Comments on: (The Lack) of African ICT Research

By: ICTD2010 – resume – Ethnos Project Crisis Zone

ICTD2010 – resume – Ethnos Project Crisis Zone — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 05:28:56 +0000

[…] to this, as was quoted by Whiteafrican and Afronline, the lack of ICT4D research by Africans was addressed. One paper (”ICTD […]

By: Ken Miruka

Ken Miruka — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 09:32:09 +0000

Indeed research is still much unexploited in Africa. Perhaps the most visible form of research is in the form of academic projects in IT. These projects, done by students for academic purposes, often end up as great innovations which, sadly, are not furthered as soon as the objective of earning a degree is met. With little financing and marketing strategies, potential research work often go unnoticed.
What is observable, however, is that most research work in Africa is done for the benefit of foreign governments and companies who have the finances to support such work. African governments and universities can do better by forming more research partnerships to pull resources together for large-scale research projects. They could also capitalize on the available pool of upcoming researchers by creating research departments in every school. In this case finances will be of less limitation since “Necessity is the mother of invention”

By: ICT4D.at » Blog Archive » ICTD2010 - resume

ICT4D.at » Blog Archive » ICTD2010 - resume — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:39:41 +0000

[…] to this, as was quoted by Whiteafrican and Afronline, the lack of ICT4D research by Africans was addressed. One paper (”ICTD […]

By: Florian Sturm

Florian Sturm — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 10:27:59 +0000

Here an interview we held with Paul Plantinga, co-author of the paper:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUjyx5AqcCY

By: JScarantino

JScarantino — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:34:45 +0000

Thanks for bringing this to light Erik. I believe research is one of the most underrated issues of African education, and its biggest weakness. Brain-drain of Africa is a testament to a lack of research opportunities and funding, yet you rarely hear anyone speak of research in Africa by Africans. As the other commenter’s have noted, the lack of research is a result of many problems combined. It is both a funding issue as well as a perception issue. What college grad wants to spend time doing research when a company is willing to pay top dollar for their time? Until some sort of incentive is built into research, it will always maintain a low priority.

It would be great to see the iHub play a role in promoting research, particularly of new graduates out of colleges and universities.

By: Joseph Budu

Joseph Budu — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:33:51 +0000

for want of more time, i just want to say that there is some research from Ghana too. you can read Dr. Richard Boateng’s profile from the above-stated website. i’ll get in touch properly soon
thank you though

By: Africa: (The Lack) of African ICT Research · Global Voices

Africa: (The Lack) of African ICT Research · Global Voices — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:27:40 +0000

[...] The lack of African ICT research: “Itâ€s no surprise that most of the ICT research comes from South Africa, followed by Nigeria and Botswana. But even if you added up all the research done in all of Africa, it is only 9% of the research done in Africa is done by African institutions.” [...]

By: Mary Muiruri

Mary Muiruri — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 08:37:37 +0000

Collaboration on International ICT Policy For East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) http://www.cipesa.org in Uganda has carried out several research projects.

Afrika ICT Strategies (AIS) http://www.afrikaict.com has also carried out and implemented several research projects. Some have been published by University of Maryland http://www.cidcm.umd.edu. Other results have been implemented through enaction of e-Legislation policies for Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Madagascar, Zambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Currently AIS is conducting research on decentralization of e-Government services in Kenya with a focus on closing the digital divide between the haves in capital/urban areas and the have nots in the secondary/rural areas. We’re looking at best practices in South Africa, Egypt, India, Brazil, Philippines and Mexico

By: First body

First body — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 11:33:19 +0000

The presentation highlights the shortcomings of ICT research in Africa being quantity and quality of published papers. Research is a double edged sword with the ability to find the best way to tackle a problem and on the other hand it can lead to implementation paralysis if the data is conflicting and not definitive. Another reason for implementation paralysis is research groups with different school of thoughts all chasing for limited funding funding and publishing conflicting information.
The ICT sector requires more funds and in my opinion academic research should not take precedence to training and implementing projects which leads to learning in a trial and error method.

By: Weekly Africa Blog Round Up #1 | Afrinnovator

Weekly Africa Blog Round Up #1 | Afrinnovator — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 08:24:10 +0000

[...] (The Lack) of African ICT Research – Whiteafrican …One of the people that Iâ€ve been speaking a lot with here isÂ Shikoh Gitau (onTwitter), a Kenyan lady who has spent the last few years down at the University of Cape Town doingÂ research. In the talk about â€œICTD Research by Africans: Origins, Interests, and Impactâ€ by Gitau S; Plattiga, P and K.Diga, there were some very interesting points given and a great argument made for why Africans need to be involved more… [...]