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ISSUE NO 30 USEFUL
WEBSITES AND DISCUSSION LISTS |
An interesting report from
South Africa.
Overcoming Regulatory and Technological Challenges To Bring InternetAccess
To a Sparsely Populated, Remote Area: A Case Study by Ronel Smith.
It details how the author combined existing internet access technologies
to overcome various obstacles such as the lack of existing telecommunications
infrastructure, remoteness of area, as well as political and
economic issues. Furthermore the solution implemented had to
be cheap, suited to the specific regulatory and geographic environment,
robust and suitable for a particular application, namely Web
browsing and e-mail."
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue5_10/smith/index.html
An interesting range of
resources gathered by the African Information Society Initiative (AISI)
(see: http://www.mediaafrica.co.za/african_resources/)
Its "Action Framework to Build Africa's Information and
Communication Infrastructure" was adopted in May 1996 by
the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Conference of Ministers.
http://www.bellanet.org/partners/aisi/
AfricaLink
An initiative by the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID) to facilitate access to the Internet for its colleagues
and partners in Africa.
http://www.info.usaid.gov/alnk/welcome.htm
Africa One (Africa Optical NEtwork)
Undersea fiber-optic system, mainly backed by AT&T (http://www.att.com)
that promises all African nations improved telecommunications
capabilities. It is hard to tell how keenly it has been taken
up by its intneded beneficiaries, as the site has not been updated
since early 1997.
http://www.africaonesystem.com/
HealthLink
In some ways the equivalent of HealthNet Africa, based on similar
principles but focussing on South Africa and using dial-up rather
than satellite technology. It is a project of the Health Systems
Trust established to help meet the communication and information
needs of health workers in South Africa.
http://www.healthlink.org.za
HealthNet Africa
Part of SatelLife's computer-based telecommunications system
which links health care workers around the world. HealthNet provides
access to the latest medical information, e-mail connectivity,
electronic conferencing, and other services via a system of Low
Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, simple ground stations, and radio-
and telephone-based computer networks.
http://www.healthnet.org/hnet/africa.html
International Development
Research Centre's Connectivity Southern Africa
A project designed to help formulate an effective strategy for
the promotion of Internet connectivity in communities in the
Southern African (SADC) region.
http://www.idrc.org.za/connectsa/index.html
Network Startup Resource
Center (NSRC)
Provides technical and engineering assistance to networking initiatives
to provide public networking access, especially to academic/research
organizations and NGOs in developing countries. Based at the
University of Oregon and run by, among others, Randy Bush, a
key personality in the evolution of the Internet in South Africa.
http://www.nsrc.org/
ORSTOM
A French state-owned public service agency under the joint authority
of the French research and overseas development ministries, which
helps set up and run scientific networks in a BBS-type (electronic
bulletin board) system.
http://www.orstom.fr/
RIO
ORSTOM's intercontinental computer network, which provides e-mail
contact among scientists in tropical countries via the Internet.
http://www.rio.net/
SANGONet
Regional electronic information and communications network for
development and human rights workers.
http://wn.apc.org/
TRINET
Third World Communications project backed by Trinity College
Dublin, Systems Modelling, Connect-Ireland and The SatelLife
project of Healthnet
http://www.iol.ie/~pobeirne/trinet.html#VITASAT
News Update is
a free e-letter produced by Balancing Act that covers African
internet content and infrastructure developments, It goes out
to government, the private sector, education and NGOs. To subscribe,
send a message saying "I want to subscribe" to info@balancingact-africa.com
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