Africa Source was a gathering of over 60 software developers from across Africa. The five day skillshare provided participants with an opportunity to discuss the challenges of open source software development in Africa, share practical tips and techniques, and make new connections.

Online network of the Africa Source participants.

During Africa Source, we presented a board on which we asked all present participants to note the URL of their organizations. From all these collected URL's, a special map was created using 'issue-crawler', a tool produced by govcom.org. This map gives a graphical view of links between all participants of Africa Source, i.e. their connections and coooperations with other NGO's - proportional to their number and intensity.

Download the map here (PDF)

Here is an overview of all URL's contained in the map

Comment from Richard Rogers (govcom.org):

There are two distinctive clusters of NGOs on the one hand and open source developers on the other. The map shows that the two communities do not as of yet recognize each other. It also shows which actors (e.g., tacticaltech.org, eriders.net and techsoup.org) are positioned to bridge the gap between NGOs and open source, however much these groups remain closer to NGOs and their funders than to the open source development community.

Here are more instructions for the use of the map and some background information regarding the issue-crawler

Blogs, notes and articles on Africa Source.

• Kwindla Kramer's summary from the first day published by the O'Reilly
• Neil Blakey-Milner's blog
• Andy Wingo's blog
• Tomas Krag's blog
• Notes from Alastair Otter
• Newsletter from Alastair Otter

Excerpts from blogs

Firstly, props to Air Namibia who surprised me with excellent service, some nice commentary from the flight deck, and an absolutely beautiful view of the approach to the airport in Windhoek. Wojtek was there to pick me up, and we ran a few errands in a wonderfully airconditioned minibus, before heading to Okahandja...

...We were awoken by Gunner serenading us with a personal creation on the guitar. After breakfast, we did a personal introduction to the rest of the group in the amphitheatre...

read full blog article

Photo's:

View a collection of photos from Africa Source
"http://participle.fpc.co.za:8080/portal/Photos/AfricaSource"

News:

http://blog.damrif.nl/index.php?/archives/8_Namibian_OSS_Workshop_Produces_Kiswahili_Dictionary.html#³³1³³³2³

Alastair Otter

March 19 2004 - Kiswahili speakers can now spellcheck documents in their own language. A group of developers taking part in the Africa Source joined forces - and resources - to develop the first-ever Kiswahili dictionary. The project, led by Jason Githeko of Kenya and Translate.org.za's Dwayne Bailey produced the new dictionary in one of the training sessions during the conference...

http://tectonic.co.za/default.php?action=view&id=281&topic=Open%20Source³³1³

and more

Africa Source on

Slashdot

Developers: Africa Source 2004 Wrap-ups

Posted by timothy on Tuesday March 30, @05:02AM

Douglas Hunter writes "Africa Source 2004 has wrapped up and the last of the stragglers have packed their bags and headed home. Africa Source 2004 was a gathering of pan-African Free and Open Source software developers held in Okahandja, Namibia. Organized by Tactical Tech, All Africa and Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA), Africa Source was a mixture of structured and semi-structured discussions with loads of good 'ole hacking thrown in to boot. With workshops ranging from i18n to wireless hacks to running a MOSIX cluster, there were plenty of hands-on sessions for folks to attend. The first ever Kiswahili spell checker was developed and released during the conference, a testament to the activity of those involved. For more information about Africa Source 2004, visit Tactical Tech.

Note from Alastair Otter:

African hackers gather in Namibia Alastair Otter

March 16 2004 - Open source developers from across the African continent (and some from further afield) descended on the small Namibian town of Okahanja this week to further their own skills as well as promote the use of free and open source software across Africa.

The five day developer workshop is being organised by Amsterdam-based NGO Tactical Technology Collective and includes more than 60 developers from more than 25 countries, including Benin, Ghana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Key items on the agenda for the wokshop include the development of OSS developers networks to facilitate the greater co-operation across the continent. Some delegates even called for the creation of an "African Silicon Valley". Other items on the agenda include the role FOSS (free and open source software) can play in improving education and aiding NGOs.

But the heart of the workshop - and the reason most of the delegates have travelled here - is the opportunity to share experiences and skills. Everything from PHP, Zope and Pyhon, to working with the Linux kernel, to building GTK applications. Training sessions offered in day one and two include translating open source applications, python, building content management systems and security fundamentals.

Key issues already emerging from the conference include the need to improve the communication of NGO and educational needs to developer commuinities. NGo delegates highlighted that they often require role-specific applications but are unaware are who to approcach to develop the needed tools. Other delegates highlighted the need for open source advocates to better explain the benefits of open source software to end user organisations.

In one workshop it was highlighted that many organisations do not have the time to "experiment" with open source software and require stable and familiar software. Often this leads them to use proprietary software because they are familiar with the tools. and still feel support and usability are issues of concern.