I have just sent a niece off to Tanzania. When I made my first trip to Southern Africa, to Namibia I was struck by several people in the audience that looked just like her.When you only know Africa from the National Geographic, and from the depictions in the press you can have some very wrong ideas about the cultures, the countries and people in general.
Getting her to decide to go was a little hard at first. She was worried about lots of little things. But she has been to Europe a lot, and took courses in art in Greece from her University. She finally decided to follow me to Africa to volunteer a while for this summer.
As we are an Internet click away from many people in the world, in some places that are of interest to us..
I thought I would share these initiatives.
My friends are at the Global Compact meeting in Geneva and this is a great press release. This is technology, global warming and international participation for E Learning and University participation in a project.
Ericsson and Stanford University to Advance E-Learning in Africa
Ericsson announced at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in Geneva that it is collaborating with Stanford University to explore the innovative use of mobile technologies in distance e-learning. Ericsson will work with Stanford University’s International Outreach Program to bring distance learning to countries in Africa. The program offers students on different continents the opportunity to learn from researchers in environmental sciences from several countries and perspectives, as well as contribute to lively discourse and debate through Internet and mobile phone interaction.
As part of the program, Ericsson is providing smart phones fully equipped with video cameras, audio recorders, and Internet capability. Ericsson will also support the program by leveraging its relationships with mobile operators in Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa to help Stanford and others implement an environmental e-learning program. This program involves faculty and students from the University of the Western Cape in South African, Mweka College of African Wildlife Management in Tanzania and Makerere University in Uganda.
The international mobile learning project, called Dunia Moja or “one world,” utilizes a GPRS or 3G mobile connection and an Internet-enabled mobile handset from Sony Ericsson to allow students and faculty in remote locations to submit and access video, audio and text-based course materials, participate in online discussion forums, post blogs, produce multimedia content and otherwise interact as they learn.
“Ericsson is a leading enabler of broadband everywhere, which has a leveling effect on many social and economic rights, such as education, healthcare and professional development,” said Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO of Ericsson. “We are pleased to collaborate on this cutting edge pilot program that studies how mobile technology can be used to bridge the digital divide. Building out the wireless infrastructure and leveraging Internet- and multimedia-enabled handsets for e-learning in Africa will help set the stage for future economic empowerment of the region.”
Posted on 06-07-2007
Read this article on the web at: www.cellular-news.com/story/24779.php
I will be working with the UN The Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (GAID), borne from the United Nations’ Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Task Force, we have some ambitious plans regarding accessibility.
This connection to Africa has long been something we have desired. GAID’s initiatives cover a wide spectrum, but two are getting a great deal of attention: achieving better broadband penetration in Africa and developing technologies to help people with disabilities to access information.
“The basic problem in Africa is that some countries have been covered but the majority of sub-Saharan Africa lacks low-cost broadband. We need to fill up the gaps where they exist and the biggest gap is East Africa,” explains Sarbuland Khan, GAID’s executive coordinator, who says that the digital divide will be crossed through a skeleton-wired infrastructure supplemented with wireless, satellite, WiMax, and other technologies.
“The problem with digital inclusion is: Who pays for it?” according to Daniel Aghion, executive director and co-founder of the Wireless Internet Institute (W2i), which has been working with GAID since its days as the ICT Task Force. “So a lot of the focus has been on how to deploy a cost-effective infrastructure.”
“If the right technology and the right business model come together, companies can reap real benefits,” says Khan. “A telephone call from Pakistan to New York has come down to two cents per minute, and still people are making money on it. The demonstrated results indicate that if the same thing is done with the internet, we can have the same results. It requires some [research and development] and some investment, but it can be done.” Khan believes that significant strides will be made in the next five to 10 years, but says progress will be faster in rural areas where a lack of existing infrastructure creates a more pressing need and actually makes development easier.
“The goal is not that we, the UN, do it, but we try to get the partners to do it themselves and show that the UN can catalyze. We don’t have the resources or the expertise, but we can convene the right people around the right table to work on these issues,” says Khan.
I thought we would like to know this information as we have so many international members.
Bonnie Bracey Sutton
