Archive for juin, 2006

Using projectors powered by car batteries, Geekcorps hosted a community movie night at Faraba. We began with Kirikou, an animated film based on an African folk tale suitable for both younger and older audiences and followed it martial arts film – very popular here. At the beginning of the film we had roughly 200 attendees; by the end clearly well over 500. The goal for these films was twofold: to build awareness of Cybertigi and its services, and to thank the community for their assistance up to this point. No film had been shown in Faraba in more than 10 years. Read the rest of this entry »

Since we’re getting a little along in the project it seems like just the right time to get back to basics and do a review of the Cybertigi model and how we plan on implementing it.

Cybertigi is a project aimed at extending the ICT services available in relatively urban centers outward to village sized (and smaller) communities. The guiding principals are straightforward:

• ICTs need not be limited to larger population centers. It is possible to meet the demand for ICTs in more rural settings in practical and applicable manners.
• Providing new tool sets to people (in this case in the form of ICTs) can yield multiplier benefits.
• Infrastructure hurdles can be overcome with adapted technologies.
• ICTs can be used to create economic opportunities previously unrealizable.
• There are social benefits to having access to ICTs and comparable tools.

Our goal is to design and build a system which addresses the basic communication demands of rural communities, and construct it in such a way that it can be an autonomous, entrepreneur-based, and commercially viable system shortly after its implementation. We are attempting to build a symbiotic model where each actor in the system benefits from the overall well being of the “circuit” it is a part of.

Each circuit is comprised of several actors:

1. The CLIC: a cybercafé in a more urban environment where emails will be channeled through, paper and photo prints will be processed, and news feeds will be gathered.
2. The village Kiosk & its manager (branded as “Cybertigi” in the villages): a local kiosk where the community is able to access the services such as scanning, emailing, news feeds, etc.
3. The Mototigi: an intermediary who will physically transport data and documents between the CLIC and the Cybertigi/Kiosk.
4. Local photographer: an agent of the Cybertigi/Kiosk who will help develop clientele while receiving a portion of the business he/she generates through taking photographs.

When a person comes to the village Kiosk and demands a service – say a scan/print – they carry out the process at the kiosk [make their scan] and deal directly with the Kiosk manager. The scan is then stored on the village Kiosk until later in the week when the Mototigi passes by and collects the data. The Mototigi then proceeds to the CLIC where he/she processes the data. Emails are sent, scans are printed, photos are developed.

But the information travels in both directions. After the messages composed at the Kiosk are sent any new incoming messages are gathered and stored for delivery back to the Kiosk. The latest news feeds are also gathered and stored. Prints and photos are collected to be remitted at the Kiosk.

Within each week there is at least 1 voyage between the Kiosk and the CLIC. Each time the Mototigi gathers data from the Kiosk he/she is also delivering the data from the previous visit at the CLIC. Each Kiosk has data gathered/delivered at least once per week, meaning the lag between when you scan something or send an email is no more than 6 days. Where possible this can be reduced to 3 days, or 2 circuits per week.

The information is collected and transferred at the Kiosk and CLIC via a Nokia 770 internet tablet specially configured for the system. There is a VIA in the Kiosk and another located at the CLIC to handle the data when it arrives there. The Nokia 770 is the transfer mechanism between the two points. In the future, as the project matures, we envision the Nokia 770 acting as a portable Kiosk to service even smaller hamlets of only a few hundred people on the waypoints between the Kiosk and the CLIC. Coupled with a portable scanner, keyboard, and headset it has the potential of offering the same degree of service in many of the most rural areas of the countryside.

There are 2 circuits in the Cybertigi model, each comprised of 1 CLIC and 2 villages hosting Kiosks. The circuits are as follows:

The Kiosks are permanent installations in the villages, are managed by a local entrepreneur, and are operational each day of the week. It is in the best interest of the local Kiosk manager to be available as much as possible throughout the week since their pay is directly commensurate with the amount of services sold.

For instance, when a scan/print is demanded by the client the cost is 100 CFA, equivalent to the local market rate for this type of service. The cost of materials is roughly 30 CFA. The CLIC receives 30 CFA for their service fee and use of their printer. The Mototigi who will bring the data to the CLIC and the hardcopy back to the village receives 10 CFA as his fee. Finally, the Kiosk manager, dubbed the Cybertigi, earns 30 CFA for their time. [*scan/print is the only service which does not include a portion for amortization of equipment. All other services portion out an amount towards amortization & savings] For a photo taken by the Cybertigi the manager receives 225 CFA per print (45% of purchase price); Emails 50 CFA of 100 CFA.

The Kiosk hardware is comprised of a VIA PHD computer, an LCD monitor, a scanner, a digital camera, a headset and microphone, lighting for the evenings, a solar Each Kiosk is powered by one 60W solar panel connected to a 100 mAh dry cell solar battery with a charge controller. 5W low power/high yield lights provide extra illumination at nights without drawing too much of the system’s power. The VIA and the LCD each consume approximately 30W when in use. The Nokia 770, although part of the system, is not included with the hardware of the Kiosk. The printers (laser & photo) are located at the CLIC.

At the moment the data has to be collected via the Nokia 770, but there are efforts underway to arrange the transfer directly through a standard flash memory-based USB drive. This option creates the potential for wider proliferation of Cybertigi services.

