November 2010 - KICTANet

CIO 100 Symposium and Awards Ceremony
by Harry Hare 11 Nov '10

11 Nov '10

Please find the latest programme for the CIO 100 Symposium and Awards event here http://bit.ly/9IIS6u to register http://bit.ly/boT7qm Kindest Regards Harry African eDevelopment Resource Centre eDevelopment House : : 604 Limuru Road Old Muthaiga : : P O Box 49475 00100 Nairobi : : Kenya T +254 20 3741646/7 : : C +254 725 650044 Training : : Research: :Consultancy: : Publishing

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Fw: Open consultations on the WG of the Chair of the CSTD on IGF
by waudo siganga 11 Nov '10

11 Nov '10

Colleagues who are following the IGF process will be aware of the anticipated CSTD Working Group on Inprovements to the IGF. A questionnaire (attached) to collect views has now been circulated: Subject: Open consultations on the WG of the Chair of the CSTD on IGF I have the pleasure to transmit to you a letter addressed from Mr. Frederic Riehl, Vice Chair of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD), with a questionnaire for open and inclusive on-line consultations in relation to the Working Group of the Chair of the CSTD on the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). In addition to this questionnaire, Mr. Riehl plans to organize on 24 November 2010, back-to-back with the IGF consultations, scheduled to take place in Geneva from 22-23 November 2010, a second phase of face-to-face open consultations on the Working Group on IGF. As you may be aware, Mr. Riehl has been entrusted by the Chair of the CSTD, the Hon. Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology of Ghana, to establish the Working Group of the Chair of the CSTD on IGF improvements as requested by ECOSOC resolution 2010/2 on "Assessment of the progress made in the implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society " adopted on 19 July 2010 . Please note that no decision has been taken yet by the Chair on the composition of the Working Group. Due to diverging opinions, consultations about this issue are still underway. Please do not hesitate to contact me or Mr. Thomas Schneider ([1] thomas.schneider(a)bakom.admin.ch ), if you have any questions or need additional information. With best regards, " ********************************************* Mongi Hamdi Head of the Secretariat of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development Palais des Nations Room E-7077, UNCTAD Geneva, Switzerland Tel. 004122 917 5069 (See attached file: Letter 5 Nov 2010.PDF) (See attached file: Questionnaire (final 5 Nov).doc) _______________________________________________ igf_members mailing list igf_members(a)intgovforum.org http://intgovforum.org/mailman/listinfo/igf_members_intgovforum.org References 1. mailto:thomas.schneider@bakom.admin.ch

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Mobile Monday Event - 15th Nov 2010
by James Muendo 11 Nov '10

11 Nov '10

Hi, I believe you day is coming on along well. Monday the 15th Nov 2010 we would like to invite you an event that will be at the iHub Nairobi (Directions: Its on the 4th floor, Bishop Magua Centre,Right Opposite Uchumi Hyper,Ngong Road, ),at 6pm, Where the Guest Speakers will be from Nokia,we will discussing, What does it take to win Kshs1M in seed money for your startup.Bring a friend or 2 as you come to listen on how you can get money for your startup. Want to know more about Mobile Monday and any Events,visit http://mobilemonday.co.ke/ or follow us on twitter @MobileMondayKe or if you are on LinkedIn we also there http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3503680 -- James M. Muendo P.O Box 28016 - 00200, Nairobi. Mobile: +254725567508 skype:tim.rick | Twitter: Mmuendo | gtalk: timrick<http://muendoshead.blogspot.com/>

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All girls team wins top prize for IPO48 Software application development competition
by alice＠apc.org 11 Nov '10

