[UgaBYTES] [KenTel] Mobile Revolution Can Benefit Youth
Arun.Varma at ilfsets.com
Arun.Varma at ilfsets.com
Fri Jan 8 01:58:10 EST 2010
Dear Cleopa and Sula,
I have read with interest the dialogue between you two.
While I do not have direct answers, I can, perhaps, try to put some of
the evolving trends in my country.
e-Governance is yet to become a buzzword here. Issue/validity of
digital signatures is a case in point. Many people, even those in
government, doubt the validity of it in e-Governance. India has
crossed 485 milllion mobile phone subscriptions. Yet, m-governance is
only spoken about as a future way of life. The general take on
m-governance here is that while hand phones are perfectly suited for
market information, weather and perhaps agri-consultancy kind of
services, governanance and government services will need more time to
gain acceptability.
At the present levels, it will be very hard for the system to convince
that a copy of the RoR (Land Records Copy) can be obtained through the
handphone and the same can be submitted at the bank for a personal
loan by a farmer.
Dr. ARUN VARMA
Vice President
IL&FS Educational Technology Services Ltd.
4th Floor, Program Management Unit
Department of Information Technology
Electronics Niketan, Lodhi Road, NEW DELHI - 110003
Tel: +91-11-64519957
Fax:+91-11-24363552
-----ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org wrote: -----
To: kentel at list.kenyatelecentres.org
From: Cleopa Otieno <cleopa at kenyatelecentres.org>
Sent by: ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org
Date: 01/08/2010 02:33AM
cc: ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org
Subject: Re: [UgaBYTES] [KenTel] Mobile Revolution Can Benefit
Youth
Dear Sulah,
Mobile phones have a key role in the future of the telecentres,
reflecting
back on the India Visit late last year, it appeared that most of
the
services offered by the common service centers and all the other
centers we
visited gave the telecentres booming business, the model was great,
Private
Public Partnership well established, high population with
purchasing power
maybe because they had to since the government offices were far
away, indeed
the telecentres offered a perfect solution to them.
What I did notice though was the low use of mobile phones to offer
some of
the services, Ideally, very few of the people currently using these
centers
to pay electricity bills, buy train tickets, pay other utility
bills like
water, obtain ration cards etc would have a reason to visit the
telecentres.
Why? because they would be able to do all these from the comfort of
their
bedrooms.
Most would agree that there is a great shift of the e-services to
m-services. Very soon or already I see things like M-goverment
rather than
E-goverment, M-learning rather than E-leanring in Africa.
Watching CNN and seeing some of the news items that citizen
journalism
submit through mobile phones, leaves me puzzled and wondering what
role the
many mobile subscribers in Africa have as regards this and whether
these
gudets will soon drive the photo journalists home as well.
"if you can not beat them join them", I think telecentres have an
opportunity here, so as not to allow (#1 'mobile phone' waters
leave the
telecentre movement earth behind them to become extinct or merely
rudimentary? &
#2.telecentre movement earth to dissolve in the waters of the
mobile phone
to create planned bigger hypes in Africa?),
we must venture into serious local content dvelopment which the
mobile phone
users can buy into and access from their homes rather than visit
the
telecentres. With the age of digital broadcasting TV stations will
need
local content which in most places in africa is little
explored........
Best Regards.
Cleopa.
On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 3:01 PM, Ndaula Sulah
<ndaulasula at ugabytes.org>wrote:
> Dear Cleopa,
>
> As I rest for lunch now; I reflect on what happened in the night
- it was a
> weird dream with mix talking parties all in me. But in the middle
of the
> conversations a conclusion was drawn that - as the 'waters of the
sea' rise
> or lower they leave the 'earth' behind them unless it 'dissolves'
in them or
> becomes physically overpowered by their forces, other factors
remaining
> constant.
>
> I woke up and scribed a few things including the examples the
parties were
> giving within the conversation e.g in social change, ecological
adaptation,
> tribal and language extinction, disease resurgence ... and of
course
> technological uptake. Words in quotes were also addressed with
broader
> meanings each time a new application was added into the
discussion.
>
> But as found your mail this morning, I wandered whether the
'notes of the
> night' could add meaning to my search to understand the
relationship between
> mobile platforms and other applications. or even the big world
development
> pazzle. For example:
>
> #1 Will the 'mobile phone' waters leave the telecentre movement
earth
> behind them to become extinct or merely rudimentary?
>
> #2. Will the telecentre movement earth dissolve in the waters of
the mobile
> phone to create planned bigger hypes in Africa?
>
> #3. Will the telecentre movement earth be overpowered and merely
pushed
> within the mobile phone?
>
> #4. How will the earth around the mobile phone sea look like when
the
> waters find a stable height?
>
>
> Sharing the reflections at lunch...
>
> Best regards,
> ---
> Sulah
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 6:13 AM, timonson at gmail.com <
> timonson at googlemail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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
>> >
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es.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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>
>
>
> --
> 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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>
--
Cleopa Otieno
+254720950220
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