18:58 The botanist Corneille Ewango talks about his work in the Congo to protect the forest giraffe or ‘Okapi’. He touches on the effect of the war, mentioning the mineral coltan which is used in electronics like your cellphone. Do note that coltan has fueled the war in the Congo for many years.
He also goes over his life story, which personifies courage and endurance in the face of difficult circumstances.
If you are not able to view the video, you can read a summary by EthanZ.
12:50 I’ve been on the road since late last month, and I am afraid this space has been left quite neglected. So if there are any remaining readers…heres to a comeback.
I had the chance to speak at TTI Vanguard early this month and my topic of discussion was Innovation in Africa[pdf pg 10 and 11]. I gave a brief overview of the tech landscape in Africa, and engaged mostly in conversations around what is happening now. Since then, the article ‘Inside Nairobi, the Next Palo Alto?’ by G. Pascal Zachary in the NY times became the 7th most emailed article in the NYT world business section, spurring some discussion around the theme of Innovation, ‘light tech’ and localization of technology in Kenya.
As we all know there is this persisting perception of Africa as this sort of backward mess. Ethan Zuckerman has been writing for a few years about ‘rebranding Africa’ and more recently he wrote about David Weinberger’s Ninja Gap. Do read the whole piece, the bit that is relevant to this post is in part…
Context matters, Galtung argues. If we’ve got a mental image of Africa as a backwards and technically retrograde place, we’re likely to miss stories about innovation in mobile commerce (see the lead story in issue 407…) or success in venture capital. Galtung’s fifth maxim is closely linked to the idea of cognitive dissonance - it’s uncomfortable to attempt to resolve new information that conflicts with existing perceptions, beliefs and behaviors.
Well, its quite an experience to have an encounter with someone who clearly brings this cognitive dissonance to light…I wont go there though. Suffice to say Africa, we have a long way to go. The overarching meme about Africa is still one of poverty, corruption, despots, famine and stunning sunsets…yeah, you know. Oh perhaps the stunning sunsets meme is one I would totally agree to and actively propagate, but I digress.This is with no small thanks to foreign correspondents who cover African news with the aforementioned brushstrokes.
So, while we African bloggers and digerati wrestle with not quite so positive images of Africa, debate Aid Vs Trade, couple that with our current reality of immense potential that is muffled by worrisome politics, rising inflation, environmental degradation and many other factors; I am
trying to think of the bigger picture, a way to wrap my mind around things.
Years ago, my friends’ mom told me about a ‘bad-good-shot’. When you swing that golf club and you know that you missed the green by considerable measure, yet the ball hits a tree and deflects onto a reasonable section of the course, then you get to make a better than expected shot. There are some projects and tech that arise out of challenges like dearth of broadband, and in reaction to the bad choices our leaders make. In Africa, we get some of those really bad shots, sometimes, something good arises out it and perhaps we can position ourselves for a much better shot at prosperity. I do not know if we can, but we can definitely aspire to it.
I think TEDGlobal Arusha had started that rebranding process, by bringing to Africa a mix of intellectuals, scientists, technologists…you name it; to experience an alternate African reality of sorts. Last monday, I was reminded by Sean to not underestimate the value in bringing prospective investors to Africa, so they can have a different context, and perhaps get over that ‘cognitive dissonance’. As I look back to TEDGlobal, I remember that I was in awe of my fellow Africans, I was inspired by them, and felt that we had just gotten to the ‘jumping off point’. I am still inspired by their talks as they are released on TED.com. Well, December 30th 2007 came, when the meme of ‘Kenya’s potential’ suffered quite a blow. It will take awhile to rebuild that confidence in my mind, let alone the minds of others. I think other countries in Africa have a positive meme attached to them and boy, am I envious. My Ghanaian friends, please guard the positive meme of Ghana with all you’ve got. As a Kenyan, and also as an African I still believe that we can redefine/ we are redefining what it means to be African.
When it comes to markets and the potential in disruptive technology, I would strongly suggest you subscribe to Sean Park’s blog, and Bankelele’s too. These guys give you the meat and potatoes when it comes to evaluating not only the economics but the potential in mobile banking and other sectors of African/Kenyan economies. Because aspirations are well, good and awesome (really!), but at the end of the day, fundamentals of investing should always be rock solid.
So there is the perception problem, but that can be tackled by hard data. Speaking of market data, AfriMonitor launched earlier this month.
It will be a great resource as the bid to rebrand Africa continues. Various conferences will be happening throughout the year, and will be invaluable in bringing together many of you who see this alternate African technological reality. I am still bummed that I did not make it to Barcamp Nairobi in June, but I am making every effort to make sure I do not miss the next one. Last but not least, I just want to salute Wilfred Mworia, all the geeks and volunteers at Ushahidi, Josiah Mugambi, Dorcas Muthoni of Linux chix Africa, Riyaz, all the Skunkworks geeks, Kasahorow crew, JAB, techies in Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and other African countries. Here is to not just the next Palo Alto, but the next Nairobi, Accra, Abuja, Capetown, Johannesburg, Lusaka etc.
Thank you Hash for the cool graphics, they are based on one I found on Memehuffer
20:48 Two opportunities I would like to pass along, the first is SEPS (Sustainable Energy Project Support) call for applications.
Now in its fifth year, WISIONS, a Wuppertal Institute initiative that is funded and supported by the Swiss-based foundation ProEvolution, has launched its annual call for applications for Sustainable Energy Project Support (SEPS).
WISIONS invites the submission of proposals from now until 18 August 2008. The total grant fund for financial support of SEPS projects in this, the 5th round (2008), is €500,000 (across all projects). Partial funding of projects is possible.
We are looking for promising concepts and innovative projects with an integrated approach in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency. Our main goal is to identify environmentally sound projects that use modern existing technologies, demonstrate the advantages of sound energy solutions and integrate local people, enabling acceptance and further replication.
The deadline is August 18th, and you can download an app here.
Via AFriWea
SeedCamp for the entrepreneurs in Europe
From securing funding to developing the right network, young entrepreneurs in Europe face challenges in building globally competitive technology businesses. Through the provision of seed capital and a world class network of mentors, we want to provide a catalyst for Europe’s next generation of entrepreneurs.
The deadline for this is August 11th.
Via Park Paradigm
20:09 
The Band, as I get to call them, will be performing on August 1st at Kwani LitFest. This is one event I did not want to miss but hope that my friends and readers in Kenya get to go and enjoy. If someone decides to stream the event (hint http://www.ustream.tv/) please oh please let us diaspora folks know.
More info on location and times, please check out the JAB blog. Just this once I will give them a pass for not tagging the location of the event in Google Earth, it seems they are hard at practice.
For the diaspora folks in Washington DC, if Jay-Z makes you ‘get that dirt off your shoulder’, if you like John Legend, Youssou Ndour, Alek Wek, Tyson Beckford and other gorgeous African stars, check out the Africa Rising concert at the Kennedy center.
Enjoy…
19:18 When I attended the GV summit I counted myself quite lucky to meet so many bloggers from around the world, including contributors to Global voices online. The gift of a macbook sleeve from Bolivian project ‘Voces Bolivianas’ was one of the many highlights of the summit. It was such a moving gesture that some of us were fighting back tears of appreciation. You see, the Global voices logo was hand-stitched onto the sleeve, and Eduardo and his team lugged this big huge bag all the way from Bolivia to give each one of us a choice between the 15″ sleeve and the smaller 13″ sleeve.
The sleeve is lovely, it is made from traditional Aguayo textile, and I have to admit I treasure mine a whole lot.
You can buy one for yourself, and in the process, help support a very worthwhile project that is reaching out to underrepresented groups in Bolivia, getting them to share their opinions online through the use of blogs and other participatory media.
The colors are just lovely…get one!
PS: Only available in the US…
2:53 
I am at the Global Voices summit, regarding citizen media, democracy and technology.
I will be covering the following sessions using the live blogging tool CoveritLive on this blog and also on the GV summit blog. Please bookmark the event homepage [summit08.globalvoicesonline.org]
- Twitter feed is [twitter.com]
- The timezone for the live sessions is GMT+1
June 27, 2008
11:30 - 13:00 Session 2: “Citizen Media and Online Free Speech”
MODERATOR: Mary Joyce.
SPEAKERS: Ory Okolloh (Kenyan Blogger), Wael Abbas (MisrDigital, Egypt), Mehdi Mohseni (jomhour.org, Iran), Amine (digiactive.org, Morocco), Oiwan Lam (Global Voices, Hong Kong), Au Wai Pang (Singapore)
Citizen media allow for more active and open participation in political processes, but threats of censorship and oppression discourage citizens from expressing their own opinions. This session will present case studies from Kenya, Iran, Egypt, Morocco, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
15:30 -16:30 Session 4: “Frontline Activists meet the Academy: Tools and Knowledge”
MODERATOR: Ethan Zuckeman.
SPEAKERS: Roger Dingledine (Tor), Nart Villeneuve (Citizen Lab), Isaac Mao (Digital Nomads project, China), Robert Guerra (Privaterra, Cuba), Danny O’Brien (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
The tools to circumvent web filtering and other methods of online censorship exist, but they don’t always reach the people who need them as easily as they could. How can we facilitate better coordination between the developers of these tools and the anti-censorship activists that need them? And how do we facilitate the flow of feedback from the activists back to the developers so the latter can design more appropriate tools?
June 28th 2008
11:30 - 13:00 Session 2: “The Wired Electorate in Emerging Democracies”
MODERATOR: Solana Larsen.
SPEAKERS: Daudi Were (Kenya), Onnik Krikorian (Armenia), Hamid Tehrani (Iran), Luis Carlos Díaz (Venezuela)
The rise of blogging, social networking and micro-blogging services like Facebook and Twitter, video- and photo-sharing sites like YouTube and Flickr, and the spread of mobile technology have given ordinary citizens the means, at least potentially, to participate more fully in the democratic process. This session looks at the impact these tools have had on recent elections in Kenya, Venezuela, Armenia and Iran and poses the question: is citizen media having an actual impact on democracies in transition?
1:07 Well, last october I let out a little rant about the Iphone, and how it did not make sense to me to buy it at the time. Basically, no 3G, not unlocked, i didn’t complain about the lack of a GPS chip though I should have…and we all know Wimax is a dream that will be realized in Uganda and other developing countries eons (in tech years) before the US. So later today, we find out if I and other demanding folks will get what they’ve been waiting for since bread was first sliced, paradigm was shifted, calories became free and all that good stuff.
Gosh there are always rumors with these Apple products…this one got me all Hallelujah-ing, and this one brought it down to ‘hmmm, really?’ type of mood. This mockup (via cultofMac)is just flat out hilarious….
Here is a URL i will probably be refreshing quite a bit today…The cult of mac Live blog of WWDC 2008 Keynote. Refresh and try to keep your underarms dry… I am using extra strength underarm deodorant to stave off the sweats. Heh.
Mea Culpa: 6/22/08 - I was upgrading wordpress…cleaning up spam and inadvertently deleted your comments, sorry about that.
10:38 This is the last part of the JAB interview, the first is here. It was fun reading JAB’s responses, and I hope you enjoy this last bit. Before we get to that, here is one more pic of the trio.
Iwinyo Piny & Animation in general.
The chicken or the egg question: Which came first? The animation or the music?
BILL(Blinky): The music. We used to jam in campus. And that’s where everything else spun off from.
JIM: The music came first, definitely. As always, it was a random happenstance (our music usually is). Then Dan went, “We could do a cartoon…”, and here we are.
