Publishers Teaming Up For Digital Cake

By Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha | Digital Media Specialist

The terrain of traditional publishing has been much about cut-throat competition but due to pressures presented by new media technologies, this is changing fast.

Reaching audiences with content is no longer the domain of newspapers alone. Newspapers are feeling the heat. In the UK, competitor newspapers are beginning to collaborate to try and wad off the challenges.

According to a report in the Financial Times, publishers of newspapers and magazines are setting aside competitive differences to collaborate as they grapple with larger digital platforms and plummeting traditional advertising revenue.

The Financial Times quoted Lee Baker, director of the Association of Online Publishers saying that pubblishers were now collaborating to make sense in the digital era.

“Publishers are coming together to understand how they can work collaboratively.We are seeing more of that on a much more sophisticated level … Lots of businesses are simultaneously moving into very, very new territory, which is driving this approach,” said Baker.

Taking things a little local, there in no doubt that technology and data are today driving the market. However, in Zimbabwe, publishers are lagging a bit in the technology race.

One simply needs to look at the hiring patterns within newsrooms to understand that the technological shift has not adequatelly affected the way local publisher are doing business.

Having said that, it’s important that what makes or break a newspapaer or magazine is content: original, branded and quality content is the key to success.

Mapping Zimbabwe’s Digital Future

By Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha | iZiviso Global Editor At Large

HARARE, Zimbabwe – TRADITIONALLY in the Zimbabwean market, the entrenched nature of local media operations, have meant innovation has not been as rapid as it could have been.

Among the Zimbabwe top media players, there is very little that has been done to effectively harness the power of a more sophisticated approach to operating online based more and more on insight and data.

The pace of technological development is certainly unprecedented but there are a few key themes that are likely to inform the market in the immediate future.

Video has the potential to be the big game changer of our time. Short form is progressing at a natural pace, but it’s live streaming that I see as the next big revolution. If you look at the ways sports rights are being handled in the US at the moment, a real niche has been carved out to integrate online with existing cable content rights.

Mobile remains interesting and there is certainly a great deal of opportunity for publishers and advertisers to leverage technology to engage more competitively. As mobile becomes the primary device for accessing the internet the way in which we think about online itself will change, the challenge is to make sure there is balance between current and developing platforms.

Social media will continue to be a base platform for many people’s online lives, and whilst Facebook, Twitter and Google + will retain their dominance, the rise of niche networks is interesting. Pinterest started as a specialist network for women in Mid-West America and has now gone global, I think we will start to see more of these special interest sites come up in the next twelve months.

Gamification is another key area to watch, particularly around education. There are some fascinating developments happening in this space where the idea of educating and developing new ideas in a format that is familiar and intuitive to young people is producing some remarkable results.

Underpinning all of these however is the rise of big data. The ability to target customers in increasingly sophisticated ways based on insights into real time behaviours and preferences will increase yields and performance in ways that will have a direct knock on to all platforms in the near future. In this climate context of delivery will remain important, but increasingly will be only one of many factors leading to improved performance.

Is Water the Future of War?

By Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha | Global Editor-At-Large

There is no consensus among water analysts on whether there will be global wars over water ownership, but all factors point to a likely explosion of both intra and inter-state conflict of the precious liquid.

A US.intelligence assessment released Thursday painted a grim picture of the future of water in the world.

“Fresh-water shortages and more droughts and floods will increase the likelihood that water will be used as a weapon between states or to further terrorist aims in key strategic areas, including the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa,” reported the Washington Post.

According to UNESCO, globally there are 262 international river basins: 59 in Africa, 52 in Asia, 73 in Europe, 61 in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 17 in North America, and overall, 145 countries have territories that include at least one shared river basin.

UNESCO states that between 1948 and 1999, there have been 1,831 “international interactions” recorded, including 507 conflicts, 96 neutral or non-significant events, and most importantly, 1,228 instances of cooperation around water-related issues.

As a result, some experts argue that the idea of water wars is rather far fetched given the precedent of water cooperation that has been exhibited by many of the countries around the world.

