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NEWS!! KENYA ICT BOARD UPCOMING EVENTS
by Lucy Gachui Odhiambo 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

Greetings from Kenya ICT Board! This is an exciting and busy time for us at the board and indeed the industry at large with several events coming up this month and next. A summary of these are attached herewith. Our participation in these events is largely in line with our capacity building mandate and our role in creating awareness of industry initiatives. If you would like more information about any of these events, please get in touch with the undersigned. We realize that this list may not be exhaustive as the sector is very diverse and dynamic, so we kindly urge you to bring to our attention events we may not be aware of (in March and April ) so that we can post them on our website and to inform our mailing lists. Sincerely, Lucy Gachui Odhiambo Communications Manager Kenya ICT Board 12th Floor Telposta Towers Koinange Lane PO Box 27150 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya Cell 0737- 839047 Tel: 254-020-2093040 <http://www.ict.go.ke> www.ict.go.ke Kenya ICT Board Mission: To champion and actively enable Kenya to adopt and exploit ICT, through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for socio economic enrichment

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Dr Ndemo's Presentation @ UoN
by Matunda Nyanchama 24 Feb '10

24 Feb '10

Friends, I must have missed the note in which this presentation was circulated. Would someone send me a copy. Many thanks. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matunda Nyanchama, mnyanchama(a)aganoconsulting.com Agano Consulting Inc.; www.aganoconsulting.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”- George Bernard Shaw ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail, including attachments, may be privileged and may contain confidential or proprietary information intended only for the addressee(s). Any other distribution, copying, use, or disclosure is unauthorized and strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and permanently delete the message, including any attachments, without making a copy. Thank you.

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Re: [kictanet] ICT TV Station
by S.Murigi Muraya 24 Feb '10

24 Feb '10

Now, will Skunkworks rise up to the Challenge? Tech skills they have. -----Original Message----- From: robert yawe <robertyawe(a)yahoo.co.uk> Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 11:29 To: murigi.muraya(a)gmail.com Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Subject: Re: [kictanet] ICT TV Station Dear Mr. Aguyo, A history A few months ago I proposed that Dr. Ndemo give us a presentation on the Malili ICT Park so that we would be in the picture of what was going on. Because I knew many would not have been able to attend we it was proposed that the session be recorded, and as there are members on this list who are not resident locally the recording should be digitised and posted online. As a result of this proposal Skunkworks indicated that they would be able to set up an IPTV "station" and what they needed was a server to install onto. The Present To be able to assist them in putting up the "station" I and a few philanthropic Kenyan's have offered to finance the purchase of the server for the Skunkworks group as an R&D project and to test the local technical skill levels on the same. I hope this clears the fog. Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 From: Sam Aguyo <saguyo(a)yahoo.com> To: robertyawe(a)yahoo.co.uk Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Sent: Wed, 24 February, 2010 8:50:06 Subject: ICT TV Station Scene One Robert says: I would like to offer 20,000/- towards the IPTV server and Hairy Harry has also agreed to contribute 20,000/- towards the same, please send us details on the project. If there are any organisations or individuals out there who feel philanthropic enough, jionyeshe. Evelyn can we get some rack space for this little box? <This indicates that Bob and Harry are contributing 20k each to be used to set up an IPTV station> Scene two Robert says: Once the prototype is tested we shall then move to the next level of commercialization at which point we shall look into the most appropriate hardware. Please note that this is a knee jack reaction as a resolved of the fiasco that was Dr. Ndemo's presentation recording. Murigi Muraya says: <Skunkworks have been raising funds for a mail server that could also be used as a media or video conferencing server also if enough funds are raised to get a good server.> Robert says: So please lets move forward with the initial test I am interested in the IPTV component so the server is to be used solely for that purpose. Now i do not understand this new venture. Sam

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ICT Park Presentation - . . . free lunch
by robert yawe 24 Feb '10

