Siyakhula Living Lab

The Siyakhula Living Lab is a 

multistakeholder operation that consists of academia, industry, government and marginalized communities to facilitate user-driven innovation in the ICTD domain. This not only empowers the rural communities but also integrates the innovative potential in the rural marginalized areas within the general national system of innovation.

Siyakhula Living Labs (SLL) began in 2006 as a joint initiative between the Telkom Centres of Excellence at Rhodes University and University of Fort Hare.  In 2009 the intervention was formalized into a framework of a Living Lab through the support of COFISA. The SLL also incorporates a SELF Solar Schools Project which has been implemented by eKhayaICT for the last three years.  A multi-disciplinary team including computer scientists, anthropologists, linguists, educationalist, and media and communication experts have been working towards realizing the benefits of ICT in community development.  An important consideration from the beginning has been making the community a protagonist and the main beneficiary of this intervention.

The original objective of the project was to develop and field-test the prototype of a simple, cost-effective and robust, integrated e-business/telecommunication platform, to deploy in marginalized and semi-marginalized communities in South Africa, where a large number (42.5%) of the South African population live. The project has evolved to include the development and field-testing of ubiquitous, user-driven community ICT services platform. The key components of this project are:

• improving the mobility offering on the network infrastructure through fixed-mobile integration;
• implementing user-driven, user-centric service development platform that leverages both the already deployed computing infrastructure and the available mobile devices in the rural communities; and
• developing further eServices that leverage the increased mobility and distribution in the network.

The SLL is embedded within an ecosystem that enables effective innovation around ICTD. Other entities within this ecosystem include:

• Telkom Centres of Excellence (CoE) at the Universities of Fort Hare and Rhodes.
• The Siyakhula Living Lab Management Unit (SiLLMU) hosted at the East London IDZ and with the initial support from COFISA
• The ReedHouseSystems software factory supported by SAFIPA

Goals and Objectives

Short-term (1-2 years):  Build Direct Benefits.

• Further the development of an innovative low maintenance telecommunications network infrastructure.

• Offer new services to the community that can directly save costs and support local economic activity, both on fixed and mobile equipment, including voice-based services.

• Engage with economic stakeholders to fully exploit the benefits of the presence of ICT infrastructure to the direct benefit of the community (e.g. job creation, better quality of life).

• Introduce semantic based technologies to begin capturing indigenous knowledge in a manner that is easy to access.

Medium-Term (3-5 years): Network the Community and build a bridge to the Knowledge Society.

Continue the work activities as in the previous phase emphasis on:

• Bringing the network into community homes – demonstrate benefits and speed up adoption.

• Improving semantic technologies – Smart software which smoothes ICT adoption according to local norms and language and makes exchange of information online easier especially for unskilled users.

• Developing a scalable, standardized model for similar areas in Africa and other developing countries.

Long-Term (5-10 years): Activate full participation in the Knowledge Society.

• All community households networked and active in the knowledge society.
• The involvement of the community as innovators reaches maturity.
• The model is replicated on a medium scale in other marginalized rural areas in Southern Africa.

Outcomes already achieved

The following are the outcomes that have been realized within the SLL project over the years that it has been running:

Infrastructure and services:

• Establishment of one of RSA’s first rural WiMAX networks;
• Provision of Internet via 5 Digital Access Nodes; and
• E-commerce website for sales of crafts.

Support:

• Maintenance of network and computing facilities;
• Project facilitation in the community;
• Learner and adult training in computer usage;
• Assistance with the establishment of small businesses; and
• Software innovation adapting appropriately the Internet and building and deploying services tailored to the communities hosting the SLL.

For more information contact Sibukele Gumbo via email at sgumbo@ufh.ac.za.

Visit the Siyakhula Living Lab website.