Techie

Techie bits I find interesting as I discover the gems in the wide wide world(www)

Autobiography of this Kenyan Computer User

Greetings salutations, and spring greetings! I am back.

In the last week or so, I have been learning a tremendous amount of info on the explosion of the internet in Africa, and have heard leapfrogging heralded as the next frontier for our continent. I could not help but reflect on my own evolution in the last few years.

So after looking at some of the reference articles on the subject, I heartily concluded that there is a great need to tap into the fastest growing tech spots on the market. Mobile phones and the internet. When I returned home last year, I found that many of the computers and gadgets that many of my classmates and friends have here are available on the Kenyan market. So much is the infiltration of these products, but there are the chargers and adapters that make the differing electric specs fluid. Pretty standard stuff. I also found that very many people had internet email access, or at least went online to check their messages and to keep in touch with people abroad.

Before I get into that, however, I have to add that there has been more than just a small attempt to kill our traditional values such as self reliance in society, through the development project, that is meant to rid Africa of its poverty. Dont get me wrong, we need the aid like a thirsty man needs his water, but Africa and other developing regions, affectionately referred to as the Third World, have to see that we have lost our ability to self regenerate.Like this blogger, who has started many posts and left them mid sentence, so are many of the projects that development aid began. They sounded like a great idea when they were started, but they went into two and then three paragraphs(years and decades) and now they are all the way in the pipelines, the seeds of great plans that just fell off by the wayside. I am guilty or abandonment,a nd neglect, even though nobody pays me to air my opinions to the world, let alone to the tune of the millions that the West paid out to African governments to build dreams.

To many of those who are fortunate enough to breathe the fresh air and eat the yummy organic food in Kenya right now, I suppose rehashing these facts is rather redundant, but would you be surprised to know that up to date, people still ask whether I have access to the internet back home in Africa, and whether I know about global events.This information, is for the many who have questions about that.

I shall attempt to build a profile of an internet user in Nairobi, based on my previous experiences.

Pre-1999 Watching other kids at school play Tombraider Version 1 and wishing I had a clue how to use a keyboard to type. Dream for when I grow up, learn to be a fast typist, maybe administrative assistant.

1999-2000
I was finishing primary school and found it fascinating that a few entrepreneurs had started internet cafes in the neighborhood charging KSh 2.50 a minute.  My first question going into these cafes was whether I would have to pay to get an internet address. At the time, I had a cafe assistant help me to login and get my first Yahoo account. I am thrilled, after all, I am on top of the tech world. I see $$$$ in one day opening a cyber too, with wireless no less.

2000-2003
High school days. So now, I have an internet address, but no way to access the internet from boarding school, so I am limited to the breaks in between school terms. My first attempts to program in my high school computer class. C++ decidedly makes me cry. I continue to program theoretically.On the outside world, access charges per minute drop between KShs 1 and less in certain cafes. Dream for future career is much larger, perhaps to be an advocate for intellectual property rights, having seen an abundance of pirated CDs and movies trade hands. Most prolific are the cyber cafes with resident music burning youth who charge Ksh 100 for almost a GB of music.

Post 2003.
I learn that all websites open differently in cybercafes depending on the browser. My typing speed increases, as I spend all my ‘chips’ money on checking email. There is never enough time to do all that I want online. I notice the increase in the number of cafes in the city center that have private booths. In my naivety I assume, that like me, many people do not like the inbuilt nature of people at the cybercafe to read over their shoulder to the windows to the left and the right of them. Not wanting to be an advocate any longer. I pen this blog response about how I want to work in a cyber and there are few people who take women in computing seriously if at all.

FForward to 2007: I met more than a few people in KE  who proved me otherwise when I sat down to hear about their innovation; from Kenya-centric client side applications; the urgency of understanding IPv6 and migrating by the new dates. There are trained and passionate people in tech in Kenya. Here in the US, everyone with a M$oft frontpage thinks that they can create websites, but at home, I saw that not only are many designers working without many of the pricey software applications, but being innovative, but more than adept as open source software creation and integration.

My pride about being Kenyan is those working tirelessly to make those technology ideas come out of the discussion rooms and the thoughts to the forefront. And yes, few are willing to pay the initial costs, but we will reap a certain reward. Hongera!(Congrats) Kenya

Reflective: So there has been a marked hiatus from blogging, but I am happy to report that I am back. I realized when I do not blog there has to be an outlet, and I have yelled at trees for many many weeks without a few typekeys for my beloved blog.

I have to thank M for the poem on “Beginnings” that truly reflects how I went through a very positive reflective moment thinking of how life is precious. I regret nothing. I have opportunities and I will be the first to admit that I will be there, counting my blessings!

