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Work to live, don’t live to work

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Avada News   •   June 2, 2016

[/fusion_text][fusion_separator style_type="none" top_margin="50px" alignment="center" /][fusion_imageframe image_id="" style_type="none" stylecolor="" hover_type="liftup" bordersize="0px" bordercolor="" borderradius="0" align="center" lightbox="yes" gallery_id="" lightbox_image="" alt="" link="" linktarget="_self" hide_on_mobile="no" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_direction="down" animation_speed="0.1" animation_offset=""] [/fusion_imageframe][fusion_separator style_type="none" top_margin="50px" alignment="center" /][fusion_text][fusion_dropcap color="" boxed="yes" boxed_radius="50%" class="" id=""]A[/fusion_dropcap]Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. In et scelerisque sem. Nunc molestie neque augue, at gravida mi blandit eget. Aenean eu augue id lacus eleifend interdum. Cras sit amet metus sit amet velit lacinia ullamcorper. Nam facilisis a orci quis tempus. Vivamus id odio justo. Curabitur ut euismod metus. Donec nec neque non ligula vestibulum blandit id sed eros.Vestibulum cursus in ligula lacinia lobortis. Morbi at velit at velit auctor efficitur ut ac justo. Phasellus porttitor, elit vitae scelerisque vestibulum, nunc libero bibendum massa, ut ultrices quam libero vel dolor. In sit amet ultricies dolor. Suspendisse maximus odio mollis massa tristique rhoncus.

Keep It Simple

Duis vel tellus a ante convallis pellentesque. Ut nec eros ullamcorper, dictum enim in, euismod est. Proin scelerisque convallis ipsum consequat aliquam. Praesent semper scelerisque accumsan. Integer vitae nulla suscipit, molestie tortor sed, eleifend tellus. Pellentesque a bibendum massa.[/fusion_text][fusion_separator style_type="none" top_margin="30px" alignment="center" /][fusion_checklist icon="" iconcolor="" circle="" circlecolor="" size="18px" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id=""][fusion_li_item icon=""]Print Design Services[/fusion_li_item][fusion_li_item icon=""]Content Marketing[/fusion_li_item][fusion_li_item icon=""]PPC Advertising[/fusion_li_item][/fusion_checklist][fusion_separator style_type="none" top_margin="50px" alignment="center" /][fusion_text]Donec quam est, suscipit vel ligula ut, aliquet maximus libero. Pellentesque finibus tellus vitae dolor lacinia eleifend. Vivamus convallis nunc ante, ac placerat turpis imperdiet in. Aenean posuere tortor vitae mi mollis tempus.

Focus on The User

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Ask good questions and get better answers

Avada News   •   June 2, 2016

Keep It Simple

Focus on The User

Design Basics: Always carry a notebook

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Keep It Simple

Focus on The User

When is creative too creative?

Avada News   •   June 2, 2016

Keep It Simple

Focus on The User

How to encourage creativity?

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Keep It Simple

Focus on The User

Finding the assets you need

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Keep It Simple

Focus on The User

The best creative tools to use!

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Keep It Simple

Focus on The User

Forming client relationships

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Keep It Simple

Focus on The User

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Avada News   •   June 2, 2016

Keep It Simple

Focus on The User

   The Liberia IT Revolution Project is a two-year initiative to boost the IT ecosystem in Liberia, particularly by nurturing and motivating start-ups to identify creative solutions in mobile and internet technologies, software and web development and link them to market opportunities. The project strengthens the Liberian IT sector, creates a vibrant entrepreneurial culture amongst IT businesses and entrepreneurs, increases the growth potential for businesses.

The project contributes to economic development and (youth) employment in Liberia by

• Supporting existing small businesses to grow and generate new jobs ,and

• Introducing the IT sector as an opportunity for entrepreneurship development in Liberia.

