These ventures weren’t picked by any scientific method; nor do they constitute any consensus of how ICTs will look in the next few years. These are just projects that caught my eye. Because these projects leverage technology in rural areas, let’s start with a discussion on how public internet kiosks could develop in the next few years.

Broadband? by wseltzer on Flickr.

In his blog ICTlogy, Ismael Peña-López wonders whether public internet kiosks like telecentres and cybercafés will evolve into enhanced e-centers, “where communities will gather and benefit from several community resources, computers and Internet access among others? Or will they just disappear?”

He continues:

As libraries have provided more than books, but a place where to learn to read and find kindred souls, it is my guess that public Internet access points will disappear as such, and will either be embedded within existing structures (libraries themselves, or civic centres, to name a few) or the existing telecentres and cybercafes will evolve into a next stage where the learning and community factors will be much more relevant. We are indeed seeing plenty of examples of this, and it is a matter of time that priorities or the focus turns upside down: instead of going to access the Internet and finding people, one will go and find people and use the Internet as an enhanced way to socialize. At its turn, this should be accompanied by the end of this false dichotomy on whether your a citizen or a netizen, as if the network had a live and a citizenry on its own. But time will tell.

Shilpa Sayura

Shilpa Sayura, which means sea of knowledge, is an interactive digital self-learning system based in Sri Lanka. Shilpa Sayura’s course of study began with eight subjects that parallels the national education curriculum so students in remote and rural areas can prepare for national school examinations in Sinhala, the country's predominant local language. The project has added another three courses, including lessons in Tamil and English.

Shilpa Sayura's open-source software was given away to non-profit educational providers and to rural Nansalas, a chain of government-developed telecentres. These telecentres in Sri Lanka fulfill many roles: Some provide connection to the web, but also offer fax, photocopying and printing services. They make money from phone calls, VOIP, and provide a bill-payment service. They are also places, the government hopes, where other ICT projects can bloom.

Harsha Liyanage, originally from Sri Lanka, blogs at Sustainability First: In search of sustainable telecentres. He records some of the issues Shilpa Sayura is attempting to overcome.

[The] Absence of competent teachers and adequate facilities handicap rural students in 80% of the Sri Lankas population. Now over 500 telecentres at rural outskirts provide a new window of opportunity. Shilpa Sayura enables students to interact with ICT to study 8 subjects digitally at tele centers and develop their knowledge to prepare for national examinations.

In March, 2008, Liyanage explained that Shilpa Sayura was undergoing growing pains.

Having a success story of a very compelling pilot, the project struggles at scaling up. Every telecentre operator of over 500 telecentres in Sri Lanka needs to have Shilpa Sayura installed in their telecentre. But, e-Fusion acknowledges it is not feasible at this present state.
• It needs technological improvements to ensure trouble free smooth run.
• Also needs technical capacity building at the telecentre operators to assist the users.
• Need to improve help-desk capacity to accept escalating demands
All these needs significant capital investments. They recognize it is not reasonable to tax the government to support further. Thus eyes at the CSR goodwill of the corporate partners.
In the mean time they plot the plans for an appropriate business model.

The blog Technology and Cultural Festival in Kandiyapitawew from Sri Lanka explains the educational benefits of the project.

We believe ‘Shilpa Sayura’ could contribute to addressing the issue of the shortage of school teachers, especially in distant rural area one which continues to be a setback to the county’s educational system.

The ‘Shilpa Sayura’ e-learning package covers eight school subjects, in Sinhala from grade six to O level. Shilpa Sayura’s simple interactive means of self study caters to students in remote communities with no access to urban educational resources. Still in its pilot stage Shilpa Sayura now operates in 20 ‘Nenasalas’ or tele-centers located in distant villages and promotes the concept of self learning among students in these secluded communities…The next phase would be the transformation of Shilpa Sayura into a National project to strengthen rural education and bridge the gap between rural and urban students.

M-Pesa

The next project takes place in Kenya, where the blog Global Warming contends the mobile phone is revolutionizing society.

There are presently over 17 million [mobile phone] subscribers and the fact that it is presently facilitating money transfers almost says it all. There are the two things that make everything work. One is communication and the second is convenience of transferring cash. After that you are in business anywhere.

M-Pesa began in 2007 as a way to perform simple banking transactions through cell phones. The telecom firms behind the project didn’t charge registration fees or require customers to have a bank account, often a major hurdle in Kenya because few people deal with traditional banks. Once signed-up, customers can use the M-Pesa application to pay bills, purchase more phone credits and transfer money within Kenya through data-enabled mobile phones. M-Pesa now allows customers to book airline tickets. Safaricom, the company responsible for M-Pesa, is beginning a pilot project to let customers pay for water usage.

M-Pesa agent in Bunda by emilsjoblom in Flickr.

In July 2009 M-Pesa totaled more than seven million subscribers, who collect or send money through a network of more than 1400 bank agents, making it the largest bank in the country. These customers transfer more than $2.5 million every month.

Just a few weeks ago, M-Pesa went international, moving into the United Kingdom by allowing people to send money back to phone numbers in Kenya through a web interface. The transaction costs as little as $8 US for sending 150 Pounds. A 2005 study found traditional money transfer firms charged fees between 2.5 and 40 percent of the transfer for anything below 100 Pounds.

David Zarraga, from the blog Mobile Behavior has a good rundown on how M-Pesa works.

Registered M-PESA customers can “deposit” hard currency with any M-PESA agent in exchange for e-money, which is uploaded into the customer’s M-PESA account. For 38 US cents, the customer can then transfer this money to another registered customer’s M-PESA account via SMS. Once the recipient receives the SMS confirmation, the hard currency can then be withdrawn from the nearest M-PESA agent, completing the money transfer process.

How does the M-PESA service benefit the average Kenyan? Olga Morawczynski, a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh who spoke at the GSM World Congress in Barcelona last February, shared the story of Martin, a shoe-maker in Kibera, an informal settlement just outside Nairobi. Martin makes about US$ 20 a day from his trade and sends a quarter of his earnings to his wife and mother, who live in Western Kenya, over 100 miles away. M-PESA saves Martin time, allowing him to work his trade instead of having to travel far outside his place of work to find a bank. The service also enables him to make frequent transfers – about 5 times a month – thereby allowing him to send a week’s earnings when his family needs the money most.

