[teaching in the rurals] internet connectivity get more popular
My friend Folabi Sunday updates us about phones and PCs in rural Ago-Are in Oyo Sate SW Nigeria:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Internet connectivity is getting more common in the village thanks to our GSM Network providers that has made mobile connectivity possible though not that affordable. it is not uncommon to see a desktop computer in many homes these days. There are seminars organised by government for teachers in Oyo state. i really wish all could get connected in my village and in that wise we would planning a free seminar for all and sundry in Ago Are and environ on how to get connected with the internet via mobile networks. I will be glad to see more people using modems and phones to surf the internet from my place of work and i will try all possible best to see how these can work out well Posted By folafola to teaching in the rurals at 5/07/2010 07:17:00 PM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi FolaThanks for updating me. I'm re-posting this at http://dadamac.posterous.com/ and encouraging some of my contacts to read it.The nice thing about posting it to posterous is that I can do two things at the same time. I can publish to the Internet (so anyone can read it) and at the same time I can copy I directly to individual people. I am copying to Krishna Alluri, who used to work full-time for COL - Commonwealth of Learning. He first became interested in Ago-Are and the Oke-Ogun Community Development Network (OCDN) back in 2003 (through an email I wrote to a list called "Voices of the South). In August 2003, when David Mutua and I were holding meetings in Ago-Are and then interviewing people on video, we were doing it because Krishna wanted us to do a needs analysis. Once Krishna knew what people wanted, he then brought together COL, IITA (International Institute for Tropical Agriculture) and OCDN to see if any of the needs expressed could be met. That is why David Mutua spent to much time travelling back and forth between the Info-Centre in Ago-Are and IITA in Ibadan during the last few months of his time with VSO as manager of the OCDN project. The result was the IITA project that came to the Info Centre after David left - and brought Internet connectivity for a while, and the TV for the community, and the related agriculture training programme. I think the beautiful water melons that Mr Timothy gave me subsequently were probably one of the results of the COL/IITA/OCDN project - but I am not sure. Krishna has always had an interest in what is really happening at grassroots level so I think he will be interested in your news. I am also copying to Tobias Eigen of Kabissa. Kabissa has helped African grass roots groups make the most of the Internet in many ways over the years - through training and online support services. in fact David Mutua attended a couple of Kabissa training courses in Lagos. Also Kabissa helped OCDN by providing what we needed to have an online newsletter, where I could raise the visibility of OCDN and the Ago-Are Info Centre. Tobias joined us at May First Thursday last week and we are thinking about how Kabissa and Dadamac can best collaborate. I will also copy to Chief Adejumo, and David Mutua. I'm not sure how well you know David (Pastor David and Mr Timothy know him well). You all know Chief of course.I will copy to Yishay Mor and Naill Winters of the London Knowledge Lab too. They are doing some research about the use of mobile phones in Kenya, and I have been introducing them to some of my contacts there. (For more on that go to dadamac's posterous and search for ml4d workshop in Nairobi: May 24th - will find several entries.) Perhaps sometime they will look at mobile phone use in Nigeria - I don't know. What are your ideas for organising a seminar for all and sundry in Ago Are and environ on how to get connected with the internet via mobile networks. Please tell me more about this. I am also aware of your hopes to set up a public email service for people. Have you thought more about this? Have you worked out if it could be sustainable business? Do you know how to write a business plan? Perhaps if we could demonstrate. that it would be sustainable then we might find some way to raise some money to help it get started. Please do not get too hopeful about this - I am not saying we could definitely raise some money. I am just saying that if we "do the sums" then we have evidence that we are serious. If we want to try to get any money then we will have to show we are serious. - and a business plan is the way to do so. What do you think? Perhaps it will not be necessary to set up an email service now if more people are getting phones. I am also interested to hear about the seminars organised by government for teachers in Oyo state. Questions that rush to my mind include: Are they free? Are they in the very large towns, or will they come as far as Ago-Are? Do you know anyone who has attended? Are they having practical work? Do they learn to use Microsoft office, or go online or what do they do? Will you and Popoola get a chance to attend? I do not expect you to answer all my questions, but I hope you will tell me something more. You also mention your place of work. Are you in a different job now? Somehow it does not sound like the village primary school where you were teaching last time we met.Greetings to my friends in Ago-Are, and I hope things are well with you and your family, especially baby Heritage of God. Pamela
