[kictanet] Africa's Absence From The Table

Wed Nov 18 11:37:00 EAT 2009

Well Said Sam,
The most "sickening part" is having to *compare* ourselves with the
developed world instead of *charting* our own path to developement, MJ
always says we are always on the verge of success, our biggest challenge is
unity of purpose and indiscipline when it comes to execution of projects
however small they are , people like Mugo Kebati of Vision 2030 among other
distinguished Kenyans on this list and off are capable of leading this
nation to the promised land, we already have adequate think tanks, in
addition we must develop *an attitude of gratitude*, begin by appreciating
the small strides we have made if we are to achieve greatness as a Nation.

On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 7:18 AM, Sam Aguyo <saguyo at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> There is need to have an ICT Think Tank that would scope on the industry
> trends and making sectoral IS alignments.  For example, we have Facebook how
> do we make it relevant to the farmer, to the health worker, how do we make
> wiki relevant to education, the list is endless. The mandate of the Think
> Tank would be to study/research and make available its new findings to
> schools, colleges and other groups that would form a foundation for
> knowledge generation.
>
> Students in most cases "discover" the new technologies on there own or
> through a source, this sort of discovery would be narrow.  And would not
> give them a chance to anchor it well since they lack a background. It is
> noted that the we use about 20% of the installed capabilities office
> productivity tools that we install in spite of owning them for over 3 years
> on our computers.
>
> Esther wondered whether the youth are aware of the capabilities of
> Facebook, well they may fall within the Kenyan users of productivity
> software of below 20%.  I have in the past coordinated ICT projects in
> schools (Global Teenager Project, School Chain Project, Mtandao Africa and
> NetGen Studio Project), each dealing with an aspect of ICT, these students
> can do wonders if they are guided. This guidance must come from a different
> level, because going by the current syllabus the teachers must drill them to
> pass exams, sadly a number of them were also drilled!
>
> Let us not castigate the products of science congress; the solar cooker
> could be a wonder for the student, even though repeated elsewhere.  How nice
> would it be if the presenter states that the solar cooker can boil water at
> 110 degrees through a collaboration between him/her and a Korean student
> using  internet resource e.g. Facebook.  We need to look at Internet as a
> complementing resource than cannibalising.
>
> It is nice reading from Hon Rege about parliamentarian’s eventual
> registration and use of social networks, this is a clear message of adoption
> which is good for the industry, however, it is important to evaluate the net
> benefits.
>
>
> How nice it would be to show teachers how time saving it is to use a portal
> for download and upload of learning materials.  Can proceed to class with a
> powerpoint presentation therefore avoiding the trouble of duster and chalk
> (writing and rubbing) the time saved can be used for teaching.  Sometimes we
> tell them we have the capacity of letting an American teacher to teach
> Kenyan History through a video conference!
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Sam Aguyo
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Esther Muchiri <emuchiri at andestbites.com>
> *To:* saguyo at yahoo.com
>
> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> *Sent:* Tue, November 17, 2009 12:26:50 PM
>
> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Africa's Absence From The Table
>
>  I totally agree with Walu.
>
>
>
> Something must be changed in our education system to allow for creativity
> and ‘hunger’ for additional knowledge in addition to ‘drilling’ the youth to
> pass exams.
>
>
>
> Rad has said that Kenya is leading in Africa on the use of Facebook! The
> question is – what information is being exchanged? Are the youth (graduates)
> aware that Facebook has other useful content in addition to socialization?
>  Hmmm
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* kictanet-bounces+emuchiri=andestbites.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke[mailto:
> kictanet-bounces+emuchiri <kictanet-bounces%2Bemuchiri>=andestbites.com@
> lists.kictanet.or.ke] *On Behalf Of *Walubengo J
> *Sent:* Tuesday, November 17, 2009 12:13 PM
> *To:* emuchiri at andestbites.com
> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Africa's Absence From The Table
>
>
>
> i agree. its not awareness...i remember pushing another similar challenge
> from Microsoft, "Imagine Cup 2009" at Multimedia University. It got a
> serious mute response...i think our students from primary school are drilled
> to focus on and pass exams....anything that has little or no impact on their
> exam tends to be neglected.
>
> We seem to have failed to cultivate a culture of intellectual "activism" in
> our education system. When I was growing up we used to have something called
> "science-congress" where all high-schools would compete from district,
> provincial and finally national level to show-case their innovations. Not
> quite sure if this still happens...
>
> walu.
>
> --- On *Tue, 11/17/09, Rad! <conradakunga at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Rad! <conradakunga at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Africa's Absence From The Table
> To: jwalu at yahoo.com
> Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 11:43 AM
>
> I do not believe awareness is an issue. I recall reading some statistics
> some time back to the effect that Kenya is one of the heaviest facebook
> users in Africa. It is the same internet. Why are we unable to capitalize on
> it? The challange has been in the public domain for years!
>
> On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 10:29 AM, waudo siganga <emailsignet at mailcan.com>
> wrote:
>
> Hi Rad! Is the awareness of such opportunities done? Maybe one needs to
> raise the alert before rather than after the horse bolts!?
>
>
>
> Kind Regards,
> Waudo
>
>
>
>
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