The blog Bankelele: Nairobi Banker lists advantages and disadvantages for banking with M-Pesa.

Benefits of m-pesa banking
- 24 hour banking: More reach & access than any bank or ATM network
- Mobile banking with operator tends to be cheaper then mobile banking via bank provided services
- Saving in transport costs and banking transaction costs
- Can pay a variety of bills for utilities at a low cost
Challenges of m-pesa banking
- Lack of float at dealers to transact/occasional mpesa system downtime
- No credit history; and the clumsy expensive statement from Safaricom not useful yet
- Calls for discipline to build savings
- Funds are not insured, and are more prone to crime. And dealing with a stolen phone in Kenya is not a pleasant experience.

eChoupal
Indian Tobacco Company, one of India’s largest exporters, created eChoupal, a series of rural information centers where farmers can communicate directly to other farmers, different markets and experts through the internet. These village internet kiosks were first installed for farmers to learn in local languages the latest information regarding national and international prices in soy, wheat, tobacco and shrimp. But the platform has morphed to providing other important information, such as weather conditions and the latest scientific practices. In 2006, eChoupal counted 3.5 million farmers who used 5,200 internet kiosks throughout more than 30,000 villages.

Harvesting Wheat #1 by Meanest Indian on Flickr.

The farmers pay a local coordinator a small sum to use the kiosk, which can also be used to order seed, fertilizers and other goods.

The blog NeoProducts Kiosks, from the UK, makes the point that part of eChoupal’s success comes from leaving behind the traditional buyers.

e-Choupal has been created by ITC Limited to enable rural farmers in India to buy and sell agricultural produce like soya beans, wheat, and coffee. It does this by allowing them directly to negotiate the sale of their produce via a network of PCs and kiosks in 6,500 centres spread across 100 districts in 10 states. Previously, the farmers had to go through numerous and sometime corrupt intermediaries.

What a great idea and what a fantastic use of kiosks! Allowing shared public access to interactive technology is what kiosks are all about. And this is only the beginning.

Chirag Jethmalani is a management student from Mumbai who blogs about Indian business in Squamble. Here he provides his take on e Choupal.

e Choupal was conceived to tackle the challenges posed by the unique features of Indian agriculture, characterized by fragmented farms, weak infrastructure and the involvement of numerous intermediaries…

Traditionally, these commodities were procured in “mandis” (major agricultural marketing centers in rural areas of India), where the middleman used to make most of the profit. These middlemen used unscientific and sometimes outright unfair means to judge the quality of the product to set the price. Difference in price for good quality and inferior quality was less, and hence there was no incentive for the farmers to invest and produce good quality output. With eChoupal, the farmers have a choice and the exploitative power of the middleman is neutralised.
ICT platform that facilitates flow of information and knowledge, and supports market transactions on line.
* It transmits Information (weather, prices, news),
* It transfers Knowledge (farm management, risk management)
* It facilitates sales of Farm Inputs (screened for quality) and
* It offers the choice of an alternative Output-marketing channel (convenience, lower transaction costs) to the farmer right at his doorstep
* It is an interlocking network of partnerships (ITC + Met Dept + Universities + Input COs + Sanyojaks, the erstwhile Commission Agents) bringing the best-inclass in information, knowledge and inputs.

Just because e-Choupal has a good platform and business model doesn’t make it a gurantee for success in India. To do this, people must understand rural markets.

Rural markets are both economic and social networks and there is a strong connection between the operation of social and economic transactions. Understanding the operations is vital before the systems are conceptualized. Use of local population, as much as possible helped the network to get the acceptance closely.

Two Kenyan men on Saturday became the first gay couple to wed in London. Charles Ngengi, 40 and his bride, Daniel Chege Gichia, 39, became civil partners under the controversial Civil Partnership Act which came into effect in the UK in 2005 allowing couples of the same sex to have legal recognition of their relationship.
The couple tied the knot at a civil partnership ceremony at Islington Town Hall in North London at 11.30 a.m. UK time. According to the Act, a civil partnership is defined as a legal marriage between gay and lesbian couples, and any couples who enter into a civil partnership obtain the new legal status of civil partners, instead of the traditional husband and wife status.

Tamaku, a blogger on The Diary of a Gay Kenyan was the first to publish a post expressing his excitement in the transition Kenya is going through and the story hitting the stands:

I am overjoyed that a gay wedding of Kenyans in London has made the news of the national press. We wish the lucky couple all the best in this new chapter of their lives together. George and I are thinking of the same, to deepen our commitment to one another - even though these unions are not recognised here. It's early days yet but we are determined to have a ceremony to exchange rings and vows witnessed by close friends and family. I'll wear white of course, don't even think to mutter but Tamaku's been around the block a few times unless you are a nun yourself. lol!

We hope you'll accept our invitation when the time comes. Tonight we are just both so happy to raise a glass or two to the newlyweds.

Donn, a gay photo blogger says he knows and has heard of a lot of Kenyan gay couples legalizing their union and he is wondering what the outburst is for, he says gay couples have wed in different countries where gay marriage is legal:

The two gay men above, who got married in the UK last Saturday….was really an eye opener for many Kenyans.The news of the marriage was on the airwaves throughout the weekend…I am sure now every corner of this country knows about it…since it was a hot topic in almost every radio station.Well to me they are not the 1st…there are other many Kenyan gay couple i know who got married in Spain, Canada, South Africa, and UK as well, but the

Most bloggers were not happy with the way the story was handled, the journalists have been described as lopsided; hungry-for-story; fame, self benefit and monetary pay. The journalists tracked down the home of the family members of the newly wed and camped outside the compound waiting for a comment from the parents on what they think of their son marrying a man. The family have been tormented as visitors always coming to the homestead just to witness:

Everyone in Kenya is hungry for something, now adding to the pack is journalists, this people are hungry-for-story, they wait for the slightest twitch to hit their headlines. If you think Mohamed Ali from KTN was the only journalist in Murang'a waiting to interview the parents of the newly wed couple, you are wrong, he is not. Well, apparently journalists are actually camping outside his home town, is it Charles, the supposed “bride”, waiting to interview the mother on what she thinks about her son being in a sexual relationship with a man. They went with the wedding pictures to show the parents and the mother was shocked beyond words, she has gone mute, she doesn't talk or eat. The father is since drinking his life away and hasn't gone sober since, but he was heard saying he is waiting for the bride

