Online Africa » Video

Clever advertisement for eTXT service (email to SMS)

OA — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:03:59 +0000

It’s a no-brainer. Walk more than 5 kilometers to the nearest cyber café or simply use a standard mobile phone to send e-mail. Well, ForgetMeNot Africa, a specialist in unified messaging for telecommunications operators, has developed a system of sending emails to mobile devices via SMS. Of course, this technology has existed for some time, even in Africa. The same company debuted a similar two-way platform just last year. Either way, the energetic story and creative messaging should captivate any audience whether it be simple end-users or telecom companies.

Find out more at FMNAfrica.com (unfortunately, the server is down as of the time of writing).

Visitors to Africa will soon book more travel online

OA — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 09:24:51 +0000

Although mostly stock footage, this brief video from NTVKenya highlights the general lack of e-commerce surrounding Africa, more specifically, travel-related e-commerce. Damian Cook, CEO of E-Tourism Frontiers (a program to develop online tourism in emerging markets) recently commented on the lack of online presence of African tourism businesses:

“Something is wrong if we have 48% of tourism being sold completely online around the world – 70% in some of our key source markets and we’re selling 2% of our tourism online. There is no way we can sustain our tourism industry at those levels if we are completely absent in the predominant marketplace of sales.”

The problem isn’t with prospective travelers: the survey referenced by Mr. Cook indicates that 95 percent of travelers use the Internet as their primary source of travel information. Instead, the obstacle barring the purchase of African travel online is inventory. African businesses simply aren’t prepared to book reservations using the Internet. They may advertise online, however, but the final purchase is perhaps made through some other analog means

Fortunately, African e-commerce is taking hold now that broadband technologies are emerging and social media networking gains energy. In the case of tourism, e-commerce promises significant economic advantages in the coming years. Who knows, the ability to book a wide variety of African vacations online could sway travelers who otherwise would have ventured to Southeast Asia, for example.

As a final note, the E-Tourism East Africa Conference is scheduled for the weekend of September 2-3 in Nairobi. Local and international speakers will cover e-business and e-commerce essentials, as well as marketing tools. Hopefully such conferences can carry over or trickle down into other sectors of the African economy.

CNBC’s interview with IMPACT Chairman on African cybersecurity

OA — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 08:02:22 +0000

Notes from the video examining the 3^rd ICT Best Practices Forum, recently hosted in Burkina Faso:

Over 300 government & corporate leaders from 55 countries discussed solutions to online threats to national security, infrastructure, and national services
Global increase of 8.9% malware over first half of year
Global concern needs a global response
Increased collaboration, legislation, and education are needed
Few countries have legislation to process criminals
Cybersecurity doesn’t rank highly among priorities of developing nations
Developed nations should pay attention – a single wave of attacks on America could exceed $700 billion
Costs already exceed $1 trillion annually
Sec Gen. of ITU: we are as strong as the weakest link, every country must put in place a national legal and regulatory framework so we can criminalize crime
President of Burkina Faso: Next step should be international summit to address cyber security, like similar events on WMDs and nuclear weapons

Rwanda Computer Bus

OA — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 06:22:36 +0000

New approaches to eliminating the digital divide often garner media attention. Case in point: Rwanda’s lone traveling computer bus. VOANews recently filmed a segment about how the program is expected to stimulate small- and medium-sized businesses across Rwanda. After all, greater than 70% small-medium businesses are in rural parts of country.

Some information about the program:

Set up by Rwanda’s Information Technology Authority and eRwanda Project
There are 20 computers, a printer, and a scanner
Fills gap in areas without electricity and locations that are far from telecentres
The goal is to have more people use computers in private sector (most notably entrepreneurs)
The bus will travel for remainder of year, spending 2 weeks at each stop

Video: Ministerial Meeting on the Transformational Power of ICT for Africa

OA — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 08:36:04 +0000

Although posted back on May 13th, this video is still new (and has only averaged 2 views per day). The World Bank sponsored eTransform Initiative seeks to leverage the power of icts to transform lives in developing countries. Watch the video to learn about the details of the initiative, but some talking points are listed below:

there are over 3 million mobile phones in developing countries
knowledge is not in one place – how can we tap into this fact?
the initiative connects with experts across all fields with businesses and individuals
public sector needs to see value; private needs to then come in
3 pillars of initiative are 1) peer-to-peer network, 2) knowledge bank, 3) fast-track fund
one result is more efficient business practices and better transparency

Video: Bridges to the Future Initiative

OA — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:43:30 +0000

The success of the Internet, above everything else, hinges on public interest, which is tied to literacy. A lack of literacy often translates to a lack of interest in computing. The multi-cultural nature of African societies has long posed a challenge for computer use. For example, South Africa has 11 main languages, although only a select few are utilized by the majority of society. Fortunately, ICT advances can still benefit those who are unable to use a computer or so lack the desire (think health programs, or information from the Internet disseminated by word-of-mouth, for example). And, some people will never use a computer out of personal belief. Still, the billions of dollars and man-hours spent on technology should be maximized. This means getting people directly involved with computers (or mobile devices).