“Despite the potential problem, history has demonstrated that cooperation, rather than conflict, is likely in shared basins,” says UNESCO.

However, the fact remains that throughout the world, water supplies are running dry, and the situation is being compounded by inappropriate management of water resources which will unravel previous international cooperation around water.

“Water has four primary characteristics of political importance: extreme importance, scarcity, maldistribution, and being shared. These make internecine conflict over water more likely than similar conflicts over other resources,” says Frederick Frey, of the University of Pennsylvania.

“Moreover, tendencies towards water conflicts are exacerbated by rampant population growth and water-wasteful economic development. A national and international ‘power shortage,’ in the sense of an inability to control these two trends, makes the problem even more alarming,” he adds.

Already, a third of the global population is said to be short of water, sparking fears of social fallout and violence, especially among the world’s poorest and most malnourished people.

Water is perhaps one of the most important yet overlooked elements to earthly life. That’s why the depletion of this precious resource portents serious clashes between communities and nations.

Water, that special liquid which is essential for the survival of all living things, could become a bombshell that will rip apart communities and nations if not managed properly in today’s world.

As global water sources become depleted due to a combination of factors including overpopulation and overuse, it is inevitable that there will be an increase in competition for the special liquid.

Both climatic and human-induced changes are having a negative impact on the world’s water resources. The increasing variability caused by climate change will have numerous consequences on human life.

According to the World Water Council, population growth – coupled with industrialization and urbanization – will result in an increasing demand for water and will have serious consequences on the environment.

Potential social and political division and unrest over access to water will hit hard marginalized populations in developing countries.

As water resources run dry, there will be a reluctance to share the resource in a peaceful and equitable manner. According to US military analysts, “global-warming water problems will make poor, unstable parts of the world – the Middle East, Africa and South Asia – even more prone to wars, terrorism and the need for international intervention.”

It is predicted that sea-level rise floods will potentially destabilize South Asia countries such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam. The Middle East and North Africa is also faced with acute water shortages, a situation that will pit the countries in the region against each other.

“The only matter that could take Egypt to war against is water,” the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat tellingly said in 1979.

Water security is increasingly becoming a military priority for many of the countries in the Middle East, and the threat of wars between countries is real.

In Africa, the scarcity of water will result in food insecurity for already marginalized communities, especially in the rural areas where the majority of the people live. And this will form the basis for internal extremism as people will be forced to migrate and compete for resources.

In all corners of the globe, the animal kingdom will suffer immensely as human beings fight each other over access to water.

“Water is connected to everything we care about – energy, human health, food production and politics,” said Peter Glieck, president of the Pacific Institute, a global think tank, “And that fact alone means we better pay more attention to the security connections. Climate will effect all of those things. Water resources are especially vulnerable to climate change.”

Zimbabwe’s Digital Underclass

By Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha

Harare, Zimbabwe – The digital divide is something that  has been talked about extensively since the early days of the internet, and as Zimbabwe undergoes a technology boom it is an important issue that we seriously need to revisit. It begs the question whether the Net is not increasingly a tool of the elite that is leaving behind a whole population in the knowledge economy.

While ICT has long been acknowledge as an enormous engine of development, many people in Zimbabwe are simply excluded from this space not by choice but by circumstances.

The death of distance which is supposed to be influenced by ICTs is still a figment of the imagination in rural areas even though the mobile phone is slowly encroaching. Access to basic telecommunications infrastructures is fundamental to begin untangling the digital divide as well as the problem of the information underclass.

In essence, the digital divide refers to the gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels with regard both to their opportunities to access information and communications technologies (ICT’s) and to their use of the Internet for a wide variety of activities. Simply put, the “digital divide” refers to the fact that certain parts of the population have substantially better opportunities to benefit from the new economy than other parts of the population.

In Zimbabwe, the phenomenon of the Net is largely urban based. This excludes 70 percent of the population which resides in the country’s rural areas. Morever, approximately 80 percent of Zimbabwean are unemployed and cannot afford internet services even within urban settings.

