Category: Africa

Cycling, Crisp Research, Dimension Data, and a touch of Neuromorphic computing.

Stefan Reid of Crisp Research invited me up to Frankfurt today, to attend their conference.  I’ve known Stefan for a while,  while he was at Forrester and I was at Gartner, we frequented the same taxi queues and analyst dinners at vendor conferences.

I learnt a good deal about the practical state of ML, IoT, cloud etc in Germany.  Strong presentations from the analysts,  customer panels, and case studies. Osram’s massive transformation into an IoT platform player. Continental’s data lake and mobility services strategy, including live demo. neat.  Continental is a lot more than tyres.

I also learnt a new word during Carlo Velten’s keynote, Neuromorphic computing. Apparently  lots going on at Heidelberg University on this, funding in part by the Klaus Tshira Stiftung.

Beate Spiegel, Managing Director of the Klaus Tschira Foundation
“Klaus Tschira was very interested in the investigation and development of new computer architectures that are modelled on the human brain. Beyond his personal interest, he was keen to support the ongoing development of information science for the benefit of humankind. That is why he agreed as early as three years ago to become a sponsor of the European Institute for Neuromorphic Computing through his foundation. We are very happy that with construction of the new facility now under way, the University is taking the first visible step toward new and exciting research findings.”

I glanced at the agenda yesterday, and I was thrilled to see Rob Webster, who runs the sports practice at Dimension Data, on the agenda.

I’ve been very impressed how the South African/global tech company, Dimension Data, has developed its brand recognition through its sponsorship with  Tour de France / ASO, and its pro-cycling team.

The philanthropic dimension of their engagement is particularly compelling, enabling kids in Africa to receive bicycles of their own. Check out Qhubeka. While for some of us cycling is the new golf,  and we argue about SRAM v Shimano, at a more existential  level, owning a bicycle might be the difference between getting to school or not.

Often the link between sport sponsorship and the core business is a tenuous one, but in the case of Dimension Data, there is a technology play with both the TdF and the DD team.  Anyone who rides a bit will know that the last decade has seen an explosion in measurement and data in cycling, even for back of the field weekend riders like myself.  With powermeters, GPS, Heart rate monitors, go pros,  Strava, Zwift, cycling is a rather interesting coalescence of IoT, Social, Big Data, and even Virtual Reality.  Fertile ground then.

IoT, Social media, predictive analytics, machine learning all got a mention,  each with a cycling proof point.  He discussed the impact (pun intended) that the real time data about a major crash had on the TDF’s social engagement levels, and being able to actually prove how fast the pros actually descend. Apparently Cavendish isn’t especially speedy up the hills, but he is pretty nifty on the way down.

“The purpose of IoT  in cycling is not for technology’s sake, but it is to deepen our and the fans’ understanding of the sport.”  Rob, you nailed it.

Thanks to the folks at Crisp Research for having me along.

Disclosure:  We are Dimension Data fans IMG_4062

 

 

 

Of Rhinos, old friends, Mountain bike rides.

This clever and moving video arrived on my facebook wall a few days ago. It is worth taking a moment to watch it.

And then this morning a dear friend from South Africa pinged me that he was seeking sponsorship, raising money for the Wildlands Conservation Trust.  David got me into cycling many years ago, introducing me to the joys of the high end bike shop, and the Berkshire and Surrey countryside.  After years of hanging on his back wheel, the least I could do was sponsor him while he rides his mountain bike around Giant’s Castle.

If you would like to help, head over to David’s website for details.  He is only riding 75kms, but it is for a good cause!-)

On Corporate Burghers

Cross posted on my work blog.

While taking a break from a flurry of  inquiry calls about ERP upgrades vs SaaS replacements,  I ambled over to facebook with Nespresso in hand.  A few years ago I met Dave Duarte, who  introduced me to  the Ogilvy Digital Academy   in South Africa. There is a lot of innovative stuff going on in the land of my youth, so I follow the SA scene  on  Facebook and on Twitter.  South Africa has had a lot of innovative advertising over the years, and I’m pleased to see this has well and truly moved over into the social side of things.  Today’s offering really hit home powerfully.

Have a look at this video.

A couple of things stood out for me.

1. Innovative idea and great execution. Genius. Braille on the burger bun.

2. Wimpy get the fact that People with Disabilities spend money just like other demographics.   Designing solutions and marketing for that segment makes business sense.  Part of this is about equal rights and access, but it isn’t charity.  Humour works.

3. The power of the referral. See the stats at the end of the presentation.

As part of my academic research, I’m looking at how enterprise software companies approach accessibility. Wimpy puts them all to shame.  Well done Wimpy.

The World Cup and HR analytics.

