Ict4devauispring2008

‘$100 laptop’ platform moves on

ict4devauispring2008 — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:37:52 +0000

$100 laptop’ platform moves on

By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News

The group has been set up as a not-for-profit venture

An independent effort to develop the software originally designed for the $100 laptop has been launched.

Sugar Labs will take the laptop’s innovative interface, known as Sugar, to the “next level of usability and utility”, according to its founders.

It is intended that the free software will be made available on other PCs, such as the popular Asus Eee.

The launch comes after the announcement that the group behind the $100 laptop has joined forces with Microsoft.

The deal means that One Laptop per Child (OLPC) will now offer the low cost laptops with Windows XP, as well as an open source alternative.

It will also continue to offer the Sugar educational interface that the new foundation intends to continue to develop.

“We will continue to work with OLPC but we will also work with other manufacturers,” explained Sugar Labs founder Walter Bender.

“Hopefully it will mean that these ideas will get out there faster and to a broader community.”

Divergent views

Until recently Mr Bender was second in command and the person who had been responsible for software and content on the XO, as the $100 laptop is known. He resigned in April.

‘$100 laptop’ embraces Windows

Dot.life blog: Goodbye Linux

“I didn’t leave OLPC because of the Microsoft deal – it was a symptom rather than the cause,” he told BBC News. “I left OLPC because I think the most important thing it is doing is defining a learning ecosystem.”

He said that over time his own views on how best to bring education to children in the developing world had diverged from those held by OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte.

“One goal is to just maximise the number of laptops you get out to kids. And that is unequivocally Nicholas’ goal.”

But, he said, there was another approach.

“My approach is to demonstrate to the world a way to [deliver education] that is impactful and can scale but not be the one that necessarily does the delivering of the laptops.

“I felt that OLPC was moving very rapidly towards Nicholas’ goal and my goal within the organisation was going to be more difficult to achieve.”

Sweet work

Sugar is a user interface that allows children to collaborate even when working on different machines. For example, they can write documents or make music together.

Sugar was originally designed for the $100 laptop

The open source software also contains a journal and automatically saves and backs up all data.

“In order to provide a rich learning experience to as many of the world’s children as possible, it is critical to not just provide computers to children, but to ensure that the software that runs on the computers maximizes the potential for engaging in activities that promote learning,” said Mr Bender.

“By being independent of any specific hardware platform and by remaining dedicated to the principles of free and open source software, the Sugar platform ensures that others can develop diverse interfaces and applications for governments and schools to choose from.”

Sugar Labs will work closely with developers from the open source community to develop the user interface for other computers and operating systems.

It has already been bundled with the most recent releases of the Ubuntu and Fedora Linux operating systems.

OLPC has said it will also continue to develop Sugar through “third parties” and will develop a version for Windows XP, something that Mr Bender does not consider a priority.

“There’s a lot of engineering and it is not clear that it’s the best use of engineering resources at this moment,” he explained.

However, he said, this did not mean that he did not support OLPC’s activities.

“I want to make it clear that it is aligned with, rather than against, OLPC.”

Mr. Jamal Benhamou@AUI

ict4devauispring2008 — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:01:02 +0000

M. Jamal Benhamou
CEO
APEBI

Mr. Jamal Benhamou is CEO of Apebi and has acted as an IT Advisor within the ICT sector for more than ten years. A graduate of the Business School Of Management IMM (Group ESCP-EAP) in Entrepreneurship, he is responsible for implementing the ICT National Strategy 2006-2012 and for reorganizing the company within the ICT sector. He has implemented more than 50 multimedia projects to date, including the E-Wilaya project, the national project for cyber-bases, the national Internet portal of Morocco, and IFC in Morocco (World Bank Group) for the implementation of the associative Internet portal.

Lecture @ AUI by Dr. Joshua Muskin, Director of ALEF Projet

ict4devauispring2008 — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:16:02 +0000

D r. Joshua Muskin, Director of ALEF Projet

Lecture@AUI by Mr. Du Toit, Jaco, Adviser for ICTs in the Maghreb, Rabat Cluster Office

ict4devauispring2008 — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:35:47 +0000

Mr. Du Toit has talked about the role of UNESCO in e-development.

