:Title: Internet communication workshop for WE Network community leaders :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:17:54 PST :URL: http://www.ned.com/group/lia-global/news/17/ When Life in Africa foundation started years back or maybe sometime later, it was activelly involved in Web Empowerment.That is training people from different communities in internet literacy. At first with the idea of developing it into a certifiable course for certificates for a given period of time. Though this did not work very well, it managed to have some of their existing community leaders both from Kampala and Gulu get free training to help them get online on behalf of their communities.This had so far worked very well, save for the disruptions that has been happening for the past two years. With the new developments at Life in Africa Foundation, we feel that there is even more need for these community leaders to get fully involved on line if their communities are to be represented and this will mean that they first have to get some ideas on how they will handle the whole online business in order to be of any help to their communities.We therefore are planning a one week long workshop for all the WE Network communty leaders here in kampala to help us impart these ideas to them.This may with time become one of the LIA Foundation activities. This space therefore will be for exchanging ideas on how best we can plan the workshop and suggestions on how we can fundraise for the workshop can also be developed here.With everyone's help, I am sure this will be a very interesting starting point. ---- **Comments** :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:29:29 PST 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. ---- :Author: David Bale :Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:17:09 PST 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. ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:12:18 PST 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. ---- :Author: Ceris Dien :Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:58:52 PST 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 ? ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:39:37 PST 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. ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:43:07 PST 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. ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:24:34 PST 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. ---- :Author: Ceris Dien :Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2008 15:55:37 PST 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. :) ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:19:32 PST 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. ---- :Author: Ceris Dien :Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:04:14 PST 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.com ---- :Author: John Powers :Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:37:13 PST 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. .. _`Scribus`: http://www.scribus.net/ .. _`Here's`: http://magculture.com/blog/?p=2731 ---- :Author: Ceris Dien :Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:44:33 PST 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.html , 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! ---- :Author: kayiwa Fred :Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:22:09 PST 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 ---- :Author: John Powers :Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:26:34 PST 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. ---- :Author: Ceris Dien :Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:01:15 PST 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! ---- :Author: John Powers :Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:03:45 PST 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. ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:12:09 PST 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; ---- :Author: Ceris Dien :Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:44:09 PST :Modified: Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:47:46 PST 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. ---- :Author: Ceris Dien :Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:45:09 PST Ceris Dien said: 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. ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:33:19 PST 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. ---- :Author: Ceris Dien :Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2009 01:05:08 PST Hmm, that *is* expensive! ---- :Author: John Powers :Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:46:06 PST 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? ---- :Author: Ndelo Peter :Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:15:15 PST 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 ---- :Author: Nicholas Bentley :Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 10:37:29 PST 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 ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:59:38 PST 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 ---- :Author: Nicholas Bentley :Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:21:29 PST Thanks Grace, I found it. Good luck with the campaign. ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:32:05 PST Thank you so much Nicholas for supporting us and thanks a lot for your donation. ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:32:31 PST After looking at the pace at which everything is moving on the small grants page,we have reconsidered the idea of having a small worshop urgently to help the team members get better into the loop, while we keep the applications submissions open for now. We are hoping that after the worshop, we would have made it easier for the members to be able to contribute to their own discussions and that of their friends more easily, invite their supporters to join them and also able to get their own blogs started. These am sure are the most important things that they need to know right away. We have talked about developing a kind of a curricular to help guide us on what we should impart to them , but maybe for this first time we shall keep it summarized at the **Basics of Internet Communications** in relations to LIA programs. This would mean getting to know how to use the sites that we are very active on eg NED, Facebook, Blogger and possibly Razoo. Just specifically how the different tools there work. I am sure with the help of everyone, we shall later design and develop a more formal curricular to help everyone else achieve some kind of certification. I am working at the exact budget right now and will give you the link to the workspace as soon as it's up . Thanks ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:17:59 PST Grace, How many days will your workshop be, and could it be useful to create a draft program schedule? ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:29:37 PST This workshop will be three days. ---- :Author: kayiwa Fred :Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2009 10:30:29 PST waiting for it hope its not in late apirl ---- :Author: David Bale :Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:51:25 PST Is that when you have your exams, Kayiwa? ---- :Author: kayiwa Fred :Date: Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:41:12 PDT yes my exams start on 20th to 7th may ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:24:30 PDT Fred I had actually planned it to be around that time, but with the bad schedule that I have had, I think we may extend it abit to around the 11th of May I will have to confirm this with the participants though, and soon thereafter, our voting will begin. The two weeks have been a night mare, we had so much going on that cocntrating on this became so difficult, but am hopeful that this time, we shall have it happen. Finally we have said goodbye to our dear Christina and we surely have to presume work. Please keep checking here for new updates for the coming week , as this will be giving you the program for the upcoming workshop! We are really so sorry that things have been so slow for the past two weeks ,but dont lose hope everything will still happen as planned. Thanks everyone for being patient with us. ---- :Author: kayiwa Fred :Date: Sat, 02 May 2009 06:34:10 PDT Perfect by 11th may we shall be with Ben and Ceris am sure they might want to attend \ ---- :Author: Linda Nowakowski :Date: Sat, 02 May 2009 06:38:52 PDT kayiwa Fred said: Perfect by 11th may we shall be with Ben and Ceris am sure they might want to attend \ What are the details on this? ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:56:25 PDT Did this ever happen? ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:13:17 PDT Hi all, This has been quite avery frustrating situation for us here at LIA , though there are also a number of good things happening here, the bank issue has been a very big deal. Upto now , I have not yet got it reopenned and this has caused us alot of lagging in all the activities that we are supposed to do. i had to wait for a letter from one of the directors who is studying abroad and this just came last week and then waiting for the regitrar's office to finalise their update so that I can take these papers back to the bank , it's still avery long process. But I'll keep you updated as soon as I am done. ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:07:26 PDT At long last we have the bank Account again. So this then means biz. We are planning to have the workshop as early as in three weeks , I will communicate the exact date as soon as possible, I first need to get in touch with the facitators and also hoping to get some input from you here as to what would be the best we can give this people while they are here. I know this has been a very big storm for all of us , but let's not get fed up with it, there has never been any gain without pain and I am hopeful that it will really work this time. ---- :Author: Ndelo Peter :Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:39:06 PDT Much better if the account has been reopened and we hope for the best. Thanks for moving up and down to see it worked again. ---- :Author: Linda Nowakowski :Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:03:58 PDT Some suggestions from teaching IT in Thailand 1. Files and folder to organize their work 2. Google * Search AND advanced search * News search * Image search * depending on their age and use - Maps, Books and Scholar 3. Suggest you use Firefox so they can use the spelling checker. 4. How to use the spelling and grammar checker in their word processing software if it has it. 5. Maybe an additional session to teach them how to use spreadsheets. I will keep thinking. ---- :Author: Ndelo Peter :Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:15:32 PDT with much of online works,adding to Linda's, I think there is need to learn some of the ned , face book and flickr tools. ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:58:03 PDT Thanks evryone for really beaing patient with us, I know how hard it'is to wait for something that seemed very close by and then pushed very far away just suddenly. I hope it will work this time! Thanks a lot Linda for your suggestions and sure these look viable enough and we can adopt it it surely. And thank you too Peter for your add, these are really very important tools in our online work. ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Sun, 02 Aug 2009 18:52:28 PDT I think this time we seem to be moving a little faster. Dates for the workshop have been set at the Board's meeting . These are from 24th until 26th of August . It's going to be a three days workshop. beginning on 24 th at 9am and ending on 26th 4pm Ugandan time. Partly residential for those who will be coming from upcountry and those from Kampala will be commuting. It would be very intersting if these people can meet some of us online and talk to them, I know the timing may not be the right one for you people on the other side of the planet , but there are those who I sometime meet on line at that particular time. Anyway let's wait and see what will happen. We are still hopeful that we shallbe getting more ideas on this within the remaining period of time, and maybe even on those very days that the workshop will be taking place. Thanks. ---- :Author: Ndelo Peter :Date: Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:37:03 PDT Its good that time is ripe for the workshop, may I know the people who are expected to attend this if not only those who submitted their grant applications? Thanks ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:23:37 PDT Can you give us an idea of who will be attending the workshop? ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:12:34 PDT I have sent out invitations and still waiting for confirmation from them. Basically all those on our list and at least two from each organization. ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:53:52 PDT It would be great to see your list :) ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:27:26 PDT I have already got feedback from at least four organizations who have shown interest in coming. They are; KJT NUWECHI CHILDREN OF HOPE CHILDAID UGANDA NUWECHI and CHILD AID are hoping to send two people each. Children of Hope may send one according to their communication. KJT have not been very clear about the number they are sending. I am still waiting from Amasiko and the others like Rock Of Ages and PIKITUP, but we still can go on with these fewwho have already decided to come. ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:05:22 PDT As days are going very fast, and it's just barely one week to the day, I feel we should already put together the real contents that we be delivered to these people. Up here, Linda has given some suggestions that: Some suggestions from teaching IT in Thailand 1. Files and folder to organize their work 2. Google * Search AND advanced search * News search * Image search * depending on their age and use - Maps, Books and Scholar 3. Suggest you use Firefox so they can use the spelling checker. 4. How to use the spelling and grammar checker in their word processing software if it has it. 5. Maybe an additional session to teach them how to use spreadsheets. I will keep thinking. I think as this is going to be just two days, we can summarise from what she has put up and add on maybe a few things like using the different tools on the different social network sites that are commonly used .e.g , Ned, Facebook, My space and please if somebody has another one in mind that I might not have known yet, do help us include it here. I will soon come up with a full list of how and who will be helping with the facilitation on a workspace, so I really need this info to help me do this. ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:13:10 PDT We have almost reached the long awaited for day. Tomorrow our guests are arriving and most of them will be sleeping at the LIA Kireka center we have organized some kind of Accomodation there. Those who have confirmed participation are: 1- Nuwechi- 2 2- Children of Hope- 1 3- Child Aid Uganda -2 4- Amasiko- 1 5- KJT have not been very clear, but are hopeful.-2 This gives a total of about 8 participants. As I earlier on requested, we shall be online from Monday 24th from 9 am - 5pm until Tuesday 5 pm our time , we would be very grateful if you continue giving suggestions and responding to our participants who will be communicating here and there during the workshop. This will give them more morale in what they would be doing. Hope to see you all there. ---- :Author: Ndelo Peter :Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2009 10:14:37 PDT Hours to go! much better ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:34:58 PDT Really glad to announce that it all started very well and a representation from almost all whom we invited. We have the following representation; 1- Esther Atoo- Children of Hope – Lira 2- Lauben Tushemerierwe – Child Aid – Lyantonde 3- Vione Abonoyo Amasiko - Kabale 4- Farouk Kalinzi - KJT- Kampala 5- Timothy Ijuka - NUWECHI- Kitgum It’s surely well distributed , cross –country if I may say from different districts. Facilitation is being done by : 1- Stephen Tukei 2- Peter Ndelo 3- Grace Ayaa Morning Session is coming to an end and we are going for lunch and resume at 2 pm for afternoon session. This will be your time Nedstars, because we shall be introducing them to Ned especially those who have not yet been on before, so please do encourage them, they maybe sending you PMs as their practice exercise and would be very happy if they get replies from you people.So please let’s show them some solidarity. ---- :Author: Atoo Esther :Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:52:51 PDT After this day one session on web empowerment, the computer and internet training workshop at life in Africa foundation in Kampala Uganda.I evalulate my self the most lucky community leader.Because I got a lot of vital informations and knowledge.that aleader stand have at hand.But my reguest to the organsiers of this workshop is if they could extent the days of the training or it is made regularily.Atleast quarterly. thanks for the workwell done my facilators , my fellow participants and the support staffs of life in Africa foundations. ---- :Author: Abonoyo Vione :Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:32:59 PDT Hi there,am very excited about this workshop.Its opening my eyes and am seeing a bright future for our country and globe! I just wish this could be done more often so that other people may get to know about using the internet;ned and others. Its such great fun and i don't want it to end. And above all,thanks to all who welcomed us on ned and our facilitators,they are so good and homely. ---- :Author: Abonoyo Vione :Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:47:39 PDT Hi there,am very excited about this workshop.Its opening my eyes and am seeing a bright future for our country and globe! I just wish this could be done