Developer Training in Liberia

At the heart of all the technological advances in Africa is the hope that African people will use these technologies to their gain. Fiber-optic cables surround Africa’s coasts; mobile operators are investing in wireless technologies like WiMax in preparation for a flood of data that could break existing networks. Mobile devices and computer manufacturers are selling low-cost superphones, tablets, and netbooks, hoping that these devices will integrate well with the African lifestyle whilst platform developers scout the continent in search of developers to build apps for Africans on their systems and networks.

At this point it is quite obvious that the focus of these market players is the people—because it is the people who will spend their money on these technologies. A huge “side-opportunity” is created as a result of this new focus—the demand for developers of these Africa-relevant applications. At the moment, a few African countries have woken up to this new reality and are striving to meet this huge demand.

Liberia is not one of those countries awake to this new reality. For public and private sectors alike, the primary focus is on rebuilding systems and infrastructure destroyed by the two civil wars, as well as dealing with international debt accumulated over the years. Instead of technology being the means by which these reconstruction efforts are undertaken, it has become a project of the future. With our education system still weaker than its pre-war status, technical training has still not matured for even the best institutions.

At the moment, there are no Computer Science (CS) programs in any of our universities. The closest and only program we have is an e-Learning program for BSc. Information Technology from Amity University in Uttar Pradesh, India, offered through the Pan African e-Network with the University of Liberia[1]. This program primarily focuses on infrastructure setup and management, with little programming. This stands opposed to the programming-rich B.Tech program in Computer Science and Engineering offered in India by the same university[2].

Other institutions that offer courses in programming include the Starz Institute of Technology[3] and Silicon Pro. These courses are mainly introductory courses to languages like Visual Basic and PHP/MySQL. Furthermore, training in web development is more concentrated around tools like Dreamweaver than on the underlying programming/markup/scripting languages. These institutions are relatively new and the programming courses are not as popular with students as courses like networking and hardware. Courses in popular languages like Java, C++, and Python which are relevant to mobile application development are non-existent in these training institutions. Furthermore the high cost of these trainings makes them inaccessible to most would-be programmers.

Liberia's small developer community is comprised mainly of people who studied outside Liberia, self-taught, and those who learned on the job. As a result, programmers are in short supply which causes programming jobs to go to foreign firms. There are a handful of tech firms in Liberia that are involved in software development that often have to train their recruited staff to program on the job. This is on a very small scale and benefits very few people.

Due to the limited number of programming languages taught in Liberia, developers are often not prepared to build applications on platforms that are language-biased like iOS. Since this is the case mainly for mobile devices, Liberian developers are cut off from harnessing the potentials of mobile applications. To date, it is still difficult to find mobile applications for Android, Apple or Symbian that have been built by Liberians.

This situation leaves us woefully unprepared to tap into the vast opportunities the mobile and Internet revolutions bring to the continent. Without mobile and web developers, Liberia will be left voiceless on these emerging platforms. Mobile and web applications relevant to Liberia need to be built by Liberians but, without effective training in modern languages, this will be impossible to accomplish. It is hard to imagine Liberia playing a pivotal role in the tech industry without a growing developer community. As important as computer networking and hardware are to Liberia's technological advancement, these skills are inadequate to spur maximum Liberian participation in the global tech arena. They also do not promote innovation as programming skills do.

Until our tertiary institutions start offering relevant CS programs, Liberia will remain a consumer of information technology and may never grow to be a provider. Until Liberian students get early exposure to programming, they will be unable to compete with their regional and global counterparts in the technology race. And until we get a shift in our thinking about science and technology education, we will never get free from foreign technological domination.

Kpetermeni Siakor
IT Director
*iLab_ Liberia

Sources:

[1] Pan African e-Network - http://www.panafricanenetwork.com

[2] Amity University BSc. IT - http://125.16.61.40/V-Learn/PortalMgmt/FullCourseListView.jsp?courseId=17&instituteid=21

Amity University B.Tech CSE - http://www.amity.edu/Admission/course_structure/A23052.html

[3] Starz Institute of Technology - http://www.starzit.com/institute.php

Tech Centers in Liberia

In 2007, SocketWorks Global[1] of Nigeria began setting up a technological hub at the University of Liberia to bridge Liberia's digital divide in the project called the Liberia Digital Bridge with the sponsorship of the International Finance Corporation. After inauguration, the project did not get off the ground, dashing the hopes of thousands of students and staff who anxiously awaited the outcome of the project. This project died without making any significant impact.

