-TEDIndia invites applications from Indian trailblazers for TED Fellows program-

The future beckons’ is being held in India for the first time ever from 4-7 November 2009, at the Infosys Campus in Mysore. What makes TEDIndia extra-special is, that the TED Fellows program will include a group of 100 innovators from India and South Asia who have shown unusual accomplishment and exceptional courage. These young world-changers will get the opportunity to become a part of the TED community which will help amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Lakshmi Pratury, Co-Host of TEDIndia 2009, considers the TED Fellows program to be an intrinsic part of the spirit of TEDIndia, stating “There is a tremendous surge of innovation at the grassroots in India. People are redefining culture, economy, society, technology and the intersection of these is creating new and empowering models of growth. TEDIndia Fellows program seeks to support Indian innovators who, in Gandhiji’s words, are being the change they want to see in the world.”

The TED Fellows program will draw insights from many disciplines that reflect the diversity of TED’s mission: technology, entertainment, design, the sciences, the humanities, the arts, NGOs, business and more. The gamut of activities that a TEDIndia fellows could be involved in include, access to education via the internet in rural areas: mobile rural healthcare networks; low cost solar power; preservers of Indian’s living heritage – across art, language, wildlife and nature; empowering underprivileged youth through education that helps them excel at competitive exams; financial literacy and business training for underprivileged women, social enterprise etc. This list is only indicative and can be increased in scope.

The TEDIndia Fellows program seeks next-gen innovators who have demonstrated remarkable accomplishments and outstanding potential to positively be the change in the world. The profile of the next-gen innovators sought by TED Fellows include those who are notably curious, passionate, open-minded and have done something fascinating for their community. They’re people who have created an idea that can change the lives of millions.

The deadline for applications for TEDIndia Fellows is June 15, 2009. The application form for TED Fellowship is available on the TED site.

TEDIndia Fellows program hopes to represent the diverse and exciting nature of innovation from the frontlines of change in India.

For further information please contact
Sushmita Bandopadhyay Celna Chacko
Perfect Relations Perfect Relations
Mobile: +91 9818267532 Mobile:

Notes to the Editor:
TEDIndia Fellows program
Closing date for applications June 15, 2009

Who should apply?

We are looking for an eclectic, heterogeneous group of young thinkers and doers from the fields of technology, entertainment, design, the sciences, engineering, humanities, the arts, economics, business, journalism, entrepreneurship and NGOs. At TED, we can take risks on unconventional innovators. We value achievement over credentials — making and doing over merely talking.

How to apply
To apply to become a TED Fellow, please complete the application form in its entirety. (http://www.ted.com/fellows/apply). Before beginning the application, please review the applications tips and terms and conditions.

In addition to basic details [e.g. individuals 21-40 years] and contact information, the application asks applicants to upload their photo, answer essay questions and provide three references — one of whom must submit a completed confidential reference form. Applications must be received complete and on time to be considered.

How it works:
1. Candidates apply to attend one conference.
2. Individuals can apply directly or be nominated by others. We’ll also directly recruit potential Fellows and invite them to apply.
3. At TEDIndia we will bring 100 Fellows together from around the subcontinent and beyond.
4. Working with the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, we plan to establish a follow-up network and Fellows meeting.

Benefits to Fellows
• Attendance to one TED or TEDGlobal Conference with all expenses paid (conference, travel, room and board)
• Participation in Fellows pre-conference activities
• Private social networking on TED.com
• Potential to speak on the TED Fellows or TED University stage
• Potential to have that talk posted on TED.com

Responsibilities of Fellows
• Full attendance and participation at the Conference
• Submission of a post-conference report
• Regular posting on the TED Fellows Blog

Connect with TED: Become a member at TED website, Facebook, Linkedin
Twitter: @TED, @TEDtalks, @TEDchris, @tedx, @TEDindia

Contact: tedindia@ted.com

TED video links:

TED Talks, YouTube,
Flickr, TED Indian Fellows video, Apna tube, Big Adda, Ibibo.

This is one of those videos that really makes you think about how trivial some aspects of social networking sites like Twitter can be. From: “SuperNews!” An animated sketch comedy series airing on Current TV.

If you believe in the power and value that the internet can bring to your business then try typing your web address into your mobile phone…..frustrating isn’t it?

The Web has revolutionized how we interact with and publish information, however surfing the internet using one’s mobile phone, whilst being quite convenient, can be a very frustrating and time-consuming exercise if trying to access a non-mobile compliant website. The result is often that people then prefer to wait until they are sitting at a PC than have to try to scroll down and across on their tiny cell phone screen. Added to this is the problem that the majority of South Africans do not have access to a PC yet they more than likely own a cell phone which is a much cheaper means of accessing the internet.