24 Feb '10

Hi, I believe my cooling out session is over for instigating for Dr. Ndemo to give is a presentation and my failing to attend Being an astute planner I had taken into account the possibility of not being able to attend the session which is why I proposed that this historic presentation for recorded for posterity and to use against Dr. Ndemo if he ever decided to run for higher office. My suggestion that we contribute a token amount, 500/-, towards the hosting was short down and a free model was adopted all because of our entitlement mentality and over reliance on donors. This resulted in those who did not make it to the session miss the opportunity to listen to what was articulated as the "free" recording seems to have come to naught. There is a saying that goes "there is nothing like a free lunch", I hope the next time we shall avoid the free model. 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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Re: [kictanet] Nairobi ICANN workshop on (domain) Redelagation
by Walubengo J 24 Feb '10

24 Feb '10

This could be a nice one to attend...considering the cloudy domain issues prevailing on several East African country code top level domains (ccTLDs)... Check out at: http://nbo.icann.org/node/8902 walu.

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FW: Fablab visit: Tomorrow, 24th Feb 2010 at 10:00am
by Esther Wanjau 24 Feb '10

24 Feb '10

Dear All, I am writing to inform you that the University of Nairobi Fablab Visit will be on Wednesday 24th February, 2010 at 10:00am headed by PS Information,Dr. Bitange Ndemo. Kindly meet up with Mr. John Musasia [0722391607, jmusasia(a)information.go.ke ], Ms. Gladys Gathera [0720409318, ggathera(a)information.go.ke ] and Nicholas Awiti 0721793605 from the Ministry of Information and Communications at the Gate of the Engineering section on Harry Thuku Rd of University Way (immediately after Central Police Station gate). Prof. Kamau, University of Nairobi's Engineering School has successfully reverse engineered the converter box for digital TV and will be demonstrating it with his students and also take you on a tour of the facility. Regards Esther Wanjau Senior Assistant Director/Information Ministry of Information and Communications Tel: +254 20 2251152/2250517 Cell: +254 722 867361 email: esther.wanjau(a)information.go.ke website: www.information.go.ke

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Re: [kictanet] FW: Fablab visit: Tomorrow, 24th Feb 2010 at 10:00am
by charles nduati 24 Feb '10

24 Feb '10

hi esther, thanks for the invite. I will attend chares nduati On Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:29 EET Esther Wanjau wrote: > >Dear All, > >I am writing to inform you that the University of Nairobi Fablab Visit will be on Wednesday 24th February, 2010 at 10:00am headed by PS Information,Dr. Bitange Ndemo. > > >Kindly meet up with Mr. John Musasia [0722391607, jmusasia(a)information.go.ke ], Ms. Gladys Gathera [0720409318, ggathera(a)information.go.ke ] and Nicholas Awiti 0721793605 from the Ministry of Information and Communications at the Gate of the Engineering section on Harry Thuku Rd of University Way (immediately after Central Police Station gate). > >Prof. Kamau, University of Nairobi's Engineering School has successfully reverse engineered the converter box for digital TV and will be demonstrating it with his students and also take you on a tour of the facility. > > >Regards > > > >Esther Wanjau >Senior Assistant Director/Information >Ministry of Information and Communications >Tel: +254 20 2251152/2250517 >Cell: +254 722 867361 >email: esther.wanjau(a)information.go.ke >website: www.information.go.ke > > > > >

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Technology & Civic Duty
by Rad! 23 Feb '10

23 Feb '10

Friends, colleagues, countrymen, Visit the following link http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_man_on_your_phone_3_government_app… see how technology can be leveraged to not only help government carry out its responsibilities, but also involve the citizens in the same. It is a sad state of affairs that the watchman column on the Nation appears to be the de facto forum for citizens to post their complaints and local government to reply. The ICT Board might want to think of starting and running a program to encourage ICT in government not just from the government end but from the governed end as well

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1995 article on why the Internet won't work!
by Agosta Liko 23 Feb '10

