Call for Interviewees: Courtesy of the iHub Blog

Dr. Mark Graham a researcher at Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, is conducting a study on Broadband Internet Access and the Kenyan Tech Community. Specifically, we hope to set up short (15 minute) interviews with software developers, web developers, and technology innovators in order to learn more about the differences that better connectivity have in their business practices. Please fill in this form<http://spreadsheets.google.com/a/ihub.co.ke/viewform?formkey=dFJqeFdyZWV0ODZwak1GUU9OWldacGc6MQ> with your contact details if you are interested in participating. Thanks. -- With Regards, Phares Kariuki | T: +254 734 810 802 | E: pkariuki@gmail.com | Twitter: kaboro | Skype: kariukiphares |

interesting ... goes back to a question i had last month ... we've had fiber for a year now. where are the apps ? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Phares Kariuki" <pkariuki@gmail.com> To: "Skunkworks forum" <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2010 6:42:33 PM GMT +03:00 Iraq Subject: [Skunkworks] Call for Interviewees: Courtesy of the iHub Blog Dr. Mark Graham a researcher at Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, is conducting a study on Broadband Internet Access and the Kenyan Tech Community. Specifically, we hope to set up short (15 minute) interviews with software developers, web developers, and technology innovators in order to learn more about the differences that better connectivity have in their business practices. Please fill in this form with your contact details if you are interested in participating. Thanks. -- With Regards, Phares Kariuki | T: +254 734 810 802 | E: pkariuki@gmail.com | Twitter: kaboro | Skype: kariukiphares | _______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Server donations spreadsheet http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AopdHkqSqKL-dHlQVTMxU1VBdU1BSWJxdy1f... ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke

Is it going to be online or onsite interviews. David On Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 7:15 PM, Riyaz Bachani < riyaz.bachani@ke.wananchi.com> wrote:
interesting ... goes back to a question i had last month ... we've had fiber for a year now. where are the apps ?
----- Original Message ----- From: "Phares Kariuki" <pkariuki@gmail.com> To: "Skunkworks forum" <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2010 6:42:33 PM GMT +03:00 Iraq Subject: [Skunkworks] Call for Interviewees: Courtesy of the iHub Blog
Dr. Mark Graham a researcher at Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, is conducting a study on Broadband Internet Access and the Kenyan Tech Community. Specifically, we hope to set up short (15 minute) interviews with software developers, web developers, and technology innovators in order to learn more about the differences that better connectivity have in their business practices. Please fill in this form with your contact details if you are interested in participating. Thanks. -- With Regards,
Phares Kariuki
| T: +254 734 810 802 | E: pkariuki@gmail.com | Twitter: kaboro | Skype: kariukiphares |
_______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Server donations spreadsheet
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AopdHkqSqKL-dHlQVTMxU1VBdU1BSWJxdy1f... ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke _______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Server donations spreadsheet
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AopdHkqSqKL-dHlQVTMxU1VBdU1BSWJxdy1f... ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke

On Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 7:15 PM, Riyaz Bachani < riyaz.bachani@ke.wananchi.com> wrote:
interesting ... goes back to a question i had last month ... we've had fiber for a year now. where are the apps ?
It's probably because the "last mile" isn't fiber yet. There are several entities that still ask the question "we've heard about the fiber landing, but what difference does it make?". Going by the complaints I hear around here, I can bet that very few people have gotten proper "last mile" connectivity to even start thinking about what changes/experiences the fiber was supposed to bring. Internet connectivity is still not cheap, and if you thought you got cheap, then it's not guaranteed upstream. Let the fiber reach them first:-) -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ "If you have nothing good to say about someone, just shut up!." -- Lucky Dube

On Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 7:15 PM, Riyaz Bachani <riyaz.bachani@ke.wananchi.com> wrote:
interesting ... goes back to a question i had last month ... we've had fiber for a year now. where are the apps ?
@Riyaz, web apps is a good question. I think you will find the answers from Kenyan internet bloggers. As an example, Kenyan tech bloggers -given that majority are not technologists- are doing a far better job than any web technologists. They do not develop any apps but see trends on frameworks used in other countries and quickly pick on these trends. Most Kenyan bloggers use the existing frameworks like wordpress, joomla etc and roll out quickly what they need. These frameworks, at basic level, do not need any specialization knowledge nor local hosting. So far on my study towards Silverlight, I’ve uncovered many things that are not being done locally. It’s true; there are tiered levels in web app developments. I think that due to commercial reasons and constraints, many Kenyan web technologists focus more on the presentation tier and long term developments beyond this tier are seriously slowed or non-existent. For some people out there like me, presentation tier is the least of my concerns (at this stage). Eg, What made me very curious about twitter and the lack of information, I’m now using twitter as a research and study model with a view of creating a test clone as I progress on my study. Twitter fits perfectly as a web tiered app because the presentation tier is not what made it a success. I hope down the road some of us will be able to partner with bloggers, service and infrastructure providers, businesses etc to bring a new generation of web services to KE. These services could be games, chats, audio, video, managed services etc. I also think the KICTB grants will produce some interesting scenarios for discussions, if they managed to get any web technologists to come up with such apps and services. Me thots and catchup in a few weeks time due to time pressure. :-) Rgds.
participants (5)
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aki
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David Njuguna
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Odhiambo Washington
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Phares Kariuki
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Riyaz Bachani