DAN: The music was there first, but I can remember some occasions when the animation influenced the song, especially the lyrics, coz there was supposed to be more words that would have made it clearly a song about a girl, but when we talked about the video concept allowing for a broader interpretation, the lyrics were trashed (after which one station told us they couldn’t play our song coz it didn’t have any lyrics! Haha!).
What is your animation history?
DAN: I did this one month crash course in animation right before starting Uni, and when I met Jim and Blinky I talked trash about how we could do these huge animated videos, even though I had never actually done anything… So we started Iwinyo, and I was thoroughly humbled. I guess it came out OK, though. It was a learning experience.
JIM: If there ever was a time that we had internal fights, it was during the Iwinyo phase. I think we’re over that now.
DAN: Or at least we’ve figured out some “Constructive Anger Management Techniques.”
JIM: I have absolutely no idea what he means…
DAN: *blink*
(Does rendering take forever?)
Rendering? That depends on what programs/methods you’re using… As the 2D guy, I lack the patience that the 3D guys develop whilst waiting for the goodies to iva[ripen].
I personally really like animation because of the freedom it allows you in terms of following your ideas. And I like 2D for its much more human feel, 3D can be kinda plastic. I really hate how long it takes to make, though. I see Jimmy dropping live action videos and photography projects like bunnies…
I taught animation and cartooning a bit and I work as a freelance animator to pay them bills, and so I’m all up on Kenyan animation, where it could go, what stories we could tell… but that’s a long story.
JIM: Photography and video are somewhat more immediate, which makes me look hard-working. It’s just that projects get finished real quick.
What kind of software do you use to create the animation? and is uploading videos onto YouTube (from Kenya) as torturous task as I experienced or do you have a secret high speed bunker where we can mooch off of justabandwidth?
JIM: Adobe Flash and Adobe AfterEffects.
DAN: Drawings for the 2D are done on paper, and scanned or redrawn on comp. For the next animated video we’re doing, for the track called FunkyFineBeautiful, we have a new collaborator who kicks butt at 3DS Max. As for the uploading, we mooch off our friends’ high speed connections…
Your YouTube tag is justabandwidth which is very cool. Could one presume that you are total geeks?
BILL: We seem to attract an intelligent crowd…I prefer to be on my computer than at a party…
DAN: Haha! Ms Interviewer, it’s like you know us! 
Yes, at least two of us are total geeks (the other one is in denial).
JIM: As in?
DAN: As in, whilst some of us spend all day turning pale indoors with computers and pencils as our only companions, others manage to maintain some kind of engagement with the outside world. Game recognize game, by the way, so should we assume that [Ms. Interviewer] is also the “bookish type”?
JIM: So all that nonsense about Bill preferring to be at the computer is a lie. He’s the most outgoing chap. I think it’s strange how it’s never been cool to be a geek (only for a brief moment, when Pharrell and company emerged, then he sold out and became cool)? I mean, everyone else has had their moment in the spotlight; the skaters, the punks, the thugs, the gay boys and girls (heady times, the 80s), the Goths…I feel disenfranchised.
I am a total geek. I did every geek thing a human being can possibly do; the braces, the spectacles, being bad at sports (except swimming, for some strange reason), being good at computers, going to cinemas to actually watch movies instead of making out at the back, actually using my library card, studying IT in college etc. If there are types of geeks, I guess I’m the finally-at-ease-with-it kind of geek.
BLINKY: You should see my primary school pictures… then you wouldn’t talk like that… I only go for parties because…
DAN: Geeks are so cool nowadays. The days of warrior kings and sportsmen politicians are gone! Now it’s like, “Bow Before My Fearsome Intellect!”
I found the use of pictures in the video quite interesting, what is the name of the street at [1:08] of Iwinyo Piny? (I have taken pics of that street but can’t remember the name for the life of me??! What of the one at [1:33] placemark?
JIM: That would be Kenyatta Avenue – one of the cuter streets in town. 1:33 is the street that connects City Market to Koinange Street, I have no idea what it’s called; but it’s very textured.
Have you guys ever been jacked? There is a depiction in your video, of a guy being mugged and his shoes being taken. Was this a form of commentary on the crime problem in Nairobi?
DAN: Not recently. 
As a young person living in Nai, I think you just have to get jacked at some point. We added that bit in the video just for laughs (the video has had a lot of very cool interpretations by people and I’m always scared of telling people what we were thinking as we made it coz it’s so underwhelming… When we’re coming up with images most of the time it’s just like, hey, this would look cool! And then sometimes it comes with its own deeper meaning…)!
JIM: Incidentally, I lost my phone on Friday, and two weeks before I lost my ID and elector’s card. And I also lost my wallet the other day (in a bank!) – I’ve been on a roll. The bank called me the other day to say they’d found my stuff lying around in the banking hall. Thankfully, all those incidents weren’t the mugging kind; they were the pickpocket kind (sigh) – which is slightly more embarrassing because it makes people think you have no sense of self-awareness whatsoever.
In 2004, it was more of a problem than it is now, which is not to say that it doesn’t happen anymore. People actually wear gold chains and earrings and watches on the street these days, because cases of mugging have decreased. Pickpockets still rule, damn them all to Eternal Hell. As for making commentary, I remember Daniel just thought it’d be funny. Does that count?
BLINKY: I used to live in Eastleigh, It was hard to keep your new shoes, coz at one point, I was sneaker jacked, and it wasn’t funny.
I found out about your band through the blog Sukuma Kenya. What are your thoughts on blogging? How do you feel about your own blogs so far?
DAN: I had never heard of that blog before today, but I looked and I thought it was kind of surprising to see Iwinyo right in the middle of a lot of politics! Haha!
I think the Net in general has really helped get the word out, Facebook and YouTube and such. Blogging has really helped add a more personal vibe to everything (especially the band blog, I think the other blogs are more like manifestos of some sort but the band’s blog is just goofing around…). I think it really helps to have an online presence as it allows you to present your stuff the way you would want it done, not in a control freak kind of way, just in the sense that, for example, I doubt that we could find a media house that would indulge our fake bio.
JIM: Except for the very cool people at Kwani Trust who just slapped it onto their site as is. Sukuma Kenya? That’s so cool. I didn’t even know that exists. Say hi to them. Blogging feels a bit self-indulgent sometimes – I use my blog to provide alternative material about the process of making pictures, and the mental stuff that happens before and after. Sometimes people ask me tough questions, and I ask everyone what they think – then I plagiarize the answers I receive and generally look smarter.
We used to run an underground arts-and-culture type web magazine thing a few years ago, it was called LabelRevolution, and the thing we enjoyed the most was the community feel of the site. So we try to be very inclusive about everything we’re doing, because that’s how we make our music. The only reason we’ve come this far (admittedly, not THAT far but…) is because we make people feel like this is something anyone could do. Whether that’s true is another matter entirely.
BLINKY: I blog sparingly of late because I tend to expose myself a lot in my writing, I’m trying to find a method of detaching myself when I do. I don’t want to have the whole world know about me.
I would like to thank JAB for sending me the images from their initial storyboard, as it gives us a glimpse into their lovely animation work. The image on the left is one that shows the progression of sketching the old man’s hair.
Keep an eye on the Just-A-Band Blog, Kenyanimation Blog, and Jim’s blog for more updates. Jim will post another AfriGadget soon. (I wont reveal what it is, but it will definitely be ingenious). Thanks guys for indulging my ‘random and loopy’ questions!
1:07 I was listless, down out depressed, with chicken, egg and crossing of roads questions weighing on my mind; when my fingers as if they had a series of self-cordinating nanobots, tipitty tapped their way onto a blog called Sukuma Kenya. There, I found a pebble shaped like a play button on a retro CD player encased in a rectangle of sorts with a cryptic ‘You Tube’ logo on the bottom right. I touched the pebble. Holy haberdashery! I touched it!
My fellow Africans, that is how i came to make an interweb acquaintance with Just-A-Band. JAB is defining Kenyan animation and Kenyan techno music with aplomb, piercing wit and style…what follows is the result of smoke signals encoded with morse code and for some strange reason, un-encrypted. Enjoy it, or the chicken gets it. Wait, the egg gets it! oh what the hell…something will get it.
Just A Band is composed of?
BLINKY: Jim, Dan and Blinky.
JIM: There’s also our various alter egos – so that’s 2,303 of us in total.
Is the blog Kenya Animation also part of Just-a-Band?
DAN: Kenyanimation isn’t actually a Just A Band project, but I work as an animator, and I put up my JAB animation projects there. That blog was set up to bring together animators and animation fans who are from/work in Kenya, just to show people that there actually is such a thing as Kenyan animation, and hopefully be a launching point for bigger local projects, which haven’t had a chance so far coz people don’t really know that a scene exists! The other guys on the list (filterene, Bint Ali, Achoko, Majiqmud) are my collaborators on that project.
You band bio is so creative (it informed my lame intro above…i couldn’t just say ‘here…an interview’ now could I?). It reads like a great fantasy graphic novel; have you guys thought of making one? When can we get our hands on it? In the CD liner notes - any fun stuff to look for?
BLINKY: Hmm…it just may happen, really haven’t thought about it. The bio was kinda influenced by (at least I thought) by a George Clinton album cover, it had a really long narrative detailing the bands overindulgence on drugs and stuff till it sounded surreal. We get to introduce the gang that contributed to the album’s final sound in the Scratch To Reveal CD liner notes, very fresh cats if you ask me.
DAN: Actually, the bio came about because we thought that the real story makes for a pretty dull read. I still have the notebook page where we start off, “In 2003, three young men met…”
JIM: Now that you mention it, the fantasy graphic novel does sound cool. I think of our bio as a parallel story that’ll run alongside the much more drab reality – we plan to update it each time we do something new.
The liner notes on Scratch To Reveal are slightly nonstandard. The cool thing about being unsigned is that there are no marketing-types breathing over your shoulder, urging you to standardize your output. It was actually Dan’s idea to do the liner notes in a different way – I’m ashamed to say I was one of the people who asked, “Do WHAT?”, but once we tried it out, it actually felt much more relaxed and true to the way the music was made.
DAN: We’d been talking about expanding on this story from time to time, on certain projects. The liner notes on Scratch To Reveal are just us being overwhelmed by actually making an album, and our collaborators and such. But later this year we’ll probably do another project, maybe an EP (Just A Band meets The Sinister Synthesizer!) that will expand on the Bio story and if it gets printed, as opposed to just going online, you’ll get a bunch of cool liner notes and art and stuff…
I saw that Daft Punk made a movie! Electroma! (Two if you count the one that went with Discovery – Interstella 5555) and I can sooooo see Just A Band doing some Psychedelic 88-minute Experience (at some point). But first things first, we have an album to push (I think one of the reasons we get so psyched up for JAB stuff is coz it could go so many ways, it’s always exciting to sit and plan out projects…)!
The album cover for your CD has an arresting image…is there a story behind it? Did the idea pop into your mind or was it an organic, incremental idea that morphed from something? What is your creative process?
JIM: This is definitely a morph – the original blurry concept was to have angry, cathartic energy of some kind on the cover; and cables. Cables are always cool. The images I have in my head always morph into something else by the time they’re finished. The final image ended up being something rather calm and contained – whilst retaining that arresting vibe you’ve mentioned. Of course, Lenny (the model) helped a lot – I chose him because he’s like visual play-dough and he likes to know what we’re aiming for visually. I explained the general idea to him – and played loud drum and bass and clashy electro during the shoot.
