Hi folks, I thought i should share this for anyone who designs websites especially for corporate organisations.
1. Clever site names
(clever is confusing)
2. Cluttered, busy layouts
(Less options, higher conversions)
3. Navigation Problems
(See the header removal test)
4. Boring web design
(Yes, this one is aesthetic)
5. Pop-up ads
(Don’t mistake subscription boxes for ads)
6. Slow load times
(People are impatient online)
7. Small fonts
(Size 14 is the new size 12, after all)
8. Too much text
(Take this with a grain of salt. Big blocks of text is probably what they meant)
9. Corporate Look and Feel
(Another aesthetic comment. Corporations have it tough, eh?)
10. Poor search functions.
(Again, if people can’t find your content, your site failed)
Now I’m passing it to you.
Do you have any “red flags” on your site?
by by Derek Halpern
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Content is King by Bill Gates
Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting.
The television revolution that began half a century ago spawned a number of industries, including the manufacturing of TV sets, but the long-term winners were those who used the medium to deliver information and entertainment.
When it comes to an interactive network such as the Internet, the definition of "content" becomes very wide. For example, computer software is a form of content-an extremely important one, and the one that for Microsoft will remain by far the most important.
But the broad opportunities for most companies involve supplying information or entertainment. No company is too small to participate.
One of the exciting things about the Internet is that anyone with a PC and a modem can publish whatever content they can create. In a sense, the Internet is the multimedia equivalent of the photocopier. It allows material to be duplicated at low cost, no matter the size of the audience.
The Internet also allows information to be distributed worldwide at basically zero marginal cost to the publisher. Opportunities are remarkable, and many companies are laying plans to create content for the Internet.
For example, the television network NBC and Microsoft recently agreed to enter the interactive news business together. Our companies will jointly own a cable news network, MSNBC, and an interactive news service on the Internet. NBC will maintain editorial control over the joint venture.
I expect societies will see intense competition-and ample failure as well as success-in all categories of popular content-not just software and news, but also games, entertainment, sports programming, directories, classified advertising, and on-line communities devoted to major interests.
Printed magazines have readerships that share common interests. It’s easy to imagine these communities being served by electronic online editions.
But to be successful online, a magazine can’t just take what it has in print and move it to the electronic realm. There isn’t enough depth or interactivity in print content to overcome the drawbacks of the online medium.
If people are to be expected to put up with turning on a computer to read a screen, they must be rewarded with deep and extremely up-to-date information that they can explore at will. They need to have audio, and possibly video. They need an opportunity for personal involvement that goes far beyond that offered through the letters-to-the-editor pages of print magazines.
A question on many minds is how often the same company that serves an interest group in print will succeed in serving it online. Even the very future of certain printed magazines is called into question by the Internet.
For example, the Internet is already revolutionizing the exchange of specialized scientific information. Printed scientific journals tend to have small circulations, making them high-priced. University libraries are a big part of the market. It’s been an awkward, slow, expensive way to distribute information to a specialized audience, but there hasn’t been an alternative.
Now some researchers are beginning to use the Internet to publish scientific findings. The practice challenges the future of some venerable printed journals.
Over time, the breadth of information on the Internet will be enormous, which will make it compelling. Although the gold rush atmosphere today is primarily confined to the United States, I expect it to sweep the world as communications costs come down and a critical mass of localized content becomes available in different countries.
For the Internet to thrive, content providers must be paid for their work. The long-term prospects are good, but I expect a lot of disappointment in the short-term as content companies struggle to make money through advertising or subscriptions. It isn’t working yet, and it may not for some time.
So far, at least, most of the money and effort put into interactive publishing is little more than a labor of love, or an effort to help promote products sold in the non-electronic world. Often these efforts are based on the belief that over time someone will figure out how to get revenue.
In the long run, advertising is promising. An advantage of interactive advertising is that an initial message needs only to attract attention rather than convey much information. A user can click on the ad to get additional information-and an advertiser can measure whether people are doing so.
