African Techies's topics - tribe.net

Hello all.

Wed, 28 Jan 2004 16:01:47 GMT

Hello all,

I'm Ray from San Jose, California. While I am still a techie in training, I have a big interest in Linux, perl, C++, and wireless technology.

I also think its great that there is a technical group FUBU.

posted in African Techies - 15 replies

AfriTechnology Online Community

Anjuan — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:07:21 GMT

I created an online community for black technologists. It's called AfriTechnology, and it can be found at:

http://www.AfriTechnology.com

I invite everyone to register (it's free!) and start new discussions or join existing ones. The site is new so I appreciate feedback as well.

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

voltage differences, Africa to U.S.

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 20:44:19 GMT

hi everyone,
i will be travelling around east Africa in 2006. i'm bringing my laptop so i can continue to do some freelance work while i travel. someone mentioned to me that voltage levels may be different depending on what country one is in and that i may need to get some kind of adapter for my laptop. (?) is this true? does anyone know about this and if so, can you please tell me what piece of gear i would need to purchase prior to my travels...

peace,
nora

posted in African Techies - 3 replies

Black Techies Moving to Rural America??

Fred — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 22:04:58 GMT

There's an uneasy feeling in the air and so many people are wondering around either in deep denial and/or lost. I'm wondering what you here are feeling about joining the ranks of the "Black Migration" that is currently going on. (The biggest number of blacks moving as a group ... this time BACK to the South ... that has occurred since our ancestors were driven from the land during Jim Crowe.)

Facts:
1. Wealth is heading towards China and Asia. America is doomed for future Recessions ... and eventually ... all those people who don't like America are going to pull the rest of their money out of the stock market ... and you know who'll suffer the worst.

2. Fresh water is going to increasing become a more valuable natural resource. Some say it will become more valuable than gas is now.

3. Land is CHEAP in the Midwest and South right now. College grads are leading the charge South so that region will increasingly be transformed .... and it's also the region where we have the greatest numbers.

In my opinion, forget moving to places like Atlanta. Far better to move to rural towns outside of urban centers or places with universities and colleges nearby. Building our own "Intentional Communities" (and how much the better if theiy are technology driven???) in places where friends and members of new, black "Intentional Communities" and co-ops can join you.

I've done some thinking. Read what I've written (the archive stuff too ... it's all short pieces) and comment on the Yahoo discussion group. I'd LOVE to have your imput now that I've freely offered the results of my research.

Black Solutions
http://www.blacksolutions.blogspot.com

Black Farms
http://www.blackfarms.wordpress.com

and lets start talking on Black Farms Yahoo Discussion Group
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/blackfarms/

~Peace

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

A Call for African/Black Podcasts

bakari — Sat, 20 Aug 2005 20:38:15 GMT

I just posted a blog entry about this topic and am interested in what other's think.

http://blackmacusers.blogspot.com/2005/08/call-for-africanblack-podcasts.html

posted in African Techies - 17 replies

Black Podcasts.com

black press — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 02:59:28 GMT

We're the nation's first portal for Black podcasts. We're looking for Black owned and Black oriented podcasts. The site is live and has been for some time now but we're looking to make a national splash. If you know of anyone who's interested in being a part of the BlackPodcasts.com grassroots project, please let us know.

Thanks,

DC Livers, Managing Editor
BlackPodcasts.com
a division of the Historical Black Press Foundation
1000 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
646-322-3047
http://www.blackpodcasts.com

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

Finally.................

stefographer — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 11:00:13 GMT

Us mac users of color get some respect.... well, not really.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc4oP_ITqMc

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

Podcast

johnpowers — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 19:49:44 GMT

Sorry, I'm a techno-dunce. Recently I've become quite excited about the potential of pod casting for the developing world would like to learn more.

A friend has an i-Pod with a little FM radio transmitter which allow an i-pod to be played on any radio. With the drought in Africa the production of electriciy has been severely reduced and many villages don't have electricity anyway. Being able to presenet progarmming via an i-Pod to radio simplifies distribution of information to the village settings.

