Comments on: How to Cross the Digital Divide, Rwanda-Style

By: CCTP 732 » Reading Reaction #5

CCTP 732 » Reading Reaction #5 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:56:26 +0000

[...] How to Cross the Digital Divide, Rwanda-Style provides an interesting case study of how Rwanda has been able to somewhat bridge the digital divide in a methodological manner. [...]

By: Rwanda Have Your Say « BBC World Have Your Say

Rwanda Have Your Say « BBC World Have Your Say — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:16:46 +0000

[...] This programme will not just be about Rwanda. Here’s Seacom’s corporate video, and here’s an article by Sarah Lacy (who will be one of our guests ) , in which she says : “Rwanda is [...]

By: Where we’re going / where we’ve been « BBC World Have Your Say

Where we’re going / where we’ve been « BBC World Have Your Say — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:56:38 +0000

[...] with the rest of the BBC World Service for ‘Africa Connected’, a special day looking at Africa’s internet revolution. We’re going to make the most of being there to look at other issues in this fascinating [...]

By: Jay Liew

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:22:03 +0000

I agree too, great post. I love it that you cover entrepreneurs. I especially love reading stories about technology changing the world.

Keep up the great job. Screw the idiots who talk shit about you – I think you are doing just fine. Would love to read more articles like this

Cheers!

Jay

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:08:57 +0000

I just checked Gasabo 3D site ; that’s an outstanding example of capitalizing on existing skills to build new ones. I hope this JV will be successfull and more famous.

I do not forget that we have developed here in France a fantastic tool, CATIA (from Dassault avionics) that sells much more than Rafale multirole fighters…

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:53:24 +0000

Just jealous maybe ?… -YOU- suck.

Try to run your own e-journal(s) so that we can see what you are capable of ?

The blogging is precisely about personal experience in something, so that information can be shared in a different manner than it was under the often impersonal, one-way pre-web era. It is more efficient when it touches people like, “see, I witness that matter for you, speaking your usual language ; do you feel impacted ? What I express could be your own feeling too after a similar experience”.

And, that way of doing usually demystifies the all-tech talk some condescendent specialists abuse of, thinking they impress us much (listen again to related Shania Twain’s song…).

Fortunately or not, web fora are also the place for misfits to express easily their anger ; it has little more effect there than it would in the real world, since audiences usually can sort it out pretty well.

A beginner e-journals editor (ca. 1,250,000 reads alltogether ; I learn by walking, having fun in it)

By: Kalim

Kalim — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:13:32 +0000

you have got problem Mr. EDKO

By: GK

GK — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:42:22 +0000

You are lying that nearly every one in Rwanda has a cell phone. Rwanda’s population is estimated at 10 million people. The country has only two cellphone netwworks, with MTN boasting 95% market share with not even a million subscribers! I hope this lie doesn’t end up in the book you are so claiming to be researching for. These facts are simple ones, and you can find them if you were a little serious!

By: Leila Chirayath Janah

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:05:02 +0000

I’m sort of surprised this article doesn’t mention the biggest news in East African tech since, well, uh, EVER: the coming of 3 fiber-optic cables this year to Mombasa, in Kenya — the regional fiber link.

While the local fiber Lacy mentions is helpful, it doesn’t connect people to the rest of the world, which is extremely important for African engineers who want to tap into global markets for services.

My organization, Samasource, held 3 Facebook Developer Garages all over Africa last year, including in Rwanda’s neighbor Uganda — our mission: to teach young developers how to make money by building Facebook apps. Despite awesome hardware in some of the universities, bandwidth was a problem for us. VSAT connections are costly and slow.

There’s a lot more coverage of this at blog.samasource.org; also check out WhiteAfrican, Appfrica, and Timbuktu Chronicles — probably the best blogs on Africa and tech.

By: Antoine

Antoine — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:37:16 +0000

Thanks Sarah for giving a testimony for Rwanda,
I am a software developer (web, mobile & SMS apps) in a starting up company here in Kigali .
I think all development in Rwanda during the last 15 years is due to the government commitment to promote Education and Technology .
I did school in China on a government scholarship and this contributed a lot on what I am doing now .
I also participated in some trainings in the US and I have some insight about ICT in the US .
I have an idea on something that should advance technology in developing countries like Rwanda : Open Source .
I believe that Open Source should save some development areas in Rwanda including Education and Health care .
I participate in an Open Source development program (i.e Google Summer of Code, OpenMRS) and I realized that developing countries have an alternative option to use FLOSS .
OpenMRS (www.openmrs.org) is an open source electronic medical record system being deployed in some Rwandan clinics to gather patient records for further analysis.
An other example from what I believe in (Open Source for developing countries) is how I found many students at KIST(www.kist.ac.rw) are starting using Ubuntu Linux or OpenSolaris as an alternative to MS Windows . How many people are using Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome instead of MS Internet Explorer to surfer the net ? How many of them are using VLC media player to enjoy their multimedia content ? How may kids are going to use OLPC there ?
There shouldn’t be any doubts on what technology fits the poor, FLOSS is a perfect solution to developing countries .

Thanks,

I blog here: http://nzeyi.wordpress.com, I talk more about Education and Technology in Africa .

