2021 – A cleaner GMAIL that stopped working!

Here we are another year gone and a new one to begin. How was your New Year’s Eve – saying goodbye to one of the most ‘challenging year ever’ globally! I don’t even want to talk about ‘the virus’ or anything to do with it. Let’s just dwell on the positives of the year. We all went through it in our own ways and felt our own pain and aches and sorrow and grief and happiness and joy and we all as one world just hope that 2021 is better!

But then…that’s what we wish for every year don’t we? At least 2020 has taught us resilience if anything. It has showed us our most vulnerable moments as an individual, family, local community, nation and world.

Some have passed on, while some of us still here – and well…life goes on with just another day of chasing dreams!

It’s been awhile since I last posted – actually I don’t think I did much blogging at all in 2020 though it was an ideal time to – maybe I’ll do all the delayed posts this year. We’ll see.

But you know with it being the time of the year with resolutions being made, and cleaning out things from yesterday…

I wanted to share with you about what I just did, some couple of hours ago.

A major achievement for me! I also did some cleaning! lol!

(drumroll!)

I cleared out my GMAIL! Yep! From 30,000+ unread emails to 2,000 and a bit.

Phew!

I only took a screenshot of this when I realised that – hey – I should do an article on this! LOL! so this 22,476 was halfway through it.

What motivated me to go through my emails?

Well… my email stopped! yes STOPPED! No receiving or sending! and I don’t even know how long ago… I only realised when I kept refreshing and the last email was somewhere to the end of December. (ok so it must have been just before New Year’s Eve) and I didn’t see any 2021 emails – that was on the phone.

I thought it was because my phone storage was low – so I tried accessing my email on the laptop when the notification at the top showed up:

“You can’t send or receive emails because you’re out of storage space.”…

This is a screenshot I got off from Google – I didn’t take a snipping of mine – because I didn’t think I’d need to.

How can someone run out of space? Many people ask me this! LOL! I did! by the way I have two other gmail addresses I use for other purposes – and they are also running out of space.

How much storage space does google give? 15 Gb! That is a lot! Buuuut as you can see, it can run out 😀 eventually.

I had used 15.3 Gb of my 15Gb storage! hahaha!

How did I manage to run out of storage space and get GMAIL to stop working?

(drumroll!)

Google Photos! Synching!

So beginning of 2020, before I moved country for studies – I decided to sync my photos from my phone to Google Photos! Yeh, for back up and also so that I could access them from laptop, phone where ever I went – but I didn’t realise that I was taking gazillion photos and each and every one of them was synching on my google storage.

When you create your gmail account – you have access to all the other google features in the one account – Google Photos, Google Drive, Google Calendar etc – and they all share the same 15Gb!

So while my photos were syncing I was running out of space.

I disabled syncing – but by then, I just couldn’t be bothered going through the photos to remove the ‘uneccesary’ ones so that there would be space and so just left it.

Apart from that – I have been using Google Drive a lot now in 2020 – you know being in isolation and doing things online etc.

and another thing was ‘SUBSCRIPTIONS’.

Which makes up the bulk of the 30,000+ UNREAD gmails (emails). I’ve had my gmail account since 2013 or end of 2012.

(it is my 2nd one – my original one I had when gmail came to PNG back in 2007 – has been permanently deleted – and that’s another dramatic story to never be told hehe!)

Since end of 2012, I’ve subscribed to all sorts of mailing lists! Well only realised now going through cleaning it all out.

From Tech Subscriptions, to Women Issues , to Faith and Bible subscriptions, Daily Messages (which took a bulk delete) and mailing groups, and the list goes on and on.

Some of them along the way I unsubscribed, but much of the ‘unread’ mail still sat in the inbox.

How do you filter out unread emails?

You can filter out quickly just your unread emails by typing – Label: Unread in the search box of your gmail – this will show all your unread emails.

and search by subscription – you include the email address or the Name of sender after label:unread to further filter out specific senders.

It’s always handy knowing these to help you search in your gmail but can work in Google and other search engines. Use of ” “ (quotations) if you want to specifically search on that string of letters name so it doesn’t pick up other words that contain those key words.

Deleting Google Photos

I just had to go through individually and delete the blurry , repeated and not-needed pics. There is the multi-select option so you can scroll, select as many as you can and then delete. Select in blocks of at least 20 or 40 and then delete – don’t try to do everything all at once!