In an effort to bridge the digital divide in Liberia, various organizations and individuals have stepped up to the challenge by setting up technology centers in Liberia to meet this end. These typically take the form of community libraries, resource centers, and training centers. Since these efforts do not have the strong investment backing that the Digital Bridge project once had, these tech centers are run on a much smaller scale.

The most popular approach has been to setup training centers that charge a fee for the courses it offers. One example is the Young Men Christian Association (YMCA)[2] training center in Monrovia. This training institution offers introductory courses in the Microsoft Office suite as well as graphics design. Using mainly proprietary software (i.e. Microsoft products), which inure costly fees for licensing. As a result, despite being registered as a non-profit organization, the YMCA charges fees for courses to sustain the training institution. The downside of this approach is that only those who can afford the fees are eligible to attend. The training center is also not an open space for tech professionals to meet and host events; the YMCA charges for the use of its facilities to host events.

A second approach has been to setup resource centers with a hybrid of a library and a computer lab for public use. Two centers with this arrangement are the Information Resource Center (IRC)[3] at the US Embassy and the Liberia Intellectual Society of Scholars & Academia (LISSAA)[4] setup by a Liberian citizen living in the US. While the IRC does not charge users for the facilities, computer use is usually limited to an average of thirty minutes a day per person. These centers provide Internet access, a small library and a few computers running Microsoft products. The high cost of running tech centers in a country like Liberia has taken a toll on LISSAA in particular making them charge for Internet use, while the IRC runs safely with US government sponsorship. Since these centers do not have a specific technological focus, users are allowed to do anything like following sports news to using social networking sites without restriction. Occasionally, basic computer training is offered to select users of these centers. In regards to accessibility, the IRC is located on the grounds of the US embassy where visitors are usually screened by security guards before entry. The location is frightening enough for would-be users. This leaves the IRC out of reach for many Liberians who may not be able to muster the courage to go to the US embassy. LISSAA, on the other hand, is located on Benson Street which makes it more accessible for Liberians.

Based on our observation of these technology centers, we decided to follow the style of *iHub_ Nairobi. With this arrangement, we setup an innovation hub called *iLab_ Liberia to focus on the tech community, as well as anyone interested in learning more about technology. Usage of our space for training and events hosting is free of charge, and our computers run free and opensource software like Linux and FireFox. At the moment, we are the only people using this approach in Liberia. At *iLab_ Liberia, our focus is to promote information sharing and the use of opensource tools. Instead of offering training in regular proprietary software, users are introduced to web and software development as well as to opensource alternatives to proprietary software. This is significant considering that most users who cannot afford to buy genuine copies of proprietary software often make pirated or cracked copies of them which often leaves them vulnerable to viruses. Equipped with a dozen computers on a dedicated VSAT Internet connection, the tech hub is suited for hosting tech events as well as for providing contextually relevant training to users. This is usually done by understanding what potential users want to learn about and then directing trainings to these needs. This is a paradigm shift from the traditional definition of a tech center which is nothing more than a computer school or Internet cafe.

Since inception, we have hosted PenPlusBytes' Africa Elections Project workshop to train journalists in technology reporting. We have also hosted Monrovia Google Technology Users Group (GTUG) meet-up sessions and web development trainings. The West African Network for Peacebuilding, Liberia Early-Warning Working Group, and our elections partners have all been hosted for various workshops and trainings at the *iLab_. Right now, we are training thirteen students from five high schools in Monrovia, Paynesville, and Brewerville in web development to take each other head-on in the *iLab_ Web Challenge.

We are positive that we can make a far greater impact in the lives of Liberians with this approach to technology centers.

Kpetermeni Siakor
IT Director
*iLab_ Liberia

Sources:

[1] SocketWorks Global Digital Bridge - http://www.swglobal.com/e-solutions/digital_bridge.php

International Finance Corporation Sponsorship - http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/spiwebsite1.nsf/0/36CA941DCF217B3C852576BA000E29BD

http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/che.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/Factsheet_Socketworks_OvercomingtheDigitalDivide/$FILE/Fact+Sheet-SocketWorks-Overcoming+Digital+Divide.pdf

[2] Young Men Christian Association – http://www.ymca.org.lr/

[3] Liberia Intellectual Society of Scholars and Academia – http://www.lissaa.com/

[4] Information Resource Center - http://monrovia.usembassy.gov/irc.html

[5] *iLab_ Liberia – http://www.ilabliberia.com/

Tech Election Workshop - Technologies Used

Last week the iLab hosted a series of events called "New Tech at Work: Planning for Liberia's Elections and Beyond." The aim was to create a discussion about technologies that could be used to aid Liberia as it approaches the 2011 elections. At these events representatives from Google and iLab/Ushahidi Liberia spoke about relevant technologies that could be used by NGOs, citizens, and official elections bodies to help improve the way they collect, store, and share data. The events were made possible by Google's sponsorship.