But today the amount of subscription revenue or advertising revenue realized on the Internet is near zero-maybe $20 million or $30 million in total. Advertisers are always a little reluctant about a new medium, and the Internet is certainly new and different.
Some reluctance on the part of advertisers may be justified, because many Internet users are less-than-thrilled about seeing advertising. One reason is that many advertisers use big images that take a long time to download across a telephone dial-up connection. A magazine ad takes up space too, but a reader can flip a printed page rapidly.
As connections to the Internet get faster, the annoyance of waiting for an advertisement to load will diminish and then disappear. But that’s a few years off.
Some content companies are experimenting with subscriptions, often with the lure of some free content. It’s tricky, though, because as soon as an electronic community charges a subscription, the number of people who visit the site drops dramatically, reducing the value proposition to advertisers.
A major reason paying for content doesn’t work very well yet is that it’s not practical to charge small amounts. The cost and hassle of electronic transactions makes it impractical to charge less than a fairly high subscription rate.
But within a year the mechanisms will be in place that allow content providers to charge just a cent or a few cents for information. If you decide to visit a page that costs a nickel, you won’t be writing a check or getting a bill in the mail for a nickel. You’ll just click on what you want, knowing you’ll be charged a nickel on an aggregated basis.
This technology will liberate publishers to charge small amounts of money, in the hope of attracting wide audiences.
Those who succeed will propel the Internet forward as a marketplace of ideas, experiences, and products-a marketplace of content.
by Bill Gates (1/3/1996)
The television revolution that began half a century ago spawned a number of industries, including the manufacturing of TV sets, but the long-term winners were those who used the medium to deliver information and entertainment.
When it comes to an interactive network such as the Internet, the definition of "content" becomes very wide. For example, computer software is a form of content-an extremely important one, and the one that for Microsoft will remain by far the most important.
But the broad opportunities for most companies involve supplying information or entertainment. No company is too small to participate.
One of the exciting things about the Internet is that anyone with a PC and a modem can publish whatever content they can create. In a sense, the Internet is the multimedia equivalent of the photocopier. It allows material to be duplicated at low cost, no matter the size of the audience.
The Internet also allows information to be distributed worldwide at basically zero marginal cost to the publisher. Opportunities are remarkable, and many companies are laying plans to create content for the Internet.
For example, the television network NBC and Microsoft recently agreed to enter the interactive news business together. Our companies will jointly own a cable news network, MSNBC, and an interactive news service on the Internet. NBC will maintain editorial control over the joint venture.
I expect societies will see intense competition-and ample failure as well as success-in all categories of popular content-not just software and news, but also games, entertainment, sports programming, directories, classified advertising, and on-line communities devoted to major interests.
Printed magazines have readerships that share common interests. It’s easy to imagine these communities being served by electronic online editions.
But to be successful online, a magazine can’t just take what it has in print and move it to the electronic realm. There isn’t enough depth or interactivity in print content to overcome the drawbacks of the online medium.
If people are to be expected to put up with turning on a computer to read a screen, they must be rewarded with deep and extremely up-to-date information that they can explore at will. They need to have audio, and possibly video. They need an opportunity for personal involvement that goes far beyond that offered through the letters-to-the-editor pages of print magazines.
A question on many minds is how often the same company that serves an interest group in print will succeed in serving it online. Even the very future of certain printed magazines is called into question by the Internet.
For example, the Internet is already revolutionizing the exchange of specialized scientific information. Printed scientific journals tend to have small circulations, making them high-priced. University libraries are a big part of the market. It’s been an awkward, slow, expensive way to distribute information to a specialized audience, but there hasn’t been an alternative.
Now some researchers are beginning to use the Internet to publish scientific findings. The practice challenges the future of some venerable printed journals.
