Thank you, Nelson Mandela, for showing us the way!

As a white person growing up under apartheid, the name of Mandela was the dark face of armed uprising and rebellion. And just as Nelson freed his people, so too his name freed me. I was lucky enough to have several teachers who opened my eyes to the ANC struggle, to the lies of apartheid Read more about Thank you, Nelson Mandela, for showing us the way![…]

awareNet at Xinnovation 2012 — Xpitch — South African Innovation

In the software world, X has two central connotations, eXtreme programming (rapid design and implementation of software) and XML (XPath, XSLT, exsetra), technologies that are closely associated with innovation and the Web. The Xinnovations conference 2012 looked at smart ways to get computers to help people, mainly through the semantic web and the Internet. That Read more about awareNet at Xinnovation 2012 — Xpitch — South African Innovation[…]

awareNet in Rural Education Pilot

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) will be thinking out of the box and breaking the computer lab ICT education mould in a rural pilot. The pilot will take place at Cofimvaba, Eastern Cape, South Africa. awareNet is forms an important part of the social networking technology and methodology for the project. The Read more about awareNet in Rural Education Pilot[…]

Mobile awareNet At Ntsika Secondary School – How It Works

This year, the wireless link provided by the Rhodes University CoE for Ntsika Secondary’s Internet access has not been stable enough to use for awareNet classes. There has been barely enough bandwidth for the staff to do email. There are not enough resources to solve the problems with wireless link, and a fix is scheduled Read more about Mobile awareNet At Ntsika Secondary School – How It Works[…]

Vega Brand Challenge Helping VSA Communicate

Vega Schools’ Annual Brand Challenge can help the Village Scribe Association communicate better! Pending selection by the Vega Brand Challenge — we hope we are worthy of this honour! How does it work? A multidisciplinary student team, tutored and coached by veteran communication experts, constructs a brand strategy for awareNet and the VSA. Included are Read more about Vega Brand Challenge Helping VSA Communicate[…]

Village Scribe Association is a a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO)

Excellent news! Another administrative “piece of the puzzle” falls into place: As of the 27th of February, VSA South Africa is recognised as a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) in terms of Section 18(A). This means that any donations received are exempt from donations tax for the organisation, and are also tax exempt for donors. Our Read more about Village Scribe Association is a a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO)[…]

Bringing awareNet to the Lady Frere District

On Monday the 23rd of January, the Village Scribe Association visited the District Office of the ECDoE at Lady Frere. We met with Chulekazi Bula (District Office Director) and several other curriculum and technical staff. We wanted to find out whether awareNet, with its co-curricular and (ICT) literacy focus, would be of interest to the Read more about Bringing awareNet to the Lady Frere District[…]

Meeting with the Western Cape Education Department Directors

On the 8th of December, Ron Wertlen met with Mr Brian Schreuder, Mr Osman Sadeck and Dr Sigamoney Naicker who are respectively: Deputy Director-General: Curriculum and Assessment Management; Chief Education Specialist: e-Learning (i.e. in charge of Khanya); Chief Director: Curriculum Development. The WCED wanted the meeting to take place, because they want to be informed Read more about Meeting with the Western Cape Education Department Directors[…]

VSA Memoranda of Understanding (continued)

The Village Scribe Association is investigating the registration of the word “awareNet” as its trademark, in preparation of more widespread use in 2012. Since the service has already been in use for two years — awareNet is a common law trademark, although it may be unclear whether to whom the trademark belongs: eKhaya ICT or Read more about VSA Memoranda of Understanding (continued)[…]