March 2010 - KICTANet

Kenyan takes on Silicon Valley]
by alice 22 Mar '10

22 Mar '10

Kenyan takes on Silicon Valley By MACHARIA GAITHO Posted Sunday, March 21 2010 at 21:21 I am a tree hugger at heart, is the response one gets on asking Ory Okolloh about Ushahidi.com's commercial prospects. She does see commercial potential for the new media sensation that has probably given her more coverage in the mainstream global media in recent months than the combined space given to President Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai, Safaricom boss Michael Joseph and Inter Milan footballer McDonald Mariga. Yet, if the global buzz Ushahidi is generating is any guide, we could be looking at a Kenyan Google, Microsoft or Facebook in terms of business potential. Ushahidi is a non-profit venture kept afloat by grants from various foundations, but Ms Okolloh is confident that in a few years, it will be able to sustain itself. It was built without venture capital, and even the technology developed to run it was deliberately kept open source, ruling out patents and proprietorship. And though she does have two young mouths to feed, she is reluctant to even talk about the prospect of super profits. Big business is starting to express interest in Ushahidi, but she remains cautious of commercial tie-ups that may cramp her style. That's the tree hugger in her. Her business card bears no title. It identifies her workplace as Ushahidi crowdsourcing and crisis information. Against her name is just an e-mail address. Across the world, however, she is earning recognition as co-founder and principal force behind Ushahidi, an online blogger-generated mapping tool that came into its own with the Haiti and Chile earthquakes and US blizzards. "Africa's Gift to Silicon Valley: How to Track a Crisis" was the title of a major feature on Ms Okolloh and Ushahidi in a New York Times article published less than a week before the Pan African Media Conference opened in Nairobi. "Ushahidi technology saves lives in Haiti and Chile", trumpeted the Newsweek interactive site on March 3. The publicity Ushahidi has generated has also served to put Kenya on the global digital map. And, ironically, if the site is Kenya's gift to Silicon Valley and the world, it is also a gift from Kenya's murderous round of post-election violence. Ms Okolloh, who is based in South Africa, had come home to vote and report on the polls when the violence broke out. Desperate for information and seeking ways to help, she sent out a plaintive cry on her blog: "Any techies out there willing to do a mash up of where the violence and destruction is using Google Maps?" The response was instantaneous. Within days, volunteer programmers had written a software code that allowed anyone to send in information via SMS, blog posts, video, phone calls and photographs. The information and its exact source was uploaded onto a map, providing a picture of serious hotspots based on the density of data coming from each location. The Kenyan poll violence was a test-run, and come the Haiti quake, Ushahidi became a global sensation. It was the first time such simple technology had been used on this scale and Ushahidi became the default data base for the Red Cross, US army and international relief effort. Then came Chile, the blizzards that paralysed much of the US, violence in Palestine and India, trouble in Afghanistan the list keeps growing. "Think about that", asked The New York Times on the blizzards. "The capital of the sole superpower is deluged with snow, and to whom does its local newspaper turn to help dig it out? Kenya." When I first met Ms Okolloh at the annual Highway Africa conference in South Africa a few years ago, she was part of the crowd of young bloggers with a social conscience trying to get a foot in the door. How does it feel now that she sits at the high table? "It feels good," she says with a laugh, "It's been a long journey." The lesson she learned is that if you stick around long enough and never tire, people will start to pay attention. Ushahidi's success is great vindication of her faith that technology would explode in Africa as, in the early days, many sneered at bloggers who imagined creating something worthwhile and sustainable. Internet penetration in Africa was nothing to write home about. Now, thanks partly to the mobile phone revolution, old wisdom has been turned upside down. Market researchers are noting the demographic shift, and it is obvious that anyone wanting to reach the under-25s, half the population, must look to new media. Moderating a roundtable discussion on new media at the Pan African Media Conference, Ms Okolloh wondered why talk of the concept in Africa too often focuses on the social and economic benefits paying bills or sending money through M-Pesa; farmers accessing information on weather and fertilisers through SMS. She thinks the so-called "development" benefit of new media is a by-product; the primary function being fun and ease of communication. But hasn't Ushahidi itself been a major catalyst for good? Yes, she concurs, but that was dependant on the "fun" technology being available in the first place. She points to the mobile phone revolution on the continent. If mobile phones were sold as "development" rather than affordable and convenient means of communication, she ventures, they might not have taken off so fast. She also refers to the push towards digital villages in Africa. Quite often, policy makers and implementers report failure because the customers they expected farmers seeking information on credit or farm inputs or mothers seeking help for a sick child were not forthcoming. Instead users might be youth "wasting time" on Facebook or downloading music. That, to her should be the measure of success. A nice and simple lesson, that, for Information and Communications Permanent Secretary Bitange Ndemo. Ms Ory Okolloh graduated from Harvard Law School in 2005 and is now a co-founder and executive director of http://Ushahidi.com. <http://Ushahidi.com.> Her self-penned online profile in Global Voices describes a social activist blogger, aka Kenyan Pundit, with a wide range of interests. Source: Daily Nation, Kenya The internet is the real unifier of the globe. Your country, sex, religion doesn't have to matter. Its what you are not where you are that will define the next crop of influential peoples of the world Submitted by popq Posted March 22, 2010 09:25 AM __,_._,___

