Africa Tech

"ICT is the single most powerful tool humankind has at its disposal to avoid potential climate catastrophe." ITU wants COP15 delegates to include specific mention of ICTs in key areas of the negotiating text. Specific mention of the ICT sector, along with the adoption of an agreed methodology for measuring the carbon footprint of ICT equipment and its inclusion in National Adaptation/Mitigation Plans, would provide an incentive to the ICT industry to invest in developing countries, help reduce the digital divide, and at the same time help fight climate change – a win-win scenario." - Thierry R. Andriamirado from Bookmarklet

"Le Salon des technologies de l’information et de la communication, pour sa 13e édition, se tiendra au Palais des Sports et de la Culture à Mahamasina du 9 au 15 novembre prochain. 35 000 visiteurs seront attendus.  Ce lieu de rencontre des technologies de l’information et de la communication aura cette fois pour thème « l’intégration », qui se réfère à l’intégration technologique dans l’économie du pays, dans le quotidien de la population, à l’adhésion, l’accessibilité aux technologies via la rapidité de la connexion." - Thierry R. Andriamirado from Bookmarklet

+ précisément, j'y crois au "Go TIC #Madagascar". On a l'avantage de pouvoir éviter les erreurs des prédécesseurs. - Thierry R. Andriamirado

"Goes live at 9 am Tommorrow Saturday 7th of November Stay tuned" - Thierry R. Andriamirado from Bookmarklet

"Madamobil, which will offer services under the “Life” brand, is the only mobile broadband network operation in Madagascar operating on CDMA 2000 1X/EVDO. ZTE’s recognized excellence in deployment of CDMA 2000 1X/EVDO networks will allow Madamobil to offer its subscribers not just crystal quality voice services but also high bandwidth services not currently offered by the current GSM operators, such as mobile broadband, email, music downloads, video telephony, mobile TV, content and location based services, e-commerce, multicasting (one-to-many) multimedia content delivery, advanced and streaming multimedia, customized data both for the corporate market and the retail market, videoconferencing, distance learning and telemedicine." - Thierry R. Andriamirado from Bookmarklet

We want a website in which people will interact frequently and share with us experiences and advice on a variety of topics. One consideration is that bandwidth for many users will be somewhat limited so a more text-based site (i.e. no Flash graphics) will be needed. - Andrew Leyden

Mobile options would be necessary if user interaction is critical. For Africans on the web, forums seem to be the most popular. Wiki's have a learning curve only the most experienced are more comfortable with. - Jon Gosier

Since Africa has pretty bad internet connectivity, I find it's easier to just host in Europe or the U.S. Because people on a good connection on the continent will find the lag completely durable (it's what they're used to). The lag for Europeans or Americans using an African server is huge in comparison, and most are so uses to speedy websites, they won't stick around to find out what's there. - Jon Gosier

"L'opérateur en téléphonie mobile Zaïn entre dans l'ère de l'internet. Elle annonce la transformation de 10 projets de téléphone villageois ou « village phone » en télécentres. Une décision rendue possible grâce à l'arrivée des clés USB modem Edge permettant d'accèder sur internet dans toutes les zones couvertes par le réseau de Zaïn. Le premier essai effectué sur le nouveau télécentre d'Arivonimamo a été concluant." - Thierry R. Andriamirado from Bookmarklet

Sinon il s'agit donc d'une collaboration (fusion?) entre 2 projets à #Madagascar : celui de l'Etat, et celui de la Banque Mondiale/Zain. Reste à voir si cette 'fusion' est juste passagère ou non.. les 2 projets sont intéressants et importants. J'avoue avoir été agréablement surpris par l'initiative de l'Etat lors du lancement des Télécentres. - Thierry R. Andriamirado

"BizSpark is a commendable effort but it’s got a long way to go before attracting heavy FOSS users." - Thierry R. Andriamirado from Bookmarklet

alas, even users aware of what real FOSS can do for them and for their countries. - Thierry R. Andriamirado

Yeah, Microsoft only does things like this because they know they can raise prices 100% down the road. - Jon Gosier