In order for us to achieve this goal, we shall have to put together a few topics that can be used to train these people for the one week .We are also trying to draw a budget for the whole time that they will be here, when this is out and up, ideas on how we can fundraise for this workshop will be welcomed from all of you. But meanwhile we shall be looking at the different topics for now.

We therefore are planning a one week long workshop for all the WE Network community leaders here in Kampala.

Thanks, Grace, for alerting me to this discussion thread.

May I ask a very basic question? What do you mean by a community leader?

When I think of the phrase "Community Leader" I think of someone like yourself, who acts as a spokesperson for others and assumes responsibilities that others may decline to accept.

You speak of "a one week long workshop for all the WE Network community leaders". Is this a kind of in-house training event for those currently active in LiA or those who have been active in the past? Or do you intend to reach out and involve community leaders who have not previously been actively involved in LiA?

Perhaps I should already know, but I am not clear about this.

Thanks David for chipping in, we actually intend to involve more community leaders other than those you already know, and of course those who have been active in the past and might have for one reason or the other been quiet for sometime and even those currently active.

So a community leader in this case will mean a person like Peter Ndelo http://ndeloswwworld.blogspot.com/ for this matter or a leader from the Koro camp group http://ayaaswwworld.blogspot.com /2008/11/unplanned-safari.html or maybe a person from Fred kayiwa's group if they show interest in it.Practically we have already visited more than five of such communities and are thinking of working with about ten for the beginning.

This training will help them get to know better the different tools they can use on different websites to help them connect with different people . That's why we are asking for your support to help us develop some kind of format with which we can work.

Not sure how relevant this is to the situation in Uganda etc but one thing that I notice here in Wales is how little awareness there is of free and open source software. I could not afford to operate without it! Perhaps one of the topics should be familiarity with the range of security and other options that are available and how to use them. I use Zone Alarm firewall and AVG antivirus (both freeware) and SpyBot Search & Destroy (an open-source spyware detector that also alerts me to Registry changes). I also use a Firefox add-on called NoScript which I find extremely useful, it blocks all the scripts on a page unless I choose to allow them. It's just occurred to me that NoScript might be very useful where poor connection speeds are an issue, quite apart from the security angle, since you could prevent items such as embedded videos from hogging your download capacity in a situation where you simply want to read the text on a page. I don't know if any of the above are available or suitable options in Uganda.

Another free program I could not do without is Open Office which does (almost!) everything MSOffice does. Another favourite freebie is Gimp, an extraordinarily powerful image editor. The one thing I'm missing from my personal wish-list of open source/dirt cheap software is a decent Paint programme. ( I know, I sound like a skinflint, but really the availability of free software makes all the difference to me! I'd be sunk without it!) Would it be a good idea, Grace, for LiA to keep a stock of open-source programs on cds for the community leaders to familiarise themselves with and to copy and install on their own community pcs ?

That's a really interesting idea Ceris. Maybe someone like you could help compile an appropriate collection.

Grace, I'm thinking some practical training on the basics of online interaction will help alot: blogs, ned, facebook. I'm hoping the new lifeinafrica website Shawn is working on will also give communities some ability to create and edit their profiles there.

other topics:

• online etiquette
• how to craft an online report/ story
• how to create an online proposal (using work/wikispace)
• the possibilities of chipin, pledgebank, fundable, etc.

btw, David and others, please take a peek at the info currently posted at http://lifeinafrica.com to get a better perspective on the context in which Grace is proposing this initiative.

Thanks so much Ceris and Christina, these are really great info. Ceris said:

Not sure how relevant this is to the situation in Uganda etc but one thing that I notice here in Wales is how little awareness there is of free and open source software

If this is so in Wales , then it's just terrible in a third world country like Uganda where even the use of the internet in the first place is so minimal. This would really be a very good starting point for us

Though I have not used some of these softwares and not aware if they are even available here, I will get some of the people I have been working with to check all these out. They sound to be very useful especially given the situation that here the connections are often very slow.

