A country serious about tourism

I never imagined sleeping in a room costing 1000 Euro a night, room only. I thought I would not get close to that, that I would be stuck with the $50 a night and those guest houses that increase the cost depending on the influx of customers, if they rise by midnight, then you pay more or they add another person, in the same bed, anyway, am kidding.

But the rooms are cosy....and you almost get to a holiday mood, it will be hard for me to convince that am working.

But I am!

Air Mauritius is crap but the country is awesome

I missed the Air Mauritius flight on saturday, they said the plan could not take off, it stalled on the runway in Port Louis, so we had no choice but to fly on Sunday, others said the flight did not have an important spare part.

As usual, there was more info from rumors than from the airline. I was mad and I almost refused to go after a friend said that the flight could be jinxed but he was over reacting.

But after I saw the country, I was blown away, the village girl was challenged to dream. I had not dreamt of this one.

The place looks good...

Vodacom Group records increased profits, revenue

The Vodacom Group revenue has increased by 14 per cent to 26 billion South African Rand while profit from operations increased by 12.5 per cent to 6.4 billion Rand for the six months ended 30 September.

Vodacom has seen a number of significant changes over the past few months; as it evolves, we’ve increased the non-voice share of our business and increased the portion of our business coming from high growth markets outside South Africa, said Pieter Uys, Vodacom CEO.

With the intended acquisitions of Gateway Communications and StorTech the company has opened up further opportunities in servicing the total communications needs of corporate clients, added Uys. Vodacom has gained footholds in important new markets across Africa.

The results show that total number of Vodacom customers increased 13.1 per cent to 35.7 million and. The group’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 13.9 per cent to 8.7 billion rand while the net profit after tax grew by 3.2 per cent to 3.8 billion rand and cash generated from operations increased by 15.6 per cent to 8 billion rand

The data segment continued to grow rapidly, with revenues up 43.3 per cent, accounting for 13.1 per cent of Vodacom’s service revenue.
During the period, Vodacom completed the 7.5 billion rand Black Economic Empowerment transaction known as Yebo Yethu public offer, which was three times oversubscribed.

“Vodacom is committed to meaningful transformation in South Africa and we were delighted to conclude this major transaction,” said Uys. “We were particularly successful in promoting broad-based ownership, gaining more than 100,000 new
shareholders - almost 60% of which had applied for the minimum number of shares.

Vodacom, which is the e market leader in South Africa, is committed to further investment in sub-Saharan Africa though South Africa will remain the hub.

Ends

Telkom South Africa records revenue increase

Fixed-line operator Telkom South Africa has recorded 9.8 per cent increase in revenue to 29.8 billion South African Rand for the six months ended 30 September, and promised to offer more converged services.

Telkom's fixed-line business reported revenue growth of 2.8 per cent to 16.565 billion rand, while the revenue from data service increased by 12.2 per cent to 4.4 billion rand.

The ability to pull traffic back onto the fixed-line network through mobile service and leverage the next-generation network for full convergence and high-value data services will enhance Telkom's core defend and grow strategy, said Reuben September, Telkom Group CEO.

However, the group’s EBITDA decreased by 2.8 per cent to 10 billion rand and cash generated from operations decreased by 0.5 per cent to 6.4 billion rand while headline earnings per share increased by 0.4 per cent to 745.2c per share.

Telkom achieved a 96 per cent increase in broadband subscriptions and ADSL average installation time improved to 17 days from 20 days, while 60 per cent of all ADSL installations are now done through the self-install option. Telkom is targeting 592 000 ADSL subscribers for the 2009 financial year.

Mobile-based transmission stations have been increased to a total of 589 and optic fiber deployment now covers 3 800km, while a packet exchange has been commissioned in Abuja, Nigeria, for 300 000 subscribers.

Telkom’s intended expansion beyond South Africa is demonstrated by the acquisition of MWeb Africa and 75 per cent of MWeb Namibia, for $63 million.

“The transaction for the largest satellite-based ISP in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to close in the first half of the 2009 calendar year,” said September.

Telkom intends to accelerate the expansion of the network, including the next-generation network, selectively build a mobile network and explore acquisitive opportunities, particularly in the data centre arena, noted September.

“I am excited about Telkom’s repositioning within the market,” he added. “Our strength is our network and we intend to utilize the proceeds to leverage this strength for the benefit of all stakeholders.”
Ends

MISA calls for consultation in Zimbabwe telecoms crisis

The Media Institute of Southern Africa has labeled the current telecommunications crisis in Zimbabwe, driven by hyperinflation as an affront to the rights and freedom of the citizens.

The crisis arose after Econet Wireless withdraw its contract line services for clients under the Business Partner scheme, which has left thousands of Zimbabweans deprived of their right to communicate, said a statement from MISA, Zimbabwe chapter.

