Nominations and applications are evaluated according to the following criteria:

• The technology application significantly improves the human condition in one of the five award areas: economic development, education, environment, equality, or health.
• A serious problem or challenge with global significance is addressed by this use of technology.
• The application of this technology, which may be either a new invention or an innovative use of an existing technology, makes a noteworthy contribution that surpasses previous or current solutions.
• The technology application has the potential to serve as an inspiration or model for further innovation.
• The technology application is in the field and has demonstrated a measurable benefit.

BarCamp Lusaka is a free event. Please indicate your attendance at the event page so that appropriate arrangements can be made.

Event: BarCamp Lusaka ”State of The Nation Online: Content, Design, Standards”
What: Informational Meeting
Start Time: 19 December at 09:00
End Time: 19 December at 16:00
Where: Long Acres Lodge, Lusaka

To see more details and RSVP, please visit the event page.

Suggested Agenda

There will be keynote presentation and then many breakout sessions running parallel.

• Google’s workshop sessions :
  • Google Geo Tools  : Our effort to Map africa on Google maps is based on the premise that this will provide a great platform to create local content.  This session will be focus on using our Map API to integrate location based service in website but will also be about using MapMaker to help improve the maps of Zambia.
  • Google AppEngine : a session on this very useful plateform that allows developer to leverage Google infrastructure and deploy application that can immediately scale to millions of users.
  • We can also present on more general topics such as  : Cloud computing, Monetizing local content, …etc
• Other presentations suggestions :
  • Most technologies usefuls to go online can be self-learned but taking people through 101 session will jumpstart the learning process. think about Python 101,
  • web entrepreneurs and successful ones too. Sharing your experience is a great way to build developer’s enthusiasm. one or two Keynotes on this.
  • Developers will be shy if the barcamp culture is new around. And some keynote speaker will be quite intimidated to add to to this. So they might tend to just en listen. Scheduling an open session where people can have the floor for 15 mn presentation of their work has proved a good way to get them to share.

The Zambia Telecommunication Company (ZAMTEL) developments laying Optic fibre in the Metropolitan City of Lusaka will help to reduce the cost of using satellite. ZAMTEL is the company in Zambia which has signed a memorandum of understanding with the EASSy consortium to link Zambia to the international fibre optic network.
The National ICT Policy notes that in order to leapfrog the existing capacity and technology requirements for overhauling the existing telecommunications infrastructure, thereby laying a solid foundation for delivering current and future services ranging from digital Radio, Television, Internet, data and other multimedia services.

Fibre based Technology provides a comprehensive and reliable network for the country. The possibility of reducing telephone and internet costs can be achieved by interconnecting the proposed national Fibre Optic Network to the undersea cable running along the African coast connecting to Europe and Asia, some of the most active destinations for Zambia.

The ICT policy however says this requires implementation modalities in terms of network licensing, access conditions, management and operation of the backbone in the most optimal and beneficial manner to the entire country.
Zambia has in the recent past seen utility companies such as the Zambia Electricity Company (ZESCO) and the Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) lay and commission the installation of optic fibre in their system to provide quality service.

ZAMTEL is currently installing the fibre network at a total cost of US 48 million while ZESCO spent 13 million to complete the optic fibre network that has covered 1,700 kilo metrs from Sesheke through to Livingstone and Lusaka through to Kabwe and the Copperbelt up to Solwezi.

The first global standard offering an in-home, high-speed network capable of delivering room-to-room HDTV has been agreed by ITU.

In apress release from ITU the standard, published under the G.hn banner, promises high quality multimedia over power, coaxial, phone and other home network wiring. It will give up to 20 times the throughput of existing wireless technologies and three times that of existing wired technologies.

The specifications will be used by chip manufacturers to build transceivers that can be incorporated into set-top boxes, residential gateways, home computers, home audio systems, DVD players, TVs or any other device that might be connected to a network now or in the future. Experts say that silicon companies will immediately start incorporating the specifications into transceivers, implying that G.hn-compliant products could be on the market as early as 2010.

Joyce Putscher, Principal Analyst at market research firm In-Stat, said, “Service operators have been looking for an international standard that encompasses multiple existing-wire mediums for video distribution. G.hn meets that requirement and it seems clear that with significant industry backing from service providers, semiconductor and equipment vendors, and the fast rate at which the process is moving to achieve a standard, we will see first equipment by 2010.”