Over time, the breadth of information on the Internet will be enormous, which will make it compelling. Although the gold rush atmosphere today is primarily confined to the United States, I expect it to sweep the world as communications costs come down and a critical mass of localized content becomes available in different countries.
For the Internet to thrive, content providers must be paid for their work. The long-term prospects are good, but I expect a lot of disappointment in the short-term as content companies struggle to make money through advertising or subscriptions. It isn’t working yet, and it may not for some time.
So far, at least, most of the money and effort put into interactive publishing is little more than a labor of love, or an effort to help promote products sold in the non-electronic world. Often these efforts are based on the belief that over time someone will figure out how to get revenue.
In the long run, advertising is promising. An advantage of interactive advertising is that an initial message needs only to attract attention rather than convey much information. A user can click on the ad to get additional information-and an advertiser can measure whether people are doing so.
But today the amount of subscription revenue or advertising revenue realized on the Internet is near zero-maybe $20 million or $30 million in total. Advertisers are always a little reluctant about a new medium, and the Internet is certainly new and different.
Some reluctance on the part of advertisers may be justified, because many Internet users are less-than-thrilled about seeing advertising. One reason is that many advertisers use big images that take a long time to download across a telephone dial-up connection. A magazine ad takes up space too, but a reader can flip a printed page rapidly.
As connections to the Internet get faster, the annoyance of waiting for an advertisement to load will diminish and then disappear. But that’s a few years off.
Some content companies are experimenting with subscriptions, often with the lure of some free content. It’s tricky, though, because as soon as an electronic community charges a subscription, the number of people who visit the site drops dramatically, reducing the value proposition to advertisers.
A major reason paying for content doesn’t work very well yet is that it’s not practical to charge small amounts. The cost and hassle of electronic transactions makes it impractical to charge less than a fairly high subscription rate.
But within a year the mechanisms will be in place that allow content providers to charge just a cent or a few cents for information. If you decide to visit a page that costs a nickel, you won’t be writing a check or getting a bill in the mail for a nickel. You’ll just click on what you want, knowing you’ll be charged a nickel on an aggregated basis.
This technology will liberate publishers to charge small amounts of money, in the hope of attracting wide audiences.
Those who succeed will propel the Internet forward as a marketplace of ideas, experiences, and products-a marketplace of content.
by Bill Gates (1/3/1996)
Saturday, July 21, 2012
SADA' Development Agenda for Northern Ghana - What are the options?
Ok... during my visit to the Tamale , i was looking at ways that we could use technology and leadership to develop the North and one note from my mentor Dr. Mohammed-Sani Abdulai , just popped up into my head.With his permission , i am sharing so please take your time to read and lets start a discussion. Here goes .....
Good to hear that the SADA bill has been passed by parliament and awaiting the Presidential assent. To jump start discussions on NG's development agenda I have been working on certain hypotheses using the P.E.S.T framework in my analysis of the developmental challenges facing the North and the actions that we need to take:
P ---> Political: here gaps in leadershiop and entrepreneurship have to be bridged, as the lack of these partly explains why the north lags behind the south.
E ---> Economical: The gap in the economic development of the north is the major cause of unemployment amongst the youth and hence the root of all the conflicts up country.
S----> Social: The social fabric of the north needs overhauling as it has been weakened over the years due to the influence of western media,a breakdown in the hierarchical traditional systems and abandoning of our culture and value system.
T----> Technological: The role of Technology, particularly Information and Communication Technology (ICT) manifests in every aspect of our lives today, hence the digital divide between the north, the rest of country and the world at large needs to be addressed
Some of the questions that we also need to seek answers to are :
1. What should constitute the tenets of Northern Ghana's Development?
2. What should be the contribution of the indigenous people of Northern Ghana - ordinary citizens, as well as traditional rulers?
3. Can we achieve our development objectives in the midst of conflicts?
4. Is it really true that idle minds are fertile grounds for evil thoughts? And that it is the unemployment - and for that matter the economic status of the north - that creates an environment conducive for conflicts?