Many of these people make up the information underclass. The non-connected households face a variety of problems including little education, poverty, lack of access to safe water, poor access to opportunities and diseases among others. Far worse than the economic divide is the fact that technology remains so complicated that many people couldn’t use a computer even if they got one for free.

The technology gap in Zimbabwe, as in many African countries, is simply a reflection of a lack of infrastructure investments by both government and private players. Many rural areas lack the nessary infrastructure available in urban and more populated areas.  The reality of under-wired communities is resulting in disparities within the country where one part of the population is highly enlightened and the other highly ignorant of technological developments and the potential impact that they have on lives and livelihoods.

To complicate matters, many online platforms, including the ones that are being built by Zimbabwe tend to be in the English language only. It is rare to encounter online website in local languages which effectively excludes a huge chunk of the population from finding the Internet useful to their daily lives and livelihoods. In fact, this scenario raises a critical issue – much attention is given to issue of hardware and interconnectivity which is clearly lacking in some parts of the country. But, equally important to the discussion of issue on the digital divide is the issue of use of indigenous languages, literacy, and people trained and capable of utilising ICT and developing appropriate software.

Having said that, any programme to reduce the digital divide, must start include a component of poverty alleviation since poverty is by far the greatest impediment to connections with and utilization of ICTS. In addition, political stability, macroeconomic governance, transparency and accountability of national and local administrations, physical infrastructure, and basic literacy are required to close the digital divide.

According to experts, the “digital divide” is based on insufficient infrastructure, high cost of access, inappropriate or weak policy regimes, inefficiencies in the provision of telecommunication networks and services, lack of locally created content, and uneven ability to derive economic and social benefits from information-intensive activities.

To reduce the digital divide requires a “systems” approach broadly addressing all of these issues without, of course, sacrificing the need to effectively respond to poverty-related issues.  The importance of policy and regulatory reform cannot be overemphasized. In shaping policy, government needs to be aware of the economic activity that may result from eelctronic commerce which can help to address some of the underlying poverty issues.

In rural areas, there is a need to improve connectivity, increase access and lower costs, through use of multiple competing technologies, public and community access points. The development of locally relevant content is also a critical factor in getting more people to get online.

 

Vodafone’s WebBox: A Game Changer

By Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha

Harare, Zimbabwe – Early 2011, Vodafone launched  Vodafone Webbox, the first device of its kind, bringing affordable internet access to a customer’s existing television set, just by plugging in a keyboard.

This innovation is likely to prove a game changer by plugging in the gap of last mile connection in most countries in Africa. Last mile connectivity refers to the part of the communication provider’s network that is closest to the customer. The “last mile” is frequently stated in terms of the last mile problem, because the end link between customers and connectivity has proved to be difficult to solve.

“The Webbox is a Vodafone innovation developed specifically for customers in emerging markets, where technology and cost barriers often exclude many from enjoying affordable, ready internet access at home or in the workplace. A sleek, black, 14 x 25cm QWERTY keyboard, the Webbox uses standard RCA connectors to plug into the television. With no set-up required, the plug and play keyboard converts any standard domestic television into an internet portal,” according to the company’s press release.

““The Webbox is a simple yet very innovative product. It has the potential to make a powerful difference in the lives of people in emerging markets who have limited access to the internet, but where TV penetration is typically very high. The simplicity of the product is striking – it brings the internet to the TV, be that at home for the family, in schools for education or in small businesses to assist local economic growth,” said Patrick Chomet, Vodafone’s Group Director of Terminals.

The Webbox home screen allows the customer to navigate easily between the core services: Opera Mini 5.1 internet access; SMS and email messaging; internet search and media services including FM radio and a photo gallery tool, as well as a music player.

The Webbox Opera Mini browser runs over the 2.5G and EDGE mobile networks, compressing data by around 90% and so serving fast-loading internet pages. The browser homepage comes with bookmarks such as news, sport and social networking sites as well as locally relevant apps such as a job search and application service. In addition, the portal comes with some games, a dictionary and a basic text editor.