So from 15.3 Gb I started removing some of the unnecessary snappy pics from Google Photos – to bring storage to 15Gb and then I started going through gmail emails and unsubscribed and mass deleted and thrashed zillions of emails!

I am now down to: 12.23 GB (81%) of 15 GB used – Phew! Here is the break up of Google Storage of my account.

I still have much cleaning to do of Gmail and Google Photos but for now – life goes on! At least one less clutter done for – I think 12,000 from 60,000+ is a maaajor improvement and 30,000 unread to 2,354 deserves a tiny celebration 😀

So here it is me celebrating – writing a post about it all!

How is your gmail? or hotmail?

Are you running out of space? do you read every email that comes in? Do you also subscribe to so many mailing lists?

Some tips from all of this:

Don’t subscribe unnecessarily – Today I don’t think there is a need because you can just go online whenever you want to and read up the same information that is sent to your email (but the plus side of it – you don’t have to search globally and far – it is all in your gmail). If there is weekly mails – opt for that rather than daily (unless if you think is really necessary – like 30days to Losing Weight Email-A-Day.
Don’t sync Google Photos to your mobile!! If you want to, select a certain folder only! There are settings and options you can do that – that way, not all the photos get synced. Most of mine were whatsapp images – from the family groups where we post about every little meme, step by step of our daily lives lol! Yes but don’t. Otherwise create a separate Gmail account just for your photos – I just thought of that – maybe I’ll do that too now! (2021 Project)
Make use of labels features and categories for your gmail to help you organise your mail.
Create a separate gmail for subscriptions if you need to. Cool thing about accessing gmail on your mobile device, you can easily switch between multiple gmail accounts.

Oh if you want to check your storage status – scroll down to the bottom of your last email on the page showing, you will see it in red – under it will be the word “Manage” – click on that will show you the break up of storage of your gmail account.

Hi5s to me for a major achievement 5 days into the New Year!

Let’s keep the good vibes going! All the best to you too!

Here is my first post for 2021! Sure hope it is not the last! 😀

Pacific Internet Society hosts First Pacific Women in ICT Virtual Meetup

The first e-MeetUp for Pacific Women in ICT took place on Tuesday 22nd September, 2020 hosted by Pacific Internet Society (PICISOC). The Pacific Internet Society is the Pacific Chapter of the Internet Society which many ICT professionals around the Pacific come together through an email discussion list to share ideas, thoughts on Internet and related ICT issues in the Pacific.

Recently a separate mailing list was put together to capture the women subscribed to the Pacific Internet Society Mailing list which now forms the Pacific Women in ICT mailing list. An online registration form was shared amongst the group and online networks which 67 women registered to attend the 1st Virtual meet. From the 67 women who registered for the event, at most there were close to 33 that attended the meeting. Some joined in later and others had to leave earlier.

There were two main agendas for the meeting:

Brief 2 min introduction of each of the women
Update from each country present on who COVID-19 has impacted their country and operations and how they were able to handle situations in respect to their organisation and their role in ICT.

An interesting round of introductions with women present from Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Nauru, Vanuatu, Cook Islands and Samoa each representing also various sectors in National Government entities, NGO’s , global organizations, Academic, Corporate and social enterprises. ICT professions and line of work included cybersecurity, ICT policy, academic staff, IT Analysts, ICT support, web and internet affordability and connectivity and ICT learning programs.

COVID impacts included the use of online collaboration tools for their organisations, some had to be involved in training their staff on how to use Zoom, provide support for remote workers (working from home), cut down on specific ICT programs

Many expressed appreciation of having the e-meeting organised and looked forward to the next one.

Some other interesting points picked up during the introductions:

Many of the women were either single female in their team
There is a lack of ICT research identified throughout the Pacific and there is a need for more focus in this area
Many have started or are part of initiatives to promote girls or women in ICT
A need for more networking and sharing with other Pacific women in ICT

Thank you to PICISOC and those taking lead in organising the first online event.

You can view a recording of the event here

Should you wish to join the Pacific Women in ICT mailing List or have any queries about the group – please fill in the form below. Share a bit about the work that you do and your thoughts about Pacific Women in ICT or any other queries that you may have.