Christina, the idea of crafting an online report and stories is really very good, because over the few years of my experience, the most difficult part of it was getting people write stories and reports on line. It really sounded very difficult for them , so if this time we get it covered it may make it more comfortable for them.

Already I am seeing about five topics up for imparting and each may take a whole day to make them understand better. I feel I might have underestimated the days to just seven, now I see that we may need even more than ten days to have all these this covered.

I started a list of free and open source software in a workspace here :

Free Software Directory.

If LiA or KJT want to try them but if connection problems make downloads impractical it shouldn't be much trouble to send copies on disc.

I'll add more soon, feel free to add your own links and comments.

:)

I think Xmas and all the holidays attached to it is over and time for work again. Welcome back from your hols.Been up and down to all kind of places and somehow fresh for the year 2009.

Thanks Ceris , am trying to look at the Free software directory.Thanks for always being such a help.

I'm sorry to hear your health's not been good Grace, but welcome back.

I've just launched a new blog project, an online arts journal/magazine, which I was about to post an update on in my personal news but since I'm short of time I'll just mention it here instead for now. It's actually 2 blogsites linked to each other, 1 on wordpress.com and 1 on bloggger. I find blogger easier to use and but it does not have 'pages', unlike wordpress, but wordpress seems more tempermental and occasionally refuses to apply simple formatting (colour of text etc) which can be extremely frustrating!

I mention it here because it's very much Africa-connected and might interest you or some of your contacts there, I'm looking for (a)artists, poets, and arts-based projects to feature, (b)writers to write reviews and features and to help with/learn editing skills. Eventually I'm hoping to start printing and selling work by African artists and writers, but at this stage it's online-only. Anyway, please take a look at :

Issue 1 of kushinda! magazine (k!1)- http://kushinda.blogspot.com

and what will function as the magazine's gallery and resource library - http://artskushinda.wordpress.co m

Grace I'm happy to hear you are feeling better now. I know that it takes a long time really to be better after and extended illness. I'm sending you my kind thoughts.

Wow Ceris you're always enterprising. This is a bit off the topic of this post, but I figure you'll see it here ;-)

An open source tool that I'll add to the workspace is Scribus. Alas when I confront software I am so often lost. Even with software I use everyday like Open Office Write, I can't seem to figure out how to do even a small portion of what it's capable of doing. What makes me feel guilty is not having the will to plod on and figure things out. A while back I downloaded Scribus and just panicked. It's not on my machine now but I do want to download it and try again.

The reason I bring it up has to do with a popular article at Mag Culture where a guy printed up a newspaper of stuff his friends had posted on the Internet during the last year. Here's the most recent post which has links to the original post and the post by they guy who did it in the first place.

It is fairly cheap to print newspapers here and I suspect where you are too. My only tangential experience with this was a few years back with the African Students Organization. The main obstacle was publishing software, and that's what lead me to download Scribus. The commercial software is expensive!

It all seems so off topic, but printed media still has so much value here, in Wales and in Africa. And I think that using content published online for printed media is a powerful connection. LOL I think perhaps if others are working on this that perhaps I'd be better able to muster the gumption to figure out how to use some of this software.

If it's off-topic then that's my fault John, I should have posted in my news thread, but if Grace and co are interested in exploring the arts magazine format further then maybe it's not off topic at all :)

Great links, as usual! Thanks. I've found Scribus and downloaded, it would be interesting to compare notes as we learn!

I've explored paint.NET too, http://www.getpaint.net/index.ht ml , I like what I see so far. I'm curious as to how practical and useful some of these programs might be in Africa. I just love Open Source, I'd be lost without it!

Am happy to be back online after long health problems

Ceris i see the software you are using is in good although some like GIMPS is not familia with people here, they use photo shop and adobe, i use MS office and AVG however Grace there is almost new software that comes up every day i guess we just need to know the concept of using software then we can copy up with any one that comes on market

The issue of open source software is one that I think about quite a lot, and am embarrassed that I know so little.

Fred knows my friend Nathan. One of the aspects of Nathan's experience has been how hard it is to keep the Microsoft operating system working. Viruses are a big problem. MS software depends on frequent downloads, as do the commercial--and expensive--anti virus programs. These updates are hard to keep up on but essential.