There is a organization of American medical students an ongoing project in the Iganga area of Uganda were they volunteer for month or so during the summer in Uganda. They do some clinic work as well having sanitation and AIDS prevention curiccula. The feedback I've received from local people in the area is that their health education programs are boring--lol something I've never mentioned to the good doctors. I was thinking how young people today have i-pods and that these combined with being able to play programing on a radio could help make the health education programing more entertaining and effective. So I want to pitch the idea to them.

My friend also has an i-mike so he can make digital files of analog sources and voice.

Like I say, I'm really a dunce when it comes to this stuff. So I'm interested to know more about the technology. What I have in mind are programs which include music and recorded voice parts. I have seen digital recorders with a USB so recording can be easily put on a computer. One advantage is that the information script of the health program could be translated into local languages. And local music performances could be recorded too. The great thing is that the messages that these young doctors want to convey could be packaged with local voices and local messages. Suddenly their message is no longer us-to-them, but a collaboration with the local people which is what they really want anyway.

Can you give me some advice about the technical aspects that I should mention as I pitch this idea? What equipment do they need: Okay an i-pod with the radio transmitter for one, but what do you need for recording voice? It seems the i-Mike could be used to transcribe cassette recordings but maybe recording directly to a computer or a digital recorder is the way to go. I'm a PC user so I don't know about the editing software that's good.

I figure that some of these people will have i-pods and probably the radio thing. What do I need to suggest to them to have so they can produce pod-casts with local content? Some of the locals will have Walkman's which could be used for recording local voices. The i-Mike thing really seems useful. There is some Internet access their, but is limited, so any stuff that can be done off-line has a real advantage.

I know what I'm asking is way too general, but I'd really appreciate any responses if any of you techies have some suggestions. Thanks.

posted in African Techies - 3 replies

Memorial Reading for OCTAVIA E. BUTLER....

stefographer — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 14:53:54 GMT

I know theres gotta be some fans of her, here among us nerds, geeks, and sci-tech-fi-lovers of color................

http://www.villagevoice.com/nycguide/ev92082,1.html

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

need a mac filemaker pro 7 database created

bushdoctor — Tue, 23 May 2006 19:35:45 GMT

I am a heerbalist/african bush doctor and a simple mac filemaker pro 7 databse created to manage my patient records and invoices.
If anyone may wish to understake this job please email me at info@natropractica.com. I don't have deep pockets but am willing to pay.
regards
christopher

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

Web Site Software in Uganda?

johnpowers — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 03:01:02 GMT

Hi everybody,

I'm very new to Tribe and really excited about being here. I'm also a lot like people “of a certain age” when it comes to computers— knowledge comes hard for me. So that's two-strikes against me: a newbie and a techno-idiot. Hope you don't get offended.

I've been corresponding with a Ugandan who works as an assistant in a computer center at a girl's high school. They're connected to the Internet through a program of the World Bank called SchoolNet. Nathan has some exposure to computers and the Internet.

Nathan has also started a local community development organization in his district near Iganga. Starting from scratch is a long row to hoe, although they've doing some good things. Using computers for communication is important to the organization's success. I know that, and Nathan knows that. It's a problem that I'm dull when it comes to the subject. I've got tons of questions, but won't spring them all at once.

For starters I'd like to ask about constructing web pages. We have a web site www.busogashining.org I'll admit it's awful, because it's my first attempt at doing anything like that and I'm so not comfortable. The bigger issue is that it's something that they should be doing in Uganda anyway. So I'm interested in hearing about suggestions about software that would make it easier for them.

I used Easy Web Editor because it was inexpensive. I'm not sure I'd recommend it. But I would point out that money is an issue; I don't have any and they don't either. Money not withstanding, some of the professional software for building web sites seems to have a pretty steep learning curve. What would be great is something they could use to launch pages quickly and learn as they go.

I'd be interested in hearing any comments about personal computers and software in an African context. There is so much potential for their usefulness, but also many barriers to unlocking that potential.