5. Is the problem of the north a "chicken and egg" problem? Which one should we tackle first - Peaceful Coexistence or Economic Development?
6. Should the economy of the north be diversified or should it remain predominantly agriculture?
If it should be diversified what are the options?
- Commerce?
- Industry?
- Services?
** Tourism?
** - ICT Enabled Services - such as: --- Digital Content Creation - Museums, Documenting our
History, particularly those orally narrated, restoration of historical sites and electronically
archiving the contents and placing them in the museums, Ubiquitous Tourism, E-Agriculture,
TradeNets - so that the tomatoes produced in the north could be sold directly to customers
like hotels
7. What do you think should be the role of Education, Training and Development?
What kind of training do we envisage? -- Do we need an Institute of Technology to build a critical
mass of the manpower required for this age of technology? --- How about Leadership and
Entrepreneurship Development? Don't we need a Leadership Development Institute to train our
future leaders - political leaders as well as entrepreneurs. Any special programme for our girls and
women?
8. Do we need a non-partisan Development Think-Tank to periodically review our development
roadmap?
10. What kind of professionals should comprise the membership of this think- tank?
On question number 5 I think we can draw lots of lessons from the speech President Obama delivered in Cairo, Egypt. This is a link to the full text of President Obamah's Speech in Cairo, Egypt. I think the contents on the need for peace to prevail on this earth are equally applicable to the warring factions in Dagbon and Bawku, and other parts of Northern Ghana:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/04/obama-egypt-speech-video_n_211216.html
a. " Too many tears have flowed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in prayer."
Paraphrased: Too many tears have flowed because of the Northern Conflicts, and too much blood has been shed. As natives of the three northern regions, all of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Mamprusis and Kusasis and the mothers of the Abudus and the Andanis can see their offsprings grow up together in peace, without fear;
b. "It will be hard to overcome decades of mistrust, but we will proceed with courage, rectitude and resolve. There will be many issues to discuss between our two countries, and we are willing to move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect. But it is clear to all concerned that when it comes to nuclear weapons, we have reached a decisive point. This is not simply about America's interests. It is about preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East that could lead this region and the world down a hugely dangerous path."
Paraphrased: Undoubtedly, it will be hard to overcome decades of mistrust, but in order to attain the peace we so much desire for the north to develop, we need to proceed with courage, rectitude and resolve. Certainly,there will be many issues to discuss between the warring factions of the northern conflicts, but they should be willing to proceed in dialogue without any preconditions.
c. "For every son and daughter of the north, it should be made clear that: "It is easier to start wars than to end them. It is easier to blame others than to look inward; to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share. But we should choose the right path, not just the easy path. We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning", keeping in mind what binds us together ("Ntafuo", "Pepeni"), and what our common enemies are: High Illiteracy Rate, Development Gap, Poverty, Unemployment.
Lets direct our energies and limited resources towards overcoming these challenges, instead of fighting amongst ourselves.
d. I gather under the auspices of Chief Dakpema's visionary programmes and initiative there is a sudden injection of youth dynamism in Tamale where monthly traditional dance competition is organised in the forecourt of his palace. Initiatives such as that of the Dakpema need to be encouraged and commended and other traditional rulers in Northern Ghana should bury their differences in the name of peace and development.We need to keep on talking at round-table discussions to solicit diverse views in order to come up with optimal solutions, for the benefit of ALL.
by Dr. Mohammed-Sani Abdulai
Good to hear that the SADA bill has been passed by parliament and awaiting the Presidential assent. To jump start discussions on NG's development agenda I have been working on certain hypotheses using the P.E.S.T framework in my analysis of the developmental challenges facing the North and the actions that we need to take:
P ---> Political: here gaps in leadershiop and entrepreneurship have to be bridged, as the lack of these partly explains why the north lags behind the south.
