[Geo4All] Interacting With Students/Professionals in Uganda

Sun Nov 12 09:59:10 PST 2017

Prof. Suchith Anand

The challenges are there but they are also opportunities to innovate
and develop new tools.  The conditions here are getting better and
better each passing day.

I posted the GeoForAll collaborative education research on three walls
and hope students as well as professionals will be getting in touch.

I am going to test weekend short courses (internet is faster over
weekends) starting 25-11-2017. It is from those experiences I will
seek a solution to form a direct interactive methodology we can deploy
afterwards.

In order to push Big Data as a method to Urban Development and Growth
analytics,
Global professions can join me to push the Africa Urban and
Infrastructure Agenda forward. More geographers and physical planners
need to get equiped with; Data Analytics, Modeling and Coding
capabilities.

Urban Issues in the Global South are fertile grounds for inventions
and scentific progress.

Best Wishes

Daniel Bwanika

On 11/12/17, Suchith Anand <Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
> Hi Daniel,
>
> Thank you for sharing the university situation in Uganda . I can understand
> the challenges that you are facing .  I myself when I was student in India
> faced the same situation in a much bigger scale.  That time I did not even
> have access to a computer or internet . My journey to get access to and
> learn GIS was faced with lot of daily struggles, but somehow I kept going
> with determination.  So please keep determination, faith and keep working .
> The doors will open.
>
> We have different options now to address the challenges you mention. For
> example, there are OSGeo Live USBs so you can use to install all OSGeo
> software you need in your universities lab machines.  I will connect you
> will some experts in Africa from RCMRD [1]  who do lot of training programs
> across Africa and help expand capacity development. I was at RCMRD last year
> and  I was very impressed by their expertise and professionalism.
>
>
> Make use of the FOSS4G 2018 [2] opportunity in Dar-es-Salaam to connect will
> fellow colleagues in Africa and globally. Ask your students to apply for the
> student bursaries that will be made available. That will help them to get
> the latest developments  and then share ideas with the wider community in
> Uganda.
>
> You and your students now have a big global network to tap into and links to
> colleagues globally who will be happy to work with you to make sure that
> students in Uganda  will also get the opportunities to learn GIS.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Suchith
>
>
> [1]  http://www.rcmrd.org/about-us/organization
> [2] http://2018.foss4g.org
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Dan Bwanika <bulemezi at gmail.com>
> Sent: 12 November 2017 8:49 AM
> To: Anand Suchith
> Cc: GeoForAll at lists.osgeo.org
> Subject: Re: [Geo4All] Interacting With Students/Professionals in Uganda
>
> Prof. Suchith Anand
>
> Many thanks for yours.
>
> Right, I'll post the link the students walls tommorow.
>
> It is crucially important for African students to interact with
> European professors. Books, journal articles etc., all come from
> Europe. Uganda for example has no single degree holding cartographer!
>
> Such interaction enhances students academic prospects since most of
> the students have limited number of professors to interact with here
> in Uganda.
>
> The internet is still very expensive that is when I consider French
> Orange (Africell) the best operator on the market.  Internet speeds
> are limited (depending on how deep the pockets are) which implies if
> one is doing cartography for example, where one has to download and
> upload huge data sets, the internet will just slow down. Higher speeds
> imply higher cost.
>
> The solution is to have small groups of students working at intervals.
>
> Uganda telecom has a project with another organisation to link up
> Universities but the university has to meet infrastructure costs and
> Uganda Telecom meet the last mile costs - which is in thousands of
> dollars. They do also donate servers and switches yet still most
> Universities have to find sources of funding (hike fees) to purchase
> addition equipment.
>
> This is pushing academic institutions away from what they term as "
> expensive courses"!
>
> The National Information and Technology Authority (NITA - Uganda) is
> expanding the fiber optical network and other telecoms are expanding
