Internet Info 1997 December/Internet_Info_CD-ROM_Walnut_Creek_December_1997.iso/isoc/pub/isoc_news/1-4/n-1-4-014.10.2a

Text File | 1994-03-26 | 6KB | 128 lines

Subject: N-1-4-014.10.2

BRINGING IT TOGETHER: AFRICA 1992

Bob Barad*
<[e-mail]>

Africa's inter-networking pioneers came together in 1992 as never
before.  At nearly a dozen meetings held in locations spanning
four continents, the builders of Africa's new electronic community
were at last able to overcome the physical
barriers that divide them and meet together face-to-face.
Here are brief descriptions and some commentary on just five of
the best attended meetings:

TORONTO

1992 was off to a promising start in early February with the
meeting of the Global Networking Workshop funded by Partnership
Africa Canada (PAC) and the International Development and Research
Centre (IDRC).  Networkers from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal,
South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia were joined by operators and
friends of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC),
an international association of closely affiliated peace, social
justice, and environmental-oriented computer networks.

APC's Canadian and British affiliates, Web and GreenNet, have
supplied a large share of the technical expertise that has fueled
the recent emergence of FidoNet technology-based nongovernmental
organization and academic networks in Africa.  Through the
electronic dissemination of the Workshop's report and related
documents and proposals, these locally managed and sustained
network initiatives made themselves better known to the internet
community.  Members of one such network, the Eastern and Southern
African Network (ESANET) which links university researchers in
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya, held a second
meeting at Lusaka in November.

DAKAR

The Regional Informatics Networks for Africa (RINAF) project, an
Italian government-supported UNESCO initiative under the technical
direction of Stefano Trumpy, held its inaugural meeting at Dakar
just two weeks later.  The meeting began with a comprehensive
overview of the status of networking initiatives in Africa that
gave special attention to the successes achieved at the geographic
frontiers of Africa's network connectivity through low-cost,
low-bureaucracy dial-up network technologies like FidoNet and
UUCP.

Because of its continental scope and practical emphasis on
learning from and expanding on the successful experiences of
Africa's network infrastructure builders at all levels, RINAF is
succeeding in achieving its primary purpose to become a major
coordinating mechanism for promoting the inter-connectivity of
Africa's networks and accelerating their rapid expansion.  At the
Internet Society meeting in Kobe and a special workshop held at
Pisa, Italy, in October, RINAF made vital contributions by
providing essential travel grants and technical training to
participants from African countries.  The RINAF project is
currently considering funding proposed projects that would
establish or expand internet access in Algeria, Guinea, Kenya,
Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia, and Swaziland.

KOBE

Due largely to RINAF's support, Africa was broadly represented at
the Internet Society's own International Networking Conference
(INET '92) held in June at Kobe, Japan.  The conference included
workshop sessions focusing on the special needs of participants
from developing countries.  South Africa and Egypt, Africa's
networking "giants" located at opposite extremes of the continent,
put in impressive appearances.  The South African experience was
presented in detail, and Egypt presented a proposal to host INET
'95 in Cairo.

Among INET's technical discussions the voices of networkers who
are still at the beginning of efforts to bring computer networking
to their countries were heard.  On the last day of INET,
networkers from Africa gathered together in an informal "birds of
a feather" session.  The session's participants agreed that a
subregional approach should be taken to expanding network
connectivity from within Africa, by encouraging the African
countries that are more advanced with inter-networking to
concentrate technical support on their subregional neighbors.

NAIROBI

Networkers convened again in late August at Nairobi for two
three-day workshops.  The International Workshop on Digital Radio
Technology and Applications, jointly organized by IDRC and
Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA), gave special attention
to Africa's satellite-based packet radio applications that are
being developed through the VITA and SatelLife/HealthNet projects.
Packet radio operators from Chad, Djibouti, Lesotho, Mozambique,
Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia presented their
challenges and successes in bringing digital communications beyond
the reach of telephone lines.

The Workshop on Science and Technology Communication Networks in
Africa, which followed, was cosponsored by the African Academy of
Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of
Science and brought together networkers and donor organizations
concerned with improving connectivity among Sub-Saharan Africa's
universities and research institutes.  Many participants attended
both meetings, thus demonstrating the important linkages that are
emerging between Africa's packet radio and modem-based networks.

There was much discussion about the FidoNet and UUCP dial-up
technologies that are enabling networkers with limited resources
to establish important footholds for internet connectivity and
future national networks in countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya,
Senegal, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.  Pascal Renaud from ORSTOM,
a French scientific research institute, described the success that
his organization has had in implementing UUCP connections (both
X25 and dial-up) in Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mali,
Niger, Senegal, and Togo. Throughout these six days, Africa's
electronic networking practitioners seized the opportunity to
huddle with their colleagues and donor representatives to explore
exciting new ideas for developing future project initiatives.


Special thanks to Lishan Adam, Mark Bennett, Mike Jensen,
Mike Lawrie, and Pascal Renaud for their assistance in writing
this article.

* Baobob Communications