1. Boateng, R. Aimasso, S. and Budu, J. (2011). A Framework for Localization of Free and Open Source Software for Developing Countries, In Book of Proceedings of ICT for Africa 2011. March 23-26, Covenant University, Nigeria: International Center of ICT and Development, Baton Rouge, USA.
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2. Bando, E. (2011) The New Dimension of Search,  PC Tech Magazine’s Conversations on Technology, Business and Society, Vol. 2 Issue 2, pp. 18-19.
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3. Twinamasiko, J. and Arnold, M.  (2011) Ruby Nuby: Equipping youth with technical and entrepreneurial skills,  PC Tech Magazine’s Conversations on Technology, Business and Society, Vol. 2 Issue 2, pp. 20-21.
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1. Longe, O. and Boateng, R. (2011) Cybercrime in Sub-Saharan Africa – Its forms, Causality and Mitigation – An interview with Dr. Longe Olumide ,  PC Tech Magazine’s Conversations on Technology, Business and Society, Vol. 2 Issue 1, pp. 18-19.
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2. Ngange, K. and Boateng, R. (2011) The Journalist, The Mobile Phone and Facebook,  PC Tech Magazine’s Conversations on Technology, Business and Society, Vol. 2 Issue 1, pp. 36-39.
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3. Boateng, R. and Aimasso, S. (2011) Potential Benefits and Challenges of Foss In Developing Countries,  PC Tech Magazine’s Conversations on Technology, Business and Society, Vol. 2 Issue 1, pp. 20-21.
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Olumide Babatope LONGE is on faculty at the Department of Computer Science, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. His scholarly publication has appeared and has been quoted in reputable peer-refereed Journals, Conference proceedings, Newsletters and edited books. A recipient of the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Award, he is an Associate Director of the Institute for Cyber Security and Allied Research at the International Center for Information Technology and Development (ICITD), College of Business, Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

In my PhD work, I philosophized on outbound filtering of e-mail messages and that has become a reality today. Mails are now scanned before leaving their origin by some e-mail systems (gmail for example). My research work which has taken me to Europe, the United States, Canada and quite a number of countries in Africa has also been able to establish that Africa is not the origin of most spam mails as is generally believed. We have also been able to promote a policy that makes internet intermediaries responsible for contents emanating through their networks and highlight their intrinsic role in the facilitation of unethical behaviors on the internet. We have done some work also on the effect of exposure of children and teens to spurious sexually explicit contents and its implications for these categories of people and the incidence of HIV/AIDS in Africa. These works have been published in reputable journals and presented at international conferences. Finally, we are mentoring scholars to develop interest in coming up with indigenous solution that can scale at international level to the cyber crime problem and other related issues.

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Kingsley Ngange is a Journalist with the Cameroon Radio Televsion Corporation (CRTV) and a lecturer of Journalism in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Buea, Cameroon. He has been in the communication world for over a decade now. Currently, he is a visiting scholar at the Internatonal Center for Information Technology and Development (ICITD), Southern University in Baton Rouge, USA.

The mobilephone in today’s world of technology is the journalist’s companion.  It has come to solve the problem of time, especially in Africa. It is easier for a journalist using a mobilephone to report an event to transmit his/her information faster than a journalist who doesn’t. I found this very helpful when I covered the municipal and legislative elections in 2007 in Cameroon. I reported events live, as they occured with the mobile phone even in very remote areas. Without a phone it will take several hours to get to the radio and TV stations to broadcast such reports. The political parties and citizens that we served during those elections found my timely reports very helpful in passing across their vital information to the electorate. Electoral fraud and other short comings were reported and resolved immediate. This adds to the credibility of elections, thanks to mobile phones. The mobilephone also solves the problem of unnecessary gate-keeping in broadcasting information.

Another example of the usefulness of a mobilephone to me was during the violent socio-economic strike action which paralysed Cameroon for one week in February 2008. I was a journalist in the nation’s economic capital, Douala, where the strike was most severe. Different parts of the city were complete cut off, so it was the mobile phone which helped me and other journalists to communicate the actions as they unfolded and thanks to those prompt reports appropriate security measures were taken and updated. Lifes and property were saved thanks to the mobilephone. I can go on and on and on. The bottomline is that a mobilephone to me is like a farmer’s machette/cutlass or a pastor’s bible.

