Archive | Inclusion, Accessibility and Community Connectivity

Moveecom on the move!

Filed under Inclusion, Accessibility and Community Connectivity, Innovation and ICT Entrepreneurship by Kerryn on 15 December, 2011 at 7:37 pm {no comments}

The Moveecom trike on display at the SAFIPA Conference 2011

There was recently great excitement for the MoveeCom Mobile Internet Café (MIC) team when they won two awards for their innovative mobile internet café.

The first award was from the inaugural SAB Foundation Innovation Awards which were introduced in November this year. With a total purse of R1.5 million the awards aim to promote innovation delivering sustainable solutions to the daily challenges facing persons in low-income areas. Moveecom received a seed grant of R 100,000.00 towards further development of the project. And within the same month, the team were named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Polokwane Chamber of Business’s Annual Awards Gala Banquet.

The MoveeCom™ Mobile Internet Café (MIC) is an innovative concept that delivers access to IT resources, to under-serviced communities via a mobile communication unit. The fully portable communications system has been designed specifically for deep rural areas and poorly serviced urban areas. It enables communities to have access to technology and information in order to engage with other sectors of society and contribute to their economic well being.

The mobile unit is fully enclosed and is complete with two fixed monitors, two computer keyboards, a four-in-one scanner, printer, fax and copier. The entire system is driven by a generator, and the complete unit is transported on a motor-powered trike. During development, the team paid a lot of attention to the design and sourcing of durable components which could weather extreme environments and be used on a rugged terrain. The mobile unit will provide a variety of uses, such as word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software; internet connectivity and real-time chat; general printing, copying, scanning, faxing and a mobile phone charging station.

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Part 4 “This is what we’re doing”: SAFIPA projects on building and information society

Filed under Inclusion, Accessibility and Community Connectivity by Kerryn on 23 November, 2011 at 8:23 pm {no comments}

The key issues in the fourth parallel session, were to look closely at the linkages with Government and the private sector, sustainability and further development, opportunities for replication and wider adoption within South Africa and in other countries, and the funding of future initiatives. The Living Labs South Africa, Meraka Code Sprints and Kujali Sociotech shared their experiences.

Living Labs South Africa (LLiSA)
Meraka Code Sprints
Kujali Sociotech

THE ECO-SYSTEM OF THE LIVING LABS SOUTHERN AFRICA NETWORK

Professor Marlien Herselman from the CSIR Meraka Institute discusses Living Labs in Southern Africa initiative which is an embodiment of the innovation system where all sectors engage in the innovation process.

“The concept of a Living Lab is that it incorporates different stakeholders such as users, innovators, and institutions, who submit and support ideas as applied to a specific value chain. They collaborate to create, prototype and use new products and processes. In the African context, what works well is a lab environment that caters for a user-driver approach. Successful developments can then be replicated to improve living standards more broadly.

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UNIVEN and the CSIR nurture community cyber awareness

Filed under Inclusion, Accessibility and Community Connectivity by Kerryn on 18 July, 2011 at 11:11 am {no comments}

Volunteer students play some of the interactive games during a train-the-trainer workshop.

The University of Venda, in partnership with the CSIR, and supported by SAFIPA, is currently conducting a research and implementation project that seeks to educate a local community in cyber security and awareness.

The background to this project – at both the global and community level – is explained by Dr Zaaiman, who is the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Operations, at the University of Venda (UNIVEN). Zaaiman says, “Cyber space is a complex environment that can advance an individual’s experience of electronic-dependent activities, but can also place these individuals in a vulnerable state. For the average person, cyber space is a means to communicate, connect on social networking sites, perform financial transactions, search for information, and a platform for entertainment. However, for those who do not specialise in cyber security – which is most of us – cyber space poses inherent dangers that can literally rob cyber space users from both their identity and their money.” Zaaiman goes on to explain that in many ways, the internet and cyber world can be a perilous place where innocent users can inadvertently fall prey to shrewd cyber criminals. Thus, the CSIR and the University of Venda are collaborating on an initiative that seeks to raise cyber security awareness in local rural communities. The project is aimed at a pilot community, Thohoyandou, within the Limpopo Province, in the Vhembe District.