Pocket answer to digital divide

ict4devauispring2008 — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 08:49:49 +0000

Digital Divide

Much of the debate about the digital divide centres on getting computers into the hands of budding digital citizens in developing countries.

Lecture@AUI by Dr. Najat Rochdi, ICTDAR Regional Director

ict4devauispring2008 — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 05:57:59 +0000

Dr. Najat Rochdi has an extensive experience dealing with ICT4DEV issues. She was Director in charge of e-Morocco strategy, then she moved to Beirut as an UNDP ICTD policy adviser.
She came back to Morocco as a Deputy Minister in charge of Small and Medium Enterprise and e-services development until she moved to Cairo.
She was also closely involved in the formulation and drafting of Arab declaration of principle and platform for action as well as support to the organization of Arab ministerial meeting for the WSIS preparation.

The road to Morocco

ict4devauispring2008 — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:10:02 +0000

BENHAMOU: Our objective was to consolidate our positioning as a regional hub for the north and west African region.

To investment companies searching for the next Dubai, Africa represents the brass ring: a vast untapped market with legions of firms eager to grab a slice of the region’s IT industry pie.

Making a business out of IT services – it’s not just about the technologies. Everybody’s got the technologies. It’s more a kind of cultural thing.

However, Africa also represents the unknown: a continent overshadowed by unrest, separated by a number of languages, and with precious few means of entering the market without falling prey to systemic corruption.

In recent years, many African nations have worked to overcome this negative impression.

Egypt in particular has been in the limelight with the explosive growth of its telecommunications sector. Now Morocco has also emerged as a potential rival; the country’s government and IT sector have been methodically and silently building up a joint business plan to attract foreign investment, particularly from the UAE.

These initiatives were showcased at a recent conference in Dubai, held in collaboration with analyst firm IDC.

Story continues below ↓

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At the conference, Morocco sought to differentiate itself from other African markets by presenting itself as a source of innovation in IT.

Conference organisers APEBI – the Moroccan Federation of Information Technologies, Telecommunication and Off Shoring – also believe that Morocco’s geographical position and trilingual workforce make a prime destination for companies looking to outsource their operations.

Jamal Benhamou, APEBI’s CEO explains why Morocco is only now emerging as an IT destination.

“Our objective at first was to consolidate our positioning as a regional hub for the north and west African region. Many Chinese, European and US companies have come to Morocco because they know that they can benefit from the main free trade agreements we have signed with the United States, South America, Europe and North Africa.

“Secondly, we built up a strategy-based operation action plan which is a public-private voluntary policy to support development. It’s not totally operational, but when we built it with the prime minister, we tried to first know how the foreign partners can benefit from it,” he says.

Jyoti Lalchandani, IDC’s vice president and managing director for IDC Middle East and Africa, provides another reason why the country has decided to throw its hat in the IT ring.

“The government in Morocco has finally understood that any growth or development in the IT environment will have a substantially direct impact on the local economy, be that with employment opportunities, GDP impact or, obviously, with increased trade and foreign investment,” he says.

He believes that both Morocco and the UAE can act as gateways to their respective regions.

“There’s opportunities for Moroccan companies to enter the wider Middle East region through the UAE and vice versa – so there also opportunities for UAE and the wider Middle East companies to enter Morocco, French-speaking Africa, France and perhaps the EU,” he adds.

Through APEBI, Morocco has been present at Dubai’s GITEX for the last five years. According to Benhamou, APEBI participated so that it could study the unique business culture of the UAE and tailor its offerings to suit it.

“Making a business out of IT services – it’s not just about the technologies. Everybody’s got the technologies. It’s more a kind of cultural thing, how we work and how you work. What about our capabilities? Are we sure that by working together, we can make an original offering?” he asks.

Beyond announcing Morocco’s strategic plans, Benhamou aims to actively court potential investors through direct B2B meetings.

“We are not here to say, ‘You are the best.’ We know that you have some drawbacks and we have got some competencies. Our competencies can offset your drawbacks. It’s this kind of investment because we have a global vision – associating investments with exports and innovation,” states Benhamou.

We are not here to say, ‘you are the best.’ We know that you have some drawbacks, we’ve got some competencies. Our competencies can offset your drawbacks.

