[GKD] Launch of Community Informatics Newsletter (Africa)

[Sandra Roberts]

The Community Informatics newsletter launched!!

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'Community Informatics' is an e-newsletter packed with information for
parties interested in community ICTs in Southern Africa.  Every month,
we take you through ICT news, important ICT announcements and the latest
information added to the CINSA portal . This includes
research, advocacy articles and resources.

***We are also, for a limited time offering free advertising on the
newsletter and the portal for ICT-related projects to subscribers.***
  
In addition there is a section of upcoming ICT events and jobs.
  
That is ICT: 
   * news and information 
   * research 
   * advocacy articles 
   * resources, for ICT and education, for telecentres, for 
 community radio and others!
   * events 
   * jobs

This newsletter is another product from the Community Information
Network for Southern Africa (CINSA). CINSA is a pilot project designed
to support community ICT projects in the SADC region through networking,
training, service brokerage, technical support, creating a resource base
and assisting with project evaluation. In particular, CINSA aims to
address the problems of sustainability, access to information and
expertise, access to resources, and training. The direct beneficiaries
will be community ICT projects, which in turn will better be able to
serve their communities.

If you have not contacted CINSA with your information for our database,
please do so. You can put your details as a community ICT, an ICT
practitioner and ICT service provider. This is your opportunity to reach
ICT researchers, regulatory bodies, businesses and ICT practitioners
throughout the SADC region with your information.
  
To subscribe go to http://lists.sn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/cinsainfo
  
  


Also AFRICA-WIDE EXPOSURE in a collaborative newsletter.

We would like to inform you of an upcoming opportunity for our
subscribers involved in telecentres. Soul Beat Africa
<http://www.comminit.com/africa> an information sharing resource about
communication for change in Africa, will be devoting an upcoming issue
of their bi-monthly e-newsletter to the topic of Telecentres. This issue
will focus on the programme experiences, resource materials, and
strategies of telecentre operations. CINSA is collaborating to gather
information from our members, and everyone to send in their information.
The e-newsletter has a circulation of 4900, so this is a great
opportunity for getting the word out about your work.

If you have a project or programme that you would like people to know
about, please send a summary, key communication strategies, a list of
partners and full contact information, including and e-mail and website.

If you have publications - guides, reports, handbooks- please send a
summary, name of author and publisher, date of publication, number of
pages, and contact and ordering information.

If you have research or evaluation reports, please send the full report,
or a link to online publication.

We also have space for events, training opportunities, and
e-newsletters, and website links.

We hope that everyone will send information pertaining to telecentres,
and we look forward to seeing many CINSA members in this issue.

Please send the information to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and we will
forward to Soul Beat.
  
Sandra Roberts
Research and Information Coordinator
CINSA Project
SANGONeT 
Tel: (011) 403-4935 
Fax: (011) 403-0130 / 403-9685 
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Website: www.cinsa.info 
  
Visit the CINSA site for crucial Community ICT tools and resources as
well as news and research




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Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] How Much Bandwidth is Necessary?

[Sandra Roberts]

My name is Sandra Roberts, I work with a project designed to support ICT
initiatives in the SADC (Southern African Development community) region.
We are represented currently in 12 of the 13 countries in SADC and have
nodal points in Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa.

Recently we conducted research on telecentres in SADC.  Here are my
answers to the questions.

KEY QUESTIONS:

> 1. Are high-bandwidth connections necessary, or even important, to
> making a real impact on development? Or are the costs and problems
> inherent in establishing such connectivity too high -- and unsustainable
> -- for underserved areas?

Connectivity costs in Africa are too high, whether it is in urban or
underserved rural areas.  High bandwidth connections largely a dream in
many areas.  Also importantly there is not enough support for individual
telecentres who are often in very isolated areas.


> 2. Are there cases that demonstrate the value of low-bandwidth (e.g.,
> store-and-forward email, packet radio) solutions to provide critical
> information access to under-served communities? How successful have they
> been?

> 3. Can information distribution centers (e.g., public access
> telecenters) offer a viable economic solution to a community's
> information needs, by, in effect, sharing a single high-bandwidth
> connection among many users, and thus spreading the cost?

Telecentres and community multimedia centres have not fared very well in
Africa, this is due, in part to exorbitant connection costs, but also
because they need dynamic leadership. Management and technological
skills, yes, but leadership which is adaptive to the various conditions
which a telecentre/ CMC will face during its lifespan.  Unfortunately
practical barriers include high staff turn over - people with the skills
to run telecentres could get relatively high paying jobs elsewhere, and
have more security than telecentres can offer.

The practical reality is that many telecentres are donor dependent and
have no plans to become self sustaining, or possibly have plans and
haven't implemented them.

So, yes, they can, but practically they often don't.


> 4. Are there new protocols that make more efficient use of the bandwidth
> that is available? For example, what role can the newer wireless
> technologies (e.g. Wi-Fi, MESH networks) play in bringing sufficient
> connectivity to underserved communities? Are the costs and maintenance
> demands of these technologies sustainable?

New technologies require new skills sets and new support mechanisms.
They should be adopted, but possibly not immediately as soon as the
technologies are available.  I think universities should be key in
experimenting with new technologies and slowly developing plans for
incorporation into their countries.


Please look at our site, it will be launched on the 17 November 2003.
www.cinsa.info


Sandra Roberts
Research and Information Coordinator
CINSA Project
SANGONeT
Tel: 27 11 838 6943/4
Fax: 27 11 492 1058
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Website: www.cinsa.info; www.sangonet.org.za





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