more often so that other people may get to know about using the internet;ned and others. Its such great fun and i don't want it to end. And above all,thanks to all who welcomed us on ned and our facilitators,they are so good and homely. Well,a little about the facilitation on WE empowerment,we took some pictures about what we are doing and am loving everything!!! This picture shows exactly how much attention and enjoyment we have for the workshop.This is so lovely!!! .. image:: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2633/3854762053_d16fee8a6e.jpg ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 01:27:15 PDT Lovely to see some of you posting pictures here and there. Thanks! When you (hopefully) start discussions about your project activities I hope you will remember to include photos, as they really add a lot to the experience of those getting to know you. ---- :Author: John Powers :Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:51:38 PDT This may be not the right place for a link, but today I saw a really great online tool called `Screenr`_. This Web site allows people to make a screencast. A screencast is a picture of what's on your computer screen and recording of you telling about what's on the screen. There are other ways of doing screencasts, but this is completely Web-based so there's nothing to download. `Here`_ is a post that tells more about Screener. The interesting thing is screencasts can be viewed online, or they can be downloaded as Mp4 files so they can be viewed on a computer that's not connected to the Internet. Screencast are very good for showing how to do certain things, especially things having to do with computers. I think it would be possible for you in Uganda to make how-to screencasts. And I think it would be possible for some of us outside Uganda to make screencast on topics you think would be helpful. I did not actually try to make one myself today. One reason is that the tool requires Java and it wasn't being detected in the browser I'm using. I have to download the latest version of Firefox and try it sometime. Of course my theory that this might be a really useful tool is somewhat dependent on whether it actually is easy to view these screen casts where you are. Here is a `link`_ to a screencast to test how well you can view them there in Uganda. If this works well, it's a way to upload content to YouTube from your location too. You could choose a few pictures and provide a narration on a topic. Youtube is a great way to get exposure for your organizations. .. _`Screener`: http://screenr.com/ .. _`Here`: http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/ .. _`link`: http://screenr.com/f0s ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:26:12 PDT Thanks so much John for the info on the tools . Today we are closing the workshop and think that by mid-day we shall be done and those who are going far can have the chane of getting afternoon buses. i am really so happy that this has been a great success and I would like to thank all Nedstars who who contributed in one way or the other to make this a success. We hope that this will be a turning point for all the participants. Some pics of yesterdays session. Here's Peter facilitating on Ned and Flickr; .. image:: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3455/3855825419_febc7169a2.jpg ---- :Author: Ndelo Peter :Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:34:42 PDT Finally we had the workshop and every thing went on smothly We had the review and the trainees managed to follow all the steps did some good job. The task is now to begin sharing our ideas, thought and even ask whatewver one feels should. It was such a successful workshop with no any kind of interruption! The few who attended the workshop were actually picking and very interested. There is high hope that they will continue representing their communities online with the simple tools we have introduced them. We also hope that more shall attend if we organize this kind of workshop in the nearby feature. These are some of the photos we managed to capture during the workshop: Stephen one of the facilitators: .. image:: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3510/3860801541_6187d74bc0.jpg Review time: .. image:: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2446/3861717132_09f4951213.jpg Grace awarding certificate of attendance: .. image:: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3450/3861803328_406e50069c.jpg .. image:: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2511/3861717128_9cc6fa399a.jpg .. image:: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2521/3861030965_80743075fa.jpg Lunch time .. image:: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2435/3860983009_904a3cae2f.jpg Group photo before depature .. IMAGE:: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2473/3861717134_2a2a4632c8.jpg Dapature time, Luaben from Child Aid Uganda driving off Liak gate .. image:: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3459/3861717138_d131569939.jpg Our Theme for this years' training was **Intoducing internet to community team leaders as a connectory tool** We shall be organizing these kinds of trainings to different community leaders or other community members may be half,quarterly or yearly depending on what we shall agree on and avialability of funds to carry on the workshop. Thanks to Christina and everybody on ned who suported us in different ways. Lets keep our hopes alive ..) ---- :Author: Ceris Dien :Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:28:46 PDT John Powers said: This may be not the right place for a link, but today I saw a really great online tool called `Screenr`_. Great link John, loads of possibilities there :) ---- :Author: Ceris Dien :Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:34:32 PDT Congratulations Grace and Peter and all who attended, that looks to me like a great success! ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:11:11 PDT I just can't believe it finally happened and was really successful. I must admit that I have enjoyed every bit of it , I am very sure that this can be a really great way of helping as many people as possible to get online and we shall continue doing this as much as we can . This then calls for our efforts again to make it happen , we appreciate what you nedstars always do to make events like this a success. We shall always continue seeking your support every now and again whenever we are planning for more of such gatherings.We hope that next time we shall have more funds to involve more people. Thanks so much everyone for your contribution in which ever way to make this a success. Peter thank you so much for the nice pictures. ---- :Author: Wilfried van der Veen :Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:40:08 PDT Vione is back home and she is so enthusiastic about the workshop. We are now exchanging how to move forward with all the new knowledge! Thanks very much, it was a real success I believe. ---- :Author: Ndelo Peter :Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:05:38 PDT :Modified: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 10:35:26 PDT First of all, I would like to say sorry to myself for taking long to update all the Ned sters about what was discussed and agreed on the Life in Africa’s small grant, I may say again, the workshop went well. As we may be aware, one of the delays in disbursing this small grant to the beneficiaries, was in the first place Bank account that took long to be updated as requested by the bank, that is no more and another delay was to have all the applicants attend internet work shop so that to help them learn the tools that eventually would help them in online reporting’s. So whichever kind of delay has been overcome. What we are left with is to disburse the fund to the beneficiaries, but before we do that we had to assess of the competitors, which three should actually get the fund? Based on our assessments we unanimously decided to give to the following organizations… check on the links below: http://www.ned.com/group/lia-global/ws/nuwechi_small_grants_application/ http://www.ned.com/group/lia-global/ws/amasiko_small_grants_application/?searchterm=grants http://www.ned.com/group/lia-global/ws/Children%20of%20Hope%20-Uganda%20%28Lira%29/ As a matter of facts only three organizations are to get these funds and always where there is a completion, there is a looser However I would like to encourage those other organizations that did not succeed this time not to loose hope. Whenever there is chance again to apply, don’t hesitate to, you never know it might be you time. Congratulations to those three organizations and hope that, it will make some impacts in their communities. The scheduled date to disburse this fund is on 20th September 2009. We are again organizing to have another workshop January next year and this time around we shall include many other organizations. With Ned, together we can do more. Thanks to all our ned supporters in whichever way and we shall always lean on you. Thanks ---- :Author: Abonoyo Vione :Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:35:25 PDT Thanks very much every one on ned. First of all,am also very sorry for taking long to discuss on ned. I am very delighted for the help I got from the Lia workshop and I would like to say great thanks to everyone. Before I went for the LiA workshop,my dad had lost some how morale in Amasiko due to various reasons. When I got back home, what I told my dad gave us all more zeal and morale to go ahead with Amasiko. Thanks so much to ned stars, our facilitators and above all,the Great power for making the workshop so successfully smooth and of course the grant! ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:21:18 PDT Vione, I notice that `your dad`_ has revived the Amasiko blog @ http://amasiko.blogspot.com, and that he's making appearances here and on facebook since you got back. That must be your doing... thank you for that! .. _`your dad`: http://www.ned.com/user/u624832084/ ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:06:49 PDT So sorry nedstars that I have been away from the online activities for so long, but still everything has been going on smoothly and we have already started disbursing the Small grants to the beneficiaries, pics will follow suit. ---- :Author: Wilfried van der Veen :Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:58:58 PDT Hi Christina, Vio is back to school. In November final A-level exams! At school she has no access to internet, but she was very exited about the workshop and has developed great interest in Amasiko. I am sure she will be of great help to during her vacation. Yes its true her enthusiasm is infectious! Hi Grace, we are very exited about the grant. Step by step we get our site going and this grant is another step forwards. ---- :Author: Beatrice Aciro Okeny :Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:16:19 PDT .. image:: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2563/4031017007_02e04e17d6_m.jpg .. image:: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2553/4031845176_db4d685260_m.jpg .. image:: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3528/4031090937_7e1f8213a9_m.jpg .. image:: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3587/4031091061_c9b9560508_m.jpg ---- :Author: Beatrice Aciro Okeny :Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:41:38 PDT pictures of the computer and accessories bought by the grant offered to NUWECHI.Thanks goes to the management of Life in Africa for mediating for the access of the grant and giving us the exposure for our organisation.Our gratitude also to those that offered us the grant we shall use these appliances to better the services we offer to the society. ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:54:08 PST Congrats Nuwechi on the new equipment. borrowing some of the workshop photos for a presentation. Thx! ---- :Author: Ndelo Peter :Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:55:35 PST That is encouraging thanks for the update. Cj I wish you good luck in your presentation. ----