According to the website misterseed, the newly wed had a telephone interview and they were not pleased in how the Kenya media have portrayed them, they feel journalists had crossed their boundaries, they ask why they had to drag the family into “this”, but they still still remain hopeful that the laws in Kenya are changing and they will have a second wedding back home:

Mr. Seed telephone conversation with Mr. Chege and Ngengi the gay couple who married in London on Saturday 17th October, 2009. “Good morning Ngengi, how are you doing.” Mr. Seed asked on Thursday afternoon (22nd October). “I am fine Mr. Seed although disappointed that the Kenyan media has gone beyond the limits by visiting our parents in Murang'a to interview them. We understand that the KTN and Nation screened the story on Wednesday evening. How can they visit our parents because of our case. The parents and family has nothing to do with our case. We have not committed murder. The law allows this in the UK. Tell them to concentrate on taking the killers to Hague than concentrating with us. We are innocent people. Furthermore we are on honeymoon and they should not try to spoil our honeymoon. You know what Mr. Seed, the law in Kenya is changing soon and we might even decide to go and do another wedding down there.” Mr. Ngengi concluded with a light touch while laughing.

Radio disc jockeys engaged listeners in the debate igniting the rage and callers called in to call the union unafrican, uncultured and sinful:

Interesting, today morning this was a topic of discussion at Kiss 100 and the guy hired to be a comedian a fake ass one said, ” unethical, unpalatable, uncouth and unafrican.” He went further to say that he would throw his brother from a fourth floor flat if he came out to him and said that he was gay. He also said that gays should be burnt. Really! gays have got no place, some callers went on to say not in our culture and again “unafrican” What's that? J

It is not often that you hear that one is an art predator, an enthusiast or aficionado maybe but not predator and this is what made me become very curious about Alley’s blog where she confesses her love for art.

This is what she says of herself:

Coleridge defines the aesthetic as that which engages the whole soul. Art Predator prowls for that which engages her soul and yours too, covering literary, visual, performing and culinary arts, environmental and social activism, outdoor pursuits including camping, hiking, biking, skiing, and climbing, and festivals including Coachella, Lightening in a Bottle, and Burning Man.

In her blog, one will find her poems, information on upcoming art activities as well as many other things that are of interest to her. Perhaps one might find the title of her blog a bit prudent as the artsy stuff gets lost in most of the other posts but this is her diary to write all her experiences whether arty or otherwise.

Her poem on a professor quite interesting.

The Professor had all the
Big Words on his side
of the plate.

And he was pushing
pushing pushing her words
around with his fork.

It remains to be seen
what it was they were
really arguing about it

It always starts with the words
and goes downhill from there.

Read the full poem here

Injete Chesoni is a multitalented artist with an entrepreneurial edge to cap it all. She has 2 blogs, one of them is Poetry and Art by Injete Chesoni. It features her creative expressions i.e her poetry, stories and art.

Injete also runs poetry Gifts, a blog for gifts ideas, gifts and poetry gifts. In this blog, she offers advice on how one can create poetry gifts as well as an introduction to Ekphrastic poetry.

She also features a range of products like poetry posters, books, magnets and even scary poems for Halloween

We sample one of her scary poems, Mystery in Old Town Mombasa

She had an air of mystery about her
as she sat in the window and stared
I was walking in Old Town Mombasa
and I remembered what they said
That ghosts haunt this town
and things are not always what they seem
There are genies dressed up as cats
and men in women’s bui-buis
So I stared in her eyes and scurried
Even as my mind paused to think
Was she really a woman in clothing
Or a supernatural being

Hon. Mwangi S. Muthiora has quite a lengthy title for someone his age, he is the Junior M.P, Githunguri National Youth Parliament in Kenya.
Born in 1982 in a family of nine, Simon Mwangi Muthiora is a member of Kenya National Youth Parliament and is the Junior M.P. for Githunguri Constituency.

Muthiora is also a writer and has written several Short stories, tenths of poems a full length Play among others. He writes for pleasure and his blog is a true testimony to this bold claim.
Two Hours Before is the name of his blog and this is how he arrived at the befitting blog name;

IMAGINE TWO HOURS FROM NOW HOW THE WORLD WILL HAVE CHANGED, OR WORSE STILL IMAGINE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN OR THE EVENTS THAT WOULD FOLLOW YOUR DEATH “TWO HOURS FROM NOW.” WELL, DON'T POSE AGAIN, “TWO HOURS BEFORE” WILL KEEP YOU ENTERTAINED. KENYA'S NEWEST POET IN THE HOUSE.

His kind of poetry is bereft of the emotional torrents that most poets venture into when writing love poetry. He speaks out on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Wife battery, death, wife inheritance, war among many other vices that are in Kenya, Africa and the world in general.
Sample his poem on FGM, A Woman's Meat

A WOMAN’S MEAT

Early in the morning
Before the birth of the sunlight
And the death of the moonlight
The old gypsy woman appeared
Her motive open
Clad in the humor of guilt
For a woman’s meat
Was all her target
In the name of cleanliness

Grinning, she closed in
Ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha……..
“It is not painful granddaughter”

Read the rest of the poem here

Kojo Bafoe is a man, a father, a son, a brother, a husband, a friend, a poet, a writer, on a quest to make sense of this reality, with words. He lives in Johannesburg South Africa.

Kojo runs two blogs, Imperfectpoetry which is purely dedicated to his poetry and kojobaffoe a wordpress blog where he writes his ‘ramblings’ as he calls them. The latter features anything from sports, to technology to poets who inspire him and encounters with Neo soul music.

His Imperfectpoetry blog gives one an insight to Kojo who renders himself as an imperfect poet who writes imperfect poems, quite a humbling self assessment which prods one to read his poems more keenly to see the imperfections.

When one reads his poem ‘Just words’ one feels that he had understated his poetry abilities. The brevity and precision in his poem has not hint of imperfection.

He has been running the blog for 3 years now and though his last post was in February this year, one need not ask what has been keeping him distracted when they read his other blog. Every once in a while, one does need to ramble.

The last 10 years has seen an explosion of sorts in sports coverage across the continent. The now famous SuperSport is an African powerhouse in pay TV for satellite users and subscribers. This has given Africa and indeed most states a platform to be able to showcase their best.

