CodeZed » Open Source http://www.codezed.org Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:22:38 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Remmy Nweke WINS African FOSS Reporter’s Award http://www.codezed.org/2010/05/25/remmy-nweke-wins-african-foss-reporter%e2%80%99s-award/ http://www.codezed.org/2010/05/25/remmy-nweke-wins-african-foss-reporter%e2%80%99s-award/#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 21:34:40 +0000 codezed http://www.codezed.org/?p=322 Senior Reporter and Head of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) desk at Champion Newspapers Limited, Lagos-Nigeria has bagged the first-ever African Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Reporter’s award.

Recieving the award which was the first of its kind by the Free and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) and Digital Commons,Remmy said that there was need for Journalists to report on FOSS issues for the development of the African software industry.

The award was presented to him in Accra, Tuesday night, at the weeklong 4TH Idlelo conference organized by FOSSFA, Digital Commons and Deutsche Welle, colourful dinner hosted at the Council of State House, Accra.

Speaking at the ceremony, chairperson, FOSSFA, Nnenna Nwakanma noted that the award was open to Africans living on the continent, authors of articles or broadcasts that were published or aired in the last two years.

Winning entries, she pointed out was an article described as valuable to an African audience, which showed clarity in communication and significantly disclosing, explaining, interpreting and reporting the impact of FOSS on the development of Africa and recognizin newsworthiness thereof.

Therefore, she said that Nweke’s piece on ‘Open Source as a business solution’ meant the aforementioned criterion based on the juries declaration and therefore, was pronounced the best.

She also promised that FOSSFA would continue to support African media practitioners, even as she solicited for more reportage in African media.

Nweke is not new to professional recognitions as he had in the past won the Siemens African Profile Award for 2004 and 2005; thus becoming the first Nigerian to win such award on excellence in science and technology reporting twice in addition to a merit awarded him in 2008.

He is also a Highway Africa News Agency (HANA) journalist recently rebranded based at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, where he won the second prize in Local Content Application category at the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) awards in 2005 organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

In 2006, Nweke was honoured with the Hewlett Packard (HP) Nigeria’s top prize for Nigerian ICT journalists in technology reporting, whereas he was the first runner up in the Nigerian IT & Telecom Awards print category.

Currently, a Master of Arts student of University of Malta in Contemporary Diplomacy, Nweke was at the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP-07) in Malaysia, where he took the second prize in ICT Research and Innovations category of AISI.

While at the 10th Highway Africa conference-06, he was adjudged the SABC-HANA Journalist of the Year in recognition and promotion of creative, innovative and appropriate use of new media technology on the continent, even as he emerged the Publicity Secretary, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) a not-profit organisation.

A founding member of the Joint Action Committee on ICT Awareness (JACITAD) and focal point for the African ICTMedia for Nigeria, Nweke, last year was nominated into the International WHO’S WHO of Professionals in 2009 Edition.

Nweke is also a member of the New Media team a Live Blogging African team English content creator.

]]> http://www.codezed.org/2010/05/25/remmy-nweke-wins-african-foss-reporter%e2%80%99s-award/feed/ 0 Linux Fund and FOSSFA to Join Forces to Promote Open Source Software in Africa http://www.codezed.org/2009/12/27/linux-fund-and-fossfa-to-join-forces-to-promote-open-source-software-in-africa/ http://www.codezed.org/2009/12/27/linux-fund-and-fossfa-to-join-forces-to-promote-open-source-software-in-africa/#comments Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:10:28 +0000 brenda http://www.codezed.org/?p=284 Linux Fund and the Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) have pledged to work together to promote Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in Africa.

In a Press Release, Linux Fund and the Free Software and Open Source Foundation of Africa (FOSSFA) have signed a landmark agreement to promote Free Software and Open Source in Africa. This historic engagement between two Foundations speaks to the success of the Community Summit and Foundations face-to-face meeting at this year’s Open Source Conference (OSCON) which was held in San Jose in Silicon Valley.

Within the framework of the agreement, David Mandel of Linux Fund emphasizes that “Linux Fund will work to raise money to help fund FOSSFA projects and events that expand the use and development of Open Source software, documentation, data, and education in Africa. Linux Fund will also add information about FOSSFA to promotional fliers and other literature that Linux Fund uses at conferences and for direct appeals to potential donors”.

Nnenna Nwakanma of FOSSFA says she believes that Linux Fund support has come at a good time when FOSSFA has engaged in the ICT@INNOVATION project in South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique and Kenya http://www.ict-innovation.fossfa.net and the FOSSWAY (http://fossway.fossfa.net ) project that sweeps across the whole of West Africa and Central Africa promoting and building FOSS capacities in those 18 countries. She also believes that the upcoming projects of FOSSFA on Policy Support to Governments, Management of Internet Resources, Open Source Certification, Resource/Competence Centers and Open Source Solutions for Governance will also benefit greatly from this collaboration. Finally, she believes the upcoming Fourth African International Conference on Open Source and the Digital Commons (Idlelo 4, Accra, Ghana, May 17 – 21, 2010) will be an important event to showcase results of this partnership.

