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 ISSUE NO 19 COMING SOON: THE INTERNET IN SUDAN AND E-COMMERCE AND PRIVACY 
NEWS UPDATE 19 - WOZA: BUILDING A CONTENT-RICH SITE Anyone familiar with web content about Africa knows that there an awful lot of sites that have the same structure and repeat the same information. Sites that are a bit different or have regular new content are few and far between. This issue we focus on South African based Woza because it has the kind of content that makes it stand out. If our correspondent is "off the mark" or you have factual amendments, mail them to us and we will include them in subsequent News Updates. If you'd like to contribute, write and let us know. If you need information about a particular place or issue, just send your questions in. We are always happy to follow up on readers concerns. If you want to subscribe to News Update, simply send a message saying I want to subscribe to southwood@boyden.demon.co.uk. Also if you no longer wish to subscribe, simply send a message saying I no longer want to subscribe to the same address. WOZA: BUILDING A CONTENT-RICH SITEWoza was early African internet start-up. Founded in 1996 by Kevin Davie and his wife, it is currently half-owned by them with a Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed usko holding the rest. Shortly afterwards they launched WOZA Broking which is now a separately listed company, http://www.tradek.com. The existing sites under the Woza portal cover news, business, investment, entertainment, sport, health, women, technology, africa and motoring among other things. It includes a new technology site called Boot that offers a useful selection of high-tech stories, Woza plans to develop interactivity and what it calls "three-dimensionality" in content with news, chat, polls and surveys. It wants to add to functionality with better search capability, auctions, direct sales and more charting for investors. In terms of new content it wants to add an environment site. Based on its own survey data, 90% of Woza's users are South African. It has 150 000 unique users who account for six million page impressions a month. With this fairly solid base of users it has been able to attract a growing number of advertisers, enough according to Kevin Davie to "maintain an attractive return on investment". But Woza is not standing still. Its business model will mix advertising with e-commerce, with the latter becoming the primary income driver. It will soon launch http://www.imbiza.com providing a retirement fund online selling at 50% and below present prices found elsewhere. Woza has attracted two other shareholders into the venture. With all these developments, Kevin Davie and his partner are clearly bullish about the market's prospects in South Africa. But what's holding things back? "Telkom, our national telco, is a severe limiter on growth. VC capital is available but the VC's are generally terrified as most start-ups have failed, often dismally. The market here has taken these failures badly and has not warmed to the internet partly because South Africa remains a resource economy. We're good on ideas and development here but the size of the market is a limitation". How do you see the South African market developing? "Most of the commercial economy will be connected here within the next few years. The South African market is a very aggressive technology market and is a world leader in some areas. Fulfillment issues for e-commerce are a big issue as we have no history of catalogue sales and the like. The postal system is not that reliable and international courier costs are high". So what's the secret of your success been so far? "Our general model has been to cut our cloth according to the new space available, to use the productivity gains the new technology allows, to not be analogue in our approach and to be quick enough to spot opportunities and get into them". To contact: Kevin Davie, Publisher, Woza
SNIPPETS* A & T INVEST US$500 MILLION IN ARGENTINA AND CREATE 2000 NEW JOBS A&T has announced that it will invest US$500 million in Argentina to provide the corporate sector with high speed internet services and e-commerce capabilities. They will lay 1500 miles of fibre optic cable and deploy wireless technology to connect 40 cities. It will create 2000 new jobs. When is this going to happen in Africa? (http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,16829,00.html?nl=dnt) (Source: The Standard.com 14 July 2000) >ICANN TO OPEN UP ITS PROCESSES ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers -- was formed in October 1998. It has, with the support of the US government, assumed the role of a global Internet governing body and it is tasked with the co-ordination of the technical management of the domain name system, the allocation of IP address space, and management of Internet protocols and the root server system. ICANN has been the subject of a significant amount of controversy since its inception, and many people (see News Update 13) have been critical of its way of tackling the tasks it has set itself. Nonetheless, ICANN is likely to play a key role in the future development of the Internet. As part of its regulatory programme, ISPA (the South African Internet Service Providers' Association) produces regular Advisories on regulatory issues. Although these are targetted primarily at the ISPA's member companies, all of the advisories are available to the public via the ISPA web site (http://www.ispa.org.za). Of particular relevance is Advisory #4, a primer on ICANN published