The new machines might save us.

HaitiHub conversation classes are in full swing. I couldn't be happier with the successes we've had so far and the possibilities that remain for this kind of language learning and community building online that has VERY real impact on the kind and quality of cooperation that occurs on the ground in Haiti.

But HaitiHub is not the point of this post. Technology is.

Just a few hours ago, one student, who normally joins the Tuesday class from Tennessee, signed into Skype and joined the HaitiHub conference call (which in itself is an amazing technology offered FOR FREE) from his iPhone outside of Jacmel, Haiti in a small community inaccessible to cars. You can't even drive a truck up these hillsides, but you can use your phone from there to interact with satellites in a way that connects your voice to four other voices in Southern California, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Alberta, Canada over the internet. I thought this student was going to miss the HaitiHub class - but there he was.

There's a smart phone app called Radio Haiti that allows you to listen to live Haitian radio stations.

Friends from Haiti who don't have electricity in their homes have Facebook accounts and sign in from time to time using the employee computers available in the NPH-Haiti Hospital.

Technology is bringing us closer and closer all the time and it's happening at a dizzying pace. I know that I'm supposed to be young and at the heart of all things tech and web2.0 but holy poop I can't keep up with all of this. I mentioned to someone that I had started a blog and they told me to check out Tumblr. Here's a quote from Tumblr's website:

"Tumblr: Microblogging done right. Tumblr is to blogs what text messages are to email."

Okay, I'm 25 and grew up on video games but I'm still gonna need a minute to wrap my head around that one...

Half the time I wish it would all slow down. But the other half of the time, I wish it would progress even faster because all these developments are opening doors and connecting people and solving problems.

Now if only there was an app to summarize the 1000 unread blog posts in my Google Reader...

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