> their communication network. Hopefully competition can bring down
> monthly charges.
>
>
> Anyhow government has to priorities education and they have to find the
> funding.
>
> Best
>
> Dan
>
> On 11/12/17, Suchith Anand <Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
>> Hi Daniel,
>>
>> Thank you for your mail. May I suggest that you and your students join in
>> one of the GeoForAll webinar series to start planning ideas for this.
>> Rafael
>> Moreno is leading our webinar series, and  I will request him to consider
>> an
>> interactive webinar  on OpenCitySmart [1] and NASA Europa Challenge [2]
>> and
>> use the opportunity to plan ideas . It will be great to have  student
>> teams
>> from Africa for next years Europa Challenge.
>>
>> I fully understand the issues on low internet access in many parts of the
>> developing world. But  things are changing and will change. From my
>> experience in India, things have changed a lot in the last ten years in
>> getting low cost internet access (though still lot of work need to be
>> done
>> esp. in rural areas ). Especially,  in university campuses there is high
>> speed internet at low cost.   I am optimistic that costs for high speed
>> internet access  will keep coming down in the future.
>>
>> What is the situation for low cost internet access in University campuses
>> in
>> Uganda? Are you based from a university there?
>>
>> Please feel free to connect with colleagues in the network and discuss
>> ideas
>> .
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Suchith
>>
>> [1] https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Opencitysmart
>> [2] http://eurochallenge.como.polimi.it
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: GeoForAll <geoforall-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> on behalf of Dan
>> Bwanika
>> <bulemezi at gmail.com>
>> Sent: 12 November 2017 3:32 AM
>> To: GeoForAll at lists.osgeo.org
>> Subject: [Geo4All] Interacting With Students/Professionals in Uganda
>>
>> Forum
>>
>> I am trying to find a way of how Professors, Scholars and Researchers
>> in the Global North can interact with prospective students here in
>> Uganda for short courses in any field specifically related to; Urban
>> Geographies, Regional planning, Infrastructure Planning and Design and
>> New Urban Technologies (Big Data, Urban Architecture & Design,
>> Cartography, Infrastructure Engineering/Planning etc.,)
>>
>> Of course there’s need for a high speed internet connection (skype) to
>> make this possible. French Orange (Africell) has such facilities but
>> theirs are rather expensive.
>>
>> If you’re an interested Professor, Scholar and Urban Researcher and
>> you might find this proposal interestng and has the means of
>> interacting with students here in Uganda please let me know or we can
>> talk about it.
>>
>> Best Wishes,
>>
>> Daniel Bwanika
>>
>>
>> --
>> _____________________________
>> Bwanika Nakyesawa Luwero
>>
>> Daniel Bwanika
>> Box 12413 Kampala
>> Uganda
>>
>> t: +256-752-972-960
>> f: facebook.com/uidc.uganda
>> www.uidc-ea.org
>> e: uidcug at gmail.com
>> t: @uidc_ug
>> _______________________________________________
>> GeoForAll mailing list
>> GeoForAll at lists.osgeo.org
>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/geoforall
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> _____________________________
> Bwanika Nakyesawa Luwero
>
> Daniel Bwanika
> Box 12413 Kampala
> Uganda
>
> t: +256-752-972-960
> f: facebook.com/uidc.uganda
> www.uidc-ea.org
> e: uidcug at gmail.com
> t: @uidc_ug
>
>
>
>
> This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee
> and may contain confidential information. If you have received this
> message in error, please send it back to me, and immediately delete it.
>
> Please do not use, copy or disclose the information contained in this
> message or in any attachment.  Any views or opinions expressed by the
> author of this email do not necessarily reflect the views of the
> University of Nottingham.
>
> This message has been checked for viruses but the contents of an
> attachment may still contain software viruses which could damage your
> computer system, you are advised to perform your own checks. Email
> communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored as
> permitted by UK legislation.
>
>

-- 
_____________________________
Bwanika Nakyesawa Luwero

Daniel Bwanika
Box 12413 Kampala
Uganda

t: +256-752-972-960
f: facebook.com/uidc.uganda
www.uidc-ea.org
e: uidcug at gmail.com
t: @uidc_ug