With recent developments of social media, the sports world is bound to take another leap beyond the current rut it seems to be attracting in terms of growth and expansion to the rest of the world. Fibre optic landing and other developments such as social networks and mobile telephony will be the leads.

There has been a rather unseen force in the name of blogs in the aforementioned social networks. These forums have been stealthily making in-roads as alternatives to sports coverage and offering opinions and news about sports.

Kenya is not unique to this and has seen its share of budding blogging enthusiasts. They range from the best of football to general sports with the highest sport being for obvious reasons rugby (thanks largely to the sevens success in recent years).

Say we also have a blog on the Grand Prix (Formula One) which has seen a growing fan-base in the country and the region too. I am one of those falling into the trap of running around the local joints looking for screens showing the GP on a Sunday morning or afternoon.

Starting with the rugby scene, there are more than 3 blogs including a club blog for one of the teams playing in the rugby league. The major blog on this is Rugby Kenya, which has more than one contributor. The blog is updated regularly especially after the weekend fixtures.

It linksup the rugby fraternity with both the local and international circuit. It is currently ranked as the top sports blog from Kenya and 24^th among top blogs from Kenya on the African blog aggregator, Afrigator.

SportsKenya for which yours truly is a contributor covers general sports from anything relating to current events to offering opinions on sports issues as well as a lashing or two every so often to the sports associations. This blog has quite a number of followers and is ranked 2^nd among Kenyan sports blogs on the African blogs aggregator.

Another blogger closely related to this is Cricket Kenya whose main focus is the cricket world and samplings of other sporting disciplines. This blogger is not located in the country most the time but somehow manages to stay and keep tabs with the cricket and sports scene.

One most interesting blog is Gitau Grand Prix. This blogger has dedicated his blog to Formula One exclusively to be able to appeal to the fan-base which follows this sport. It has very incisive and well-researched articles. It has few graphics making it a hard sell to most sports enthusiasts’ but all the same has its fair share of followers.

Compared with the region, Kenya has most of the Internet users and thus by default has more bloggers. It is because of such forums as the Bloggers Camp that has seen the blogging world grow in good numbers in the country.

Developments in sport and coverage of live events as well as updates have seen the use of blogs become a must even for mainstream media which has sought to converge their offering on their websites and web portals. It is almost a given that most if not all the editors and writers of newspapers or magazines have a blog they write to or contribute.

There are other sports blogs which include Daily Running Tips, which offers tips on jogging and is currently involved in offering free tips for marathon runners both amateur and professional. This is particularly helpful given the fact that there is the Nairobi Marathon (sponsored by Standard Chartered) which has become an annual event in the Kenyan city circles.

The impact of blogs in bringing sanity to sports has started being felt with a vocal voice in Kenya Football. The main contributor and administrator, Francis Gaitho admits that this forum has brought much prominence to issues which were not previously featured in other media.

In fact, it was used by SuperSport to research about Kenya football. The impact that SuperSport has had on the Kenyan game is enormous and the games on the pitch are evident to the pedigree we can get and are looking to develop (if one our football administrators were a little more concerned and focused on developing the game rather than satisfying their insatiable appetites).

The forum has also become a source of information for FM radio stations, most of which have sports segments and the Kenya Premier League features prominently. But of course, it is no bed of roses as it would seem. Gaitho laments the way Kenya football officials especially clubs with shadowy management boards have tried besmirching his work.

Quoting from one of the Agenda issue in one of Kenya Premier League meeting’s minutes;

3^rd Minute: Governance and Policies …on www.kenyafootball.com and its owner Managing Editor, Francis Gaitho, the directors noted

“…that Francis Gaitho…started a malicious campaign on his www.kenyafootball.com website in which he repeatedly made unsubstantied allegations and accusations on embezzled funds, bribery, match-fixing and other corrupt practices against the KPL and its Board and staff…”

On most counts though, sports blogs have helped their administrators learn better and understand their world of sport. It has also meant interaction with sports personalities, administrators and gets more first-hand accounts from those mentioned.

It has also seen mainstream media start appreciating different opinions and not necessarily leaving to their own machinations. The audience is the biggest beneficiary since most of the blogs are easy to read and language that makes them relate to the writers and sport alike. The impact of this will eventually expand into the greater East African and African region as a whole. With the 2010 World Cup around the corner, this is our time sports bloggers. Stand up and let’s hold our own!

]]> http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/10/22/kenya-transfroming-sports-coverage-through-blogs/feed/ 5 http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/10/20/ict4d-when-mobile-phones-link-with-computers/ http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/10/20/ict4d-when-mobile-phones-link-with-computers/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:31:31 +0000 John Liebhardt http://globalvoicesonline.org/?p=101932 In a previous post, we investigated the future of ICT4D from a pretty high level. In this post, I am going to look at some of the new tools that individuals, groups, companies and governments can use to develop new projects around information and communication technologies.

Our underlying theme is investigating how ICTs affect human development. There are many who argue that connection to the internet and/or mobile phone technologies will increase people’s participation in government, in economies, in education and thus increase their standard of living.

Technology and access to internet has advanced so much in the past years, that some will argue that there is no longer a question of whether people in remote areas will soon communicate online. Rather, we should talk about what forms of communication will take place.

The UK-based blog Mainstreaming ICT, says the time to integrate the mobile phone and the computer is now.

The Internet and mobile phones are both communication and information technologies so it makes sense to try to integrate them. We’ve been trying to intergrate them for a number of years with limited success but finally the Internet is becoming widely available and usable on a large number of mobile devices and at a reasonably low cost in many countries.

Of course the mobile browser based Internet is a different experience. You have to think in a different way - for instance: -
• Instead of Email - Think SMS
• Instead of computer sized screen - Think Mobile Phone screen
• Instead of huge functionality - Think MOST IMPORTANT functionality and simplicity
• Instead of flashy stuff and high bandwidth - think SIMPLE design and low bandwidth

…It makes sense to initially look at linking in with the big social networks such as Facebook/My Space & Ning - they all have Mobile Internet Interfaces but .. the sites weren’t originally designed with mobile in mind and IMHO it really shows.

Low bandwidth? No problem

One major problem facing internet users in the developing world is the combination of slow connectivity (or, interrupted connections) and graphic-intensive websites. News websites and social networking sites are often the worst offenders. (Here’s a nice rundown on the popularity of various social networking sites in Africa and Asia.)