One last thing is if anyone has any experience with Alpha Smart school computers. Nathan has a Neo model. It's quite limited in functionality, but I'm sure there's ways of making it more useful, particularly in an educational context. It's an off-chance, but maybe someone has used them in a school setting and has some advice.

Thanks for making this tribe. Working to bridge the digital divide is one way that people here can help people in Africa, a way where information is as valuable as money. It's also a pleasure to be linked with wonderful African people.

posted in African Techies - 4 replies

Internet access (namely speed) in East Africa

Sat, 21 Jan 2006 00:53:21 GMT

Hi,

I'm wondering about finding high-speed access in Kenya and Tanzania. I'll be there for several months and I have some editing work I'd like to do on my own laptop. Ideally, wireless is the best, but if I can plug in to a phone line, I've worked at speeds as low as 28.8 Kbs/sec (that's what I get at my own rural home in the States, and it's OK for certain projects I work on). I've seen several East African places (hotels, etc) advertising highspeed on the internet, but my world traveler friends warn me that things aren't always what they seem....

Basically I'm just trying to get a handle on if I might find wireless, accessible to the public, in any of the following places: Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Zanzibar, Mombasa.

Thank you,
Nora

posted in African Techies - 1 reply

Who's going to SXSW?

mandrakesociety — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 08:03:56 GMT

Who from this tribe will be at SXSW (http://www.sxsw.com) this year? I'm considering the interactive portion this year, as I would usually be on the music side. Anyone else going?

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

For anyone interested / Linux Users

Mon, 05 Sep 2005 23:04:40 GMT

Linspire.com is offering a free download of Linspire Five-0. This offer ends on 9/6/05. The coupon for the discount is "freespire". You must be patient due to the increased activity of there servers. If you have BitTorrent you can download almost immediately.

http://www.linspire.com/freespire

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

Gotta Share

edi — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 23:23:34 GMT

LIfted this info from a source on the web and interesting stuff.
writely.com
"Imagine Word, but as an ajax browser application that was free. And allowed tagging of documents. And you could set reader permissions for each document you create and allow others to edit the document, or just read it. That’s what Writely is."

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

Fellowship Offering

edi — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 01:05:02 GMT

I am in the process of earning my MLS thanks to a fellowships and am passing on the possibility to others. In this day and age of information and technology, you cannot imagine the possiblities a library degree will offer! Please pass this to ANYONE you know who may be interested!

A $504,775 grant from the Institute of Library and Museum Services makes it possible for the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Library and Information Studies to offer 12 fellowships to prepare librarians to work with diverse populations. Students selected to be Prism Plus Scholars will receive support to complete an ALA-accredited MLIS degree between January 2006 and May 2008. Students may be full-time, completing the degree by August 2007; or part-time, completing by May 2008. For an application packet send an e-mail request to gslis@etal.uri.edu, or call Jennifer Legare at 401-874-2878 between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. EST Monday-Friday. If you have questions about the Prism Plus Fellowship program and would like more information, please contact Dr. W. Michael Havener by e-mail mhavener@uri.edu or telephone 401-874-4641. URI is an equal opportunity employer. Applications from African Americans, Asian/Pacific Island Americans, American Indians/Alaska Natives, and Hispanic Americans are especially encouraged. [nsls.info]

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

New Tribe for Black Mac Users

bakari — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 05:51:53 GMT

A tribe for Black creative Macintosh users.

tribes.tribe.net/blackmacusers

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

Wide Angle on PBS

FruitJuice — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 05:02:32 GMT

I posted this on the Africa Tribe and I thought I'd share it with you as well.

Let me know what you think.

http://sanfrancisco.tribe.net/thread/7fbe21d9-b62a-4d22-aaf8-3c2614951948?tribeid=18cf27fc-56ef-43da-97de-511aa861cea1&r=10535

posted in African Techies - 2 replies

Albert Einstein on Race and Racism

Thu, 21 Jul 2005 10:57:21 GMT

A new book is being released about Albert Einstein and his relationship to African-Americans:

http://www.einsteinonrace.com

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0813536170/

posted in African Techies - 3 replies

Are I-Pods PC compatible?

torrid_wind — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 09:09:59 GMT

Can anyone tell me are I-Pods compatible with PCs or do you have to have a Mac to download music to your I-Pod?

posted in African Techies - 2 replies

When to give up?

