skunkworks@innovation - 4th October

Alex Gakuru has been very busy co-ordinating this event scheduled for 4th October @ the Sarova Panafric Hotel.

What to expect on Saturday? Below is what we've come up with.

Synopsis:
-Two separate rooms 1 for demos, other just lunch room
-Event starts at 8 am and runs till 4 pm
-Demonstrations room open to the public throughout the day
-A tables shall be allocated to every solution presenter/demo
-Skunkers luncheon at a different room between 12:00-2:00pm

Here's some more detail from what he'd posted on the mailing list:

It was not easy to find it! Neither was it easy to convince them, but
they finally bought into the idea.

After our sustained "support local software development!" screams,
they now say "ok." Lending us their ears and eyes, they want to see
the "wonderful software skunkworks have been screaming about??? They
have their cheque books ready and balk contract forms prepared to
sign-up your software purchase deals if impressed. Who are they, top
notch local industry executives.

Accompanied by senior government officials with state corporations
execs all supportive of homegrown software innovations. All ready to
work on removing every hiccup in your way of making it big time on
software development. It's what we've all been shrieking about and now
we have a chance of a life time.

Calling for "Innovative IT solutions"

Categories (thus far):
1.Corporate solutions
2.Mobile applications
3.Content applications
4.Document Management System – DMS (FOSS based?)
5.Communications (*Asterix* etc..)
6.Public Service Apps
7.Games ( Wesley et. al..)
8.Others...

Who qualifies?
- All local software developers.
- All previous Barcamp presentations automatically ( how many? categories
- (Non-discrimination!) FOSS and proprietary platforms developers with
work-of-their-hands
- Priority will be given with those with applications to demonstrate

When:
Luncheon proposed for Saturday 27 September, 2008, city hotel venue TBC.

Toying around with branding; "skunkworks@innovation," "Homegrown
Software Fete", chip-in?

Format:
They want to meet famous skunks -buy them a lunch or dinner- which was
ok, but considering that we should overwhelm them with our abundant
innovation, I have (singly) decided there will be 20 tables for
demonstrations. Total spaces are limited (but if I receive
overwhelming "innovative IT Solutions" demonstrations
applications...That would be a wonderful problem for me to solve:)

Participation:
@josiah,@mich, @riyaz, @kiania et. al. compile past software presentations
@newbies send your participation request to me outlining your software
specs... will consult and revert. Process will be open and transparent
on first-come-first assured basis. (And of course "entrance fee" is
free - all expenses paid:)

Therefore, beg or borrow those laptops (just don't steal:) and make
sure your fine-tuned software is running smoothly, ok? Come and show
off your coding brains and seal sales deals live! What else you could
you ask for?

We're 4 years behind Brazil and have to catch up and really fast....
<http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_39/b3901019.htm>

Let's go them tigers.....

Digesting Barcamp Nairobi 2008 - June 21 2008

The People:

We had all sorts of people :

• bloggers
• all sorts of programmers: web, mobile, etc
• people in the telecoms industry
• Govt represented by the ICT Board
• photographers
• students (even high school)
• the plain curious

Courtesy of Ushahidi, we had about 120 Barcamp branded T-shirts available (based on those who'd signed up to get one) so apologies to those who didn't get one.

However, roughly 228 people showed up!


Great - lots of ladies came :)

Sessions and Topics:

We had 3 concurrent 30 minute sessions conducted in three rooms (Ushahidi Room, ICT Board room, and the Google Room) throughout the day. At the beginning of the sessions, in typical barcamp style, campers were asked to come forward and write down what they wanted to talk about, then the topics and agenda selected based on what people wanted to listen to. A bit like acclamation (politically) but not as noisy.

A rough listing of the resulting topics:

Room: Ushahidi

• Buglabs session
• Web apps with Jahazi
• Wordpress optimization tips
• GPS/Google Maps: S60 as a platform... and a bug
• Developing for the iPhone
• Internet/Network Security
• Renewable Energy Kiosks & Impact on Rural IT

Room: ICT Board

• Google Maps Session
• CMS - Zope/Plone
• Blogging Tricks
• Open-e Data Storage
• Application Development Procedures to code for Government
• zunguka.com (web|mobile|you)
• Bandwidth Management and Optimization

Room: Google Room

• Where are the developers?
• Software Localisation
• Ubuntu and LTSP
• Blogging for cash
• Google Maps and Mobile applications
• Linux as a development platform for engineers
• Kiania's informal session :)

We also had a 'lightning session' lasting about 55 minutes where anyone with something say was welcome to for a 5 minute period. Here's the list.

• Michuki - IETF & KIXP
• Erik - Ushahidi recruiting
• Kahenya - Creative Commons
• Alex Gakuru - F/OSS organisations listing, ICT government study
• Mike K - kenblogs
• Stella - Fahamu - ICTs & Human Rights
• Paul Kukubo - The Kenya ICT Board & Vision, goals.
• Edward - Moi Uni
• Limo - Data and records
• Gee - Web design tips
• KenyanPoet - Publishing
• Gichingiri - sokoletu
• James - Computers for Schools/e-waste management
• Mike - Archiving, Record keeping
• Anne - Law, defamation & blogging

Thanks:

• Our main sponsors: Google, Ushahidi, Kenya ICT Board
• Strategic Lee, Deep Space hosting
• Wananchi for the free wifi
• Openworld and KENET for projectors
  
• Yahoo, O'Reilly, Wordpress for the giveaways
• Bug Labs for letting us borrow one of their new BUGbundles
• Brian Muita & Gichingiri for the snazzy poster
• Eric (Magutu) for running around :)
• Erik (Hash) for the great blogging
• Mich for MC'ing
  
• Everyone who helped organize, setup and clean up afterwards
• Everyone who came :)

Some photos
Also check out Hash's blog

Barcamp Nairobi 2008 - Poster

Tuesday Meeting 10th June 2008: Commercializing Technology with Hafeez Bana

This past Tuesday Hafeez Bana gave talk on commercializing technology.