earlier this month. This document is available on-line at http://www.ispa.org.za/advisory4.htm and is recommended reading for anyone not familiar with ICANN. Key to ensuring input into ICANN from the global Internet community is ICANN's "At Large" membership. At Large membership is open to anyone over the age of 15 who has a verifiable email and postal addresses. Later this year, the At Large membership will select 5 directors to sit on the ICANN Board. Hopefully, these directors will be able to play a role in ensuring that ICANN addresses the needs of the global Internet community. News Update (along with many others) seeks to encourage anyone who has an interest in Internet governance to sign up for At Large membership. The process is completely free, fairly painless, and means that you will be able to participate directly in the ongoing development of the Internet. If you are interested, please visit http://members.icann.org for more information. (Source: Ant Brook, IOZ) ANOTHER CALL TO BRIDGE THE "DIGITAL DIVIDE" United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan issued a call to the leaders of the world's richest nations to bridge the digital divide and spread information technology to the world's poor nations. In a letter addressed to the Group of Eight Summit, under way in Japan, Annan wrote: "I urge you to commit yourselves to the goal of making IT accessible to all the world's people." G8 attendees hope to sign the Okinawa Charter, which directly addresses the digital divide. (Source: Intelligencer 14 July 2000) The latest world internet survey from Nua (March 2000) illustrates the scale of the problem. Africa has an estimated 2.77 million users which accounts for only 0.8% of a world total of 332.73 million. If South Africa accounts for over 1 million then the total for the rest of Africa is tiny. Only the Middle East region is smaller with only 1.9 million. (Source: James Beninger, Triumph of Content) Nua Internet Surveys >LOTUS OPENS BOTSWANA OFFICE Lotus Development has opened an official office in Gaborone, Botswana, due to the increasing implementation of Lotus solutions by various companies in the country. [11 July 2000] http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/business/2000/0007110826.asp * PLESSEY ACQUIRES MALAWI COMPANY FROM DIDATA Plessey, a telecommunications systems integrator, has acquired Plessey Malawi from Dimension Data for an undisclosed amount. [13 July 2000] http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/business/2000/0007130826.asp * MICROSOFT AND HEWLETT PACKARD EQUIP CHILDREN'S VILLAGE Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard have moved the SOS Children's Village in Mamelodi, Pretoria, into the digital age with a state of the art computer centre, increasing the community's computer literacy and employment opportunities. [14 July 2000] http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/business/2000/0007140849.asp * SA INFORMATION SECURITY AUTHORITY ESTABLISHED The Information Security Institute of SA has been established to provide information security certification to organisations that comply with the Code of Practice for SA information security management systems. [14 July 2000] http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/business/2000/0007140811.asp USEFUL WEB SITES AND DISCUSSION LISTS* MALI SPECIAL As a follow-up to the last issue's article on Mali: Afribone Mali has a webcam of the centre of Bamako that's refreshed every five minutes. Not much happening when we looked. Also a press review, news of the Durban HIV/AIDS conference and sections on education, arts and tourism. http://www.mlafribone.net/Webcam/ Malinet has a calender of football matches and news of the Tour de France 2000 with a commentary direct from the race. Plus all the usual news and sections... AgroMali.com is the e-presence of CAE. It includes a buy/sell bulletin board, market information, publications from CAE and requests for proposals as well as relevant events in Mali and worldwide. http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~anth/arch/mali-interactive/index.html A virtual field trip to Mali from the international NGO CARE takes you to Tomboctou on the banks of the Niger. It employs a helpful mix of information, video and images and they even offer a downloadable screensaver. http://www.care.org/virtual-trip/mali/ HealthNet Mali provides the classic "address book" site. Where's the useful information? http://healthnet.org/hnet/mal.html The Bamako Appeal was a historic declaration (1994) aimed at stopping the looting of Africa's cultural heritage. However not much has improved since then as the recent case of stolen Nigerian artefacts sold in London illustrated. http://www.icom.org/bamako.html * Exploration of Basic Learning Competencies & Girls' Sexual Maturation & Practices - Sub-Saharan Africa - supported by The Rockefeller Foundation (RF) - "an exploration of the acquisition of basic learning competencies, and the related issue of girls' sexual maturation. The exploration, expected to be completed by August 2000, aims at investigating whether the issues of acquisition of basic learning competencies and sexual maturation are viewed as sufficiently important and thus, a viable base for the development of a long-term investment enabling RF to collaborate with selected countries in improving educational participation. African institutions that are interested and are working on the development of education will be asked to act as hosts in the exploration. The exploration phase