“There’s a clear market need for a unified networking approach,” said Malcolm Johnson, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau. “With G.hn, every wire in every home around the world can become part of a home entertainment network. This will enable seamless communication between computers, HDTVs and telephones over existing wires. I expect that this exciting new technology will also foster innovations such as energy efficient smart appliances, home automation and telemedicine devices.”

Work on G.hn was started at the instigation of service providers looking to extend broadband and video services in the home. As well as its offer of greater speed, it may be bundled as complementary to Wi-Fi where G.hn offers greater coverage, extending, for example, to areas of a house where Wi-Fi does not reach.

The standard has achieved remarkable industry backing even before its publication. An industry group — the HomeGrid Forum — has been formed specifically to back G.hn. The goal of HomeGrid Forum is to market G.hn worldwide and to create a compliance and interoperability programme to ensure that products based on the standard will operate in any home around the world.

Other industry analysts backing the standard include Michael Wolf, Research Director at ABI Research. “If G.hn sees integration into carrier devices by 2010, we expect that some 42 million G.hn-compliant nodes will ship in 2013 in devices such as set-top boxes, residential gateways and other service provider CPE hardware,” Wolf said.

“A single, unified technology for multimedia networks over power lines, coaxial cable, and phone lines has the potential to enable simple, easy-to-use networking devices in the home,” said Kurt Scherf, analyst with market analyst firm Parks Associates. “We believe ITU’s work is an important step towards eliminating fragmentation in the industry and in achieving the vision of a networked home.”

Recommendation ITU-T G.9960 focuses on the physical or PHY layer, giving the data bit rate and quality of service necessary for triple-play residential services as well as business-type services delivered over xDSL, PON, or other access technology. In step with ITU guidelines on new standards development, several power saving modes have been incorporated. Ongoing work is focused on the media access control (MAC) layer.

The IGF is currently holding its third, annual meeting this week, bringing together stakeholders from governments, regulators, business, civil society, and the technical community to discuss a wide-ranging agenda of Internet-related issues. The IGF was established by the United Nations as part of the mandate of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

During the workshop “The role of Internet Exchange Points in creating Internet capacity and bringing autonomy to developing nations,” leading technical experts explained the many technical and policy considerations that surround the formation and impact of IXPs.

Michuki Mwangi, Senior Education Manager at the Internet Society (ISOC) explained how Internet Service Providers can, by participating at exchange point facilities, enjoy immediate and ongoing benefits in network performance, quality of service, better access to all local content, and greatly reduced international transit costs.

International transit costs can be prohibitive barriers to the delivery and expansion of services, particularly in developing countries. But peering at an IXP means that interconnected ISPs can keep all their local Internet traffic within the local networks, avoiding the international fees.

As an example, Sebastian Bellagamba, ISOC’s Regional Bureau Manager for Latin America, explained that the experience in Argentina is that “between 35 and 38 percent of the Internet traffic goes through the local links once the IXP is established”.

These savings can be substantial, allowing lower cost of access for the local community. The performance benefits from avoiding the lag in international connections also improves most aspects of the Internet experience for users.

ISOC has an active programme of supporting IXP development and, among many activities, has produced a range of information detailing the technical, policy, and regulatory considerations involved in establishing successful IXPs.

ZAA-ICT Executive Coordinator, Dean Mulozi said there was need to have this network to help support the information development of rural telecentres. He said they were facilitating the development of the SATNET.
A visit to Chinyunyu Community Multipurpose Telecentre in rural Zambia showed that when a community is involved in the setting up of a Telecentre the people embrace the centre as their own. Set up in 2006, the centre last year installed solar energy and a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) with the help of UNIDO which has enabled farmers to charge their mobile phone barriers and have access to the internet.

It is important that the centre realizes the money that it pays to the Communications Authority of Zambia as regulators fees and also the monthly subscription for the VSAT connection which is a very big challenge as the centre was in a rural location.

Austin Chilala Head of Kasis Agricultural Training Centre said the centre had received a seven acres of land as a donation to the project from Chief Bunda Bunda. The steering committee now plans to put up demonstration plots for the farmers and housing for stuff.

It is clear that Chinyunyu Telecentre does not need to exist in isolation but needs to learn from other telecentres are sustaining themselves which makes initiatives of setting up SATNET relevant.

There is also need of creating an electronic network before creating a physical network as this is very vital now that telecentres are being encouraged to provide internet services to their communities.

So far feedback from Chinyunyu farmers include that fact that they had learnt how to process chili and expand their fish farming activities as they accessed information from Chinyunyu Telecentre.

If the iPhone were available in Zambia today, would you buy one?