The project targets existing IT businesses, university graduates and senior graduates, with a passion for entrepreneurship in technology. We are looking for participants that have the ambition and skills to energize the Liberian IT scene - businesses, non-profits and government. You are welcome to the inspiring events, trainings and other activities in areas such as:

• Entrepreneurship development (IT Awareness Workshops, Business Skills Trainings, Entrepreneurship Stimulation Workshops)

• Business development (Business Skills Trainings, Business Plan Competition, Pitching Sessions, Matchmaking Events, Access to Finance, Advisory Board Services)

• Technology skills (Mobile & Web Technology Trainings, Product Development Trainings,  Innovation Workshops)

As Liberia continues to the road of recovery for economic stability, infrastructure, reforms and education, IT plays a pivotal role in transforming the culture towards a connected and innovative society - the IT services sector is vital across nearly all sectors of business.Watch out for more info on social media, internet, radio and newspapers! Sign up now to receive regular newsletters and invitations to activities! Sign up at http://bit.do/LiberiaIT-register and join the Liberian IT Revolution Community today!!The project is brought to you by iLab Liberia, Business Start-up Center (BSC) Monrovia and SPARK, and is supported by Swedish International Development Aid (SIDA) and Mercy Corps.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in relevant field such as management, social science, computer science • 1-3 years demonstrated success coordinating or managing development projects • Experience implementing long-term projects, and in partnership with other NGOs • High level of initiative to innovate and lead • Excellent written, verbal communication and organization skills • Generosity of spirit, sensitivity/diplomacy, and willingness to be a team player • Commitment to empowering aspiring technologists and business owners • Strong logistical management skills; • Flexibility and ability to handle multiple tasks at one time in time-sensitive manner; • Comfort working with a casual but high-performing team • High degree of English fluency required

• eradicate Ebola (right!?),
• work on ICT entrepreneurship,
• work on tech for transparency, 
• get the normal activities rolling again in some way,
• have a great time learning and using new mobile and web technologies!

Dear friends of the iLab,

I am sure we are all aware of the emergency situation getting more and more serious -  and are all gravely concerned. Please read through this message.

iLab limiting its activities

For the safety of iLab staff and iLab users (and in reference to the government's regulations on public gatherings), we are sorry to inform you that all our public events are cancelled or postponed until further notice. Your health is more important!

We are currently still operating, but taking a number of precautions to ensure the safety of everyone. We continually seek the advice of various Liberian and international authorities and act accordingly.

What you can do to help in your community

• ACT POSITIVELY!
• STAY SAFE – wash your hands, do not touch sick or dead people
• DON'T PANIC – act with concern and safety, do not spread information that you do not know for sure
• LISTEN TO THE RADIO - constantly
• GET THE ESSENTIAL NUMBERS ON PAPER! – hotlines, health facilities, police, family, etc
• RESPECT – health workers, those who are sick, authorities – and your fellow human beings!

Numbers to calls for help or questions relating to Ebola

Ministry of Health and Social Welfare: 1333 (LoneStar) or 4455 (Cellcom)

UNICEF: 0886-520581 or 0886-374733

Radio Stations

• UNMIL Radio - 91.5 FM
• Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS) - 99.9 FM
• Voice FM - 102.7 FM

We will be posting announcements, sending SMS’s to our user base and doing other things. DON'T BE FOOLED BY FALSE INFORMATION AND RUMORS!

Mobile data collection is a new way of conducting enumerations, surveys, etc using mobile devices with various mobile technologies.

Tell people more about the services you offer. Use this repeating layout to display content. It's an easy way to keep your customers up to date with what's happening. Want to make this content your own? Simple drag and drop elements like text, images and links, or connect to data from your collection. Tell people more about the services you offer. Use this repeating layout to display content. It's an easy way to keep your customers up to date with what's happening. Want to make this content your own? Simply drag and drop elements.

Tell people more about the services you offer. Use this repeating layout to display content. It's an easy way to keep your customers up to date with what's happening. Want to make this content your own? Simple drag and drop elements like text, images and links, or connect to data from your collection. Tell people more about the services you offer. Use this repeating layout to display content. It's an easy way to keep your customers up to date with what's happening. Want to make this content your own? Simply drag and drop elements.

