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“Why am I doing this? I hope to go to heaven when I die”.
Onno Purbo, the cheap-vs-costly technology specialist from
Indonesia, showing slide after slide of low-cost technology options for ICT.
"An excellent conference. It was
exciting and very interesting. The good thing about it was that all the
pieces were there: the technology, the packed programme, the people from all
over. It built a sense of community that has not happened before."
- Mike Jensen, technology specialist and writer
“While much of the Information
Technology sector in North America and Europe is experiencing doubt
and retreat, something entirely different is happening in Africa…The
African Information Revolution is wireless.”
Maureen O’Neil, President, IDRC
“Effective communication is
conversely related to the available technology.”
Robert Cailliau, CERN
QUOTES FROM THE
SESSION ON POVERTY
“Poverty is a political question, so
do ICTs change the political reality, to make it more participatory?”
“We have to open up to the possibility
that ICTs are completely irrelevant.”
“We haven’t yet given ICTs a chance to
make a difference.”
“We have to go ahead in Africa with
ICTs or people will become more marginalized and excluded than we are
already.”
“Most ICT projects are people outside
the community figuring out how to develop services, which is not the same as
giving people the tools to empower their own communities.”
People reported back from small group discussions, following
the debate between Meddie and Riff, on the question: “Do ICTs have an impact
on poverty reduction?”
“You know what
happens when Microsoft doesn’t pitch – you have to reboot everything.”
Anonymous
“We are not building enough capacity for new scientists, new
people, to come and contribute to this very important area of ICT research.”
Eng Venăncio Massingue,
Vice Rector: University of Eduardo
Mondlane Maputo, Mozambique
“There is not just an information revolution taking place on
this continent, there are many information revolutions.”
Aida Opoko-Menseh, UNECA
“ICTs
are being recognized as much more than just a key economic sector.”
Richard Bourassa, Industry Canada
“ I would like to
apologise on behalf of Microsoft, they won’t be here today.”
Joris Komen, Schoolnet Namibia
“Abandon
conventional wisdom – defy gravity in our minds”
Frederick Tusubira, Commissioner,
Uganda Communications Commission
“There’s a great
danger of regulation by photocopy.”
Alison Gillward, Link Centre, on policy and liberalization.
“Liberalization
without regulation is like kids playing football before you have the referee
and the playing lines.”
Gaston Zongo, private consultant
“We nearly went to press with an
edition called the ‘News in Briefs’ rather than the News in Brief (NibTimes).
We do want exciting news, but aren’t really here to do undercover
stories.”
Graeme Addison, WebMedia team
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