As a follow up, the iLab team has compiled a list of technologies, software, and resources that were mentioned at these events. The list can be seen here at the iLab website: http://ilabliberia.com/links-resources/new-tech-at-work-liberia-s-elections-and-beyond

If your organisation would like a training on any of the resources mentioned please fill out our sign up sheet here: http://www.ilabliberia.com/use.

Thanks,

The iLab Team.

Tech Election Workshop - Day 1

Today *iLab_ Liberia, along with co-sponsor Google, conducted the first day of a three-day workshop on how technology can be used to ensure fair, transparent, and well organized elections.

Demonstrations and trainings were given by *iLab_ Liberia staff members. Today we covered back-up and file sharing systems, ways to curate data so that it can be easily found and used in the future, methods for ensuring that data collected in spreadsheets can be easily parsed and analyzed by automated systems, data recovery, creating online forms for data entry, and online project management tools.

Participants were IT and technical experts and managers from various high-level elections organizations in Liberia, both governmental and non-governmental.

Many of those attending the workshop said they had learned something new and were able to see how the technologies discussed today could fill the gaps in their current systems and projects. Many participants were exposed to technologies they never knew existed, such as online storage options, and expressed a strong interest in complementing their current data management methods with these tools.

We're very excited to have the opportunity to host such an event, and are eagerly looking forward to the next two days!

Setting Up iLab Liberia

A Little Background

The idea of a setting up a tech center (iLab Liberia) in Liberia was brought forward by Kate and John, the two core team members of Ushahidi Liberia, as they thought of leaving a permanent mark on Liberia that should outlive the Ushahidi project that is meant to consummate after elections this year. Following discussions with stakeholders, of which I was a part, it was concluded that that was a project worth undertaking, although some thought that it was too ambitious.

Getting to Work

By March, this year I started working with Ushahidi as IT Director along with Carter (Deputy IT Director) and Luther (Training Director) under the supervision of John (Tech Lead) and Kate (Project Manager).

As expected, project number one was to setup the tech center with Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat desktop and server editions.

The Environment

Gratefully, we have a dedicated connection to the Internet via VSAT running at 384/128 kilobits per second (kbps) on C-band. This means that we can download files at speeds up to 48 kilobytes per second (KBps) and upload at up to 16KBps (conversion: 8 bits = 1 Byte). This is significant considering that that the average Internet connection speed in Liberia is 128/64 kilobits per second (i.e. 16/8 KBps) on a very shared mobile connection. Also, with annual rainfall in Liberia at over 200 inches under a familiarly cloudy sky, a KU-band satellite connection will only work for 1/3 of the year.

We also have a very beautiful view of the ocean and the city of Monrovia from our fourth floor office on 20^th Street, Sinkor. We are neighbors to the largest hospital in the country, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital. We are geocoded at 6.287929,-10.775193 on the fourth floor of a twin building.

View from the iLab's back porch

Entrance to iLab Liberia building

Initially, we had limited electricity for about six hours a day but that is now completely 24/7 on diesel generator sets.

Beginning the Setup

Starting with three Dell Vostro desktops running Windows 7, eight desks, a projector and screen, and an N-band wireless router, the question of the physical layout naturally emerged. Following brainstorming sessions on this, Carter and I suggested connecting the desktop computers via wireless to avoid all the cable clutter and to allow for flexibility in rearranging desks to suit various needs. This wireless setup was approved and we went out to find compatible wireless cards for Linux.

iLab configuration

The Ups, Downs and Lessons Learned

Our next step was to download and install Ubuntu 10.10 on the initial 3 tech center computers. With the help of a download manager, we got the ISO of both desktop and server editions downloaded in about 9 hours over a span of two days, and installed them.