Several vendors have sent me links to World Cup related versions of their analytics tools. Some of them are really clever. I can drill down into skills, real time results and so on.  Neat stuff, mashing up data sources from all over the place, with compelling charts and stats, and good social sharing features. Easy to use, no training required.

Yet it is a sad indictment of analytics space in that vendors can quickly cook up engaging, immersing and rich dashboards for the World Cup, whereas most HR dashboards are poorly designed, unimaginative, dull and have very limited adoption. 

  • My advice to analytics vendors. Take the learning from how you have visualized football players and apply it to your workforce analytics offerings.
  • My advice to HR departments. Look at the World Cup dashboards and do it with your workforce data. You have the data, you have the tools. By the time Germany are crowned champions in a few weeks time you could have it built and deployed.

Toto, Africa and copyright..

Super arrangement of Toto’s Africa by the Perpetuum Jazzile.  This rocks. Appeared in my inbox this morning. Thanks Geoff.

Africa is one of those tunes that is part of my mental soundtrack. I hear it and I’m transported back to a humid South African evening, the crickets chirping and the smell of African rain is in the air. Weird, as the band is from LA, and this sort of soft rock normally my thing. But I guess for most of my generation this is a iconic sing along song.  Perpetuum’s performance is really rather special.

But what rocks even more is the response from David Paich, the fellow who wrote the song.

Greetings!

My name is David Paich. When I wrote Africa I never dreamed of hearing such an innovative rendition. All I can say is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am truly honored that you not only would arrange a choir version of the song but the time and effort into creating REAL MAGIC! I have NEVER received so many emails from artists friends and colleagues on a singular performance of a song.

My hats off to all of you.

I know my co-writer Jeff Porcaro would have shared the same feelings. I know my band TOTO does.

Again, thanks you for such a wonderful gift.I would love to meet everyone sometime soon and maybe work together.

Regards………David

This, ladies and gentlemen, is how derivative works should work.  Goodness all around.

Well done Ushahidi

Sometimes with web 2.0 technologies I feel as if I’m seeing demos of solutions looking for problems in a technology bubble, but this example really shows how mashups, text messaging and blogs can have a real impact on the quality of life and democracy. In this case, in Africa.

via the TED site. Ushahidi — a crisis-tracking tool with roots in TEDGlobal 2007 — has been awarded a $200,000 grant for development from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Spend a moment watching Erik in Action. link here if it doesn’t display in your reader.

Well done Erik and the gang.

Web 2.0 technologies are having an impact on UK politics too.

 

Math(s) and Africa

I’ve blogged a few times about education and innovation in Africa before, but I figured it would be worthwhile mentioning the AIMs School  just outside Cape Town.

From the website.

The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is an educational centre in Cape Town, South Africa. The goals of AIMS are:

  • To promote mathematics and science in Africa.
  • To recruit and train talented students and teachers.
  • To build capacity for African initiatives in education, research, and technology.

The Institute is focussed around a nine-month, postgraduate course covering many of the most exciting areas of modern science, taught by outstanding African and international lecturers. The course develops strong mathematical and computing problem-solving skills and leads to a postgraduate diploma in the Mathematical Sciences, formally accredited by the three partner South African Universities and taught in association with the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, the Division of Physical Sciences at the University of Oxford, and the University of Paris-Sud 11. Students with good mathematics, science or engineering degrees are invited to apply and will be supported on bursaries where needed.

There are some videos and details over on the TED blog.   Well done Barclays for the 20 scholarships. This all grows out of 2008 TED Prize winner Neil Turok’s wish — that the TED community will help him to educate the next Einstein in Africa.  Spend some time looking at Neil Turok’s talks. Humbling stuff.

Building a grasp and love of mathematics in what will thousands of Africans is a brilliant way to invest in the long term success of the continent. 

BTW.  They are looking for post docs and researchers .

Social media and malaria……..

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Photo from the cc flickrstream of tanakawho

Via Yahoo news I read that

The British entrepreneur who sold a football Web site at the age of 17 for $40 million (20 million pounds) has switched his attention to help launch a social networking site on Sunday designed to fight malaria

“Travelling across Africa and seeing the devastation caused by malaria made me realise there was more to life than putting up soccer scores,” said Hadfield.

“Everyone I met at an aid project making mosquito nets in Zambia had either lost a child to malaria or knew someone who had.”

… Hadfield co-founded the site with health professors Peter A. Singer and Abdallah S. Daar at Canada’s McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health at University Health Network as well as the University of Toronto

Malaria is a largely preventable disease, yet it kills millions of people.

 

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MalariaEngage impresses me for two reasons.

1. Social media platforms like this enable charities and researchers  to build compelling online presence and interaction at a price point that would have been inconceivable even a couple years ago.