How to write a good LinkedIn Headline – Your professional intention

I mentioned a bit about the Employability Lab (e-Lab) of Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in the previous article about “LinkedIn being your online CV”, that AUT e-Lab provides support and workshops to improve your LinkedIn Profiles and your CVs to help you be more successful in your path after university. Last week was CV week and this week is LinkedIn Week.

I had submitted my LinkedInProfile for review and was told that the “Headline” of my profile should:
“change it from what you are studying to something that captures your professional intentions- what industry/job titles do you aspire to?”

I registered for one of the LinkedIn Online Sessions where MYOB‘s Education Manager NZ, Shailan Patel, presented on online branding & networking. I had a look through his profile as he was going through it and explaining the importance and impact each section has. His headline read:
Partnering with educators, institutions and student-focused groups to help students successfully transition to the workforce job ready via the MYOB Education Channel.

Wow! I clicked “Follow” instantly. Why? Because without scrolling through the rest of his profile, I was drawn to his headline being about helping students to transit successfully to the workforce. He would be a resource person with sharing updates which I would most definitely be interested in.

And that I guess is what a HEADLINE is supposed to do – to capture one’s attention – to want to know more about you!

I thought about what I was going to put for my headline, how I would word it – as recommended from the review and at the same time follow examples of what Shailan Patel had put out. I thought about where I saw myself in my field of profession and what industry title I aspire to.

I’ve worked for a number of years in the field of ICT, but I honestly feel I can not claim any of the brand titles that are available – ICT specialist, ICT Developer, ICT Analyst, ICT Manager, Engineer, Software Programmer, etc etc. I actually am not too sure where I fit in the middle of all of these.

Having moved from corporate organisations to non-profit organisation has altered my course in ICT. It is changing rapidly and there are so many exciting technologies that are emerging, being developed and expanded and extended globally and especially in Papua New Guinea – we are finally seeing the ‘light’ of technology!

Once upon a time I was very interested in Networking, pulling cables, crimping, connecting computers to the network, opening up computer drives and installations, I wanted to get CCNA Certified but that is one of those ‘outstanding goals’ – then I found interest in database, data and that space (which I am still very interested in) as data makes the world go around 😀

Being involved in more ‘people-oriented’ activities than my usual “ICT-behind-the-server” role made me realise the lack of knowledge ‘everyday’ people have about ICT, about computers, the internet, the web and Ideveloped the passion for contributing more to humanitarian efforts with promoting ICT in it all.

Internet was just emerging and we were still being ‘wow’d’ that we could access gmail on mobile devices.

It led my interests to helping people to understand the technology, to enable them to use it, so that it could assist them in their work, their report writing and communication. I didn’t feel I wanted to sit behind computers anymore – and led me to initiate some community initiatives that connect people through ICT for development and tried my hand at providing a ICT freelancer service to help local family organisations.

A blogging adventure led me to developing interests in Social Media Tools, Web2.0 and blogging which led me to do more in this area and eventually led me to a role within the faith-based organisation to develop, design their online media publications and take up the role of Communication Media (less technical ICT but more people-focused ICT)

I found myself in the space of conducting an annual ‘Girls in ICT‘ Program as part of advocating for more girls to join the ICT profession and I find myself in the space of holistic human development, education and learning through ICT tools and information online.

I now find myself now doing my postgraduate studies and through assignments and projects find very little ICT research for Papua New Guinea. One area that needs to be developed and expanded.

I had to google some terms to gain more understanding of each term:

ICT and development
ICT and human development
ICT Integration and ICT mainstreaming

and found a post on ICT integration and ICT for development. An interesting read about how we should not mainstream ICT in everything, because then the ‘technical’ focus of ICT may get lost in the midst of it all – but to side stream it!

With all of these encapsulated together, and my current passion and drive – I figured out something for my LinkedIn Headline – so now here it reads:

Passionate about ICT initiatives to bridge the “Digital Divide”. Between women and men, young and old, rural and urban. To promote ICT as an invaluable tool for development – human development.

So this is me for now – no specific technical ICT skill, but maybe one who may possibly sit in the ‘strategic’ or ‘programs’ area of a typical development framework as a coordinator or organiser kind of role – but who knows, it might change again.

What is your headline? What do you aspire to in your industry? Where does your profession takes you?

LinkedIn: Your Online CV – What does it look like?

Do you have a CV put together? Wait – what’s a CV, some may ask.