According to Liron Segev of Swift Telecoms, “The problem that exists is that websites have been created to work with powerful PC’s, with a 17” screen, a mouse and a keyboard which means that traditional websites do not function or display correctly on mobile phones. Hence the creation of .Mobi websites whereby a dedicated Mobi site is created to deliver your information to a mobile phone anytime, anywhere there is cell phone coverage, without the current frustrations of non-mobile compliant websites.”

The .Mobi phenomenon has already been widely accepted in the international arena however the need is only now being recognised for South African internet users with larger companies slowly starting to establish a mobile presence.

“Currently a third of the world’s population access the internet through a mobile device. By 2010, it is predicted that this figure will increase to half of the world’s population. This number is twice the size of internet-connected personal computers. Historically, technology has been slow in filtering down to South Africa however, with Mobile, we are leading the way. Corporates have embraced mobile technology such as SMS and now Mobi sites are the next revolution which is going to change the way we do business and how we live our lives.”

According to Segev, mobile development isn’t simply website development made smaller. “A different set of skills is required to take into consideration phone browsers as well as the different makes and models of mobile phones, making .Mobi sites a more involved programming process. Also, a company’s requirements need to be taken into consideration when developing a .Mobi site. We need to be smart when working with mobile applications so we tend to encourage corporates to only feature the necessary content, thereby preventing the user from having to sift through unnecessary information and creating a positive interaction with the site for the user, resulting in immediate gratification.”

For more information, visit www.swifttelecoms.co.za or www.swiftholdings.co.za

Issued on behalf of Swift Holdings by :

AHOY! PR
Contact : Tanya Altshuler
Tel : 031 201 4382
Fax : 031 201 4358
Cell : 083 448 6474
E-mail : tanya@ahoypr.co.za

The announcement today of a formal agreement for the construction of the West Africa Cable System (WACS) by all South Africa’s major telecommunications operators sets the scene for total international bandwidth capacity coming into Africa growing more than a hundredfold by the end of 2011.

The Internet Access in South Africa 2008 study, conducted by World Wide Worx and supported by Cisco Systems, shows that international bandwidth available to sub-Saharan Africa was a mere 80 Gigabits per second at the end of 2008. This was split between the Telkom-controlled SAT3/SAFE cable and the West African Atlantis-2 cable.

But, according to the report, the capacity will rise to around 10 Terabits per second by the end of 2011, or 120 times the 208 capacity. This growth will be the cumulative result of the existing SAT3 cable being upgraded, three major new cables becoming operational this year, another two in 2010, and the WACS cable in 2011.

These figures exclude capacity available to North African countries that have access to a network of cables criss-crossing the Mediterranean.

Says Reshaad Sha, Senior Manager of Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group, “It is encouraging to witness and be part of the telecommunications revolution that Africa is currently undergoing. The role that the undersea cable operators will play is crucial to both the developmental and economic agendas that have and are being set by African Governments.”

The confirmed new cables due to serve West, East and Southern Africa are:

• SEACOM, East and Southern Africa, 1.28Tb/s – Due end June 2009
• GLO-1, West Africa,640 Gb/s, ready for operations, 2009
• TEAMS, East and Southern Africa, 120Gb/s – Due September 2009
• EASSy East and Southern Africa, 1.Tb/s – Due June 2010
• MainOne, West Africa, 1.92Tb/s, due 2010
• WACS, West and Southern Africa, 3.8Tb/s, Due 2011

“The WACS agreement puts in place the final spark for the broadband revolution that is about to sweep Africa,” says Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx. “The real significance of all these undersea cables is that they will in turn lead to further infrastructure expansion to bring this bandwidth to end-users, especially in the business world.”

Cisco’s Sha concurs: “The telecoms operators and governments are still required to fulfil the role of delivering this connectivity to their citizens. This will probably be the most challenging role in realising the benefits of the terabits of bandwidth that will be reaching the African coastlines.”

The Internet Access in South Africa 2008 report includes an overview of each of these cables and a timeline for their implementation.

