[UgaBYTES] Mobile Revolution Can Benefit Youth

Wed Jan 6 02:15:47 EST 2010

Hello all, just briefly to respond to Sulah's question - apparently there is
a lot of innovation revolving around the future of mobile telephony as
regards translation.

Such innovations aim to create central repository sytems that have a central
server which is interfaced with a speech recognition engine, an information
storage database and an audio and play back system.

For instance Audio Wiki developed by the MobileED group is one of these
innovations that help in translating content on mobile phones.It has already
evaulated its use in schools in South Africa. In their system, users send an
SMS query to the server, which calls the user back and uses text-to-speech
technology to dictate existing Wikipedia content. Users can also annotate
the content with their own spoken tags. The system (which was conceived
independently) aims to apply a similar concept to the Indian context,
targeting a broad set of users in agriculture and health in addition to
education. It also aim to develop novel technologies for speech and user
interfaces that will be widely applicable across audio wiki projects.

On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 9:18 PM, NKURUNZIZA Jean Paul <nkurunziza at bytc.bi>wrote:

> Hello !
>
> About the explosion of mobile telephny in Africa, you remember me about
> Miko RWAYITARE, the founder of the first mobile phone company in Africa in
> Kinshasa ( DRC in 1987): Telecel.
> When he was advocating for his project, many observers just said he was mad
> !
> I think he was a great visionary !
>
>
> > Quite an intresting and insightful read Sulah, many have always reasoned
> > technologically when it comes to the very reason for the explosive
> > penetration of mobile phones in Africa. The fact that mobile phones are
> > simple to master usage, can be used off power source, is low cost, very
> > portable etc, explain its wide use and adaptation in Africa, however now
> > that you brought in the oral nature of Afican populace, it makes much
> more
> > sence. Thanks.
> >
> > Best Regards,
> > Cleopa.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Ndaula Sulah
> > Sent:  05/01/2010 1:17:36 pm
> > To: ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org; kentel at list.kenyatelecentres.org;
> > ciresearchers
> > Subject:  Re: [UgaBYTES] Mobile Revolution Can Benefit Youth
> >
> > Hey Sandra,
> >
> > I have been following mobile technology with love - but not at all as an
> > expert but rather as a learner. When new ICTs (I mean computers and
> > internet)  first came to Africa, many researchers and practitioners
> linked
> > them to the "African Drum": the drum of community service, the drum of
> > death, the drum of harvest... and the socialization culture of Africans
> at
> > village level - at least in social development. That is why public access
> > centres were bound to succeed and that many organizations used the drum
> as
> > their symbol at a time e.g. Drum Beat to emphasis the place of ICTs in
> > social cultural roots of the continent. But not in practice.
> >
> > Picking pieces together, the technology had to sheer on the
> socio-cultural
> > and economic norms of the continent. The continent is largely oral:
> > messages
> > that are spoken fly x6 faster than those that are written. You may
> > remember
> > a common saying "if you want to rob an African write and if you want to
> > fail
> > speak". With this analysis, it was not surprising that later, after many
> > had
> > thought that new public access centres would replace radios, researchers
> > and
> > pac practitioners thought it fiting to incorporate community radio within
> > the PAC model to create CMCs. UNESCO and IDRC have been central here. The
> > intervention came in later, asserted more impact and empowerment. It was
> > the
> > perfect awaited recipe to push sustainability of telecentres to a new
> > meaning. These with commercial hung, were out to establish radios for
> > profit
> > in Africa - in uganda 212 FM radios have been established - all
> > successful.
> >
> > Reflecting on what I am say, I not sure am speaking. But when mobile
> > telephony came in with 100% oral focus, allowing people to speak their
> own
> > luganda, kiswahili, and the millions of dialects there may be in Africa,
> > wow
> > the adaption and adoption has been un measurable. The simplistic talk has
> > again grown that mobile technology will replace PAC which were thought to
