Olá Familia de Edgeryders: big hug to all and especially for the incredible persons that kept ERs going all this time! I’m grateful you are still around and kicking it!!!
I too have been away for a while (about 1,5 years?). During this time I was sucked in by big spanish telco called Telefónica. Worked on 2 projects as the leader of ux teams. These projects were:
- First, a control panel for SMBs that integrates cloud services such as office365, box, etc. Pretty complex and interesting from a tech perspective but not much modjo in the long run!
- Secondly, a proxy "offering" a faster, data saver, more secure and private navigation. I was pushing the project towards a "putting humans in control of their digital lives" vision, however the corporate intention behind it wasn't about empowering people at all, but instead about retaliation against Google Chrome's "data saver"/proxy feature. What this actually means is that a telco can't have access to its client's data although providing them the network.
My takeaway from this experience is that the data war between these giants on who has access is pretty much at the beginning and it’s a very dark horizon. So, since I felt that what I was doing was actually more about destruction rather than building a better tomorrow: I quit.
Inspired by @Cristiano and other friends/ERs, I decided to leave Madrid and go long term travelling. Fast forwarding 7 months, here I am in the ouest coast of Madagascar currently looking for a boat to get to the african continent through Tanzania.
While in Madagascar I was very fortunate to collaborate with HERi Madagascar (beheri.com), a social enterprise that installs solar kiosks in remote villages where there is no electricity. Then they train women from these villages to be entrepreneurs to manage these kiosks and to rent affordable rechargeable lamps on a daily basis to their own villages.
This experience was highly enlightening! (get it? 
It made me realize that although having a meaningful direct impact in people’s lives, we were tackling the problem way too late, quickly feeling the urge of searching for the source of the problem.
From what I know (not much), I believe its roots lie in industrialized countries’ systems and many of their post-colonial dynamics: corrupt governments, corrupt companies, corrupt deals, corrupt practices, and the list goes on.
In other words (and sorry for the egocentric views), the most effective way to solve developing countries’ problems is to solve industrialized countries’ problems. Evolving current industrial system into a globally conscious, monitored, shared system (in short).
My first step towards this new goal is making alternative information about these new systems and new possibilities available for the masses. Making the alternative go mainstream. My assumption is that people don’t know of any other alternatives. If they new, they would seek it, vote for it, act upon it. For this I am currently talking with playgroundmag.net, a media company with aligned values and millions of followers, especially in Latin America. Let’s see where this takes us!
On the other hand, I’m interested in exploring the creation of an abundant society. In terms of Energy, Food, Shelter, Education, etc and … Care! OpenCare taps right into this as I see it as a foundational experiment for next culture societies.
Knowing that I’m currently traveling throughout East Africa and in constant commuting, I’m looking forward for this Monday’s community call to understand how I can best support the project.
Take care and hopefully see you on Monday!
Tiago