“Other mobile service providers and affiliated service companies, in tandem with Econet Wireless, have increased tariffs, with the average cost of a text message having risen from approximately 1000 Zimbabwean dollar (approx. US$0.28) to at least 20 000 dollars (approx. US$5.65), an increase of 2000 per cent,” MISA said.

The sole fixed telephone network, run by the state-owned company TelOne; is in an appalling state of affairs with erratic coverage in urban areas and is virtually non-existent in rural areas.

There are three mobile telephone networks in the crisis gripped country - Econet Wireless, Telecel, and TelOne- which have failed to cope with the market demand for their services in Zimbabwe's hyperinflationary environment, added the statement.

The state of affairs in the telecommunications industry is a serious impediment to the right of the people of Zimbabwe to communicate; as well as their right to freedom of expression as guaranteed in Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, noted the statement.

Article 9 of the African Charter includes the ability to use and access tools of communication such as the internet, fixed telephones and mobile telephone networks by ordinary people, as emphasized by the World Summit on Information Societies (WSIS) held in Tunis, Tunisia 2005.
Citing the importance of telecommunications in rebuilding the tattered economy, MISA urged the providers not to unilaterally increase the tariffs.

Ends

Mcel and AIRCOM optimize 3G in Mozambique

Aircom International has partnered with Mozambique mobile phone service operator Mcel to support the update planning tools for 2G and 3G networks.
The deal, a million dollars will allow Mcel to use Aircom’s network planning and optimisation tools ASSET and OPTIMA to plan and manage its new 3G UMTS network, which is currently being deployed.

Mcel enjoys a long-standing and productive relationship with Aircom for the existing network planning and management needs, said Luis Mhula, Mcel Chief Operations Officer.

“We’re delighted that Mcel has decided to work with Aircom for such an important project,” said Graham Kemp, Managing Director, in charge of Africa at AIRCOM International. “Mcel’s decision to use Aircom’s tools and consultancy is testament to the high quality of service that we provide to all of our customers around the world.”

Using the Aircom tools, Mcel expects to be able to accurately plan the new 3G network implementation and monitor its ongoing performance quickly and easily, said Mhula. Aircom will carry out measurement and model-tuning, to identify optimal configurations for specific network traffic requirements and conditions within Mcel.
Aircom will also provide support and training for Mcel engineering teams as they make the transition from GPRS to 3G.
Ends

Ceragon Expands its Footprint in Africa

Ceragon Networks a provider of high-capacity wireless backhaul solutions is expanding its footprint in Africa by opening two new local offices in Lagos, Nigeria and another in Johannesburg, South Africa.
“As one of the leading players in the high-capacity mobile backhaul market, we believe that we should have physical presence in two of the fastest developing mobile countries in the world,” said Ira Palti, President and CEO of Ceragon Networks.
Africa is a project-oriented region and having local representation allows Ceragon to join forces with local partners throughout southern and western Africa, Palti added. This way Ceragon can offer existing and newest customers, complete projects with excellent control and close follow-up.
Nigeria is one of the continent’s single largest mobile markets according to industry research group Wireless Federation, with over 44 million subscribers as of September 2008. Nigerian mobile operators are expected to reach more than 70 million subscribers by 2010.
South Africa has 43 million users to date, according to the Wireless Federation report. Despite an extremely high penetration rate, South Africa’s mobile market continues to demonstrate an annual growth rate of over 10 per cent.
The company has also received a new, $1.5 million order for its high-capacity trunk solutions, FibeAir 3200 to be deployed in Africa by a leading international carrier in Eastern Africa.
Ceragon high-capacity wireless backhaul solutions are also used by Botswana Telecom, Millicom Tanzania, and Neotel in South Africa.
Ends

Another interesting one......

Those naturally naughty shapes and sizes......

What do the pictures resemble???
That was a question posed by someone, I did not know what to say though I must say my mind was almost in the gutter.....

IGF participation means more than just attending

Safaricom Half Year Results, Live from Serena

Day two EAIGF liveblog

Live from EA IGF forum in Nairobi

Liveblog from Cairo

Nokia opens sub-Saharan research center in Nairobi

Nokia, the leading mobile phone manufacturer has opened the sub-Saharan research centre in Nairobi

The Nokia Research Africa (NoRa) is the first in Africa and will carry out study into Nokia products and services across the continent, said Jussi Impio, NoRa team leader. The centre tackle issues related to entrepreneurship, energy management, healthcare, education, transportation, social media, arts and culture.

NoRa will work closely with African universities and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to develop prototypes of devices that are suited for the African market, and to study the telecommunications trends in the various countries.

The center is targeting mobile phone users and the youth in order to design products and services that are relevant and add value to users, said Impio. Mobile communication plays a significant role in the socio-economic fabric in the continent.

The region has majority of the people in the low income bracket, poor infrastructure, low access to information, and a variety of social problems, most of which can be tackled through the use of mobile phones, added Impio.