FruitJuice — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 20:25:10 GMT

I have a small business in Gabon, which since I started has nothing but problems both locally and internationally.

What criteria should I use to know when to give up on the project and what sort of timeline would be fair to everyone involved?

Interested in the project: www.clubafrique.net

Thanks in advance for everyone’s input.

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

Podcasts

bakari — Wed, 25 May 2005 20:57:30 GMT

I'm beginning to look into scribing to a few podcasts and was wondering if there are any goods dealing with Black/African issues. Any suggestions?

I'm also looking to work with someone who might be interested in starting a podcast around the same subject.

posted in African Techies - 4 replies

Hello from Club Afrique

FruitJuice — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 21:16:41 GMT

Hey, I'm so excited to find this Tribe! I just opened an internet cafe/ small business incubator in Gabon, Central Africa, clubafrique.net.

So I'm glad to be apart of the crowd and learn from the communal experience.

Warm regards,

Juice.

posted in African Techies - 2 replies

Afro-Geeks-for technological survival where we must go

Gilton — Thu, 05 May 2005 18:11:10 GMT

For the past few months, I have been cutting my teeth here:

www.topcoder.com

This is where many of my mathelete friends go to keep their programming skills up. This has opened up a whole new world to me. Programmers from around the world go here(it is free) and solve difficult programming problems. The point is that you can't lose here. My entire tech career has been spotted by: "Can he do that?" Meaning-"if I can't solve this problem, how can this 'Negro'?"
This happened during the Seventies and it is still prevalent today. Blackpeople are regarded as "computer-illiterate" as blackpeople were regarded in the 1940s as not being able to "fly planes". So we always have to prove ourselves.
Cool. Bring it on.
So I am in the race again with a vengeance. My math skills have prepared me to do this 'algorithmic combat' and by getting a topcoder rating you demonstrate your ability on a 'world-class' level. White male programmers can't 'bullshit' you if you are technically way above them.
If you look around you will see that the Chinese, Eastern Europeans, and Russians are some of the best in the world. I love this site and I work at my skills every day.

I advise all my brothers to get involved as soon as you can. There is a young brother from MIT who has a 1400 rating which puts him above 95% of all programmers. I am shotting for a 2000 rating.
I'm tired of being fucked around with either "you are not technical enough, or you are too technical". With a Topcoder rating, I will have demonstrated that I am not just good, I'm the best.

Have fun.

Gilton

posted in African Techies - 1 reply

iCal Black History Calendar

bakari — Fri, 13 May 2005 16:16:19 GMT

Yo folks,

I just developed an iCal (Mac) formatted Black History Calendar that you can download. Just go to icalshare.com/index.php The dates don't start until January 2006, so when you download the calendar onto your computer, just lick to the next year to begin seeing the historical dates.

This is the first place I made the announcement, so let me know if there's any problems or if these instructions are not clear.

posted in African Techies - 1 reply

Army’s small-business advocate receives Gold Star award

SBJ — Mon, 02 May 2005 21:32:03 GMT

Army’s small-business advocate receives Gold Star award
By Eric Cramer
April 28, 2005

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, April 28, 2005) -- The Army's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization received two awards this week for supporting firms with less than 1,000 employees, or those that meet government revenue limits, and those owned by minorities or disabled veterans.

Tracey Pinson, director of the Army office, received the federal Small Business Administration’s Gold Star Award for Excellence for her achievements in helping the Army make greater use of small businesses in its acquisitions.

In addition to Pinson’s award, the SBA gave her agency its Goaling Award of Excellence. The awards came during the annual Small Business Week..

“We have a cadre of small business advisors in the field who are the real catalysts for this effort,” Pinson said. “I accepted the award for them.”

