January 2010 - KICTANet

National survey shows Kenyan Internet market heading towards “critical mass”
by alice 30 Jan '10

30 Jan '10

(from Balancing Act) National survey shows Kenyan Internet market heading towards “critical mass” The latest national survey from market research company Synovate shows Kenya’s Internet market is growing fast and on the basis of this growth will soon reach “critical mass”. The growth in users is coming from both urban and rural areas and is predominantly amongst the young and well educated. Russell Southwood pored over the results. The total sample for this random survey was 1,500 people, with 500 of those in a boost sample from across the major districts of Kenya. Therefore the coverage is nationally representative of adults 15 and above and has a sampling margin of error of + or – 3%. It makes comparisons with a similar survey it carried out in 2007. On the basis of this sample, Synovate estimates that there are now 3.5 million Internet users in Kenya. However, daily Internet use has grown from 2% of the respondents in 2007 to 5% in 2009 and weekly use from 5% to 12% over the same period. The daily use figure is the crucial one as it shows users who are finding that that they cannot do without Internet services. If the weekly Internet use is broken down on an urban vs rural basis, urban use grew from 22% of respondents in 2007 to 30% in 2009. Rural use grew from 4% to 9% over the same period. These results confirm a lot of anecdotal evidence that has been reaching us about young people using the Government’s new Internet centres and cyber cafes in rural areas. The lower income groups recorded a much more fast paced growth in internet access. However Internet penetration within middle class and below is still very low, making it the group with the highest growth potential. And following the expected drop in Internet costs LSM 4-10s should provide the highest growth in usage. At least half the non-users across all social categories said they would be interested in using the Internet if they had access. In terms of age, 50% of the respondents using Internet were aged 15-34 with 21% in the 18-24 age bracket. The upcoming generation of Kenyans will be regular users of the Internet and it will form as much part of their lives as mobile phones. Over 56% of the Internet using respondents were college or University educated. Therefore those countries with better education levels in Africa will show markedly higher Internet penetration levels. On average, the Internet users in the sample spent approximately 70 minutes on the Internet per visit. This level of media user is close to the average time spent on television on daily basis but does not challenge radio use which is much higher. This will inevitably impact on the media usage of key socio-demographic groups. Although the survey results did not include newspapers, it is likely to be them that suffer as younger generation make less use of the printed word in getting information. The big shift in where sample respondents accessed the Internet between 2007 and 2009 has been a significant fall in the number of those using Internet cafes and a commensurate rise in the number using mobile phones. Strikingly, this trend – of using mobile phones for access – is more pronounced amongst the rural part of the sample. This is bad news for cyber-cafes for despite rising numbers of users they are not coming their way. But this is good news for mobile operators if they can get their mobile Internet offers cheap and pre-paid. The five top uses of the Internet range between 40-50% of the sample users and were in descending order: entertainment; games and music; social networking and instant messaging; e-mails; general surfing; and job search. The pattern is very close to existing mobile usage (with the exception of job search) if you take SMS as the equivalent of e-mails. Users are starting with what they know but will inevitably become more adventurous as more content and services are put on offer. Not surprisingly it is the young who are disproportionately more likely to be members of social networking sites but membership is more likely to be male than female. Facebook was by far the most popular site although You Tube (which features in the Top 10 sites used in Kenya according to Alexa.com) does not feature. BBC, CNN and The Nation are the most used news sites. The significance of these findings is that Kenya is both one of Africa’s largest mid-scale markets and is a bell-weather in terms of technology adoption. Crudely, what happens in Kenya will start to happen elsewhere. And as the uptake of M-Money services shows, this is not simply an urban, well-educated, middle class phenomenon. Critical mass kicks in when the number of users starts to create networking effects. In other words, existing users start to draw in new users who don’t want to be left out. In Kenya, this is clearly already beginning starting to happen. And although the number of daily Internet users is smaller than the overall estimated total of 3.5 million, it is beginning to grow significant and will continue to do so as access prices fall and local content offers become more varied. For more details either e-mail Joe Otin of Synovate on Joe.Otin(a)synovate.com <mailto:Joe.Otin@synovate.com> or phone him on +254 4450190-6.

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Very soon....your handwritting will be readable :-)
by Judy Okite 30 Jan '10

30 Jan '10

What a life saver!! over the years I have watched my handwritting, deterioriate........its actually reached a point I cant read it anymore......Thank God, for technology.....there is an option!! To our dear Doctors....Am I hearing deep sighs of relief?? .....read below,what guys next door are about to do....... http://www.elearning-africa.com/newsportal/english/news213.php Kind Regards, -- "An optimist stays up to see the New Year in. A pessimist waits to make sure the old one leaves".Bill Vaughan

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The end of Open Source as we Know it?
by Al Kags 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

http://alkags.com/?p=493 <https://photos.sun.com/thumbnail/400/400/5163> It occurs to me (after a spell of burying my head in some sand) that Oracle has bought Sun Microsystems (who in turn had bought MySQL)It occurs to me (after a spell of burying my head in some sand) that Oracle has bought Sun Microsystems (who in turn had bought MySQL). I have several issues in my head that are struggling to find words: 1) that Jonathan Schwatz, my favorite CEO blogger, is moving on (this is just that sentimentalclinging - "don't go!") but more importantly 2) this buy-out may signify the end of Open Source as we know it. What is Kenya's position on the matter? I imagine that this has been discussed in the technology policy circles?

