Information and communications

Focus on wireless mesh research

This edition covers recent events and developments related to the wireless mesh research conducted at the Meraka Institute of the CSIR. These include a partnership agreement between the Department of Communications (DoC), the Meraka Institute and the University of Zululand, in an attempt to develop technology solutions for rural populations on the African continent; the accreditation of the Siyakhula Living Lab as an affiliated member of the European Network of Living Labs; and a visit by the representative of the Wireless World Research Forum, Vino Vinodrai.

Building local partnerships to promote wireless mesh network technologies A new partnership has been established between the national Department of Communications (DoC), the Meraka Institute of the CSIR and the University of Zululand (UZ), in an attempt to develop technology solutions for rural populations on the African continent.

Touching base on wireless matters with WWRF As the first African member of the Wireless World Research Forum (WWRF), the Meraka Institute of the CSIR recently hosted a visit by Vino Vinodrai from the WWRF. Vinodrai is one of Canada's leading experts in the mobile radio industry.

South African entities recognised as European Living Lab members An announcement on 25 November 2008 at a gala event in Lyon, France, during Europe's leading ICT research event, ICT 2008, has seen South African Living Labs acknowledged as affiliated members of the European Network of Living Labs (EnoLL) as part of its 'Third Wave'.

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International recognition for innovative mobile learning research A paper written by Meraka Institute PhD student, Adele Botha, and co-authored by her colleague Merryl Ford and John Traxler of the University of Wolverhampton, was voted 'most rigorous academic paper' at the mLearn 2008 conference.

Digital Doorway makes its début at the African Union The growing relationship between the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Meraka Institute of the CSIR has started to bear fruit. Ethiopia has joined the list of other African countries that are set to benefit from this collaboration.

Meraka Institute signs memorandum of cooperation with Uganda's largest university The signing of a memorandum of cooperation between the Meraka Institute of the CSIR and Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, holds the potential for productive collaboration between these two institutions.

Young researcher contributes to Open Mobile Consortium Bryan McAlister, a researcher from the human language technologies research group at the Meraka Institute of the CSIR, has been invited to become part of the soon-to-be-renamed Open Mobile Consortium (OMC).

CHPC hosts third national meeting in KwaZulu-Natal Local and international high performance computing experts, users and students travelled in their numbers to attend the third national meeting of the Centre for High Performance Computing — CHPC2008 — on 9-10 December 2008, held on the Westville campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban.

Syngenta-sponsored Digital Doorway installed on the Western Highveld A Digital Doorway sponsored by Syngenta South Africa (Pty) Limited and hosted by John and Jenny Mathews at Mooifontein Central Primary Agricultural Co-op in Mpumalanga, was installed on 29 October 2008.

Human language technologies find international communality Over the past few years the South African government and the Committee of Ministers of the Dutch Language Union have often expressed their interest in cooperation and exchanging of expertise in the field of human language technologies (HLT) in a multilingual context.