Africa Source 2004 Wrap-ups

Douglas Hunter writes "Africa Source 2004 has wrapped up and the last of the stragglers have packed their bags and headed home. Africa Source 2004 was a gathering of pan-African Free and Open Source software developers held in Okahandja, Namibia. Organized by Tactical Tech, All Africa and Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA), Africa Source was a mixture of structured and semi-structured discussions with loads of good 'ole hacking thrown in to boot. With workshops ranging from i18n to wireless hacks to running a MOSIX cluster, there were plenty of hands-on sessions for folks to attend. The first ever Kiswahili spell checker was developed and released during the conference, a testament to the activity of those involved. For more information about Africa Source 2004, visit one of the blogs."

Comments

Make the stand against artificial scarcity

[Thinkit4]

In a region where artificial scarcity of AIDS drugs (patents) kills--any sort of stand against "intellectual property" is a good thing.

Re:Make the stand against artificial scarcity

[azaris]

In a region where artificial scarcity of AIDS drugs (patents) kills--any sort of stand against "intellectual property" is a good thing.

It's intellectual dishonesty to claim that Africa's AIDS problem is due to intellectual property rights.

Lack of education, lack of free contraceptives and lack of a properly managed international effort to organize these things are what's causing the problem. And the US policy of only supporting programs that preach abstinence isn't helping either.

Re:Make the stand against artificial scarcity

[hachete]

The Americans didn't help by trying to reduce to a minimum the circumstances - proscribed by international convention - in which forced licensing could legally take place. So, whilst the original poster can be described as overstating their case, I don't see this as being "intellectually dishonest". Rather, I see your deflection in this light. The US drug companies were complete bastards in this respect and I can understand the feelings engendered by such a negative, hateful policy.

h

Corporations vs. Open Source

[jabex]

That's one of the I like about open source. Where a megalo-corporation would do it's best to stay away from a possible African market... people that have the resources the can work together to produce their own products.

If only open source could produce food... hmm.

Re:Famine, Civil Wars, AIDS, Dictatorships.

[Turing Machine]

No, it won't "solve the problem", but it's a lot easier to learn about democracy, modern agriculture, and AIDS prevention if you have access to a knowledge base.

Re:Famine, Civil Wars, AIDS, Dictatorships.

[CleverNickedName]

Or maybe this has nothing to do with Africa's problems. Just like every piece of code from the States is not concerned with narrowing the rich/poor divide or correcting the problems with a two-party system.

Africa is a large continent; not everything that happens here is directly related to the CNN special you saw on it.

Cue the racist comments..

[heironymouscoward]

"Africa is just war and famine"

"Africans can't even stop killing each other, WTF do they need software for"

"Clean water first, then software!"

Even in 2004, some people still don't realize that humanity is largely identical, everywhere. There are tens of millions of African nerds who simply dream of getting their hands on PCs, software, Internet links, hundreds of millions of businessmen who are frustrated by the lack of modern communications, hundreds of millions of students who could contribute seriously to the world economy if they had even minimal access to the online libraries. If it wasn't for the curse of mineral wealth that encouraged local and foreign politicians to treat the continent like a slash-and-burn buffet, Africa would be stable and prosperous.

To a large extent the population of Africa has been held hostage by war and violence waged by those who profit from the rape of the continent. Look at Congo, which until recently was occupied by the armies of no less than 11 different countries. These wars are sustained by keeping the populations intimidated, ignorant, and poor. No-one cares about the locals when the ground is rich with diamonds, oil, and other minerals.

Technology like GSMs and open source are possibly the best chance that African civil society has of creating communities that can escaping and resist the trap of bad local and international politics.

Kiswahili and Lingala are vital starting points because these two languages join the whole belt of central Africa from Congo to Kenya.

Re:Insightful? Hardly

[mks113]

Almost all famine is caused by people. During civil wars (e.g. Sudan) any crops found are either confiscated or destroyed to prevent them from feeding the "enemy". Both sides do it.

Africa is just beginning to get connected to the world. While the cities have had communication for a while, the rural areas tend to be very isolated.

I think this is fertile breeding ground for open source. The problem is the microsoft is the only thing that seems to be known. With any computer training being "how to used windows" and pirated copies of windows readily available, it is hard to take a moral high ground, particularly in cultures where morality doesn't hold much sway -- read widespread corruption, AIDS.

Open source has a place, but only as part of a wider campain to get internet to rural areas.

And of course the question: Why do rural people need internet? I believe it is all about finding answers. If somebody wants to have a better life, they need access to information. Better farming techniques? Better building methods? How to avoid scams?

I'm going to Africa later this year for two years. I hope to play some small part in giving people a better life through access to information.

Michael