Both organizations will disseminate information about each other’s activities, initiatives, and operations on their web sites, at conferences, meetings and events. FOSSFA and Linux Fund are committed to expanding their partnership beyond funding to include joint projects and events plus strategies for information exchange between their diverse communities. The development of a system that would allow Open Source experts visiting Africa could be linked with speaking opportunities or short volunteer consulting projects during their trips is also under consideration.

About Linux Fund

Linux Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides financial and advisory support to the free and open software community. Linux Fund has given away over $750,000 to open source events and development since its founding in 1999 using funds raised through its line of credit cards and direct donations.

http://www.linuxfund.org/

About FOSSFA

FOSSFA is the premier African FOSS organization, and was founded under the auspices of the Bamako Bureau of the African Information Society Initiative within the mandate given by African Governments in 1995 to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). The Vision of FOSSFA is to promote the use of FOSS and the FOSS model in African development. FOSSFA supports the integration of FOSS in national policies and also coordinates, promotes, and adds value to African FOSS initiatives, creativity, industry, expertise, efforts and activities at all levels. FOSSFA partners with development organizations who share these goals towards a participatory and gender-mainstreamed sustainable development and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. The Foundation is already working with the African Union, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the State Information Technology Agenca of South Africa (SITA), the German Capacity Building International (INWENT), the Open Society Initiative of West Africa (OSIWA) and the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Center for Excellence in ICT (AITI-KACE)

]]> http://www.codezed.org/2009/12/27/linux-fund-and-fossfa-to-join-forces-to-promote-open-source-software-in-africa/feed/ 0 Regional FLOSS Workshops http://www.codezed.org/2009/10/02/regional-floss-workshops/ http://www.codezed.org/2009/10/02/regional-floss-workshops/#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:43:47 +0000 codezed http://www.codezed.org/?p=263 The Community Education Computer Society (CECS), an ICT training NGO established in 1985 in South Africa, will be conducting 2-day workshops on free/libre and open source software (FLOSS) in 5 Southern African countries.

COUNTRIES AND WORKSHOP DATES

The workshops will be conducted as follows:

  • Maseru, Lesotho (20 & 21 August 2009)
  • Blantyre, Malawi (1 & 2 September 2009)
  • Windhoek, Namibia (1 & 2 October 2009)
  • Luanda, Angola (21 & 22 October 2009)
  • Lubumbashi, DRC (18 & 19 November 2009)

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the workshops, which are supported by OSISA, are to:

  • Create an awareness of FLOSS and the potential thereof.
  • Build capacity to conduct OpenOffice Writer courses in Lesotho, Malawi, and Namibia.
  • Build partnerships with organisations and individuals in Angola and DRC for the purpose of translating the FLOSS portal to Portuguese and French.

WORKSHOP OUTLINE

Day 1 is an open day to anyone who has an interest in free/libre and open source software (FLOSS). The following are some of the aspects to be covered:

  • Introductions
  • Overview of free/libre and open source software
  • FLOSS business models in Africa
  • Demonstrations and how to use the following software:
    • Joomla (an easy Content Management System for website development)
    • Open Workbench (project management software; similar to MS Project)
    • TurboCASH (accounting software; similar to Pastel and QuickBooks)
    • FreeMind (mindmapping software)
    • OpenOffice (productivity software; similar to MS Office)
    • Ubuntu Linux (operating system; similar to MS Windows)
  • Questions and answer session

Those attending will receive a CD with the software which is mentioned above and the software which is listed below. Let us know if you would like to get a CD but will be unable to attend.

Day 2 is aimed at trainers or potential trainers in Lesotho, Malawi, and Namibia. CECS has developed a reference manual for OpenOffice Writer – Level 1. This manual contains the same course outline as the MS Word

2003 – Level 1 course outline. The objective is to peruse and comment on the course material as well as strategise conducting courses within the mentioned countries. CECS wants to build partnerships with organisations and individuals in Angola and DRC with a view of translating the FLOSS portal to Portuguese and French respectively.

All the workshops will be conducted in English.

HOW TO REGISTER?

Thus, if you are interested in attending this workshop then complete the registration form which can be found on the FLOSSLit website (www.flosslit.org.za).  The venues for the workshops will be provided to those who registers.