Nokia which claims it manufactures a million mobile phones handsets everyday will focus on issues of pricing of mobile phones and the inclusion of features that are relevant to the region.

NoRa has carefully selected its partners to ensure that the research methods and resulting technologies are relevant and connect with the communities involved, he added.

“NoRa will work with NGO’s and institutions of higher learning because these institutions have an understanding and knowledge of the research methods to be applied in communities,” Impio explained.

NoRa is currently undertaking a study in Huruma estate, a lower income estate about 10 kilometers from the city center. Through partnership with the slum code programme, NoRa hopes to understand the dynamics of the informal music industry in the urban slum communities.

Ends

For those using Safaricom internet (Bambanet)....

It is very ironical that Safaricom advertises for services and makes such obscene profits annually yet is unable to train employees to give proper and accurate information especially on data services.

From the time I bought the Bambanet in June, my bill has been shrouded in mystery and none of the customer care agents has been able to explain.
For instance, for the first two weeks after I bought it, I was blocked ostensibly because I had burst on the 700 MB and reached my maximum of 4000 shillings per month.

That was puzzling because my Bambanet had an accumulated statistic showing that for the time I was online, I had used 750MB, my simple math shows for me to pay 4000 per month, I need to use the 700MB plus 250MB charged @ 8 per MB. So, if I am to pay 4000, then I need to use 950 MB a month.

The bills come as statements and are not broken down and any attempts to have an agent break it down have been fruitless, because “they also don’t understand”. Because I needed the service, I paid the bills anyway.

That was fine, until I applied to migrate from 700MB to 2GB on August 20th, 2008; I went to Sarit to pay my other outstanding bills plus the migration deposit. My data services account was indeed overpaid but I advised that the migration be done at the beginning of September.

Before I left, I asked the agent to inform me how many MBs I had used for August and after consulting with another agent, she told me that I had used 500MB and had 200MB on my monthly fees, meaning I could use the 200 in 10 days.

Ten days later, I called customer care to find out about the migration, only to be told that my account is blocked because I have a bill of 4000, then I sought to know how I accumulated such a bill in t10 days and I had 200MB left to use.

Explanation 1: By Anthony, when you applied to migrate, your account started being charged shs 8 per MB.

Explanation 2: Your account is X and not CMB blablabla…you see, we have various packages on how they take effect, and that is why we are charging you shs 4000.

Explanation 3: By the time you asked to migrate, you had already burst on your 700MB and you were already being charged at commercial rates (whatever that means).

In as much as Anthony gave cyclical arguments, I asked him to read the breakdown of the MBs I had used between the 10 days, he said the system was down and that the only option I had was to divide 4000 by 8, simple mathematics, or wait for the bills.

By the way, from the time I bought the service, I let the volume accumulate without resetting, and right now, the Bambanet shows that for the 289 hours 43 minutes and 16 seconds I have been online, I have used 2.1 GB, you can calculate the cumulative amounts I have paid on this data service to get the total.

Unless Safaricom supplied faulty modems, it should clearly indicate the statistics as it has.

The failure to get an explanation on the billing and the usage shows that Safaricom is hell bent on unjust enrichment without bothering to conceal it or making it look like am getting value for money.

Even if you have gotten away in other cases, please make it look like am getting value from this conmanship!

Traditions and paying dowry via Mpesa

The other day I accompanied friends of mine to the rural home as part of a marriage ceremony, am not sure which stage it was- but must have been Ngurario or Kuracia.

At some point, we found that we had money in the phones but we almost did not have it all in cash. It left me wondering whether it would nice to send that money via Mpesa, its easier and less cumbersome.

I think it will soon be used in Kiambu, my home, where the traditions do not make that sense provided there is money in the mix. Then after the ceremony is over, the local thugs come for the money, arguing that they heard from the grapevine that the visitors left a lot of money.

To beat the thugs, I think Mpesa makes a strong case plus all those funny old men who sit in the house and purport to “negotiate” for dowry do not have anything to divide at the end of the day.

For the record, I hate the chauvinistic Kikuyu marriage traditions but as a friend of mine told me, that is my culture and there is nothing I can do about it. But the best thing is that things are changing, I know of a friend’s father who can not discuss a family decision with a woman in the house. It is so frustrating.

Anyway, back to the tech business, I know it will be hard for the die hard traditionalists to accept it because it will be seen as impersonal but with the new way of conducting ceremonies, I think it will be faster and easier.

Microsoft vs. Toyota

This is Ndung'u of Microsoft EA, he fascinated me the other day when he suggested that Kenyans should quietly pay for proprietorial licenses for Microsoft products the same way they pay for the other services and products by Multinational Corporations.

He argued that Microsoft is no different from Toyota because they are all large corporations that have invested the money.

