Africa to the information society
4 September 2007
The Minister of Science and Technology, Mosibudi Mangena, took to the hills
and valleys of rural KwaZulu-Natal today where, together with the community, he
unveiled a cluster of Digital Doorway terminals at the Ntshongweni Community
Sports Centre, in the outlying areas of the Ethekwini Municipality.
Digital Doorways are Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR)-designed, robust, multimedia terminals that house computer hardware and
software which is aimed at improving computer literacy by enabling members of
the public to access office computing applications, encyclopaedic information
as well as educational games, amongst other things.
During the event Minister Mangena announced that his department has begun a
massive roll-out of Digital Doorway terminals throughout the country. "This
national project will give communities in rural and peri-urban areas the
opportunity to become computer literate and to access information," he
said.
The Minister added that "We still have a long way to go in our computer
literacy campaign, considering that there are nearly 7,5 million illiterate
adults, in South Africa, of which nearly 3 million are unschooled.". He said
the fact that only 20 to 23% of the country's approximately 30 00 schools have
one or more computers is "obviously untenable and an impediment, necessitating
a Digital Doorway deployment." The Department of Science and Technology has
therefore provided more than R48 million for the deployment of 170 digital
doorway kiosks countrywide, before the end of the year.
Villagers and community leaders of Ntshongweni, situated some 30 kilometres
(kms) from Durban, welcomed Minister Mangena to jointly celebrate the
installation of the three-seater Digital Doorway at its community centre.
Ntshongweni has a population of approximately 8 500, comprising about 1 800
households. In a first, this Digital Doorway has also been connected to four
other Digital Doorway kiosks installed at sites in surrounding areas, as part
of a trial based on wireless mesh networking. Mesh is a wireless co-operative
communication infrastructure between a number of individual wireless
transceivers which allows networks to self-form and self-heal.
As part of this network, Digital Doorway terminals have already been
installed at Ntshongweni Municipality, Ntshongweni Primary School, Albini Girls
High, Wozamoya School and the Lalelani Primary School. Learners and educators
at these schools can now communicate with one another using the network. An
additional personal computer has also been installed at the Charles Memorial
School which is linked to the same mesh network.
The event was attended by members and councillors of the community, learners
from the schools where Digital Doorways have been installed, and officials from
the Ethekwini Municipality.
Ronel Smith, the project co-ordinator for the Meraka Institute, a national
research centre managed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR), says it is the first time that a number of Digital Doorways were
installed in such close proximity. This enabled the researchers to use recent
knowledge gained by their fellow researchers who are focusing on wireless
solutions, to establish a trial mesh network.
"At the Meraka Institute we continue to research sustainable information and
communications technologies to create a more inclusive information society. We
have now combined the learning from two projects: the Digital Doorway � which
is about computer literacy through minimally invasive education, and the
Wireless Africa project � which is about finding affordable, viable broadband
infrastructures � and we are excited about the potential and the progress."
For enquiries contact:
Celeste Tema
Deputy Director: Communication and Media Liaison
Cell: 083 399 0765
E-mail: celeste.tema@dst.gov.za
Nelvis Qekema
Ministerial Liaison Officer
Cell: 082 571 2571
E-mail: nelvis.qekema@dst.gov.za
The Meraka Institute:
Ronel Smith
Project Manager
Cell: 083 600 4424
E-mail: rsmith2@csir.co.za
Issued by: Department of Science and Technology and the Meraka
Institute
4 September 2007
