Trends

Trends

The World Wide Web at 25: how Africa connects

Today marks 25 years exactly since Tim Berners-Lee first proposed the concept of the World Wide Web. To celebrate the News Team has put together this infographic showing the major arteries of Internet communication that (alongside satellite links) give Africa access to the Web, and the effect they have on the countries they serve. The story of Africa’s undersea cables goes back fifteen years. […]

Trends

UAVs with ISPs

This week, find out about what drones could do for internet in Africa and the image makeover needed in technical colleges. Meanwhile, rivalry with neighbour Kenya seems to be all the rage in Uganda’s printed media – see how the two countries compare on higher education and on tourism, below… Uganda news in brief: M7 and PM Mbabazi relations reach all-time low (Observer) ++++ […]

Trends

Texting without thumbs

This week in Uganda: traditional gender roles are challenged, the fight against sexual crime steps up a notch and SMS services take a creative leap forward. More mixed reaction, however, is voiced to last year’s exam results, out now – read on… 26.02.2014 Uganda news in brief: Museveni signs anti-gay law, Ethiopia condemns; but is the controversy overshadowing other news? (Monitor) ++++ Multibillion investment […]

Trends

Where mobiles outnumber people…

In 2001, about 25 million people in Africa had a mobile phone subscription; by 2013, that number had ballooned to 780 million – an increase of 3,120%. There are now more mobile phones in Botswana, Gabon and Namibia than there are citizens. by Steven Blum With statistics like these, it’s not surprising that many educational strategists are dreaming of a future where mobile phones […]

Trends

Lovers unite in rift region

In this episode of The Uganda News Review, find out about the apps that tackle corruption and money transfer costs, the pupils asked to bring bags of cement to school, and the bishop who gave everything he had to the poor. Plus: the people trying to improve the lot of women in work, and just how successful is Uganda’s progress towards the Millennium Development […]

Opinions Trends

Sun, sand and sea-learning

According to the World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa’s tourism industry could create 6.7 million jobs by 2021. The report, titled “Tourism in Africa: Harnessing Tourism for Growth and Improved Livelihoods”, says that tourism already accounted for one out of every 20 jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2011. With further growth expected, a training shortfall has become an imminent threat: a shortfall to which eLearning could […]

Trends

Fresh in from Kampala…

A few months from now, delegates from all over Africa and the world will convene in Kampala, Uganda, to discuss and share the very best in African ICT, education and innovation at eLearning Africa. In the run-up to the Conference, the News Service will be taking a close look at our host country and sharing its stories with you. Welcome to the first episode […]

Trends

Filling the white spaces: broadcast broadband in Africa

According to 2012 estimates, internet penetration in Africa has reached 15.6%. Though the actual number of people on whom the internet has an impact is undoubtedly much higher, this statistic does demonstrate a significant infrastructural disparity between Africa and other continents. Currently, this connectivity gap is being filled by other media – if the astonishing growth rate in the African mobile market is anything […]

Trends

Empowering the disabled through eLearning

Gladys Rotich’s remarkable story serves as an inspiration to disabled students in Africa. Blind since the age of four following an illness, her path to university meant overcoming adversity. Now at the age of 28, Rotich is a lecturer and administrator at Mount Kenya University’s Eldoret Campus and pursuing her PhD. But things were by no means easy as a blind student, Gladys told […]

Trends

African Libraries in the Digital Age: “reaching outside their walls”

“I have always imagined Paradise as a kind of library”, mused the Argentine writer Jorge Louis Borges in 1960. Now, fifty years later, most of us are more likely to turn to the Internet than a librarian when seeking information. Archives of books, journals and articles are being digitised and uploaded on a wide scale; encyclopaedias and dictionaries are not only available free-of-charge online […]