I found this:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/db-toolkit/

Love it so far, but the learning curve is steep. It allows you to create interfaces, where you can view or input data from a DataBase. It’s all customisable by themes and CSS. It allows you to build apps in WordPress for WordPress as custom menus and widgets. Can even use short codes to include the app in posts or pages. It also supports pulling data from API’s and allows you additional functionality by your OWN API!!!

I hope this helps.

JPS will launch the project for the construction of  its multi-billion dollar Maggotty Hydroelectric Power Plant in St. Elizabeth on Thursday March 15.

The hydroelectric project, expected to cost 26 million US dollars, is the biggest to be undertaken in Jamaica in nearly 50 years.

JPS already has a hydro-plant at Maggotty which provides roughly 6 megawatts of  electricity.

The new power plant, will add another 6.3 megawatts to the national grid and employ 100 persons during the construction phase.

I think the original source was RJR news.

This is good though, St. Elizabeth already has wind farms producing renewable energy. Since the decline of bauxite mining, does this mean St. Elizabeth will now become the farming and renewable energy capital of the island?

Cool Stuff!

What’s new?

Well several things. This should probably be broken into several posts but……. well maybe I will do that later.

In January we successfully had Slash Roots Developers Conference, which is also the Developing Caribbean Open Data Conference. This was held simultaneously in Jamaica, Trinidad and The Dominican Republic. Check the details at http://developingcaribbean.org Much props to the organising team and MSB for pulling off this event.

February brought many challenges. In the space of one month I lost my Grand Aunt and Grandfather. Very difficult time. I think I will have to do several posts on this. Both of them achieved great things technically and introduced technology to Jamaica. But most importantly they are family and friends.

During this process I was also reminded of the lesson to keep the balls juggling. I nearly lost a major customer due to things falling behind during this difficult time. Lesson learned. No man is an island, we all need help and we all need to appreciate those who help us. Also communication with customers is key.

March so far has been very busy, not much I can speak about due to NDA’s. However I can tell you I was invited to lecture at UTech on March 5 and 8 on innovation and how it promotes entrepreneurship. Much thanks to Lisa Shaw for inviting me, I had a blast interfacing with the third and final year students. So many students planned to start their own business and some even shared their ideas with me. Really cool stuff, right here in Jamaica. Look out world!

Big event for March so far was rolling during a rally on March 4. I was co-driving for Thomas Hall in his Toyota Starlet. Basically we went around the corner sliding a little wide, the back tyre caught a rock and we started the tumble. Thankfully we are both fine with no injuries. Thomas is trying to get the car repaired for the next event. In the mean time we have to buy new safety gear. Photo below:

Sorry about the long read. I have installed the WordPress app on my tablet. Will try doing some shorter, more frequent updates for the rest of the year. In the mean time, live long and prosper!

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.

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!

This is pretty cool because now you can see how your contacts are connected. But how else can data visualisation help us?

Location:

I have been trying to track keywords and events based on location via social media tools for a long time. The issue with social sites like Twitter is that people don’t set their location correctly. For instance if a Twitter user enters Jamaica as their location then it assumes Jamaica, New York, USA, not the country. Also people use other terms like jamdown, jamrock, or just cities like Kingston or Montego Bay. When trying to find tweets from a specific area even if the person matches the keywords the location may be off.

So I first considered creating a list of Jamaican twitter users, however how will this be updated (migration etc.)? Then I thought of tracking interactions and then flagging users as Jamaican, but once again that would require alot of human interaction. Ideally I want something automated and dynamic. InMaps gave me a potential answer. Track interactions between users and then group them into subsets just like InMaps. Couple that with a metrics system, where a user with properly filled out Location or listed under multiple twitter lists with specific keywords or Klout has a higher metric than others. When users are associated with other users with higher metrics it helps to create focal points for the network.

Online communities are associated by content, relation (friends, family, groups, alumni) or location. By establishing the link between individuals online we can create a dynamic social mapping tool more accurate than what currently exists, even more accurate than what the user them-self knows. This would allow analysis of keywords by social-location-grouping or possibly by profession, education, and more.

