April 7, 2001
No. 7
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NKONSONKONSON
"chain"; symbol of unity and human relations
This symbol signifies the strong bond between people of common blood relations, which is difficult to break apart. This belief also includes the ancestors who are constantly protecting the living.
The symbol reminds everybody to give a helping hand to strengthen the community in which he or she lives. It also encourages the veneration of the ancestors in order for them to keep in touch with the living. It teaches that in unity lies strength.
--from Values of Adinkra Symbols by Adolph H. Agbo
CROSS POLLINATIONOne geek cannot do it all. Especially in my case. I may be able to teach the programmers at TSS Software how to design web pages, but I get that vacant look on my face when talk turns to Visual Basic or ASP.
TSS is migrating from Microsoft Fox Pro to Visual Basic for their programming. Jean-Luc and I worked out a trade: he spends one day at TSS working with the programmers and I spend a day at Akuaba, the furniture manufacturer where Jean-Luc is stationed. This was quite successful, at least on the TSS end. The programmers really enjoyed having Jean-Luc around; within an hour, they were animatedly discussing things and downloading things that I know nothing about!
The next week, Jason and I made the same deal. I went to his office, Ghana Classifieds, which runs a major internet portal here. Besides their own site, GC is a leading web design shop, and I went there for a day to help the designers use Dreamweaver and Fireworks. It was a great experience, as the GC team already know web design, and that gave me a different perspective than I get at TSS, where they are just getting their feet wet.
Again, I got the better end of the deal. Around 2 p.m., the electricity went out, and we spent the rest of the afternoon chatting outside and taking many group photos with my digital camera. I owe Jason another 3 hours of work, which I don't mind at all, especially if a lunch of vegetarian red-red is included!Jason did a great presentation on CGI, ASP, and PHP, all scripting strategies for making web pages interactive. Again, this is something I know almost nothing about, so I was really glad to have the chance to hear Jason's introduction to the subject. My fellow geeks have all been urging me to learn more on this, so that I communicate with programmers better, even if I don't do the programming myself, and I am taking their advice.
All of which gets back to my original post on Geekhalla.org when I guessed that a big part of the cross-cultural experience for me would be learning more about Geek languages and culture!
(top: Jason & me with the GC gang; middle: Jason discussing geek stuff
with Gyesi, Sammy and Tony; bottom: Sammy, me, Jason)
e-mail: jean@welltempered.net