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Infopreneurs®: A new paradigm in understanding how ICT enabled networks can enhance development actions

Filed under Inclusion, Accessibility and Community Connectivity, Uncategorized by Kerryn on 31 January, 2011 at 11:21 am {no comments}

Rensie and Infopreneur® Phophi on location, discovering the breathing stone in the Nzhelele valley.

Working within the CSIR Meraka Institute’s stable of innovators and scientists is a team of accomplished practitioners involved in the CSIR Citizens Information Services (CSIR CIS). This programme undertakes research, development and implementation (RDI) of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the African development context. The team, led by Johann (Rensie) van Rensburg, has spent the better part of twenty years investigating solutions to empower South Africa’s marginalised communities through the use of information and communication technologies.

In recent years, the team’s combined expertise has evolved a fundamental shift within the ICT4D arena. Development solutions have moved beyond the identification and creation of technological tools and processes as the foundations for development, to a prioritisation of the actions of individuals, enterprises and organisations who together form a network through which local skills and resources emerge and grow to deliver on the developmental mandate. This paradigm shift has resulted in the creation of what is termed the Infopreneur® network wherein people are the key to expanding the economic value chain to create opportunities for new entrants. According to a paper collaboratively written in 2010 by van Rensburg and his colleagues, Braam Cronje and Uys du Buisson, the importance now is to “validate and understand an ICT-enabled, sustainable network of enterprises.”

The networked community

Since 1994, the team has undertaken research and development in South Africa’s developing economy with emphasis placed on the deployment of services and resources for rural communities. It has been over the last six years, however, that a business model for sustained delivery – which includes active involvement by stakeholders at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) – has been implemented and tracked. Van Rensburg’s team is currently investigating how the networked community which is involved in delivering economic and social solutions within their communities, can be scaled-up and sustained.

The concept of the community Infopreneur® – a person who facilitates partnerships and processes between community actors and service providers within the value chain – works in harmony with the notion of so-called Living Labs. Over the years, the team has experienced the benefits of the Living Lab approach which draws all stakeholders into a real-world context where there is both shared risk in terms of the research and commercialisation processes as well as shared success. Similarly, the idea of the Community Infopreneur® is to be an active, sustainable approach to rural empowerment, where the Infopreneur® is a key change agent who is embedded into the network to support the creation and facilitation of products and services. According to van Rensburg et al, Infopreneurs® act as “information highway bridge builders … [with the aim of] eventually enabling ‘intelligence-based’ niche production and export.”

The Infopreneurs® and the value chain

Infopreneurs® are local people living in – and understanding – local conditions and dynamics. They are supported by a strong chain of stakeholders, including a back office which is set up by the CSIR. The back office provides start-up resources and establishes strategic partnerships with public-sector departments and private corporations where necessary. In close contact with the back office is the Regional Infopreneur® (RIP) who is supported directly by the CSIR Meraka Institute. The RIP not only has a wide skills-set and qualifications to manage the diverse relationships along the value chain, but will depend on the income generated by the network for services people are prepared to pay for. The Community Infopreneur®, working closely with enterprises and people at the community level, is supported and guided by the Regional Infopreneur® and also has to build a set of income-generating services to justify their own existence. (more…)

Municipality in a Box: Enabling efficient public services for all

Filed under Inclusion, Accessibility and Community Connectivity, Rural development by Daniela White on 18 October, 2010 at 9:47 pm {4 comments}

Pic by pasukaru on flickr.com, CC BY 2.0

Service delivery strikes are a regular occurrence across South Africa, with thousands, especially the poor, becoming increasingly disgruntled with the lack of basic services such as access to water, sanitation and electricity. This is a major issue that lies heavily on the shoulders of local government, as they are responsible for the implementation of national and provincial policies, in a way that is tangible to people ‘on the ground’. As Nirvesh Sooful, Executive Director of Hetu Consulting and founder of the Municipality in a Box project explained, “Success or failure of South Africa’s reconstruction and development efforts are linked to its success or failure at a local level.”