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INTRODUCTION

In the first piece, FOSS was defined as software for which the human-readable source code is made available to the users of the software, who can then modify the code in order to fit the software to their own needs. In the second piece, we examine the benefits and challenges associated with FOSS.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are powerful tools when it comes to spreading and sharing information and knowledge contributing to poverty alleviation, empowerment and income generation (Bridges 2001; Kenny 2002). Under the right conditions ICTs have proved to be able of inducing social and economic development in terms of improved education and health care, agriculture and trade, employment and of promoting local culture (Harris 2004). Concerning, ICTs like FOSS, several authors see FOSS as offering particular advantages to DCs because it has the potential to curtail some obstacles towards full use of ICTs and to contribute to bridge the digital divide (Rajani 2003; Uimonem 2004; Van Reijswound and Topi 2004; Wong and Sayo 2004; Gauguier and Douine 2005; Krakowski 2006). The openness of the FOSS model promotes the concepts of access (more transparency of process and product), community (leveraging local and global resources), collaboration (sharing ideas with peers) and choice (more competition) (Dravis 2003). Nonetheless, it is clear that ICTs cannot solve every problem, and there are significant downsides and limits to ICTs from a DC standpoint (Kenny 2002; Harris 2004). Introducing FOSS in Dcs is not about adopting software free of charge, but rather about acquiring software that can be modified and developed to meet local needs and participate in the innovation process (Weber 2003; Uimonen 2004; Cook and Horobin 2006).

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1. Ishola (2010) Interview with Miss Uwaje, Director of Future Software Resources Nigeria Ltd., PC Tech Magazine’s Conversations on Technology, Business and Society, Issue 9-10, pp. 40-41.
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2. Mucunguzi, A. and Boateng, R. (2010) Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) –  An Introduction,   PC Tech Magazine’s Conversations on Technology, Business and Society, Issue 9-10, pp. 32-33.
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3. Ng’oma, V. (2010) ICTs are vital infrastructure for anchoring national development, PC Tech Magazine’s Conversations on Technology, Business and Society, Issue 9-10, pp. 38-39.
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Miss Nkemdilim Uwaje is a Director of Future Software Resources Nigeria Ltd.. She attained a BSc. Hons in Bioinformatics at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU), as well as the Technical University of Munich (TUM) Germany. She has worked on various research projects at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatric Research in the department for Statistical Genetics and Proteomics, as well as for the Pharmaceutical Company Affectis Pharmaceuticals AG, Germany. These research projects encompass the development of software solutions for complex biological as well as chemical calculations and simulations, database design and administration as well as statistical analysis.

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Interview with Dr Towela Nyirenda-Jere, Head of Programmes, NEPAD

NEPAD (The New Partnership for Africa’s Development) started with a bold vision to promote a prosperous Africa. Several years on, NEPAD’s footprint is still unclear. Dr Towela Nyirenda-Jere, NEPAD’s Head of Programmes explains that her organization is birthing ambitious new programmes including innovative ICT initiatives to accelerate development and enable Africa’s renewal.  

On a continent battling poverty, what are the arguments for prioritizing ICTs?

The question is, how can we afford not to? We need to think of what the benefits of ICTs are, especially how they can enable socio-economic development. If we don’t seriously invest in ICTs we will still be ‘talking’ about bridging the digital divide 20 years from now.

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Defining FOSS

FOSS is software for which the human-readable source code is made available to the users of the software, who can then modify the code in order to fit the software to their own needs [1-2]. The main characteristic of FOSS is that the users are free to use, modify and redistribute the software respecting the terms of the license associated with it. FOSS is, as an abbreviation, free and open source software. Though used together, philosophical differences exist between “free” software and “open source software” (OSS). Free software vision represents a critique of software ownership based on its public utility [3]. It focuses on the liberty to access the source code of the software and the associated freedom to run, study, copy, modify and redistribute the software. Free software is generally distributed under the General Public Licence (GPL) which aims to guarantee users’ freedom and prevent free software source code from being turned into or mixed with proprietary software [4].

Open source movement has a more pragmatic approach: it discards the free software ideology and fosters the widespread commercial adoption of open source software promoting the commercial and technical advantages of its developmental model. OSS licences allow developers to sell the software and realise derivative OSS that incorporates proprietary code.

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