Media contacts

For comment on this press release, please contact Zweli Mnisi, PR Manager: Cisco South Africa

Cell: +27 83 616 6175 Email: zmnisi@cisco.com

For further information, please contact Arthur Goldstuck at World Wide Worx, on 011 782 7003 or 083 326 4345, or e-mail arthur@worldwideworx.com

An in-depth analysis of the Internet strategy of the main political parties in South Afrca’s 2009 general elections reveals that the Democratic Alliance has a substantial lead in online performance over its rivals. The African National Congress comes in a distant second, narrowly ahead of the Congress of the People. The United Democratic Movement and Independent Democrats, in turn, are well behind COPE, while the Inkatha Freedom Party trails so far behind, its web presence is described as “damaging”.

The first formal web site benchmarking survey of South African political parties was released today by World Wide Worx, which uses its Webagility system to evaluate and benchmark web site usability and strategy of companies, organisations and institutions in South Africa and globally.

The Webagility system breaks the analysis down into several modules, including usability, social media, campaign effectiveness, and content strategy. Each module contains up to 30 micro-elements, which are each assigned a score, providing a detailed measure of overall effectiveness of online presence. Webagility has been used to analyse sites for clients as diverse as major retailers, banks, bookstores, the City of Jo’burg, SA Revenue Services, the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants and Wits University.

“The DA site achieves only an average score from a usability point of view, but their content strategy sets them apart,” says Steven Ambrose, manage director of WWW Strategy, which conducts the Webagility analyses on behalf of World Wide Worx. Ambrose heads up the Webagility team of analysts. “Benchmarked against global best practise, the DA scores 81% on content strategy, against 64% by the ANC and 60% by COPE.”

In usability, the DA score drops to 69%, while the ANC is consistent at 63% and COPE drops to 57%. Campaign effectiveness sees similar ratings for the DA, at 65%, while the ANC scores only 48%, COPE 45% and the UDM comparing well with these at 43%.

The much vaunted use of social media like blogging, Facebook and YouTube by the political parties is revealed by the analysis to lag behind global best practise. While the DA still leads substantially here, its benchmarked score drops to 69%. The ANC plummets to 47% and COPE 43%.

“The difference lies not so much in what they are doing, but in how they are doing it,” says Ambrose. “The ANC have clearly invested heavily in their online presence, and their YouTube site looks most impressive at first sight. But it is put to very poor use, with uninspiring content, and little opportunity for voter engagement. The DA, on the other hand, has spent less money on the Internet, but scores far higher due to the direct engagement of its own representatives. Their blogs are not only relevant, but interesting, so it comes across as real engagement rather than a public relations exercise.”

The overall Webagility scores of the major parties, benchmarked against global best practice, are:

• DA: 76%
• ANC: 61%
• COPE: 56%
• UDM: 43%
• ID: 32%
• IFP: 23%

“The poor performance of the IFP web site, which our system characterises as ‘potentially damaging’, is a reflection of the reality that the IFP does not expect its target voter audience to be found among Internet users,” says Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx. “It is probably not vote-effective for them to spend too much energy online. The ID’s performance is more a reflection of poor understanding of online strategy, with its leader famous for her attacks on blogs.”

Goldstuck adds that the DA has clearly done its homework on the Obama campaign in the USA, which set the standard globally for embracing the Internet in political campaigning.

Says Goldstuck, “We have nothing like that kind of sophistication in South Africa, but lessons are being learned fast.”

A PowerPoint presentation summarising the Webagility analysis can be downloaded at the World Wide Worx web site.

Media contacts

· * For comment on this press release, please contact Steven Ambrose, MD of WWW Strategy, on 011 782 0045 or 083 601 0333, or e-mail steven@wwwstrategy.co.za

· * For further information, please contact Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, on 011 782 7003 or 083 326 4345, or e-mail arthur@worldwideworx.com

JOHANNESBURG, 24 March 2009:- South Africa’s Internet population is expected to grow as much in the next five years as it has in the 15 years since the Internet became commercially available in South Africa.

This is among the startling conclusions contained in the Internet Access in South Africa 2008 report, released today by World Wide Worx. The report shows that the number of Internet users in South Africa grew by 12.5% to 4,6-million in 2008 – the first time since 2001 it has grown by more than 8%. The increased growth rate is expected to continue for the next five years, taking the Internet user population to the 9-million mark by 2014.

“Four major factors will drive this growth,” says Arthur Goldstuck, managing director of World Wide Worx.

“The first and most obvious development is the arrival of a new undersea telecommunications cable at the end of June. It will increase South Africa’s maximum international bandwidth fivefold, and the actual capacity that was available until the end of last year will increase 30-fold. It will gradually bring down the cost and increase the capacity available to consumers and business – but not overnight.”

The second factor is the granting of telecommunications licences to all Internet service providers who wish to upgrade existing licences, allowing them to build their own networks.