I wanted to tell him that when I buy my Toyota, its a one time affair and the Toyota Corporation does not send inspectors to ensure that my car runs on genuine parts or that my downtown garage is selling genuine parts. They only advice me on what parts to put and just like any other advice I can decide to heed it or not.

I found that to be a funny analogy....but maybe M$ should become like Toyota, sell the computers to cyber cafes, get a one time fee and then leave them alone for the rest of the computer's life.

It will be very innovative of the software giant.....

Kenya BPO gets training support.....but..

Kenya’s Business Process Outsourcing industry is headed for a major competitive boost after last week’s launch of the “LiveBean Scholarship Program” valued at US$ 300,000.

The scholarship is sponsored by LiveBean consulting, one of India’s outsourcing business and is expected to benefit the BPO and Contact Center Professionals in Kenya and demonstrate that the country is ready to take up its place as a leading destination of outsourcing business.

Big companies look for professionalism and experience in business, which the Indian firm hopes to transfer through the training program. Lack of training is one of the major problems affecting the Kenya Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector. India is one of the leading outsourcing destinations but the focus is slowly shifting to Africa.

The scholarship program will be rolled out in phases, and will provide skills in operations management, people management, customer relationship management and strategic business essentials, said Mahesh Punia, CEO of LiveBean Consulting, who launched the program on Friday August 22nd.

The training will be offered in conjunction with “The Call Center School,” based in Tennessee, USA and is expected to attract several applicants from the BPO sector. The scholarship will be administered by the Kenya BPO Society. Kenya ICT Board is also expected to play a major role in the scholarship program.

The scholarship may be a good idea, but the BPO society and the ICT board need to scrutinize the source of the funds and whether there are any strings attached. The society and ICT board officials need to read the fine print and establish whether the scholarship ties any of the society members or scholars in any way.

While LiveBean is said to be a leading company with a track record of revamping customer service functions for leading organizations and setting up highly successful customer contact centers in India, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Europe, it may be important to tread carefully on the training credentials.

In a brief to members, James Ochola an executive officer at the BPO society said that LiveBean team had experience in business combinations comprising of mergers/acquisitions and strategic alliances for specific units like contact centers.

From the website, LiveBean officials look very experienced but their training credentials do not say much about success of trained BPO professionals. LiveBean Consulting & Training Private Limited was founded in July 2007 to operate in Consulting, Training, and Customer Experience Research & Management.

With such a young company, Kenya may be used as a starting ground for the company and it does not mean that the BPO professionals will get high quality training compared to that offered by established companies such as Call Center Industry Advisory Council (CIAC).

There is nothing wrong with a new company setting up training base in Kenya with the view of expanding its market but the sector will win the international legitimacy battle by also engaging the more established trainers.

While the course will cover basics in finance, contract negotiations and management, customer relationship, outsourcing it will also describe the process of managing the relationship between client and service provider.

There is no doubt about the experience of the training team and the Kenyan officers from various BPO companies will gain skills such as practicing the recommended techniques for transferring callers or putting them on hold, and recognize best practices when relying upon voice mail communications.

Lack of training is just one of the challenges facing the BPO sector, lack of project planning and management is a huge challenge for the sector. Most people were inspired to start or pump more money because of the promised bandwidth subsidy from the World Bank.

The subsidy, to be administered by the ICT board, has taken long to be released by the World Bank and most BPO’s have closed shop.

“I have learnt that many people doing business today should not have started in the first place, many need to take a step back and reflect on the fundamentals such as business plans and contingency plans; if the bandwidth subsidy does not come, what do we do?,” poses Paul Kukubo, CEO of the Kenya ICT board.

If the challenges are addressed, Kenya hopes to catch up with top outsourcing destinations such as South Africa and Egypt.
South Africa leads Africa's BPO sector; performing call center services and all types of back office operations, while Egypt is second with significant outsourcing work. This is according to Peter Ryan, a call center analyst for Datamonitor, which provides a barometer for BPO activity on the African continent.
South Africa and Egypt have used a four-pronged approach to attract BPO companies: tax breaks; competitive telecommunications rates; training funds; and marketing aid. For instance, telecom rates are as low as shs3.50 per minute to Western Europe and North America. International bandwidth of 2Mega bits per second circuits costs shs 254,000 ($3,800) per month while in Kenya the same bandwidth costs shs 670,000 (US$ 10,000).
Faced with these statistics, Mauritius is aggressively pursuing its vision of making the island a major BPO destination on the continent. It presently has 23 operators in its Ebène Cyber Tower with a second tower under construction.
Other countries in the South African region like Botswana are making a huge push to attract investment in the BPO sector, offering solid packages. Botswana, for example, offers a guaranteed corporate tax of 15 percent until June 2020.
Ends

Maasai and tech

Though the Maasai hold on to their traditions, technology plays a vital role. The cell phone has made a marked difference in this community probably more than it has in many other communities.
Given the distances between one home to another, the phone comes in handy, especially during cattle raids or when communicating with herders in the field.