In terms of available infrastructure, Lalchandani explains that Morocco has already built a number of technology parks, similar in design to Dubai’s Internet and Media Cities, with two located in Casablanca, another in Rabat, and a further pair scheduled to open in Tangier and Marrakesh over the coming year.

As he describes them, these parks are more than just expensive branded real estate.

“There are strategic benefits – for example, it’s much easier to hire foreigners out of these parks. It’s also far easier to set up a company and register it in those zones. I’ve had a number of meetings with the Moroccan chamber of commerce and they really facilitate investment, allowing foreign companies to come in, invest and move ahead quickly,” he says.

APEBI has also expressed ambitious plans to promote its telco sector, which almost quadrupled in value from 1998 to reach US$3.2 billion by the close of 2006. Benhamou claims Morocco’s telecoms sector currently ranks third in Africa, behind Egypt and Tunisia.

But taking on the likes of Egypt on its home front of telecoms is no easy task. Lalchandani says Morocco’s differentiation strategy will be through its value added services.

‘The perception that we have at IDC is that Egypt is doing a lot more in the offshore side, and also on the Arabisation side. The way Morocco is differentiating itself is by not really positioning themselves on the low end of the market, but by really adding value.

They understand that it’s going to be really difficult for them to compete with India and China, so I think they’re trying to add more on top through value-added services, be it solutions for fleet management, or developing solutions for financials and inventory management,” says Lalchandani.

While APEBI is out to attract the UAE’s IT investors, Morocco has been busy in other sectors as well.

“Many of the large real estate companies here – such as Emaar and Nakheel – have signed multibillion dollar agreements with Morocco.

There are also exports happening on the IT side but it’s currently primarily limited to offshore centres like call centre agencies that are located there for obvious reasons – trilingual language capabilities, lower costs. But I believe there’s going to be a lot more value-added high-end software development that’s going to take place in Morocco that both sides can benefit from,” says Lalchandani.

But perhaps one of the biggest factors for Morocco’s future success may come from – of all places – Lebanon. Since that country had its recent well-publicised troubles, many IT organisations have been on the hunt for a stable alternative, a position which North Africa has eyed with interest.

“Due to their current circumstances, their work is now being looked at in places like Egypt and Morocco. But also don’t forget, the Moroccan government is also placing a lot of emphasis on innovation.

So a lot of R&D and ICT funds have been set up in Morocco to facilitate that process. It’s not just the skills availability but also innovation coming out of Morocco that will be a huge advantage. The Moroccan government understands that they cannot fight this offshore battle on price alone, they need to move up the chain and provide value added services if they are to compete in the global market,” concludes Lalchandani.

Note that we will have a quiz on 21.02.08.

ict4devauispring2008 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:42:19 +0000

Note that we will have a quiz on 21.02.08.

Please read just the the slides and the essays we discussed in the class (The
Economist and BBC website), see googlgroup discussion.

Good Luck.

_______________________________________________________________

AL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

COMMUNICATION STUDIES

Version 1.0

(Last Updated 24 January 2008)[1]

CONTACT DETAILS:

Class time: TR 12.30 to 13.50

Class place: 4/101

First class Thursday 24 January 2008

Last class Tuesday 8 May 2008

Total 31 classes

Supervisor: Mohammed Ibahrine

Office: Building 6, Room 9

Tel.: (212) 0 35 86 24 42

Email: ict4devauispring2008@gmail.com

OFFICE HOURS:

Tuesday: 11.00-12.30 am

Tuesday: 14.00-15.00 am

Wednesday: 08.30-12.30 am

Thursday: 11.00-12.30 am

Thursday: 14.00-15.00 am

COURSE SYNOPSIS

The course examines the major issues in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The course will use a wide range of illustrative case studies methods, success stories, best practices and field visits.

The course will help students to learn how to realistically assess the experiences, trends, and outlook on the ICT. The course will attempt to track and analyze global ICT development trends, and will provide empirical evidence of the benefits that ICT is providing in terms of economic growth and poverty reduction.

THE AIM OF THE COURSE

The aim of the course is to introduce students to the main concepts, theories, practice and controversies of the ITC. The overall objective of this course is to develop the knowledge for understanding and critically assessing the role of ICT in promoting sustainable development. With the assistance of illustrative case study approach, key indicators of ICT development, including access, quality, affordability, efficiency, sustainability, and applications will be introduced. The course will use comparative methods to compare trends in national e-strategies.