Christian Kreutz at the blog Crisscrossed has a theory that many of the world’s languages have not been widely translated for applications, because so many people can’t read popular websites. The reason? Page load times are too long for people with questionable connections.

Here's a few examples:

• Checking up a profile on Facebook or at least access the log in page, which has alone almost 800kb! In a cybercafe, where you have to pay fees per minute, it may take up to 3 minutes with a dial up modem connection.
• Video or audio upload is almost impossible with a low bandwidth connection and can cost you a lot when your tariff is measured in volume instead of time.
• This blog is based on Wordpress, which is a great open source tool, but unfortunately not made for a dial up connections. If you want to publish a new post on Wordpress (2.7.1), you have to download over 750kb first.

Unfortunately even the free and open source community has little activity around low bandwidth solutions.

The blog Aid Worker Daily, based out of the US, has found a solution to viewing these slow-loading websites:

I am not sure how many of you are familiar with Loband but it is one of the best options for viewing websites over low bandwidth connections. It strips out all images, formatting, etc and leaves you with a text only rendering of the page which is still quite legible. You can view Aid Worker Daily over Loband HERE. Loband is the offspring of the geniuses over at Aptivate. (Of course, if you are using Firefox you can always go to Tools -> Options -> Content and deselect ‘Load images automatically’.)

Here is the home page for Global Voices Online via Loband.

Crisscrossed lists other products for low-bandwidth connections.

One really great initiative is Maneno, which not only tries to provide a low bandwidth blogging solution in Africa, but also focuses on offering multilingual options emphasising on various African languages such as Bamanankan and Swahili, beside French, English, Arabic and Portuguese. I got in contact with Maneno recently and their team ensured me that their system is designed as low as 13 kb without images and 33 kb including images…
Twitter can make a difference as it lets you send and receive messages via mobile phone. But, unfortunately, Twitter gave up its free SMS service a while ago. I asked one of the Twitter founders, Jack Dorsey, at the e-stats conference when the free service is coming back, to which he replied ‘on mid year.’ This leaves the question, ‘what can be said in 140 characters?’ Quite a lot when you look at the Mobile Voices project just featured by the Netsquared N2Y2 challenge.

But one thing is for sure, just because you only have low bandwidth connection, does not mean you want to see dull, text based websites. There are various ways to make websites look appealing and still reduce the data size considerable. Aptivate has excellent Web Design Guidelines for Low Bandwidth.

Full disclosure: Maneno, the multi-lingual, low-bandwidth blogging platform, is in part run by three Global Voices authors. Here is a GV post about it.

Micro-blogging for fun and profit

People like micro-blogging, popularized through sites like Twitter and the business-oriented Yammer, because it is fast and relatively low-bandwidth. It’s quicker and easier than email and often even more informal. Micro-blogging has changed the way groups conduct crisis management, event coverage and issue advocacy.

But not everyone wants to attempt to micro-blog on the big sites because of the lack of privacy. There are a number of technologies that allow organizations to put micro-blogging to their own use to facilitate community building online.

Louis Gray, a US-based blogger, explains the federated platform of Laconi.ca, which he describes as a “group Twitter” – speaking to a distinct community rather than to the whole world.

Well, actually, it's more of a small community concept I'm refering to - your business can actually build communities off of this protocol, starting with the software that Identi.ca has provided. Identi.ca and Twitter are both very broad communities. People of all types and tastes are on those services. Those services are good for that - it's a great way to build relationships, meet new people, and find information. However, there is no way currently for me to associate only with those of like tastes and culture. For instance, if I am into college football and you are not, you aren't going to be interested in the details of the games I'm watching….

Now, what if [the US-based sports network] ESPN were to launch a version of Laconi.ca just for sports lovers? It would just take a simple install of Laconi.ca and a little cobranding of their logo, look, and feel and soon an entire community of sports lovers would be sharing their love for sports, communicating back and forth, and showing their other sports-loving friends what they're doing in their sports-loving life. At the same time, they could still follow all of those same friends they follow over on Identi.ca and even other interest communities, all while still on the ESPN sports community, remaining on the ESPN site. Imagine if this same technique was launched for Moms, Dads, religions, or even just your local city or town?

Here is a write-up on another open source micro-blogging platform: OpenMicroblogger.org

My mobile phone, my friend

The last post in this series began with the argument that we need to update the old story of the fisherman using his mobile phone to find the highest prices for his product. Back to the blog Crisscrossed, here is an update on what makes the mobile phone so important.

It is so special because it combines all former media, such as telephone, Internet, and even radio and television, and because one can:
1. Communicate and receive information (radio, television and Internet)
2. Document and collect information
3. Publish information in text, audio and video
4. Can network in different ways on a peer-to-peer basis

He also noted the mobile phone will help shape the public sphere by allowing citizen journalists to take photos. Phones allow people to participate in radio programs and through SMS-based campaigns. And they allow people to monitor elections.

Patrick Meier, from the group DigiActive, argues that people can now become activists simply by using a mobile phone. Portable telephones have been employed to organize and coordinate protests – specifically in the Philippines, Spain and Pakistan. Mobile phones have also been used to document human rights abuses, in Egypt, Tibet and Morocco.

But problems do exist. The cost of SMS communication is very high, especially in Africa. Mobile networks can be controlled by the government, Kreutz says. And, mobile providers are in businses to make money, not facilitate protest marches.

Sending hundreds of SMS texts

FrontlineSMS distributes a program allowing users to send and receive SMS messages in large groups without having to hook up to the internet.

Here is a write up in the blog Pulse + Signal about a FrontlineSMS project in Malawi, where they distributed mobile phones so doctors in hospitals can communicate with health workers in remote villages.

Despite all of the technological advancement surrounding these portable command centers of communication – all the bells and whistles that come equipped – we are at a point in the public/global health world hardly any of it matters.

A large amount of [moble technology for health] mHealth’s impact is being focused into developing, low-resource countries where there are numerous health issues needing to be addressed. The helpful technology that comes into play is SMS (Short Messaging Service). Fondly referred to as texting, SMS is one of the most basic aspects of the cell phone where data entered can be sent back and forth between phones. This service has been wildly useful in the implementation of more effective health initiatives around the world.

Finally, a video of FrontlineSMS staff training community health workers using SMS technology.