It’s an acronymn for Curriculum Vitae (pronounced: Kareeekulum Veeetaay).

I just ‘googled’ it – something popped up from Wikipedia.

A curriculum vitae, Latin for “course of life”, often shortened as CV or vita, is a written overview of someone’s life’s work. Vitae can be plural or possessive. Vitae often aim to be a complete record of someone’s career, and can be extensive. Wikipedia

What Wikipedia says it what I also thought CVs are – they can be that, and sometimes you do not need them to be that too.

One special section of the Auckland University of Technology I like is the Employability Lab or E-Lab for short. It is the ‘go-to’ place for anything to do with ‘life after uni’ – it conducts workshops, career activities, professional seminars and provides heaps and heaps of information in regards to getting employed!

From AUT E-Lab Website

This week (Aug 2020) is CV week – where every day there are sessions held online (due to lockdown) –

TIPS TO WRITING A WINNING CV AND COVER LETTER

I’ve attended a previous workshop and for me it was a great mind shift on how I always assumed CVs to be. I am still working on mine – having had to do it all up again.

Some great tips that I would like to share here – which for me I found most helpful was the first part of the CV where we include a section on our “Personal Details” – we don’t really need that much of a section.

You do not need to state whether you are male or female
You do not need to put down your date of birth
No need for religion
Or the number of dependents
Or even a photo!

All you should have down is: Your name, Address, Phone Number, Email Address AND (drum roll!) link to your LinkedIn Profile.

(but even then I personally think LinkedIn Profile Link is optional) – but highly likely chance that they will do a search for you online – anyway!

The bulleted points above where I listed the ‘you do not needs’ – are irrelevant!

Why? It is considered discrimination should an employer not consider you (or consider you) simply because of these details.

Your CV should only state what is relevant for the job that you are applying for and maximum 3 pages (Mine was 6! lol)

Another important tip – You shouldn’t have a general CV that you use to apply for jobs – each job application should have its own tailored CV – and the area that you tailor most is your experience and skill set as required by the job.

Regarding your LinkedIn Profile – it is considered your online CV – employers do use google and social media – so depending on what you put out on your profile – those personal details they can work out anyway.

Source Image: https://www.hcamag.com/nz/news/general/linkedin-ceo-to-staff-i-am-truly-grateful/228571

I didn’t think much of my LinkedIn Profile – to me it was just another social media network. Even E-Lab has a special workshop on how to have a winning LinkedIn Profile and once you attend it, you are supposed to fix up your LinkedIn Profile and submit it to be checked ( I still have some things needed to sort out on mine)

LinkedIn is a professional network – it is where recruitment is taking place. It is where the CEO’s, MDs and other senior management are. It is where global companies are! Make use of this platform to share your professional views and expertise and learn and network with other professionals in your field or from other fields.

Think of LinkedIn as your online CV – it is you as a professional. It is you as an employee. Or a potential business associate. Business Partner.

Last Tip:

Think of Facebook as the section in your CV that states: Interests and Hobbies 😀 Employers do check there too!

What are your thoughts? What do you think should be in a CV? Or shouldn’t be?

What do you think of your LinkedIn Profile as your online CV?

Lockdown International School

Been a while since I’ve blogged – like really blogged. Like written an article. About something.
I’ve gone through my posts and well, most are shares of notices and ‘toksaves’ of things that are happening around us – but I feel I need to write some more. Need to de-clutter some thoughts so I can make space for new thoughts.

But then there can never be enough thoughts.

You might be wondering about the title of this blog post – lol! Came up with it today. After seeing my son going through his online class. I took pictures – maybe I’ll share here – but I sent to my family back in Papua New Guinea and it was on my whatsapp status for awhile.

The first hour – he was sitting in a chair, at the study table, doing his work – he was working on a story board as part of their activities for today.

(Oh by the way – we on Lockdown – Level 3 (in Auckland, New Zealand)

Yeh and by the next hour, he was down on the floor, sprawled out – laptop on the floor, doing his maths – they had questions on the area of the circle.

By the way – do you know how to find the area of the circle?

It’s pi-r-squared.

What is pi? It’s 3.14 for short – but is actually 3.14159265359

I like this one! Found it on google! We always look for fun ways of remembering things!