Zimbabwe, Apple to partner on solar iPads

By Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha

Harare, Zimbabwe – The government of Zimbabwe and Apple are set to collaborate on a project that will deliver solar iPads to Zimbabwean schools, according to a recent announcement by the country’s Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister, David Coltart.

If put into effect, this development will certainly be a game changer for schools in Zimbabwe, many of which are rural based and lack appropriate tools and infrastructure to advance education. The programme will certainly reduce the digital divide between rural and urban areas and drastically improve access to teaching aids and tools.

Zimbabwe’s education system, once among the best in Africa, has suffered from a detrimental decline in public funding in conjunction with hyperinflation and political unrest over the past decade. UNICEF state that 94 percent of rural schools, serving the majority of the population were closed in 2009 and 66 of 70 schools abandoned. The attendance rates plummeted from over 80 percent to 20 percent. Efforts are underway to resuscitate the educational system and Apple’s involvement will definitely be revolutionary to say the least.

Coltart said that he met with Apple executives in Paris, working on a new ‘School Box’ which will use solar power and micro projectors to help bring iPad teach aids to some of Zimbabwe’s poorest schools.

Announcing the news on his Facebook, Coltart said that the solar iPads would bring teaching aids to scholars in rural and remote areas.

“Great meeting with Apple today in Paris – unveiled a fascinating new “School Box” which will take iPads to the most remote rural schools – using solar power and micro projectors we will be able to bring computerised teaching aids to the poorest schools. I hope we will get the first pilot programmes started early next year. I am very excited that Zimbabwe is collaborating with Apple in this ground breaking use of technology to advance education in the most remote schools. If we can get it to work in Zimbabwe I am sure it will spread to poor schools throughout Africa – and beyond,” he said.

Students will be able to use the iPad to write reports, research topics, read electronic books and use them to study. With the micro projector, iPads can be used to share presentations also. The device will also let users browse the Web, send e-mail, share photos, watch videos, listen to music, play games and read e-Books.

“This is amazing and just what our schools need. So much can be done with access to computers, it completely changes the way you teach! Great news,” said Rebekah Marks on Coltart’s Facebook wall.

The project could be the start of a sustained effort by Apple to bring computers to developing countries but supplying tablet devices that are portable, have good battery life and can be shared amongst a group of students.

Pricing of the device will obviously be a major consideration in making sure that Zimbabwean children are not disadvantaged when it comes to accessing computing technologies.

UN’s Broadband Commission Aims to Connect the World

By Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha

The Broadband Commission for Digital Development, an initiative of UNESCO in partnership with the International Telecommunications Union, has set itself four new ambitious targets for making broadband policy universal and boosting affordability and broadband uptake by 2015.

Today, broadband is still a far-away concept in remote and rural areas, particularly in developing countries. But according to the commission’s targets, by 2015,  40 percent of households in developing countries should have Internet access.

” Access to broadband or the Internet at home is the most inclusive way of bringing people online. At home, all household members can have access – no matter whether they have jobs, go to school, are male or female, children, adults or elderly,” says the Commission.

“Research has shown that children with Internet access at home perform better in school. And children using the Internet at home are usually under parental guidance and therefore better protected against online dangers.”

In addition, the Commission wants to see Internet user penetration reach 60 percent worldwide, 50 percent in developing countries and 15 percent in least developed countries.

Furthermore, the Commission wants entry-level broadband services to be made affordable in developing countries through adequate regulation and market forces (amounting to less than 5% of average monthly income) by 2015.

” The price of broadband access plays a critical role in terms of broadband diffusion. While broadband  is becoming more affordable worldwide, with prices falling everywhere, it nonetheless remains unaffordable in many parts of the developing world,” according to a statement from the commission titled, “Broadband Targets for 2015.”

The statement also states that, by 2015, all countries should have a national broadband plan or strategy or include broadband in their Universal Access / Service Definitions.

