View Thread > Development and the Internet > Time to Share > Building a local knowledge network
Share any “ICT for Development” project that YOU have been either involved in or heard/read about. (Please feel free to select any of the projects we have discussed or mentioned during the series if you need some inspiration).
What are the contours of the project? What are its aims and objectives, and how is it working to achieve them? Are you impressed by the project and do you believe in its approach? If so, why? If not, why? Could you place this project in the context of the approaches this Series has highlighted? What are the complementary projects, if any, that the success of your chosen project relies on? What are the legal, political and cultural hurdles that have been overcome and still need to be overcome for the success of the project?
Has this series made you reassess the goals and approach of this project? If so, how? Do you have any constructive suggestions to make to those running this project?
With the Observatory of the information Society in Central Africa, I am building a local knowledge network which consists of creating a formal structure the aim of which is to reduce the knnowledge divide and provide the poor in remote regions of Cameroon with pertinent information concerning heaklthcare, agriculture, market prices, government informations...
The network is composed of a hub, based in Yaoundé Cameroon, and many access points in the rural areas. These access point collect information in a raw form which they send to tohe hub. Here knowledge managers put them in a standardized form and disseminate them in the various hub. The hub and the access points are linked through a virtual network using the same software. Information is stored in a digital form.
I am indeed impressed by the project because I think it is a pertinent one and can contribute to reduce the digital divide in the South by producing relevant content.
The Bold series have analysed certain aspects of the project, especially the infrastructure, which now constitutes one of the bigest constraints we are facing. The other aspect analysed by the series is the managerial one, because we have to asess the sustainability of the project, by relying on existing organisations such as cyber cafe.
We have to overcome the resistance of the state to provide us with technical assistance and to convince the populations concerned to effectively use the technologies- technophobia
The series help me better understanding certain aspects of the project and I would like to share the ideas with you, if you have any experience in this kind of project
This is an intriguing project, is there a website where we might view it?
What criteria are used to judge whether knowledge is local? What criteria are used to judge whether knowledge is relevant? It is interesting that the project uses a hub and spokes mode, will the project develop to the point where editing and putting the information on the Internet will be distributed in the same way that knowledge gathering is?