In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

In September, my colleague William Cole and I wrote about a revolution in data analytics that is affecting how many of us in the development field manage and analyze information. In that blog post, we expressed support for the growing open data movement that is an integral part of this transformational moment.

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In recent years, a revolution in data analytics has changed the way both public and private sector institutions share, manage, and analyze information – and it’s a revolution now reaching developing nations. In Timor-Leste, the Ministry of Finance has just made current, real-time national budget statistics available online.

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In recent years, the power of networked communication, and the increasingly sophisticated modes of transit along these networks, has changed the nature of open dialogue among Asia’s citizens.  It’s providing some of the most remote and isolated places in the region with a global voice. In Afghanistan, locally-produced blogs have become a place where journalists [...]

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Meet Buddhist Monks, Ride an Elephant Budget travelers in search of inexpensive Southeast Asian vacation packages take notice: the Constitutional Court of Thailand has disbanded the ruling government party and barred the current Prime Minister, Somchai Wongsawat, from participating in Thai politics for five years.  In short, the occupation of Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi International airport by [...]

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In the last several days here in Kathmandu, despite real and threatened violence, a flurry of campaign activity has taken place in advance of Nepal’s critical Constituent Assembly election. Parties from across the political spectrum engage in planned and spontaneous rallies that snake through Kathmandu’s narrow lanes in a seemingly endless procession of colorful flags, [...]

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