We can proudly announce: Our social network awareNet is now connected to twitter! awareNet is now sending daily automated updates about certain activity to @VillageScribeSA. Please, follow us to see what’s going on in our social network for South African and other interested learners. Insights that are posted are completely anonymous to protect the privacy Read more about awareNet now connected to twitter[…]
It’s been an exciting few months here at eKhaya ICT as we prepare to release awareNet-in-a-box. This is a social networking product for education, the goal of which is to turn any ordinary Windows computer into a social media hub, giving schools and communities access to communication, publishing and collaboration tools similar to those so Read more about awareNet-in-a-box[…]
There is this sad, recurring trend of Grahamstown township schools being threatened with closure. This is even more unfortunate when you consider that the town holds a very important role in South African Black education. Nathaniel Nyaluza High School and Andrew Moyakhe Primary School are among the oldest schools in the Eastern Cape. It is Read more about Too many Grahamstown/Rhini schools threatened with closure[…]
The VSA started a great collaboration with Rhodes’ Community Engagement. CE organised 10 volunteers who are going to work with us for the year 2011. We are very happy to welcome such a large group of motivated, young and active students. Thank you very much for your interest! The volunteers are going to join Thozi, Read more about Rhodes Community Engagement volunteers for VSA and awareNet[…]
At this point in time, it is looking very much like Ron Wertlen is going to be giving sneak previews of TeleWeaver at the World Cafe at SEWF2011. All interested persons are invited to come by to the WorldCafe gatherings at lunch time and see what this future rural access software offers!!
awareNet is the VSA’s social networking software, developed together with eKhaya ICT. Think facebook and Wikipedia in one, especially designed for underprivileged schools in South Africa. The most exciting technical aspect is that even schools without Internet access or very low Internet quota can use it. Nevertheless, they can connect to any other school in Read more about awareNet is improving on a daily basis![…]
In South Africa taxi associations do not pay taxis and from what I understand, they’re not really in awe of the government. For instance, if the government tries to introduce a bus system; they kick up a storm – until the proposed system is shelved or scraped. Hence they hike up their prices at will. Read more about About taxi fares, air planes, and twisted perceptions[…]
The VSA has some exciting new developments to report: Anna Wertlen is currently writing a proposal to the Makana Municipality for the usage of a large building in Joza-Rhini. Several stakeholders are interested to move into the building to strengthen and widen partnerships to serve the community, eg. RLabs, the Centre for Social Development, The Read more about VSA 2011 activities[…]
Ron and I have just registered for the Net Prophet Conference in Cape Town. Anna will represent the VSA and Ron eKhaya ICT. Together we will present our Village Scribe Project, awareNet, TeleWeaver and much more. This is how Net Prophet describes itself on its homepage: Take the most innovative/successful/creative/ambitious thinkers and entrepreneurs in the Internet Read more about VSA at NetProphet[…]
TeleWeaver is a hybrid on- and offline product which allows access to Internet services in a manner that is friendly to mesh networks. Mesh networks are an important source of access in the African environment. Another unique feature of TeleWeaver is its low-maintenance architecture. Through OSGi, a technology standard developed for motor vehicle software and Read more about About TeleWeaver[…]