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ICANN wraps up in Nairobi with no security hitches
by alice 22 Mar '10

22 Mar '10

ICANN wraps up in Nairobi with no security hitches By Rebecca Wanjiku <http://www.computerworld.co.ke/users/rebecca-wanjiku> 12 Mar, 2010 For the ICANN local organizing committee, today is a great day, it is the last day of the meeting, which by any standards can be considered a success considering the security video produced by ICANN just before the meeting. >From December last year, the LOC was involved more in answering security questions, whether the ruling coalition will break and whether the Al Shabab terrorist group will get away from the lucrative piracy along the gulf of Aden to attack KICC. No one denied that there were security concerns but thats a common denominator for many countries, rich or poor. In retrospect, I think the whole security debate benefitted Kenya and to some extent the continent. ICANN meetings have geographical rotation and am sure issues of security will come up the next time Africa is meant to host the meeting. For Kenya, the successful meeting is vital, given that the Internet Governance Forum will be held in the country next year. If the IGF raises the security issues, Kenya can point to ICANN and the security video, and the success that was achieved. To ICANN, the remote participation was good, the online participation matrix was shared before the meeting started and the parallel meetings in the US now look a bit ill advised. The 100mb bandwidth at the conference venue was very stable, I did not experience any hitches, even during the opening ceremony, where there were at least 100 laptops on; everyone at ICANN at least carries a laptop but not all were on at the time. For the ICANN participants who danced at the Carnivore till 4am, it just shows that they were enjoying the hospitality and the good things that the country has to offer. For those who took the Safaris, that is better than the caged animals out there. The meeting was optional for many people but for those in the new gTLD debate, it was important to have the two minutes on the mic in the public forum. Even members of the Government Advisory Committee took the mic, led by Bertrard De La Chapelle from France, who took the 2 minute Mic like 20 times, just to emphasize the importance of public sessions. For the ICM guys, the Independent Review Committee and those interested in matters of transparency in ICANN, the .xxx debate was important and their presence is vital, even in the face of security concerns. So, the meeting had lessons and successes for everyone; with more than 1000 people picking their conference bags, I think the meeting was a success and offers vital lessons to others holding meetings in Nairobi. Ends

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[Fwd: Signing of the ARPA zone]
by Michuki Mwangi 22 Mar '10