“While we won’t see even a tenth of the 600 existing ISPs setting up networks, enough of them will emerge from under the radar to give consumers and business a new world of choice,” says Goldstuck.

These networks will be able to take advantage of the new undersea cable, which will allow service providers to buy bandwidth capacity at wholesale prices and repackage and resell it as they wish. This means that the new generation of service providers will be able to introduce business models that were never possible before.

The third factor is the rapid rate at which small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are migrating from slow dial-up connections to faster ADSL lines.

“The impact of these lines goes much further than merely the number of small businesses that connect,” says Goldstuck. “Our research shows that every SME using ADSL is connecting anywhere between one and 20 additional individuals to the Internet. This means that SMEs have taken over from large businesses as the biggest driver of Internet access in South Africa.”

The fourth factor is the growth of Internet access via cell phones. However, warns the report, this is not yet as big a factor as media hype suggests.

“The cell phone right now is a very crude device for accessing the Internet,” says Goldstuck. “We will need to see great improvements in both usability and people’s ability to use advanced features on their cell phones, and that will take another few years.”

The report also covers the prospects for as many as seven new undersea cables planned for the next three years, new trends in connecting schools and universities, the dramatic evolution of wireless broadband technology, and the extent to which other African countries have overtaken South Africa.

* For more information, email Arthur Goldstuck on Tel: +27 11 782 7003

Recent media reports indicate another spike in MXit related incidents ranging from teen abductions to children spreading pornography. On the business side MXit is entering online payments and mobile banking arena and will probably continue it’s relationship with MNET Idols reality TV show facilitating voting for the contestants. Families, schools and communities have always been up in arms over the last three years. In my public talks to schools and church groups I have tried my best to explain both the pro’s and the con’s to my audiences.

When children get access to technology like cellphones or the Internet at an early age, they often do so without any guidelines. So it becomes very important for parents to understand what those guidelines are and to adopt them from an early age. If not they run the risk of these online incidents that take place on MXit or Facebook for that matter to spill over into their daily lives. The incidents appear to be on the increase because MXit user base has continued to grow and now has over 11 million registered users. The number of international users are also on the increase, which wides the possibilities for abuse from people in other countries with your children in South Africa.

Unlike computers there is no software available to block or track what people do on cellphones. Each make of a cellphone practically runs a different operating system, which makes it difficult for software developers to create these software so freely available on the Internet for PC users. Both Vodacom and MTN have some limited mechanism for parental control. In all cases I encourage parents to install those options where avaialable. Please remember it will not block or control what children can do on MXit. The MXit platform exists outside of these parent control measures. So it sounds like you’re back to square one.

What parents can do is focus on open and regular dialogue with your children. All I’m saying is the basics of parenting. One specific thing I encourage parents to do is to begin using MXit themselves. In the first place it begins to demystify the technology for the parents themselves and it also shows the kids that parents are willing or able to learn and understand.  In many cases I believe children are very open to showing their family members how to benefit from these fun technologies. In most cases the approach from the parents is one of control because of a lack of understanding.

Anyway here’s some basic guidelines to follow from MSNBC slightly adapted.

Teach your children to:
# Think before they click: With whom are they chatting (MXit) or e-mailing (Facebook), what are they saying and how are they saying it? Will the person on the other end know they are joking?
# Walk away from the computer or put the cellphone down and “Take 5” before responding to something that upsets them online
# Avoid spreading rumours, assisting in cyberbullying or sharing private communications online.
# Follow the golden rule of cyberspace: Don’t do anything online that you wouldn’t do in real life!

Follow responsible safety practices yourself on your computer:
# Install spyware and adware blocking software on your computer
# Make sure you have a working firewall on your computer
# Install anti-virus software and update it regularly
# Take advantage of spam-blocking tools offered by your Internet provider or e-mail software

Ever since ChangeThis.com launched I have enjoyed the short ebooks the produce and make available at no cost. Often it was a summary or first chapter from books by best selling author’s like Seth Godin, Timothy Ferris, Chris Anderson or Guy Kawasaki.

Anyway here’s a recent email from them with something that really hits home in these turbulent economic times globally and in South Africa…

In November of last year, we sent out a survey to gauge the mood of ChangeThis readers and see if they could help provide some solutions and encouragement for ourselves and eachother. After many months of immense change, both in the country as a whole and within our small company, we have finally finished sifting through those responses.