Tell people more about the services you offer. Use this repeating layout to display content. It's an easy way to keep your customers up to date with what's happening. Want to make this content your own? Simple drag and drop elements like text, images and links, or connect to data from your collection. Tell people more about the services you offer. Use this repeating layout to display content. It's an easy way to keep your customers up to date with what's happening. Want to make this content your own? Simply drag and drop elements.

Tell people more about the services you offer. Use this repeating layout to display content. It's an easy way to keep your customers up to date with what's happening. Want to make this content your own? Simple drag and drop elements like text, images and links, or connect to data from your collection. Tell people more about the services you offer. Use this repeating layout to display content. It's an easy way to keep your customers up to date with what's happening. Want to make this content your own? Simply drag and drop elements.

Introduction to Software Project Management  - March 5th-11th, 1:30PM - 3:30PM “Work smart on the right things at the right time - as a team.” This training provides a high-level understanding on different aspects of software projects. Intended to give ideas on what to take into account when planning to implement a piece of software, bigger or smaller. This training is meant for IT entrepreneurs, software or web developers, project managers and others who manage or implement projects.

About Jukka Heinonen

Mr. Jukka Heinonen, M.Sc. Technology, is a  Finnish software development professional with over 15 years of experience in software development, from startups to international  IT  corporations. He has been in teams developing software ranging from small bleeding edge proof-of-concept mobile applications to globally used software and systems. Tens of thousands of people have used software in which Jukka has been involved. His specialties include software project management, agile development methodologies, Scrum and mobile applications and systems.

Get in touch with us now – and help spread the word!

Female participants – the minority

Intermediate and advanced courses get a boost

TED talk – our most popular event

 hosted by GIZ  in Nairobi, Kenya

GIZ idea behind this workshop with African hubs was to network with pioneers

and practitioners, to share experiences, create new ideas and discover opportunities in Africa which will eventually help promote international cooperations for sustainable development.

The event brought together a dozen of African hubs including,  iLab Liberia of Liberia, iHub of Kenya, ActivSpaces of Cameroon, Klab of Rwanda, RLABS of South Africa, iLabAfrica of  Kenya, icecairo of Egypt, Wennovation Hub of Nigeria, BongoHive of Zambia, iceaddis of Ethiopia and of course our AfriLabs.

In attendance were representatives from the KAIPTC of Ghana and a hosts of GIZ representatives from  head offices in Germany and other African Countries.

During the workshop, we had the opportunity to visit Hubs, (iHub, M:Lab, iLabAfrica, Ushahidi) Incubators like(Nailab & iBizAfrica), and Strathmore University which houses the Safaricom Academy, iBizAfrica and iLabAfrica.

The Impact of hubs:

• Develop skills [caption id="attachment_2561" align="alignright" width="150"] iLab Africa[/caption]
• Create jobs
• Serve as implementing partner for both governments and development cooperations
• Serve as a focal point for the  community
• Identify skills and bring them together under one roof where their potentials can be utilized effectively not only on the national scene, but globally as well.
• Help with local development since it creates local linkages

The potential of digital innovation is every country's business, because it has become the driving force for national economies, infrastructure development, renewable energy, green revolution and a new way for education. Since mobile devices/technology in general, had become one of the world's potent development tool, it's eminent that development cooperations look in the direction where mobile devices can be harness to produce a new way for development projects implementation  in a mush faster, better and cheaper way. It is in this direction that hubs and incubators come into play. GIZ, from their perspective sees the impact of hubs in one word “CUBE”

• Create Innovation
• Use Knowledge
• Building Network
• Enhance Impact

These are relevant points in development and should therefore be incorporated by institutions in their strive to meet their projects deliverables.

Lessons learned:

From visit to these spaces,  their stories, programs and  physical layout which creates an environment for ideation,  creative thinking, giving a hub that tech feel is important for breeding the dynamics of innovation. More besides the Kenyan education system and the vast investments from telcos operating in Kenya in  the field of IT/ICT related programs had given the edge in this endeavor and is the strength behind Kenya technology growth.