11 Nov '10

http://afnogchix.blogspot.com/2010/11/all-girls-team-wins-kshs-1-million.ht… An all girls team made of two BBIT fourth year students Lilian Nduati and Linda Kwamboka, and two alumni - Jamila Abass and Susan Eve Ogula and Catherine Kiguru a developer in Tracom , won the top prize of Kshs 1 million in the inaugural IPO48 software application development competition hosted by SEP (Strathmore Enterprise Program) at the University from 29th to 31st October. The four are members of AkiraChix a group of geek girls. The winning team developed an application dubbed M-Farm - an information service that focuses on delivering real time information to farmers on current market prices of their products. It also aims to bring farmers together in a collaborative forum. Essentially, the M-Farm service will help small-scale farmers get price information that will help them know where to get the best deal for their products through their mobile phones. It fills an information gap currently used by middlemen to the detriment of the farmer. The service will also provide farmers with weather alerts, connect with other farmers, find nearest farm stores and get help from farm experts. M-Farm has simple and easy to use features. It can be accessed in Kiswahili language and integrates an Interactive Voice Response (IVR). IPO48 is a boot-camp style initiative whose aim is for developers to build new web and mobile services in 48 hours only! It was organized by HumanIPO and Garage48.org. It was the first time the competition was being held in Africa. Blogger Moses Kemibaro wrote: the IPO48 was a highly competitive and successful event with many great software applications and business concepts coming to the fore. Its amazing how much creativity and ingenuity was presented there and I found myself thinking more like a venture capitalist, rather than observer. One thing however is for sure many of the ideas that did not win will still find suitors and in fact it was announced that one already had an Angel Investor in place! See: http://www.moseskemibaro.com/2010/11/01/akirachix-win-kes-1-million-in-ipo4… For a full breakdown of the results, visit this post at Afrinnovator.com who also covered IPO48 in detail.. Adopted from Strathmore website.

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Fwd: [AfrICANN-discuss] Application for the .Africa gTLD
by Brian Munyao Longwe 10 Nov '10

10 Nov '10

FYI Dear All, The African Union Commission (AUC) conducted an African Expert meeting to discuss all relevant issues regarding the .Africa *gTLD *project which aims at branding the African continent on the cyberspace and provide African community with a continental mark on the Internet. The meeting took place on the UNECA on 5-6 November 2010. The participants were 13 experts from different organizations and member states. It is worth mentioning that the AUC was mandated by the AU Communication and Information Technologies Ministerial Conference (CITMC) and the consequent AU Heads of States Summit decisions to carry out the required steps towards having .Africa *gTLD. * Thus, the meeting has recommended different scenarios and actions taking into consideration the tight timeline Africa have before the forthcoming round of applications in ICANN. These scenarios covered the issues of the potential institutional structure, Technical and Financial modules. The following points have been recommended as immediate actions to be taken: 1- Announce the intention in the public forum of ICANN and in all Technical, Business and Policy forums.. 2- Sign the Guide Book Letter. 3- Write a message to the GAC. 4- Formalize project Task Force. 5- Prepare and submit the required documents to ICANN. Accordingly, the meeting recommended all participated Experts to be members of the Task Force and also to expedite the process. Best. [image: ESAM-Siganture] [image: African Union Commission] <http:/www.africa-union.org> Esam Abulkhirat Senior Policy Off.- Human Res. & Youth Department of Human Resources Science and Technology African Union Commission P.O. Box: 3243 Addis Ababa Ethiopia Tel: (251) 11 551 77 00 Fax: (251) 11 551 78 44 E-mail: AbulkhiratE(a)africa-union.org Website: http://www.africa-union.org *IMPORTANT NOTICE:* This e-mail message is intended to be received only by persons entitled to receive the confidential information it may contain. E-mail messages to clients of African Union Commission may contain information that is confidential and legally privileged. Please do not read, copy, forward, or store this message unless you are an intended recipient of it. If you have received this message in error, please forward it to the sender and delete it completely from your computer system. Disclaimer added by *CodeTwo Exchange Rules 2007* www.codetwo.com _______________________________________________ AfrICANN mailing list AfrICANN(a)afrinic.net https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann -- Brian Munyao Longwe e-mail: blongwe(a)gmail.com cell: + 254 722 518 744 blog : http://zinjlog.blogspot.com meta-blog: http://mashilingi.blogspot.com