With over ten years of experience as the Director of IS&T for the City of Cape Town, Sooful is well aware of the issues that local municipalities face: maladministration and misappropriation of funds, lack of documentation, insufficient internal controls and inability to retain or recruit skilled staff. But Sooful also knows about the power of ICT to revolutionise processes, streamline administration and empower staff.

Introducing Municipality in a Box
Municipality in a Box is an e-administrative prototype solution aimed at utilizing ICT to help strengthen local government to be able to provide high-quality, efficient, effective and timely service delivery. It is a toolbox containing systems architecture, process maps, open source software, implementation methodology and templates that will equip municipalities to improve their service delivery.

The system provides a Supply Chain management/e-tendering system; Council Secretariat functionality including Agenda management and Council Meeting Management; an IDP and Capital Projects managament system; a Document and Knowledge Management system; a small business directory; a Municipal Incident reporting and management system, as well as access (more…)

Arrive on time with WhereIsMyTransport

Filed under Inclusion, Accessibility and Community Connectivity by Daniela White on 11 October, 2010 at 8:40 am {no comments}

CC by-sa 2.0 by Frerieke on flickr.com

With thousands joining the throng of public transport commuters in 2011, WhereisMyTransport is poised to make a significant impact on the provision of efficient, reliable public transport services in South Africa. Founded in January 2007, five University of Cape Town Information Systems Honours graduates developed their Honours research into a fully-fledged business that has been recognized locally and internationally for its excellence and innovation.

What is WhereIsMyTransport?
Fusing their technology and business skills, the team built the WhereIsMyTransport platform that is the foundation for a “modern and fully-integrated transportation infrastructure system.” It provides transport companies with tracking and scheduling control over their vehicles; reporting facilities; live monitoring and verification of vehicles, drivers, routes and passengers. From a consumer-perspective, the platform provides real-time services that keep them up to date with the arrival and departure times, routes and schedule information of their transport, via their mobile phones or the web. WhereIsMyTransport also provides a card-based ticketing technology so that commuters can engage in ‘cash-less’ transactions for their transport.

The WhereIsMyTransport platform has been structured to be able to implement different packages, depending on the transport service required, for example, WhereIsMyShuttle, WhereIsMyBus, WhereIsMyTaxi, and WhereIsMyTrain, thus making it highly flexible within the sector.

“The project is well established and is now at it’s it final ‘project’ hurdle – successfully making it into the market. The team’s approach has erred on the side of caution, making sure of the product’s stability before taking it to market. This has been done through continuous testing, using an extensive user base, in order to ensure its market relevancy,” explained Devin de Vries, CEO of WhereIsMyTransport.

Piloting the product
After an intensive study of the local transport industry and with a stint in Europe to understand sophisticated transport systems, the team produced a proof of concept, followed by a three-month WhereIsMyBus pilot in 2008. Built in collaboration with Golden Arrow Bus Services and Sibanye, this pilot was implemented on two busses, and allowed passengers to request the location and arrival time of their busses via a simple SMS or a graphical interface. They could also access detailed information, such as the next bus at their stop on the route of their choice.

The WhereIsMy Bus pilot resulted in insightful ‘lessons learned’ which de Vries shared with us:

“Often how the product creators envision a product to be used is not actually how it is actually used in practice. This was encountered when the SMS service was made public. In certain cases, instead of SMS-ing a structured query as indicated on the fliers, students would rather send complaints and requests to the SMS line. Another example of this is that the typical day of the routing and scheduling officer was not as simple as the software first envisaged, and often the software had to be manipulated in unexpected ways. We learned that the system needed to account for the emotions and dynamics of people.”