My creative process; I typically see the visual in my head – slightly foggy around the edges, but there nonetheless. Then I work to transform that foggy visual into something real. It feels like I’m cheating, sometimes, because all I’m doing is translating the sketch that’s already in my head. In the process of doing that translation, many things change (somewhat like a multi-branched sequence of little decisions on execution) and the final results usually surprise me just as much as anyone else.
I have only listened to one song from your newest album, is the music on Scratch To Reveal kind of in the vein of Iwinyo Piny or are there more varied sounds?
BLINKY: I’d describe the album as adventurous. We all bring different influences to the Just A Band table plus an unwillingness to stay within proscribed boundaries, I’m influenced by acoustic guitar stuff, funk, jazz, hip-hop and dance stuff, everyone else’s influences are evident all through the album.
DAN: The first single, Fly, is up on YouTube and is pretty different, a bit more aggressive and obviously scifi as opposed to Iwinyo’s flirtation with spacey sounds.
JIM: Somewhere towards the middle, the album reveals a softer core; comes back to earth, if you will. Some people have found this surprising because the overall look of the album says – electronic – so having pianos and strings in the middle could be a bit bewildering for some.
I see Daft Punk is an influence on your music; what are your thoughts on the Gorillaz? Would you work with Damon Albarn if he asked? What other types of music/musicians do you gravitate towards? Graphically speaking… which animators do you like? Cartoons? Which ones??
BLINKY: I know for a fact that [Albarn] did some stuff with Fela Kuti’s band mates on a trip to Nigeria, so we wouldn’t be the first African peeps he’s working with, but I’d be absolutely down for it! I’m currently jazzed by Citizen Cope, Raphael Saadiq, Lupe Fiasco, John Mayer, Jamiroquai, St. Germaine, Van Hunt, Foreign Exchange, Bob Sinclair and Asa. I’m abit out of my waters with the animation vibes, though I like Aaron McGruder of The Boondocks fame.
DAN: DEFINITELY we’d collabo with Albarn (right after we regain consciousness)… Every project he does is SO DIFFERENT, from the Mali Music albums to Blur to Gorillaz…very much the kind of thing that we hope to do, as well.
I have a HUGE crush (creatively, hehe) on Björk. She pushes boundaries both musically and visually, stretches your imagination… We are all influenced by Parliament Funkadelic and their many spinoffs –
JIM: Are we? I just think that George Clinton guy had cool outfits. So, maybe visually.
BLINKY: George Clinton is cool!
DAN: I think they’re our spiritual ancestors in the genre of musical Black scifi! We like old funk bands, Jamiroquai, Basement Jaxx, Jaga Jazzist, acid jazz, French House, Van Hunt and a lot of neo-soul artists, rock dudes like RHCP and Incubus, Madlib, Timbaland and the Neptunes (N*E*R*D was one of those moments of WTF is this??), a lot of stuff. I like comical old ska, garage rock like the White Stripes and The Hives and these new dancey rock bands like Franz Ferdinand. But I think the best music is the stuff you can’t really describe…
Graphically, I’m very much into manga and anime, in terms of the stories, culture, even the shortcuts they take to meet their crazy deadlines! A random list of favourites: Samurai Champloo, Mind Game, Triplets of Belleville, Studio Ghibli films, Satoshi Kon’s work, Genndy Tartakovsky, Jamie Hewlett’s Gorillaz work is really well designed and moves so fluidly, The Boondocks. Ralph Bakshi’s confrontational movies from the 70s are a huge creative inspiration for what I’d like to do in animation in future.
There’s an animation director called Koji Morimoto (he did the Beyond segment in The Animatrix), he makes my eyes water. Also off The Animatrix, the World Record segment was done by another new fave, Takeshi Koike, who is actually a celeb in Japan! How interesting, celebrity animators… I would like to go study at the feet of Moebius, the French comic book artist. And a lot of movies and books (I may be a bit of a junkie). We also keep an eye on the graphic design and motion graphics scene, and that’s always a visual overload.
JIM: Daft Punk’s Discovery was one of those albums that really excited me (and it still does). Frankly, I like the visual detail of the Gorillaz more than their music. In fact, I really don’t think I like their music. But I like the way they work so hard on the supplementary material that helps you form an opinion about a band, the back story, the promos. I like people like Madonna and Björk for putting in extra effort and really being in control of their image and sound, and giving people some fantasy to believe in – however slightly.
When I was a kid, I loved the musicians who went beyond the music and created lush record covers, and placed their music in some kind of fantasy literary context. Or even the people who explored themes other than the usual “love, girls and sex”. I love the way the disco dudes touched the sky and went beyond to other planets. Why confine yourself to dull old Mother Earth?
These days it’s “Hi. I’m X and I have a great body. You want to have sex with me. I also sing.” or the other equally drab approach: “Hi. I’m exceptionally gifted. I will numb you into submission with my technical wizardry. I will now play the Euclidian scale with my teeth.”
I think Europeans are better at it than the Americans (with the exception of people like Madonna, as mentioned above). Americans are very literal about their music – Band X fits into this genre and you shouldn’t ask where they’re from or why they’re doing this. Europeans are very cool about alter egos and costumes and silly things like that.
From your Kenyanimation blog, it appears you are working on another project - Two Countries; will it be a CD & animation type thing? When can we expect to hear of a premiere?
DAN: So, when we started off with Kenyanimation (which is not a Just A Band project, actually) we wanted to actually make something under this new group. The idea for this short animated movie was lying around in someone’s sketchbook, so we decided to make that. It’s kind of like a Gado cartoon come to life, political commentary vibes, but with a bit of Tom and Jerry thrown in, and (hopefully) a Just A Band score (as in, a proper “classical” score, which would be a new thing for the band).
The project has stalled for a bit as people get more involved with their various hustles, but we’ll get it back on track soon, and as it’s just a short, it could be done by year’s end. As for how we’ll put it out, I’m not sure yet but maybe we’ll try some festival screenings and so forth.
Do you perform live shows? If so, where can we catch you guys?
BLINKY: Coming soon to an area near you.
DAN: We’re actually working on the live shows now, figuring out venues and instrumentalists, and all the cool fun stuff like projections, or not. We will be unveiling the whole shebang in August. Details will be on the site/YouTube/Facebook.
JIM: We’re working on making it something interesting – because I am skeptical that Kenyans would be OK with sitting around for several hours watching a bunch of geeks fiddling with guitars. So pom-pom’s, dancing, makeup, lights, psychedelic footage and action – on a shoestring budget, as always.
*To order the CD ‘Scratch To Reveal’ send an email to jab [at] just-a-band[dot]com, they will personally ‘hawk’ it over to you. For us online folks, they will have their music on itunes or calabash soon…
**Part II will be posted as soon as you thaw from the JAB burst of ice cold freshness. It will have more questions about the animated video ‘Iwinyo Piny’.
More info on JAB’s You Tube profile and Facebook.
A related aside, Jim is a blogger-DIY kinda guy, check out the AfriGadget post on him ‘Building The Sun’.
A non related aside, do join us over at the Ushahidi Facebook Group as we continue building the next version of the Ushahidi engine.
0:12 When events happen that shock us, sadden us and make us generally quite depressed, it is heartening to find a way to channel those feelings into assistance. United For Africa uses the Ushahidi engine, and they’ve populated the ‘How to Help’ and the Donation sections of the site. So when you read reports that make your heart sink, you can make a difference. Most of the links on the ‘How to Help’ page are for local donation/assistance centers, though for the online/diaspora folks, you can donate online to the South African Red Cross Society using your credit card.
1:26 crossposted on the Ushahidi Blog.
During the month of March we appealed for your help with Ushahidi’s entry into the N2Y3 Mashup challenge. It is with your support that we are delighted to announce Ushahidi’s participation in the last phase of the mapping challenge. We could not have made it without you and we sincerely Thank each and every one of you for your votes, your encouragement and most of all for your ideas.
David and Erik will be going to San Fransisco next weekend to participate in development sessions with other technical experts, product managers, and engineers. It will be a great opportunity for Ushahidi to get some funding towards further development of the Mashup. Wish them luck would ya?
For now, we just wanted to thank you again for your support. A big part of Ushahidi is your participation, and with that, we are looking forward to making this project an even bigger success.
Asanteni Sana!! [Thank you very much]
**More updates will be posted on the Ushahidi blog and also on the NetSquared blog. Ushahidi also has a twitter channel http://twitter.com/ushahidi for bite-sized updates.
20:56 
This picture was taken by Adriankoto, who writes on the blog Harinjaka [Malagasy]. He is the founder FOKO madagascar initiative which has been active in planting trees particularly in rural madagascar. More on his awesome work here[English].
PS: I know i haven’t been blogged about solar energy for awhile, doesn’t mean i have lost my mojo, I am just re-charging. ha!
1:13 
The Nokia Event Site announces the debut of new phones designed for the emerging markets like Sub-Saharan Africa. Nokia put alot of thought into the functionality that they added, which makes me want to give one of these gems a whirl. I am a sucker for features such as FM Radio, and there is just something about a phone with a flashlight…that is absolutely genius IMO. You would think so too if you were in upcountry Kenya (around 2005i sh), torch/flashlight batteries are dead and you uhhm lets just say you need to walk from point A to B in the dark of night…then your cousin says “Here! Use my phone, it has a flashlight!” Indeed not all heroes need wear capes. Before i get all mushy about inanimate objects, here is the blurb…
While features like phone-sharing, cost monitoring and flashlight remain relevant to consumers in entry markets, Nokia continues to add new functionality, such as mega pixel cameras, FM radio with recording functionality, email and Bluetooth connectivity technology to mobile phones targeted at consumers in entry markets.
while on the site, and if you have a decent connection, do check out Julius’ story; on how he uses his Nokia phone in Kapenguria, Kenya. I am still admiring this silhouette image of Julius and his phone.
If you have an N95 or other Nokia phones that have video recording capability, record your story and submit it to the www.nokiaproductions.com, where noted film director Spike Lee is going to review the entries (includes music, photos and text) then weave your bit (if chosen that is…) into a film to be released later. (Hat tip Shel Israel via Twitter)
22:34 Update:04/28/2008 “Andrew is out of jail on Bond, he has to report to the police tomorrow.”
Thanks for the good news Emeka
This piece of news via the TED blog is terribly worrisome. Andrew Mwenda, arguably Africa’s most refreshing intellectual and journalist, has been arrested by Ugandan officials. More here.
This is utter injustice, and i am not even sure where to begin. For now, highlighting it on this blog seems to be one way, please highlight it on yours too, and I am sure some initiatives and online campaigns are being organized. Keep an eye on the TED blog for Updates.
Below is a picture i took of him last year at TEDGlobal. He is the one in the middle with glasses,looking at the Mamamikes remittance site, and speaking with Segeni.
0:51 Today, I had to walk my friend through the ballot process for the NetSquared challenge. The 29! stars we are so very thankful for were part I of the challenge, we now need you to add Ushahidi to your ballot and submit 5 projects. This is the most crucial part of the mapping challenge. The following instructions (also blogged by Erik) should help.
How to vote:
1. Create an account (or Login if you already have an account) at NetSquared.org
2. Vote for Ushahidi by clicking here, then click the red ‘Vote for My Mashup’ button.
3. Vote for at least 4 other projects. Just make sure you choose a total of 5 minimum.
4. Click ‘View/Cast Ballot’, or click here: [www.netsquared.org]. Be sure Ushahidi is listed as one of your chosen projects.
5. Click ‘Cast Ballot’ on your screen. That’s it!”
(Via White African.)
22:56 
Screen shot from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Noticed that the city ‘Kisangani’ in DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) is displayed for afew seconds the spinning globe graphic at the beginning of the show.
Is Kisangani a place in the coastal province of Kenya too?
