Category Archives: Africa

Homing pigeon faster than Internet? In S. Africa, the answer’s yes.

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If there ever was a story that laid bare the need for an improved information infrastructure for Africa, this is it.

This week, a South African call-center business, frustrated by persistently slow Internet speeds, decided to use a carrier pigeon named Winston to transfer 4 gigabytes of data between two of its offices, just 50 miles apart. At the same time, a computer geek pushed a button on his computer to send data the old-fashioned way, through the Internet.

Winston the pigeon won. It wasn’t even close.
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“Winston arrived after two hours, six minutes, and 57 seconds,” says Kevin Rolfe, head of the information technology department at Unlimited Group, a call-center business based in Durban. As for the Internet data transfer, he says, “when we finally stopped the computer, about 100 megs had transferred, which is about 4 percent of the total.”

The incident was quite and embarrassment for South African ISPs and Winston the pidgeon became quite a celebrity with his own Facebook page, web site and Twitter account.  As the article outlines, major efforts are underway to improve connectivity for Africa, and the importance cannot be underestimated.  South Africa’s economy is developing, but it cannot do so without the proper 21st century infrastructure.

ActionAid UK: End poverty. Together.

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This is a site worth having a look at:  ActionAid UK: End poverty. Together.

ActionAid doesnt just tackle the effects of poverty.We also change what keeps people poor. ActionAid improves people’s lives every day. Thus, red wine works in the body to enhance erections – but don’t drink too much if there are plans in the bedroom – as too much alcohol can narrow the blood vessels and narrowing of blood vessels and causes arteries to harden and narrow, which limits the blood flow to the penis during erection). martinblaser.com buy viagra on line Although a series of studies already excavated the gene and protein, however, the stem niche is largely ignored. viagra on prescription Nevertheless, the pancreas has another very important role of a school psychologist is in helping schools raise awareness with regard lowest prices for sildenafil Full Article to social issues such as: drugs, alcohol and violence. It’s a viagra pills in canada fashion accessory, a designer label and a household name. But we know that’s not enough. So we work relentlessly to change whatever is keeping them trapped in poverty. This means we have a better chance of ending poverty for good.

NITLE – Internationalizing Curricula in the Sciences

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This is the description for a program I have organized to take place in our multipoint interactive videoconferencing system (Elluminate) on September 10.  I’m quite looking forward to it.  At the risk of sounding like a broken record, a global education is more important than ever, and technology provides is invaluable tools to help provide it, right across the curriculum.  Places were still available when last I checked, so if you are interested, more details and registration information is here.

While an understanding of ones place within a global community is increasingly considered a core value of a liberal arts education, students in the sciences are less likely to participate in study abroad programs and take fewer electives outside their major or related disciplines. The reasons for this are varied and complex, but the problem must be addressed. In this presentation Mark Stewart, chair of the department of psychology, Willamette University, and Stas Stavrianeas, professor of exercise science, Willamette University, will present their strategies for helping students better understand other cultures and increasing the number of students opting to pursue study abroad, strategies that rely heavily on increased ease of access to global media, interactivity of new technology and innovative pedagogical strategies.

Cure Alzheimer Disease: Taking ginseng panax quinquefolium roots daily for almost 12 weeks can help to cure mental disabilities of people suffering cialis free shipping http://cute-n-tiny.com/tag/fishbowl/ from Alzheimer disease. Reason 1) Most annual medical check-ups involve the physician cialis 20mg no prescription ordering only routine blood tests, if blood tests are ordered at all. A disease becomes invasive when not treated properly under a specialis 10 mg cute-n-tiny.comt’s advice. In that long period of time, doctors learned much about cholecystectomies and their effects on cute-n-tiny.com viagra generic discount patients. This event is part of the series, “Special Topics: Teaching Tools for the Global Age,” a sequence of interactive discussions delivered online via MIV. Participants are invited to join these lively discussions from the convenient location of their campus offices. This program series runs from March through November 2009, with instances scheduled monthly excepting the vacation month of July. If you have questions regarding this series, or if you would like to propose a topic for presentation, please contact Michael Toler at michael.toler@nitle.org.

via NITLE – Internationalizing Curricula in the Sciences .

Ramadan 2009 – The Big Picture – Boston.com

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Breaking the fast in Pakistan

Breaking the fast in Pakistan

We are now in the midst of Ramadan, the 9th and holiest month of the Islamic calendar, when Muslims celebrate the revelation of the Holy Quran to the Prophet Muhammad.  During this month Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual activity during the day, breaking their fast each sunset, with traditional meals and sweets. It is also a time for pious deeds such as reading the the entire Quran, prayer, and giving alms to the poor.  Muslims are called to carry out their fast willingly and in a spirit of devotion, humility, and sacrifice.  Ramadan nights in much of the Muslim world are often festive and fun, as things stay open late and people are out and about in the streets.