The same concept applied to those who were operating to provide the transport service. The WhereIsMyTransport team thought that what would motivate operating officers would be increased data integrity, but it turned out that what was most appealing was the ability to save time and decrease mundane tasks. (more…)

Lift-sharing for a green future with Lift Club SA

Filed under Inclusion, Accessibility and Community Connectivity, Mobile Applications and SMMEs by Daniela White on 10 October, 2010 at 9:19 am {one comment}

Need a lift from Rosebank to Fourways, Gardens to Camps Bay, or from Brooklyn to Centurion? Or do you need a travelling companion for your trip from Port Elizabeth to Durban this December?

Look no further – a SAFIPA project called Lift Club SA will help you connect with a person who is heading where you need to go.

Lift Club SA is a web and mobile portal that allows for commuters to find a lift, or to offer a lift to other commuters who are travelling to various destinations, over long or short distances. Through the site they can establish or join voluntary lift clubs by becoming members on the website. Registration is free.

Why lift-sharing?
In the face of greater environmental awareness around the need for living a ‘greener’ life, Lift Club SA offers an easy solution to decrease our carbon footprint on a daily basis. Apart from the obvious benefits of decreasing fuel and parking costs, one is also helping to reduce the level of carbon emissions and air pollution, and helping to decongest our already heavily utilized city roads and highways. Lift Club SA thus meets the needs of Government’s Traffic Demand Strategy, which is aimed at reducing the acute problem of traffic congestion, and has called on all citizens to share lifts as much as possible. On a global level, it also addresses the need to meet targets set by the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Kyoto Protocol.

Apart from daily city commuters, Lift Club SA also provides an opportunity for  those living in rural, outlying  areas, to be able to access affordable transport.

“So many of my friends, colleagues and general public have been complaining about the ever-increasing traffic congestion on the road. Especially when commuting to and from work on a daily basis. Parking is also a major nightmare. So I have always been discussing possible solutions,” explained Lift Club SA founder, Ashiek Manie, “I learned of the government’s concern in this regard and their travel demands strategies that referred to the need to reduce the number of cars on the road. Having triggered an interest in this subject, I realized that this was a worldwide problem and that certain countries even penalized motor vehicles occupied by one person only. Lift sharing was one significant way to alleviate this problem, with that lift sharing projects operate successfully overseas.”

Going mobile
Founded in 2010, the website is fully functional with a growing number of registered users who are already using the service. A basic WAP-enabled site is also available, with the next step being the launch of a mobi site to broaden the services on this platform. “The mobi site development will differentiate it from any other similar initiatives. It will also extend the reach of the Lift Club SA services to those members of the community who do not have access to the internet or those who are on the go all the time,” explained Manie. A basic mobi site should be available in the next two months, and “collaborative technical and development support would be most welcome.”

With numbers growing steadily on the site, Manie is looking at below-the-line marketing, focusing on schools and universities as a first step. Growing the user base of Lift Club SA is a key goal in order to secure additional funding and sponsorship. “Here, once again, collaboration with other SAFIPA projects could enable the sharing of website databases. The benefit would immediately give projects access to larger  numbers of users who in turn would be offered additional services – all facilitated by SAFIPA project funding.”

With talks currently taking place with a large network operator who is keen to collaborate with this project to enhance its commitment to achieve a cleaner, greener environment, Manie hopes that with significant buy in, the Lift Club SA portal will be able to offer additional value-added services within the next year.

A call for collaboration

Manie welcomes any suggestions for collaboration, if you’d like to get in touch, please contact him at info@liftclubsa.co.za

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Moveecom on the move!

Part 4 “This is what we’re doing”: SAFIPA projects on building and information society

THE ECO-SYSTEM OF THE LIVING LABS SOUTHERN AFRICA NETWORK

UNIVEN and the CSIR nurture community cyber awareness

(more…)

Infopreneurs®: A new paradigm in understanding how ICT enabled networks can enhance development actions

The networked community

The Infopreneurs® and the value chain

Municipality in a Box: Enabling efficient public services for all

Arrive on time with WhereIsMyTransport

Lift-sharing for a green future with Lift Club SA

The SAFIPA Newsletter

The final SAFIPA Newsletter, Spring 2011

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