The ultimate romance

While in college I attended a course on intercultural communication and Dr. Marete, who was the course instructor talked about the various cultural interpretations about romance and how we define who knows how to love and who doesn’t.

The world has become so westernized that romance is defined by how many times you say “I love you”, the exotic dinners and the flowers one sends or receives. So he talked about the traditional African culture and the definition of romance.

Ever heard of stories that men batter women because they love them? That an African woman is considered weak if he tells a woman he loves her? That land and children is all that a woman needs to know she is loved? Well those are stories that have been watered down over time.

When I went to Magadi last week, I met Elijah, a Maasai guy. He had a walking stick and I thought it was for older guys, so I asked him why he was carrying it and he said it was because it was made by the wife.

I enquired how long it takes to make the stick embossed with colorful beads and decorates. It takes not less than two days. That’s the sign of love from his wife, and he treasures it, he won’t even sell it at any price.

In return, Elijah is the warrior in the family, the guy who ensured that the hyenas and lions do not get away with any of the cows or livestock. That rule is not written anywhere but everyone knows it.

The encounter with Elijah made me wonder why that cannot be defined as the ultimate romance; the sign of dedication and love.

It is cultural and it is how we communicate it, I thought it was very touching…..

Live blog presentation ar CFSK

Olympics, Masai Mara and infrastructure sharing

It was sad that KBC was erratic in showing Olympics live. It was erratic and not-understandable, they were showing some funny live matches and the most important to us were delayed or not shown at all, or maybe they did at midnight.

But on Sunday, they televised live from Beijing and from Masai Mara courtesy of KTN. It was nice to see the KBC screen split, showing updates from Beijing and Masai Mara. You can imagine what will happen when we have the fiber and cost of bandwidth becomes cheaper, KIXP will experience great local capacity.

Infrastructure sharing is not new in Kenyan media, in the past, KBC was offering the link during the national holidays like Kenyatta day, we are yet to see NTV and KTN collaborating on some live events.

I wish our telecoms sector would be the same, that when the Safaricom masts become congested, some of the traffic can be moved to zain, so that communication is not interrupted. But again, that may only be a pipe dream.

Protecting ICT consumer interests

Who is an ICT consumer? A friend of mine asked. Hmmm….. had not thought about it that way, but I guess it refers to anyone who is an end user of ICT services and products.

Is the CCK capable of protecting consumer interests as well as those of big telcos? That was another question I could not answer, because it is only the regulator who can answer and or demonstrate its capability.

Its disempowering to know that we all have complaints against providers at one time or another but lack the proper mechanisms to channel them. Why has CCK not made adequate use of technology, why not have an online forums or blog in its site that we can rant and pour out the frustrations?

I think someone needs to tell CCK about the call completion rates and the call drop rates because I do not think the guys there do a good job of monitoring the GSM companies.
I recall they bought some equipment to measure the call drop and completion rates at some point, I think its two years ago, but it seems it has not been put to proper use.

Promoting liveblogging

Live blog session 3

Liveblog session 2

Live blog session- stakeholders forum

The Danube river, no comparison to Chania

There was a time I was mesmerized by Chania river, we took trips there, to see the water flowing downstream and the rocks. The big boys liked swiming and showing off their skills.

The Danube is no comparison to Chania, that is why am allowed to stand by the bridge and get mesmerized once more.

Ghanaian representative, media tycoon in court

When business tycoon Chris Kirubi was charged in a Nairobi court, he probably did not think the photojournalists would be so hysterical.

Perhaps because he owns one of the top radio stations, he thought the camera people would cut him some slack.

Gosh, he was so irritated and visibly angry as the journalists hunted him down blocking his space and taking 1000 photos. I must admit the journalists dramatize but that was a sight.

Kirubi is also the Ghanaian representative, something like an ambassador or some diplomatic relation of some sort.

I thought he enjoyed some sort of diplomatic immunity. I wonder what privileges being representative comes with.

Just a thought!

Ends

Clearly, I am excited to be in Budapest....

Proudly blogging about Kenya, Juliana

Enjoying meeting people

Daudi joined the party....

Juliana, David, make the village pose famous ....

We enjoy meeting people, those we know, and those we dont...

Kenyans meet

When biases meet biases: the case of China

No skyscrapers, this is Budapest

The St Stephen's Church is the tallest building in the city. All other buildings have to conform to this.

The buildings have medieval architecture, its very good looking. Old Russian style buildings, make the place a tourist attraction.

You gotta give it up for Japanese tourists

More photos

Live blog session: Day two

Live blog session 4- Frontline activists meet the academy: tools and knowledge

Live blog session 3- Living with censorship

Live Blog - Session 2 'Citizen Media and Online Free SpeeAch

Question time

Fellow bloggers and apathy, do they have time for cyber activism. They think that some bloggers write bad stuff and if they are censored, whats the big deal? But when you have international attention, they get interested.