23:57 
Google announced a competition for students in East Africa to build gadgets (as in software). I am blogging this here just in case the skunkworks crew hadn’t seen this already. The competition is open to university students in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Burundi.
The deadline for this is March 17th; so if you have some great ideas, you can still submit them for consideration. The categories/types of software gadgets and apps that they are looking for include:
(1) Best Gadget UI
(2) Best Local Content Gadget (Most Locally Useful Gadget)
(3) Best Education Specific Gadget
(4) Best Procrastination Gadget
(5) Most Technically Sophisticated Gadget
(6) Gadget Most Likely to Get International Traffic
(7) Best Social Gadget
What the winners get:
“Six students will be awarded prizes. Five students will receive a $350 USD stipend and 1 student will receive a $600 stipend. All winners will receive a Google t shirt, pen, and notebook valuing $7 USD (£13).”
- More Information on the contest
- Rules and fine print
Other Info: Hash’s post on Google moving in East Africa. It is no wonder that one of the categories is ‘Best local content gadget’. I think that the market for localized, useful and contextualized software is huge. When you have African developers creating applications for use in their own communities…I would say “prepare to be amazed”. I am really looking forward to seeing the ideas and applications that come out of this competition.
Hat Tip Think >>Innovate
8:14 
We are upto 4 stars this morning, please help us by registering and voting for the Ushahidi project. Why? Because we want to continue mapping not only the violence, but also the ‘doves’ or peace efforts happening in Kenya. The last two months have been traumatic to our collective psyche, and we would like to be well equipped to continue this important project. While we will not hide from the trauma of the events; we want make Ushahidi even more relevant to other countries in Africa.
Crowdsourcing further dev. by Hash
Background info on the Ushahidi project.
The NetSquared Ushahidi page.
More about the NetSquared mashup challenge.
Thank you for those who’ve voted for Ushahidi, lets get some more stars up there!
20:30 In case you read this blog in time, you can watch part of the TED conference right now online [www.ted.com]
“Neil Turok is one of the world’s leading physicists. He could easily just spend all his time in his lab, preparing to win a Nobel Prize. But he hasn’t done that,” said TED curator Chris Anderson. “He’s in Africa, where science education is in a pretty shoddy state, and he has decided to do something about it. He’s absolutely brilliant, and he’s taken that brilliance and leveraged that in a surprising way to help other people.”
He founded AIMS - African Institute of Mathematical Sciences.
His TED dream is that the next Einstein is African. The plan is to have AIMS in more countries in Africa, expanding mathematical and scientific research. Read more about it on Ethanz’s excellent blog.
The TED Africa team was also introduced earlier during the conference. I think 2008 promises to be a great year for Africa in more ways than one. Inspiration and passion in whatever field we are in goes a long way to bringing meaning and joy in our lives, that is the reason why i love TED.
Vusi Mahlasela is performing.
From his second song about the beauty of Africa, and the challenges of post apartheid SA.
Quotable: There is wisdom in forgiveness. if you don’t forgive, you are the one who is suffering the most, if you forgive you become more free. Vusi might as well have been talking to each and every Kenyan at this point in time. The road to reconciliation in Kenya is going to be long and hard; we will seriously have to look to our brothers and sisters in South Africa and Rwanda as we get back on the road to the Kenya we want.
You can watch his performance from TEDGlobal 2007 below if you didn’t catch the live event.
0:18 This bag looks very nice. Its like the BMW/mac book Air of solar bags; beautiful, but just a tad out of reach for this blogger, as it is definitely quite expensive. Doesn’t hurt to gawk a bit though…
You can view more bags here.
Hat tip whiteafrican!
PS: My thoughts are with Kenya as always…the GV special coverage page for Kenya is back up.
Amnesty International is appealing for action today to protest Human rights violations in Kenya. You can find more information and details on how to participate.
14:32 Charlie Rose interviewed Chris Anderson of TED on his show…below is the video.
There is another famous Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired Magazine and author of the popular book ‘The long Tail’…so just to make it clear, the Chris Anderson on the video is not the same as the Wired guy, though they are both just brilliant. The wired Chris Anderson spoke at a TED conference; his talk on Technology’s long tail is available on TED.com as are other amazing talks. I recommended his book on this post in 2006, and Erik did an interesting post on The long tail of Banking in Kenya. What is going to be the next big idea in business this year?
On the digital activism front; i cant wait to hear about the ‘Cute Cat Theory’ by Ethan Zuckerman at Etech March 3rd. Ethan will also be live blogging TED2008 Conference in Monterrey from Feb 27th - March 1st. I would bookmark his blog/subscribe to his rss feed for his coverage and other Africa-watching-tech-digital-activism posts.
I am becoming more cognizant of the fact that embedded videos are not easily viewable on mobile phones; and since some of this blog’s readership is in Africa, i will summarize a bit of the interview.
You can read about Chris Anderson’s background on the TEDblog
…
Chris gives an introduction of what TED is, and mentions its rapid expansion. Just to paraphrase, TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) is about bringing together scientists, architects, artists, leaders - basically a diverse group of people from many fields to talk about their work and how it fits into the bigger global picture.
Charlie says it sounds elitist to him: In response, Chris points out that it is indeed expensive, at $6000 a person to attend, but that the content is available on the internet for free. He touches on some of the speakers that have graced the TED stage including Craig Venter’s interesting research on creating synthetic lifeforms. Craig’s work could solve the energy crisis and global warming -more on that here. Chris also mentioned the Google founder’s talk several years ago, where Sergei Brin and Larry page talked about their company.
Charlie asked about the TED prize, which Chris explained as not just a $100,000 award for the recipient to make his/her wish come true, it is also the commitment and assistance from others in the TED community that makes things happen. They cut to a video showing E.O Wilson’s TED wish for the Encyclopaedia of Life; Chris mention that it would be unveiled in march. Here is a link to the EOL site.
Chris mentions some of the speakers and TED Prize winners lined up for TED2008, Dave Eggers, Neil Turok - A physicist who is setting up an institution for science in Africa…and Karen Armstrong. More info here.
Charlie Wilson brings up JJ Abrams; (creator of popular TV shows Lost and Alias) and they cut to a video of JJ’s talk. Chris explains that JJ’s talk centered around the role of mystery/hiding in cinema, a technique used by the likes of Spielberg (You never saw the shark in the movie ‘Jaws’ till the very end.) They discuss a bit more on the mission of TED being ‘Ideas worth spreading’, and Chris notes that its about seeing ideas take shape, and in the coming years actually see the ideas in practice.
Charlie asks “Why 18 minutes long?” - Because it is long enough not to be trivia, but short enough to hold your attention. This reminded me of Andrew Mwenda at TED Global last year who said; that a TED talk should be like a miniskirt - “long enough to cover the important parts and short enough to maintain interest”. Moving along…
Chris talked about how the lives of the speakers at TED are transformed. Their work; which they have often been doing over many years without much exposure, gets recognized and becomes widely known. The example of Hans Rosling’s talk which has now been watched by more that a million and half people around the world.
Chris also talked about the teaching profession and how the broadband and video revolution is redefining this role. He feels that we shall continue to see an explosion of knowledge that is far reaching.
Charlie asked Chris about 3 people who changed his life, and Chris responded
- His editor when he was a journalist showed him the importance of passion and enthusiasm for good work. Adding emotional richness to experiences is important and that is why they include musicians and artists as part of TED (I am paraphrasing!)
- Jonathan Haidt, the author of ‘The Happiness Hypothesis’
Charlie wraps it up and asks about the dates of TED2008 - Feb 27th - March 1st. Chris mentions some of the big questions anchoring the conference this year…a full list from the TED site include…
Who are we?
What is our place in the universe?
What is life?
Is beauty truth?
Will evil prevail?
How can we change the world?
How do we create?
What’s out there?
What will tomorrow bring?
What stirs us?
How dare we be optimistic?
And the point?
0:07 Well, when I started blogging I never thought a video of me talking at a panel was part of the deal, its quite strange watching yourself and getting self conscious about the whole thing. OMG mom! I am on the equivalent of TV! Lame lines aside; Erik has the video, I cant get myself to embed the video on my blog yet. I feel like Mike, that i could have done more. Some of the things I mentioned might seem a bit esoteric, so i will add some links and mention a few things i think i should have included at the panel.
OLPC: This computer has been the subject of discussions with Erik, Steve, JKE, Maitha and others for awhile now, several years actually. Erik’s post in 2005, my post in 2006 and even more recently regarding the keyboard design. It seems like we have lived through the project since it was a concept to its current reality. My thoughts on it have fluctuated, from the posts I wrote in the past, I was really gung ho about the thing. I still am on some level, as I do appreciate that I wouldn’t be where I am, were it not for access to computers (and power actually) during my formative years. This is what i wanted to say…
I was listening to the digital planet podcast (11/26) where they had a correspondent attend the launch of the OLPC in Abuja, Nigeria. You could hear the excitement and enthusiasm in the children’s voices as they spoke of what they would do with the OLPC. It was a great moment. Now to the questions that started popping into my head like Orville Redenbachers microwave popcorn. When Gareth Mitchell was talking to Bill Thompson, they mentioned how they attended the OLPC launch in Tunis and how a child was crying because they’d been given an OLPC to play with for a time, then it was taken away. That was not a good moment, rather sad really, that kid is probably traumatized right now wherever he or she may be. I mean isn’t that just a little cruel? I know i would wail like a banshee if i was in her shoes. The discussion segued into what it would mean for the children to have a laptop that they would call their own. This got me wondering, that perhaps one of the unintended consequences of the OLPC project is that it would enhance the idea of ‘mine’ rather than ‘ours’. In modern Africa do the age old African values of community and sharing still apply? Would the OLPC idea chip away at the ‘utu’, that is a societal benchmark? Is the Ndiyo project a better thought out model for computer literacy, what with the idea of USB thin clients that I am already a fan of?
I should add that I think the Ndiyo model of networked computing could be well suited for school situations. This is because of two reasons.
1. Cost - The class sizes in Kenya increased owing to the free primary schooling offered by the government. Having a networked model enables more students to get basic computer literacy, as they can share the computer lab resources. This is particularly apt i think because the OLPC project was geared towards schools in the developing world.
2. This i already mentioned above…the idea of ‘my laptop’. The OLPC can be shared between students…but if you have a class of 30 children and 28 OLPC’s someone will undoubtedly get disappointed.On the other hand, as Steve mentioned in the post on OLPC Keyboard..i will reiterate his comment here, because i think its very important.
Some thoughts: you ask “Maybe I am looking at this all wrong, Is Negroponte pimping the ‘education project’ in pursuit of…what?”. Well, maybe the answer is indeed in plain sight. Maybe he just wants to provide technology access to the masses like he keeps telling us he wants to.
And here is another thought for you: if the OLPC team did indeed go to Nigeria to look for inspiration for the design of the product, it is heartening that they are looking to the populations that will actually use these products for design and usability clues instead of sitting in Boston or LA or wherever and saying “hey, thats what the kids/world/users/consumers need”.
I have in the last month or so found myself increasingly frustrated with this attitude to design and product creation when I have to “fix” my computer for my 4 year old who wants to use it but cannot understand why in the world Windows keeps doing stuff and getting in his way.
Find out what your users need and want and give it to them. End of story.
Though i haven’t had a chance to play with the OLPC, I am sure its a fine product. From Steve’s comment i think the OLPC should just be marketed as a low cost computer for those interested to buy for their children/themselves, and not specifically geared towards governments purchasing them for schools. The Give one Get one campaign was nice…but how were the ‘given’ laptops distributed? What rationale? I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I think that at a price like $100 how about seeing some free-market action going on in Africa? That is a whole other AID Vs TRADE debate right there.