After some of the questions and me explaining to him – rounding off to x number of decimal places, he tells me that some people say pi is 3.1415 – I told him, well- actually it should be 3.1416 ;P

So yeh, this school name was birthed today! We on Lockdown, we are ‘international’ and we in school! lol!

I attend that school too – but a different grade – called Uni! 😀

But I’m also the principal, math/science/english teacher, sports teacher, parent, student all at the same time!

What do I think of this ROUND-2 Lockdown?

I hate it! OK Hate is a strong word! But really it seems – we took a break from Lockdown and now we back into it again – new normal right? Why do I have intense dislike for the lockdown – because, we were just getting into the swing of enjoying rushing off to school, spending a full day at the campus.

It is actually 1 week straight since we received the announcement for a lockdown – they said for 3 days but it’s been extended for a further 12 days. (side note – numbers have significance :D)

We had a check-in session with our Scholarships Officer and team today and it seems, most scholars find it ‘a lot easier’ settling’ into this lockdown than the first.

Sigh.

Same with us. But still the uncertainty of not knowing when we will go back to real, real, school/ classes and interacting with real human beings in person.

Where ever you are reading this in the world? How are you coping? Are you also attending the Lockdown International School?

Are you going insane yet? What are your ways of keeping sane?

I find a loooOoooong shower helps. I also get to go do the shopping run – so a looooOOOong walk also is good.

But through it all – I guess we just have to be thankful. I actually was feeling abit tired from juggling work and school and study and home activities – so this lockdown has given me time to catch up on sleeping hours (and eating hours too!)

But! Just like I want winter to end now! Can this COVID season disappear already!

Let’s see how we go with dropping some more lines here – there’s so much to share actually! Some projects I hope to accomplish (some are part of assessment) and others are part of the digital space and some others a part of some other bigger goals! I also have another blog site which needs some fresh content – PNG SUMATINZ.

It’s been great getting messages from those who have applied for the MFAT Scholarships – sharing their progress on their application and asking for further help. I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos (on how to make YouTube videos) and see it as another potential project to start on. Trying to get my daughter to do more in this area – but we shall see how we go.

Well – if you are attached to Lockdown International School in some way shape or form – do share your experiences on your role(s) and know that we are all part of this great big team of international alumni!

1st ICT Hackathon for Papua New Guinea ICT Cluster – Friday 24th July

PRIZE AWARDS

1st Place Winner – K2, 500 award
2nd Place Winner – K1, 500 award
3rd Place Winner – K1, 000 award

All 6 teams will gain access to a free capital raising campaign through InvestInMe CrowdFunding platform and have an opportunity to pitch their idea.

Teams get a free 1 year Individual membership status in the cluster and will showcase their progressive solution in the August Techinnovate Event 2020.

Hosted by PNG Digital ICT Cluster

Study abroad in the USA : 2021-2022 J. William Fulbright Graduate Program

Source: US Embassy in Papua New Guinea, Solomons and Vanuatu Website

Have you recently graduated with a Bachelor Degree? Are you looking for opportunities for further studies? Abroad? Here’s an opportunity you can apply for.

Check the eligibility and criteria – it says you need a minimum of 2 years work experience – but I’m sure even if you have less, you should still attempt! You never know!

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants must be citizens of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu and currently reside in these countries
Applicants must have a four-year bachelor’s degree (undergraduate) and a strong academic background demonstrated by their post-secondary transcripts
Applicants must have a minimum have two years of professional work experience
Applicants must demonstrate leadership qualities — including volunteer experience and involvement in their communities
Applicants must have excellent English communication skills
Applicants must present three letters of recommendation from their professors and/or employers. Two from professors and one from an employer is highly recommended.
Applicants must submit two application essays (a Personal Statement and a Study Research Objectives) with clear goals, well-reasoned statements describing why a specific academic track is the best fit, and tying their academic plans to longer term professional goals
Applicants must be committed to returning to his or her country of citizenship and outline a specific plan for using their Fulbright experience in their professional lives and in service to his or her country
Strong preference will be given to applicants who have not had extensive or recent experience in the United States

*NO DEPENDENTS

About the J. William Fulbright Program

The J. William Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.

One Fulbright scholarship recipient will be chosen for his or her academic merit and leadership potential. Only online applications will be accepted this application cycle.

Applications are due on Friday, May 29, 2020

The successful candidate will be able to earn a Master of Arts (MA), Master of Science (MS), Master of Public Administration (MPA), or a Master of Law (LLM) degree.

