I feel like it is a David and Goliath month this month.
Technology trends shows that the digital divide between rich and poor countries is growing. While developed countries are expected to reach a broadband penetration rate of 28% in 2008, the corresponding rate for developing countries is just 3%. That is the reason why I am so excited about the Village Telco project that Steve is currently working on.
Also, Alexander Ponosov, the Russian schoolteacher who was put on trail for using Microsoft’s products illegally, even though they were pre-installed when the school bought them, has launched a campaign against.
We are helping to rally against the adoption of the OOXML standard and are imensley proud of South Africa and especially Geraldine FRASER-MOLEKETI for ensuring that Open Standards prevail.
The road to ‘open’ is a long one, but we are getting there.
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April 2, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Chris Hanyane
This is great stuff. Without telecoms there can be no content. I had an opportunity of sharing notes with the Chief of ICT Policy and Development Section of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (uneca.org) on his comments about too much focus on coverage and little investment in content that is relevant to rural communities. I am a freelance researcher and have collaborated with Lupane State University (LSU – we have no web-site yet) to develop a participatory programme management and software development framework that ensures that rural poor participate in articulating how GIS in particular and ICT in general can be applied in reducing poverty levels within their communities. This research has strong synergies with the development of telecoms infrastructure in rural environments since it ensures that the developed infrastructure can deliver content that is developed by the community. I, together with the LSU are willing to share our framework with other partners working towards the reduction of poverty in rural environments.