14th at S, and at Sunset

This is one of my favorite pictures from the summer.

Between my office and all the places to eat and drink, I’ve spent a lot of time on 14th Street this summer. Business is booming – new restaurants opening, new buildings going up.

Happy 4th

BBQ rampage

In Benin I ate very little meat and since getting back to the US I’ve been on an absolute BBQ rampage. So far I’ve been to Rockland’s BBQ in Georgetown, Hill Country in Chinatown, Dinosaur BBQ in Rochester, NY, and eaten from this BBQ bus at the Capitol Skyline Hotel. Oh, and I had some BBQ at Madam’s Organ in Adam’s Morgan. It’s starting to remind me of my road trip through the south last summer.

If you’re in DC you should check these guys out. They know BBQ, they’re on Twitter and they’re using some good tech to make ordering and paying a breeze.

Exciting Summer Ahead

Now that the semester is over, I’m enjoying the summer break.

First up: Benin. After following the (prolific!) blogging of Plan USA‘s Linda Raftree, I’m very happy to have the opportunity to join Plan Benin for a month in Cotonou. I arrived on Tuesday and while here I’ll be supporting a project designed to report and reduce violence against children. The project facilitates community-based reporting via FrontlineSMS and Ushahidi, two powerful open source technologies that are increasingly important to development organizations around the world. My work involves collaborating with the great team here to address a number of technical and social questions that have come up in the first year of implementation.

In mid-June I’ll head back to Washington, D.C., and will spend the remainder of the summer break working with Development Seed, a small, cutting-edge technology firm that pushes the boundaries of what is possible in open data, online and offline mapping, web design, and technology use in international development. These guys are super sharp and I can’t wait to dig in.

My summer map (thanks DevSeed & TileMill)

SBUX Refuse [phonetography]

I can’t get over this oil spill. Today they’re saying that the dispersants they’ve been using will actually extend the time it takes to clean up the oil to years. And they’re not close to stopping the spill.

Also, have you seen @BPGlobalPR?