[kictanet] Sir Tim Berners-lee web inventor on K24 Capital Talk onMonday 30th

Fri Nov 27 12:00:11 EAT 2009

Thanks Mureithi. 

You deserve a pat on the back for making this happen.

On the media, it was the Web Foundation's desire not to have media
coverage and even the interview with Jeff was only a last minute
concession. We all thought it was a missed opportunity but not much we
could do about this.

Victor

________________________________

From: kictanet-bounces+v-gathara=dfid.gov.uk at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+v-gathara=dfid.gov.uk at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On
Behalf Of muriuki mureithi
Sent: 25 November 2009 22:59
To: Victor Gathara
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: [kictanet] Sir Tim Berners-lee web inventor on K24 Capital Talk
onMonday 30th

Hi all stakeholders of the web 

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the www inventor in 1989 and Time magazine   member
of  100 Most Important  People of  the 20th  century  honoured Kenya by
a visit last week facilitated by KICTAnet. On the conclusion of the
trip, he gave a wide ranging  one-on-one interview to K24's Jeff
Koinange  Capital Talk to be aired on Monday 30th at 2000 hrs and
2200hrs. Make a date to hear first hand the inventor of the www.

 In his  itinerary, he met and interacted with the cross-section of
Kenyan  web stakeholders - government, parliament, academia, techies,
industry  and civil society. This was a fact finding mission to
understand  how his invention is being exploited. He also profiled  Web
Foundation (www.webfoundation.org ) that he launched in Sharm el Sheikh
IGF  on 15th Nov, Web Science Research Initiative (www.wsri.org) and
clarified some of the  outputs of www consortium (w3c)  in standard
setting especially for the virtually impaired.

 He met government  officials led  by   Vice President  Hon Kalonzo
Musyoka, Permanent Secretary Dr Bitange Ndemo and CCK DG Mr Charles
Njoroge among others over lunch, had an interactive session with
Parliamentary committee  responsible for ICT led by Hon Eng James Rege.
He also gave a one hour lecture  to the academic community  (view the
video lecture at www.kenet.or.ke)  and  met Skunkworks at  Strathmore
University as well as  TESPOK.   A recurring theme    was the
opportunity provided by the www but can only be fully exploited by the
development of content - just do it, put data on a  web page and
contribute to the growth of the web now estimated at 10 raised to power
18 pages and growing rapidly.

>From the high and mighty,  Sir Tim went to the grassroots. First stop
was first hand interaction  with the virtually impaired at the Kenya
Society of the Blind. Yes, the blind who constitute up  to 3% of the
Kenyan population need to access the web and software to help them is
available both for the computer and the cell phones. According to the
virtually impaired ,the  cost was a barrier, good  pc software cost
about $500 while for the cell phone cost $300, and  open source was not
as good. Equally, most of the Kenyan web developers  do not incorporate
features for  virtually impaired. 

In addition, Sir Tim saw applications of the web as a social
intervention to create jobs, reduce crime and organise a neighbourhood
by the excellent work by  Kimathi Information Centre,  and the power of
the community radio to extend the power of the web to those in the slums
as ably illustrated by the SIDAREC radio - Ghetto 99.9. To crown  the
visit to  SIDAREC, he talked live on Ghetto 99.9 FM and  praised  the
efforts of the SIDAREC to empower the poor with information. 

His visit comes at time when Kenya has just plugged into submarine optic
fibres cables and  a repealed Kenya Communication Act   chaperoning
Kenya to the  information society era. From the many interactions in his
itinerary  it was clear that  all sectors  of the society are highly
sensitised  on the opportunities created by www and ways  to exploit the
web.  The only way to honour Sir Tim's visit is to ACT  now.

Cheers 

Muriuki Mureithi

----------------------------------

Summit Strategies Ltd 

ICT  consulting and research 

Land mark Plaza 13th floor

P O Box 62454  - 00200 

Nairobi Kenya 

tel + 254-20- 3673925

Cell +254 722 520090

email - mureithi at summitstrategies.co.ke  

www.summitstrategies.co.ke

________________________________________________________________________
This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Star. The
service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive
anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit:
http://www.star.net.uk
________________________________________________________________________

DFID, the Department for International Development: leading the UK Government's fight against world poverty. Find out more at http://www.dfid.gov.uk. 

The road to Copenhagen: the UK Government's ambition for a global deal on climate change. Find out more at http://www.actoncopenhagen.gov.uk and about DFID's work at http://www.dfid.gov.uk/climate.
______________________________________________________________________

This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Peapod. The
service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive
anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit:
http://www.peapod.co.uk/cleanmail
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20091127/d089ad04/attachment.htm>