We made the following three inquiries: “In one word, sum up how you feel right now;” “How is this affecting you?” and; “What are you choosing to do about it?” The 1400 replies we received to this survey are further proof, beyond the intuitive, that work is life and that the personal is the professional. Some people used creative metaphors to express their situations. Others used humour. Some enumerated their action plan. Some ranted. Some marvelled. Some refused to accept a doom and gloom outlook and endeavoured to see the possibilities that come with change. There are some trends, of course, and there were ample frustrations–with capitalism and ageism, with excess and politics.

The cover of the manifesto is a word cloud of the most common responses to that first inquiry, “How do you feel right now?” and each paragraph thereafter is a different individual’s response to the third question, “What are you choosing to do about it?”

Click here to download the survey results to commiserate, to raise your spirits, to hope, to cry, to worry some more and unburden yourself with other ChangeThis readers.

Here’s some humour for the week

“Turn off your cell phones and pagers.” For most people, heeding these warnings in hospitals or at the movies is as simple as pressing a button. But for a growing number of people across the globe, the idea of being out of touch, even just for a 90-minute movie, is enough to induce anxiety, says a University of Florida psychologist who studies addictions to the Internet and other technologies.

Although cellular phones and personal digital assistants such as the BlackBerry were created to make modern life more convenient, they’re actually beginning to interfere in the lives of users who don’t know when to turn them off, says Lisa Merlo, an assistant professor of psychiatry in the UF College of Medicine.

“It’s not so much talking on the phone that’s typically the problem although that can have consequences too,” Merlo said. “(It’s) this need to be connected, to know what’s going on and be available to other people. That’s one of the hallmarks of cell phone addiction.”

Unlike addictions to alcohol, drugs or even gambling, it can be hard to pinpoint problematic cell phone use. Almost everyone has a cell phone and uses it regularly. But if someone can’t get through dinner without sending text messages or furiously typing on a personal digital assistant during a meeting, it may be time to take a step back, Merlo said.

How people respond to being separated from their cell phones or PDAs is another clue. Frequent users often become anxious when they are forced to turn off the phone or if they forget it at home, so much so that they can’t enjoy whatever they’re doing, Merlo added. Often, cell phone “addicts” compulsively check their phones for voicemails and text messages, she said.

“When (cell phone overuse) really becomes problematic for a lot of people is if they have underlying anxiety or depression,” she said. “This can really exacerbate it or (cause) their symptoms to manifest themselves.”

For example, someone who already worries about what others think of them could become easily agitated if their phone calls or messages aren’t returned right away.

“This is something that is going to affect them on a day-to-day basis,” Merlo said.

The problem seems to be growing. A Japanese study revealed that children with cell phones often don’t make friends with their less tech-savvy peers, a Hungarian study found that three-fourths of children had mobile phones and an Italian study showed that one quarter of adolescents owned multiple phones and many claimed to be somewhat addicted to them. A British study also recently found that 36 percent of college students surveyed said they could not get by without cell phones. But this may be more a sign that students view cell phones as a modern necessity like a car, said David Sheffield, a psychologist who conducted the study at Staffordshire University in England.

“The most shocking figure was that 7 percent said the use of mobile phones had caused them to lose a relationship or a job,” Sheffield said.

Although experts have pinpointed these problems in frequent cell phone users, studies have yet to show if a bad cell phone habit constitutes an actual addiction. Yet as with traditional addictions, excessive cell phone use is associated with certain hallmark patterns of behavior, including using something to feel good, building up a tolerance and needing more of it over time to get the same feeling, and going through withdrawal if deprived of it, Merlo said.

Cell phone users could start out with one phone and switch to newer models with more advanced features or PDAs that act like mini-computers over time to get the same feeling they had with their first phone, she said. Although withdrawal is typically considered a physical response that occurs when the body goes without a chemical, the anxiety cell phone users feel without their phone could simply be another form of withdrawal.

“Those things lend toward the idea that maybe this is an addiction, but maybe it’s manifesting in a little bit different way than you would think of a chemical substance,” Merlo said.

Addiction also causes changes in the brain, but scientists have yet to measure what happens in the brains of cell phone users, she said. Even eating and other behaviors have been shown to produce the same effects in the brain as drugs and alcohol in some people, UF studies have shown.

For frequent phoners who do think they have a problem or for parents of children obsessed with their cells, Merlo advises downgrading to a basic phone with fewer features and setting limits about where and when to use the phone.

“Cell phones are a great technology,” Merlo said. “They’re useful in a lot of situations. (But) one of the most important things is making sure you have some cell phone free time in your day. It’s OK to turn it off. Focus on family, homework, knowing that cell phone message will still be there.”

Source: University of Florida, PhysOrg.com