What can other bloggers do to help, first support, especially mainstream media and the internet.

Don't block the blog!- Pakistan (Awab Alvi)

Awab is a dentist from Pakistan, you may wonder what he is doing in blogging, and he will say, he leads by example.

Blogspot ban-drawmuhammadweek.blogspot.com was the blog that led to a blanket ban on all blogspot bans.

Pakistan has an aggregator now, an attempt to help people read blogs in a more effective way. www.pkblogs.com helped where bogspot had failed.

Google also changed the Blogspot IPs which helped with the ban, because people were able to access blogs again.

Musharraf was given the middle finger salute for his efforts (laugh)...hahhahhoo

He wanted Pakistanis not to hear any truth, see or read, he was determined to block everyone.

Sms was used to blog especially after Bhutto assassination and the first days of martial law. pklongmarch.blogspot.com was used for email and sms blogging.

If the number is compromised, one can be tracked down and blocked, so its still a challenge.

Censorship in Japan- Chris Salzburg

Net bullying, mobile phone content is restricted in Japan.

This guy who killed people in Akihabara shopping mall confessed online that he was going to killing people. Now the ISP can give the IP address to the police, now that people have come up with phony threats.

Filtering by the ministry to protect children from all harmful stuff on the internet. A survey found that 67.8 support internet regulation and 76 % said they support filtering.

Others say regulation/censorship will stop innovation and Japan will be left behind by other countries, that the regulation was contradictory and the regulation process is not transparent.

The government loves to be told to filter the web. Web censorship means different things to different people, awareness is key.

Its funny the society is supporting the government on censorship. Thats Japan for you!

Using the courts to censor in Egypt--Alaa Abdel

The Kenyan courts may not know what is blogging and how it relates to defamation but Egypt has a different story.

They do not filter the internet using firewalls but they torture blogs and use the courts to jail. They create an atmosphere of fear, beat you up so that you can reveal your facebook, blogger or you tube account.

www.tortureinegypt.net covers torture in Egypt and tags the posts with the names of the police officers, and raises the stakes. When you go to court, the evidence is there, which means the same courts will also be used to block the blogger.

A lady blogger had to lose her job, after efforts from her family to stop her from blogging failed. She stood up to her father, which meant she lost a place to stay. Now she works at a radical newspaper/site.

Libel laws in Egypt were designed to protect the system, its criminal and the onus is on the blogger to prove.
for instance, a blogger blogs about a company dumping waste into a public water space. elhakika.blogspot.com was blogging about the environmental effects and was sued for libel.
The laws require the blogger to prove the company is emptying waste into the lake, if you prove 3 out of 4 allegations, you still go to jail for failing to prove one allegation.

In other jurisdictions, the onus would have been on the company to prove that its not emptying waste to the lake. The company would have to prove its clean.

The upshot- use of fear and courts to silence bloggers.

But are bloggers above the law. Should they be supported whether they make mistakes or not? Food for thought......

Torture, cat and mouse game

Sami Ben Gharbia shows a video about torture and police violence in Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia. It represents so many African countries, it has become acceptable and its now wished away. of course the police deny.

The mainstream media denies existence of the incidences but the bloggers and you tube videos are changing repressive regimes.

It reminds me of the stories in Kenya's Mt Elgon area, the cat and mouse games games between the army, the Sabaot land defense forces and the residents. people have come out, stripped in public, showing torture marks, yet the government and the army denies, so who is fooling who?

Now that we have Googlemaps, youtube and other online services, the residents can provide such evidence online, now that its their word against that of the army.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission, instead of empty talk, should empower the residents with technology, to burst the bastards.

I wonder what the police and the army will say, if such videos stream online. Will they vilify the commission and anybody else castigating the army and torture of Mt Elgon residents.

We need to embarrass the security forces.

By Ethan Zuckerman

Future

GV now translated to Malagasy, spoken in Madagascar.

Translation, lingua has incorporated many other languages.

GV advocacy, led by Sami Ben Ghabia from Tunisia. He leads the underground bloggers, how people can use online media to speak out, governments are also working hard to control what is coming out.

People doing stuff to protect online speech and the technical improvements to beat the tough firewalls.

Global Voices summit By Rebecca MacKinnon

Intro by Rebecca MacKinnon

The desire to improve coverage of international news, increased research and the need to improve use of internet inspired Global Voices online.
From 2004, the group has grown and more continue to volunteer services.

from 2006, it has grown from just being a website to a forum against censorship, advocacy and community media, beyond the educated elite. Rising voices reaches to voices that may be underrepresented in the mainstream media.

The sphinx and the village pose

Outside the Hungarian Opera house, I have to do the village pose wherever I go.

Hungarian Opera house...

I was impressed by the statues of all the famous people who performed there, including Beethoven. How I look forward to this at the Kenya National Theatre.

