pauloverseas

Bert Vierstra

Active Member
Nov 5, 2002
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Homeless
Looking at my statistics i found that pauloverseas (aka Paul Wallace) is one of the terms used to find this forum :shock:

From Pauls website:

calendar : 11-Sep to 31-Oct, Bali, Indonesia
Return to Bali for several weeks, conducting research into the use of ICTs for community development and e-Learning.

Paul, could you you tell us something, why and how you will do research like this in Bali... :?:
 

pauloverseas

New Member
Apr 5, 2004
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paul.onestop.net
Wow, a thread named after me... that was a surprise :shock: I thought I was in trouble :wink: !

Although I have started a couple of threads here, I suppose I never did introduce myself and my interest in Indonesia.

As for my story... Originally from the US, I've been working in Japan since 1998. My background is in Instructional Technology, and I came to Japan to work at a university (in a beautiful rural setting) on e-learning systems, wrote books, and also taught courses on e-business technologies.

About 4 years ago I moved to the "big city", Tokyo, to work in IT consulting and training -- primarily in mobile Internet systems. My focus is on user experience architecture for "presence" (spatial and temporal), e.g., applications for Internet-connected mobile phones that are aware of services (or people, educational resources, etc.) in the user's immediate vicinity.

My interest in Indonesia started about 3 years ago, on a spur-of-the-moment vacation to Bali. That trip made a huge impression on me. I didn't quit my job immediately on returning to Tokyo, but I did reevaluate my life and career focus. Then took the better part of last year off to surf and travel in Australia and Java -- and returning from the most recent trip, I decided to make a plan for getting the hell out of Tokyo and ending the rat race for me!

I never was a city person, never really liked offices, and have no great love for being in the corporate world right now. In the near future I'd much rather be teaching, and working on my own research ideas, at a university in the US or Australia.

With my interest in Indonesia, and background in educational technology, I'm planning to come to Bali and Java next month (!) to spend 6 to 12 months to educate myself on what's being done now in the areas of community technology centers, assistive technologies and IT access for persons with disabilities, and ICTs for education. Hopefully I can find a specific topic to research long-term. This trip is self-funded, but when I'm in a position to apply for grants I'll hopefully be able to continue and contribute in a larger capacity in future years.

Bert, I am hoping we can meet in person sometime (I expect to be in Bali from early September) to talk about lots of things. Also, anyone who is interested in these areas, please feel free to contact me. A couple of organizations I have already contacted and hope to volunteer with in Bali are:

Bali Hati Organization
http://www.balihati.org
Bali Hati is a non-profit organization to promote the education and social welfare of the people of Bali

Kupu-Kupu Foundation
http://yamp.com/KupuKupu/
Kupu-Kupu is a non-profit organization whose aim is to improve the lives of the physically and mentally disabled

Other recommendations, resources, and ideas are welcomed!

Finally, Bert, I have no idea why my username links to the Bali Expat Forums. But as you have noted before, Google (particularly) will pick up most topics on the forums.