A copy of the presentation I made at the SITA GovTech in Durban. It Captures:The need for polling on resources – Polling resources is very important for the development of any FOSS software, as indeed any community-based project.Collaboration – an understanding of purpose among all the stakeholders is very important. From policy makers, funders, community leaders, software developers, to the end users.importance of ownershipNeed for qualified human capacity in the software development arena – in working together, we should continually look at ways and means of improving our human capacity and capital.
- 1. FOSS Development in Africa: The AVOIR Perspective James
Njenga, University of the W. Cape
2. 3. The Africa Virtual Online Initiatives and Resources
(AVOIR)
- Collaborative human capacity development
- FOSS development and support
4. Unity in scarcity and diversity Creating an ecosystem to
foster innovation
5. Innovative processes 6. 7. AVOIR Building Pillars
8. Networking 9. Software development 10. Software projects
implementation 11. Ecosystem Principles
- Growth and sustainability
12. Replication 13. Collaboration 14. Products: Chisimba
- A framework for rapid software development.
15. About Chisimba: MVC, Modular View User input System output
Controller Process user input Handles communication Model Store
state informatin ModuleTemplates Logic Data Access ModuleTemplates
Logic Data Access 16. Chisimba Based Products
17. Content Management systems 18. Blogs 19. Online surveys 20.
Wiki 21. Committe Manager
22. Learning Management Systems 23. Presentations Manager 24.
Example: eteaching.uwc.ac.za 25. Presentations:
presentations.wits.ac.za 26. And many more
27. www.uwc.ac.za 28. thetha.uwc.ac.za 29. kims.wits.ac.za 30.
ahero.uwc.ac.za 31. etd.uwc.ac.za
32. www.kie.ac.ke 33. www.polytechnic.edu.na 34. Most Visible
Results
- Over 100 developers have participated in AVOIR.
- Most of them got training either as interns (including me) or
in a workshop set up.
35. Most of the AVOIR trained developers who have left, did so
to 'greener' pastures. Lasting networks of developers 36.
Challenges and Opportunities
- Failure to take ownership by all nodes
37. Strategic partnerships 38. Continuous human capacity
development Qualified software developers
- Lack to keep the best developers
- Continous human capacity development
39. Buy-in from other developers, even leisure developers 40.
Mentored interships 41. Challenges and Opportunities
- Getting the required user-base to support development
- Lack of use of software products developed.
- Improving user satisfaction and experience
42. Proper marketing 43. Building for the users, involving them
in the porcess 44. Progress I haveseen in government in
theimplementation ofFOSS 45. What, in your opinion, can the South
Africangovernment do to accelerate implementationof the Policy?
Walk Talk the 46. Procurement strategies
- Embrace freedom and openness
47. Consult widely (and the right people) 48. Strategic
partnershipsWhat procurement strategies, in your opinion,can
government implement to enable the useof FOSS in government? 49.
Questions? Comments? 50. Thank You 51.
52. Department of Information Systems 53. University of the
Western Cape 54. Tel: 021 959 3243 55. Fax: 021 959 3522 56. Email:
[email protected], [email protected] 57. Twitter: @karitz 58.
Skype: carice2 59. With Thanks!
- The huts, african
villagehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/gbaku/1277645967/
60. Building pillars,
barnhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/38983646@N06/3644217509 61.
Networks, nodeshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/danzen/5614900757/ 62.
Foot prints
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34121831@N00/4592567496/sizes/z/in/photostream/