It is about time we seriously engage our telcos to make some serious investments in technology at the university level and encourage startups, IT businesses and a space like iLab to improve its programs by creating business opportunities, capacity building and collaborating with them to undertake nationwide  projects. I strongly understand that innovation business models should always reflect more on what works, what doesn't, what is the define role of the hub in society and what forms of collaborations should be engaged. To reflect these points, I realized that hubs should:

• Hubs should focus on both high tech as well as low tech to reach everyone in the social circle.
• Use social media efficiently and effective in all forms to communicate and extend their projects to nationwide audience.
• Do more to reach out to rural communities to understand what their needs are and as hub to identify solutions and form collaborations with other institutions to tackle those problems.
• Develop programs to work outside of the hub, consulting the community while trying to find solution to their problems and other events that will keep the community alive.
• Do not focus on charity, tackle real problems and ensure solutions are sustainable.
• Ensure telcos are seriously involve with the hub activities and be a part of the solution
• Run projects that will not only benefit a community but will be felt nationwide
• Prioritize capacity building as a means to meet up with the community and it's ever growing problems.

Finally, iLab Liberia extends her gratitude to GIZ for affording us the opportunity to be a part of this important workshop and the level of collaborations that exist between the two entities so far.

African hubs attending the GIZ workshop

Trainings

• Intermediate Branding and advertisement course
• Quick start Website Creation for Institutions
• Structure Query Training Language (SQL) Training
• Social Media for women/Social Media for Social Change
• Introduction to Ubuntu
• Intro Mastering the Internet
• Intermediate Ubuntu
• Social Media for Transparency and Accountability
• Mobile Technologies for Transparency and Accountability
• Python Programming Language
• Intermediate Python Programming
• Physical Computing
• Photography
• (and some of these special courses for women only)

Events

• TED talk night
• Mapping Party
• Movie Night
• Guest Lecture
• Open Government
• ICT Career workshop
• Girls in ICT launch
• Physical Computing Demo Evening

• The government passed the Freedom of Information Act in 2010 (the first in West Africa);
• has worked to pass a Procurement and Contracting Act in 2009 requiring GoL contracts or projects to be executed on a competitive basis;
• has put in place an Open Budget Process to provide the public with information on the government’s spending; and
• adhered to the Extractive Industries Transparency through the EITI Act.

1. One citizen-centric place for knowledge that answers questions ordinary citizens have – how do I get a passport, how do I register a business, how do traffic lights work (yes, they are new in Liberia and no, people do not understand how it works)
2. An open data portal, that gathers data assets (like statistics, demographic information, geographic information) into one place

• Accurate tracking and recording of their business or projects
• Global marketing/ advertising of their business
• How to communicate with their clients via email
• How to use the internet for research on prices and ways to improve on already existing business/service

• Intermediate Branding and advertisement course
• Quick start Website Creation for Institutions
• Structure Query Training Language (SQL) Training
• Social Media
• Introduction to Ubuntu
• Intro Mastering the Internet
• Intermediate Ubuntu
• Social Media for Transparency and Accountability
• Mobile Technologies for Transparency and Accountability
• Intro to Python Programming
• Intermediate Python Programming
• Physical Computing
• Photography
• (and some of these special courses for women only)

We got feedback on training:

• More courses should be offered (eg. Networking and A+)
• Provision of more training materials
• Saturdays should be included in the days of training.

We also got feed back on Public events:

• We should invite local guest speakers ( Liberian citizen).
• We should have TED Talk nights only on fridays
• We should allow at least ten minutes of discussion after every TED night

We are a team of three students from Ashesi University in Ghana, implementing AshCon at Ricks Institute. AshCon is an off-line e-learning platform that serves high-quality educational material to students and teachers without the need for an Internet connection. To learn more about AshCon, you can visit our blog. As part of our project, we had to find and download additional educational materials, however our Internet connection was too slow. Kpetermeni Siakor, our team leader had been mentioning iLab even before we left Ghana and said that they would be able to help us. Kpetermeni is actually one of the first employees of iLab. We then contacted iLab for them to allow us to use their facility and their Internet connection and they agreed.

