difference (to a country’s wealth).

The article then goes on to speak of China — with a larger ‘smart fraction’ of people — as compared to the USA and the inevitable outcome.

Do you agree?

Caribbean BETA, Showcasing ICT in the Region

// November 28th, 2011 // No Comments » // Technology

Sitting at the judge’s table listening intently to 17 Caribbean startups are the four judges: Marc Canter, Michelle Messina, Chris Reckord and Anthony Chang. In case you don’t know by now, this is Caribbean BETA 2011.

The inaugural conference which was a first of its kind in Jamaica, took place on Friday, November, 25th, 2011 at the Jamaica Pegasus. Caribbean BETA is “a regional technology entrepreneurship conference that brings together global experts and the best Caribbean minds on the leading edge of the tech business boom.”

In the second half of the event, startups were given a chance to pitch an idea, in the hopes of getting feedback about their concept and beating out the competitors for first place.
Dubbed “PITCHfest” by Connectimass Founder, Ingrid Riley – the pitch lineup included: Mobile and Web Apps, eLearning, Social Media, and Online Advertising.

Each startup was given a strict 5 minute limit to present, with an additional 2 minutes to field questions and receive feedback from the four judges. Each event in the BETA series encourages elevator pitches from startups – but this event was different – the audience was bigger and the best 3 pitches would receive a prize.

After approximately an hour of deliberation, the judges listed 3rd place to Socialite JA – a startup founded by Christopher Crawford and Klieon John. Socialite JA offers a range of services including: event marketing, on-line ticket sale management, banner ads, contributor space rental and engaging target audiences for their clients. Their ultimate goal is to help small organizations improve their promotional activity through on-line marketing.

The 2nd place winner was the mobile-application startup, TUMP – a startup founded by Rory Burchenson, Ramon Dunkley, Christopher Hinds, Omarie Case and Glenford Dickson. TUMP is a geo-location mobile application that connects users to business, events, discounts and deals in Jamaica. The app has features that include:

• Around me
• Nightlife
• iWant
• Freenis
• Map it

DmitriDawkins.com is proud to announce that 1st place went to DM3 Media for a pitch on a Social Data Network and business intelligence web application/ERP designed to reports and make better decisions.  Please see the embedded presentation at the end of this post.

We caught up with Ingrid Riley at the ConnectiMass follow up “Digital City Mechanics Workshop” held on Saturday, 26th November, 2011 at the JAMPRO headquarters in New Kingston, Jamaica. When asked about the inaugural Caribbean BETA staging and future events she had this to say:

“We surpassed even our own expectations. We had just over 200 attendees and the instant feedback on Twitter and Facebook showed that we were successful in serving up an experience that people learnt from, were inspired by with this conference that also providing amazing network opportunities. Caribbean BETA will be annual, we will continue with our Kingston BETA bi-monthly meet-ups and we’re about to stage Jamaica Startup Weekend which is a 54-hour experiential entrepreneurial education event. And that’s just the events side of ConnectiMass. We’re on a mission to grow tech entrepreneurship in Jamaica and across the Caribbean we have much more coming in 2012.”

This article features content originally featured on the Silicone Caribe website, for more information on this and other events, please visit: www.siliconcaribe.com. We thank Silicone Caribe and its parent company Connectimass for encouraging growth and innovation in the Jamaican ICT sector by hosting the series of BETA events.

Efficiencies in Filing Year End Tax Returns

// November 23rd, 2011 // No Comments » // Cool Stuff

MC Systems in association with Tax Administration Jamaica is putting on a Payroll conference on December 1, 2011 to go over the new year end tax procedures. The admission for the event is an affordable $1000. This event is geared towards anyone who would like to be updated on the new year end procedures as well as those who have questions for the Tax Administration Department. Please RSVP using the contact details in the flier above. There is also a Linked In event so you can share it with your colleagues : http://linkd.in/u91t32

If you attend, please leave feedback on this post afterwards. Thanks.

12 Dozen places to educate yourself online

// November 10th, 2011 // No Comments » // Cool Stuff, Life

Just a quick post sharing a link my friend @skreech2 sent me recently.

http://www.marcandangel.com/2010/11/15/12-dozen-places-to-self-educate-yourself-online/

It features 12 dozen places to educate yourself online. Personally I am a fine of MIT’s Open Courseware, but the link lists several other sources covering:

• Science and health
• Business and money
• History and world culture
• Law
• Computer science and engineering
• Mathematics
• English and communication
• Foreign and sign languages
• Plus More

Hope you enjoy!