E ---> Economical: The gap in the economic development of the north is the major cause of unemployment amongst the youth and hence the root of all the conflicts up country.
S----> Social: The social fabric of the north needs overhauling as it has been weakened over the years due to the influence of western media,a breakdown in the hierarchical traditional systems and abandoning of our culture and value system.
T----> Technological: The role of Technology, particularly Information and Communication Technology (ICT) manifests in every aspect of our lives today, hence the digital divide between the north, the rest of country and the world at large needs to be addressed
Some of the questions that we also need to seek answers to are :
1. What should constitute the tenets of Northern Ghana's Development?
2. What should be the contribution of the indigenous people of Northern Ghana - ordinary citizens, as well as traditional rulers?
3. Can we achieve our development objectives in the midst of conflicts?
4. Is it really true that idle minds are fertile grounds for evil thoughts? And that it is the unemployment - and for that matter the economic status of the north - that creates an environment conducive for conflicts?
5. Is the problem of the north a "chicken and egg" problem? Which one should we tackle first - Peaceful Coexistence or Economic Development?
6. Should the economy of the north be diversified or should it remain predominantly agriculture?
If it should be diversified what are the options?
- Commerce?
- Industry?
- Services?
** Tourism?
** - ICT Enabled Services - such as: --- Digital Content Creation - Museums, Documenting our
History, particularly those orally narrated, restoration of historical sites and electronically
archiving the contents and placing them in the museums, Ubiquitous Tourism, E-Agriculture,
TradeNets - so that the tomatoes produced in the north could be sold directly to customers
like hotels
7. What do you think should be the role of Education, Training and Development?
What kind of training do we envisage? -- Do we need an Institute of Technology to build a critical
mass of the manpower required for this age of technology? --- How about Leadership and
Entrepreneurship Development? Don't we need a Leadership Development Institute to train our
future leaders - political leaders as well as entrepreneurs. Any special programme for our girls and
women?
8. Do we need a non-partisan Development Think-Tank to periodically review our development
roadmap?
10. What kind of professionals should comprise the membership of this think- tank?
On question number 5 I think we can draw lots of lessons from the speech President Obama delivered in Cairo, Egypt. This is a link to the full text of President Obamah's Speech in Cairo, Egypt. I think the contents on the need for peace to prevail on this earth are equally applicable to the warring factions in Dagbon and Bawku, and other parts of Northern Ghana:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/04/obama-egypt-speech-video_n_211216.html
a. " Too many tears have flowed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in prayer."
Paraphrased: Too many tears have flowed because of the Northern Conflicts, and too much blood has been shed. As natives of the three northern regions, all of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Mamprusis and Kusasis and the mothers of the Abudus and the Andanis can see their offsprings grow up together in peace, without fear;
b. "It will be hard to overcome decades of mistrust, but we will proceed with courage, rectitude and resolve. There will be many issues to discuss between our two countries, and we are willing to move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect. But it is clear to all concerned that when it comes to nuclear weapons, we have reached a decisive point. This is not simply about America's interests. It is about preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East that could lead this region and the world down a hugely dangerous path."
Paraphrased: Undoubtedly, it will be hard to overcome decades of mistrust, but in order to attain the peace we so much desire for the north to develop, we need to proceed with courage, rectitude and resolve. Certainly,there will be many issues to discuss between the warring factions of the northern conflicts, but they should be willing to proceed in dialogue without any preconditions.
c. "For every son and daughter of the north, it should be made clear that: "It is easier to start wars than to end them. It is easier to blame others than to look inward; to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share. But we should choose the right path, not just the easy path. We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning", keeping in mind what binds us together ("Ntafuo", "Pepeni"), and what our common enemies are: High Illiteracy Rate, Development Gap, Poverty, Unemployment.