Our first day in iLab was really joyous, Kpetermeni was really happy to see his former colleagues and friends Anthony, Carter and Luther again. We also got to meet Teemu Ropponen the country director who was going for a meeting outside. We had the chance to meet Teemu earlier during our first week in Liberia; he was invited to the AJEN summer camp organized by Ashesi University at Ricks Institute to tell the participants about iLab and how they could benefit from it. After all the excitement settled, Anthony Kamah gave us a tour of iLab and helped us setup. Mr. Kamah was very kind and helpful. Later on, we had to temporarily move to the kitchen so as not to disrupt iLab's activities. We were so comfortable in the kitchen that we decided to stay there and make it our workspace for the following days.

Our stay in iLab was very fruitful. During the day, we would search for creative commons educational material and save the links in a download manager. Considering the volume of our download, it was preferable not to download during the day to avoid slowing the internet for everyone else. Before leaving in the evening, we would launch the downloads. This way we ensured not to monopolize the internet connection considering the volume of our downloads.

During our time at iLab, we got a glimpse of some of their activities: co-working hours, TED talk night, python for girls, social media for social change and a lot of other events.

• Sources: Their notions may be the result of communications you’ve had with customers, or they may be the result of good or bad publicity or word-of-mouth.
• Exposure: Your customers may have a deep well of perceptions about you, or your slate may be nearly clear of any impressions whatsoever.

• Remind customers and inform prospective customers about the benefits of your product or service
• Establish and maintain your distinct identity
• Enhance your reputation
• Encourage existing customers to buy more of your product/service
• Attract new customers and replace lost ones
• Slowly build sales to boost your bottom line
• Promote your business to customers, investors, and others.