> > replace radio and libraries ealier on. How interesting! But most of you
> > have
> > already seen how oral ICTs have intermarried to create bigger impacts
> than
> > either of them could. Look at the democratization of FM radios through
> > mobile technology - a typical example, isn't it?
> >
> > I have been wondering, how the siblings of present relationships between
> > mobile phony platforms and other communication and development sectors
> > will
> > look like in future. Will content be an issue? Who will own the voices
> and
> > trascation through the platform? How will the remittance systems be
> > handled
> > as most service begin to be delivered through the Mobile phone system? Is
> > there any anticipated takeove and major revolution say in the banks will
> > operate, etc.? ....
> >
> > Best Regards,
> > ---
> > Sulah
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 1:49 AM, Sandra Nassali
> > <snassali at ugabytes.org>wrote:
> >
> >> The explosion of mobile telephony in the just-ended decade shattered the
> >> myth that Africans are slow to take up technology.
> >>
> >> The mobile distribution, though still low by global standards, is one of
> >> the
> >> fastest growing in the world and proves one other thing - that
> >> technologies
> >> which address practical problems will always be readily embraced.
> >>  Besides the difficult-to-compute millions of shillings that the
> >> technology
> >> has contributed to the economy, at a personal level, it has
> >> revolutionised
> >> how Africans communicate, transact business and even exchange money.
> >>
> >> The biggest segment of the community to benefit from this technology are
> >> the
> >> youth, who have opened myriads of retail mobile-related businesses, from
> >> the
> >> sale of sets, accessories, repairs, programming and many others.
> >>
> >> The momentum has only started and an even higher pace is expected in
> >> coming
> >> years. And this is where young people can benefit by developing
> >> real-life
> >> solutions to build around the technology.
> >>
> >> There is no doubt that a convergence of sorts will happen around the
> >> mobile
> >> phone in coming years, and the biggest winners will be companies and
> >> individuals who today provide tomorrow's solutions.
> >>
> >> Largely, young people have shunned traditional engagements such as
> >> agriculture for not being trendy, but this time, with cash available
> >> from
> >> the Youth Development Funds, there is no reason why they should not
> >> invest
> >> in the business.
> >>
> >> We are optimistic that this time round, government regulatory
> >> authorities
> >> will not stand in the way of innovations, and that it will provide the
> >> right
> >> policy framework in good time. It must also seek ways to thwart the
> >> manipulations of traditional corporate cartels.
> >> --
> >> Sandra Nassali
> >> Community Facilitator
> >> UgaBYTES Initiative (www.ugabytes.org)
> >> Telecentre.org  (www.telecentrecommunity.ning.com)
> >> Plot 2218 Ggaba Road,
> >> 2nd Floor Kangave House
> >> P.O. Box 6081 K'la
> >> Email  snassali at ugabytes.org
> >> chat    (skype)- n.sandra.
> >> Tel      +256-414-370163
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> ugabytes mailing list
> >> ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org
> >> http://lists.ugabytes.org/mailman/listinfo/ugabytes_lists.ugabytes.org
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Executive Director
> > UgaBYTES Initiative
> > Tel: +256414370163
> > Mob: +256712314969
> > Skype: sulah.ndaula
> > Yahoo: ndaulasula
> > Email: ndaulasula@
> > (ugabytes.org,yahoo.co.uk or gmail)
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> >
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> >
>
>
> --
> NKURUNZIZA Jean Paul
> Président du Réseau des Télécentres Communautaires  du Burundi
> Secrétaire Général de BYTC
> B.P 7031 BUJUMBURA BURUNDI
> Tél: 00257 22 21 96 45
> Tél Mob : 00257 76 60 49 46/00257 79 981 459
> Fax : 00257 212485 ou 00257 222147
> E.Mail : nkurunziza at bytc.bi ou
>         jnkurunz at hotmail.com
> Site web : http://www.bytc.bi
> skype : jpnkurunziz
>
>
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>

-- 
Sandra Nassali
Community Facilitator
UgaBYTES Initiative (www.ugabytes.org)
Telecentre.org  (www.telecentrecommunity.ning.com)
Plot 2218 Ggaba Road,
2nd Floor Kangave House
P.O. Box 6081 K'la
Email  snassali at ugabytes.org
chat    (skype)- n.sandra.
Tel      +256-414-370163