includes Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe." Contact jennyr@sn.apc.org * Bush Radio HIV/HOP Project - South Africa - tlaunched with the Youth Against Aids (YAA) 2000 Concert. Before the concert, a group of 40 high school students from various schools were trained at the Bush Radio Training Centre. They hosted a month of on air talk shows. After the concert, a programme developer and 4 young people from the Hip Hop community spent 3 months at Bush Radio designing programmes to carry the HIV/AIDS message to youth in the townships. A CD will accompany the final report. http://www.bushradio.co.za Contact Zane Ibrahim Zane@bushradio.co.za DIGITAL TOOLBOX* WEB DESIGN The latest research findings on web design from Stanford University are currently being reported at, for example, http://www.zdnet.com/devhead/alertbox/20000514.html and, in part, they report: The main Findings - Text Attracts Attention Before Graphics - Keep Headlines Simple and Direct - Shallow Reading Combined With Selected Depth: - Interlaced Browsing -- they would read something in one window -- then switch to another window and visit another site -- and then return to the first window and read some more on the first site; possibly to turn to the second window again later in the session The lesson for site designers is that users are not focused on any single site. There is not even such a thing as "a visit" to a site: even while the user is "visiting" your site, he or she is also checking out the competition. Truly, the Web as a whole forms the user experience. - Site design must accommodate people who leave and return frequently -- help users re-orient themselves -- plain and simple headlines immediately tell users what each page is about -- simple page titles that start with a salient keyword help users pick out pages from the minimized tiles in the Windows task bar -- do not assume users can remember their entire browsing session: -- provide breadcrumbs and other location tools -- do not change the standard link colors - doing so makes it harder to recognize what pages the user has already seen -- use standard terminology to minimize the need for users to switch context and remember what you call things -- during user testing, interrupt the users for a few minutes if they don't leave your site on their own .. Implications for Non-Newspaper Sites: The new eyetracking study is mostly applicable to all types of websites. Most of the findings confirm earlier findings from studies of many other types of sites, so they relate to basic characteristics of reading on the Web and are not limited to newspapers. Adding one more study to the list of evidence for different reading behavior will hopefully convince more Internet executives of the need write differently for the Web and hire specialized Web editors who understand online content. In terms of Web design for developing country access, it should be fairly straightforward: stick to text; no frames, no pictures, no Java nonsense; short pages with warnings about impending long ones; put guides to content at the top of pages; put in frequent email contacts for those frustrated by the Web. We try to stick close to that on our Web site which means you don't win awards but do win hits. PEOPLE AND E-JOBS* Airports Company MD Dirk Ackerman will be joining Dimension Data (DiData) to head up the Global i-Commerce division, DiData has announced today. [10 July 2000] http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/business/2000/0007101550.asp EVENTS* MICROSOFT SA GEARS UP FOR TECH-ED 2000 AFRICA Microsoft SA will host Tech-Ed 2000 Africa, a Microsoft technical training and education event, at Sun City from 20 to 23 August. [12 July 2000] http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/business/2000/0007121131.asp News Update is a free e-letter covering African internet content and infrastructure developments published by Balancing Act. The latest issue and all previous issues appear on the Kabissa.org web site (http://www.kabissa.org), which is a Balancing Act pilot project. For further information about Balancing Act and its pilot projects, contact Russell Southwood on info@balancingact-africa.com. All material is copyright but can be used if permission is sought.
BACK NUMBERSPast issues have covered: 18.1 Mali: internet access increases tenfold from a tiny base 17. Ethiopia: Customers in a queue to get access to internet 16. Why isn't Nigeria one of Africa's big internet players? 15. Liberia's first fully-fledged ISP 14. Speaking in Tongues? A Shona language web site 13.1 Education and ICT - What's the pay-off? 12. ICANN vs .ZA - Welcome to the parallel universe 11. Interviews with key Zambian ISPs 10. Benin - No telephone lines, no wired society? 9. South Africa - Growing pains in a highly regulated market 8. The All-African portal - A new contender enters the field 7. Sierre Leone's leading independent newspaper on the internet 6. Liberia 5. The state of the internet in Madagascar 4.1 The internet in four countries (Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya and Uganda) You can read and download these at http://www.kabissa.org. If you have difficulties accessing the web, mail us on southwood@boyden.demon.co.uk.
FREE SMALL ADSNews Update will be launching a free small ads section for its readers in the near future. In the first instance, ads will be restricted to 50 words. Please send them to Russell Southwood, News Update |
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This page last updated on January 28 2004.
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