In short, it is difficult to comprehend change without knowing the options. The excitement of progress often overshadows the fact that a large portion of the populace is indifferent to change. Although they lead lives that are deemed “difficult” by advancing standards, these citizens are too busy dealing with a time-consuming daily routine to realize the benefits of digital (or even analog) literacy. Fortunately, public and private organizations are working together to provide new options for increasing literacy in Africa.

Case in point: the Bridges to the Future Initiative. This program aims to simultaneously teach reading comprehension and computer skills to South Africans who otherwise would be deterred by the language barrier. BFI’s easy-to-use software program can teach in four languages (and soon will expand to offer more) with an ultimate goal of improving social and economic futures. Expect more programs like BFI to appear in the coming years as more resources become available.

Video: 2010 International Conference on ICT for Africa

OA — Thu, 13 May 2010 06:43:52 +0000

This video recaps the International Conference on ICT for Africa held March 25-28, 2010 in Cameroon. The most notable message is to focus on the can instead of the cannot. Africa, despite a host of limitations, has produced success stories since this conference first met 2 years ago. Although such statements are very broad, they are what must drive more focused innovation. Conferences like this are important to establishing an environment conducive to idea creation. In this case, the hope is that scholars can especially embrace the excitement and resources. Better opportunities for research in turn help establish the credibility of the continent. Finally, it’s important to remember that African solutions for African problems are – the rest of the world’s experiences do not necessarily translate one-to-one for Africa’s needs.

Read more at http://ictforafrica.org and view pictures at http://asictonline.org

Respond favorably to Madonna in Malawi

OA — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:10:58 +0000

Imagine the following dialogue: An American woman and advocate for children’s education is funding the construction of a school for girls in Malawi. Wow, that is great. If only more people acted so generous. The woman is the pop-star Madonna. Oh, with her money, she could do anything she wants. Didn’t she adopt children from Malawi even though she has a biological daughter?

Too many individuals let emotions interfere with the facts. Let us focus on the real issue rather than falling into that trap. The other day, Madonna laid the first bricks of a new school in Malawi. The school will be complete with current technology and apparently will also utilize mobile technology. One school will make a difference to scores of children. Madonna is not sexist for not providing a school for boys. Madonna is not responsible for the conflict between the village and government over property rates. Instead, Madonna is an active participant in an under-looked cause rather than a dormant gossiper who simply writes checks for charity. At the recent groundbreaking, she publicly voiced her commitment to supporting education, saying:

“Knowledge is power and every child in this world deserves to have an education, and for me there’s no better way to end poverty and suffering in the world then to end ignorance in the world and to allow and advocate education for children everywhere.”

Ultimately, the public should not permanently associate Malawi with Madonna. We don’t want people to say, “isn’t that Madonna’s pet project” or “didn’t Madonna adopt a child, fund a school, and wear a $500 watch to the groundbreaking ceremony?”. Sadly, however, it does take a famous name to get the word out about any type of event (think of it as product placement). The American and European media would not bother to report the construction of a new school unless it was in the outlet’s local community. Such is life, but when it comes to Malawi and Madonna, avoid celebrity stereotypes and look at the bigger picture. After all, Malawi will soon have a new school with modern ICT.

{YouTube video from ITN}

Video: East Africa Report – ICT in Kenya

OA — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:32:41 +0000

Here is a recently uploaded video with interviews from representatives of the four largest players involved with the launch and regulation of the EASSy cable, bandwidth, and pricing. It’s always good to match faces with names. The promises of these men will most come to fruition, but the larger question is how soon the public will see reduced prices.

Video: A third undersea fibre cable reaches Kenya – NTVKenya

OA — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:53:57 +0000

Remember back to the SEACOM and TEAMS landings. It important to draw a distinction between the “landing of the cable” and the completion of the project. The former refers to the mere physical completion of the cable between the two landing stations, while the latter refers to the actual ready-for-commercial-service date of the cable. Many news sources inaccurately report a landing as a start of service. This is hardly the case, considering cables have other landing points and must be thoroughly tested. A glance at recent cable events shows substantial uncertainty in predicting timetables:

February 28, 2009 – SEACOM cable lands at Mombasa
June 12, 2009 – TEAMS cable lands at Mombasa
June 27, 2009 – SEACOM scheduled to go live
July 23, 2009 – SEACOM goes live
September 5, 2009 – GLO-1 cable lands at Lagos
Mid-September 2009 – TEAMS scheduled to go live
October 2009 – TEAMS goes live? There are very few mentions of this event.
When does GLO-1 go live? The initial date was late 2009, but then was changed to Q1 2010.
Next up: Main One (Portugal->Ghana->Nigeria->South Africa) in May 2010.

At this point in time, the EASSy progress is ahead of schedule and the owners/investors/participants have undoubtedly learned from obstacles encountered by previous cable projects.