Beer for all......Germany won

Germany won, we were all happy... so the beer was on the table....

Looking for soccer...

It was Turkey Vs Germany. It was a good one for the evening... I did not care who won, just wanted to watch the game.

Flowers from a vending machine...

At the airport you can buy flowers. I thought such was for coffee. Lessons, I can see.

From Budapest........

we met at Cairo Airport and the Sudan and Kenya team decided to get together. Daudi, Denno and Andrew.

The day Bitange Ndemo was just the lecturer...

It was befitting that Bitange Ndemo, Paul Kukubo and Eunice Kariuki chose to come to Barcamp in Casual wear, it was hard to notice them, that is if you do not know them, they gelled so well with the crowd.

During the discussion on our education system, Ndemo drew on his experience as a university lecturer, saying that of all the students in a class, only 5 per cent are exceptionally bright and know more than the lecturer, 40 percent are average and 55 per cent are happy to drag along and get the certificate (read those who dab and engage in all manner of crime just to get the certificate).

It was nice to hear Ndemo admitting that our university lecturers are frozen in time and do not appreciate technological developments. He argued that most bright students fail, not because they do not know, but mainly because the lecturers may not understand what the students are writing. Not all the bright students get first class, he said.

Ndemo was concerned with spirit of entrepreneurship saying that it needs to be inculcated at an early stage like in the US where kids engage in business and understand the principle of profit and loss.

“Here people take the capital and imagine that it’s the profit, and that’s why businesses fail”

He was contributing on the debate about lack business skills and lack of capital within IT sector, especially young people starting up.

Barcamp experience: people from all corners

Techies, government, businesspeople, students.....they all came to share and listen...

Barcamp experience

It was my first Barcamp, can’t explain why I missed it last year, but I made it this time.
It was nice listening to people, the applications and the innovations they are developing. It’s sad that people think Kenya does not have solutions for some of the problems.

For instance, one guy from Moi University explained how they developed certain applications for the university, yet the university ignored them and invited multi million bids for the work they could do.
The students went a step further and simulated the university’s lighting system and showed how it could be controlled from one computer.

What did the university say? We are not interested.

Somehow the students lost faith and started doing other things.

But Kiania Dee wondered whether the students had proved a business case, arguing that there is need to teach entrepreneurship skills to engineering students. Others thought poverty and hunger for employment had killed innovation.

It was argued that most engineering students are snapped by companies like Pricewaterhousecoopers immediately after university and family responsibilities force them to abandon their dreams.

It was very enlightening.

Good connectivity at my tribal bank and women talk Pumwani maternity

The other day I went to one of my tribal banks for a transaction and was amazed at how interconnectivity has eased the level of transactions.

I think they did well to invest in a bigger local loop pipe because earlier it was taking ages to communicate with a rural branch. So I was happy the teller got the information from my rural branch so fast……but she said….aaiiih (I hate it when people say that coz it doesn’t end well, it’s a sign someone will complicate your life).

So it happened that I have to go talk to the manager to sort me out. Of course there was a queue but was moving.

There was this guy ahead of me on the queue who looked rough, with un-tucked, halfway buttoned shirt, a khaki trouser, and funny rubber shoes. He looked like the lorry operators who have money but you can never tell.

Anyway, he started a conversation how he dreads it when a woman is the one in front of him on the queue, apparently because women take long before they can sort out the actual problem that took them to the manager.

“Wanaenda kuongea juu ya pumwani maternity, sijui watoto wamezaliwa wengi,” he said with a grin on his face.

“That’s rude and unfair,” I said, waiting for details. He just laughed and was joined in the conversation by another young man who said how the woman ahead in the queue had said she was to take some time.

Well, the woman took some time and I understood what the maternity guy meant, when she came out, she smiled and said, “sija kaa” and we just smiled back, after all, she was out.

When I went in and found that the manager was a woman, I thought, that guy was actually a chauvinist; he knew the manager was female and could be dragged to maternity matters. Anyway, he was a nice guy, full of jokes.

My day at the bank ended well. The manager very helpful!

Ends

The mess that Safaricom IPO has become

Investing in Safaricom was supposed to be easy, a matter of buying shares in Kenya’s most profitable company and getting refunds for shares not allocated. It was well known that it was going to be oversubscribed.

It started with controversy over government’s decision to offload the shares and whether it was right. It was a campaign tool, and some people were urged not to buy the shares but the boycott call was later retracted.

Then the IPO kicked off, long queues and endless advertisements of how our lives are going to change. Yes, it is good that we get to own shares but at what cost?

The allocations did not justify the hype. Queue a whole day, get a loan from the bank at 15% per annum interest, and then get allocated 420 shares. But again, those who feel the allocations are low should buy now that they are floated.