WORKSHOP CD

The CD will contain the following free/libre and open source software:

  • 7-Zip — compression software [WinZip]
  • Blender — an animation program [Maya | Lightwave | Cinema 4D]
  • Dia — a diagram creation tool [MS Visio]
  • FileZilla — an FTP program to upload files to your website
  • Gimp — an image manipulation program [Adobe Photoshop]
  • Httrack — to copy websites to be viewed offline
  • Inkscape — vector graphics editor [Adobe Illustrator]
  • Kompozer — for the design of static websites [Dreamweaver | Frontpage]
  • Firefox — a robust web browser [Internet Explorer]
  • Thunderbird — a e-mail client [Outlook Express]
  • Scribus — layout and DTP software [Coreldraw | Adobe Indesign]
  • Tuxpaint — interactive paint program for children
  • Wamp — to set up your computer as a web server

The proprietary equivalent is shown in brackets [  ]

The CD will also contain the following free software:

  • Adobe Reader 9 — for viewing PDF files
  • Avg 8 — antivirus program
  • PdfCreator — creating PDF files
  • Spybot — anti-spyware software

For more information contact Arnold Pietersen at arnold.pietersen@cecs.org.za

]]> http://www.codezed.org/2009/10/02/regional-floss-workshops/feed/ 2 FOSS Business Models http://www.codezed.org/2009/02/16/foss-business-models/ http://www.codezed.org/2009/02/16/foss-business-models/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:31:57 +0000 codezed http://www.codezed.org/?p=207 My name is Geraldine and I am part of the ict@innovation management team and my colleague Petra Hagemann recommended I get in touch with you – I would like to ask for your assistance and expertise in the following matter:

In preparation of our regional trainings on FOSS Business Models we are still in search of organisations and individuals with outreach potential in the target countries – although we have researched and identified a number of potential partners and participants, we would like to ask your assistance to make sure we have not left out important stakeholders in Zambia.

In particular, we are looking for:

  • FOSS associations or groups
  • Large IT / business associations or groups
  • Large IT training institutions (public or private, with interest in FOSS)
  • Academic institution / university active in FOSS / IT
  • IT SME with outreach potential or training as a business model
  • Other FOSS change agents with outreach to key groups who could act as multipliers and help spread information on the ict@innovation programme or who might be interested in participating directly in the regional trainings or other programme activities.

We would be grateful, if you could recommend to us any such organisations or individuals that you might know of.

Thanking you for your cooperation and looking forward to future collaboration!

]]> http://www.codezed.org/2009/02/16/foss-business-models/feed/ 0 Open Source Background Bookmarks http://www.codezed.org/2005/11/02/open-source-background-bookmarks/ http://www.codezed.org/2005/11/02/open-source-background-bookmarks/#comments Wed, 02 Nov 2005 21:46:04 +0000 christian http://www.codezed.org/2005/11/02/open-source-background-bookmarks/ This page contains links to useful background information on Open Source.

Please contribute!

I suggest however that no links to Open Source Projects are put here; I intend to start another page with useful Open Source Software. Otherwise this page would become a bit overloaded.

Portals

Overview

Philosophy

License

Business and Macro-economics

Politics

Open Source and Education

Open Source in NGOs

Open Source in Developing Countries

Open Source in Africa

]]> http://www.codezed.org/2005/11/02/open-source-background-bookmarks/feed/ 1 Linux/ Open Source Community http://www.codezed.org/2005/10/18/linux-open-source-community/ http://www.codezed.org/2005/10/18/linux-open-source-community/#comments Tue, 18 Oct 2005 18:54:30 +0000 robert http://www.codezed.org/2005/10/18/linux-open-source-community/ I am a Linux enthusiast who would like to see a higher Linux/OSS profile in Zambia. To that end, I have been hatching various ideas related to setting up a Linux User Group, and was surprised when I was directed to this website.

I know that some attempts have been made at promoting the OSS community:

  • ZLUG on Dgroups, which is a closed mailing list clearly not fulfilling the function of a LUG.
  • Linux counter, which is a fairly dim illustration of Linux use in Zambia.

Both of these sites were quoted in a recent edition of the UK magazine Linux Format, in which several Linux users in Zambia complained about the representation in a previous issue that Linux in Zambia was nonexistent.

I was going to propose launching a LUG or OSS community in Zambia, based around a Wiki website and a GNU Mailman mailing list, but of course my plans should be revised in the light of the existence of CodeZed.org. I have several possible improvements which I would appreciate if this community could consider:

  1. The existing site is hosted in the USA, as far as I can gather. Zamnet has already committed to offering hosting and a domain name should such a site wish to be hosted in Zambia, and I believe it would be better to have it hosted locally. Any opinions?
  2. A mailing list (at least one!) is the core feature of a LUG or open source community. It has to be free to join (i.e. no “moderator approval”) and welcoming to newbies.
  3. A regular, algorithmically-determined (“first Tuesday of every month”) real-world meeting is important. This should always be in the same place and should be kept come hell or high water to avoid discouraging new users.
  4. You should take advantage of “international benevolence” in the sense that there are companies out there that can be plied for money and books to support OSS education. I am currently looking into this.
  5. The website needs a clearer layout (as well as a clearer description, because as it currently stands no search engine will ever realise what this site is about). In terms of layout, there should be sections about people in the group, activities of the group, businesses willing to provide services in OSS, success stories of using Linux, and where for new users to begin. That is why I would advocate the use of a Wiki, in the format used on the Ubuntu wiki. I don’t believe you need a forum (a mailing list serves the purpose, and has archives if necessary) and blogs are overkill for the type of content relevant to the community.
  6. There are several other projects which I have considered which may or may not be useful, such as making available lists of people willing to give talks on OSS (perhaps to schools), starting via-email mentorship schemes for members who wish to advance their skills in things such as sysadmin or Perl programming, printing and distributing CDs (as mentioned on this site), and establishing a group library.
  7. This is not something I have the answer to, but in a country like Zambia with such a small pool of IT talent, starting an open software development business is a tall order; what low-cost, short-term return “wedges” (business opportunities) can be offered to people wanting to use their skills but not wanting to start with hacking the Linux kernel?
  8. Charities exist in various places (such as the UK) which exist solely to recycle old computers and send them to developing countries. It would be great to see the Zambia LUG/OSS community becoming a focal point for such distribution in Zambia, and attempting to counter the “bait-and-switch” tactic employed by Microsoft in Zambia.

More information about running a LUG is at Linux mafia and the Linux Doc Project.

I don’t mean to wade in and take over, but I would like to see a more dynamic presence. As milnerma has pointed out here there is a question mark over whether a demand exists for customised software in Zambia, and the answer right now seems to be No.

I believe this situation can be improved (reversing may be another story altogether) by giving industry a place to find out about local OSS expertise and a place where students can discover for themselves how to drive the software without having to fork out for M$ training. The biggest advantage of free software in Zambia is that it is free, but there is going to be a steep learning curve involved in its adoption.

You have the opportunity, in the Zambia OSS community, to write the book on how developing countries can grow open source industries. I hope I can help out with that.

]]> http://www.codezed.org/2005/10/18/linux-open-source-community/feed/ 1 Open Source Meeting in Lusaka http://www.codezed.org/2005/10/04/open-source-meeting-in-lusaka/ http://www.codezed.org/2005/10/04/open-source-meeting-in-lusaka/#comments Tue, 04 Oct 2005 18:41:20 +0000 leo http://www.codezed.org/2005/10/04/open-source-meeting-in-lusaka/ We are happy to announce the next it@ab Conference. The International Conference on Free and Open Source Software “Smooth integration of Open Source Software into existing software environments” will take place on the 18th and 19th of October 2005 in the Taj Pamodzi Hotel, Lusaka, Zambia.

The Registration Process for the Conference participation ends on the 5th of October 2005! More details in terms of the registration process, sponsorship and financial support can be found in the chapter “Registration”.

The event is organised by the it@ab Network in close cooperation with the it@ab Zambia-Team, financed by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and coordinated by InWEnt gGmbH Germany

The conference is intending to introduce to the wide SADC public the use and advantages of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Focus will be on business solutions based on FOSS, which are carried out by IT-Specialists of the it@ab network. Possible clients can profit from the conference as invited guests. The FOSS Conference 18th and 19th of October 2005 will be open for members of the network and nominated guests.

On the 17th of October all it@ab members are invited to a pre-workshop in form of an FOSS introduction training to FOSS solutions carried out by IT-Specialists of the network. On the 20th of October the annual it@ab meeting will take place. The participation of a high number of it@ab Partners ist most welcome.

The conference is intending to:

1. further train all it@ab members in the field of free and open source software (FOSS)

2. introduce the wide SADC public to the use and davantages of FOSS

3. strengthen the market position of it@ab as a leading ICT network in the SADC region and thus create additional income to its members

Participants of the Conference will include senior managers and decision-makers from the it@ab network, Junior IT Specialist presenting details of the use of FOSS, and invited guests from the public and private sector as well as the press and international organisations.

For the first time in the history of the it@ab Network an it@ab Conference will be open for nominated guests who have the potential to ask for services of it@ab members in the future. To facilitate such InWEnt will financially support the attendance of up to two guests of each it@ab member country. Country Representatives are asked to nominate two guests (e.g. from the Ministry of Communication and Technology, from the business area and / or a member of the it@ab advisory board of your country). In addition 20 nominated guests from Zambia will be invited.

Participation of guests is restricted to the public FOSS Conference on the 18th and 19th of October 2005.

We hope to seeing you in Zambia

Sincerely yours,

John Munsaka – it@ab Zambia
Prof. Thomson Sinkala – it@ab Chairperson
Tom Mukaiwa – it@ab Secretariat
Balthas Seibold – InWEnt gGmbH

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