He started off with a brief overview of what he's been doing in the innovation programme at Deloitte in Australia. Over there they have something not much unlike Google where the employees are encouraged to work on their own projects during their free time and the company helps to commercialize them. He gave an example of a card verification system which uses numerical codes entered on a card with a small screen to authenticate transactions. In the talk he gave us a nice overview of some of the hurdles in the development process and its eventual implementation.

The main topic of his talk however was th J- Mango platform for mobile applications. It uses a simple scripting language to send mobile apps over the air to subscribers. The underlying framework is AOL and TCL server and makes use of Erlang and Java languages. It runs on Apache with a load balancing front end. He showed us a neat video of how to download an app from a QR code diagram using a camera phone- really cool!

After that we went into Q&A, lots of questions about technical details of J-mango and possible applications. One question that stood out and isn't new is how to protect your intellectual property especially in Kenya. Hafeez noted that unfortunately in Kenya people are not as eager to help you with your idea as in Europe or Australia. It's more likely that it'll be stolen here, something we definitely need to work on here.

Something else that came up on commercialization is how to split the gains with an investor for maximum benefit to the developer. Though it may look like a rip- off it may actually be more advantageous to give a big investor a larger stake as they could give you more mileage.

On the subject of mobile apps it was note that the operator have to be more open minded about revenue sharing with app developers. Hafeez noted that after a while ARPU from traditional services tends to flatline especially after a price war like the one we're having so the telcos have to diversify. A big battle lies ahead right there!

An interesting note was made of how women have goon insight in business example given women in Bangladesh and how they worked with Grameen bank. So to the ladies out their your contribution is important and you are encouraged to attend the meetings. It's worth noting that there was a good turn out this time- 3!

Al in all it was an informative chat especially for the entrepreneurs and we thank Hafeez for making the time to come.

-

Barcamp Nairobi - Saturday June 21 2008

Saturday June 21st 2008
Jacaranda Hotel
9am - 5pm
More details + Sign up here ( free barcamp T-Shirt! )

More coverage here.

Be There!

Meeting 27th May 2008: Ericsson Mobility

This past Tuesday Ericsson graciously invited us to a sesssion at the Jacaranda Hotel.

The meeting started with a brief overview of who Ericsson are and what they do given by Gilbert Arum. We learnt that they've been in business since 1878 and have spanned 3 centuries. He also went on to explain the way the mobile world is moving beyond voice to a new range of services. Also had a look at the way mobile telephony has improved the quality of our lives.

Next up was Matthews Mwewa who gave an overview of the Global Sytem for Mobile Communication (GSM). Lots of abbreviations were thrown about. After that Roy Kimathi and Kigunda Mbogo gave us a presentation on trends and success stories.

Kigunda Mbogo gave us a look at location based services and possible applications for instance

1. Family Finder- locate family members like you grandma or check if your kids are in school. this one proved to be controversial however giving your location said to be optional.
   
2. Anonymous Bulk Location Data (ABLD) which finds application in infrastructure displaying real time traffic data using location of mobile phones. Can be used as a planning and optimization tool for local authorities. Uses de-identified GSM users to get the data.

Matthews came back to give a case study from South Africa called Dynamic Discounting Solution(DDS) which is used to allocate discounts to users during off peak times to improve network usage. This changes calling patterns by offering subscriber discounts. Also of note is the 3 innovation centres that Ericsson have set up in Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg. They will work together with developers to provide solutions. Naturally there were questions of who would benefit from the arrangement and we were told it's like a partnership and he also said that lawyers can work on the details of that.

Also in attendance was the ICT board Chairman Paul Kukubo .
He said that they are out to provide a bridge between the risk of setting up ICT businesses and the players in the market. He highlighted the role of venture capitalists and business incubators in this process. He also noted that intellectual property has to be protected too. We encouraged to take chances and see what ideas we can come with. Maybe you can be sitting on the next big thing. an interesting example of using idle mobile airtime was given. Also heard something about giving grants to developers some time in the future.

The meeting was then wrapped up and we had some refreshments. We all got an interesting look into Ericsson and the kind of stuff they are doing in the world of mobility. Thanks go out to them fo the great session.

Tuesday Meeting - 27th May 2008

From the mailing list:

Next skunkworks meeting will be hosted by Ericsson to discuss the next
generation of mobile applications. Ericsson occupies a unique position
being a vendor and enjoys excellent relationships with operators in
Africa, Middle East and Asia.

There exists an opportunity where you can get insight into how to
deploy apps and what operators are looking for.

Location: Landmark Hotel

Time: 18:00 - 19:30

Speakers: Gilbert Arum (Director - Multimedia), Roy Kimathi and Kigunda Mbogo

See you all there.

Rgds
David Kiania