“These targets are ambitious but achievable, given the political will and commitment on the part of governments, working in partnership with the private sector,” said Dr Hamadoun Touré, ITU Secretary-General, who serves as co-Vice Chair of the Commission alongside UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. The Commission is co-chaired by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Carlos Slim Helú, Chairman and CEO of Telmex and América Movíl.

The Broadband Challenge endorsed by the Commission recognizes communication as ‘a human need and a right’, and calls on governments and private industry to work together to develop the innovative policy frameworks, business models and financing arrangements needed to facilitate growth in access to broadband worldwide.

It urges governments to avoid limiting market entry and taxing ICT services unnecessarily to enable broadband markets to realize their full growth potential, and encourages governments to promote coordinated international standards for interoperability and to address the availability of adequate radio frequency spectrum. “We note the importance of the guiding principles of fair competition for promoting broadband access to all,” it reads. “It is essential to review legislative and regulatory frameworks, many of which are inherited from the last century, to ensure the free and unhindered flow of information in the new virtual, hyper-connected world.”

The Challenge stresses the need to stimulate content production in local languages and enhance local capacity to benefit from, and contribute to, the digital revolution.

Lack of Online Payment Systems Derail Zimbabwe

By Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha

Harare, Zimbabwe - Buying and selling by computer remains a pipe dream in Zimbabwe in spite of the advancements that have been made in technology over the past two years. 

The absence of an electronic payment system, defined as a means of making payments over an electronic network such as the Internet, is hampering enterprising Zimbabwe from reaping the full benefits of the technological up-leap.

“If people cannot make online transactions, they’re highly disadvantaged in today’s interconnected world. The essence of online transaction is to enable efficient money transfers in a global scope, it becomes a disadvantage for countries that do not have online payment systems because such countries are not able to compete at a global scale,” said Bethel Goka, an technologist in Harare.

To complicate matters, Paypal, one of the world’s leading online payment and money transfer systems is currently barred in Zimbabwe. PayPal, which is based in the US, says it cannot open user accounts for Zimbabweans because the US Treasury has barred them from doing so.

This is the error message that one gets from PayPal if they try to access its services or register from Zimbabwe: “Error 3028. You have accessed your account from a sanctioned country. Per international sanctions regulations, you are not authorized to access the PayPal system. For more information about your PayPal account status, contact complianceverifications@paypal.com.”

Today, many Zimbabwean businesses are interested in maintaining an online presence but, unfortunately, they are not reaping the full benefits of being online because no framework exists in the country to support electronic commerce otherwise known as e-commerce.

As long as Zimbabwe does not adopt an online payment system, businesses will not achieve tangible results for the investments that they’re making online. In fact, the absence of an online payment system could explain why local businesses are reluctant  to invest in building efficient website because monetization of  websites is non-existent.

Online payment systems include the traditional credit, debit and charge card but also new technologies such as digital wallets, e-cash, mobile paymentand e-checks. With the exception of mobile cash, which was introduced recently, Zimbabwe does not have credit cards that you can order things online. As the country invests more in technology, changes need to happen to address this anomaly.

Connected Agriculture: An Opportunity for Smallholder Farmers

By Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha

Smallholder farmers’ lives and livelihoods can potentially be transformed by mobile telephony and wireless technology services such as weather forecasts, agricultural extension services, commodity market information and mobile banking.

Through mobile telephony, new business models can be developed that offer greater opportunities and reduce risks for smallholders and  help to meet the challenge of feeding an estimated 9.2 billion people by 2050.

According a new analysis conducted by Accenture for Vodafone, many farming communities in emerging markets are economically excluded with little or no access to capital or banking services. The report titled, Connected Agriculture, states that smallholder farmers lack the means to trade (beyond basic barter arrangements), borrow to acquire new assets or invest to provide their businesses with sufficient resilience to withstand macro-economic changes.

Against this background, the ubuquitous mobile telephone has potential to help the poorest farmers towards greater food and income security. The greatest potential benefits can be generated by enabling mobile financial payments and mobile information provision, each delivering almost 40% of the total estimated increase in agricultural income, according to the report.

