Project Diaspora at Barcamp, MobileActive08

Events & Conferences south africa technology

 

MobileActiv08: 13-15 October 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa

MobileActiv08: 13-15 October 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa

Good news, PD is jetting off into the sunset in effort to cover the latest, biggest, baddest confabs about and/or in Africa. Yours truly just landed in Johannesburg, just in time to catch Barcamp Johanessburg this weekend, starting tomorrow. I’ll cover as much as I can from the two-day unconference before skipping across town to join David Sasaki and some of the biggest players in the African mobile technology space. Just a few of the players listed so far include:

 

Anna Kydd from Project Zumbido:

We ran a pilot project last year called Project Zumbido that looked to improve the quality of life of those living with HIV/AIDS.  The project created support networks for those living with HIV/AIDS  by mobile phone in rural and urban areas of the state of Jalisco,Mexico using a technology that enabled a simultaneous communication. We were selected as one of the finalists this year for  the Stockholm Challenge Awards.

Victorino Nhabangue and Henk Boshoof from Mozambique Health Information Network (MHIN):

The project uses the local GSM network combined with AAP (African Access Point), Server and PDAs that health workers at remote health facilities use not only to collect and transmit health data info but also, they use it to send and receive e-mails, receive broadcasted health content information such as Malaria treatment manuals and others.

Glen Thompson from World Wide Fund for Nature:

One project we have been working on is with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF South Africa) to develop a mobile campaign that creates consumer awareness about energy use and climate change. By using the MyCO2Print WAP enabled carbon footprint calculator, mobile phone users are able to measure their household carbon emissions. WWF is launching this mobile campaign, on the Wednesday of the conference, as part of its “BE THE HERO” consumer activism campaign (www.wwf.org.za/hero).

 

That’s just a few from a long list of amazing organizations doing phenomenal things in the mobile application space in Africa. With so much activity in the mobile applications space, I am getting a feeling that by the time all the various undersea broadband cable ventures and O3b Networks projects come to fruition, Africa will be a hotbet of serious mobile activity. Watch this space.

As an aside, i just got a note that White African is having a get together tonight, not too far from here, I think I’ll go check it out. He’s also attending Barcamp Jozi and is presenting at MobileActive08. I’ll attempt to live blog tomorrow when BarCamp Jozi kicks off. There’s a possibility of a live link-up with the BarCamp Africa in Mountainview, California. Wicked.

Speaking of which, Tracy1314 is heading off into the Western Sunset to cover BarcampAfrica in Mountainview, CA, home of Google. Yes, we know. A Barcamp. About Africa. In Silicon Valley. What do you want, it’s Google!

It should come as no surprise that Silicon Valley’s finest are listed as registered attendees, and it looks to be a pretty big deal, so look for coverage of that event starting October 11th.

UPDATE:

Saul notes in the comments that this BarCamp Africa is sponsored by Google, not held by Google. Our apologies for the mistake. Thanks Saul.

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  • Saul Wainwright
    October 10, 2008 at 4:53 pm

    Hey thanks for all the great posts about BarcampAfrica. I just wanted to clarify one thing – this is an event “sponsored” by Google. However, those of us that are helping to organize it approached Google rather then Google approaching us.

    So it is not a Google event – but rather an event sponsored by Google along with a bunch of other great sponsors and volunteer time.

    Thanks and hope you guys have a grand time at the MObile Active and I look forward to meeting Tracy1314

  • Crystal
    October 11, 2008 at 2:54 am

    For those of you attending BarCamp in Silicon Valley please try to find Adrienne and tell her that you will not leave your villages behind. We need to hear that you care about poverty alleviation in your homeland. It would mean a lot to us.

    Asante sana, ndugu.

    Crystal
    Voices of Africa