- Antoine

By: Jess McCarter

Jess McCarter — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:51:09 +0000

Good look at the condition on the ground. Once Rwanda starts to move past being a regional IT hub then it will need to connect with remote work opportunities in the IT field on an international level. Samasource has been working with companies in Kenya to do that and will be expanding to other African nations, including Rwanda, soon. Anyone interested in the development of a strong IT economy in Africa should check out what Samasource is doing. You can follow blurbs on Twitter @samasource, the website at http://www.samasource.org, or on Facebook, just search Samasource. We strongly agree with President Kagame that foreign investment is crucial – but so is supporting Rwanda’s IT entrepreneurs and helping them grow by connecting them to larger markets.

By: tpp

tpp — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:10:46 +0000

Rwanda: design for the future
US: design for the next election

There’s a very distinctive lack of long-term planning perspective in the US for MANY issues we’re facing, and it’s not limited to technology issues. Just leaving it for private companies to solve is not cutting it.

By: Dear Sarah: Stay in Africa. Love Everyone in America!

Dear Sarah: Stay in Africa. Love Everyone in America! — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:41:33 +0000

Hey Sarah.

Stay in AFrica for a couple of years, doing work with the poor. No writing, just working with your hands. No memiors. Just selflessly helping others.

Now THAT is a book I’d buy.

By: Seungchul Seo

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:28:02 +0000

This is very interesting. I’ll be in Rwanda to take an unpaid summer position in July-September and after that plan to travel around some other emerging markets in Africa to understand the opportunities and challenges they face. It would be great if we can meet in Kigali for a chat .

By: Edko

Edko — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:49:31 +0000

I call bullshit. Once again a long winded post where Sarah constantly talks about herself. Get over yourself. Only a moron would want to read this shit. You’re a hack. Go try some other industry and leave tech to the capable.

By: Troy Peterson

Troy Peterson — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:27:43 +0000

Good point, but I have a different opinion on this.
In the USA and other developed countries, Technology is the consequence of a booming economy. You seem to be missing the point that almost everything was “tech” at one point or another. Paper, Pencils, the typewriter, telephones, etc.

Rwanda is simply starting from this point in time… so, there’s no reason why it can’t build off of what has already been established as tech elseware and use it as a starting point for their economy… especially since they don’t have any other industry to provide a base.

By: Jimmy - Finland

Jimmy - Finland — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:12:37 +0000

This is great stuff you’re writing, ‘Indiana Lacy’.

Having a permanent writer covering African tech scene, or in any other interesting and fairly unknown region, in this way, would be fantastic.

I have a feeling Africa will rise as internet equalizes access to information across the world, and the competitive edge many countries have on their education systems will vaporize.

That will also mean that ideas on how to increase productivity will reach all corners of the world simultaneously in the coming decades.

By: Tola

Tola — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:09:57 +0000

Good stuff Sarah……well said

By: Sandra Makowski

Sandra Makowski — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:15:57 +0000

I just came back from spending two months in Rwanda. I was also amazed at the amount of people with cell phones. Where I stayed there was no running water, and electricity for only a couple of hours a day – and yet, everyone – including little children seemed to have cell phone and selling SIM cards. I don’t get it – it seems to me that the government should be investing in improving the daily lives of its people with basic needs.

A problem that I also see is that the government is changing the national language of the country from French to English – with really no set program in place to accomplish this.

And, the people daily live the horrors of the genocide. This country called the “land of a thousand hills” is also a land of “a thousand problems” – I pray daily for this country and its’ suffering people

By: Ismail

Ismail — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:20:31 +0000

Great to See TC focusing on African Tech, Tech in Africa is thriving and has always been… just not as much exposure.

http://www.startupafrica.com

By: Ingina y'Igihanga

Ingina y'Igihanga — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:52:24 +0000

Yes, in Rwanda we’ve already seen that the unthinkable can be done and we are ready for miracles. The will to be equal to the best in the world, we’ve seen, can get you there.

Thank you for the encouragement, Ms Lacy

By: Ambuj Saxena

Ambuj Saxena — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:00:32 +0000

Sarah, can you please provide reference for the statement that Rwanda sends 300 students to IIT. Having graduated from an IIT 2 years back, I never heard of anyone coming over from Rwanda. Certainly not in the flagship B.Tech program which is considered one of the hardest exam in the world to crack and limited to Indians only, and neither did I hear of any Rwandans in any summer programs. Googling for it, I found an obscure reference of Rwandans taking distance-learning courses, which can hardly be termed as ‘going to IIT’. The remaining results are quotes taken from this very post.

By: How to Cross the Digital Divide, Rwanda-<b>Style</b> · injury lawyers for personal claims

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:58:33 +0000

[...] Source:How to Cross the Digital Divide, Rwanda-Style [...]

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:37:09 +0000

In the middle of dolores park, SF, the connection is crap. previously in my living room in soho, hong kong, we’re talking serious concrete, the connection was great. lets face it mobile connectivity in the US is bollocks no matter where you are.

By: Hassan Ogunlowo

Hassan Ogunlowo — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:07:51 +0000

Great. I think its important for all African nations to start to position themselves firmly in providing turnkey IT services locally. For rwanda, it was a great experience for me, i am actually very proud of the conscious efforts of the Government…I am proud to be African.