Web 2.0 - developing communities or rural communities?
June 26th, 2007 by ozo
I heard about this project from a blogger - White African and have been wondering why the view point seems to be rural and not developmental. Am just asking, or maybe I am getting it all wrong. There is the need for such (Web 2.0) projects in Africa and it is both nice and encouraging to know that there are Africans initiating such projects.
However, it is obvious that there are grave limitations that are hindering the progress of such projects. Personally, I think South Africa seems to be the leader when it comes to African Web 2.0 because of the rising implementation of Web 2.0 projects by South Africans, with the likes of Afrigator, Muti, Zoopy, Iblog and the like. As I said, it is encouraging that these projects are being implemented. They have one of the best internet infrastructures in Africa although they are definitely lagging behind the West and the US. I am Nigerian and currently run a web 2.0 project Meshedlinks. The greatest challenges from my little experience remains the availability of a solid Internet backbone in the country. To consider rural Internet coverage while the urban (developing community) areas remain poorly connected might not necessarily be the best step to take by the government (or whoever - investors or otherwise) to connect the developing communities.
The poor exist in both the urban and rural areas. And from this part of the world, if it comes to connectivity to the world (via the Internet) then the so-called “rural” communities have to constitute the urban and rural areas in my locale.
Dear Ozo,
Thanks for your posting and considerations towards the Web2ForDev conference.
Of course you are absolutely right saying that web2fordev should not only be focussed on the field of rural development. In fact the focal point of the upcoming conference are the possibilities that Web2.0 provides for actors in the area of rural and agricultural development and natural resource management. This is determined by two points: 1. this focus was not set before and 2. the mandate of many organising partners. That does not imply that only themes connected to rural development will occur on the conference schedule nor that connecting efforts should be limited to rural areas. The organisers of the Web2ForDev conference (to which this blog is connected) just set a frame and we invite everybody to share his knowledge, questions and experiences in the wide field of web2fordev.