[ox] Fwd: African hackers gather in Namibia
- From: Stefan Merten <smerten oekonux.de>
- Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 22:54:38 +0100
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Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 12:05:22 [PHONE NUMBER REMOVED]
From: "Volker Grassmuck" <vgrass rz.hu-berlin.de>
Subject: [wos] (Fwd) [idlelo] African hackers gather in Namibia
To: wos post.openoffice.de
Message-Id: <40583F02.25980.274AA4 localhost>
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From: Bildad Kagai ...
Date sent: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 10:41:32 [PHONE NUMBER REMOVED]
African hackers gather in Namibia
Alastair Otter
March 16 2004 - Open source developers from across the African continent (and
some from further afield) descended on the small Namibian town of Okahanja
this week to further their own skills as well as promote the use of free and
open source software across Africa.
The five day developer workshop is being organised by Amsterdam-based NGO
Tactical Technology Collective and includes more than 60 developers from more
than 25 countries, including Benin, Ghana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania
and Zimbabwe.
Key items on the agenda for the wokshop include the development of OSS
developers neworks to facilitate the greater co-operation across the
continen. Some delegates even called for the creation of an "African Silicon
Valley". Other items on the agenda include the role FOSS (free and open
source software) can play in improving education and aiding NGOs.
But the heart of the workshop - and the reason most of the delegates have
travelled here - is the opportunity to share experiences and skills.
Everything from PHP, Zope and Pyhon, to working with the Linux kernel, to
building GTK applications. Training sessions offered in day one and two
include translating open source applications, python, building content
management systems and security fundamentals.
Key issues already emerging from the conference include the need to improve
the communication of NGO and educational needs to developer commuinities. NGo
delegates highlighted that they often require role-specific applications but
are unaware are who to approcach to develop the needed tools.
Other delegates highlighted the need for open source advocates to better
explain the benefits of open source software to end user organisations. In
one workshop it was highlighted that many organisations do not have the time
to "experiment" with open source software and require stable and familiar
software. Often this leads them to use proprietary software because they are
familiar with the tools. and still feel support and usability are issues of
concern.
...
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