This is not the first time Pinson has been recognized by the SBA. In 2004, she received the organization’s SBA Administrator's Leadership Award.

Pinson said her office helped small businesses receive $15.4 billion in Army contracts last year, 28 percent of the $55 billion in Army contract funding.

OSDBU has multiple roles in its mission to establish the Army as the premier organization for promoting and assisting small businesses.

“We provide counseling to businesses, and disseminate goals to the major commands – and we have executed goals both from the Office of the Secretary of Defense and our statutory goals from the Small Business Act,” Pinson said.

As an example of the goals her office tries to meet, she said the $15.4 billion in contracting it arranged last year was distributed among the following categories: small and disadvantaged businesses received $4.5 billion, or about 9 percent of the Army’s total $55 billion in contracting; women-owned businesses received $2 billion, or about 5 percent of the total; companies in Historically Under-utilized Business zones, received $1.5 billion, or roughly 3 percent of the total; and service-disabled-veteran-owned companies received $228 million or .04 percent.

Pinson said the statutory goals for each category are: small-disadvantaged businesses, 5 percent; women-owned businesses, 5 percent; historically under-utilized business zones, 3 percent, and service-disabled-veteran businesses, 3 percent.

“So we’re exceeding our goals for disadvantaged businesses, and we’re there with the HUBzones,” she said. “Service disabled veterans owned small business is a new program.”

Pinson said her office is there to help both the businesses and the Army achieve their goals.

“I try to create a positive environment for the MACOMs to use small businesses,” she said. “Those MACOMs also have goals. All contracting activities have goals.”

Reaching those goals is made easier by the broad support for the OSDBU programs throughout the Army, Pinson said.

“We have a very strong infrastructure within the Army in support of achieving these goals,” she said “We have strong support in the entire acquisition community, from the top down.”

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

need a hedge fund/back office port to mac OSX for hedge fund company

rustyaneal — Mon, 06 Dec 2004 08:10:04 GMT

Peace and love guy I'm a person of color just like you brother and i need a big time software project and i would to give the business to Local talent(follow me) .
listen i run a growing hedge fund and i'm planning new year to move to the mac osx platform and we need the native software or some programmer to port over window based software to the mas osx platform .
for example of the software needed (http://www.knowledgestorm.com/sol_summary_63768.asp) or(http://www.alternativesoft.com/) or (http://www.archwaytechnology.net/Products.htm) this is what we need but for the mac OSX platform
will contact ASAP for project cost . if you brother can't help then will farm it out to the russian to port it for me

Peace and Love

posted in African Techies - 1 reply

Longhorn with Seven Ver WOW

SBJ — Thu, 20 Jan 2005 06:31:52 GMT

http://www.techspot.com/story16782.html

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

Mozilla Is Gaining on Godzilla

SBJ — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 19:40:08 GMT

JANUARY 12, 2005

NEWS ANALYSIS:TECHNOLOGY
By Steve Hamm

Mozilla Is Gaining on Godzilla
With the open-source community on its side and many lessons learned, the browser upstart keeps taking market-share from Microsoft
How's this for a mismatch? On one side, you have Microsoft (MSFT ), the world's largest software company, with $37 billion in revenues and 57,000 employees. On the other is the Mozilla Foundation, a nonprofit with a $2 million budget and just 16 employees wedged into a single room in a Mountain View (Calif.) office park.

It's Godzilla vs. Mozilla, and Mozilla is a midget. Yet the pipsqueak is pulling off a feat that would have seemed preposterous a year ago. It's taking chunks of share from Microsoft in the Internet browsing market. According to a survey released Jan. 12 by Web site analytics firm WebSideStory, Mozilla's free Firefox browser has grabbed a 4.6% share over the past six months and seems well on the way to its stated goal of 10%.

"EMOTIONAL NUMBER." Microsoft's Internet Explorer has slipped 4.9 percentage points over the past six months, to 90.6%, the lowest in three years. "It's an emotional number. When Microsoft drops to 90%, it's big news," says Jeffrey W. Lunsford, WebSideStory's chairman.