“It’s about more than about giving money — it’s about creating connections. By encouraging individual participation and involvement, we will create international communities of common interest. This is the essence of social networking.”

2. By linking donations to local research, it boosts local skills and research, and explores new avenues for practical cures and preventions. Strengthening African research is goodness. Malaria impacts those least able to pay for medicine,  so it is a tragic example of market failure. The global pharma industry has not really addressed the challenge of malaria, so perhaps local research is the answer. 

 

We feel young African scientists have very good ideas that end up in the dustbin,” said Singer. “This is about helping committed young researchers with good ideas to help themselves create a better future.”

Well done to Hadfield, Singer and Daar.

 

More on Africa and what mashups can be used for.

I have rambled and ranted before about African based industry, software deployment even African Mathematics, but I figured it was time for another rant on Africa and social media.

James Farrar posted this question a couple of weeks’ ago  when reviewing the blogger coverage of the Davos gathering.

Surely all these gadgets, communications and software we hold court on can offer something to help in terms of improved communications, institutional development, education and economic development for countries like Kenya. Something? 

He is right. In our  industry we talk so much about the tools, we  sometimes forget that there is more to the world than using one set of tools to talk about another set of tools.

Quoting him from a different context altogether, Jeff Nolan had this to say..

Check out this snapshot of Techmeme today. As is typically the case, Google scratches its left ear lobe and an entire industry of bloggers kicks into gear dissecting what it means.

It reminded me of a cartoon from the always funny often insightful Oliver, over at Geek and Poke

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I started watching a video clip from Demo 08, thinking that I was going to blog about some of the cool African start ups in social media, mobile phone innovations, and laptops powered by bat droppings  but after watching it I  changed my mind.

You can watch the video here please,if the embed fails. (the video is about 30 minutes)

 Mike,one of my regular link victims, Erik Hersman who writes the brilliant White African blog, and Juliana Rotich of the excellent Afromusing  appeared on the panel.

Yes, they covered off some of the interesting solutions and services on the web in Africa,  talked about mobile phones, and developing market economies, all good stuff but what made me stop multitasking and really really listen was the discussion on Kenya, and I think it goes some way to answering James’ question.  Watch the bit about the Ushahidi project , and spend some time on the site.

Mashups of where the nearest Starbucks drive through is located have their utility, and I’m not knocking them, but seeing a google maps mashup of violence outbreaks in real-time reminds me that there are other, more important challenges and uses for the tools. Blogging is great to cover the latest cool new laptop launch, but there is something fundamentally good about being able to get a post up on wordpress.com in minutes to highlight Brian’s plight.

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One of the most thoughtful commentators on Africa in the blogosphere is Ethan Zuckerberg. His piece on the Kenyan middle class is worth a read, but I’d like to quote from one his posts about TED.

Mwenda points out that mainstream media doesn’t cover Africa, in print, in television or on the web. When it’s covered, “journalist behave like scavengers of disaster”. When coverage of disaster captures the truth, it’s only capturing part of the reality. They’re missing all the stories of ordinary people doing amazing things. “When people like Sergei Brin think about Africa, they think in terms of giving aid, not in terms of opportunity.”

Although  comedy, this clip from the Onion is rather too close to the truth for comfort. (you will need click here   because wordpress.com seems to disagree with oinions)

Nation Of Andorra Not In Africa, Shocked U.S. State Dept. Reports

Technology can play a vital role in times of crisis, but more than that, I have a hope that social media will help Africa tell its own story. As Zuckerberg notes, the web enables him to point, not tell. 

If you are interested in learning more about Africa,  then TED is an excellent place to start understanding its beguiling complexity.  Have a look at Joseph Lekuton, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Andrew Mwenda,  and Chris Abani. TED Africa 2008 looks to be a must view event.

Afromusing has an excellent blogroll, and herewith a random excerpt from What an African Women Thinks.

I’m very cross with Mwai Kibaki, Raila Odinga and their respective hardline surrogates today, for putting us in this position where the “International Community” have all the excuse they need to swagger into our sovereignty and order us around.
Because Condi, Milliband, and that tall German whatsisname guy with an unkempt moustache would not be all up in our faces being patronizing if Kenya’s erstwhile leaders just left their mountain-sized egos outside the negotiating room and got their acts together already. We want back our country and our pride. Give us back our country and our pride.
Seriously, today: Me. Cross. At these so called leaders of ours.
Wincing and squirming and cross.

There is more out there than techmeme. But if you are wedded to knowing the latest and greatest gadgets then please add Afrigadget to your RSS feed.

Oh, and finally again via Afromusing I’d like to remind you that Africa is open for business 

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