Then the next scene in the drama is the refunds. Brokers holding the money, Safaricom pointing fingers at unscrupulous brokers, CBK acknowledging the problem, asking the Capital Markets Authority to intervene and the CMA is just silent, how much more drama do we need.

It was argued that the IPO will benefit the ordinary person but now the only thing I see is the people trying to get their refunds to pay off the loans and the high interest rates and others sitting back waiting for the chaos to end before making the claims.

Ends

Girls happy to show their computer skills

We all are happy to hold the key board

Kenya neutral on OOXML

With debate going on about OOXML and Kenya taking a neutral position, Dorcas Muthoni breaks down the technical jargon for easier understanding.

What is an Office Document Standard?

A standard file format that would allow office documents such as spreadsheets and word processing files to be opened by applications from different vendors.

Why Open Standards

Creating an open office file format suggests that documents created in an application that supports that file format could be opened in other applications that support it as well. E.g. A document written using OpenOffice for example, could be opened in Ms Office without affecting the layout or formatting.

With an open standard;

You can choose any operating system or application and still be able to read and edit all your old documents e.g. whether it is Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Unix.
You can collaborate with others regardless of which software they are using e.g. whether it is LotusNotes, OpenOffice, Ms Office, StarOffice, GoogleApps .
You can use any software of your choice to exchange documents within your organization, with your clients, partners, government and everyone else.
The goal of an open standard is to free corporate data from proprietary file formats so they can be accessed for years to come no matter what office software a company or government is using. Companies and governments are currently saving data in proprietary file formats, such as those written in Microsoft's Office software (.doc, .xls, .ppt, and lately .docx, .xlsx, .pptx), and locking themselves into using that software indefinitely.

A relative example is, we all develop our websites and expect to successfully access them using various browser software (Mozilla Firefox, Netscape, Safari, Internet Explorer etc). We successfully manage to do this because of HTML, XML and Browser open standardization.

The same should happen for office documents and hence definition of open document standards.

What is ODF

ODF(OpenDocument Format) an ISO standard created with the aim to provide an open XML-based document file format for office applications to be used for documents containing text, spreadsheets, charts, and graphical elements. ODF is defined via an open and transparent process at OASIS ( The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) and has been approved unanimously by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as an international standard in May 2006. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel ODF reuses established standards like HTML, SVG, XSL, SMIL, XLink, XForms, MathML, and Dublin Core.

ODF leaves space for all present and future vendors do implement it and makes sure that end users won't suffer from any sort of vendor lock-in. In contrast to earlier used binary formats which were cryptic and difficult to process, ODF's use of XML makes accessing the document content simple.

ODF guarantees long-term viability. The OASIS ODF TC, the OASIS ODF Adoption TC, and the ODF Alliance include members from Adobe, BBC, EDS, EMC, GNOME, Google, IBM, Intel, KDE, Novell, Oracle, Red Hat, Software AG and Sun Microsystems. Since June 2006 the ODF Alliance has already more than 300 members.

What is OOXML

A format proposed by Microsoft that comes closest to ODF in function, but it fails the test for an Open Standard in various ways, including an unclear legal status as well as inclusion of and reference to proprietary technologies. It has all signs of a vendor-specific format that only Microsoft will be able to implement completely.

Microsoft, which dominates the office software market with its Office suite, is a member of OASIS and was fully aware of the technical committee that came up with ODF. However, they opted to make Ms Office 2007 heavily reliant on XML and also initiated a parallel technical committee to develop a standard file format the MS OOXML.

Ms Office 2007 does not support ODF. What Microsoft has done is to push MS OOXML through a fast track process to have the standard certified by ISO. The standard is being reviewed by technical committees (TC) formed through national standards bodies. The TCs pass a vote through a ballot process. The ballot resolutions are then forwarded to ISO, if the outcome is greater support for MS OOXML, then the standard will be passed.


Why should we reject a proprietary standard like OOXML


We live in a digital age where paper documents increasingly get replaced by electronic records. We may even see the day we no longer use paper and pen to keep records. In this situation long-term data becomes critical. This is especially the case for legal contracts and government documents which stay valid and relevant over decades, or even centuries. Just like there were many vendors supplying paper and pens through out the history, and not a single one, so do these formats and applications which are used to make them need to be vendor independent. That is the only guanrantee of long-term access to data, even if companies disappear, change their strategies or dramatically raise their prices.
The Kenyan technical committee (hosted by KEBS) reviewing the MS OOXML standard was inappropriately constituted and is highly imbalanced. Microsoft recommended business partners to this committee and the first vote returned a yes resolution because of this imbalance. On March 19th 2008, the committee passed an Abstain resolution which Microsoft is now strongly appealing against.

Further, the MS OOXML standard is defined in 6,000+ pages and with the fast track process, it is barely possible to review the standard comprehensively. This standard must be reviewed via the regular standard process.

MS OOXML is a proposed parallel standard without a justification.
OOXML has patent issues