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Distance Learning MSc with Scholarship from Manchester University
by alice＠apc.org 09 Nov '10

09 Nov '10

Starting each year in January, the MSc in Management & Information Systems: Change and Development aims to develop the "hybrid" mix of management and information systems skills that we know from experience is essential to the successful and strategic application of ICTs. The programme specifically focuses on the planning, development, impact and management of information systems and organisational change in developing and transitional countries, and is co-ordinated by the University of Manchester's Centre for Development Informatics. Being taught by distance learning, it allows study fellows to remain at home and in work, and to study at their own pace as other commitments allow. Applications are now being accepted, and links to this and other details of MSc M&IS DL can be found at: http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/courses/08003/?code=080… One fully-funded scholarship is available for a candidate from a developing country, covering all costs. Application deadline is 17 Dec 2010. Details are available at: http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/postgraduate/taught/funding/ If you have any questions, please email the Programme Director, Prof. Richard Heeks: richard.heeks(a)manchester.ac.uk

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MLabs manager position now open
by King'ori Gitahi 09 Nov '10

09 Nov '10

Hello all, � We announced the winners of the Mobile Application labs hosting bid earlier this year {iHub in Kenya, and CSIR Meraka in South Africa} We are now looking for a suitable lab manager for the Kenyan position.� Please forward the following link to candidates you feel would fit this role. � http://www.infodev.org/en/Article.606.html � Regards, � King’ori Gitahi For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. Nelson Mandela� -------------------------------------------------------------- Ovi Mail: Making email access easy http://mail.ovi.com

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Outsourcing, a perspective following Obama's India visit
by Paul Kukubo ICT Board 09 Nov '10