Microsoft is hardly on the run. It has an overwhelming lead, and most corporations have adopted its browser for their employees, so it should have staying power. But many of the 16 million consumers who have switched to Firefox view the upstart program as safer from viruses and packed with innovations. Those include a "tabbed browsing" feature that makes it easier to move quickly from one Web site to another, in part by firing up a series of favorite sites all at once.

But Microsoft has been working hard to clamp down on security and vows to make other improvements. "These features, along with Microsoft's world-class customer support, continue to make IE a compelling choice for consumers and enterprise customers," says a spokesman.

BEYOND BROWSERS. Still, analysts say Firefox could have an outsize impact on the Net's future. If Mozilla and the other non-Microsoft browser outfits hold their own or gain share, the 15% of Web sites that aren't completely compatible with non-Microsoft browsers will come under pressure to design their sites to open Net standards. That way, Microsoft won't be able to control how content is presented on the Web.

It would also create opportunities for competitors to sell rival Net software -— since Microsoft wouldn't be able to take advantage of the links between Windows and its Net programs. "We're not out to get Microsoft," says Mozilla Foundation President Mitchell Baker. "Our goal is to offer people a better experience so the Web remains open, and people actually have a choice."

The Mozilla team isn't stopping with browsers. In recent months, it has been hard at work on other kinds of software. An e-mail program called Thunderbird was released in mid-December and has since been downloaded more than 2 million times. The group has a handful of other programs on the drawing board, including an electronic calendar called Sunbird and a small browser for cell phones and personal digital assistants code-named Minimo. These are slated for release in 2005 or 2006.

GUERRILLA TACTICS. Mozilla's provenance is as improbable as its burst of success. It was born inside Web pioneer Netscape Communications in 1998 to harness the budding open-source software movement. The idea was that volunteer programmers from around the world would help make improvements to the company's browser.

After America Online (TWX ) bought Netscape in 1999, Mozilla lost steam. Then a year and a half ago, it was reborn as an independent organization funded by AOL, IBM (IBM ), Sun Microsystems (SUNW ), and Nokia (NOK ).

Independence seems to have been a tonic. Development raced ahead for Firefox, a new browser design. It's free, but Mozilla asks users to make tax-deductible donations to support development efforts. Without a remarkable guerrilla marketing campaign, Firefox adoption might not have leapt ahead so rapidly. The campaign, called SpreadFirefox, was orchestrated by a handful of Mozilla fans and carried out by 58,000 volunteers. The campaign has tapped into Web logs, or blogs, to generate buzz.

LIFE-ALTERING? It not only set up its own blog to coordinate activities but it also hooks up with other ones to expand its reach. If a blogger says nice things about Firefox, for example, he's rewarded with links to his own site. The campaign "is fanning the flames," says analyst Stacey Quandt of researcher Robert Frances Group.

All of this has been a pinch-yourself experience for Mozilla's Baker. A former Netscaper, she became accustomed to laboring in obscurity during the Mozilla project's early days. Now she's struggling with the group's recognition. She gets buttonholed by parents at her son's school and approached by strangers at exercise class.

Recently, after Baker handed a Mozilla T-shirt to a friend at Trapeze Arts, the circus-skills gym where she works out, a nearby woman burst out: "Are you from Mozilla? Firefox changed my life!" She then kneeled and bowed before a stunned Baker.

These may be heady times for the Mozilla crew, but they know not to take their sudden success for granted. They remember how Netscape was crushed by the Microsoft juggernaut. But now, the game is different. Mozilla has the vast and vibrant open-source movement on its side. This time, Godzilla may not dominate the way it has in the past.

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

Open Source Involvement

Gilton — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 05:43:27 GMT

Any one doing open source development?

