Container Digital Doorway in Kopela
|
Two rural communities in the North West, Khuma and Kopela, are the proud recipients of two brand-new container Digital Doorways which were installed in June 2011. The latest in the ever-evolving series of Digital Doorway designs, these attractive, brightly-coloured structures containing three Digital Doorway terminals are robust, solar-powered standalone units placed in public areas where community members can teach themselves computer and information skills. The Digital Doorway initiative is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and managed by the CSIR Meraka Institute.
Given the importance of community liaison to ensure buy-in and acceptance of the container Digital Doorways, Meraka’s Ronel Smith initiated discussion with the North West Living Lab (NWLL) to identify suitable communities in the North West as recipients. The start-up of the NWLL was funded by DST.
This proved to be a recipe for success. Smith explains, “The NWLL facilitated the selection of Khuma and Kopela as well as the negotiation for permission for the installation of the containers. A member of the Meraka team accompanied the NWLL on site-visits to the community to meet the stakeholders and to inspect the sites selected by the communities, as well as the access roads to these sites.” Both communities were deemed ready to receive information and communications technology as a catalyst to address actual needs.
Khuma is the former location area of the town Stilfontein near Orkney, approximately 200 kilometres south-east of Johannesburg in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District. Kopela is a deep rural community, approximately 450 kilometres north-west of Johannesburg, near Delareyville, in the Dr Ngaka Modiri Molema (Central) District.
The installation of the containers and training of community members were undertaken by Ingwapele Technology, an SME working closely with Meraka. Led by Louis Bapela, the Ingwapele team set up and tested procedures on site at the CSIR before heading off to Khuma for the first installation.
Bapela comments, “It was our first installation on site and we thanked ourselves for marking individual components as either DD1 or DD2 to avoid confusion.” Innovations and improvements made to the design of the container resulted in the Ingwapele team completing the installation at the Khuma local library in one day - half the time that had been set aside.
By the time the team turned up the next day for installation at the community centre in Kopela, they had all the tricks they needed up their collective sleeve. Bapela confirms, “The experience we gathered from the first installation came to our rescue.”
Local enthusiasts were trained at each site to take responsibility for the effective management of the container Digital Doorways and to liaise with the Meraka team, as needed. In the case of Khuma Library, a minder, the librarian and two local teachers were trained. “We extended the training to the visiting General Director of the libraries around Potchefstroom and her team,” Bapela says. “The school children were very interested in the different components of the container, so we showed them some of the technical aspects of the container Digital Doorway.”
At Kopela Community Centre, a community leader, a minder and four community members were trained.
Early indications are that the containers Digital Doorways have been well received by the two communities who are now responsible for their day-to-day running and future launch events.
Footnote: The Digital Doorway team has to date deployed container Digital Doorways in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.
News contributed by Biffy Van Rooyen, CSIR Strategic Communications and Stakeholder Relations
14 July 2011 |