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educational tourism
by meshack emakunat 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

dear listers i have no doubt how our beloved country (kenya) has invested poorly in the educational tourism. try compairing the number of foreign students in our universities with those who fly out of the country to SA , USA ,UK China etc. first i think the country's education system is slow in adopting the new learning technologies. its about time the kenyan students and the government put some empasise/effort in this issue. a good example is in our own public university like egerton, the ratio of students to lecturer is way out of range yet the same lecturers will stand in the lecturer hall trying teach 300 students with a piece of chalk and a small blackboard(how does a student in the back of the class get anything out of this lecture): what am trying to say is that the administration should adopt technologies like projectors in order to serve even the student standing at the back of the class, otherwise people will preffer having better education in the foreign countries rather than their own country.

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May be of interest: How to stop predatory tendencies by internet service providers
by Victor Gathara 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539546/851482/-/9w03sl/-/index.html DFID, the Department for International Development: leading the UK Government's fight against world poverty. Find out more at http://www.dfid.gov.uk. ______________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Peapod. The service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit: http://www.peapod.co.uk/cleanmail

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Re: [kictanet] Web sites must support IPv6 by 2012, expert warns
by McTim 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

The lead says: Corporations and government agencies must IPv6-enable their public-facing Web sites in the next 24 months or risk upsetting a growing number of visitors with lower-grade connectivity. IPv6 is, if anything a higher grade of connectivity in that it is designed to add features that IPv4 didn't have. -- Cheers, McTim "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how we get there." Jon Postel On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 10:52 AM, Alex Owiti <alex.owiti(a)cio.co.ke> wrote: > > > Dear listers -Crack your Brains. > > > > > > Web sites must support IPv6 by 2012, expert warns; > http://www.cio.co.ke/index.php/view-all-world-news-stories/528-web-sites-mu… > > > > > > > > > > > > Alex Owiti > Senior Writer > CIO East Africa > eDevelopment House > 604 Limuru Road, Nairobi > PO Box 49475 00100 > Desk: +254 20 3714646 > Cel: +254 714-259942 > Email:alex.owiti@cio.co.ke > > > An IDG/AeRC Publication > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: dogwallah(a)gmail.com > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/dogwallah%40gmail.com > > -- Cheers, McTim "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how we get there." Jon Postel

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Web sites must support IPv6 by 2012, expert warns
by Alex Owiti 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

Dear listers -Crack your Brains. Web sites must support IPv6 by 2012, expert warns;http://www.cio.co.ke/index.php/view-all-world-news-stories/528-web-sit es-must-support-ipv6-by-2012-expert-warns.html Alex Owiti Senior Writer CIO East Africa eDevelopment House 604 Limuru Road, Nairobi PO Box 49475 00100 Desk: +254 20 3714646 Cel: +254 714-259942 Email:alex.owiti@cio.co.ke An IDG/AeRC Publication

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PARTICIPATION ON CIO EAST AFRICAN MAGAZINE
by Alex Owiti 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

Dear Listers,something interesting for your reading. Uganda telecom regulator to 'name and shame' poor providers:http://www.cio.co.ke/index.php/view-all-main-stories/546-uganda-te lecom-regulator-to-name-and-shame-poor-providers.html Alex Owiti Senior Writer CIO East Africa eDevelopment House 604 Limuru Road, Nairobi PO Box 49475 00100 Desk: +254 20 3714646 Cel: +254 714-259942 Email:alex.owiti@cio.co.ke An IDG/AeRC Publication

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ISOC Next Generation Leaders Programme
by McTim 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

All, I see this as being complementary to the Diplo courses, with a slightly different focus: http://www.isoc.org/leaders/ "The Next Generation Leaders Programme - Preparing young professionals from around the world to become the next generation of Internet technology, policy, and business leaders. In order to be successful, the next generation of Internet leaders will require a wide range of skills in a variety of disciplines as well as the ability and experience to work with people at all levels of society. Through the Next Generation Leaders programme, the Internet Society calls upon talented individuals who are committed to the ongoing expansion of a sustainable Internet that continues to be: * open for business, because its open platform spurs innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship; * based on open governance, because the open, inclusive transparent processes of the Internet model of development allows business, civil society and governments to work together; and * open to the public because a universally accessible Internet empowers citizens and enhances their social development." http://www.isoc.org/leaders/applications.shtml -- Cheers, McTim "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how we get there." Jon Postel

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World Bank Hails its public Private partnerships in Africa
by Rebecca Wanjiku 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

Read more.. http://bit.ly/9opzHi Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/

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