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Internet connectivity is getting more common in the village thanks to our GSM Network providers that has made mobile connectivity possible though not that affordable. it is not uncommon to see a desktop computer in many homes these days. There are seminars organised by government for teachers in Oyo state. i really wish all could get connected in my village and in that wise we would planning a free seminar for all and sundry in Ago Are and environ on how to get connected with the internet via mobile networks. I will be glad to see more people using modems and phones to surf the internet from my place of work and i will try all possible best to see how these can work out well Posted By folafola to teaching in the rurals at 5/07/2010 07:17:00 PM
Hi FolaThanks for updating me. I'm re-posting this at http://dadamac.posterous.com/ and encouraging some of my contacts to read it.The nice thing about posting it to posterous is that I can do two things at the same time. I can publish to the Internet (so anyone can read it) and at the same time I can copy I directly to individual people. I am copying to Krishna Alluri, who used to work full-time for COL - Commonwealth of Learning. He first became interested in Ago-Are and the Oke-Ogun Community Development Network (OCDN) back in 2003 (through an email I wrote to a list called "Voices of the South). In August 2003, when David Mutua and I were holding meetings in Ago-Are and then interviewing people on video, we were doing it because Krishna wanted us to do a needs analysis. Once Krishna knew what people wanted, he then brought together COL, IITA (International Institute for Tropical Agriculture) and OCDN to see if any of the needs expressed could be met. That is why David Mutua spent to much time travelling back and forth between the Info-Centre in Ago-Are and IITA in Ibadan during the last few months of his time with VSO as manager of the OCDN project. The result was the IITA project that came to the Info Centre after David left - and brought Internet connectivity for a while, and the TV for the community, and the related agriculture training programme. I think the beautiful water melons that Mr Timothy gave me subsequently were probably one of the results of the COL/IITA/OCDN project - but I am not sure. Krishna has always had an interest in what is really happening at grassroots level so I think he will be interested in your news. I am also copying to Tobias Eigen of Kabissa. Kabissa has helped African grass roots groups make the most of the Internet in many ways over the years - through training and online support services. in fact David Mutua attended a couple of Kabissa training courses in Lagos. Also Kabissa helped OCDN by providing what we needed to have an online newsletter, where I could raise the visibility of OCDN and the Ago-Are Info Centre. Tobias joined us at May First Thursday last week and we are thinking about how Kabissa and Dadamac can best collaborate. I will also copy to Chief Adejumo, and David Mutua. I'm not sure how well you know David (Pastor David and Mr Timothy know him well). You all know Chief of course.I will copy to Yishay Mor and Naill Winters of the London Knowledge Lab too. They are doing some research about the use of mobile phones in Kenya, and I have been introducing them to some of my contacts there. (For more on that go to dadamac's posterous and search for ml4d workshop in Nairobi: May 24th - will find several entries.) Perhaps sometime they will look at mobile phone use in Nigeria - I don't know. What are your ideas for organising a seminar for all and sundry in Ago Are and environ on how to get connected with the internet via mobile networks. Please tell me more about this. I am also aware of your hopes to set up a public email service for people. Have you thought more about this? Have you worked out if it could be sustainable business? Do you know how to write a business plan? Perhaps if we could demonstrate. that it would be sustainable then we might find some way to raise some money to help it get started. Please do not get too hopeful about this - I am not saying we could definitely raise some money. I am just saying that if we "do the sums" then we have evidence that we are serious. If we want to try to get any money then we will have to show we are serious. - and a business plan is the way to do so. What do you think? Perhaps it will not be necessary to set up an email service now if more people are getting phones. I am also interested to hear about the seminars organised by government for teachers in Oyo state. Questions that rush to my mind include: Are they free? Are they in the very large towns, or will they come as far as Ago-Are? Do you know anyone who has attended? Are they having practical work? Do they learn to use Microsoft office, or go online or what do they do? Will you and Popoola get a chance to attend? I do not expect you to answer all my questions, but I hope you will tell me something more. You also mention your place of work. Are you in a different job now? Somehow it does not sound like the village primary school where you were teaching last time we met.Greetings to my friends in Ago-Are, and I hope things are well with you and your family, especially baby Heritage of God. Pamela