On the power to charge OLPC: There is a larger question of power in Africa, which i won’t get into right now (though i will in the coming weeks) For a glimpse of the opportunity, Idris Mohammed mentioned the great opportunity in power generation during last years’ TEDGlobal. More here, and whenever his talk is posted, it will be on the TED site here. Erik did mention that there is a cranking device that can be used to power the OLPC, and browsing the power supply tab on OLPC news shows some novel and innovative approaches to solving the power problem. From a cow dynamo to something i like…the OLPC solar mesh repeater.
OUTSOURCING:
The company i referred to in the video is called Verviant. It is based in Nairobi and helps small to medium sized businesses in the East Coast of US to maximize on limited IT budgets. In speaking with Onesmus Kamau of Verviant, he indicated that the company was able to deploy a video management system that will save their client $500,000. It is but one example of the opportunity in outsourcing web development, database management, and software development in general. This infoworld article (albeit a few months old) mentions the hot spots for this being Ghana, Egypt, South Africa and Rwanda. I would also recommend watching Carol Pineau’s movie ‘Africa Open for Business’ if you haven’t already. The blogger Nii Simmonds, who will be speaking at SXSW writes about business in Africa,including outsourcing. His blog ‘Nubian Cheetah’ is a good resource, as is Emeka Okafor’s Timbuktu Chronicles. The PSD blog is also another good resource…(links to other outsourcing references are quite welcome, do chime in on the comments)
Mobile Phone Tech: I think between Mike, and Erik we covered this o.k. A sim card/chip costs less than a dollar…and the phone with a flashlight that I was referring to in the video looks like this.
On cell phone reach, here is one example of celtel’s reach illustrated in a post from a Zambian economist. My little screed last year about the iphone hints at the fact that i totally love the fact that you can choose whichever carrier you like when in Kenya/most parts of Africa. Its just a matter of switching sim cards and not having to worry about whether your phone will work or not. Most if not all the handsets in Kenya are unlocked.
On the parting shot: Customization and allowing for grassroots creativity. I wanted to mention that this idea is illustrated best by Chris Nikolson,in an NYT article, and context was added by one of my favourite bloggers ‘African Uptimist. Please see this post. It has some great examples that show how the idea (a strategic one at that) is implemented in the field. I felt like my brain had some speedbumps and for some reason Chris Nikolson’s name completely disappeared from my head. I think his quote is so important, let me amplify it again here if I may…
The best results are achieved when you move with the natural flow of grassroots creativity. Often, this means abandoning or suppressing preconceived notions, and building on spontaneous and creative adaptations of the new technology by local people to meet their needs.
One more link…Guy Lundy’s ‘Future Fit’ - An African futurist to watch.
18:53 
Deadline for this is March 31st.
“The Women’s World Summit Foundation (WWSF) invites nominations for its 15th annual prize for women’s creativity in rural life, honouring creative and courageous women and women’s organisations working to improve the quality of life in rural communities around the world.”
The nominations guidelines are posted on the WWSF site, do look through and nominate someone you know that deserves the award. For African organizations the prize is $3000 and for laureates its $500.
Hat tip Solana!
Something that might be of interest to US and Canada readers with teens in the house…
“HERO is looking for 20 students (ages 16-19) from across the US and Canada to be selected as 2008 HERO Youth Ambassadors. Students chosen will travel to Africa in 2008. The deadline to apply for HERO is March 1, 2008.”
More information on the program can be found on the BeingGirl website.
15:45 Shashank of ‘Somewhere in Nairobi’ tagged me in the meme that is ‘My week in Media’. Some of the longtime readers of this blog might know that I have a healthy appreciation, perhaps a sort of admiration of journalists around the world. Its probably because I just want a Thuraya Satellite phone like the ones they often carry with them.
Shashank’s blog is one of my favorites, i remember laughing hard at the post God and Warlords’ - i.e comb through his archives. You can read the pieces that appear in McClatchy newspapers here.
Sara Nics, who is a journalism trainer in Nairobi spoke with John Keating about the challenges of reporting on conflict. It gives you a glimpse on the situation the Kenyan media find themselves, the problem of media credibility the internal struggle with editors beholden to owners close to the politicians, and the changes in workplace interaction.
I think Journalist-bloggers like Shashank, Rob Crilly, Sara Nics, Nick Wadhams, vigilante journalist etc, fill an important gap for Kenyan readers and bloggers who want the news straight up, and perhaps are not hamstrung by the current conflict, the way Kenyan journalists are. Reading the online editions of Nation media group and The Standard can be frustrating at times. They do not update their online editions as the news happens, and i often find myself checking BBC for latest information. By and large Kenya is a newspaper reading nation, but i do hope that one day we can also read more blogs by the noted Kenyan journalists to get their viewpoints and a glimpse ‘behind the scenes’ as they go about reporting.
Boy did i digress…o.k on to the tag.
What I’ve read:
The Best of Technology Writing 2007, edited by Steven Levy.
A quick review i did of it last year:
“Excellent collection of tech writing. The piece on Natalie Jeremijenko was fascinating, and Farhad Manjoo can make net neutrality debate and AT&T’s ‘corporate toll on the internet’ read like an engaging conversation he is having with you. Joshua Davis as usual is superb writing about the DARPA challenge in the Mojave desert. If i recall correctly, Sebastian Thrun’s team won the challenge this yr. A dose of humour from Phillip Smith with ‘The worst date ever for an Apple tech’. Dont read this book before going to bed, your brain will get all atwitter and you wont be able to nod off. Its a great book for long airplane rides, substitute all the magazines you carry with you with this wonderful anthology. You will likely smile, go ‘hmm’, and probably do a ‘thinking man’ pose ala’ Rodin”
Currently reading P.J. O’Rourke On The Wealth of Nations. Fave bit so far…”It was almost as though Smith, having proved that we can all have more money, then proved that money doesn’t buy happiness. And it doesn’t. It rents it.”
What I’ve watched
Not much telly, though i try to catch the Daily show and The Boondocks. A repeat of Gorillaz concert in Harlem on MHD channel has me transfixed each time. I watch all of it anytime its on. When i was in Kenya, I really enjoyed K24, and in happier times, couldn’t help but watch ‘Cobra Squad’ - I still want a t-shirt from that show.
What I’ve listened to:
Nothing new really, some of the ones i am digging are
Habib Koite’s Afriki it is probably one of my favourite CD’s from 2007.
Sia - 
Don’t be fooled by the album cover a friend looked at it and worriedly asked “Is she a 3 year old?” nope. Her music was described in last month’s wired mag as “…feisty, airy crowd pleaser of Jazzy electro-pop”. I just think her sound is cool.
What I’ve surfed:
Mostly Kenyan news, through Standard, Nation Media, blogs - which are aggregated and displayed on the global voices special coverage page for Kenya. When things get heavy and i need a mental break, I canhasCheezburger, milk and cookies, Bongo music on You tube (Bongo is a genre of music from Kenya’s Neighbor Tanzania - melodic, and fun to listen to. check out Cinderella, and Na Wewe tu.)
6:36 
The TED Africa conference in Capetown South Africa, promises to build on the magic of TED Global 2007. The concept for this years’ conference makes that quite clear.
What if Africa had no borders? What if her boundaries extended as far as those living in the diaspora, or even further? What if you could fly directly from Cape to Cairo, Lagos to Luanda, Bujumbura to Abuja? Or what if you could drive to every city and every town and every village? What if the Internet was a reality for every African? What if you could call the world from atop the Kilimanjaro, or from deep in the forests of the Congo? What if a lingua franca was spoken and understood by every African? What if we could halve the number of poor Africans by 2015, or eradicate poverty altogether someday? What if there was a cure for every disease and the average African could live beyond the age of 33? What if Africa embraced innovative thinking, and in the process, reinvented her future?
I would recommend registering early for this exciting event, and if interested in the African Fellows program, to apply for it as soon as possible. There are 50 fellowships available this year.
16:15 I am honored to have been part of the Africa Panel at DEMO 08 which happened yesterday. Erik and Mike did an awesome job of blogging about the sessions. My sincere thanks to Chris Shipley and Erica Lee for having us.
There were so many interesting exhibitors, you can explore a full list and find more information about the cool stuff that launched. I will highlight just a few of the products and services that stood out for me.
The first one is Green Plug - A charger that can be used for multiple devices. Their tag line is “One plug, one planet”. Think of the many chargers you have to carry with you, and when you abandon a device, that charger ends up in a landfill somewhere. The Green plug eliminates the need to carry multiple chargers. The small chip pictured here makes it all happen.
Asankya Hypermesh Network
Forget the current OSPF and BGP routing of packets, this company optimises content delivery by in their own words…
…Using a breakthrough technique for transporting packets over multiple network paths, it enables delivery of real-time content consistently and at a high quality over the Internet.
It is geared towards ISP’s and larger content delivery companies, but from their demo it seems their products could useful for those building new networks and want higher quality video delivery than is currently being offered. I thought of the now delayed EASSYproject that would have brought fibre optic backbone to Kenya…:( and to step back to something i had written last year about building network of networks, in time, it would be great to revisit how this new technology could help in low bandwidth areas or in new network systems being implemented in Africa.
Celsias
“Cooling the planet one project at a time”
Celsias is all about doing something practical to reduce climate change
On Celsias, you can read a widely-recognized climate change blog, review practical projects from all over the world and meet the coolest people who share your passion for stopping human-induced global warming. If you want to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty, register on the site, create a project, then recruit people or funding to get your project off the ground.
I think i may have taken too many pics, you can browse through them on this flickr set.
16:04 Before leaving Kenya, i met with other bloggers in the Bloggers for Kenya initiative, where we ordered items for delivery to the red cross. On friday the 18th, the day that we were to deliver it, there was fracas in town and we could not make the delivery. (Afew pics i took are posted here) However, the great team at mamamikes and other volunteers were still able to make arrangements to deliver the items worth $3220(!) to the Red Cross. They also made a visit to Nakuru on the 19th and wrote about the experience on this post. This was before the current flare up of violence, so you can imagine how the situation has deteriorated further. We are all sickened by this mess. Thank you again to all the bloggers and friends who donated and continue to donate to alleviate the suffering in Kenya.
I was also able to meet with Charles, one of the writers in Kwani. The Kwani blog is here, where the writers in the collective are putting into words the sorrow we feel at the turn Kenya has taken. If there is one thing that gives me hope its the conversations between the people our age. Be it in Mamamike’s office when Segeni asked us ‘How do you feel?’ to the chat i had with Charles before rushing to the airport. We cannot begin to quantify the losses in Kenya, moreso the optimism and hope we had for our country. I like many of you…i am at a loss for words.
The Global voices special coverage page for Kenya has been aggregating bloggers posts relating to the aftermath of elections in Kenya. Its a resource that Ndesanjo, Solana and the team at Global Voices put together. I got back from Kenya and just got busy updating the reblog and it slipped my mind to give you a heads up about it.
As noted earlier by KP and Erik, the Ushahidi blog is up. Please continue to send us information and we will keep putting it up on the site. A timeline of the crisis has been developed by Nick and David.