09 Nov '10

Listers The following article appears in the Wall Street Journal. Two points of note for our reflection upon as Kenya. 1. Labour supply shifting to small and medium sized businesses globally. Kenyan talent providers can enhance their participation in talent websites like freelancer.com to promote and sell their services directly. 2. On some services, India can deliver the project at a 10th of US prices for the same quality. The India US dependency is very high even among small businesses in the US which depend on Indian labour to provide basic IT services. This is an opportunity for Kenya. Enjoy the read... The Obama Visit: An Outsourcer’s Perspective Article Comments INDIA REAL TIME HOME PAGE » EmailPrintPermalink + More Text By Arlene Chang Outsourcing has been a major political whipping boy between the U.S. and India in recent months but U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh both tried to quell the controversy in remarks before the press Monday. Mr. Obama said outsourcing was the subject of stereotyping in the U.S. which has to be updated and Mr. Singh said India was not in the business of stealing American jobs. Matt Barrie is chief executive of Freelancer.com, an online marketplace that connects businesses looking to outsource work with service providers, many of them in India. The site has 1.9 million members. He talked to India Real Time’s Arlene Chang about his view of the U.S., India and outsourcing. Here are edited excerpts. Freelancer.com Matt Barrie, chief executive Freelancer.com IRT: As head of one of the largest outsourcing websites, you must have a view on outsourcing of jobs? Mr. Barrie: We were founded in 2004 and since then, our two primary markets have been the U.S. and India – expectedly. Of the employers posting jobs, 90% of those jobs come from the U.S. and of the jobs being completed 90% are done by Indians. I do not see this as Indians taking away jobs from the Americans or outsourcing as being a bad thing. If anything, this has been a tremendously good exchange. You have about 25 million small businesses in the U.S. and each of them needs people to help run and sustain their businesses. But they may not necessarily have the money or budget to do it through normal channels. Here, the service providers, a majority of which in the case of freelancer.com are Indians, are providing those businesses with the services they want within their desired cost. IRT: Is it a stereotype in the U.S. that India takes away American jobs? Mr. Barrie: It is a stereotype but the stereotype is actually contradictory. Most of our members seeking services are small and medium-sized businesses and each one of them needs to, for example, get itself a website and maintain it. This need is not necessarily met by the supply available within the U.S. Small businesses are always thinking of getting their things done for a lesser cost, they need to be constantly cost effective. The service providers on our website provide those services to them at a fraction of the cost. This enables small and medium-sized companies to cut costs, become more competitive, and thus helps them grow their business – all of which in turn helps the U.S. economy. As we talk, there are a tremendous number of jobs being created in the U.S. just, say, in internet businesses, whose back-office operations are being supported by outsourced hires. IRT: What are the statistics for the outsourcing exchange on your website? Mr. Barrie: Since we started in 2004, we have completed around 850,000 projects and seen $67.41 million traded. Of the 1.9 million users we have, 400,000 of them are from India and are service providers. A similar number are service seekers from the U.S. The average cost of a job through our website is less than $200. So, as an example, if someone wants to build a website for their business they would normally have to pay about $2,000 in the U.S. to get that job done. On freelancer.com, we have people who do the job for $200. That’s one tenth of the actual cost. The U.S. is the largest poster of jobs for us and India has the largest pool of service providers, but India is also a significant employer. After the U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada, it is India that posts the highest number of jobs that need to be done. IRT: What is the future of the outsourcing industry globally? Mr. Barrie: I think the next five years are going to be extremely interesting. Labor markets are always in flux and while the big businesses are doing the bulk of trade, there is already a fundamental shift in the amount and direction of labor supply. A huge amount of that labor supply is shifting to small and medium-sized businesses globally and as that happens there is going to be a revolution in places like India. If a person wants to start their own small business, all they have to do is go online and get someone who can get up a website for them and manage it – all this done on a shoestring budget. With more such businesses coming into being, there will be more work and the jobs not available previously will be out there. I think the off-shoring of the work of small and medium-sized businesses is going to provide an unparalleled opportunity for the U.S. and India, helping U.S. businesses in being more competitive and helping Indians get jobs that were not previously available. IRT: What do you make of President Obama’s statement in Mumbai Saturday on there being a stereotype in the U.S. about outsourcing to India? Mr. Barrie: I think a lot of what he said is rhetoric. He is in a politically different situation now after having lost the mid-term elections back home. I think he is pandering to the Indian-American vote bank back home when he said that, when he goes back to the U.S., he wants to be able to tell his countrymen that India has in fact created 50,000 jobs for America. Ends Paul Kukubo CEO, Kenya ICT Board Sent from my iPad

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Yawe for Post Master General
by robert yawe 09 Nov '10

09 Nov '10

Hi, It is saddening to see how Postal Corporation is treated as a dumping ground for retired civil servants turning it into a sedated giant being denied the opportunity to play its rightful role in levelling the playing field. Many of us think that just because we rarely receive snail mail that it serves no purposes, we write articles and make statements of how email and instant messaging are the final nail in the coffin of Posta but I ask after your order the pair of shoes online and pay via mpesa or mkesha how do you expect to receive the shoes? SMS, email, or IM. I believe that we are doing a disservice to the country by killing Posta and someone needs to stand up and put Posta back to where it belongs as the enabler for e-commerce, e-learning, narrower of the digital divide and governance. I therefore offer myself as a candidate for Post Master General of Postal Corporation of Kenya. Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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Safaricom 3G Data Bundles - Skewed Decisions
by Odhiambo Washington 08 Nov '10

08 Nov '10

Sometimes I wonder how the think tanks at Safaricom reason: What is the difference between a PrePay 3G Internet user and a PostPay one, that makes the PostPay one be given preferential treatment/consideration?? On The DN of today, Safaricom has an Ad on Pg 3 on which they have increased the 3G bundle amounts (disproportionately anyway), BUT ONLY FOR PostPay customers? Seems like those elitist tendencies. I have used Safaricom modem data bundles from the start on PrePay, hence my annoyance at Safaricom favoring PostPay (though I am a PostPay voice user). Safaricom has now decided the PostPay user should get 700MB, up from 300MB for KES 999. For now I'll stay with Orange. They give me 1GB for KES 850, not KES 999. -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Damn!!

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