APPLY NOW!

Further information check the US Embassy in PNG Website and the Fullbright Scholarship Website!

All the very best!

PNG High Commissioner to NZ joined PNG-Auckland students Sunday Zoom check-in |Zoom vs other online collaboration tools

via PNG High Commissioner to NZ joined PNG-Auckland students Sunday Zoom check-in

Thanks sister Bee on your post and also for the initiative of having the Sunday Zoom Meetings!

The Sunday that we had agreed to do a “meet and greet” together with PNG Auckland Families at the park near the Universities in Auckland was the same week that ‘lock-down’ kicked in – so the ‘meet and greet’ ended up online!

It has been 4 Sundays now since the online meet has started and numbers of Auckland PNG students coming to meet usually around 10. An informal meet where we check up on each other, share any exciting stories or happenings that have occurred during the week, recommendations for shopping, cooking, lock -down activities!

Sunday 19th was different having High Commissioner to NZ joining us and we really hoping that we can get other PNG students around Auckland and around NZ to join in online.

Zoom is becoming one of the most used online application for collaboration used by organisations, various networks, institutions for meetings, hosting online presentations.

I’ve used Zoom this week for a number of different meetings –

Small Bible Study Group Meeting (10 people)
Leadership Series Presentation by Uni (100+)
PNG Scholars Meet & Greet (~12 people)
Q&A Meeting with ISOC Online Course (30 + people)
Meeting with Scholarships Group (20+ people)

There is a paid version but you can do much with the free subscription option allowing you to host a meeting for 45minutes with up to 100 people.

I have used Whatsapp group video call – but it only allows for 4 people at any one time – which is good for a small group video conferencing option – used this a lot with family and friends afar.

Microsoft Teams, I used this week to speak to my supervisor for one of my research projects (you need to have a Microsoft Account for this)

My daughter in Year 9 in Auckland is using Google Meets for her school meetings with her teacher and class. (Google Account / Organisation or school subscription)

With Zoom, Whatsapp and Teams, you can use the apps from your mobile device – I have not tried Google Meets on mobile device yet, but my daughter, used it on her laptop.

I use telegram groups for sharing messages with a online ISOC learning module.

I think for now I prefer Zoom for online meetings – though have read there was a security issue with personal data being hacked – but I guess the main thing is – use for speaking and talking but keep to the email and other ‘offline’ methods or non-group option for sharing of personal information and data.

Having said this – it also depends on your internet connection (plan and speeds) to enable you to access some of the online tools.

All in all – COVID-19 state of ‘lock-down’ has given the opportunity to implement and try out all sorts of online solutions for collaboration and other things – to show that it is somewhat possible to still carry out some functions that will enable momentum of work, school and life to continue.

But — of course – face to face collaboration is still most preferred and we can not all wait to get back to that ‘normalcy’.

Kacific Satellite service to help remote medical clinics combat Covid-19 across Asia Pacific

It’s great seeing ICT companies and other service providers across different sectors reaching out to give aid, support and assistance during this time of need. Maybe we can say thank you to the COVID-19 pandemic as it has allowed for innovation, technology, good will in all forms to take place to better improve and help us in times of challenging times like this and to make us more ‘resilient’. Thank you Kacific!

Source: Kacific Website News, March 30 2020

Announcement:

As recent epidemics have shown, rural and remote communities, although isolated, are particularly vulnerable during an epidemic, once community transmission takes effect.

To help governments during Covid-19, Kacific Broadband Satellites Group is offering over 1,000 small satellite dishes, at no cost, and make them available to healthcare departments throughout Asia Pacific, so they can rapidly connect rural and remote medical clinics to high-speed internet.

Internet connectivity will assist better tracking of developing clusters of infection in communities. It will also allow faster and more efficient response of medical staff in smaller towns and rural locations as they tackle the Covid-19 virus.

Connected clinics give remote medical staff access to up-to-date information, the ability to arrange medical supplies and transport, and the opportunity to work alongside city-based specialists.

It gives them confidence and support to treat their patients in a difficult time. It also gives governments the ability to de-centralise their healthcare by leveraging as much as possible their entire network of clinics rather than only relying only on their central hospitals.

Connecting clinics contribute to the wider health system through sharing information and ensuring that patients, no matter where they live, can access appropriate medical treatment and factual information.