THE COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course presents a comprehensive examination of significant issues in the exciting field of ICT and development. The course also deals with the issues of how, why, and with what consequences the ICT affects society, politics, culture, economy in developing countries. The ICTs is fraught with tensions, paradoxes, and contradictions. How do we make sense of these? In this course, we will address such concerns and gain a comprehensive overview of ICT and development.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

The lecturer will follow lectures and seminars format. The student’s participation in class and seminar discussions is expected and encouraged and will be considered in final course evaluations (30%). Broad understanding of participation includes the preparation of outline before the class and a detailed content outline after the class, the maintenance of a blog and contribution to the Wikipeida. Students should also be prepared, during each class session, to discuss current media events and news as they relate to the subject. Each student has to present two required chapters of the textbook (25%) and one research paper (20%). Six tutorial quizzes (12%) and final exam (13%).

One of the major requirements for this course-seminar is the research paper. It should be from 2500-3,000 words, excluding notes and references. It should be typed, double-spaced with one inch margins, 12-point font, and consistently adhere to an accepted style, such as Harvard or American Psychological Association (APA). The papers will be presented in class, prior to the final session, and discussed from time to time throughout the term. The paper could take the form of a proposal for future capstone. Deadline, March 2, 2008.

The research paper should be based on desk research, conducted in the library and over the Internet, including the readings central to this course. However, students should move beyond this base, where feasible in the context of a one semester course. For example, they might include a limited number of interviews, a pretest or pilot of a survey or questionnaire, secondary analysis of an existing database, content analysis, direct observations, participant observation, ethnography or other approaches that involve you directly in researching your topic.

ACADEMIC HONESTY:

If you expect others to respect you, please respect yourself. So if you feel desperate, don’t make things worse by acting out of desperation: please come and talk to me about your problems before you do anything foolish. We will find a way. Office hours are of great value for intellectual and educational exchange, please respect the office hours. This is useful for the professionalism.

Please note that the intellectual involvement in the co-creation process of the lecture (attendance + participation) has the lion’s share of this class’s grade. And since there is no class participation without attendance; attendance is highly encouraged to increase your grade. The university’s new attendance policy will be enforced in this class.

READINGS:

Do the readings before class and come to class. You will come to class having completed the assigned readings and participate fully in class discussion. I expect you to be a fully contributing member of the class by being prepared, taking responsibility for having productive discussions, helping yourself and others understand the material, and generating interesting ideas. I want to avoid the “professors teach, students learn” view of this enterprise.

Please note: The course requires a minimum of 8-10 hours of outside work per week (e.g., reading, analysis, group meetings, writing assignments).

REQUIRED READINGS

There is no basic textbook reading, there are many sources of reading for this course:

The online resource contains links to all the useful sites and other resources

TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE AND READINGS

Week 1.
January 24	Introduction
Week 2.
January 29	ICTs for Development: Contributing to the Millennium Development Goals
January 31:
Week 3.
February, 5	ICTs, Poverty and Development: Defining the Issues
February, 7:
Week 4.
February 12:	ITU and ICTs
February 14:
Week 5.
February 19:	UNESCO and ICTs
February 21:
Week 6.
February 26:	World Bank and ICTs
February 28:
Week 7.
	Deadline for the submission of the research paper, March 2, 2008.
March 4:	Info Dev and ICTs
March 6:
Week 8.
March 11:	Digital Divide
March 13:	Mid Semester Exam
Week 9.
March 18:	Social Transformation in the Information Society
March 20:
Week 10.
March 25:	ICTs and Governance
March 27
Week 11.
April 1:	ICTs in Education
April 3:
Week 12.
April 8:	ICTs in Health
April 10:
Week 13.
April 15:	ICTs and Youth
April	(free)
Week 14.
April 22:	ICTs an Gender
April 24:
Week 15.
April 29:	India and ICT
May 1:	(Holiday)
Week 16.
May 6:	Morocco and ICT
May 8:
Week 17.
May 10:	Final Exam

[1] This syllabus is subject to change if necessary.