[UgaBYTES] OKN and AKN

Wed Jul 22 04:32:22 GMT 2009

I am sorry I wanted to continue to be silent, but Pete rekindled my interest in the field.  I agree with him on both the counts.  It is how we turn content into services sustained through a business model is the question.  That too when the early effects of mobile phones indicate that content processing could take many models and forms.

Of the many pieces of the OKN program, one of the objectives was to explore if and how to incentivize content gathering, processing and dissemination work for those who were in the thick of things as well as for those who provided content.  Although as everyone points out, we have had some mixed successes in the OKN, it is evident that the OKN model stimulated the minds of those engaged in the work to seek alternative business models.  

It was evident from the fact that the three newspapers of OKN produced by Drishtee, MSSRF and Datamation Foundation continued beyond donor funding; that the revenue for the activity was generated more from the content recipients in public and private sector rather than the local people themselves; and, the very fact that alternative means of communication were seen to be much more cost-effective., i.e., FM radio, newspaper, booklets, eLearning modules portable all around; and, phone based query redressal systems.

One of the OKN partners, ICTA now has a full-fledged content activity under their e-Society component while teri contemplates ways to explore knowledge sharing on climate change and adaptation based on the very same model.

I must admit that I have not followed up enough on the African OKN models, but from what I gathered at the Monkey Valley Resort in South Africa (when the OKN Africa partners met) was very encouraging,  My room mate at the resort, Gladman had a number of success stories to narrate so did the rest of the OKN Partners.  It is a pity that the critics got to everyone's nerves much before the partners were able to form their own governance and operational models.

That said, the AKN is a great opportunity only if we learn from the OKN what not to do; and how best to avoid the common mistakes.  Clearly, the world space radio data shower model was a flop.  The content filtering idea does not sound exciting anymore; the ideas around revenue generation for content work as envisaged in the OKN might not hold ground anymore; and the copyright issues as they were seen (very shabbily I must admit) might not be the norm with the whole debate around 'openness' continue to evolve.  

But, the attempt Pete and Peter made does hold ground (i.e., provide a bottoms-up governance); the attempt the partners made to pursue parts of OKN that they felt comfortable holds ground; and the attempt that telecentres made to make communities believe that they too are content providers (not mere recipients) holds ground; and, that the definition of 'knowledge' evolved more from the users' point of view holds much more.

(a small point to make... OKN model was not dependent on any language channel on world space... it was more dependent on the data channel that could carry content in any language, any subject and any format.... the filtering software that sifted content did all the magic.  Just like Mozambique, India did not have world space channels in Hindi or Tamil, yet the experiment worked for whatever worth it was).   

Cheers
Shaddy

-----Original Message-----
From: ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org [mailto:ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org] On Behalf Of Pete Cranston
Sent: July 22, 2009 4:32 AM
To: ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org
Subject: Re: [UgaBYTES] AFRICA KOWLEDGE NETWORK launched in Dar es salaam|Strategy

hi

I've said enough but I'm replying partly so my quietness isn't taken as a sign that I disagree with Polly, whereas I do. Since I am here, it was great to see Shaddy give the deservedly upbeat account of OKN in South Asia, with it's very special context, but also to see Polly confirm that the individual OKN Africa partners continued to do excellent work during the programme and took in what was relevant to them. 

The stress on local is so important and indeed OKN as a single programme wasn't continued because the global targets and ambitions weren't met. But one of those - and it is the other issue that still remains the hardest nut to crack - is how to connect expensive content gathering, sharing and creation with revenue models. Services like insurance can immediately benefit all players and everyone takes a percentage, so there is the possibility of an inbuilt revenue model. Enabling people to share how they deal with drought or living with HIV/Aids or their wisdom on child rearing I think can only happen if there is some kind of public funding model in the network, whether external or Govt. based. Clearly AKN has that network at its centre and should be in a good position to build the kind of coalitions that we saw working when we looked at content strategies for telecentre.org.

The other element that has changed, of course, is the availability and use of mobile phones. Research suggests most people use their phones most of the time to keep in touch with family and friends, exactly the local trust networks at the centre of village/community knowledge systems. We know lots of Question & Answer and information distribution services work well using mobiles. I'd be interested to learn from this list how mobiles are integrating with telecentre work, especially in connection to local content and sharing. It's a great oppportunity for AKN since they are coming into a very different context in terms of communication. It's one of the things I want to learn about when I visit people in Kenya and Uganda this August.

Best wishes 

Pete

 Pete Cranston
Mob: +44 (0)7917 390133
Skype & Twitter: petecranston

----- Original Message ----
> From: Polly Gaster <polly.gaster at uem.mz>
> To: ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org
> Sent: Monday, 20 July, 2009 4:51:04 PM
> Subject: Re: [UgaBYTES] AFRICA KOWLEDGE NETWORK launched in Dar es salaam|Strategy
> 
> Hi again - wasn't going to say any more on this topic, but Shaddy's
> contributions re OKN deserve some feedback. Basically to say that I am in
> agreement re the primacy of local content and sharing - that's very much what
> we tried to do in our Mozambique pilot (not totally successfully!), but I have
> a feeling that it's pretty much what ALIN and SAFIRE and Enda were doing too,
> to name but 3, and was very useful. Where we all came to grief was the
> international using and sharing on the international network (eg the
> Worldspace radio, which is a brilliant concept, but doesn't have a single
> channel in Portuguese so was no good to us). This in response to Kiringai - I
> think perhaps it was the weight and cost of the international sharing channels
> that didn't produce enough cost-benefit or even social benefit. Pete (C!) may
> not agree, and obviously knows much more than I do about OKN. 
> 
> I think in Asia it was easier to get economies of scale, and simply more
> people in the local neighbourhoods, not to mention the basic questions of
> quality of human resources available and connectivity infrastructures. And the
> fact that where we visited Drishtee sites, there were even 4 online services
> available that were in demand by the community - I remember farmers buying
> insurance was one of them - in Mozambique at that time there wasn't even one!
> In fact there hardly is even now.
> 
> But it does remain true that OKN did us all a service by opening the way and,
> as I said right at the beginning, offering us lessons both "what to do" and
> "what not to do". And reminds us that we should be cautious about offering to
> change the world immediately through ICTs.
> 
> Polly
> 
> ----
> 
> Polly Gaster
> TICs para Desenvolvimento/ICT4D
> Centro de Informatica da Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (CIUEM)
> Campus Universitario, Maputo, Mozambique
> e-mail: polly.gaster at uem.mz
> cel: +258-82-3264540
> tel/fax: +258-21-485779
> Skype: polly_gaster
> 
> 
> -- 
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