| ||||||||||
 |
|
STUDY ABROAD OPTIONS
|
|
||||
DIFFERENT WAYS TO MARKET YOUR WEB SITE An interesting site that’s
full of different ways to get the traffic moving in the
direction of your site. It’s called "27 Ways to Promote
Your Website" and can be found at: http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/checklist.htm GETTING TO GRIPS WITH THE START-UPS DOWNTURN IN ARGENTINA An article by Julia Scheeres from Wired News about Argentina gives a graphic description of what happens when dotcom hype turns into a nightmare. A salutory set of lessons for all involved in similar start-ups in Africa. Argentina should be a dot-commers dream.It has an educated, tech-savvy population, a high unemployment rate and a relatively sophisticated telecommunications structure.In the heyday of early 2000, Argentina launched half of all new startups in Latin America.Today, the fiesta has grown a lot quieter. The reason? Dinero. Moola. Money. According to a study of 217 Argentine websites by Prince & Cooke, a market research firm based in Buenos Aires, only 12 percent have obtained a second round of financing.Once upon a time, investors threw money at Argentine Internet companies hoping to make a gazillion off the Latin Internet Revolution. "Investors didn’t want to be left out of an apparently ‘very profitable’ business and didn’t use logic to discern between good and bad projects," said Pablo Tedesco, a Price & Cooke analyst. "There were weeks where 10 or more sites were launched in sectors that weren’t even feasible for traditional businesses." Then came el crash. And new startups have been as rare as the sight of a puma on the Argentine Pampa."The impact has been tremendous," said Daniel Korn, a lawyer at the Argentine law firm Allende & Brea, which counsels Internet startups as well as venture capital firms. "We were processing five funding applications a week in the heyday and now we’re lucky to get five a month." Another hurdle for Argentine startups is geographical location. Internet penetration in Argentina is only 4 percent, which is considered high for Latin America, according to Jupiter Research, but low in a general sense. And dialup access, the connection method used by most Argentines, can burn a big fat hole in the wallet; Telephone companies charge about $1 an hour to log on to the Internet, a major expense in a country where the average monthly salary is $700. "Cable modems are more popular among heavy users but cable modems aren’t widespread for personal access" because of expense and are mainly used at companies, said Diego Garrido, an associate at Allende & Brea.Logically, all this has inhibited the development of e-commerce in Argentina, as have fears of credit card fraud, the lack of a "catalogue culture" and an unreliable delivery system, Korn said. "Historically, people feel that if they subscribe to a magazine, the postman will keep it," he said.The concept of ordering products out of a Sears or J. Crew magazine over the phone is strange to most Argentines. Ordering them over the Net is stranger still. In fact, only 0.5 percent of the population has transacted business online. The future of B2C commerce in Argentina is gloomy, at least in the short term, the analysts concurred. Of the 2.6 million Internet users in Argentina, only 320,000 have made online purchases, Tedesco said. Of those, only 27 percent made their virtual purchases from national companies. "The first step is to get everyone connected, and the second to get everyone familiarized with and (trusting of) the system," Korn said. Copyright 1994-2001 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved. (source:Andy Carvin, Benton Foundation) RURAL SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOL GETS INTERNET WITH SOLAR POWER The rural community of Maphephetheni is situated in the Valley of a Thousand Hills in KwaZulu Natal, 80km west of Durban. The terrain is very mountainous and the population is extremely dispersed, thereby rendering grid electrification uneconomical. In 1995 a partnership between the government and an American based energy organisation initiated a programme to introduce solar home lighting systems to rural households in the village of Maphephetheni which had no electricity. Through this programme, the headmaster of Myeka High School, Melusi Zwane learned about solar electricity and requested assistance of the major players in establishing a computer centre at the school. His main objective was to provide his students with an education that was more relevant to obtaining jobs in the modern world. At first, he was told that there was no way he could achieve that because not only were computers expensive, the lack of electricity was a definite barrier. Undaunted, he set about getting the necessary sponsors and donors needed to realise his dream. In 1998, Minister Pennuel Maduna former minister of Minerals and Energy opened the first rural computer centre in South Africa to be powered by solar energy. This was a great step forward for Myeka High School, and stimulated by the enthusiasm of both students and teachers, the school is determined to progress further. Through the support of partners and donors, Myeka High School became aware of new computer technology known as ‘buddy’ or ‘shareware’, a combination of hardware and software which allows two to four people to use one Windows computer - simultaneously and independently. Each user has their own monitor, keyboard and mouse and sees their own Windows desktop - just as though they were using two separate computers. This arrangement dramatically reduced both computer cost and power consumption. Having optimised the computer centre, the schools’ next task was to address the teacher/student ratios (1:85). Their inspiration came from the SABC Channel 3, which transmits Distance Learning material from the Learning Channel Campus daily from 10h00 to 12h00. Their challenge was to establish whether all subjects could be made available to the school the entire day. They found their answer in InfoSat, a value-added service provider, specialising in the distribution of data via satellite and high-end web developments. InfoSat digitally transmitted the material to a satellite dish situated in the school. The information was then downloaded onto the server computer, which printed the information onto CD’s. The CDs were inserted into the CD drives in each classroom and viewed by the students via a 74cm TV set available in each classroom. Protec, a non-profit educational service provider dedicated to developing South Africa’s future science, technology and engineering capacity by improving science, mathematics and technology education in schools, came in and workshopped the school’s teachers on how to use the material effectively. The beauty of the arrangement is that the teachers are able to interact with the class by manipulating the information in the computer, which is relayed to the students via TV. This not only improves teaching skills, but promotes participation with the students. This is by far enhanced by use of the Internet in the classroom. Getting solar electricity in the school has led to the acquisition of world class electronic learning equipment such as computers, TV & VCR, overhead projector, Learning Channel & Internet linked up to satellite, photocopier, copy printer. The equipment has had a huge impact on enhancing the culture of learning and teaching in the school. Since teachers themselves had first to learn how to use the equipment before passing the skill on to learners, it has been an exciting and challenging experience. The excitement has rubbed off onto the learners. They all have an interest in the Computer Centre. The school drop out rate has declined considerably over the past two years. This could be attributed to the expectation that the acquisition of computer skills will make them employable. The number of learners who want to enroll in the school, has increased dramatically over the last two years. It has increased from 720 in 1997 to 850 in 1999. In the year 2000 it could reach 1000. Ironically the increase has had a negative impact. It has put a strain on limited resources. The demand is now by far exceeding supply, few computers and insufficient power supply. (source: TAD Newsletter)
|
|
    
|
|||
|
This page last updated on January 28 2004.
|
|||||