22 Mar '10

FYI -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Signing of the ARPA zone Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:13:46 -0800 From: Joe Abley <joe.abley(a)icann.org> To: Joe Abley <joe.abley(a)icann.org> Colleagues, This is a technical, operational announcement regarding changes to the ARPA top-level domain. Apologies in advance for duplicates received through different mailing lists. No specific action is requested of operators. This message is for your information only. The ARPA zone is about to be signed using DNSSEC. The technical parameters by which ARPA will be signed are as follows: KSK Algorithm and Size: 2048 bit RSA KSK Rollover: every 2-5 years, scheduled rollover to follow RFC 5011 KSK Signature Algorithm: SHA-256 Validity period for signatures made with KSK: 15 days; new signatures published every 10 days ZSK Algorithm and Size: 1024 bit RSA ZSK Rollover: every 3 months ZSK Signature Algorithm: SHA-256 Authenticated proof of non-existence: NSEC Validity period for signatures made with ZSK: 7 days; zone generated and re-signed twice per day The twelve root server operators [1] will begin to serve a signed ARPA zone instead of the (current) unsigned ARPA zone during a maintenance window which will open at 2010-03-15 0001 UTC and close at 2010-03-17 2359 UTC. Individual root server operators will carry out their maintenance at times within that window according to their own operational preference. The trust anchor for the ARPA zone will be published in the ITAR [2], and in the root zone in the form of a DS record once the root zone is signed. If you have any concerns or require further information, please let me know. Regards, Joe Abley Director DNS Operations, ICANN [1] <http://www.root-servers.org/> [2] <https://itar.iana.org/>

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contacts for Dr Shem Ochuodho in South Sudan
by Muriuki Mureithi 22 Mar '10

22 Mar '10

Hi Listers plse help me with contacts of Dr Ochuodho -email phone. do not have access to my address data base cheers MM@south sudan

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Used Computers
by Victor Maloi 20 Mar '10

20 Mar '10

Listers, I hope everybody read the Thursday Star article on e-waste. The article quoted a study conducted locally and found out that we import thousands of tons in e-waste from developed countries. Environmental agencies are concerned. For every one used computer that ends up being used, there are ten to be juncked or to be used for canibalizing. Do we really need this in the country? In my view we should support the Government's proposal to ban the imports. My brief research shows those supporting this effort are themselves in the used electronics industry. In all honest the benefits do not justify our continued use of other people's waste. PS Ndemo said we can lower the cost of new computers to equal that of the used computer. Why can we not pursue this? Victor.

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(no subject)
by alice＠apc.org 20 Mar '10

20 Mar '10

Dear Colleagues, The Internet Society has announced that it is seeking applications for the next round of the ISOC Fellowship to the IETF program, part of its Next Generation Leaders (NGL) programme (www.isoc.org/leaders) The Fellowship program offers engineers from developing countries fellowships that fund the cost of attending an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) meeting. As you know, the IETF is the Internet's premier standards-making body, responsible for the development of protocols used in IP-based networks. IETF participants represent an international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers involved in the technical operation of the Internet and the continuing evolution of Internet architecture. Fellowships will be awarded through a competitive application process. The Internet Society is currently accepting fellowship applications for the next two IETF meetings: * IETF 78, 25-30 July, Maastricht, Netherlands * IETF 79, 7-12 November, Beijing, China http://www.isoc.org/educpillar/fellowship/index.php Fellowship applications for both IETF meetings are due by 16 April 2010. Two other components of the NGL are accepting applications: ISOC IGF Ambassadors <http://www.isoc.org/pubpolpillar/igfambassadors/> NGL eLearning programme <http://www.isoc.org/leaders/elearning.php> To learn more about the NGL, and each of the three components, please visit: www.isoc.org/leaders Please review each component separately, including the different criteria, to help you decide which component(s) are appropriate for your professional background and future goals. Please note that each component has a different application deadline. I encourage you to pass information about this programme to individuals involved in your network that have a keen interest in the Internet standardisation activities of the IETF and/or in Internet governance issues. The Internet [WINDOWS-1252?]Society’s Next Generation Leaders programme is sponsored by Nominet Trust The Internet Society Fellowships to the IETF are also sponsored by Afilias, Google, Microsoft, and Intel.. If you have questions, please do not hesiate to contact Connie Kendig <kendig(a)isoc.org Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Zain Kenya