Sometime last year we had a conversation with KP about using twitter to monitor the elections, and we both got rather swamped with other stuff to put the idea in practice. I still feel like there is an opportunity to use twitter in future elections and create an aggregator of tweets from each constituency (Imagine the transparency) We live and learn. There is a good post here about twitter’s potential in Africa by the TEDster and developer Soyapi. After attending DEMO, i will revisit this so we can discuss how we can use ‘microblogging’ and other tools not only to deal with the current crisis in Kenya, but to expand citizen journalism. Like Segeni asked…How do you feel? It is outlets such as blogs etc, that can help (in a small way) to express our feelings…but in a constructive manner. Like Erik says, we can do better. We can chose to fight the vitriol with constructive dialogue and peace efforts, and moreso humanitarian assistance. Note: The Red Cross site now has a google checkout. When the crisis first started it was prohibitive for many to pay wire transfer fees and thus mamamikes really helped helped facilitate donations. They still continue to do so via their homepage. Either way there are options for Kenyans in the diaspora to help our fellow Kenyans in dire need.
5:30 
Please text incident reports to 6007, kindly include the location where you are texting from. The information will appear on Ushahidi.com. Kindly pass this along to everyone in Kenya, particularly in the rural areas. By and large coverage of the situation in Nairobi is extensive, but we need information from the rest of Kenya as well. Thank you for your support.
6:54 Thank you to our dear blogger friends for supporting Kenya, and for spreading the word on the ‘Support Kenyans in Distress’ campaign with Mamamikes.com
Georgia of Caribbean Free Radio
African Loft
Kikuyu Moja
As the Mamamikes blog updates, the amount is exceeding $1900.
May i reiterate the thanks to the following people….
Omolo, Kuria, Kimura, Nyokabi, Miaud, Edgerton, Monyo, Kimeria, Dsouza, Kangethe, Muthoni, Coseac, Barbieri, Patel, Jabbar, Mann, Warungongo, Wairimu, Juergen, Njoroge, Laurance, Wanja, Wambui, Romanos, Lutz, Popplewell, Walsh, Kamau
Thank you to the following Kenyan Bloggers for committing their time to volunteer on the 17th.
M of Thinkers Room
Bankelele
Josiah Mugambi of Skunkworks and Mission Driven
Mentalacrobatics
The list is growing, so if you are a kenyan blogger/blog reader in Nairobi, please leave a comment if you can make it. we understand the situation might be tenuous but we hope it will be calm on Thursday. If you have any questions please feel free to send me an email, afromusing at gmail dot com
Date: Thursday January 17th 2008
Location: Mamamikes office - Kingsway Hse opposite Nairobi Outpatient Center on Muindi Mbingu Street
Time: 5pm
PS: Ushahidi Update: Local number to report an incident is +254 711 862 149 6007
5:49 
Mamamikes’ donation page is now live. When you click on the homepage, you now have an option to purchase vouchers for Kenyans in Distress. The food and supplies bought will be distributed by the Red Cross to the various parts of Kenya that have been affected by post election violence. This is another way to help and it can save you on wiring costs associated with direct Bank Transfers to the Red Cross. Even without advertising, Mamamikes has already received $300, worth of donated vouchers. (Thank you to that Kind Soul wherever you are)
Update: The amount received so far is now $1000 (thank you!)
For your $10 voucher a package with the following items is purchased for the Red Cross.
-3litres of cooking oil,2kgs of rice and slippers
-2kgs of unga,5litres of water and a pair of shoes
-sanitary products,2kg unga and 2kg of rice
Vouchers are available in the amounts of $15, $20, $25, $50, $75, and you can buy as many as you are able to.
Bloggers for Kenya
This week we would like to appeal to all bloggers, friends of bloggers, wannabe bloggers, diaspora kenyans, Tedsters, treehuggers, geeks, nerds, boingboingers, worldchangers…you get the idea, to give what they can using Mamamikes’ donation page. On Thursday the 17th of January the bloggers in Nairobi will meet at the mamamikes office, assist in purchasing all the items and delivering them to the Red Cross.
Parliament opens tomorrow and there are some rallies planned later in the week, therefore depending on the situation, we will still shoot for Thursday to deliver the items to Red Cross. If for one reason or another the situation is too unstable on Thursday, we will reschedule and let you know. For now, please post about this and tag your posts with ‘Bloggers for Kenya’.
Hope In Jamhuri Park
With all the feelings of helplessness many feel at the current situation; what with failed mediation attempts, fears of more instability as Parliament opens tomorrow, the secondary trauma of watching news of your country being torn apart; perhaps the only thing that can keep Kenyans (here and in the diaspora) sane is doing something to assist the displaced. I have since learned the acronym IDP (Internally Displaced Person), something that aid workers such as Mr. Arunga who works in Darfur, and diplomats in Africa are familiar with…Now the acronym is being used to describe the people camped in various shelters in Kenya.
One such place is Jamhuri Park, Nairobi. I joined Martin and Cynthia of Mamamikes on a visit to Jamhuri Park to see first hand the plight of Internally Displaced persons. It was heart-rending, and very surreal. We could not believe that this was happening in our country, but left with a bit of hope in our hearts as we saw the work of other volunteers, the Red Cross, St. John’s Ambulance Service and even the police/military. Martin and Cynthia have written about the experience here. I will only add some pictures from our day, as they have wonderfully captured everything i wanted to mention in the post. Thank you!
Queues to get food
Queue for health care by St. Johns Ambulance Services
Red Cross
Ahmed’s red cross Jacket. He usually works in Isiolo, but came to Jamhuri Park to help with the tracing activities. I.e figuring out who are the lost children, photographing them, and tracing their relatives.
Soccer with the children
Kevin (the little boy) talks to Victone of the Red Cross,who is part of the tracing team that will try to locate and reunite Kevin with his family.
Children gathered for a bit of entertainment in the afternoon.
Volunteers entertaining the children with song and dance
Watching and listening…
The whole set of photos from the day is here.
3:12 Note: Images posted on www.Ushahidi.com.
Disclaimer: The following images are gruesome and disturbing. The humanitarian crisis is real and dire. Complete set of photos taken in Kakamega by Mr. Arunga are available here. The images include shots of the police station, showing the displaced taking refuge there, burning shops, vandalized petrol station and burned car.
Onlookers and concerned citizens around the body of 24 yr old James Odhiambo, who was killed in the post election violence in Lurambi - Junction on the way to Shikoti, Kakamega, western province, Kenya. The gentleman in white (Brian) on the right worked with James at the petrol station as attendants and witnessed the shooting.
Close up of the bullet wound on the body of 24 yr old James Odhiambo. According to eye witnesses, he was walking to work when he met the GSU paramilitary. Mr. Odhiambo continued to walking towards towards the GSU as he thought he could talk to them and find out what is happening. According to eyewitnesses, he was shot without even though he was not violent or doing anything that would indicate he would be a threat to the GSU. The witnesses tried to contact the police so they could come and pick up the body, but the police said that they did not have fuel for the vehicle. As of the writing of this post, the late James Odhiambo was buried yesterday in Homa Bay, Nyanza province. Brian and other friends from the area traveled to Homa Bay to comfort the family. If you would like to help the family directly, please do not hesitate to contact Brian Oluoch at +254 724 912015. Mr. Odhiambo was the sole breadwinner for his family…Any contributions towards their well being is appreciated.
Pictures were taken by Mr.Michael Arunga, who works for World Vision in Darfur, and was on holiday at the time. He witnessed the burning of a kikuyu owned property, as shown in this photo.
**The decision to post the pictures here and to tell this story is partly because the pictures were sent to editors of newspapers in Kenya, they did not run them or cover the story. As people try to get back to ‘normal’ life around the country, it is important to remember that there is no normal for a lot of people in Kenya.
9:15 Note: Global Voices Online has a special coverage page that aggregrates posts relating to the post election aftermath, based on Hash’s list of blogs.
www.Ushahidi.com
Upload pictures, video and report incidents of violence in Kenya.
sms your incident to +44 762 480 2635 once a local number in Kenya is set up we will be sure to update you.
Email tips@ushahidi.com
Online Petitions (Doubts on effectiveness aside, it might make you feel a little better)
Gopetition published by Coalition of Kenyans and Allies for Democracy, for Kibaki to Step Down
Avaaz.org for international friends.
Let’s send a wave of messages to our own leaders, asking them to hold off until agreement is reached and the results are independently reviewed: fill out the form below and your foreign minister’s details will automatically be entered - then personalise the message, or just hit send:
Click here.
Donations:
The blog Sukuma Kenya has a paypal donate button.
Mama mikes is working on a donation page where you will be able to donate specific packages to the red cross. Once its live i will be sure to update you. You can still send credit and other forms of assistance to family members at any time.
9:01 This is a video i recorded last Thursday before leaving Eldoret. It has been included on the Ushahidi website, and i urge others who have pictures, video or text to please upload them
We converse in Swahili and English, where i asked a few questions and he was kind to oblige. Many thanks to Wilson for his candor and for giving me permission to share his thoughts with you.
5:25 Update: 5:45 pm Nairobi Time.
The Mamamikes crew are working to catch up with the orders placed, some of them were stuck in various parts of the country and just made it back yesterday. Most of the orders to Eldoret and various parts of the country are being processed now. Thanks.
I left Eldoret yesterday, with a heavy and broken heart. As much as i wanted to stay and write about what was going on there, i needed to get back to Nairobi and get back to work on my Global Voices gig.
First, this is the link to Kenya Red Cross and you can donate here.
I kept snapping pictures on my way out. This is of a Red Cross Truck heading into town, as we were leaving towards the airport. This was a good sign and a ray of hope.
The Kobil on the right only had diesel available, no petrol, same case with National Oil, just a few miles ahead.
The airport is operational. Saw remnants of a roadblock on the way.
From a chat with the former Councilor of Eldoret: There were attempts by religious leaders to convene a peace meeting yesterday, but this did not happen. The hurt and divide inflicted by events of the past several days may be too great to bridge over. It will take time and a concerted effort.
On what can be done: Donate to the Red Cross, which has a Uasin Gishu office. Happened to take a picture of the signpost…
I had ordered some credit using mamamikes on the 1st of January, but still haven’t received it as of today. Like KP said, Safaricom and Celltel need to enable online recharge of airtime so that the diaspora and even Kenyans in Nairobi can purchase airtime for others. My aunt who uses MPESA said it was a godsend and will always keep money for emergencies. This is because MPESA can be used to send airtime/money to yourself and others.
Because of the hurdles encountered using either MPESA (their offices were closed) and Mamamikes, i would suggest that if you would like to Sambaza credit and have an immediate impact, you can send it to The Chairman of Kenya Red Cross Eldoret - Advocate Birech 0722 82 8484, who will distribute it to those affected and aid in the Kenya Red Cross effort in Eldoret. For international readers and diaspora, the link for donations to Red Cross should work, though will update you with more information as it becomes available.
Airlines operating out of Eldoret are
Aero Kenya
Jetlink - cant find website, but these are the numbers i have for Jetlink - 020827531, 020244285 and 0720 608 608
Fly540
Anyone with other avenues of assisting is welcome to comment. Thank you.
11:07 With the situation in Kenya getting even more tense, you realise that it will be awhile before the country recovers. Sadly, when a life is lost, there is a hole left gaping in the hearts of family, friends and even a whole nation.
*Sat in on an interview with Martin Keino of Keino Sports Marketing and Tim of Reuters. Martin had just come back from a meeting to make arrangements for the funeral of Lukas Sang. The funeral will be next saturday the 12th at Kuinet farm. This post is based on the information from the interview.
Lukas Sang was an olympic sprinter who represented Kenya in the olympics in 1988 and 1992, he retired in 1995. He was a tall imposing man, well known in Eldoret for his role in Administration of Athletics as an official, and also as an influential member of the cereal growers association.