Gilton

I think this is the wave of the future. Whatever work you are doing, set aside some time to find a project you like, get involved, learn the app and when it is released, become an authority in the app. The way of corporate training I think is long gone...real programmers find things they like and teach themselves and teach others. I'm learning Eclipse and I don't think I'm wasting my time.

posted in African Techies - 3 replies

MIT's Open Course Work

Gilton — Mon, 04 Oct 2004 00:25:21 GMT

For those of you who don't know it, MIT has an open course work university where you can take over 500 courses at your own pace. Some have videos. Check it out. Google "Open Course Work".

Gilton

The computer science stuff is also pretty good, in particular, the Theory of Algorithms.

posted in African Techies - 2 replies

Africa's Brain Drain

carlwebb — Sat, 25 Sep 2004 07:47:41 GMT

“What is the cause of brain drain?

Excerpts from Philip Emeagwali’s writings at: http://emeagwali.info
The primary cause of external brain drain is unreasonably low wages paid to African professionals. The contradiction is that we spend four billion dollars annually to recruit and pay 100,000 expatriates to work in Africa but we fail to spend a proportional amount to recruit the 250,000 African professionals now working outside Africa. African professionals working in Africa are paid considerably less than similarly qualified expatriates.

We also have internal brain drain when people are not employed in the fields of their expertise call it disguised employment. For example, many military officers are politicians in uniform and some medical doctors are moonlighting as taxi cab drivers.

What are their reasons for not returning?

The socio-economic conditions make it difficult for us to achieve our potential. Political instability increases the rates at which professionals emigrate to the developed nations.

Many professionals emigrated during the brutal reigns of Idi Amin, Mobutu and Sani Abacha. The war in Sudan between the Islamic north and the Christian south has led to the emigration of half of Sudanese professionals. In 1991, one in three African countries were affected by conflicts. Today, there are more refugees in Africa than in any other region in the world.”

More background information:

(1) Brain Drain of African Scientists

http://emeagwali.info/interviews/brain-drain/temp.html

(2) Education in Africa: The Brain Drain

http://emeagwali.info/interviews/brain-drain/temp-2.html

(3) African Brain Drain

http://emeagwali.info/interviews/brain-drain/temp-3.html

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

Whats up

Jeffery — Wed, 14 Jul 2004 02:44:02 GMT

New to the tribe and hope to make some new contacts as well as new friends Peace!! Jeff
www.ugotvideo.com

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

new to this group

diy — Sun, 20 Jun 2004 19:46:24 GMT

I'm new to this group.

let me explain a bit about myself and then i'll go into my question.

for the past five years i've been an instructional technology resource teacher. thats a long title to mean that i helped classroom teachers integrated technology into their curriculum.

in the wake of budget cuts, nclb, and a state adopted smaller classroom size amendment my position has been cut.

and now, i see the school district wasting money on technology. we make sure all of our new schools (and existing schools) are wired for the internet. new schools get a minimum of three computers per classroom (most have 4 to 5 not counting the teacher station) but there is virtually no training to make this technology effective.

i see many teachers simply putting in some edutainment software or even having them go to pbskids.com or some other entertainment/edutainment site.

the school i was most recently at was a K-8 school. Now, not only do the staff lose their exposure to instructional technology so do the students. Nowhere during their whole K-8 experience are they exposed to any technology class short of having the computers in the room.

sure, some teachers are a little more savvy then others and will take their class to the lab to do power point or even make web pages.

but, what of higher order technology skills?

just having the exposure to the vast amount of information on the WWW doesn't make it learning.

what i want to do is create a list of exemplar uses of technology. that is to say -- best practices of technology use in the classroom.

for instance, i find many classroom teacher telling their students to go to the web and "research" a particular classroom topic. This, in my opinion, is a poor use of technology. the teacher should give them a list of sites -- exposing any child to an open web search using google is bound to produce a myriad of bad information (not to mention some that definitely wouldn't be CIPA compliant).

so, my question to the readers of this forum is this:

what are some effective uses of computers in the classroom?

what are ineffective uses?

for my own inquiry next year i'll be teaching a predominantly black middle school in their computer lab.