The principal Kiosk services are email, news feeds, voice mail, scan/copy, and photos. In the near future we envision the Kiosks also offering offline Wikipedia access, access to market rates for agricultural products, small commerce auctioning services across the various communities Cybertigi is involved in, and many other services. We hope to create an atmosphere where new ideas, solutions, and services are fostered both by the actors within the system and their client base.

As previously mentioned, at least once a week the Mototigi will visit each village Kiosk on the circuit (at the moment 2 Kiosks per circuit) and finish the trip at the CLIC where information is transferred and hardcopies are printed. On a regular schedule the following week the Mototigi will continue back on the circuit to deliver the materials/collect the new data and continue back to the CLIC. In the future the Mototigi will be stopping in the smaller hamlets during these trips to offer Cybertigi solutions in those areas as well.

Cybertigi is designed as a sustainable commercial enterprise. The ideal is for each actor in the system to receive enough financial benefit to make Cybertigi their full time profession – similar to a shop owner. Each person takes a share of the revenues generated by the project, and it is in the best interests of all to collaborate for greater overall gains. No one person can subvert the benefits of another without causing negative personal repercussions. We are working hard to make the model as autonomous as possible. It is meant to be wholly managed by the actors involved.

One month is a long time, especially when each day is filled with action-packed Cybertigi activity. So what have we been up to? Well, to start, Cybertigi has officially opened its first site in Faraba.

The solar panels were installed on May 18^th with Ludovic performing some light acrobatics during the installation. The VIA computer and battery used for the kiosk was installed in a spare room in the Mayor’s office, while the solar panel was mounted on the rooftop. The kiosk was operational but there was still some work do finish before the Faraba kiosk could be considered fully prepared for business.

It was also during this visit we had the opportunity to interview our first candidate for the kiosk manager position, Mr. Morinuman Doumbia. We had previously expressed our interest in finding someone from the area who would manage the kiosk as if it was their own personal enterprise, sharing a portion of the receipts generated as their wage. Mr. Doumbia was the first candidate to express an interest in the position.

It was also during this visit that Frederic was able to test his newly reconstructed radio emitter using Faraba’s 50m tower. Terrific success! Frederic’s transmission was able to be captured very clearly from Ouelessebougou, a roughly 32km line-of-sight distance away from where he was transmitting from. Aside from having Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” play 17 consecutive times to the torment of all, the radio test was a raving success. Congratulations Frederic!

Shortly thereafter, on the 5^th of June Matt and I returned to Faraba to begin our first test of the system and also to prepare our activities for the coming week, including a community film night, making the final selection of an entrepreneur, the last kiosk adjustments, and preparations for the commercial opening of the kiosk.

It was also around this time when more intensive work began with the Ouelessebougou CLIC to resolve connectivity issues. The CLIC at that time did not have an internet connection established and could not meet its monthly subscription charges. Since Cybertigi demands a stable internet connection to be a viable operation Geekcorps will begin working more closely with the Ouelessebougou CLIC to attempt to improve the connectivity and revenue problems.

I spent Monday and Tuesday in Faraba with Mohamed to begin finalizing the kiosk, make arrangements for Friday’s community film, and other necessary details, and on Wednesday met up with Matt in Ouelessebougou to begin working on the CLIC side project – affectionately known around the GCM office as the SNAP. [briefly: we hope to launch a CLIC extension in the heart of downtown Ouelessebougou and have a mini cybercafé set up on a bench & worktable and run by a boutique owner] On Tuesday I also began the necessary protocols and site inspections for the second site, Niagadina, on the Ouelessebougou Cybertigi circuit.

On June 9^th the Cybertigi team minus Fred and Maimouna visited Faraba one more time to tie up the remaining details for the kiosk to be operational. We interviewed candidates and made our final decision for the entrepreneur, in the end finding Ms. Déneba Samaké clearly the candidate for the position. We installed 2 low power consumption / high yield lights which draw only 5W each at the kiosk at the Mayor’s office. We placed one inside for the kiosk to be able to be used at night (a necessity since most people work in the fields during the daylight hours) and one outside so the community would have at least one well light area for students or others to use after sunset.

The highlight of the trip was the community movie night. Using the InFocus projector we’ve previously mentioned we hosted a community movie night in the town’s open access courtyard. We began with Kirikou, an animated film based on an African folk tale suitable for both younger and older audiences. At the beginning of the film we had roughly 200 attendees; by the end clearly well over 500. We followed Kirikou with an action/martial arts film – very popular here. The goal for these films was twofold: to build awareness of Cybertigi and its services, and to thank the community for their assistance up to this point. No film had been shown in Faraba in more than 10 years.

Today Mohamed left Bamako to head back to Faraba for the next week and a half to begin training Jéneba Samaké on the system and Cybertigi as a whole. During this time they will also begin building awareness within the community about Cybertigi and its services. Within the next few days I will be heading down to Faraba to lend assistance and begin preparing Niagadina with Matt.

So, that’s the quick summation of the past few weeks. Believe me, there are plenty more details not mentioned, but that’s the outline. We’re running at a good pace right now and there is no indication that things will slow down at all in the near future. Niagadina is about to be opened, and if all goes very well we hope to have the Kangaba CLIC circuit up and running within another month as well, Inch Allah. Next week we begin preparing the Bancoumana and Naréna sites so we can launch at the earliest possible moment. We’re ready, the project elements are looking good (with a nice dose of “challenging” thrown in), and the ball is already moving – quickly. Looks like the next month and a half is going to be a great one!