Celebrating the 10 years of peace, debating about the challenges of the development of the nation, seeing the technology enthusiasm and opportunities in iLab users everyday…it’s great to be back in LIB! Here’s a few thoughts just after being in the country – back home in Monrovia – after holidays. In my native country, Finland, the summertime is slow – people are on holidays, and for over a month not much happens – with the exception of travel and tourism industries. One might expect the same here in LIB, since it’s rainy season, but far from it –we’re action packed![caption id="attachment_2334" align="alignleft" width="237"] Even CNN was in Liberia - they got a chance to see the action at iLab, here is the packed house for Mapping party - 60+ people in 2 labs.[/caption] Just before I left on holidays, we at iLab were happy to reach record attendances in June of this year. Further, in July we had over 200 visits just during our co-working hours – a huge increase.  We’re in the midst of crunching the numbers and will have some analysis on those sometime soon. One of the more novel things for us at iLab is our project on mobile data collection for tracking and monitoring beneficiaries of a child labor prevention project. We are looking at various open-source technology solutions and mobile devices – and defining and assessing technologies for developing  a system for our client and their field force – people in some 30 communities in three counties.  We’re excited – stay tuned for more info. Seems a lot is happening with e-learning right now – lots in interest gained. When Kpetermeni Siakor had his guest lecture on e-learning and the so-called MOOCs – the house was absolutely packed, with some 78 enthusiasts crammed in to listen! We’re talking with several organisations regarding how iLab could facilitate the adoption of the masses of material that are out there. I had a chance to discuss with several youth initiatives and with some staff from the Ministry of Youth and Sports. It is so great listening to the youth in their teens or early twenties asking for iLab support in their initiatives to utilize technology in new interesting ways – for example, how to disseminate text messages among the nearly 200 national volunteers. What was great to hear was that the idea for the project came from a participant in our mobile technologies for transparency and accountability -training! [caption id="attachment_2305" align="alignnone" width="300"] At Samuel K. Doe stadium / Ministry of Youth and Sports - explaining to 185 national volunteers how mobile technology could make their life easier,[/caption]Now just last weekend Liberia was celebrating 10 years of peace – no small feat - since its gruesome 14-year long civil war. Of course it is absolutely a great path to be on, even with its challenges. It was naturally disappointing to find Liberia (once again) as one of the most corrupt countries in the world – 10 years after the war, this really is one of the key challenges. On a related matter, equally puzzling and alarming Is the current battle between the media and some government-affiliated persons, relating to investigative journalism.  It seems there is quite a bit to do on the topic of open government and transparency, one of the themes at iLab this year. While the problems are certainly not solved just by technology, we are looking at increasing transparency by using ICTs intelligently. We look forward to working with both civil society organizations as well as government entities like the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism. Getting government and the citizens to communicate and meaningfully engage will be a long, fascinating journey. Wow, that’s a lot I’ve mentioned – but it’s not even nearly all! Right now we need to make sure we finish delivering what we’ve promised to our donors: our Girls in ICT –program is going strong – an intermediate Python class is just about to start. We continue to work on open government and transparency. We are thrilled to be a part of the IT business plan competition initiative that has been going on and are very much looking forward to supporting the new businesses as entrepreneurship remains one of our key themes. And we will not be forgetting the use of Ushahidi – essentially the reason iLab was started in the first place - to track incidents of conflict or violence all over Liberia, as a part of the Early Warning Early Response working group – 20 or so organizations led by the Peacebuilding office. We just trained 19 volunteers from the Interreligious council and continue to expand our conflict  reporter base.[caption id="attachment_2336" align="alignleft" width="248"] The future programmers who attended Introduction to Python busy during a workshop on how can the internediate class be even better.[/caption] All these promising initiatives need further support for continuation next year. With an internet access of 2.8% and mobile penetration of 42% in Liberia, iLab and similar entities have got a lot of work to do – lot of trainings, lot of organizing events,  lot of talking…and lots of negotiations with donors. However, all this is buzzing activity gives us immense amounts of optimism. There is nothing like the energy of people who have learned new skills and who are ready set their imagination free. There is a huge amount of this energy right now in LIB - so let's keep it rolling! 

• 8 courses
• 12 other events
• 25 co-working days (open office hours)
• all in all 690 registered physical visits to iLab (with pretests and "hello"-visits, we're at some 1000 visits)

Female participants – the minority

Intermediate and advanced courses get a boost

TED talk – our most popular event

 Another ICT course for the ladies!..."Mastering the Internet", part of the Google RISE program- Girls in ICT this summer (June - August). Over eighty ladies registered for the course but only 15 (fifteen) were selected for the training based on their scores in the pretest given. The training will last two hours everyday for five days (24th June - 28th June), after which they will be certified. Having Luther Jeke as the trainer, they are taught how to use the Internet like professionals; How to determine site credibility, Web browser vocabularies, ways to refine a search, tips for searching on line, and so much more.

 Training the ladies on how to be "Experts On line".

• Is meant mainly for girls in high school or those who have recently left high school/starting university.
• Is free to participants.
• You can take one or more courses.
• Lasts June- August.
• Even has an international element to it – with Ugandan, Kenyan and South African collaboration!

• Mastering the Internet.
• Introduction to Social media.
• Introduction to Python Programming.
• Intermediate Python Programming.

• ICT careers workshop, Mastering the internet and Python programming – targeted for Girls
• Open government, Freedom of information and transparency
• Entrepreneurship - ICT for small businesses and startups
• More technical programming and physical computing courses

• We should work on the Intellectual Property (IP) and legal challenges.

• Build strong mentorship structures.

• Successfully embrace virtual incubation.

• Collaborate with our governments with the involvement of Development Funding Agencies (DFA’s) in technology development for example laying their own internet cables like Kenya did to cut the costs, subsidizing ICT equipment etc.

• We need to be supplementing some of our government’s agenda’s if we are to tap in some of their support. We should also categorize the investors for example, donors, government, foundations, business angles among others.