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ICT Integration in Education Awards for Teachers
by Terry 19 Mar '10

19 Mar '10

Dear All; As part of the forthcoming Regional Elearning Conference on Education scheduled for 29th - 31st March at KIE, ICWE Africa in conjunction with Ministry of Education and VVOB are launching an award to recognize teachers who have excelled in using ICT in classrooms to enhance teaching and learning. We welcome nominations, hence if you know one kindly nominate. Please circulate this notice widely. To nominate see details attached and you can also visit <http://www.icwe.co.ke/elearn2010/nominations.html> http://www.icwe.co.ke/elearn2010/nominations.html for more information. You can also contact as below for more information. Terry Njoroge Accounts Manager ICWE Africa P.O. Box 746-00100, Nairobi, Kenya. Email: terry(a)icwe.co.ke <http://www.icwe.co.ke/> www.icwe.co.ke Contacts: 020-234 3961 Cell: 0724 866771

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http://www.broadband.gov/plan/goals-action-items.html
by Eric M.K Osiakwan 19 Mar '10

19 Mar '10

GOALS & ACTION ITEMS HIGHLIGHTS Goal No. 1: At least 100 million U.S. homes should have affordable access to actual download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second and actual upload speeds of at least 50 megabits per second. In order to be a world leader in access to broadband by 2020, the plan has recommendations to foster competition, drive demand for increased network performance and lower the cost of deploying infrastructure. These will help inform consumers about broadband performance, expand services and infrastructure, and reform access to rights-of-way to lower barriers to entry for firms. Goal No. 2: The United States should lead the world in mobile innovation, with the fastest and most extensive wireless networks of any nation. Without enough spectrum, the wonderful potential that wireless and mobile broadband promise will remain unrealized. The Plan recommends making 500 megahertz of spectrum available by 2020, including 300 megahertz within the next five years, for both licensed and unlicensed use. In addition, the Commission recommends initiatives to ensure greater transparency and access in allocating spectrum for various uses. Goal No. 3: Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service, and the means and skills to subscribe if they so choose. Not only is our world increasingly accessible online, but Americans have more opportunity for civic engagement than ever. But for these exciting online tools to be useful, every American must: have access to a network; be able to afford that access; and have the opportunity to develop digital skills. The Plan proposes reprioritization of resources and strategic targeting of efforts in order to achieve the goal of a 90% broadband adoption rate by 2020. Goal No. 4: Every community should have affordable access to at least 1 gigabit per second broadband service to anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals, and government buildings. The plan makes recommendations to upgrade the E-rate and improve the Rural Health Care support programs. Reforming incentive structures, licensing, and data interoperability, ensure that public priorities take advantage of the benefits broadband networks offer. And once community anchors are connected to gigabit speeds, it will become less expensive and more practical to get the same speeds to homes. Goal No. 5: To ensure the safety of American communities, every first responder should have access to a nationwide, wireless, interoperable broadband public safety network. Often, first responders from different jurisdictions cannot communicate effectively with each other at the scene of an emergency. A nationwide broadband safety network should be robust enough to maintain performance in the aftermath of a disaster, and should allow every first responder to communicate with each other and share real-time data over high-speed connections. Goal No. 6: To ensure that America leads in the clean energy economy, every American should be able to use broadband to track and manage their real-time energy consumption. The United States must lead by encouraging renewable power, grid storage, and vehicle electrification. Real-time data can also inform automated thermostats and appliances, allowing consumers to save energy and money while reducing the need for expensive new power plants. Consumers should be able to access real-time usage information from smart meters and historical billing information over the Internet. Eric M.K Osiakwan Director Internet Research www.internetresearch.com.gh emko(a)internetresearch.com.gh 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Tel: +233.21.258800 ext 7031 Fax: +233.21.258811 Cell: +233.24.4386792

