UoN Tech Day

So - this is probably like my first real blogged article - as in I sound like a journalist ;)

The UoN Tech Day is an Annual event - a day where computer science students showcase the final-year projects they've been building. A very cool concept that other universities need to adopt.
It's really weird ... whenever I go to these student project showcases, I come away very impressed at what I see ... yet it's hard to notice the same results in the real world :) I've always mused where these students go ...
The thing that struck me about the projects on Saturday was the completeness of most of the products. They were really thought through, and some are even marketable immediately.
Didn't get to see all of them (below is only a small section of what was on display). And sadly didn't carry a camera :( Looking for pictures ...

1. mobile maps for nairobi
Jessica has built an app for querying maps of nairobi from a mobile phone. The maps sit on a server, and she built a grid of points on that. The mobile app has a menu where you can select points of interest in Nbi eg Hilton, street names etc. The app is capable of zooming into the map and displaying the location (including a picture), and also giving directions from point A to B. Works over GPRS.
Very neat - Google are you listening ?
Real world - can probably link to live GIS data from someone like Geomaps or Ramani.

2. facial recognition
Billy uses a webcam to get video input of his facial features, and can then control his computer by moving his head around :) The application can control stuff like Windows (selecting menus etc), and is very cool when it comes to playing games (you can look around in Quake, Doom by turning your head). We must get him to present this at one of our sessions.

3. mobile blogging
Judith built a j2me app that allows bloggers to create posts via GPRS on their mobile phones. She built this on her own blogging platform. Wants to take it further - lots of options - eg SMS-based posts, linking to a platform like WordPress, and she's very keen on adding support for blogging images/photos etc.

4. interfacing car remote with a computer
Peter and Charity linked up the wireless remote of a toy car to their computer (managing to only blow one transistor in the process). The computer app can then control the car. They built in a recording function such that the car could be driven by the remote, and the whole sequence/motion could then be replayed by the computer alone. Self-driven cars.
This seems to be a popular project with all universities - got Titus very excited. I think they need to take it to the next level - robotic competitions, or things like the DARPA challenge - that would be so cool if we built that.

Very fun day - trip to the toy store :)
Eric Magutu - a lot of these guys need to join skunkworks .....

Skunkworks (Edited...)

It looks to be that after BarCamp on 31st March, things got rather quiet. :)
We did not have a meeting yesterday as we did not have a speaker for the day so apologies for all those who were siked up.

We need to have more people actively participating in skunkworks for its objectives to be met - it's community. From the reactions at BarCampKenya - there is lots of stuff that we can learn from each other, and several projects that can be done.

I propose that people sign up for topics that they can / would like to present. We really haven't scratched the surface on what this group can do.

Current Discussion Topics & 'Facilitators'

• 8th May 2007: Mugambi (VST Studios) - Java and Jahazi
  
• Michael Kamunge (JKUAT) - Presents his final year project - smart card based (will confirm the exact topic and date) - Mike will confirm when he can do this
  
• John Maina on System Audit (please confirm
  
• Local (Linux) Distribution on BitTorrent - Riyaz?
  
• local content and locally hosted forums - osskenya.org - to confirm
• Joseph Wamicha - Web Video Streaming
  
• .More
• .More
  

Upcoming ( this is where you add yourself as a presenter, add a topic you'd like talked about)

• Web Development - using PHP
• Web Development - using Ruby on Rails
• Web Development - on a .NET Platform
• Linux - Comparison of Linux Distributions
• Linux - Is Linux Ready for the Common Mwananchi?
• Local Content - Setting up a weekly podcast
• Local Content - Blogging Server
• Local Content - Locally Hosted Forums
  
• Local Content - Wiki
• Local Content - Techie Directory
• Communications - WiMax
• Communications - WiFi WarDriving
  
• Community - Kenyanized GeekCorps
  
• .More
• .More
  

Past Topics

• Asterix (Parts I to III)
• BarCampKenya
• Laban Mwangi & Robert (www.penguinlabs.co.ke) - on FOSS Systems Software & Application Dev (Next Week - 24th April)

Kenyan Geekcorps

WhiteAfrican interviews Ethan Zuckerman on his blog this time.

Ethan is the founder of Geekcorps - inspiration for an idea i've been toying with for some time.

Geekcorps is an NGO that brings together techie volunteers to work on projects like Peacecorps does - but only ICT based. eg setup of a community-based wireless network ... and many more.

Imagine a Kenyan version of Geekcorps ... there's a ton of uni students who spend months, years tarmacking ... how about empowering these guys with a little bit of guidance (maybe funding at some point) - to go do things like setup a cybercafe the way Harry did. They would go out to semi-urban and rural areas to run their own ICT ventures.

There's financial incentive (tough to convince current uni students to do anything without this) - since the guy will be running his own business ... you just have to provide some guidance again on accounting systems & running a business.

The whole thing should be organized, so that it takes care of churn - bet guys don't want to be stuck in shagz forever, and there's always new students graduating ...

Other ideas of projects these guys could undertake ? some software development type stuff ? write up some inventory systems for farmers ?

Also in the interview - Ethan recommends you read The Cathedral and the Bazaar - interesting stuff !