My friend Brandon, the Mercatorial Librarian[1] has a post up reminding me that it's been ten years since we went to Nigeria to install computer labs and do training for professors in the Library Science department at Bayero University Kano in Kano, Nigeria.
It was that event which led me to Child Aid and doing similar work at Probigua in Antigua, Guatemala in 2005. All of which ultimately led to my Master's Thesis research on the political ecology of donated computers and e-waste in Accra, Ghana[2]. One of these days I'll really get that research published (I keep telling myself).
Anyway, it just reminds me that when I'm geeking out on this blog, or teaching about spatial databases (this fall at Portland State, GEOG 4/575, come on over), where my true passion lies.
[1] I assume this is a reference to Mercator, so how can I not like it?
[2] How many Geographers actually get scooped by National Geographic? Well, this one does. Turns out I was there at the same time as the NG guys, though they published first, obviously.
It's a word I made up, using Mercator as a root, to stand in for "globe-trotting" or "travelling around the world". Also, there are hints of mercurial in it, and that applies too.
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