April 13, 2008 Posted by sunnykay9 | Africa, Kenya, memories | Add new tag | 1 Comment |

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Women in ICT, Blogging and BarCamp Kenya

In this century, more than any other, great strides have been made in computer training and technology. Women globally rank among top ICT managers, trailblazing in training and technology. In Africa, we are seriously lagging behind, however. I started off as a young girl playing TombRaider during school computer lessons, or should I say, watching the boys show off their fancy tricks and shying away from playing the game myself. In some ways today, I am still shying off, and taking the back seat when it comes to issues in upgrading and technology, whereas in others, I am going higher and higher. Most recently, however, I ventured into a comprehensive course for non-computer speakers, which allowed me the learning opportunity, required machinery and software to prepare for work in web and multimedia applications. I continue to build on the creative technology that I learned.Thinking back to the cybercafes in Kenya, which are clusters of commercial stores where people can pay about $1 an hour to go online, there are more women in adjoining hairsalons, than inside the cafes. I frequently changed my web surfing venues in Nairobi when I was there, too randomly survey services and service attendants, and found the same scene elsewhere. The overwhelming majority of task and maintenance staff were male, while the cashiers and ’soft’ staff roles were female-based. It seemed normal when I was younger, and living in Kenya, but as I learn about the accessibility of Open Source Software, the mindboggling array of applications that are out there for the ordinary end-user as well as the training tools that are a few keystrokes away with the connectivity in the West, I realise that there is a problem. In a nation where ther are reportedly three women to every man, we live in an age where women in technology are still as rare as mountaineering women on the slopes of Mt Kenya, a feature we are yet to see in any form of regularity and we who leave are responsible for changing the chronic disparity through our newfound awareness.For many women, the career choices that we make are in the Information Technology field in auxilliary capacities that do not involve direct coding, hardware or other ‘hard tech’ descriptions. Most recently, however, I ventured into a comprehensive course for non-computer speakers, which allowed me the learning opportunity, required machinery and software to prepare for work in web and multimedia applications. I continue to build on the creative technology that I learned.In December, I met a number of young ladies who had just completed their final year high school examinations who wanted to learn what useful things they could do as they awaited their final year examination results. I jumped at the chance to tell them about the amazing power of the Internet, only to be silenced by one of their chaperones, a mother who believed that the gambling, porn industry and general ills available online for free would corrupt her girls. It breaks my heart that such a myth still prevents so many people from benefitting from the Internet. needless to say, she halted my enthusiastic description with the words, “You are telling these girls too much, and they do not know what you are talking about” in response to my step-by-step guide to opening an email account. The girls gave me a knowing look, the kind you give when someone over a certain age rises to speak about something you know they are unaware of. For those of you who juggle five or more email accounts and use the acronyms POP, SPAM( maybe not that much of an acronym) and variations of the words net, web and messenger, pick your jaw up from where it dropped. This was 2006 people, and we are still shutting young ladies interested in ICT use down.

I wanted to work in a cybercafe once, and the owner thought I was pretty enough to make a good receptionist, or possibly a great personal assistant. I remember using Opera in its formative stages and chided for ignorance when a failed page popped up as a result of a bug in the version at a cybercafe computer. Beauty is no curse, nor can I neglect to mention that Opera has improved considerably since then, but I digress for that disclaimer. After discovering more about the power of the entrepreneurs especially in developing markets, I now want to own a series of cybercafes, nee, become a premier ISP provider in the style of Africaonline.
I foresee a time when the fastest medium of connectivity in Africa will mature and we realise the incredible potential of this mobile phone age, in a country where there are over five million mobile subscribers and less than 100,000 active landlines (approximately), we have walked into a time of innovation and must work to find solutions to the social networking needs of these customers.

On a more positive note, I learned of the first Bar Camp in Kenya, where there was a gathering of intellectuals and techies interested in sharing ideas, networking, blogging and as well as exploring new technology in general. While we celebrate this inaugural event, and I plan to attend a similar future event, I still searched the presenter roster for a lady speaker. Whereas I I know several women personally who were trained in computer science at home in Kenya and abroad, we were missing in action. One cannot fail to notice the dearth in the blogosphere as well, for African women in ICT blogging or otherwise sharing about their work. Kudos to the team behind the Kenyan Bloggers Webring and African Women Blogs, for their efforts to reverse the downward trend and having support teams and bloggers who have expanded in number considerably.

I have no doubt that there is set to be a dramatic rise in the number of podcasts, blogs and writings that emerge from African women and Kenyan women in particular. Before that happens, more little girls have to have computer lessons, realise that this arena of computing, information technology and web 2.0 is theirs too, and pursue studies in computing to their highest potential. I hope to find examples of Kenyan tech blogging that highlight the few, the strong and the proud. Viva la techie femme!
(Picture : Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research)

Wow!

A couple of people sent this to me and I’ve already printed it out and put it on my door (come see it and more!). It’s also blog worthy.