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FW: [DIRSI] DIRSI - Invitation to Seminar
by Edith Adera 19 Mar '10

19 Mar '10

FYI ________________________________ From: newsletter-bounces(a)dirsi.net [mailto:newsletter-bounces@dirsi.net] On Behalf Of DIRSI Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2010 8:15 PM To: newsletter(a)dirsi.net Subject: [DIRSI] DIRSI - Invitation to Seminar Click here if you cannot see this message correctly<http://dirsi.net/en/node/605> | - click here to unsubscribe from DIRSI news<mailto:nonews@dirsi.net?subject=unsubscribe&body=Please%20unsubscribe%20me%20from%20DIRSI%20news> [cid:part1.05090900.01050103@dirsi.net] 18 March 2010 Agenda Introduction: State of the art in telecom regulation around the world Measuring ICT development and its socio-economic impact, regulatory enablers Redefining universal services: New Technologies, opportunities and challenges for access New models for spectrum usage: re-farming, commons and open access Implications of technological convergence for antitrust policies in ICT Speakers * Dr. Rohan Samarajiva Lirneasia * Mr. Sebastian Cabello GSM Association * Dr. Martha Garcia-Murillo Syracuse University * Dr. Raul Katz Columbia University <http://lacnic.net/en/anuncios/2009_ConvocatoriaTrayectoria.html> Training Seminar - New Technologies and their Challenges for Telecommunications Regulation in Latin America [cid:part2.07070501.09040304@dirsi.net] It is our pleasure to greet you on behalf of the Regional Dialogue on the Information Society - DIRSI- and inform you of the upcoming Training Seminar on New Technologies and their Challenges for Telecommunications Regulation in Latin America (Brasília, 13 May 2010). The seminar will offer an overview of key regulatory issues for the ICT industry and contribute to the development of the tools necessary for understanding the implications of new technologies for regulatory policies. It is designed for young researchers, regulatory agency staff, civil society organizations, journalists and mid-level managers. The seminar will precede the conference of the American Communication Research Network (ACORN/REDECOM), which will be held in Brasília on 14 and 15 May 2010. More information about the seminar<http://dirsi.net/en/node/605> is available on the DIRSI website. Those interested in applying for a grant to defray travel costs should send a letter of introduction with personal information, a Curriculum Vitae, and a brief explanation of how they will apply knowledge gained from the seminar in their work. This material should be submitted to <concurso2010(a)dirsi.net<mailto:concurso2010@dirsi.net>> no later than 31 March 2010. Sincerely, DIRSI Steering Commitee ________________________________ If you do not want to receive further information from DIRSI, send an e-mail to nonews(a)dirsi.net<mailto:nonews@dirsi.net?subject=unsubscribe&body=Please%20unsubscribe%20me%20from%20DIRSI%20news> with the subject "unsuscribe". ________________________________ dirsi.net<http://dirsi.net/> | info(a)dirsi.net<mailto:info@dirsi.net>

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Fwd: Congrats, "Malili Technopolis Concept Paper" is hot on Twitter this hour
by Brian Longwe 19 Mar '10

19 Mar '10

V Interesting! Mblayo Sent from my "HaiPhone" Begin forwarded message: > From: donotreply(a)slidesharemailer.com > Date: March 19, 2010 9:58:02 AM GMT+03:00 > To: blongwe(a)gmail.com <blongwe(a)gmail.com> > Subject: Congrats, "Malili Technopolis Concept Paper" is hot on > Twitter this hour > > > "Malili Technopolis Concept Paper" is being tweeted more than any > other document on SlideShare right now. So we've put it on the > homepage of SlideShare.net (in the "Hot on Twitter" section). > > Well done, you! > > - SlideShare Team

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