Blog Action Day 2009 was an online event organized by Change.org. It was a virtual gathering of voices discussing climate change. Bloggers from a sampling of countries in Sub Saharan Africa were among those who posted their thoughts, and in this post, we get to listen to their voices.

Kenya

The blogger at Theatre of Inconveniences reminds readers to also think about wildlife and the species threatened with extinction due to climate change. The blogger also looks at the extreme weather situation in Kenya, with a drought that has lasted many months and the expected heavy rains.

In Kenya recently, prolonged drought – and we can not rule out the effects of climate change as the cause – first killed livestock, then pushed the livestock into wildlife habitats, then killed the wildlife. Now Kenya is – ironically – waiting for El Nino rains to settle in so that it can save people, their livestock and wildlife. But the El Nino could be made more severe by the effects of climate change. So more people, livestock and wildlife will die. Iregi Mwenja, a Kenyan bushmeat researcher posted pictures of the onset of the El Nino rains in Voi today. One of the casualties of the big water was a masai goat that died in the floods.

The blog Sukuma Kenya took UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) to task on its use of gas guzzling SUV's that release more CO2 into the atmosphere than smaller cars. The blogger wonders whether for one day, the UNEP officials would heed their own advice to cut CO2 emissions.

The blogger on Katch up shares their experience climbing Mt.Kenya, one of the few snow capped mountains in Africa. The blogger mentions changes in the ice coverage as pointed out by the tour guide, and also notices other changes in the environment. A brief story from the blogger's mother illustrates just how fast the environment has changed.

I come from a cold place and my mother tells me how fast certain types of crops used to grow, rain was abundant, seasons were more than one and it was colder. Not anymore. Those days were definitely better and we have been losing.

South Africa

Rory of Carbon Smart writes about community empowerment and climate change. The effects of climate change on the majority of Africans will be severe, and any strategies at dealing with climate change should provide support to the communities.

In Africa particularly, stresses are already being felt - climate change is not something that relates only to the future. The most vulnerable communities are those who struggle the most, as they are living on the edge - quite literally on the periphery of economic activity, whether they are subsistence farmers or urban slum dwellers. In this position, they don't have ‘wiggle room', or the flexibility to adapt their lifestyles to the changes they are experiencing. As a result, strategies for climate change adaptation must ensure that communities do have the means and understanding and support structures to enable them to keep ahead of environmental changes. A key point to be made is that the answer lies not primarily in technology or aid, but crucially in building relationships - institutionally, socially and financially.

Poetry and Poesie shares a poem on global warming

The bergs look limp
to me nowaseasons,
I shouldn't read
National Geographic,
that once was a tree
now covered in blinding shots
of glaciers gliding all the more
readily
sweating in the gloaming -
a new word I coined
for global warming.

I don't need to read
journalistic twilight musings,
I can see when a bear
is panting to death,
I can see the whales flail
in the a-krillic blue sea,
I know the götterdämmerung
is going to be a hot event
Inuitively.

Uganda

Climate Change. Its not just Koalas.

Rebecca writes on Jack Fruity about her experience in the Global Change exchange program, that will be documenting the effects of climate change and partnering with established bloggers in the Global Voices community.

It can be easy to forget that climate change is about more than trees and cuddly animals and fish swimming around in some distant ocean — all of which I care about, don't get me wrong (especially the cuddly animals). But climate change also has real, physical effects on humans: it's altering weather patterns in unpredictable ways, causing crops to fail for lack of rain in some places while floods wash away entire fields in others.

Ghana

Jemila Abdulai writes on Circumspecte blog, she looks at the climate change deniers, and those who believe it to be a hoax, debunks their arguments and sets forth the lessons for Ghana and Africa. The lessons include Information, Education and Accountability.

Ghana and other African countries are relatively better-off (I think) when it comes to pollution. How can we reduce what pollution we have, and how can we prepare for the future?

We should be doing our research and looking at all these models (failed or otherwise) to inform our own policy decisions. If we don't keep ourselves informed, we will have a situation similar to our current economic systems; we'll have policies, laws and structures that do not work for us. Already, many multi-lateral companies get away with polluting our countries without so much as a slap on the hand for this. That's where our concern should be: strengthening our legal structures to protect our environment and consequently, our population.

A great roundup of Ghanaian blog posts on Blog Action day is done by Mac-Jordan of Accra Conscious.

We end with the voice of ‘cuppatea' on the blog A colourful life of a Gay Kenyan:

So in summary, stop polluting, plant trees and be nature friendly! It will save mother nature and planet earth and you'll make nature fans like me globally happy! The future generation depends on nature. Positive action today, Better tomorrow for future generations.

Note: For previous Global Voices posts, kindly see these links.
- Reading the world on Blog Action Day
- Israel: Blog Action Day for the Environment

- Rising Voices summarizes blog posts from its grantees.

Register your blog to add your voice!

This is the Global Voices entry.

Over the next couple of months Global Voices is going to be following environmental and climate change issues extra closely. We're hoping to amplify unheard voices in the debate around the United Nations meetings in Copenhagen in December (COP15).

In November, on Conversations for a Better World, a blog sponsored by the UNFPA, two of our authors, Eduardo and Belen, are going to be cross-posting stories about population dynamics and climate change. I know they'll be looking towards Latin America.

Throughout October, Global Voices bloggers have been mentoring 31 young men and women from Africa and Denmark who are organizing an online campaign under the auspices of MS ActionAid in Copenhagen, Denmark. They've asked us to relay stories about ‘what developing countries need to help correct damage from climate change'. So we'll try to do that too.

Some mentor entries

For Blog Action Day, Jillian encouraged her readers to visit the blog of her mentee Edith, while Ali says his mentee Peter turned the tables on him and inspired him to write a post on climate change.

Another mentor, Gayle, has written a longer post highlighting the situations of farmers in Ghana, Australia (her own countries) and Zimbabwe (her mentee John's country).

Gayle used Twitter to put the call out for farmers in Australia. To her surprise, she was re-tweeted by ABC Radio in Australia, and came directly in touch with several farmers by email. She read interviews with Ghanaian farmers online, and even spoke to one directly.

And among dozens of links and interesting sources, Gayle found information on how local communities use traditional knowledge in rural Ghana to cope with climate change.

Gayle did something that bloggers on Global Voices do all the time. She went looking for voices you rarely hear speaking for themselves in international mainstream media.

