Opening SA's digital doorway
9 July 2004
The Digital Doorway project, which explores the viability of "minimally invasive education" as an alternative means of promoting wide-scale computer literacy, has launched its second "blue machine" in Mamelodi township outside Pretoria.
The first Digital Doorway, a freestanding multimedia computer terminal with a keyboard and touchpad embedded in a robust kiosk accessible to the public 24 hours a day, was launched in Cwili Village near Kei Mouth in the Eastern Cape's Libode district in 2002.
A joint project of the Department of Science and Technology, the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research and power utility Eskom, the Digital Doorway project seeks to verify results, in the South African context, of research conducted in India indicating that children can acquire functional computer skills without any formal training - through their own intuition and exploration.
The idea is to provide people in rural and disadvantaged areas with
computer equipment, and allow them to experiment and learn with minimal external input.
Mamelodi's Digital Doorway is located off a busy main street of the township's central business district, near the Mamelodi multi-purpose community centre, providing an urban contrast to the first site location in the remote rural Cwili Village.
The Digital Doorway computer terminals house regular word-processing software for typing of letters or messages, and carry mathematics, science, music and language applications, an HIV/Aids presentation, Internet and e-mail access, and entry-level versions of Word and Excel.
They are configured to simulate actual computer usage conditions, and include multimedia capabilities to ensure an enriching learning experience for users.
Eskom is sponsoring the installation of Mamelodi's Digital Doorway terminal and supporting associated research and development work for 12 months.
Observations show that the Cwili Digital Doorway is
used from as early as 5am until approximately 9.30pm, with groups of six to 10 children, both boys and girls, aged between nine and 15, regularly using the computer.
Within a month of installation, about 60% of the village's children had already taught each other basic computer functions, including the ability to drag icons, re-arrange windows and open applications.
A number of young adults, mainly males, also use the Cwili kiosk, though they prefer using it in the evenings "after work", when there are fewer people around and "the kids have finished playing".
The most popular programmes for the Cwili children have been the educational programmes as well as the music programme, while the older groups prefer the Internet and Word, as well as the music.
CSIR business unit icomtek, which is responsible for the pilot implementation and evaluation of the project, has redesigned the Digital Doorway unit using Open Source software. The server PC runs on FreeBSD,
providing a stable operating system, while the user PC uses DEBIAN Linux - for easy upgrading of applications and enhanced security - and KDE, a graphical manager which support indigenous languages.
icomtek specialises in information and communication technology projects which are geared to development and societal needs. These include human language technologies, using Open Source as a platform for creative expression, and easy learning in a multilingual environment.
icomtek's new Storymaker application, a multilingual programme that allows users to create their own stories in their own language, will soon find its way onto the Digital Doorway kiosks, as will a digital version of the indigenous game ncuva.
If your company would like to sponsor a Digital Doorway site, or for more information on the project, contact Ronel Smith of the CSIR icomtek or Imraan Saloojee of the
department of science and technology.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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