23 Feb '10

http://www.newsweek.com/id/106554 The Internet? Bah! Hype alert: Why cyberspace isn't, and will never be, nirvana By Clifford Stoll | NEWSWEEK >From the magazine issue dated Feb 27, 1995 After two decades online, I'm perplexed. It's not that I haven't had a gas of a good time on the Internet. I've met great people and even caught a hacker or two. But today, I'm uneasy about this most trendy and oversold community. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic. Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works. Consider today's online world. The Usenet, a worldwide bulletin board, allows anyone to post messages across the nation. Your word gets out, leapfrogging editors and publishers. Every voice can be heard cheaply and instantly. The result? Every voice is heard. The cacophany more closely resembles citizens band radio, complete with handles, harrasment, and anonymous threats. When most everyone shouts, few listen. How about electronic publishing? Try reading a book on disc. At best, it's an unpleasant chore: the myopic glow of a clunky computer replaces the friendly pages of a book. And you can't tote that laptop to the beach. Yet Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we'll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Intenet. Uh, sure. What the Internet hucksters won't tell you is tht the Internet is one big ocean of unedited data, without any pretense of completeness. Lacking editors, reviewers or critics, the Internet has become a wasteland of unfiltered data. You don't know what to ignore and what's worth reading. Logged onto the World Wide Web, I hunt for the date of the Battle of Trafalgar. Hundreds of files show up, and it takes 15 minutes to unravel them--one's a biography written by an eighth grader, the second is a computer game that doesn't work and the third is an image of a London monument. None answers my question, and my search is periodically interrupted by messages like, "Too many connectios, try again later." Won't the Internet be useful in governing? Internet addicts clamor for government reports. But when Andy Spano ran for county executive in Westchester County, N.Y., he put every press release and position paper onto a bulletin board. In that affluent county, with plenty of computer companies, how many voters logged in? Fewer than 30. Not a good omen. Point and click: Then there are those pushing computers into schools. We're told that multimedia will make schoolwork easy and fun. Students will happily learn from animated characters while taught by expertly tailored software.Who needs teachers when you've got computer-aided education? Bah. These expensive toys are difficult to use in classrooms and require extensive teacher training. Sure, kids love videogames--but think of your own experience: can you recall even one educational filmstrip of decades past? I'll bet you remember the two or three great teachers who made a difference in your life. Then there's cyberbusiness. We're promised instant catalog shopping--just point and click for great deals. We'll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obselete. So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month? Even if there were a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet--which there isn't--the network is missing a most essential ingredient of capitalism: salespeople. What's missing from this electronic wonderland? Human contact. Discount the fawning techno-burble about virtual communities. Computers and networks isolate us from one another. A network chat line is a limp substitute for meeting friends over coffee. No interactive multimedia display comes close to the excitement of a live concert. And who'd prefer cybersex to the real thing? While the Internet beckons brightly, seductively flashing an icon of knowledge-as-power, this nonplace lures us to surrender our time on earth. A poor substitute it is, this virtual reality where frustration is legion and where--in the holy names of Education and Progress--important aspects of human interactions are relentlessly devalued. STOLL is the author of "Silicon Snake Oil--Second Thoughts on the Information Highway," to be published by Doubleday in April.

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Fw: Request for Practical attachment
by Catherine Adeya 23 Feb '10

23 Feb '10

----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider(a)yahoo.com> To: elizaslider(a)yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Thu, February 18, 2010 2:33:17 PM Subject: [kictanet] Request for Practical attachment Listers, I owe it to my old university to help with the request attached. Apparently so many students are suffering as they cannot get practical attachment places when so many of us benefited (although 20+ years ago) by being able to apply theory to practice. Kindly anyone who can assist, get in touch with the HOD whose email is below. You can cc me if need be. Best Regards, Nyaki ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dept. of Information Tech. <hodit(a)mu.ac.ke> Date: Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 2:08 PM Subject: Practical attachment Dear Catherine, Please find attached, Best regards Dr. David Gichoya Head, Department of Information Technology School of Information Sciences Moi University _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: elizaslider(a)yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/elizaslider%40yahoo.com

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