Posts from the ‘Ramblings’ Category

Why Java?

Occasionally this question comes up, although it has never been presented by the application’s end-user community. Most users really wouldn’t worry about what languages are used. It would be akin to questioning why truck drivers picked petrol from a Shell gas station over Exon. At the end of the day – the driver wants to get from point A to B and which gas station he or she picks is irrelevant. Similarly the end-users we work with, just want working software. Details on what the programming languages that are used under the hood would be irrelevant to them.

This said, let me take a more detailed stab at answering the question.

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Updates From the Overseas Development Institution – Part 1

A couple of weeks ago, we had the privilege to work with 11 different humanitarian agencies, from the UN, NGO and the Red Cross/Red Crescent Society. This was a an educational session for our fellow practitioners on LMMS and the possibility of using the system in their own operations. In my next posting, I’ll detail more results and feedback from that session for all of us.  In the interim, the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP), had asked me a series of questions before I left London, that they then posted to their blog space as a combined response. You can find that entry here: http://www.alnap.org/blog/71.aspx

Updated Quick Fact Sheet Now Available

Click LMMS Quick Fact Sheet for the latest one pager on LMMS. The Resources pages have a number of other files and resources for users of the system. If you need access, please contact us via the comment links.

Why Commerical Grade Devices?

We recently had a colleague from a European office, traveling through Uganda where he had an opportunity to witness a small distribution that was using LMMS. It was interesting to get his observations about how the system optimizes the workflow processes  associated with various business practices (his observations were centered on the commodity distribution processes and the processes for how people are verified when picking up aid rations).  He did have a question on why LMMS uses commercial grade devices over iPhones and other smart phone type devices (i.e. consumer grade devices). Read more

Mobile Madness?

I’ve been meaning to get this post down for months now … I’ve been remiss BUT having after an interview yesterday with Gabrielle Smith; who’s doing an assessment for CaLP on new technologies in the humanitarian sector, I feel inspired to take a few minutes and get some thoughts onto the virtual whiteboard .. hopeful with some debate and better learning for all of us!

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Opening Soon

Ahhaa  … So you’ve found the new location of last mile on the web before I was ready for you!

I’m in the process of setting this site up. Stay tuned – won’t be long once I get all of the material together for this site.

But its not like there isn’t enough info on LMMS. You can start with all the old posts which can be found at www.jaynarhan.com/LMMS

All the best,

Jay