eLearning Africa Conference Exhibition photos
Here is a collection of devices on display at the conference which attracted 1700 participants. most of the devices were thin client devices. http://www.cio.co.ke/Top-Stories/elearning-africa-2011-gallery.html -- with Regards: <https://twitter.com/#%21/denniskioko> <http://blog.denniskioko.com> www.denniskioko.com
@Dennis, thnks for sharing the developments. What I find particularly interesting is the KIE CD/DVD for Secondary Education. Some questions further generate interest: a) What were the costs of producing the eLearning syllabus on digital format and was the entire process done locally i.e from video to CD/DVD compilation? What software was used to create the Auto-Run, Viewer and Menu Builder, and whether this was done by a local developer company? Rgds.
Hi Aki, I was there for the conference, had a long chat with the fellow who did the KIE series... Yes, it was all done locally, cost under 100,000 USD for all the DVD's. It's really cost effective... On Mon, May 30, 2011 at 4:20 PM, aki <aki275@gmail.com> wrote:
@Dennis, thnks for sharing the developments. What I find particularly interesting is the KIE CD/DVD for Secondary Education. Some questions further generate interest:
a) What were the costs of producing the eLearning syllabus on digital format and was the entire process done locally i.e from video to CD/DVD compilation? What software was used to create the Auto-Run, Viewer and Menu Builder, and whether this was done by a local developer company?
Rgds.
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-- With Regards, Phares Kariuki | T: +254 734 810 802 | E: pkariuki@gmail.com | Twitter: kaboro | Skype: kariukiphares | B: http://www.kaboro.com/ |
@Phares, that's great. However, I'm more interested to know the whether the software used to run the cd/dvd on auto-run, display the menu in an indexed format, search tool and the content viewer were actually done by a local company. This is very important, because having local actors and producing a syllabus is all fine, but the core content technology must come from local firms or individuals. Could we possibly please get some details of the software house/individual that did KE so well? Cheers. :-) On Mon, May 30, 2011 at 4:31 PM, Phares Kariuki <pkariuki@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Aki,
I was there for the conference, had a long chat with the fellow who did the KIE series... Yes, it was all done locally, cost under 100,000 USD for all the DVD's. It's really cost effective...
@aki, just out of curiosity, why are you insistent on 'everything' being local? On Mon, May 30, 2011 at 4:45 PM, aki <aki275@gmail.com> wrote:
@Phares, that's great. However, I'm more interested to know the whether the software used to run the cd/dvd on auto-run, display the menu in an indexed format, search tool and the content viewer were actually done by a local company. This is very important, because having local actors and producing a syllabus is all fine, but the core content technology must come from local firms or individuals.
Could we possibly please get some details of the software house/individual that did KE so well?
Cheers. :-)
On Mon, May 30, 2011 at 4:31 PM, Phares Kariuki <pkariuki@gmail.com>wrote:
Hi Aki,
I was there for the conference, had a long chat with the fellow who did the KIE series... Yes, it was all done locally, cost under 100,000 USD for all the DVD's. It's really cost effective...
_______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke
@Peter, thanks for the question. You probably may not agree but if the local company/individual produced the content management technology (CMT ) then this is the exact thing that I mentioned in the KE Silicon valley. We now have a serious contender for VCs and also for the KE Tech Park. This company/individual has created the CMT that is being used in e-learning, no one knows its limits nor potential. This is where Nailab, iHub, KICTB or anyone else really come in and take the system forward. For me, this is the light at the end of the tunnel. Local company/individual creates a system that is being used within or outside our borders. Did KIE look for local developers of the CMT, did KICTB-Min of Info etc use the chance to build on local talent, there are some many questions. However, I'm also bracing myself that the system was not created locally thus was be disappointed at the outcome because it was a wonderful chance for both content developers and content developer systems creators to have bridged the gap. Amazing chance lost if true. Cheers. On Mon, May 30, 2011 at 5:06 PM, Peter Karunyu <pkarunyu@gmail.com> wrote:
@aki, just out of curiosity, why are you insistent on 'everything' being local?