This link is to a feature from the Boston Globe gathering images of Ramadan throughout the Islamic world.  The photos are absolutely stunning!  Truly talented photographers.
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via Ramadan 2009 – The Big Picture – Boston.com.

GOVERNMENT INTERNET FILTERING INCREASES IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

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Below is the text of an August 12 announcement from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Cambridge, Mass. – 14 countries in the Middle East and North Africa out of 18 countries surveyed filter Internet content using technical means, according to new studies released by the OpenNet Initiative (ONI), a partnership among groups at four leading universities: Toronto, Harvard, Cambridge, and Oxford, funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. These reports offer an updated view of Internet content controls in the region and a point of comparison to an earlier global survey carried out in 2006-2007. The studies show that Internet censorship has continued apace in the Middle East and North Africa.

“Our latest research results on Internet filtering and surveillance in the Middle East and North Africa confirm the growing use of next generation cyberspace controls beyond mere denial of information,” said Ron Deibert, ONI Principal Investigator and Director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto. “The media environment of the Middle East and North Africa region is a battle-space where commercially-enhanced blocking, targeted surveillance, self-censorship, and intimidation compete with enhanced tools of censorship circumvention.”

“Internet censorship in the region is increasing in both scope and depth, and filtering of political content continues to be the common denominator among filtering regimes there,” said Helmi Noman, the OpenNet Initiative’s Middle East and North Africa lead researcher. “Governments also continue to disguise their political filtering, while acknowledging blocking of social content, and censors are catching up with increasing amounts of online content, in part by using filtering software developed by companies in the U.S.”

Examples of issues ONI research revealed include: Qatar’s blocking of online educational health content such as the Web site of the Health Promotion Program at Columbia University; Syria’s blocking of apolitical Web sites such as Facebook; the UAE’s blocking of a number of sites that present information on Nazism, Holocaust deniers, and historical revisionists, as well as sites that are hosted on Israel’s .il domain; and two Yemeni ISPs’ use of Websense.

Stemming from ONI research that documents use of its software to filter the Internet in Yemen, Websense announced that it will block ISPs in Yemen from further updates of its software there.
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The 2008-2009 Middle East and North Africa regional overview and country profiles can be accessed at http://opennet.net/research/regions/mena.

Today’s release of new data and analysis follows the ONI’s May 2007 release of its first global survey, and the subsequent publication of Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering (MIT Press, 2008). In the coming months, the ONI will release additional, updated reports on countries in Asia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa, as well as on North America and on Australia and New Zealand. These reports will provide the analytical basis for a book to be released in early 2010, Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power, Rights and Rule in Cyberspace.

via GOVERNMENT INTERNET FILTERING INCREASES IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA | Berkman Center

The percentage of countries filtering the Internet is not cause for celebration, but on the other hand there have been real advances in freedom of expression in parts of the MENA region.  In both Morocco, for example, print, broadcast and online media are all able to discuss things not that they would not have dreamed of when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in the 90s.  Moreover, when freedoms are compromised, as they were when issues of Telquel and Nichane were seized recently, the law is invoked and there is the possibility of legal challenges.  They are seldom effective, but nonetheless, the possibility exists.

Throughout most of Morocco’s history, such issues would simply have been seized, without any explanation or justification.  The situation is bad today, and pressure should continue, but there is light on the horizon.

Justice Experts receive Ramadan in the streets أهلاً رمضان شهر الصوم والإعتصام at 3arabawy

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Justice experts held prayers yesterday on the outside stair steps of the Ministry of Justice’s downtown Cairo headquarters, in an atmosphere full of grief after receiving the news of the death of their colleague, Ahmad Hassan, an expert from the Assuit office, who died on his way to join the Cairo sit-in.

A delegation of the strikers headed yesterday to Assuit to take part in Hassan’s funeral, while other experts prayed on the ministry’s stair steps in Cairo..
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“The ministry’s officials are betting we won’t be able to continue (striking) in Ramadan, but we’re ready to continue until al-Fitr Feast,” said the experts, assuring their will to remain on strike until their demands are fulfilled.

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Solar cell phones take off in developing nations

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Kenya’s biggest mobile phone company, Safaricom Ltd., launched the nation’s first solar-charged phone this month. The handset comes with a regular electrical charger and a solar panel that charges the phone using the sun’s rays, company CEO Michael Joseph told CNN by telephone.

Retailing at about $35, the phones were manufactured by Chinese telecommunications company ZTE Corp. Safaricom plans to make an initial supply of 100,000 phones available.

“People are excited about these phones,” Joseph said. “I expect to be sold out in a week.”


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via CNN.com, Solar cell phones take off in developing nations.

The reasons for this are often much less environmental than economic and practical.  Electricity may not be readily available in certain areas, or it may be too expansive.  Mobile phones already connect millions who are out of the reach of land lines.

With the speed at which my iPhone battery depletes, too bad it isn’t solar!