In the past week on Global Voices

Bhumika Ghimire wrote a post today about the future of bio-gas in Nepal, including a video by a Japanese university research team that shows how bio-gas is used in rural Nepal.

A landslide caused by Typhoon Ketsana in a village in Pampanga province. Photo by Flickr user susancorpuz90

Earlier this week, Mong Palatino wrote about how Filipino bloggers are drawing connections between climate change and the devastating floods in Manila that killed more than 500 people.

Saffah Farooq wrote about how citizens of the low-lying Indian Ocean island state of the Maldives, feel their fate may be decided by the success of treaties like the Kyoto Protocol.

Wildlife blogger Samuel Maina in Kenya, wrote about how Kenyans are so desperate for rain they are awaiting El Niño rains that may displace thousands with mixed feelings.

There is a constant flow of stories on Global Voices' environment topic feed by bloggers all around the world.

Looking ahead

On this Blog Action Day, where we celebrate the collective power of bloggers to push for change, we'd like to encourage everyone not only to write about climate change but also to read what other people are saying.

Over the next many weeks, we're going to be overwhelmed by news stories by journalists quoting politicians, activists, and many others - but when the UN meetings are over and the cameras are off, the people who face the consequences of climate change immediately, will still be telling their stories on the internet in hopes of reaching people who care.

As we say at Global Voices, ‘The world is talking. Are you listening?'

For those far removed from the front lines of climate change, listening and linking is one the few ways we can succeed to make the problem feel real and in need of solutions today.

Related posts

• Blog Action Day 2009: Rising Voices Projects Discuss Climate Change
• Posts in Portuguese on Blog Action Day ‘09
• Greek Posts on Blog Action Day ‘09
• Africa discusses climate change
• Caribbean: Blogging About Climate Change
• Israel: Blog Action Day for the Environment
• Morocco: Blogoma participates in Blog Action Day
• Ghana: Blog Action Day ‘09
• Global Health: Can Condoms Combat Climate Change?

Waiting for El Nino Rains

Kenyans are waiting for the El Niño rains anticipated between now and December 2009 with mixed feelings. Inasmuch as the El Niño is itself a natural disaster that in it's ‘moderate' form is expected to displace at least 100,000 people and leave 750,000 in need of humanitarian aid according to IRIN, most Kenyans actually want this El Niño.

Normally, people would be running scared at the prospect of drowning or losing property and livestock in the expected El Niño flooding, but not this year. The drought in the East African nation has been hard and long - with at least 10 million Kenyans facing hunger (IRIN) - and the populace will take anything with water in it: Even a natural disaster.

American national, Katherine Herzog, commenting on an Ewaso Lions blog post titled ‘When will it rain, the drought persists in Samburu', said “A ‘moderate' El Niño rain event will hopefully transform the region which you skillfully and painfully describe. Although rain on hard, dry ground usually means flooding - rain in any form will be a boon for man, livestock and wildlife alike.

Wildlife is normally more tolerant to drought than humans and livestock but wild animals are starting to die. Ewaso Lions described the situation in early September:

Unfortunately, due to the lack of water, waterbuck, impala, buffalo, warthog, cattle, donkeys and sheep have begun to die everyday. Large groups of close to 20 warthogs that were around in April and May have now reduced to 1 or 2 warthogs and even they have begun to die. I watched a crocodile die the other day. He had come out of hibernation and literally dropped dead outside his hole. More animals will die over the next few weeks reducing the species numbers and diversity within the area. Pressure on the reserves from livestock will continue. Animals are dying; every week, every day, every minute.

Predators are however doing well now that there are many weak and dying animals making easy prey for them. There is however the increasing risk of being hunted down by cattle herders as more and more livestock are driven into the wildlife reserves in search of pasture and water. The presence of livestock in wildlife territory means that they are likely to be preyed upon by predators, which then will be killed, in retaliation, by the herders. Ewaso Lions blog adds:

However, due to the drought and the river drying up, there is more pressure on the reserves from livestock, increasing the human threat to lions and we are working hard to try and monitor all individual lions inside the reserves.

This was in early September and although a little rain has been reported in western Kenya, with some flooding occurring in Kenya's third city Kisumu, El Niño is not here yet. The drought continues. Even in the so called ‘wildlife capital' of the world, Nairobi National Park, the situation is no better. The water holes are drying, there is no grazing or browsing vegetation, and the situation is worrying. Will Knocker posted on October 7 saying:

Even giraffe -supremely adapted to life on the African plain- are getting hungry & wandering far & wide in search of browse -including to my garden in the Silole Sanctuary. In the Langata Forest some of their favourite food shrubs - Rus natalensis -has died owing to drought.

On October 7 again, the Lion Guardians continued to lament about the devastating drought reporting that the situation has deterioriated since they first reported about the drought. They say:

The drought is still continuing here, and the animals and people are struggling badly. Everyone hopes rain will fall soon and bring back some life to the parched land. The water hole near to our neighbouring lodge Ol Donyo Wuas is constantly visited by many elephants, as well as very thin herbivores like these zebras, all looking for the scarce water.

and,

There is no grass left to be eaten anywhere, and the wildlife and livestock are starving. These hills were once covered with long green grass - now there is nothing for the animals to eat.

In the Mara wildlands that flank the world-famous Masai Mara National Reserve, the Predator Aware blog reports difficult times for the Maasai community:

The Masai Mara communities are under huge pressure with the ongoing drought and the loss of cattle as pastoral ism is their number one income earner at present followed by tourism.

In response to a comment from one of the blog readers, Predator Aware laments the dwindling of the wildlands lifeline, the Mara River, and utters the same prayer that is on the lips of all these bloggers:

Yes the Mara River is seriously low . The degradation of the Mau Forest which is the headwaters of the Mara River as well as the drought have caused this. Rain is the only healer and we hope it comes soon.

According to an article in Australian newspaper, The Age, Grace Gichuhi, 22, and Teresia Ndikaru Muturi, 21, arrived in Australia in July last year on tourist visas for World Youth Day.

There have been few reactions to the case from most of the political blogosphere regulars in Australia. Climate change and economic stimulus strategies have dominated in the last week.

But the article on The Age has attracted 54 comments from online readers showing anything but popular disinterest. The comments represent opposite poles of opinion, including:

Let these women stay.