As a final contribute for a while as I need to focus on my other stuff, I'd like to put this forward to the listers. *- The Birth of a Kenyan High Tech Company ( in relation to this thread and why it is important to develop locally--something I thought of when stuck in traffic this evening )* Had KIE and content developer used a local company to generate the cd/dvd content management technology system, we would have been looking at the creation of a high tech kenyan company in the process. I've not had a look at the cd/dvd myself, but these points below would make the content management technology (CMT) system created locally by a developer/software company such a success for VCs, investors and eventually become a KE Silicon Valley company : a) Anti-Piracy : How is the current content developer protecting the KIE syllabus DVDs discs from copyright abuse? - The local developer/company would have created a Unique ID serial number that would be typed into a box when the DVD was inserted for installation of the viewer. This Unique ID can be locked to a MAC hardware address of the machine to be installed. Each machine has a unique MAC address, thus duplication is almost impossibe. For software developers and coders, you know that this procedure is not difficult to code probably into the Auto-Run script. The Unique ID can be burnt into the DVD upon creation, and the end user basically uses the external ID provided with the DVD disc. There are many ways to do this anti-piracy adaptation. - The anti-piracy industry is big business. What is stopping us from developing a CMT system to compliment the holograms and electronic signatures with serial numbers? Could we hold the future of digital media security? We only have ourselves to blame for not creating such platforms and holding patents for such. Imagine the future where Hollywood or other content makers use our CMT system as part or protecting their content rights. Can we make a deal with DVD player manufacturers to chip our versions of the anti-piracy schemes implemented in the CMT. - We could even produce a fully functional web system that integrates into the CMT for end user to upgrade and register for variuos future DVD media to be released by KIE. b) The various languages option: How much is this benefit? Since the entire coding of the CMT is done locally, we have absolute control over the structure of the code. We can code the way a computer thinks, works and even accepts the DVD discs. We can also customise the language options and the CMT system can be used globally on almost any Digital Media. c) Security : Another big business industry As an example, If we were to code a PG or parental block for DVD disc media, with our coded CMT, we are now able to provide granular access to the users of the medium. Imagine a DVD disc media inserted into a computer checking the status and prompting for the code to open the content. So, in summary, I feel we have once again cheated ourselves of an opportunity to grow by not creating our own CMT system. While it may not matter to many, I hope the above provides a small insight of how much potential we have missed out on a single product. Sad day for KE developers and the local ICT community to move towards high tech companies. Thank you.
This is a worthy undertaking. How does one get these KIE CDs/DVDs? I'm particularly interested in knowing whether it's relevant, synchronized with the KIE secondary syllabus, because, if you look at Business Studies syllabus (done in April 2003), it's passed by time. For instance, the Form One's last chapter, "Terms and Means of Payment", still talks of 'Sokoletu, the herald of Zap and Airtel Money, mentions Zain Group, points out Safaricom's M-Pesa, when it was still in the first generation, and no mention of Orange (Money) and Yu (Cash). Quiet a lot information that needs some upgrades, though. On 30/05/2011, aki <aki275@gmail.com> wrote:
As a final contribute for a while as I need to focus on my other stuff, I'd like to put this forward to the listers.
*- The Birth of a Kenyan High Tech Company ( in relation to this thread and why it is important to develop locally--something I thought of when stuck in traffic this evening )*
Had KIE and content developer used a local company to generate the cd/dvd content management technology system, we would have been looking at the creation of a high tech kenyan company in the process. I've not had a look at the cd/dvd myself, but these points below would make the content management technology (CMT) system created locally by a developer/software company such a success for VCs, investors and eventually become a KE Silicon Valley company :
a) Anti-Piracy : How is the current content developer protecting the KIE syllabus DVDs discs from copyright abuse?
