ICT4D Research Weblog

Yesterday, I was able to attend the launch of a tuXlab, the "Ikamva Youth tuXlab", in Khayelitsha.

I was very much impressed by the activists of Ikamva Youth, not only because of their very professional organization of the "launching celebration". Moreover, it was great to see how young people and especially youths from disadvantaged communities were able to actually change their living conditions to the better and to get support from outside partners (here: the Western Cape Provincial Government, VIA Technologies, tuXlab and others...).

Of course, a computer lab in a library is only a small step on the road to appropriate living conditions. Showing that the youth of Khayelitsha has been able to achieve that, however, makes me more optimistic about the fact that much more can be achieved...

Posted by Nikos at 12:03 PM | Permalink

This is to give an update on how my cooperation with the organizations I want to work with is going:

Cell-Life (more about Cell-Life):
Very helpful and forthcoming team so far. I visited their office a couple of times and were told to come in whenever I want to. Already conducted interviews with Cell-Life staff and with counsilors of the Hannan Crusaid Treatment Centre in Guguletu who use the Cell-Life technology to make Anti-Retro-Viral Treatment more effective. There, I had very interesting discussions, also besides the interviews, with the women who both get treatment and counsil other clients...
Other interviews with Cell-Life staff, as well as with the Desmond Tutu AIDS Foundation will be arranged for this and next week.

tuXlab (more about tuXlab):
Met on Tuesday with part of the tuXlab team and already had a great discussion about the project. Will go to a tuXlab and visit their office on Friday to conduct the first interviews. Also, I am going to talk to some of their partners, including co-ordinators of some of the tuXlabs in schools in the Western Cape Province. If possible, I will be able to attend a tuXlab event in Johannesburg on June 16.

Africa Drive Project (ADP) (more about ADP):
In touch with the project coordinator in Germany. I will travel to Pretoria to visit the project in mid-June to interview the stakeholder involved.

Posted by Nikos at 06:30 PM | Permalink

This is to give an update on how my cooperation with the organizations I want to work with is going:

Cell-Life (more about Cell-Life):
Very good work and forthcoming team. Even took me to an HIV/AIDS clinik in Guguletu to arrange interviews with a counsilor who trains patients in using the provided mobile phone software. Arranged other interviews for this and next week, as well as one in two weeks.

tuXlab (more about tuXlab):
Have been in touch via email a couple of weeks ago. Emailed and called a couple of times and hope to get an answer from them as soon as possible as time is running out...

Africa Drive Project (ADP) (more about ADP):
In touch with the project coordinator in Germany. I will travel to Pretoria to visit the project in mid-June to interview the stakeholder involved.

Posted by Nikos at 06:13 PM | Permalink

Two Files have been uploaded and can be accessed:

- Research proposal of my thesis, last updated on May 6: pdf
- Literature used so far, last updated on May 6: pdf

Posted by Nikos at 08:00 AM | Permalink

One of the first things I did after coming to South Africa was to attend the IST-Africa 2006 Conference (IST = Information Society Technologies) in Pretoria (nowadays called "City of Tshwane").

The conference was aimed to bring people from commercial, government and research organisations across Africa and Europe together to discuss different strategies of how to bridge the so-called digital divide.

My conference fee was kindly sponsored by the IST-Africa Consortium and so I was able to attend the lectures and workshops offered, as well as get to know many fascinating people from different organizations. Particularly the informal discussions during the breaks were very interesting and I will use some of the information gathered during those 3 days for my thesis.

The following IST-Africa 2007 Conference will take place in May in Maputo, Mozambique.

Posted by Nikos at 05:11 PM | Permalink