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

AfroGeeks Report

Tue, 15 Jun 2004 11:56:32 GMT

A report on the recent AfroGeeks conference
[ http://www.afrogeeks.com ]:

Mama, What's An AfroGeek? - Part I
http://www.nathanielturner.com/mamawhatsanafrogeek.htm

Mama, What's An AfroGeek? - Part II
http://www.nathanielturner.com/mamawhatsanafrogeek2.htm

Art

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

AfroGeeks Conference

Sun, 11 Apr 2004 08:10:09 GMT

Conference Announcement

AfroGeeks: From Technophobia to Technophilia
May 7-8, 2004
Center for Black Studies
University of California, Santa Barbara

Free and Open to the Public

In recent years, African Americans, especially, have been portrayed as poster children for the digital divide discourse. Though rarely represented today as full participants in the information technology revolution, black people are among the earliest adopters and comprise some of the most ardent and innovative users of IT (information technology). It is too often widespread ignorance of African Diasporic people's long history of technology adoption that limits fair and fiscally sound IT investments, policies and opportunities for black communities locally and globally. Such racially aligned politics of investment create a self-fulfilling prophesy or circular logic wherein the lack of equitable access to technology in black communities produces a corresponding lack of technology literacy and competencies.

Thus, necessary high-tech investments are not made in such underserved communities because many consider it fiscally irresponsible, which, in turn, perpetuates the vicious cycle. Despite such formidable odds, black people continue to break out of this cycle of socially constructed technological determinism. It is in this way that African Diasporic people's many successes within new media and information technologies are too often overshadowed by the significant inequalities in technology access.

This conference takes up these and other important issues pertaining to black people's actual engagements with IT outside the popular stereotype of black technological lag behind other population sectors. Among the topics addressed at this "AfroGEEKS" conference are: concerns with structural barriers to IT access; effective models of innovative IT use and adoption; the influence of traditional science education on black youths' tech skills; black technophobes and Luddites; computer gaming; black IT leaders; IT commodity consumption versus production; black blogs and virtual communities; high-tech racial surveillance and profiling after 9-11; digital arts; the geek identity problematic, and more...

MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION:

http://www.afrogeeks.com

-end-

posted in African Techies - 3 replies

per chance to dream...

holliseastbay — Mon, 19 Apr 2004 17:28:58 GMT

Ive had an idea for a long time to form an Afro Techies collaborative that worked with thrid world infastructure projects.

posted in African Techies - 3 replies

Looking for Contact

oceanalott — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 00:13:40 GMT

Does anyone know anyone in the IT dept at Yahoo or Netflix?

Peace

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

So what's your vote??

gotbeatzzz — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 15:53:44 GMT

What is the coolest Techtoy of 2003-2004?
Ipod mini
Color Tmobile Sidekick
Blackberry Phone
Direct TV Tivo?
Other

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

what do you think?

Sat, 17 Jan 2004 02:15:17 GMT

i plan to take a year off after i graduate before starting college. during that time i plan to get at least my MCSE and RHCE certifications. does anybody recommend that?

posted in African Techies - 1 reply

Hello

Charles — Tue, 27 Jan 2004 01:10:44 GMT

Hi,

I am Charles from Brooklyn, NY. My Tech interests lie in Linux and OSS but I'm familiar with just about everything but MacOS. Not much on the web design side but I'm competent on the web applications and scripting side. I also do tech support repair and networking (hardware and software).

Married w/ 3kids.

I'm interested in getting a freelance gig going but I'm spinning my wheels right now. Willing to give any kind of technical advice, and, looking for practical business advice.

Glad there is a Tribe FUBU :)

posted in African Techies - 0 replies

Hello to everyone

Timothy — Sat, 17 Jan 2004 01:51:33 GMT

Just wanted to say hi I just found this site via TechTV and I think its a good ided (this is the first "tribe" I have joined).

posted in African Techies - 1 reply

hi

dwayne — Fri, 16 Jan 2004 14:58:07 GMT

Hi everyone, i'm dwayne and i'm about to get certified in netwoek+,so i may be troubling you all with questions, oh, by the way i live in the caribbean.

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