Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2003 07:30:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: FOSSFA Status Report - 23 July 2003
Dear All,
1. The week has been rather slow with various committees organising
themselves and projects for the phase period. We have also been
experiencing low resources at the secretariat to move at the speed we
wish. The Education Committee and the Training and Capacity Building
Committee are at advanced stages writing proposals which will be shared on
the FOSSFA portal. www.fossfa.org. The Government Committee has also
started collaborating from today whilst the Health Committee is having
problems contacting the team leader Dr. Ousmane Ly. If anyone has an
alternative email address please let us know.
2. Most of the initial planning for the Idlelo (Digital Commons Summit) is
almost complete. The international organising committee can now be reached
at [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Official website for the conference is available
@ http://idlelo.uwc.ac.za
3. The FOSSFA database has started growing with about twenty projects
reported and more than 40 OSS enthusiasts registered on the portal giving
briefs of what they are doing in various pockets of Africa. Visit
www.fossfa.org/database for more info. We also have records of
approximately 20 projects which will be updated to the portal when we have
some time and resources to spare. The website also has some information
which is outdated/or wrong and will be updated soon. We are really trying
to get the portal up to date.
4. AITEC is organising an Open Source Forum in Nigeria during the ACT
Summit. Various papers will be presented including some from FOSSFA
members. We have been trying to mobilise funds to get FOSSFA team members
to the summit so that we can 'meet physically' and harmonise our
activities within the various committees with no success thus far. The
secretariat is waiting to hear from OSI (Open Society Institute) if they
will be in a position to assist us despite the short notice.
The papers thus far received are as follows;
THE AFRICAN OPEN SOURCE FORUM
A software comparison , looking specifically at community access
Philipp Schmidt, Programme Manager, bridges.org, South Africa
Open Source- A way for african digital economic empowerment
Mosh Adetoro, Head Architect, Qrios Ltd, Nigeria
Low cost technology and open source
Philipp Schmidt, Programme Manager, bridges.org, South Africa
The current status of open source software in Africa - Recommendations
from research in Uganda, Tanzania and Burkina Faso
Julie Ferguson and Martin Bruggink Knowledge Sharing, Thematic Networks,
International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD),
Netherlands
Open Source .NET options: Analysis, Tools and Experimentation
Olajide Sowade, CEO Travit Technology, UK
Linux as a viable alternative to Windows on the desktop in Nigeria
Tunji Durodola and Ibrahim Salim Omari, Moretime Information Technologies,
Nigeria
Beyond Products: Open Source as a philosophy, a way of working, and a
source of learning
Prof Derek Keats, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
An overview of the African Virtual Open Initiatives and Resources (AVOIR)
project and the potential for open source and open content collaboration
in Africa
Melisse Benn & Derek Keats, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
Economic evaluation of Free and Open Source software (FOSS) solutions for
African education
Jean-Claude Dauphin, Information Society Division, UNESCO, France
Demonstrations:
* A demo-CD on the Knoppix trick: No installation required; it will run
from any CDom faster than 4X. This knowledge product was designed to give
an impression of OS applications and possibilities without having to
install anything.
(IICD)
* Red Hat with added hardware support plus an improved the autodetect
function
(IICD)
Send proposals to: Sean Moroney ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) www.aitecafrica.com
Let me thank you once again for the support you have been giving us. We
are really striving to get the whole process on track. As soon as we
receive the proposals from the specialised committees, the Fund Raising
Team will start shopping for resources to support the programmes. Any
comments on our strategy or how we can strengthen FOSSFA will be indeed be
held in high esteem.
With kind regards,
Bildad Kagai
Coordinator
Free Software and open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA)
P. O. Box 919 Nairobi 00100 Kenya
Suite B2, Tetu Apartments, State House Avenue
Email. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
URL. http://www.fossfa.org
Tel. 254 20 272 8332
Fax. 254 20 272 6965
Cell. 254 722 379 409
