ICT Hubs Model

[S. Kritikos]

Folks, interesting publication from iHub:

ICT Hubs Model: Understanding the Key Factors of the iHub Model
http://www.ihub.co.ke/blog/2012/03/ict-hubs-model-understanding-the-key-factors-of-the-ihub-model/

http://research.ihub.co.ke/downloads/*iHub_Model_Report_Final.pdf

Last year I suggested to Jessica Colaco to write a paper on iHub and
then forgot it, but here it is!

The idea of a community technology center goes back a long way. In the
late 1970s there were already government supported tech centers in
Scandinavian countries. A lot of things have changed since then ... in
any case I hope this new effort will help spread the know how.

Of course there are other ways to approach the issue, from a
sociological/political/critical perspective etc because they are after
all top-down efforts. In the case of Kenya for example there is strong
US presence etc. Nevertheless the iHub publication starts the debate
which we shall have the opportunity to revisit in the future.

Regards
S. (Sam) Kritikos

[Gameli Adzaho]

Interesting. They have cchub in Nigeria and iLab in Liberia, I think. We need something like this in Ghana too.

PS: Alex, how was your session at IDLELO5 in Nigeria. I caught a few tweets.

BR

--
Keta Senior High Technical School | Python African Tour Ghana | BarCamp Ho
The Gamelian World | @gamelmag

[Alex Gakuru]

It was great, I think. Got reasonably good feed back. What were they saying in tweetsphere? thanks, a.

[Gameli Adzaho]

So there was quite some talk about a movie (is it available online?) you showed and your perspectives on open educational resources (slides?). I was hoping to be able to go but the timing turned out really bad. I would like to know as much of what happened there as possible.

 It's interesting to know you use neither Twitter nor Facebook. I know quite a few people who want nothing to do with FB but use Twitter.

[Alex Gakuru]

I've never used either, any. Am a refusenik;-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refusenik - below is my policy..

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Alex Gakuru <gak...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, May 31, 2009 at 8:43 PM
Subject: on Social Networks invitations...
To: ke-users <ke-inter...@bdix.net>


Responding to endless Social Networks invitations ...
----
Can I invite you to LinkedIn/Facebook/Orkut/...

I don't use such services, sorry. I don't have anything against them
in principle, but they require spending time on them to be useful, and
I prefer to spend mine elsewhere. Thus, I won't accept any
invitations. If you wish to keep in touch with me, please just send me
e-mail, or talk to me on IRC, or call me, or whatever.

http://liw.iki.fi/liw/faq.html

 

 

----

[Gameli Adzaho]

Nice. Refusenik. :). You need time and resources for social media to be useful to you. True. Social media can be a drain too. I think it all depends on the individual, the ends they want to achieve and the audiences they must reach.

[S. Kritikos]

On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 11:36 PM, S. Kritikos <foom...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Folks, interesting publication from iHub:
>
> ICT Hubs Model: Understanding the Key Factors of the iHub Model
> http://www.ihub.co.ke/blog/2012/03/ict-hubs-model-understanding-the-key-factors-of-the-ihub-model/
>
> http://research.ihub.co.ke/downloads/*iHub_Model_Report_Final.pdf
>
> Last year I suggested to Jessica Colaco to write a paper on iHub and
> then forgot it, but here it is!
>
> The idea of a community technology center goes back a long way. In the
> late 1970s there were already government supported tech centers in
> Scandinavian countries. A lot of things have changed since then ... in
> any case I hope this new effort will help spread the know how.

Apologies but my memory failed me, it was about 20 years ago since I
read the paper.

The first "telestuga" was set up in 1985 at Harjedalens. The
information comes from the paper:

"The Tele-cottages in the Nordic Countries" by Henning Albrechtsen.
The paper comes from conference proceedings

Information, Knowledge, Evolution
44th FID Congress Helsinki, Finland, 1988
North Holland, 1989, Amsterdam

We can see roughly three 'stages' for community centers:

(1) people learn the basics
(2) learning get more involved, install Linux experiment with other
stuff, maybe electronics, make a whole PC, science etc
(3) move on to starting a business

I was involved with one in Chicago mid-90s, which was at level (1).
LUGs usually are at level (2). On the other hand iHub is at level (3)
because they have an entrepreneurial culture.

The challenge for the FOSS community is to cover not just tech but
also the business aspect imo otherwise FOSS is diluted within the
"ICT4D Chic" crowd ;)

Regards
S. (Sam) Kritikos

[S. Kritikos]

On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 5:10 PM, S. Kritikos <foom...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 11:36 PM, S. Kritikos <foom...@gmail.com> wrote:

>> ICT Hubs Model: Understanding the Key Factors of the iHub Model
>> http://www.ihub.co.ke/blog/2012/03/ict-hubs-model-understanding-the-key-factors-of-the-ihub-model/
>>
>> http://research.ihub.co.ke/downloads/*iHub_Model_Report_Final.pdf

Follow up to that:

A New Silicon Valley? Tech Hubs Spring Up In Africa
http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679629/a-new-silicon-valley-tech-hubs-spring-up-in-africa

Optimistic article, but personally what is happening in Mali raises questions

sk

[S. Kritikos]

On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 5:10 PM, S. Kritikos <foom...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 11:36 PM, S. Kritikos <foom...@gmail.com> wrote:

> The first "telestuga" was set up in 1985 at Harjedalens.

Great news from Ghana:

Over 360 dormant post offices to be turned into ICT centres
http://business.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201205/86470.php
From: Ohemeng Tawiah, Nhyira Fm-Kumasi, Ghana

"The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications has reached
an agreement with Ghana Post to convert over 360 dormant post offices
nationwide into information technology centers.

"The move is seen as one of the best efforts to breathe life into the
once active postal services."

This looks like the telecenter model above

Regards
S. (Sam) Kritikos