- The local developer/company would have created a Unique ID serial number that would be typed into a box when the DVD was inserted for installation of the viewer. This Unique ID can be locked to a MAC hardware address of the machine to be installed. Each machine has a unique MAC address, thus duplication is almost impossibe. For software developers and coders, you know that this procedure is not difficult to code probably into the Auto-Run script. The Unique ID can be burnt into the DVD upon creation, and the end user basically uses the external ID provided with the DVD disc. There are many ways to do this anti-piracy adaptation.
- The anti-piracy industry is big business. What is stopping us from developing a CMT system to compliment the holograms and electronic signatures with serial numbers? Could we hold the future of digital media security? We only have ourselves to blame for not creating such platforms and holding patents for such. Imagine the future where Hollywood or other content makers use our CMT system as part or protecting their content rights. Can we make a deal with DVD player manufacturers to chip our versions of the anti-piracy schemes implemented in the CMT.
- We could even produce a fully functional web system that integrates into the CMT for end user to upgrade and register for variuos future DVD media to be released by KIE.
b) The various languages option: How much is this benefit?
Since the entire coding of the CMT is done locally, we have absolute control over the structure of the code. We can code the way a computer thinks, works and even accepts the DVD discs. We can also customise the language options and the CMT system can be used globally on almost any Digital Media.
c) Security : Another big business industry
As an example, If we were to code a PG or parental block for DVD disc media, with our coded CMT, we are now able to provide granular access to the users of the medium. Imagine a DVD disc media inserted into a computer checking the status and prompting for the code to open the content.
So, in summary, I feel we have once again cheated ourselves of an opportunity to grow by not creating our own CMT system. While it may not matter to many, I hope the above provides a small insight of how much potential we have missed out on a single product. Sad day for KE developers and the local ICT community to move towards high tech companies.
Thank you.
-- Sent from my mobile device
Aki, For lack of a better euphemism, I can only describe this as technological inbreeding. We don't have *all* the competency to do everything... Not even the US has... (most of their products, though designed in the US are manufactured in China). Using technology someone else designed opens you up to their knowledge-base, pitfalls etc... Let me give an example, if I say decide to build upon Ubuntu, you will learn from Ubuntu which UI gaffes not to make etc, what largely does not work (given that you are targeting an international market). Most of the coders etc will open up and give you knowledge that you otherwise would not get. We don't have to re-invent the wheel to be a technological giant... Think about it, we are 1,700 thereaobuts on this mailing list, and 3,500 registered at the iHub. Microsoft alone has 89,000 employees... We need to focus on what we are good at. If the KIE had decided to build everything from scratch (given historical issues with proper sourcing of .ke contracters), this project would not have taken off.... Fact of the matter is, greater good is to have the content available ASAP. The reason people in the US etc had to build their OS/hardware etc is because there was no platform... India is a good example of how you can be a technological powerhouse without having to build your own computers etc... One of their largest tech firms is a system integration outfit, Wipro, that has revenues of 6 Billion USD (slightly 5 times what Safaricom makes) and employes 122,000 people.... really that's good for the economy... Additionally research etc to build our own platforms is *expensive* and with your previous disdain for VC, we really would be in a quandry as to how to proceed.... On Mon, May 30, 2011 at 8:50 PM, aki <aki275@gmail.com> wrote:
As a final contribute for a while as I need to focus on my other stuff, I'd like to put this forward to the listers.
*- The Birth of a Kenyan High Tech Company ( in relation to this thread and why it is important to develop locally--something I thought of when stuck in traffic this evening )*
Had KIE and content developer used a local company to generate the cd/dvd content management technology system, we would have been looking at the creation of a high tech kenyan company in the process. I've not had a look at the cd/dvd myself, but these points below would make the content management technology (CMT) system created locally by a developer/software company such a success for VCs, investors and eventually become a KE Silicon Valley company :
a) Anti-Piracy : How is the current content developer protecting the KIE syllabus DVDs discs from copyright abuse?
- The local developer/company would have created a Unique ID serial number that would be typed into a box when the DVD was inserted for installation of the viewer. This Unique ID can be locked to a MAC hardware address of the machine to be installed. Each machine has a unique MAC address, thus duplication is almost impossibe. For software developers and coders, you know that this procedure is not difficult to code probably into the Auto-Run script. The Unique ID can be burnt into the DVD upon creation, and the end user basically uses the external ID provided with the DVD disc. There are many ways to do this anti-piracy adaptation.