“Mobile networks are now more widely established in emerging markets than traditional fixed networks and have the potential to transform market-led agricultural practices,” said Peter Lacy, Managing Director, Accenture Sustainability Services, Europe, Africa and Latin America.

Given that global population is expected to reach more than 9 billion by 2050, requiring a 70% increase in food production above 2006 levels, there will be need for increased yields, particulalrly in emerging economies. In remote and rural regions, mobile telephony is expected to play a greater role in improving the productivity and sustainability of agricultaral systems.

According to the report, mobile telecommunications can connect farmers to markets, finance and education, making it possible to monitor resources and track products. This will unlock productivity potential while helping to manage the impacts of increased production, such as increased water use and greenhouse gas emissions.

“One third of humanity is fed through an estimated 500 million smallholder farms with less than two hectares of land. In Asia and sub-Saharan Africa the dependence is even higher, where small farms produce about 80% of the food consumed. These holdings are typically managed by families with limited technical and mechanical support and with poor access to finance. It is often difficult for them to make ends meet, let alone grow their business,” says Vittorio Colao, Vodafone Group Chief Executive Officer, in the foreword to the report.

“Looking ahead, the impact of climate change, water scarcity and increasing land scarcity will make this even more difficult. With the world’s population expected to grow by 750 million in 2020, and demand for food to increase by 70% by 2050, it is clear that something has to be done to improve the efficiency of food production and distribution.”

As access to mobile networks becomes increasingly available even in remote rural areas, the mobile phone can be used as a simple, inexpensive and convenient to not only stay in touch with friends and relatives but to also provide access to finance, improved healthcare solutions, supply chain efficiencies and increasingly automated mobility. In other words, mobile communications technology can be used as an enabler of sustainable growth particulalrly among marginalized and underprivileged populations.

“Mobile financial services can fill the banking gap felt by the poorest farmers. With access to savings or insurance services, farmers can reduce the impact of extreme weather events and invest in improving production. Meanwhile, mobile information platforms open up significant additional routes to potential markets, relaying information on prices for inputs and produce sales, as well as information on how to grow and respond to a context of climate change through the dissemination of reliable seasonal weather forecasts,” says Dame Barbara Stocking, Chief Executive Officer of Oxfam in the report. 

South Africa Takes Mobile to A new Level

By Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha

Down in South Africa, a mobile revolution is slowly unfolding. On Tuesday, Vodacom, one of South Africa’s leading cellular networks, announced the launch of a mobile education programme that will fundamentally change the way education is delivered in the country.

The programme, launched in partnership with the Department of Basic Education, Microsoft, Cisco and Mindset Learn will see teachers accessing vital content, teacher-aids and resources to help deliver quality education via mobile telephony.

“This launch is perhaps one of the most important initiatives that we have introduced. It involves a significant investment in our youth, who are the future of our country, and is a critical component of our commitment to using mobiles for good. Through this initiative, teachers will now be able to use cloud computing to access vital content, teacher-aids and resources to help deliver quality education,” said Pieter Uys, Vodacom’s CEO.

It is anticipated that the programme will upgrade the quality of instruction by ensuring that teachers throughout the country, both rural and urban, have access to the highest quality teaching resources.

According to media reports, Vodacom and the Department of Basic Education have, as part of this launch, created nine ICT Resource Centres, one in every province, each serving up to 200 schools.  The centres serve as the district teacher-training hub and are outfitted with computer classrooms with 50 terminals and an Internet Café.

“The ICT Resource Centres are connected through Virtual Private Network (VPN) to Vodacom’s head office in Midrand.  This connection serves as a pipeline of information, connecting the centres, participating schools and teachers to the Internet and to valuable teacher training resources,” reported CSRAfrica.net.

“Training will focus on ICT literacy, as well as the effective use and integration of digital content in the classroom. To support this training, educators are provided with the necessary ICT infrastructure and tools.”