What Happened: He was in a car with other people when they went to help a colleague. He was caught up in the rioting that was reported yesterday, and he was hit by a rock on the head. His driver was badly hurt but managed to get away, and later Lukas’s body was found in a slum - Burned. Part of how they were able to identify that it was indeed him was a piece of his tracksuit on the ground. Even worse, is the fact that a dog partly ate his arm.
With the fracas happening at night, no one knows who is who, and it appears he may have been at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The deaths of people around the country is senseless. Its costs are inumerable and the sooner the leaders resolve this crisis, the better. When Kenya loses an athlete, we lose a piece of our face to the world.
Any message of condolences left on this post will be forwarded to the family. Thank you.
7:47 Today is an even sadder day. I am trying to keep my tears in check…but cant. Town was quiet in an eery, uneasy way. The hopelessness is palpable and the sadness in people’s eyes is overwhelming. Some streets are deserted, shops are closed and Eldoret as we knew it is gone.
There is an appeal for blood donations at Moi Referral and Teaching hospital
There were funeral arrangements being made for Lukas Sang, an athlete who was burned.I do not have all the details yet, but will update once i get more info.
What is Eldoret without Paul’s Bakery?
For many of the displaced, this was the only home they knew. where have they gone, and will they be able to return?
- Mr. Limo of Limo House Hospital, and a leader in the area; taped a peace message to air on Sayare TV station (The ban on live broadcasts is not helping, because the peace appeals need to be heard and seen as many channels as possible) Cant listen to local radio. How can we listen to music at this time?!
- Fewer people at the cathedral on Uganda road.
- Shortage of vegetables
- Airtime is expensive - double the amount actually. For Ksh100 worth of airtime it will cost you Ksh200
Watching the news, seeing the military on the streets of Nairobi…this has got to end. We can never ever talk of normal again. Their is no normal. Stability? Of what sort? Honestly, i am afraid to say what i think on this blog as I will be in Kenya for a few more days. Whatever little hope I had that our country could rise to the greatness it was on a cusp off…is dwindling. AG Wako’s call for retallying of the votes (as seen on NTV afew hrs ago), seems like an avenue to be explored immediately. Kenya is on the brink, Kivuitu, ECK and the Kibaki Govt need to ask themselves…to what end is all this? Till when? and How? If you anyone of them calls themselves a Kenyan, a retallying of the votes, a lift on the live broadcast ban, and immediate resolution of this state of affairs is needed. Anything else is just denial, excuses and cowardice. Stand up, lead and save our beloved country. People have lives to get back to. Work, school, businesses…How is that ever possible when sections of the country are unpassable? Will we have to get different ID’s for every tribe possible? It just isn’t sustainable, its madness.
Let me stop here…Be safe, and God Save Kenya.
12:36 - Where to begin?! Perhaps the basics
-Town itself was calm today.
- Fuel available today,
- uchumi and other supermarkets open. Credit also available in Uchumi though restricted to 400 shillings worth per person. MPESA/safaricom office was closed.
- Food availability is so-so, bananas being sold, some kiosks open.
- Airport operational, actually there was alot of air activity today, saw many small planes, military choppers heading to old eld airport. If you want to charter an aircraft it could cost over $7000. To leave today, you would pay Ksh 15000, next available flights probably saturday or beyond and can cost between ksh 6500 or Ksh 6800 (Jetlink and fly540) - One way to NBI. It is jam packed there.
- Convoy of cars and buses left from the police station…probably Nairobi bound. Heard that people were being airlifted, but cant confirm this for sure.
-Whatever you have to do, you do it during the day before 5pm.
- Word is if you are driving, cant get past Naivasha if you are from western (i.e not kikuyu) cant confirm this though.
- Friends (of different tribes btw) were stuck in a place called Ndalat for 2 days, not able to get through because of roadblocks at one point escaped death from machetes (gosh this is terrible). These are not conventional roadblocks, they are manned by desperate youth who ask for your id, and also for money. There is a guy who parted with ksh1500 between town and the airport.
-Friends telling a kikuyu friend pole (sorry) because his house was burned. The thing is the people doing the burning are not even known to the people in the area, they are coming in from other places. I feel sick about this whole mess, cant even get myself to type the tribes kikuyu, kalenjin etc when typing this post. people are people. Because we are supposed to be ONE KENYA, this is shocking and utterly…shit, i cant find the word.
I have to go…
more pics here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/afropicmusing/sets/72157603613781227/
4:08 Click on this picture for more shots from yesterday and this morning.
2:52 - hi everyone, in Eldy, lots of tension though it has eased as it is daylight now, some people sought refuge in churches and police station last night and are still there this a.m saw some people carrying their belongings, will upload pics shortly if i can.
Yesterday, saw a mob of youth >300 crossing through farms, walking in a single file line. They later walked back after a few hrs.
Later in Kapsoya there were screams and people milling around.
-Just received an SMS from Safaricom that reads
“The ministry if Internal security urges you to please desist from sending or forwarding any SMS that may cause public unrest. This may lead to your prosecution”
-Continued media ban on live broadcasts
-Houses were burned in the last two days, things seem calmer now, though in Langas, people are still fighting and supposedly even more killed last night. Talked to a guy who lives there, says the leaders need to come there, one rep of the following languages: Luhya, Kalenjin, Kikuyu, put up a white flag and appeal for peace. “Radio appeals do nothing to calm that particular part of Eldoret”. In addition people’s heads are supposedly lying about and it is terrible.
-Govt spokesman’s words seem very hollow considering the situation on the ground. Long queues at Uchumi in Eldoret, some parts of town completely deserted.
-No fuel.
-I think Eldoret airport is still operational (as of confirmation yesterday)
-ATM’s still working though - Barclays on Uganda Road.
4:41 
Here are some shots i took yesterday at a few polling stations around Eldoret.It was so hot, but people braved the heat and queued in order to vote. By and large it went smoothly in some stations, though in the hospital ward, it was quite inefficient with lines snaking around the corner. There was alittle tear gas in the air from fracas on the previous day but people still soldiered on.
I am a bit bleary eyed as we were camped around the radio after the fuel for the generator ran out. Cant do live updates, been checking
KenyanPundit
and
Mentalacrobatics
on my cell phone.
Twittered the elections a little and will add more periodically during the day
[twitter.com]
Btw - Nicholas Biwott is out in Kerio south
- Peris Chepchumba elected as MP Eldoret South despite intimidation and insults from men
Other women in Rift Valley made it through and might constitute a chunk of women MPs in the next parliament.
5:31 Odds and Ends
Before i head upcountry and not have much in the way of internet access here are a few observations.
In as much as the country is in the grip of elections with incendiary sms from phone to phone; and tribal tensions appear to be escalating, I noticed that there are messages promoting peace and unity during the elections; in likely places - church, and unlikely, sms messages confirming that a recharge of airtime is successful.
Church - Attended a service where the pastor called for one person from different parts of the country (rift-valley, coast, north eastern, western etc) to come to the front of the church. He also called for people from other parts of Africa and the rest of the world to join in. A lady from the netherlands was present i think… They held hands as he prayed for the country, reminding everyone that even after the elections, we will live together in peace.
SMS - When recharging safaricom airtime, the confirmation text reads something along the lines of
“The recharge is successful.Chagua amani zuia noma (choose peace, avoid violence/disturbance)”
The electoral commission of Kenya has done a good job of running ads promoting voter turnout. other organizatons such as Eric wainaina’s Umoja Pamoja also run ads appealing to young people to vote for young MP’s and progressive leaders.
KJ - John Kiarie is a popular performance artist who decided to get into the political game, running for the Dagoretti parliamentary seat on an ODM ticket. He has a facebook group and a website too. I think his run for parliament shows an interesting Intersection of art, politics and Tech. Many aspirants have websites and facebook groups too, but his is probably most interesting to watch because he is witty and really speaks for young kenyans. With his humour and style he is purported to have said - very rough translation
“Siku ya Kura nataka kusisikia Kiarie! Kiarie! Kiarie!, Mugo and Raila!, Raila!, Raila!, Kibaki” Alluding to the percentage/number of votes for the ODM candidate vs PNU come election day. I think he was courageous to take chance on young people despite the danger to his life (He was hospitalized last month after being attacked by people suspected to have been paid by his rivals)
There are huge billboards everywhere you look, the most numerous being those of President Kibaki in a nice suit, blue background and the words “Kazi iendelee” I have seen a couple ‘Adopt a light’s with ads for Kalonzo. Paper posters are pasted on electricity poles, telephone poles, kiosk doors and even trees. Some have been ripped off and new posters placed, it does not look good 
There is a general feeling of disorganization, which can be felt from the moment you get off the plane. (see Josiah Mugambi’s post, KP’s woes with luggage, and Shashank’s post on parking) things just seem off. Its disconcerting because in June when I was here…I loved how efficiently the luggage was handled, and the CBD was just nice. Once this election is over i hope Nairobi can revert back to the beautiful city it was.
NTV has been posting clips from the news, so for diaspora kenyans wanting to stay in the loop, do check it out. Uploading a video is a tortourous task, so i wont even try.
Happened to watch the new TV channel K24 ‘All Kenyan All the Time’. I liked it alot, the styling for the intro shows Kenyan people in different areas, usual day to day task such as a woman washing clothes, a woman on a boda boda etc. It appears its focus will be on local content (writing this offline so cant check for more info, GIYF though). Jeff Koinange interviewed the Director of Kenya Wildlife Service, Kipngetich about the work he does. Excellent, engaging and more so, quite pertinent. The talked abit about the Amboseli ownership drama, which i have to dig for more info on..there is some ownership dispute i think Director Kipngetich laid out the strategy for KWS; it included focus on people and Ecology. Kipngetich is an impressive guy, and just from talking to a diverse cross section of Kenyans, most of them agree that he is doing an excellent job at KWS - He will probably help KWS reposition itself in a manner that will maximize the tourism dollars and increase growth in that industry.
Thank you for reading my blog - I wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season, a stupendous year ahead and…wimax. Santa you hear that?!
*sorry i didn’t include all relevant links. (For NTV just search for tags, kenya, politics, ntv and you should be all set)
4:55 It is 6 days to election day in Kenya. Kenyanpundit has been giving a glimpse of the atmosphere in Nairobi; Read more here, here and here.
I spoke with a young web designer by the name of Amanya about his thoughts on the presidential candidates and their commitment to ICT in Kenya. A few minutes into the conversation i decided to record it, and he was gracious enough to let me. In the video, Amanya points out the disconnect between the leaders and the youth. The fact that the youth have embraced technology and internet, yet the leaders are still talking about polytechnics which provide skills training but not the computer literacy needed to compete in the age of globalization and digital pervasiveness.
You might notice that while i was talking to him he had a cellphone, with which he was checking his email
Just to give you some context, if you send an email to the Kenyan government, business or otherwise, you will also need to send a certified business letter by dhl or messenger. Even then it takes a very long time for them to get back to you.
9:03 Its been a minute since i did one of these, well here goes:
There is lots happening in the Renewable energy (RE) field in Africa. From various sources, here are a few hits that have crossed my virtual desk.
From AfriWea,
Ethiopia
Can you set up a 120MW wind power plant? If so, the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPC) wants you. Interested companies can submit their proposals before Feb. 4th 2008. Please see attached PDF for the information.
An exhaustive article about wind power in South Africa, click on this cool graphic.
Blurb:
What is becoming more and more apparent is that there is a unique opportunity for the growth of a serious renewable-energy industry in South Africa, given growing security of demand and a desire to reduce the country’s carbon footprint. But what is also plain is that unless government and Eskom take an active role in its promotion, the full potential for renewables will not be realised.
