FREE WEBINAR
Driving community networks to connect the unconnected in developing regions for inclusive growth: AN IITPSA #IFIP60 Event, 17 November 2021
Connecting the unconnected population often requires unconventional approaches if we are to address the growing digital divide between rural and urban areas and even divides within urban areas. Currently, nearly half of the global population, especially in the developing countries, are still without access to broadband connectivity or Internet.
There are a number of reasons fueling the growing digital divide, which include, but are not limited to, low population density, low income levels, poor digital skills, difficult terrain and non-existing supporting infrastructure (such as power grid and roads). These constrains make most rural and remote areas and some low-income urban areas less attractive to investment.
Despite these challenges, communities in rural and low-income urban areas still deserve to have affordable access to the internet. Lack of affordable internet access means that these community members are unable to participate in the digital economy, access quality online educational and training courses and fully benefit from the economic multiplier effects the internet brings.
There is, however, growing evidence that wireless community networks are effective in addressing the lack of digital communication especially when it comes to information sharing among community members.
The purpose of this panel discussion is to discuss the value of community networks from the socio-cultural perspective, their vital role in providing broadband connectivity to rural and low-income urban areas, as well as exploring innovative technologies such as blockchain-based community currencies and their potential to help build local economies in communities. The panelists will share their experiences and ways in which community networks are assisting to reduce the digital divide gap in rural and low-income urban areas for inclusive growth.
Dr Moshe Masonta
Principal Researcher and Research Group Leader at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Areas of research interest include radio frequency dynamic spectrum management solutions, radio access networks and broadband solutions for rural areas.
Kgopotso Ditshego Magoro
Kgopotso Ditshego Magoro is a PhD student in Interdisciplinary Digital Knowledge Economy Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her doctoral research focuses on cultural knowledge systems, practices and processes of rural communities as the foundation for culturally embedded digital transformation. She applies the philosophy of Mandhwane (learning by doing) in her action research as an alternative approach to community-based digital transformation. Her research into Digital Mandhwane has led to the establishment of Mamaila Community Network, a Wi-Fi project implemented in partnership with the Mamaila Tribal Authority and the Zuri Foundation, South Africa. She holds a Masters of Management degree in the field of ICT Policy and Regulation (MMICTPR) from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Malese Brenda Ndhlovu
Malese is a Senior Business Development Manager: Commercialisation. Her role supports the Commercialisation of public funded Intellectual Property investments in the South African, National System of Innovation (NSI). Malese was also an Acting-Head of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) investment division at Technology Innovation Agency (TIA). TIA is an entity of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) that supports the development and diffusion of South African Intellectual Property Assets and disruptive innovative ideas. She is the Winner of the Global SAP Hasso Plattner Founder Awards, Germany, 2016 for the African Transformation and ICT Job creation programme named SAP Skills for Africa. Malese is a passionate Innovation Investment and Commercialisation professional based in Gauteng, South Africa. She holds a Master’s degree in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), focusing on supporting the development and commercialisation of Innovative ICT technologies with socio economic impact within the South African National System of Innovation (NSI) ecosystem. Her career focus entails thought leadership and policy advocacy for Innovation ecosystems, Startup Enterprise Development, Technology Innovation Investment and Commercialisation, Joint-Investment and multilateral partnership frameworks for the diffusion of disruptive technologies. Outside her duties, Malese currently serves as an Industry Advisory Board Member at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), School of Consumer Intelligence and Information Systems and also mentors ICT Entrepreneurs, university students & graduates within the South African entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem.
Dr David Johnson
David has been working for the past 15 years carrying out research and deployments on technologies that have the potential to provide access to poorly connected regions or areas which lack affordable internet access. His work pertains to wireless connectivity, Internet access architectures, and novel RF spectrum access techniques. The philosophy underpinning David’s work is developing decentralized network technology, policies and regulation that enable communities and individuals to own their own network infrastructure and services. David is based in Cape Town, South Africa. David helped design and build Africa's first rural wireless mesh network in 2006 and led a number of connectivity projects in the area of small cell, mesh technology and edge-hosted services in Zambia and South Africa. He has also led policy work on broadband expansion and spectrum management for the South African government, including contributing to South Africa’s finalized TV white space regulation, and modeling future high demand spectrum for a new National Wireless Open Access Network. He is currently working on expansion of white space technology to small cell networks, exploring blockchain mesh networks to incentivize network expansion and building localized cloud technology to encourage local content creation and sharing and improved video streaming performance. David serves as an adjunct senior lecturer in the Computer Science Department at UCT in the ICT4D lab and ais senior research associate at Research ICT Africa. He was previously a principal researcher in the Networks and Media group of the CSIR Meraka Institute in South Africa and an IT Policy fellow at the Centre for Information and Technology at Princeton University. He has published 70 articles in the general area of wireless connectivity and ICT for development and a book on TV White space technology. David earned a B.Eng in Electronic Engineering from University of Cape Town. He completed his M.Eng in Computer Engineering at University of Pretoria and a M.Sc and Ph.D in Computer Science from University of California, Santa Barbara on Internet architectures for rural developing regions
IITPSA (Tony Parry)
Webinar Host
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