Category: technology

World Telecommunication and Information Society Day Symposium

If you have Thursday morning free, check out the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day Symposium:

The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology in collaboration with the Uganda Communications Commission and the Civil Society Organisations invites the public to a half day symposium under the theme “Achieving MDGs, the contribution of ICTs; Public-Private Partnerships and between the Civil Society and Government” at Hotel Africana on Thursday, May 17, 2007 starting at 9:00 AM.

The symposium will focus on educating the public about telecommunications in Uganda, identifying solutions to the challenges facing Uganda’s telecommunications, and (this is where I get excited) promoting awareness of ICTs as tools for economic and social development.

For more information, contact the Uganda Communications Commission, 12th floor Communications House, 0312339000 or 0414339000, ucc@ucc.co.ug.

jackfruit of the week: march 15


A heavily fruiting jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) on the grounds of the old Hobson estate, Coconut Grove. Miami, Eila.
from Jackfruit (Purdue University)

I’m heading upcountry this weekend to check out a girls’ football tournament in Gulu. To keep you entertained while I’m gone:


housekeeping

Check it out: my blogroll (which I always thought sounded more like an Austrian pastry than anything else) had so many links on it that it was getting a little unwieldy. I decided to change things up a bit and use the lovely, fantastic Google Reader to keep tabs on what everyone’s saying.

Instead of huge lists, the sidebar now shows the three most recent posts from five different categories — a better way, I think, of paying attention to the blogs I like. You can still see the lists if you click on the links below each category.

You can also read about the enigmatic jackfruit, if you’re so inclined.

In other news: voting for the 2006 Uganda Best of Blogs is over. We had 287 votes in five categories, with some pretty hotly contested races. Awards will be presented at this month’s Happy Hour: Thursday, March 15, 6:30 PM at Mateo’s.

th-th-throw your (…) hands up

Last week Reuters launched a new Africa-focused news site called (what else?) Reuters Africa. The site features pages for each country (check out Uganda’s) that, in addition to regular and business-focused news content, include this:


Yep. You know what that means? We just got ourselves an audience. Global Voices Online already gets 300,000 readers each month, but the new partnership will expose GVO content to about 7.6 million more.

A lot of you have already been featured on GVO — in the last month, Degstar, Inktus, Dennis Matanda, Baz, Pernille, Ivan, Mr. Magoo and Zack and Joshi have all been mentioned. The Uganda section, which Josh edits, follows the big stories and conversations coming out of our part of the blogosphere — our stories. And now, those stories are going to be shown to over 200,000 people each day.

I wrote earlier about the importance of blogging in Uganda and why I think UBHH and the awards are a good idea — it’s important that we talk and argue, laugh and listen. Not just among ourselves, but to the rest of the world.

Well, the world’s listening. What are we going to say?

Other intriguing articles about Reuters Africa:

the hour of our discontent

The first rumblings started here, with feezee’s remarkably eloquent comment about the Uganda Best of Blogs awards. Then Pea had a little something to say, Dennis D. Muhumuza worked his magic in the Daily Monitor, Minty chimed in, and now everyone’s talking about it: should Ugandan bloggers stay in their own, private corners, or should we out ourselves and come together offline?

My opinion on this one is obvious — I’ve been pushing hard for the BOB awards and UBHH. And since I’ve been encouraging more interaction, more debate and more openness among Ugandan bloggers, I feel like it’s time to, you know, do that. So here goes.

I get the need for privacy. I understand that there are things you could never say to your closest friends but have to say to the world. I know the fear of being outed, of losing your anonymity, of having your innermost thoughts suddenly exposed. It’s happened to me, and the results weren’t pretty — rebuilding the relationships that were damaged when people I knew read what I’d been thinking in secret was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

A study done in 2004 showed that 42% of bloggers almost never reveal their identities online, and 36% have gotten in trouble for something they wrote on their blogs. I value the freedom to say what you want online without offline retribution (provided you’re not inciting riots or calling for murder), and I will never criticize those who treasure their online privacy. My intention with the BOB awards and the Ugandan Bloggers Happy Hours is not to force the spotlight onto anyone who would rather remain anonymous (UBHH guests: I went through the photos and deleted those that showed the faces of anyone who asked me to protect their privacy). If you don’t want your blog involved in the awards, just e-mail me and let me know so I can take you out of the running.

That said, I believe there is great value to be found in publicizing Ugandan bloggers and the Ugandan blogging community. Through the first UBHH my knowledge of Ugandan blogs quintupled. Nominations are coming in for the BOB awards, and I find it encouraging that so many of us are paying attention to what each other has to say. We’re talking more: we’re arguing, but we’re also learning and laughing. Isn’t the point of posting your thoughts on the internet, anonymously or otherwise, to get them read? To start conversations? That’s why we post comments and link to each other.

Bloggers all over the world, from Houston to Delhi to Cape Town, are meeting up. They’re talking about identity, censorship, media, technology and creativity, among other things. They’re telling their stories and making their voices heard, and I think that’s a wonderful thing — something Uganda deserves and is highly capable of doing. That’s why I helped start UBHH, and that’s why I created the Uganda BOB awards.