Kenya
From Business Daily Africa:
Wind Energy driving Rural Growth
The article also includes a picture of Simon Mwacharo, the owner of craftskills, TEDster, and friend of the blog.
Blurb:
Simon Mwacharo knows one or two things about moving under the feet of the big boys and girls to be the first on the cash till. While KenGen is scheming in the boardroom on how to meet the rising demand for electricity, Mwacharo is on the ground, providing hundreds of homes with electricity generated from the wind.
Mozambique:
June this year, i used the pun ‘emPowering’ in this post, glad to know that i am not the only corny one: From Off-Grid. net comes a neat post ‘emPowering Africa’
Mozambique University has launched a local program to encourage renewable energy self sufficiency that may become a model across the continent.
From Newscientist: Solar water purifier distributed by Rotary international.
The solar water purifier collects heat from sunlight and uses it to evaporate unpurified water running through the panel. The vapour collects inside the glass forming the panel’s surface and is collected - leaving behind most impurities
hat tip Emeka
Update: Cant believe i almost forgot about this video. William Kamkwamba was featured on WSJ!
end of brief roundup.
Solar Accessories:
Here is a link to a not so flattering post about the solar charger Solio (take it with a grain of salt) I haven’t tried Solio, but mysoldius worked really well for me.
So i finally bought a voltaic backpack. I was worried about traveling with it, especially when going through airport security. The screeners were fascinated about it, asking lots of questions. Joel Johnson of BoingBoing gadgets had mentioned that he had no problems traveling with it - My experience was the same. No issues at all, actually its a great conversation starter.
Initial envy from the geeks at my friend’s office in Kenya - Very High!
13:15 If you know people in Radio, this would be an opportunity to pass along to them.
The Developing Countries Farm Radio Network (DCFRN) and the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) have launched the African Farmers’ Strategies for Coping with Climate Change, a scriptwriting competition for radio broadcasters. Deadline: March 15.
The competition is open to all African radio organizations, including broadcasters, production organizations, NGOs with radio projects, and farmers’ associations with radio shows. Submitted scripts may cover themes such as water and soil management, cropping strategies for drought-resistant plants, livestock management practices, fisheries and agroforestry, among others. Scripts must be between 500 and 2,000 words and must include background notes and production notes, in addition to references to information sources used to prepare the reports. Input from local people, especially farmers, must also be included.
More information is available at Scriptcompetition.net
Thanks Solana.
23:37 
As the leaders of the world continue with negotiations in Bali to chart the successor to the Kyoto protocol, there are some major events this week to make a note of. The first - international demonstrations planned by the Global climate campaign around the world. In Kenya, the contacts are listed as
David Waiganjo dnwaiganjo[at]yahoo.com
(Inter-Varsity Environment Network and African Youth Initiative on Climate)Charity Weru glady333ke[at]yahoo.com
(Kenya Young Greens)Grace Akumu cnaf[at]cnaf.or.ke
(Executive Director, Climate Network Africa)For December 8th there is a plan for a climate parade in Nairobi.
If you will be attending or have more information, please feel free to comment. I would love to see photos and if you are a Kenyan blogger attending the parade please give me a heads up whenever you write about it. Thank you!
From KenyanPoet, The Climate change Orchestra will be playing as part of the WAPI event at the British Council. More details here.
For the Africa online crew there is something for you, you can join the Virtual Rally on the same day Dec 8th by writing about climate change. You do not have to alter the tone of your ‘blog voice’, a quip, a video, a rant, your thoughts… You can also sign a petition here.
At global voices online, we have a special page with links to blogs covering Bali and Climate Change politics, so do check it out. I have been going through the feeds to keep it fresh just for you, so do not miss out on the river of news coming out of Bali. If you are an African blogger writing about the environment, this is the week to do it, Global voices links will show up on the Reuters page. How is that for getting your voice heard!
(please leave me a note if you write something, email is environment [at] globalvoicesonline [dot] org)
Quotables from Prof. Wangari Maathai
* If you don’t raise your voice, then your environmentalism means nothing; it’s mere tokenism or opportunism.
* The environment is very important in the aspects of peace because when we destroy our resources, they become scarce and we fight over that.
* We have a special responsibility to the ecosystem of this planet. In making sure that other species survive we will be ensuring the survival of our own.
9:21 There is a developing story that could prove very embarrassing for Prof. Nicholas Negroponte and the OLPC foundation. According Reg Hardware, The OLPC foundation is being sued by Lagos Analysis Corp for copyright infringement.
Lagos CEO Adé G. Oyegbọla tells El Reg that the company’s Konyin Multilingual Keyboard features four shift keys and a software driver specialized to more easily reproduce the uncommon accent marks found in Nigerian languages and dialects. Such diacritic ticks can be unwieldy in traditional keyboards, but are often essential to getting the right message through. (For example, Oyegbọla explains, without the dot below the “o” in Lagos CTO O. Walter Olúwọlé’s name, the meaning becomes “God destroys the house).
Oyegbọla claims that Nicholas Negroponte, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who founded the OLPC foundation, purchased two of the company’s keyboards in 2006 and used them to reverse-engineer its keyboard technology.
Reg Hardware includes images of the two keyboards for comparison.
The OLPC Keyboard
The Lagos Analysis Keyboard
You can look at the keyboards yourself and make up your mind. To me the placement of the keys seem very similar and I would even posit that the OLPC keyboard does look like it borrowed something from the Lagos Analysis one. In the reg hardware article, they are yet to receive a substantive answer from OLPC so this story will keep going for a little while at least. I am pulling up a chair ringside to watch what happens. If it is proven that OLPC lifted the design and functionality from Lagos analysis, it is very disingenuous and just plain ‘not cool’. However, this story reminded me that the functionality described is one that contextualizes technology for use in Africa. I think this is important in the future of design for Africans, (by Africans?). Is it possible that Lagos Analysis corp by virtue of being African understood the need for the features described above and thereby designed it with the African languages in mind? Can the Negroponte camp prove that they came up with the keyboard concept and if so, how did they know which special characters are important in African languages? Last year when discussing Hash’s ‘A web Technology idea for Africa’, the question of language being relevant to tech implementation came up. At the time i was not quite sure what the implications of that observation were, but I think it is now clear to me that ‘cultural sensitivity’ is a concept to be applied to web technology and as this case shows…computing.
Cultural sensitivity in technology idea was the brain child of Koranteng Ofosu Amaah’s post, which was later included in the book Best of Technology Writing 2006. It should be required reading for anyone making tech products/services. While flickr is still not too kind to us melanin blessed folks, there are some great examples of culturally sensitive services and products: Check out Ted Kidane’s story of Feedelix from TEDGlobal 2007, Arusha -sms software for Ethiopic languages, and also Suuch Solutions out of Ghana - “kasahorow’s mission is to enable local languages remain a viable form of communication for all aspects of life.” They use Open source software to do this by the way.
I was listening to the digital planet podcast (11/26) where they had a correspondent attend the launch of the OLPC in Abuja, Nigeria. You could hear the excitement and enthusiasm in the children’s voices as they spoke of what they would do with the OLPC. It was a great moment. Now to the questions that started popping into my head like Orville Redenbachers microwave popcorn. When Gareth Mitchell was talking to Bill Thompson, they mentioned how they attended the OLPC launch in Tunis and how a child was crying because they’d been given an OLPC to play with for a time, then it was taken away. That was not a good moment, rather sad really, that kid is probably traumatized right now wherever he or she may be. I mean isn’t that just a little cruel? I know i would wail like a banshee if i was in her shoes. The discussion segued into what it would mean for the children to have a laptop that they would call their own. This got me wondering, that perhaps one of the unintended consequences of the OLPC project is that it would enhance the idea of ‘mine’ rather than ‘ours’. In modern Africa do the age old African values of community and sharing still apply? Would the OLPC idea chip away at the ‘utu’, that is a societal benchmark? Is the Ndiyo project a better thought out model for computer literacy, what with the idea of USB thin clients that I am already a fan of?
(Warning: the post is about to degenerate to something entirely pedantic)
Maybe I am looking at this all wrong, Is Negroponte pimping the ‘education project’ in pursuit of…what? The next generation of Africans to be Ipod toting, consumerist driven, video game obsessed, camping out for days in front of Best buy in Timbuktu_Kabartonjo_jinja of the future? Stomping on each other to get to the newest version of the Zii during an ‘African Thanksgiving blowout!’ sale? I know i am from the begging bowl peoples of Africa, but seriously, i have to draw the line at camping out in front of Best buy. A girls’ got to have some dignity!
O.k, ok how did i get here? I blame fakestevejobs, who has a hilarious take on this whole XO lawsuit mess (via Park Paradigm). I hope the OLPC foundation and Lagos Analysis Corp can sort this soon, or you will likely see next headline on Wall street Journal being… ‘The little laptop that stole’ instead of this ‘The little laptop that could’.
*The title of this post is a riff on this. You can read some background information about the OLPC at African Loft, and see what else Africans are saying on Afrigator.
11:33 Via Digg
*Vid is abit grainy but not too bad, there is another one here.
This team is on a mission to showcase solutions to global warming…by driving a solar taxi. They are currently in India, where they spoke with the chairman of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Mr. Rajendra Pachauri. Incase you’ve been living under a rock for the past several months, IPCC were co winners of the Nobel Peace prize with Al Gore. The Solar Taxi team will be making their way to the United Nations conference on Climate Change next month in Bali Dec 3rd - 14th. How about a stop in Africa sometime in the future? They could even attend the Zero Africa Rally
Cool stuff.
22:32 
I came across this solar powered LED lamp via worldchanging author, product designer Jeremy Faludi. It definitely has an interesting design…wondering why the weird shape? Pictures from his site speak louder than words. First, 3 words “Usable form factor”.
Would be interested in your thoughts on this product. Would you use it? Do you like the design? Is it practical?
What follows are some tangentially related thoughts, just so I am clear, I am not attributing what follows below to the above product. Just thinking through the idea of design ‘for Africa’.
One of the things that came up during a spirited discussion of the solar powered computer and the OLPC laptop many moons ago, was the question of relevant products, and whether these products that are labeled ‘for Africa’ smack of designing down. Maitha asked (in swahili) Don’t Africans deserve products made of high quality - in reference to the OLPC that is currently available for purchase. Granted at the time, maitha was looking at the bulky nature of linux for the OLPC, and the product was still being designed (with myriad challenges to overcome). I have not gotten my hands on and XO but when i do, i would like to revisit some of the issues raised. Particularly (perhaps i am simplifying, but) is the OLPC a good quality product that is relevant for African children? Atanu Dey of Deeshaa.org looked at the OLPC in context of education in India (I need to reacquaint myself with his arguments…I had been following the OLPC dev, then sorta lost track somewhere).
Wired had a profile of the OLPC designer Yves Behar, which I am rereading now, I just recall that he did do some nifty things to get OLPC to be what it is today.So, please chime in with your examples of products you think smack of ‘designing down’ and those that you think are ‘just right’.
My entries for the ‘just right’ category are
- mysoldius solar charger for mobile phone and IPOD (blogged about here)
- Bogo solar flashlight (blogged about here)
These are based on positive feedback from my dear uncle who absolutely finds function and convenience in using the above products.
7:46 From ApproVideo
The video by Ben Craft shows a small hydro power plant that generates electricity for a community near Chuka. As noted in the video, power generation of this kind helps with the Infrastructure problem we have in Kenya, particularly in rural areas.
7:50 Just got an update from KOAN, the event blogged about yesterday is for Dec 15th and not Dec 8th. Thanks!