Many people like to have the "best" software and the commercial software is considered "best." Clearly lots of unauthorized software is available in Uganda. The problem is that the companies like MS are using programs to assure that the software was legally purchased. It's hard to get around these programs and so the software breaks.

The are many reasons why open source software is worthwhile to consider. First of all various flavors of Linux operating systems are much (much) less likely to become infected with viruses. Most of these Linux operating systems are free too. But the difficulty with them is that drivers for things like printers often have to be downloaded from the Web. Setting a computer system up can sometimes be very difficult, especially if an Internet connection isn't handy.

Even running the Microsoft OS, some open source software is good to use. I believe that the Open Office suite is superior in many ways to the MS Office suite. For example the word processor handles files in many formats much better. So even if a document is in an old version of MS Docs Open Office can open it. Open Office also makes exporting a document to PDF easy.

GIMP is a very good image program. Making documents for desktop publishing can get quite technical quickly. The commercial products for this are very expensive. Scribus is a free and open source desktop publishing software. Regardless whether purchased commercial desktop publishing software or open source the software requires quite a lot of technical skill to use.

The big problem with open source software is finding people and resources to learn it. But in some ways the open source software has an advantage because there are many online communities specifically directed towards discussion about how to do stuff with the software.

One final advantage of open source software is that in Uganda there are organizations whose mission is to spread the use of open source software in Uganda.

Mostly when people approach a computer they just want to do what they want to do, not to have to learn about how to do stuff. If organizations begin to use open source software, there needs to be an understanding that someone or a few someones have time to learn about the software--to go to discussion boards and to have time to figure stuff out. I think this is essential.

Kayiwa, you already have to much to do. It makes sense that you use the MS software for your personal use. On the other hand learning about open source software is an essential knowledge set that could make you very valuable to organizations. You may not have time right now, but keep the idea in the back of your head.

I've been a bad Nedster lately. I will try to remember the workspace that Ceris has set up and post links about free and open source software as I come on them.

John Powers said:

One final advantage of open source software is that in Uganda there are organizations whose mission is to spread the use of open source software in Uganda.

Could you post some links for these organisations please? Thanks :)

I'm liking paint.net very much, it's a lot lighter and easier to use than Gimp . So far I've only used the basic program and one add on (an extra bit of programming that adds to the available effects). If we were to put it on a disc I guess we'd first try out and select the best add ons and include them on the disc along with the main program and our own 'how to' files. Oh and we would also have to include the ms 'net' file (I forget exactly what it was) that I had to download first - that actually took a long time to download, but the paint program itself only took seconds.

I tried Scribus but it's a bit heavy on my poor old p.c. :( it crashed it.As Gimp has been known to do. It may work better when I get around to giving it a spring clean!

I really think the kids at the KJT computer club would love the paint program I'm trying out, mine do, and older artists night be drawn to the club too, especially if you could provide (sell?) blank cds or other forms of digital storage. But John's right that you don't need to worry about it getting to grips with Open Source right now, at this stage it's much easier for John and I to do that and I think I speak for John that (a) we don't mind, and (b)we would like to understand it better ourselves!

You speak for me for sure. I downloaded Scribus a while back with a specific project in mind and was baffled and frustrated. And yes, I'm not sure my cast-off computer is up to the task--I had a better computer at the time. But I am interested in the software because it seems to me that there is a challenge: There are not so many computers in Uganda. Internet connections are slow and very expensive. So the important challenge is to find bridge technologies which encourage the read/write aspect of the Internet to more people. I think that print and paper is essential, and much more could be done with MP3 players which can be played through any radio. The other key area is using mobile phones and SMS.

I will post some links, sorry I'm a bit scattered these days.

Thanks Ceris and John for putting your time into this whole thing. I know i have been quite out of the loop for sometime , this does not mean that I am not interested. I just had some loose ends to tie up from this end and soon I will be done and will be fully on line again. All these ideas and your findings about the internet challenges in our area and Africa at large, will be very useful when we join hands to help others who need such services.I know am yet to understand a few things here and there and this will make it easy for me to help others.

