How have mobile phones, the Internet, computers and the audiovisual media changed (your) life in Africa? We would like to hear from you! Send us a picture and, along with it, a brief description of the idea or project that sets the backdrop of your entry.

The prizes:
1. Canon PowerShot S90 photo camera (valued at € 390)
2. Flip UltraHD Camcorder (valued at € 190)
3. iPod Nano 8 GB (valued at € 125)

A jury will select the winner and the ten best photos will be featured in an exhibition from May 26th – 28th at eLearning Africa 2010. The winners will be announced on the eLearning Africa Website. The story behind the pictures will be published in the eLearning Africa Newsletter. The deadline is April 26, 2010 and participation in the contest is free. For more information, please visit:
www.elearning-africa.com/picturevoting_home.php

Learn the News is a free newspaper designed mainly for primary school children in South Africa. Published twice a week in digital and paper versions, the newspaper is available in English, Afrikaans and Zulu – three of several official tongues prevailing in South Africa. The news stories are written in a style and format appropriate for children and easy to understand. The topics range from African news to worldwide topics and include the latest updates on business, the environment and sports, as well as historical pieces. Learn the news is accompanied by a worksheet that can be used in the classroom. The paper is designed to encourage reading and should help South Africans learn each other’s languages.

The editing team is based in Johannesburg, but illustrations and ideas for the newspaper and worksheets are assembled from schools throughout South Africa.

Check out the website: http://www.learnthenews.com/index.html

Google and Global Voices announced the details of the “Breaking Borders Award” to honor those around the world who are fighting for free expression online. The award, totaling $30,000, will honor and support outstanding web projects, initiated by individuals or groups, that demonstrate courage, energy and resourcefulness in using the Internet to promote freedom of expression.

Nominations for the award can be submitted at www.breakingborders.net. The submission phase will end on 15th of February 2010. The winners are going to be announced and honored in spring 2010.

The award will be given in three categories, with a $10,000 prize for each awardee.

1. Advocacy, given to an activist or group that has used online tools to promote free expression or encourage political change
2. Technology, given to an individual or group that has created an important tool that enables free expression and expands access to information
3. Policy, given to a policy maker, government official or NGO leader who has made a notable contribution in the field

Have also a look at the Freedom of Expression@Google YouTube-Channel, which is dedicated to promote and discuss freedom of expression on the internet. Internet users from around the world uploaded their videos onto this channel and share stories about how the internet has changed the way we express ourselves.

More about the Breaking Borders Award here.

Linux Fund and the Free Software and Open Source Foundation of Africa (FOSSFA) have signed a landmark agreement to work together to encourage Free Software and Open Source in Africa.

After speaking passionately at eLA 2009 in Dakar to highlight the need to provide Africans with access to ICT in order to allow them to multiply their potential, FOSSFA’s Nnenna Nwakanma states that the joint venture has come at a key time for the organisation which has become engaged in the ICT@INNOVATION and FOSSWAY projects. Linux Fund, a not-for-profit organisation supporting the spread of Open Source initiatives, will work to raise funds for these projects and will disseminate information about the organisation’s aims and continued progress in Central and West Africa.

The two organisations also look to future cooperation which may allow, for example, Open Source experts visiting Africa to engage in short volunteer programmes.

Full details of the agreement can be found here

In the spirit of Blog Action Day – today, October 15th – and inkeeping with this year’s theme of climate change, the eLA Blog reports on an address given by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva last week.

“ICTs are very vital to confronting the problems we face as a planet: the threat of climate change,” stated Mr. Ban. “Indeed, ICTs are part of the solution and are already being used to cut emissions and help countries adapt to the effects of climate change.”

Mr. Ban spoke about an initiative earlier in the year whereby the UN teamed up with mobile phone companies to install 5,000 new weather stations across Africa. The weather stations monitor the impact of climate change but also have a real and practical application for African farmers – in the case of relevant weather news, text messages are sent immediately to farmers’ mobile phones. You can read about an example of such a project on the eLA blog here.

Mr. Ban went on to state the importance of working together to find new ways to cut waste, reduce emissions, create jobs and promote better standards of living, noting that developing countries in particular should strive to be pioneers and innovators, unafraid to “think of even more creative ways to use ICTs to usher in a new green economy”.

So, as Blog Action Day only rolls round once a year, what are you waiting for? Get blogging! Kabissa – a group working towards positive change in Africa – offers the opportunity for first-time bloggers to contribute to a wide discussion on climate change via their website, their Facebook fan page or Twitter.