Lets direct our energies and limited resources towards overcoming these challenges, instead of fighting amongst ourselves.
d. I gather under the auspices of Chief Dakpema's visionary programmes and initiative there is a sudden injection of youth dynamism in Tamale where monthly traditional dance competition is organised in the forecourt of his palace. Initiatives such as that of the Dakpema need to be encouraged and commended and other traditional rulers in Northern Ghana should bury their differences in the name of peace and development.We need to keep on talking at round-table discussions to solicit diverse views in order to come up with optimal solutions, for the benefit of ALL.
by Dr. Mohammed-Sani Abdulai
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Official Google Africa Blog: Send and receive Gmail on your phone as SMS
Official Google Africa Blog: Send and receive Gmail on your phone as SMS: En Français Email has become a part of everyday life. There’s so much you do with it: apply for a job, make an inquiry, get notifications ...
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Barcamp Tamale 2012 seeks to accelerate development with key stakeholders on July 14
BarCamp Tamale 2012 is a free networking event bringing people together for a day of discussion, demonstrations and dialogue about Tamale, Northern Ghana and beyond. This follows last year's November 26 event at the Tamale Polytechnic in Tamale, Ghana. This year's edition will be held on July 14 at the Tamale Poytechnic. The theme is “Accelerating Development: Key Stakeholders & Priorities for Sustainable Change”. It will build upon local knowledge, expertise and resources in a supportive community for entrepreneurs, change makers, innovators and other leaders in Tamale and the Northern Region.
The GhanaThink Foundation has successfully organized 14 BarCamps in Ghana, resulting in a network of Ghanaian doers, entrepreneurs and change makers. Barcamp Tamale 2012 will be organized in conjunction with AfriLead International. This Barcamp will focus on creating more awareness about the uses of technology; build knowledge on how to foster innovation in and around Tamale; and increase visibility through tourism, (re)branding and online content creation.
BarCamp Tamale 2012 will feature multiple sessions on Northern Ghana’s development agenda and the recently launched Savannah Accelerated Development Authority, businesses, social entrepreneurship, technology tools and products, as well as breakout sessions on topics relevant to the Northern region and beyond. Like all Barcamps, there will be user-generated sessions and discussions where attendees get to set the agenda and topics for the day.
Local experts will share knowledge on different technologies, and successful entrepreneurs and innovators will share their stories to serve as role models for participants. This year’s speakers include Dr. Mohammed-Sani Abdulai - Director of Research, Innovation and Development at the Kofi Annan Center for ICT; Mr. Saaka Abdulai - an educationist and rural entrepreneur based in Tamale; and Abdul-Nasser Alidu - Head of Product Innovation, Tigo.
Register/RSVP today at the BarCamp Tamale eventbrite website. You can also register by sending "Barcamp Tamale, Your Name, Your Email address" to 1945 on all networks.
BarCamp Tamale 2012 is sponsored by the GhanaThink Foundation, Ghana Decides, Google Ghana, Blogging Ghana, Tamale Polytechnic, AfriLead International, Fienipa Group, Nandimobile, Fly540Africa, among others. Media partners are Radio Justice, Bishara Radio and SpyGhana.
http://barcampghana.org/
“You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living. Then you read a book… or you take a trip… and you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating. The symptoms of hibernating are easily detectable: first, restlessness. The second symptom (when hibernating becomes dangerous and might degenerate into death): absence of pleasure. That is all. It appears like an innocuous illness. Monotony, boredom, death. Millions live like this (or die like this) without knowing it. They work in offices. They drive a car. They picnic with their families. They raise children. And then some shock treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song, and it awakens them and saves them from death. Some never awaken.” - Anais Nin
Call for Entries – UN World Summit Youth Awards
The UN World Summit awards is a great opportunity for local
entrepreneurs in technology and I would appreciate it if you could
spread the word to companies or people in your network or let me know
who you think I should also contact. There are only 10 days left before
the competition closes.
The Youth Summit Awards are about recognizing young people using technology to do great things.
