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Crowdfunded Afrimakers To Bring Arduinos, Raspberry Pis To African Tech Hubs
An anonymous reader writes "There's a chronic shortage of tech savvy teacher all over Africa, and at the same time a strong belief that the tech economy is vital to growth. Enter Afrimakers, a crowdfunded project to visit tech hubs in seven continents and leave behind Arduino boards, Raspberry Pis, soldering kits and — most importantly — the smarts to use them. The Indiegogo fund opened up a week or so ago, and they've managed to raise enough for the first two countries so far."
There be jobs in Africa!
Good luck getting past the TSA.
The Raspberry Pi is great for software hacking.
The Arduino is great for both software hacking and hardware hacking.
The Pi can be expanded to add effective hardware abilities, but it's more of a software platform. The Arduino is much better for hardware hacking.
I'm glad to see they are both being offered. Just don't offer a soldering iron kit with the Raspberry Pi. That's for the Arduino.
Kriston
Sounds good to me. Good luck. :)
"...visit tech hubs in seven continents..."
When did Antarctica get a tech hub?
...
some real raspberry pies.
---There's a chronic shortage of tech savvy teacher all over Africa
Apparently there is also a shortage of English teachers.
Not another "technology will save 'Africa'" story - as though 'Africa' was a monolithic entity.
It's possible that this program will produce some enthusiastic and talented programmers in Africa... but when those programmers realise that it's frustrating writing programs when there's only a few hours of power a day, internet access is flaky, corrupt and predatory government frustrates their efforts to set up a business, and some big company overseas beckons them to work, they probably won't remain in Africa for very long.
In any event, I think it would be better to focus more on the business side of things (i.e. how can technology aid your business) rather than technology for technology's sake).
Deal with reality - the world as it is - rather than ideality - the world as you would like it to be.
Afrimakers? Seriously?
in spite of the evidence of hundreds of MILLIONS of blacks, who can'teven build a bicycle
Can you build a bicycle?
How sickening.
Yes you are.
What have Africans done for the world?
Make up your mind - is your problem with blacks or Africans?
Anybody?
What have you ever done for the world? Did you create Ubuntu? Did you perform the world's first heart transplant? Were you Secretary General of the UN?
Posting anonymously to assist others in not seeing your post. Anyone who does, mod parent and me down please.
That's nasty
Yes lets bring tech to the unwashed masses. No need to distinguish between countries, languages, education systems, political situations, ethnicity, religion. The whole continent is just like in one of those TV commercials with the kids with flies in their eyes.
Seriously people. You'd think they could spend 10 minutes reading Wikipedia before they start another condescending, half-assed development project that is really only about congratulating yourself for being such a nice guy despite your privileged background.
You might be shocked to find that there's an existing tech culture in each of these countries and it varies just like it does within Europe, Asia and the Americas.
the power of Afro-turfing on /.
More 419 scams from Nigerian princes and Craigslist ads wanting to pay top dollar for iPods, iPhones.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Sadly tech these tech pushes in Africa inevitably end with scams, fraud and various other forms of internet crime. Although cheap hardware allowed countries such as India to rise to the top of the software tech world, Africa has notoriously high levels of crime.
If we keep leaving tech there I’m worried this will spark another cargo cult.
What have Africans done for the world?
Humanity likely came into existence in Africa.
The Gospel according to lolcat
Really Kind of taken aback by some of the comments! I think this is a great idea. Not only because its in Africa but also because it gives another great opportunity to establish a Raspberry pi or Arduino community where none previously existed. Especially when they are young and likely to take and have more interest in stuff.
As for Africa and its problems, I am sure with time it will get to sort itself out. Most of these countries have only been independent for around 50 o so anyways.
My two cents anyways.
Cheers.
I don't mean to piss on this girl's project but, unless she's going to do this in places like Goma or Juba, she's not doing anything new or particularly special in Africa.
Many African countries have had successful domestic tech scenes for longer than most people realize. That includes robotics communities, network operator groups, Linux user groups, ICT associations, and more. There are a lot of incredibly talented and dedicated people here who have been tirelessly building these communities for a very long time.
Sub-Saharan Africa started to become hip about three years ago. Ever since then we've been practically drowning in hackathons and other feel-good tech events organized by "movers and shakers" from the west.
I'm ranting a bit, so don't get me wrong; all of these projects have a positive impact. I'm just sick of hearing about how "innovative" some people are for doing stuff that's already been done before just because they're the first people to yap about it on-line.
Not much, then.