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Media Guardian: special report on the role of technology in overseas development and disaster relief Technology is becoming easier to use and cheaper to buy. Who would have predicted that the mobile phone would become as ubiquitous as it has not only in the developed world where many people have more than one device but in the developing world as well?

How to be a data journalist Data journalism trainer and writer Paul Bradshaw explains how to get started in data journalism, from getting to the data to visualising it * Guardian data editor Simon Rogers explains how our data journalism operation works

Looking for figures? Here's a beginner's guide to our Global development datastore and the best sources for development data on the web

Something similar is happening today in academia. Just like Augustine marveled, in the year 400, at the sight of Ambrose reading in silence, many members of academia marvel (or react with rejection) at the rapid changes in the production and dissemination of scholarly work and interaction between academics and those "outside" academic institutions. Thousands of scholars and higher education institutions are participating in social media (such as Twitter), as an important aspect of their research and teaching work.

The interactive graphic, made using Tableau Public, features a clickable map of the summits, satellite images of each peak and figures for each mountain's prominence and overall elevation.

Students still want face-to-face contact with staff, but more use of the kind of technologies they have grown up with, though they need to be persuaded to use them to study. They also need to learn how to critically evaluate online sources, while academics need more help in using the technologies.

The coalition government is driving forward reforms to allow commercial companies to set up universities to compete with traditional institutions. Students at private universities will have access to student loans of up to £6,000 a year from 2012. Further proposals to encourage the for-profit sector are due next month.