Getting a wireless card that was compatible with Linux on the Liberian market was not possible.  In the end, we settled for a D-Link DWA-525 compatible card which emphatically declares compatibility with Microsoft Windows 7 only. All the associated drivers and software were all Windows based.

With some work and research, we got the cards to work in Linux. The Ubuntu Forum is a very helpful place to go for both newbies and pros alike. These sites proved very helpful in getting around this problem:

1.     http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=571188 (General wireless setup)

2.     http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1559576 (Getting DWA-525 cards to work)

Since security is always an issue with wireless networks, we tightened our network with WPA2-AES-CCMP.

One desktop was set aside for a server running Ubuntu Server 10.10 edition. Making these cards work on the server edition without a GUI wasn't as enjoyable as the desktop edition.

To make the server easy to administer for the other staff, we had to download and install the GUI. Then we installed webmin which enables configuration of the server over a secured browser interface on the local area network. The plan was to configure LDAP and NFS on all client machines so that user accounts can be carried from computer to computer. Auto-mounting NFS file systems at start-up did not work well with the wireless cards, even with ndiswrapper.

During that time, Carter and I prepared the initial draft guidelines for the tech center as well as creating a name for the tech center. We configured FrontlineSMS on our computers and tested them with the Ushahidi platform.

Switching power damaged one of our APC UPSs and we had to get the battery replaced. At this time, we decided that getting more desktops was not the best option after all for many reasons. First, dependence on UPS’s that themselves needed protection from power surges was not an option. Second, the wireless cards were certainly not working well with NFS and we needed user files to be stored on the server. Thirdly, and probably most importantly, price was not in favor of desktops. The first three desktops we bought cost us US $1,200.00 a piece, which meant that we could not get as many computers as we needed for the lab. Their size, weight and clearing formalities would cost us more to ship some from the U. S. Laptops were the obvious choice, but which?

New Plans, New Implementations

Being a biased Thinkpad user, it was natural for me to recommend it as the laptop of choice. After much discussion, it was clear that Thinkpad laptops had a clear advantage with regard to reliability, compatibility with Linux, toughness, and they fit right into our purpose. For the price of one desktop, we could get two of these legendary brand machines plus security locks at a lower shipping cost.

Also, we needed to change our wireless router to provide guest access to our visitors and the wireless adapters in the desktops to natively supported cards in Linux.

The first step was to fully convince ourselves that Thinkpads were the way to go. So, we ordered a brand new Lenovo Thinkpad SL510 on TigerDirect for US $480.00 and a dual-lock from Amazon and had it brought to Liberia by Kate’s friend.

With the arrival of our first Thinkpad computer, we immediately tested it against all our requirements and found it fit for the purpose. Test results from the computer and lock convinced us to move ahead with our plans to buy the eight more laptops and four locks for the iLab setup.

The existing server was immediately downgraded to a regular desktop computer, whilst the new Thinkpad laptop replaced it as the new server—yes, a laptop server!

We patiently awaited the arrival of our newly purchased laptops that were then stuck at the airport awaiting duty-free privilege documents to be processed. Three days passed by with Carter and I unsuccessfully running between the office and the Ministry of Finance, to get the clearance documents for FedEx to release our packages. Using her special gift of dealing with TIA (This Is Africa) situations, Kate was able to get all documents processed, packages cleared and delivered in one day!

We immediately unpacked and began setting up the new Thinkpads. Their network adapters connected to wireless before we even started installing Ubuntu on them! NFS auto-mounting worked like a breeze over the N-band wireless network and we were all set and ready to go.

In about a week, our newly-bought Cisco Linksys E3200 arrived in Liberia. We configured it and tested it with the iLab computers. Being fully convinced that we had made the right choices, we replaced our old router with the new one and had all our iLab computers connect to it.

Ready to Conquer the World!

With all the technical aspects of the lab setup done, we shifted focus to documentation, web development, and finalizing the user guidelines. To enforce compliance, we configured our router to serve OpenDNS addresses to iLab computers and guests through which we can restrict our Internet connection.

We used Google Sites to rapidly deploy a website for iLab Liberia at http://www.ilabliberia.com/, where potential users can register for events, and keep up with developments around the lab. We also have a Twitter feed at @ilabliberia as well as a Facebook group named iLab Liberia (http://www.facebook.com/pages/iLab-Liberia/201149189929049).

After thorough testing of the iLab website, computers, and network infrastructure, we are ready to conquer the world!