This year’s Winners’ Event will be held in Montreal, Canada, hosted by the 18th World Congress on Information Technology on 23nd October 2012. Winners will be flown in at no cost and get the chance to connect with the leaders of the IT industry and key experts in the field of ICT for development, and ofcourse benefit from the brand value of being United Nations award recipients.
Special highlight this year: Legendary Larry King will host a panel with high level industry players and the World Summit Youth Award winners!
Projects can be submitted in one of six categories, each focusing on putting millennium development goals into action and addressing socio-economic problems:
- Fight Poverty, Hunger and Disease!
- Education for All!
- Power 2 Women!
- Create your Culture!
- Go Green!
- Pursue Truth!
Read more about the event and the panel in the attached press release.
Registration for the contest is still open for 10 more days
Here is a nice interactive presentation on how to apply:
http://prezi.com/jrzfbyrul9kt/
Spread the news: Please also share this news with your media contacts.
Tweet about the WSYA with #youthaward !
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/
Register your project: http://register.icnmdb.at/
Website: http://www.youthaward.org
There is another award programme for those with great mobile applications (www.wsa-mobile.org) in the categories:
• m-Business & Commerce
• m-Government & Participation
• m-Learning & Education
• m-Entertainment & Lifestyle
• m-Tourism & Culture
• m-Media & News
• m-Environment & Health
• m-Inclusion & Empowerment
Contact: Rapelang Rabana
Ambassador of UN World Summit Awards
Mobile: +2782 940 4890
http://feintandmargin.com/
The Youth Summit Awards are about recognizing young people using technology to do great things.
This year’s Winners’ Event will be held in Montreal, Canada, hosted by the 18th World Congress on Information Technology on 23nd October 2012. Winners will be flown in at no cost and get the chance to connect with the leaders of the IT industry and key experts in the field of ICT for development, and ofcourse benefit from the brand value of being United Nations award recipients.
Special highlight this year: Legendary Larry King will host a panel with high level industry players and the World Summit Youth Award winners!
Projects can be submitted in one of six categories, each focusing on putting millennium development goals into action and addressing socio-economic problems:
- Fight Poverty, Hunger and Disease!
- Education for All!
- Power 2 Women!
- Create your Culture!
- Go Green!
- Pursue Truth!
Read more about the event and the panel in the attached press release.
Registration for the contest is still open for 10 more days
Here is a nice interactive presentation on how to apply:
http://prezi.com/jrzfbyrul9kt/
Spread the news: Please also share this news with your media contacts.
Tweet about the WSYA with #youthaward !
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/
Register your project: http://register.icnmdb.at/
Website: http://www.youthaward.org
There is another award programme for those with great mobile applications (www.wsa-mobile.org) in the categories:
• m-Business & Commerce
• m-Government & Participation
• m-Learning & Education
• m-Entertainment & Lifestyle
• m-Tourism & Culture
• m-Media & News
• m-Environment & Health
• m-Inclusion & Empowerment
Contact: Rapelang Rabana
Ambassador of UN World Summit Awards
Mobile: +2782 940 4890
http://feintandmargin.com/
Friday, June 22, 2012
Traffic and Productivity in Ghana - Dynamic Lane Management
The post by ICTPost has raised a
number of important issues regarding traffic and productivity. Since my return
from South Korea a couple of months ago I feel a dip in my productivity; much
of it
due to traffic congestion (and the associated stress) in
Accra. Even though Seoul is a much bigger, faster and more stressful city than
Accra one does not get stressed out to the extent of being fatigued or
unnecessarily delayed due to traffic. One thing I noticed about the
roads in Korean cities is that they do not use concrete pavements to
separate lanes of roads feeding traffic to the Central Business Area. Instead
they just use the markings. This sort of design makes it possible to
dynamically manage lanes and worth considering in the design of our CBA feeder
roads.