We can rapidly deploy our Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs) and quickly connect them to the internet, fast-tracking connectivity in a time where a rapid response is needed. Kacific will collaborate with local service partners or government task forces to ensure services are delivered optimally.

Kacific also extends exclusively to healthcare departments during the Covid-19 crisis, special bandwidth packages at US$1.7/Gbyte or less, depending on local regulations.

Although bandwidth will be prioritised and offered at lower cost for healthcare, communities and other facilities around these 1000 and more health facilities would also benefit as more bandwidth can be pushed through those satellite dishes.

Kacific invites Ministries of Health, medical communities or NGO active in healthcare within the coverage range of Kacific1 (Coverage map here) and not already in discussions with Kacific, to make contact.

With these efforts, Kacific hopes to play its part in the fight against Covid-19 and urges everyone to stay safe and healthy.

Countries include Pacific: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Micronesia, New Zealand, Niue, Northern Mariana, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.

Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Timor-Leste and Southern Thailand.

Please contact us on email: info@kacific.com | office phone: +65 67 34 37 83

For more information, visit www.kacific.com

Kahoot! Fun way of Learning! Online Learning Games for Kids, for Families, Students and Everyone!

Have you heard of Kahoot!? The exclaimation mark (!) is part of its name.

I heard the word for the first time during orientation at the Auckland University of Technology where we had a session, I think it was to learn more about student support facilities – and after the presentation, the facilitator said:

OK everyone go on your phones and log in to Kahoot! and for some of us – we wondered what it was – but it turned out, it was fun! (I thought I took some pics but can’t find them so maybe I didn’t.)

So in short – it is a fun online interactive quiz game that you can set up with your own questions or play those that are already available and there are so many different categories I later found out!

You will need an internet connection for you as host and for the players ( those sharing “Hotspots” this is a good one for you!)

Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform, used as educational technology in schools and other educational institutions. Its learning games, “Kahoots”, are multiple-choice quizzes that are user-generated and can be accessed via a web browser or the Kahoot app. – Wikipedia

We tried Kahoot! at home over weekend during as part of our staying at home for worship – and set up Bible Quiz for the kids after we went through some Bible Readings and the kids love it! Now I have to set up more games for different categories – PNG, Family, Auckland

To set up your own Kahoot! Quiz Game, you log on to Kahoot! Site and click on Create (after you create your account)

You can choose on one of the categories which come with questions already in place or create your own (which is more fun!)

You type your question and add your answers in the space below next to the four different coloured shapes – select the one that will be the correct answer – you can have more than one correct answer.

Then on the left panel – you click on “Add Question” to add another question.

The free version allows you to only create 2 types of questions (Multiple choice and True/False) option, on the paid version gives you greater quiz methods you can use (which I think later on we will subscribe for the paid version 😀 )

Once you’ve created your questions – I’m not sure what’s the limit to questions but we have done 20 in one round already – depends on how many questions you can come up with!

Once you’ve given a title and description (option) , click on Continue and it will “validate” – if there are some questions that you have assigned a correct answer to, it will ask you to edit this and then you are set to go!

Add a Cover Image if you want – and click DONE!

It will show in your panel and you click on Play – You see the previous Kahoot! games we have played .

Click on Host – to play together – this is the option that we have done. Now you have to get your players (or your children) to log in to Kahoot! and there will be a pin code you have to give them.

Click on Classic and the game will generate a pin to be used to invite players to join.

They will enter this pin code and create their nickname (name that they will use in the game) and game begins!

We used the laptop to show the question, while the kids used their devices to answer the question – at uni, the projector screen was used – the players have to be able to see the screen showing the question.

On the host screen, it will show the names of the players when they log in (for free version you can have up to 10 players)

Once everyone has logged in – you click start to begin the game!

The question will show on the host computer / screen as below – and on the players device it will only show the four shapes and they will have to click on the correct one – there is a time limit also and it also shows who clicks the fastest.

At the end of each question, it will show a scoreboard of who is leading (top 3)

At the end of the game, it shows a podium for 1st , 2nd and 3rd!

These are some of the scores and ranks from our game over the weekend on Bible Quiz

You can also save your game and play later – or share with others!

Kahoot! a fun way of learning and something to do with being stuck at home together, testing knowledge – you will all need to be online though! I have to check if there are options for offline playing 🙂