- The anti-piracy industry is big business. What is stopping us from developing a CMT system to compliment the holograms and electronic signatures with serial numbers? Could we hold the future of digital media security? We only have ourselves to blame for not creating such platforms and holding patents for such. Imagine the future where Hollywood or other content makers use our CMT system as part or protecting their content rights. Can we make a deal with DVD player manufacturers to chip our versions of the anti-piracy schemes implemented in the CMT.
- We could even produce a fully functional web system that integrates into the CMT for end user to upgrade and register for variuos future DVD media to be released by KIE.
b) The various languages option: How much is this benefit?
Since the entire coding of the CMT is done locally, we have absolute control over the structure of the code. We can code the way a computer thinks, works and even accepts the DVD discs. We can also customise the language options and the CMT system can be used globally on almost any Digital Media.
c) Security : Another big business industry
As an example, If we were to code a PG or parental block for DVD disc media, with our coded CMT, we are now able to provide granular access to the users of the medium. Imagine a DVD disc media inserted into a computer checking the status and prompting for the code to open the content.
So, in summary, I feel we have once again cheated ourselves of an opportunity to grow by not creating our own CMT system. While it may not matter to many, I hope the above provides a small insight of how much potential we have missed out on a single product. Sad day for KE developers and the local ICT community to move towards high tech companies.
Thank you.
_______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke
-- With Regards, Phares Kariuki | T: +254 734 810 802 | E: pkariuki@gmail.com | Twitter: kaboro | Skype: kariukiphares | B: http://www.kaboro.com/ |
Aki you do realize you complicate stuff so much it's virtually impossible to do anything. We need to start somewhere and scale as we grow.
@Solomon, you have a very good point on the actual content and worthy looking into as you probably understand much more. You input also is quite valuable. @Phares, @Dennis : just a quick response as time is pressed. Thanks for your comments but ,IMHO, I don't know how much longer you will refuse to see the self-denial of your facts. That I cannot change, nor can I change how we perceive the outlook that KE should have or neither can I change the deeply embedded broker culture. All I've written is the potential of the project and what could have been achieved but disappointed that some developer/software company in KE lost a chance to do something very significant. Asanteni. :-)
Morning all, @Aki, I have forwarded the comments to John Kimotho of KIE who is on copy of this email. He should get back to you with further details and comments. Regards, Rita Gitobu On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 10:14 AM, aki <aki275@gmail.com> wrote:
@Solomon, you have a very good point on the actual content and worthy looking into as you probably understand much more. You input also is quite valuable.
@Phares, @Dennis : just a quick response as time is pressed. Thanks for your comments but ,IMHO, I don't know how much longer you will refuse to see the self-denial of your facts. That I cannot change, nor can I change how we perceive the outlook that KE should have or neither can I change the deeply embedded broker culture. All I've written is the potential of the project and what could have been achieved but disappointed that some developer/software company in KE lost a chance to do something very significant.
Asanteni. :-)
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-- Rita Gitobu twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/rgitobu Facebook: Rita Gitobu Skype: rgitobu Cellphone: | +254722759354 Nairobi, Kenya
Thank you @ Rita. It would also be good if Mr John Kamotho reply on list so as to be able to engage the various kenyan developers/software companies. Surely if it happens right, there is much potential for the system creators/VCs/investors. This project could be the next locally generated success for talk in Silicon Valley circles. Because I've already understood the business impact of the CMT project, and though am not fully a coder as yet, I'm will to provide any advice ( imho) that may help this thread grow. Rgds. On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 10:18 AM, Rita Gitobu <rgitobu@gmail.com> wrote:
Morning all,
@Aki, I have forwarded the comments to John Kimotho of KIE who is on copy of this email. He should get back to you with further details and comments.