With the aid of traffic lights, Dynamic Lane Management
makes it possible to increase the number of lanes (hence increase the flow of
traffic) in the direction where traffic is heavy (e.g. traffic to the Central
Business Area of Accra in the morning) and decrease the number of lanes in the
direction where traffic is less heavy (e.g. traffic out of Central Business
Area of Accra in the morning).
Still, on lane management our commuters seem not to know the
significance of the outer and inner lanes. In some jurisdictions it is an
offence for a private vehicle to use the outer lane; a preserve for public
transport. While the outer lane is for public transport, the inner lane is
supposed to be a speed lane. These provisions are not observed by commuters on
our roads. Moreover, in some jurisdictions the speed lane can only be used by a
private vehicle when there are 3 or more passengers in it. (e.g. South Korea). That
leaves only the middle lane(s) for private vehicles carrying only one
passenger.
Besides, lane management one other way of managing flow and
traffic congestion is Telecommuting. If 50% of employee (public as well as
private sector) who ride in private transport to work, telecommute to work
we would be reducing traffic by 50%. This is feasible in the near future, given
the investment in broadband and the national fibre backbone. What we need to do
is to encourage (through regulatory and legislative provisions)
real estate developers as well as telecom providers to extend fibre
to the homes (FTTH). If the one million homes Government is trying to build,
come network ready with fibre connectivity to the national back bone we should
be in a position to telecommute interactively - with Multimedia features.
Still from the technology perspective, almost all Korean
vehicles have navigators with GPS mounted on them. With these technology one
can make inform decision regarding the shortest route to a destination, and the
traffic landscape.
One other thing I noticed in South Korea is that the
Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are not all located in the capital
(Seoul). Some of the MDAs are in Daejeon; a city about 300Km from Seoul. Even
though this arrangement may have been motivated by security reasons - the
closeness of Seoul to North Korea, as a side effect it diverts some traffic
from Seoul. Ghana may not be at war with her neighbours, but I think for
security as well as for traffic management reasons we should also consider relocating
some of the important government establishments/agencies to places outside
Accra. In this day and age of ICTs the geographical location of an
entity/establishment does not matter if the appropriate infrastructure and
systems are put in place. Besides, do we ever factor the location of important
establishments/entities in our Contingency and Disaster Planning? Do we
ever consider the effects of Tsunami on the Central Business Area and for that
matter on Government Business? All the important establishments are located on
High Street or close to the sea - The Caste (Seat of Government), The
Indece Square, The Accra Stadium, The Arts Centre, The Kwame
Nkrumah Mausoleum, The Bank of Ghana, The Ministries, The Courts, The
National Library, SFO, CHRAG, The National Lotteries, The National Theatre, The
Science Museum, The State House and Parliament, etc Relocating some or
all of these entities outside Accra - e.g. towards Dodowa, if not in another
city, would not only secure them from the effects of a Tsunami, but I guess
would also divert 50% of the traffic from Accra.
And while I was in Norway in the 90s I also observed that a
ring 10km from the Central Business Area was constructed around
the city I lived in. At the ring Car parks were built and all private vehicles
were made to park at the ring and the occupants were made to take public
transport - trams and buses. A heavy fine was imposed on those private
commuters who wanted to ride in their vehicles into the city. Meanwhile, at the
periphery of the city were malls hosting all the shops one can find at the
central business area (CBA). But the good thing about shopping in those malls
is that the goods there were cheaper than the same goods in the sister shops at
the CBA. I guess such an arrangement could constitute part of the solutions to
traffic management. We need to have malls, good schools, hospitals/polyclinics
etc at the periphery of Accra - e.g Dansoman, Adenta, Sarkumono, Taifa etc
The message being put across here is that Over-Concentration
is the cause of traffic in our cities. We would succeed in managing the traffic
if we free the CBA of some of the establishments and provide some incentives
for staying at the periphery or institute some penalties for wanting to do
business at the CBA.
By Dr. Mohammed-Sani Abdulai
Director of Research (AITI-KACE)
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