Meanwhile we are trying to schedule our workshop for the end of march, no date has been fixed yet and get back to you with it as soon as confirmed. We are expecting at least 10 - 15 participants from different organi8zations from different parts of the country , and this will mean we shall have to come up with the budget for accomodation, feeding and transport for them since most of these organizations are just upcoming and do not have enough funds to cater for such things.A budget will be drawn for this and I would need all your support towards this campaign.It may just be ideas and/or passing words round to friends who can be supportive or anything that can help us realise this event.

Many things are beginning to happen at once at LIA. We are also inviting applications from our We network members , for small grants which is going to be disbursed towards the end of March. This fund was donated back in October and it's long overdue for disbursment. Check for more details here;

A possible project for LiA Internet Workshops - a Free Learning Network and Directory, similar to School of Everything,

www.schoolofeverything.com

This would gather and collate information about those with something to teach and those who wish to learn and allow them to connect and meet up in real life.

School for Everything is internet based but an LiA Free School could produce a print version, as a regular newsletter perhaps, so that the actual networking and access to learning experiences would not be dependent on internet access or even access to a computer. It could also match local volunteers with local and regional projects. I think it's a model particularly worth looking at as School of Everything manages to be self-sustaining by taking a small percentage of the fees charged by teachers whilst remaining entirely free for learners to use and for those who wish to teach for free. A 'teacher' in this context is anyone with knowledge or experience of a particular subject which they wish to share. LiA could perhaps charge a small fee to 'teachers' who wish to charge for their services to be listed in the newsletter and online, and perhaps an small optional cover charge for the newsletter, thus providing a potential income for LiA.

Does LiA have a printer, Grace? How easily obtainable and affordable are inks and paper? I don't know how practical an option printing a newsletter is for you. Alternatively, could people subscribe to rss feeds or with updates of learning and teaching opportunities, or be part of a mobile phone texting network carrying such information? Or maybe have a regular 'free learning' slot on a radio station? Just some ideas! Inspired partly by this thread and partly by a conference I attended yesterday,'Shutdown',

http://www.bloc.org.uk/2-x.html

about technology-enabled social innovation - I had written more about the conference but I just lost my post. Grmph.

[Deleted by author on 30 Jan 2009 03:46 PST: accidentally reposted]

A good idea Ceris, though here it may take a bit of time for people to understand the whole setup.I visited the schoolofeverything website and I need a bit more time to get get it well. It an option worth looking at.

Yes we do have a printer and the major challenge is the ink. paper is relatively cheaper, but the ink is really expensive- about 70,000/=- 80,000/= UGS ( about $40) each.

Hmm, that is expensive!

Yeah the ink cartridge thing is really hard to deal with. Grace, I hope you understand how little I understand. Sometimes I think aloud to try to understand!

Knowing that using computer printers is so expensive I try to think of other ways. That's where the desk top publishing software like Scribus comes in. It is possible to produce stuff that printers can print, even a newspaper format. But doing this sort of layout requires some skill and time to gain those skills.

I wonder if you have ever heard of a mimeograph machine, or know of anyone using one?

Thanks Grace for intiating this and to all the contributors, we really need to know some of those things identyfied above, things like image editor, corel draw. quicken if that is how they call for accounts would help us alot. our pcs apart from microsoft office, there are no any other soft wares installed that can help us in what we are doing. we really need these because knowledge first Thanks

Hi all,

I have probably missed a vital link somewhere but where is the collection to raise funds for the Internet workshop? I received this message via Facebook with various links to Facebook and Ned:

Goal: Raise $1000 to help us conduct an Internet worshop for community leaders

but it is not clear to me where to go next to donate.

Thanks

Thanks Nicholas for joining us here. You might not have missed a link but only that Facebook has so many applications, when you go to this page on facebook; http://apps.facebook.com/causes/ 53080/8701145 you will find the donation button there and you will also be able to see what donations would have been made already.

Thanks