I was supposed to put on a talk to day at Maker Faire Africa (high-tech side) about mapping on mobiles and web, but when the time came it just didn’t feel like the right thing to do. Instead, with the mix of people at the room I launched into a discussion about what I saw as a lack of communication and cohesion with in the Ghanaian programming community.
Everyone agreed that there is a lack of general communication and collaboration in this space, though there are a few user groups for things like Linux and a new one for Java. It’s too bad really, because I don’t think there is less talent in Ghana, but that this lack of cohesion of the tech community means that it’s hard for people to “announce” new things and/or get help for areas that they need to get assistance in. The reason I see this is due to the great activity that I see on the Kenyan Skunkworks email list – the contrast between Accra and Nairobi in this is quite stark.
At the end of the discussion, everyone in the room decided to try for the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 7pm. Daisy Baffoe is the one with the list and is going to get in touch with everyone with a location. Hopefully we’ll see the beginnings of a general programmer community in Ghana!
August 15, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Wow. It’d be great to some kind of information sharing like skunkworks in Kenya. Hopefully these can merge and even develop into a greater online community for Africa since we have a lot of the same kind of hurdles when it comes to Tech.
As observed from the Maker Faire Africa most solutions cut across the continents needs.
August 17, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Nice to hear that.. Keep Rocking
August 18, 2009 at 2:04 pm
I totally agree to that suggestion and a java user group called JAccra has been created to address some section of this problem but more needs to be done to bring our technical know how to bare and share.
I mean share and share, yes i mean that.
Great meeting you (Erik) at Maker Faire Africa Event. Great showcase of ingenuity and innovation.