[ox-en] Fwd: Perspectives from the African FOSS Movement
- From: Stefan Merten <smerten oekonux.de>
- Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 20:13:59 +0200
Hi!
I think the link to the essay mentioned below is
http://www.bridges.org/africasource/
Mit Freien Grüßen
Stefan
------- Forwarded Message
Date: Thu, 06 May 2004 19:28:13 [PHONE NUMBER REMOVED]
From: "Volker Grassmuck" <vgrass rz.hu-berlin.de>
Subject: [wos] Perspectives from the African FOSS Movement
To: wos mikrolisten.de
Cc:
Message-Id: <409A91CD.13734.1DA7B33 localhost>
This just came over the Idlelo list. Guido Sohne, free software
developer from Accra, Ghana, and one of the speakers at wos3 is
featured in Philipp's study. Marek from TacticalTech, co-author of
the study, will be speaking on their work as well.
Volker
- ------- Forwarded message follows -------
Dear List:
We are happy to announce that we have finished editing the Africa
Source article and are releasing it today. Thank you for the feedback
that we received from members of this list. Your comments helped us
understand and hopefully avoid potential misunderstandings with regard
to the nature and objective of the essay. We are adding a quote from
the cover page:
<snip>
This essay is drawn from the proceedings of AfricaSource, a workshop
held in Okahandja, Namibia during 15-19 March 2004. The workshop was
organised by the Tactical Technology Collective, AllAfrica Foundation,
and SchoolNet Namibia. Material presented here was collected from more
than a dozen face-to-face interviews with conference participants.
The objective of this essay is to summarise the views of the
AfricaSource participants on the obstacles facing the FOSS community in
Africa. A dialogue on the topic may help to catalyse changes that will
reduce or eliminate barriers to free and open source software
development in Africa.
</snip>
Best regards,
Philipp (bridges.org) and Marek (the Tactical Technology Collective)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA ALERT
Bridges.org, Cape Town, South Africa 6 May 2004
Straight from the Source:
Perspectives from the African Free and Open Source Software Movement
Article written by Bridges.org in collaboration with the Tactical
Technology Collective
African software developers face many obstacles as they struggle to
grow professionally in their chosen field. But these "coders", as a
group, form a community marked less by their frustration and isolation
than by their perseverance and resolve. This theme dominated
AfricaSource, a workshop held in Namibia in March, 2004. The meeting of
40 developers from 25 countries in the small town of Okahandja was the
first chance many of the coders have had to collaborate and compare
notes. Bridges.org, in cooperation with Tactical Technologies, has
written an article airing the views shared by the workshop participants
and looking at ways in which the field of software development could
grow in Africa. The article is based on interviews and contains quotes
from many of the delegates.
Governments, often the biggest employer and spender in the economy,
systematically shut locals out because they typically are not aware
that a local talent pool exists, says Ugandan Wire Lunghabo James.
Similarly, he says, corporations fail to look for locally produced
solutions because they lack knowledge or even interest in
domestically-produced solutions.
To read a summary or to read the full article please go to:
http://www.bridges.org/africasource/
The article focuses on the following points:
· The lack of access to the means and tools of production is the issue
African programmers most commonly identify as the greatest barrier to
success in their work.
· The prohibitive cost of bandwidth and hardware is an obstacle most
programmers face, but it has the greatest effect as they are preparing
to enter the job market. Without the opportunity to earn salaries so
they can afford equipment of their own, market entrants eager for work
face the prospect of successive unpaid internships -- and must accept
all the unwelcome conditions that come with this kind of "student
work".
· Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) typically lack the kind of
expertise in technology that might help them increase their impact in
their chosen sector, and need help from outside the organisation. Many
hope that software developers, especially those who work with free and
open source software (FOSS), will be the ones to produce the
applications and localise the solutions appropriate to NGOs.
ENDS ###
Contact Details:
Name: Philipp Schmidt, Programme Manager
Tel: [PHONE NUMBER REMOVED] (0) 21 465 9313
Email: media bridges.org
url: www.bridges.org
About bridges.org
Bridges.org is an international non-profit organisation based in South
Africa with a mission to promote the effective use of ICT in developing
countries to improve people's lives. One area of focus is informing
policy decisions that affect people's access to and use of ICT.
Bridges.org also provides social consulting services to ground level
projects using ICT, helping with project planning and evaluation,
studying the effects of policy decisions, and relaying lessons learned.
It brings an entrepreneurial attitude to its social mission, and is
committed to working with, instead of against, government agencies and
the business community. For more information please go to
www.bridges.org.
Bridges.org offices:
South Africa: P O Box 715, Cape Town 8000 South Africa
United States: P O Box 53099, Washington, DC 2[PHONE NUMBER REMOVED]
http://www.bridges.org
About Tactical Tech
Tactical Tech is an Amsterdam-based NGO working to strengthen social
technology movements and networks in developing and transition
countries. Its ultimate aim is to promote civil society's effective,
conscious and creative use of new technologies. It does this through
bringing together activists and NGOs with local technology experts and
social software developers, demystifying technology for NGOs especially
those linked to low-cost and do-it-yourself technology, and promoting
the use of information as a strategic tool for monitoring, campaigning
and organising.
For more information please go to: http://www.tacticaltech.org.
For specific information on the Africa Source conference please go to:
http://www.tacticaltech.org/africasource
Contact details:
Email: ttc tacticaltech.org
Tactical Techs Office:
Tel: + 31 20 6201478
Nieuwe Leliestraat 29, Amsterdam, 1015 SJ, the Netherlands
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idlelo-unsubscribe fossfa.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idlelo-help fossfa.org
- ------- End of forwarded message -------
- --
Wizards of OS 3, 10-12 June 2004
http://wizards-of-os.org
copy = right http://privatkopie.net
home: http://waste.informatik.hu-berlin.de/Grassmuck
- --
Wizards of OS 3, 10-12 June 2004
http://wizards-of-os.org
copy = right http://privatkopie.net
home: http://waste.informatik.hu-berlin.de/Grassmuck
- --
Wos mailing list
Wos post.openoffice.de
http://212.42.230.8/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/wos
------- End of Forwarded Message
_________________________________
Web-Site: http://www.oekonux.org/
Organization: projekt oekonux.de