Regards,
Rita Gitobu
On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 10:14 AM, aki <aki275@gmail.com> wrote:
@Solomon, you have a very good point on the actual content and worthy looking into as you probably understand much more. You input also is quite valuable.
@Phares, @Dennis : just a quick response as time is pressed. Thanks for your comments but ,IMHO, I don't know how much longer you will refuse to see the self-denial of your facts. That I cannot change, nor can I change how we perceive the outlook that KE should have or neither can I change the deeply embedded broker culture. All I've written is the potential of the project and what could have been achieved but disappointed that some developer/software company in KE lost a chance to do something very significant.
Asanteni. :-)
_______________________________________________
@ Aki, I'm more in the education sector, thus my understanding of this issue. Thanks for your highlights @ Rita, I also concur with Aki if Mr. Kimotho could reply onlist for our engagement on this issue. Can he be added to the list? On 31/05/2011, aki <aki275@gmail.com> wrote:
Thank you @ Rita. It would also be good if Mr John Kamotho reply on list so as to be able to engage the various kenyan developers/software companies. Surely if it happens right, there is much potential for the system creators/VCs/investors. This project could be the next locally generated success for talk in Silicon Valley circles. Because I've already understood the business impact of the CMT project, and though am not fully a coder as yet, I'm will to provide any advice ( imho) that may help this thread grow.
Rgds.
On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 10:18 AM, Rita Gitobu <rgitobu@gmail.com> wrote:
Morning all,
@Aki, I have forwarded the comments to John Kimotho of KIE who is on copy of this email. He should get back to you with further details and comments.
Regards,
Rita Gitobu
On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 10:14 AM, aki <aki275@gmail.com> wrote:
@Solomon, you have a very good point on the actual content and worthy looking into as you probably understand much more. You input also is quite valuable.
@Phares, @Dennis : just a quick response as time is pressed. Thanks for your comments but ,IMHO, I don't know how much longer you will refuse to see the self-denial of your facts. That I cannot change, nor can I change how we perceive the outlook that KE should have or neither can I change the deeply embedded broker culture. All I've written is the potential of the project and what could have been achieved but disappointed that some developer/software company in KE lost a chance to do something very significant.
Asanteni. :-)
_______________________________________________
-- Sent from my mobile device
In addition to Phares comment, KIE have also been having a capacity strengthening partnership with Intel (you can read a little about this in the June 2011 issue of CIO East Africa Magazine). So yes, they really have build the capacity, I beleive they are working on more multimedia content to bundle with the books. In fact KIE's project was one of the winners of the 2009 Technology in Government Awards (TIGA) in the "ICT in Education sector" http://www.cio.co.ke/Main-Stories/government-ict-in-education-award-winners-...
@Dennis, thanks. It would be nice to read on the locally produced content multimedia technology that made the e-learning cd/dvd possible. Without this, the syllabus lessons would have been manually indexed eg. lesson1, lesson2 and the student would have to go into the TOC of the cd/dvd and run the video clip. Even worse without the content technology, there would be no way to generate a menu system or even search the disc so basically each lesson would be track1, track2 etc. There is much to celebrate with the person/company who created the content multimedia technology for the e-learning platform. I'm sure the Disc runs on any OS, therefore its a pretty smart approach to software development for the platform. Cannot wait to learn more. Rgds. :-) On Mon, May 30, 2011 at 4:39 PM, Dennis Kioko <dmbuvi@gmail.com> wrote:
In addition to Phares comment, KIE have also been having a capacity strengthening partnership with Intel (you can read a little about this in the June 2011 issue of CIO East Africa Magazine). So yes, they really have build the capacity, I beleive they are working on more multimedia content to bundle with the books.
In fact KIE's project was one of the winners of the 2009 Technology in Government Awards (TIGA) in the "ICT in Education sector" http://www.cio.co.ke/Main-Stories/government-ict-in-education-award-winners-...
participants (6)
-
aki -
Dennis Kioko -
Peter Karunyu -
Phares Kariuki -
Rita Gitobu -
Solomon Mburu Kamau