Visit to CSIR. Today I am visiting the CSIR and will be meeting with the national coordinator from SAFIPA. Our discussions will focus on their involvement of the Athlone Living Lab which was started late last year. One of the new projects we hope to collaborate on is the ‘Community Gaming Education Centre’ (CGEC) in partnership with Cape Peninsula University of Technology and University of Southampton. This project we hope to launch during the next few months as we use Gaming technologies to empower youth at risk.

Migg33 increases in SA. Mig33 has been expanding its operations in and already boasts millions of users in South Africa. Mig33 is hoping that SA Political parties will use this mobile chat technology to engage with technology savvy youth during the elections. With South Africa being described as a Mobile society there are more opportunities to use such platforms to engage with the public. We also use Mig33 as a platform to engage with Communities in Tension (CiT) to support with substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, Career and Debt problems.

Blogging via MXit. I have been testing to see if we could do text blog posts via MXit as we launch a new project next month with some schools that is part of the Athlone Living Lab. This is officially my first MXit post

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

We are doing a session at DCI on Digital Voices to Reconstruct Communities

Today I joined the group of The Reconstructed for a day out in Wellington. After an exciting year working with these amazing men and women it was good just to have a relaxing day to reflect and plot new ideas for the Reconstructed project. We having lots of fun with sport activities (using twitter name on soccer field), swimming, eating and ofcourse having mini tweetups. The holidays are here and lots to look forward to.

It has been a week since my last post and the reason being that I am away on holiday for a week. Not only am I resting but also using this time to brainstorm new ideas and possibilities for the Community Empowerment project. Although a week has passed it doesnt mean that all was quiet. Some of this week’s highlights included: – 1 Oct: Mom 2.0 project appeared in the Local Newspaper: Athlone News – 3 Oct: Met with Aki from COFISA for the setup of a Living Lab on the Cape Flats -4 Oct: PR 2.0 Blogging workshop to the Reconstruction Team by Netucation CEO, Ramon Thomas at Cape Peninsula University of Technology -6 Oct: Presented paper at SAICSIT conference -8 Oct: Interview with Bush Radio about the Mom 2.0 project and Mxit Drug Counselling service moving towards 500 subscribers That has been the week of holiday but also looking forward to see how these projects progress as there is an increased interest by the public.

Thanks to an article by Sarietha Engelbrecht (“Dwelmberading op MXit bereik jongmense” [Drug counselling for youth using MXit]) from “Die Burger” an overwhelming response was received from communities. The more we pursue to help others using technology the greater reach we’ll have. If there are parents or family members who are impacted by substance abuse please contact the Impact Centre at +2721 637 4037 for an appointment. The Impact Centre provides a 24/7 service for people who need help. You can also contact me on parker(at)cput(.)ac(.)za inconnection with the Reconstruction and community empowerment project.

If you would like to add us as a contact on MXit please click here

Well today Brent and I arrived back from the Highway Africa and Digital Citizen Indaba 2008 conferences and we learnt so much. Highlights for us was seeing the empowerment of information dissemination coming back to the citizens. With delegates from all across Africa and the world is was encouraging to hear stories and meet our brothers and sisters from other parts of the world.

During the DCI we were introduced to Mobile reporting, podcasting, using technology as a digital citizen and were challenged to ensure that the stories that are being told is relevant to the communities who it is intended for. We also shared our project at the conference and appreciated all the good feedback and words of encouragement. Many thanks to Brent Williams for really doing such an excellent job sharing his testimony. It was incredible thinking that 18 months ago he would never have dreamt that he would be addressing many people in the media at such a level. Definitely something to celebrate and an encouragement to other young men and women who need their lives to be reconstructed.

Yesterday I also hosted a Micro-blogging workshop and how you can do it through MXit which saves you 80% on costs than doing it through your mobile web. Although I only expected 10 delegates attending, I was surprised to see 22 delegates at the workshop. It was good to see that many were excited to start micro-blogging. Well for me it was a wonderful opportunity to share with others and definitely planning to return to the next Highway Africa.

Special thanks to all the friends and colleagues who really made our time at the conference an unforgettable one.
You can download our presentation from the DCI 3.0 here