Development Talk

In the past, crime and corporal punishment dictated the schools in South Africa, but security has made it so students can now receive an education in a safe and protected environment. Now, the emphasis is on educating students through life skills and technology. Doing so has decreased the volume of teenagers getting pregnant and abusing drugs (such as Tek). This sort of education and raising awareness is largely due to the efforts of Love life and HIV/AIDS campaigns found in communities such as Khayelitsha, Langa and Gugulethu.

Modern technology has allowed people to improve their lives and become more educated on issues such as Medicine, education, and current affairs.

Some say that internet access in South Africa has increased the knowledge of today’s youth, so that by the time they enter university, they are familiar with a lot of the school subjects.  10 years ago, it was not as easy for youth to learn materials as they did not have many resources or examples to reference. Instead of using the internet, a student would have to go to a library and tour an area in person in order to fully comprehend an idea.

These days, if a student is unsure about a topic, they can search on various websites and in class, a teacher can project material onto a big screen for all students to utilize.

Long time ago, students could only access computers when they attended higher institutions. Currently, we have juniors and high schools offering computers, both practically and theoretically.

Once a student understands a computer and learns how to utilize the internet, they become more self-sufficient, which in turn, gives them more knowledge and learning opportunities. The use of internet also helps a student succeed in University and most importantly, it allows them to think larger and live open-mindedly.

References:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/813305/

how_far_has_modern_technology_improved.html

Photo: flickr

Ordinary South Africans can be trained to collect research data using cellpones

Ordinary South Africans can be trained to collect research data using cellpones. Photo by: Kiwanja.net

A new study has identified how more ordinary people from rural and peri-urban areas can become involved in research, simply by using their mobile phones.

Currently there are a couple of organisations in South Africa that train people at grassroots level to collect data for research projects. This is an excellent way to uplift these people and create job opportunities.

All over Africa, health research done with the help of mobile phones is increasing. Creative Consulting & Development Works recently wrote a newsletter article about this phenomenon, referred to as mhealth. To read the article, click here.

The most recent study on mhealth in South Africa (published December 2009) entitled The use of mobile phones as a data collection tool: A report from a household survey in South Africa, set out to “investigate the extent to which community health workers with little experience of data collection could be trained and successfully supervised to collect data using mobile phones in a large baseline survey”.

Local women from Umlazi, close to Durban, hired as community health workers, were contracted by the researchers to collect data. None of the 24 women had any previous experience of data collection, but all had mobile phones and could SMS. They received 2 days of training using the software installed on their phones.

Researchers can check the quality of data collected more easily using mobile phones

Researchers can check the quality of data collected more easily using mobile phones. Photo by: Rachel Strohm

Over the course of four months, 39,665 households were surveyed by these women. There were no hardware or software failures using the mobile phones.

The researchers found that the benefits of using mobile phones for data collection are as follows:

  • Quality checks could be performed in real-time, and inconsistencies could be detected and rectified in a timely manner.
  • The automated graphs and reports allowed the project manager to see how many surveys were completed on an hourly or daily basis.
  • Data falsification could also be detected. If an unrealistic number of surveys were completed in a specific time, the project manager would be alerted that something is not right.

And of course, the income it generates for unskilled workers used to collect this data, is very valuable.

The researchers came to the conclusion that this is a “feasible method of data collection that needs to be further explored”.

Read more about the study here.

 
NGOs, CBOs, small business owners and even government are increasingly making use of Free Libre and Open Source Software.

NGOs, CBOs, small business owners and even government are increasingly making use of Free Libre and Open Source Software.

If you still think that FLOSS is just something you do after you have brushed your teeth, you have not yet joined the ranks of those realising the benefits and potencial of  Free Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS).

Free means the software gives you freedom, but it is not necessarily always cost free. With FLOSS you can view the source code of a program and if you have the technical know-how, you can alter that code to enhance the program. With proprietary software the code is hidden. You are also allowed to copy and share Free and Open Source Software and do not need a registration code, as is the case with proprietary software.    

The Free Software Movement, consisting of people who believed that if you love software you should set it free, started in the early 1980’s.  It culminated in the Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985 by Richard Stallman. They are dedicated to promoting computer users’ right to use, study, copy, modify and redistribute computer programs.  

Groups working on a tight budget such as non-governmental organisations, community based organisations and small businesses are increasingly making use of this type of software. Even government has realised the potencial of FLOSS, announcing in 2007 that they would migrate to Free and Open Source Software. However, they have not fully implemented the use of FLOSS yet.  

Free and Open Source Software can also be used for education in resource-poor schools and by entrepreneurs trying to make a living.  Members of Development Works team were trained in Joomla which is Free Libre and Open Source Software

Members of the Development Works team attended Joomla training conducted by the organisation FLOSSnet last week. Joomla is Free and Open Source Software used to design and manage websites.