What are your views?

LIKE many others, I have been following with considerable interest the reminiscences of Leslie Galbraith in fellow columnist Mark Wignall’s Sunday space about the part he and others played in the development of electronic sound reproduction in Jamaica.

As we are aware, the sound system is an outgrowth of radio, which, in its early incarnation, used vacuum tubes to snatch modulated magnetic radiation from the ether and convert it into a form the human ear can detect.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/A-sound-pioneer-s-resonating-chords_8469303#ixzz1FvD8d81B

Foursquare Swarm Badge

At 8:44pm I felt like I had caught my unicorn when I unlocked the Swarm Badge on Foursquare. This is the most prized badge I have and am proud to now have it since I started promoting Foursquare use in Jamaica months ago. This is not the first event I have been to where I expected to unlock the badge. Originally I expected it to be unlocked at Monster, a party at Chilitos Mexican, however even though over 50 foursquare users attended, they were not all checked in at the same time. The Fiction Lounge also tried to unlock it at one of their events, with no success.

So without further adieu, congratulations to Jamaica Pegasus for hosting the first Foursquare flashmob in Jamaica. Keep on innovating!

Parris Lyew-Ayee (centre at podium) Managing Director of Mona GeoInformatics Institute (MGI)

Yesterday I attended the launch of Jampro’s (Jamaica Promotions Corporation) Interactive Investment Map. Jampro is in charge of ensuring sustainable development arising from foreign direct investment into Jamaica. Without a doubt this new tool has helped them leap forward by providing factual information in an easy to use interface for the world.

The Investment Map is an online tool built atop the Google map platform that conveniently provides pictorial views and data on key infrastructure, investment projects, lands for development and natural resources. You can try it out by clicking here: http://projects.monagis.com/jampro_test/

Dr. Parris Lyew-Ayee with the Mona Geoinformatics Institute developed the map for Jampro using data from government departments. The map makes it easy to find key investment opportunities in Jamaica. The map was developed at a cost of approximately two million Jamaican dollars, and praise was given to open source tools, which helped to keep the development cost low.

Dmitri Dawkins asking about open access to the data

The first thing that came to mind was the possible 3rd party uses of this data. I asked about the access to this data for everyone, fortunately Claude Duncan, VP of Investment Promotion at JAMPRO, took the time out to address the question and said the data would be available to everyone. Currently they (Jampro) are considering ways to enable people to access the data for this map, outside of the map itself. This is good news for Jamaica’s budding software development industry, access to the data will allow them to create more tools that benefit the local economy making this a truly multi-faceted investment.

(From Left) Parris Lyew-Ayee, Claude Duncan, Myself and Kelroy Brown discussing the investment map

One guest at the function questioned who would be in charge of updating the data, Jampro with additional funding hopes to ensure the data is updated as necessary, including new data from the upcoming census. They also noted that some data is dated based on the source such as the last census (2000). Hopefully in the future with geo-location services like Foursquare gaining popularity in Jamaica, we can integrate social communication to update statistics in this map (venue names etc.).

Overall I like the push of this new tool, I think it will be very useful and I applaud Jampro for using available technology to promote Jamaica. Special thanks to Mark Thompson for inviting me and providing photos from the event. For more photos please see below:

The aim of the project is is to promote content about Jamaica or created by Jamaicans. We will also sometimes share information helpful to the blogging community.

Currently the project is only on Twitter (@jamaicanblogger) however we also plan to launch a website soon. The @JamaicanBlogger handle currently re-tweets content posted under the #Jamaicanblogger hashtag. There is also a daily newspaper that aggregates links from the hashtag automatically: http://paper.li/tag/jamaicanblogger it has a history of previous editions as well.

Nicky from Cinnamon Coffee one of the project primaries, who originally came up with the hashtag, has also created the two logos below which we will be using to promote the project:

What would really help is feedback on the logo and what you would like to see from the project. Please comment below or contact us on twitter @JamaicanBlogger or email jamaicanblogger@dmitridawkins.com with feedback, suggestions and ideas you may have. Thanks.

Tweet