The ROCARE-ERNWACA’s (Educational Research Network for West and Central Africa) virtual library offers a free online collection of publications relating to educational research in West and Central Africa. The collaborative nature of the organisation, reflected by the 14 nations that are represented and the several hundred researchers involved, means that relationships between researchers and practitioners are fostered and communication channels with governments and the general public are strengthened.

The virtual library makes available valuable research on education conducted by upcoming and established African specialists. It aims to create a comprehensive resource of African expertise in order to produce a positive impact on educational practices and policies, and to increase competence and effective learning and teaching in the education system.

Available for download are books, research papers and articles on a wide variety of themes directly and indirectly related to education ranging from decentralisation, health issues through to ICT.

The virtual library is available in French and English here

There is no doubt that ICT usage is growing on the African continent. However, how is it being used? Is it being used efficiently? These are just some of the questions that the Panafrican Research Agenda on the Pedagogical Integration of Information and Communications Technologies seeks to address. The project’s objective centres around gaining a better understanding of how the pedagogical integration of ICT can improve the quality of teaching and learning in Africa.

An open knowledge-sharing resource, simple or more detailed searches can be conducted in English or in French in order to examine the findings from single countries or to observe comparisons across several. The data collected is based on 160 indicators monitored in universities drawn from eleven countries from all four corners of the Continent. The project is carried out in collaboration with the Université de Montréal and several national committees and is overseen by an International Scientific Committee.

To read more about the research project and to test the search functions, visit the site here

Zambia is the most recent of four countries that has hosted one of the events of the “Go Mobile! Using Mobile Learning to Teach 21st Century Skills” series taking place this summer in Africa. Lusaka, which also welcomes eLearning Africa next year, provided a platform for key players in education to discover and discuss the possibilities of implementing mobile learning in teaching.

The summits, run by the Mobile Learning Institution - a joint venture between the Pearson Foundation and Nokia - have already taken place in Tanzania and Zambia and are due to move to South Africa and Angola soon before extending to China, Singapore and Mexico later this year.

Making use of the exponential growth in mobile phone ownership in Africa, even in the poorer corners of the Continent, to promote literacy and encourage interactive learning is an exciting possibility with real educational and social benefits. Two shining examples of this discussed at the summit were the Doctor Math service launched on MXit (instant messaging software for mobile phones) which provides homework help for maths and the counselling service run over MXit in South Africa, which offers advice on a range of issues from the usual teenage problems to HIV and drug abuse.

A small selection of reports on the summit proceedings in Zambia and South Africa are available here and here.

Sierra Leone is the latest country to become involved in the Pan-African e-Network, the cross-continental cooperation between the 53 countries of the African Union and India. The initiative, first proposed by former Indian President, Abdul Kalam, whilst on a visit to South Africa in 2004, was launched in Ethiopia in 2007 and has since extended across the Continent, now stretching from Mali to Djibouti, from Egypt to Botswana and linking them to institutions in Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore, amongst other cities.

The ambitious project connects African universities and hospitals with their Indian counterparts via satellite and fibre optic networks, and focuses on the domains of telemedicine and tele-education. Digital forms of x-rays, ultrasound scans and other test results can be transmitted to India for analysis by expert consultants. In terms of the project’s educational use, via video conferencing, teachers in India are able to virtually meet with African students to provide real-time tuition and live demonstrations. The network also has advantages for other spheres such as e-governance and e-commerce.

Seven more African countries are expected to have satellite ground stations set up before the end of 2009.

More information about the project is available here

When disaster strikes, countries often come to a standstill – economies grind to a halt, lasting damage may done to the country’s infrastructure and the lives of ordinary people are severely disrupted. This situation is heightened in particularly underdeveloped countries where people live in rural isolation out of the reach of aid and basic information and communication facilities.

In order to improve this situation in disaster-prone Zambia, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has sent a team of experts to formulate a disaster management plan, at the heart of which will be ICT. The plan will make use of SMS technology as well as radiocommunications to support both those displaced by the disaster and aid workers in the immediate and longer-term post-disaster period. Additionally, they will play a key role in the monitoring and management of information relating to disaster alerts. To enable an ICT-enhanced disaster plan to function effectively, considerable infrastructure development and the establishment of legal and regulatory frameworks will be necessary.

Find out more about the ICT-supported plan here