Ben | Adelaide - September 22, 2009, 9:30AM

They applied. Their applications were assessed. Their applications were refused.
Send them home.
Case closed.

David_T - September 22, 2009, 9:34AM

How pathetic that these two women should be refused asylum. Australia could do well to have more people like these two girls and as far as I'm concerned they're welcome here for as long as they wish.

jollysroger | Townsville - September 22, 2009, 10:22AM

On her blog, at Pocket Carnival, Penny Eager says she was moved to write to the Minister for Immigration & Citizenship, Chris Evans on his online contact page, expressing her outrage:

I have just heard of the case of Grace Gichuhi & Teresia Ndikaru Muturi, two women from Kenya who have been denied status as refugees.

I believe that the torturous practise of genital mutilation is abhorrent, and that to deny these women refugee visas is to take a weak stance on this issue.

I urge you to intervene in this case, not only to help these women, but also to send a clear message to Kenya that Australia does not condone these practises.

A religious issue?

Aussie News and Views a self-styled “American, Australian, Israeli, British ‘Judeo-Christian Friendly' blog” posted a video of a news clip about the women and asked:

Gee I wonder who could be behind this? what sort of Satan worshipping Death Cult could be alive and well in Kenya today that would do such a thing to young women?

Philip Maguire at Whaddya Reckon? drew a number of comments with his post:

TWO Kenyan Christian women are to be deported from Australia despite facing death or genital mutilation.

Maybe they should have arrived here cashed up via a boat from Indonesia.

Lisa Valentine of Embrace Australia, an online community for foreign nationals looking to live in Australia, also took up their case:

Both Grace and Teresia are now terrified of what fate will lie in wait for them if they are deported back to Kenya.

A spokesman from the Australian Immigration Department said: “Under the refugee convention, they weren’t found to engage with Australia’s international obligations.

The girls, along with Sister Aileen Crowe, a Franciscan nun who is supporting them, launched an appeal to the Australian Immigration Minister, Chris Evans, but he rejected that appeal. A second appeal has now been launched and the girls are awaiting the results but have been told to prepare for deportation.

Ironically new legislation is due to be introduced to Parliament that would ensure protection for the girls. The legislation is called Complementary Protection and it expands the criteria under which a refugee can apply for protection.

Online campaign

On Facebook a ‘Causes' page titled Help save these Women from Genital Mutilation has been launched by Australians who support the women's attempt to stay in Australia. So far, 91 people have joined. An update was posted on Tuesday by Vanessa Muradian:

This is the most recent update - sources said these women are protected here in Australia — until Evans decides what to do with them. Whether he rejected them or not the first time we are still to know… the government need to pass the complimentary visa… which I am further researching at the moment - Basically the complimentary visa, will ‘compliment' the protection visa, SO THAT THESE refugees can fall under a protection visa. CURRENTLY the protection visa doesn't protect women from GENITAL MUTILATION and honour killings. The bill was proposed to parliament in September and currently the Liberal party are opposing this bill…

Right now these women just need our support - Minister Evans will be making the decision with his privilege of Ministerial Intervention.

I guess we need to contact him…

As well as other governing bodies whom can help the government pass the complimentary bill!!!!!!!

Dr Paula Kahumbu

Pop!Tech is coming again this October and on 9 September they issued a release announcing the 2009 Social Innovation Fellows which was also blogged about by Pop!Tech's Kristen Taylor.

Pop!Tech is a conference set in Camden Maine, where every year scientist, artists and innovators meet to discuss ideas and world changing actions around the world.

PopTech (poptech.org) is a unique innovation network - a global community of cutting-edge leaders, thinkers, and doers from many different disciplines, who come together to explore the social impact of new technologies, the forces of change shaping our future, and new approaches to solving the world’s most significant challenges. We are known for our thriving community of thought-leaders, breakthrough innovation programs, visionary annual conferences and deep media and storytelling capabilities.

In the list of 16 fellows was Dr Paula Kahumbu, an Kenyan ecologist educated at Princeton and the Executive Director of the Kenyan web-based conservation NGO, WildlifeDirect.

Excited about the news of recognition for their work, WildlifeDirect issued a release informing others of their head's selection and posted it on their main blog, Baraza.

On Wednessday, 9 September 2009, Dr Paula Kahumbu, the WildlifeDirect Executive Director was named one of the 16 fellows of the prestigious PopTech Social Innovation Fellows program of 2009 for her work at WildlifeDirect.

Pop!Tech fellows will attend a 5-day ‘boot camp' just before Pop!Tech 2009: America Re-imagined conference (October 21 – 24, 2009, Camden, ME). This will be the second year of the Pop!Tech fellows program and the 16 fellows have been drawn from various fields and countries, three of them from Africa. Paula is one of the two that work in Kenya and the only one who comes from wildlife conservation field. Baraza says,

The 2009 fellows program - which is the second since inception - attracted more than 200 applicants from more than 30 countries. Of the 16 selected, only three are from Africa, two of whom are Kenyan. Although a number of these fellows deal with climate change and clean energy, only Dr Kahumbu has been selected for her work in using the internet to raise awareness and funds for wildlife conservation - especially in Africa. The 16 fellows represent organizations based in or running projects in USA, UK, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Kenya.

The other Kenyan in the list is Ory Okolloh of Ushahidi, an online platform for crowdsourcing  and mapping crisis reports. Nobody at Ushahidi or elsewhere seems to have blogged about her selection however.

Other blogs have also announced their representatives selection to the Pop!Tech list including  the Energize Clinton County who seem quite excited

As Pop!Tech Social Innovation fellows, we’ll be joining 14 other amazing innovators (!!) from around the world in a five day “boot-camp” just before the Pop!Tech conference.

ECC has also posted a video from the 2008 Pop!Tech on their blog to show what the new fellows should expect.

Paula Kahumbu will be presenting the WildlifeDirect concept that was developed by Kenya's renowned conservationist and anthropologist, Dr Richard Leakey back in 2004. Baraza says,

Dr Paula Kahumbu will be taking the WildlifeDirect idea and experience to PopTech to share with the other fellows. The WildlifeDirect idea was developed by Dr Richard Leakey and associates to bring together conservationists working in remote and often dangerous places - mostly in Africa but also in Asia and South America - and supporters of conservation through blogs.

We wish Paula, Ory and other fellows a great experience during the Pop!Tech ‘boot camp' and conference.