• We can only get good external funding if our activities clearly define “what is a hub?” in terms of what we do, the kind partnerships we are looking for, and most importantly the success stories we produce.

• We categorized our revenue models into the activities that our hubs were good at and we highlighted;

  • Desk rental services

  • Donors, seed funders

  • Technology Philanthropists like the Geek Development Fund & Savanah Fund in Namibia

  • Banks, Small SME loans, Partners e.g. GIZ, CCL, Universities, Google, Dell, Microsoft

  • Consultancy and ISP partnership e.g. iHub in Kenya.

  • Local entrepreneurs e.g. Private Sector Federation, Rwanda Development Board.

• Work on Hub profiles:

• Statement of path to sustainability – develop prototypes of revenues models that can guide new hub entrants.

• Shared amplification of AfriLabs using the Media Machine as double edged sword for example news channels, news papers, magazines, T.V and Radio shows but being conscious about cons international media. Hub managers should blog about their Hub activities and community activities.

  Key Points about growing our hub communities:

  We should have activities that are tagged to the community challenges and keep the hub open to society. It doesn’t have to be techie’s only. (Jessica-iHub, Kenya). Have events running frequently and ensure to make them practical. Something that will keep the participants engaged all throughout the entire activity. (Mohammad-Ice Cairo). Have a good set of planners (events management at the hub). Have a web platform for continuous communication between the community, event facilitators and the hub management as well.

  We got a representative from ECOWAS in one of the Bar Camps, his remarks were: Ministries wanted to work with youth that were good at content development for example youth entrepreneurs, developers of animations that reflect the true value of the African Continent.

Who uses iLab

What events people attend

Gender

Raw Data

In an effort to bring technology to a growing community of Liberian journalists, iLab recently offered a course exploring online collaborative platforms. This course, Social Media for Social Change, is one of iLab’s ongoing and most popular courses that, in this case, was customized for 14 members of the Journalists for Human Rights Liberia Student Chapter. This training introduces platforms for easily publishing articles, document storage and virtual collaboration among Liberia’s aspiring journalists.

In our interactions with iLab users, we’ve found that most people spend their online time using Facebook and emailing; very few are taking advantage of other information sharing tools. For this reason, we highlighted the following tools for our classroom of journalists:

• Tumblr – For journalists we’ve met at iLab, the most important function of a website is to share their stories, images and create a body of work for others to see. Blogging tools like Wordpress, while useful, focus more on the site’s design whereas our users are seeking to upload content quickly and easily. Tumblr’s features make it clear and simple how to upload a variety of content with a unique, preset theme.

• Google Plus – This social platform is an alternative to Facebook that, in the Liberian context, is more often used for professional collaboration via Hangouts or simultaneous editing of a shared document. iLab users find it engaging and also a productive tool for group work and info sharing outside of the lab.

• [caption id="attachment_1187" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Participants receive certificates at the end"][/caption]

  Twitter – As I always say, “a journalist without a Twitter account is half-informed.” Even in a setting like Liberia where slow connection speeds make it difficult to use Twitter, it is undoubtedly the fastest way to share one’s own work and to stay abreast with events both within Liberia and around the world. Even if Liberian journalists only get to use Twitter periodically depending on their internet connection, it is critical for them to have a voice in the Twittersphere where Liberians are under-represented. With the ACE fiber-optic cable recently landed in-country and soon to be distributed, Liberia will soon have access to high-speed internet and these journalists will be ready to take advantage of tools like Twitter right away.

We’re excited to Hangout, Tweet and Tumble with these talented storytellers; here are a couple of all-stars to follow: @flozeezee, @AlVarneyRogers. In our efforts to support aspiring and professional journalists, we welcome suggestions about online and offline platforms/tools that you have found useful. Please share with us so we can continue growing Liberia’s online community of storytellers.

Name:        Moretti P. Collins

Dreaming big: Continue to research at iLab and complete several projects and presentations

Where does iLab fit in? when it comes to researching medical journals, articles and preparing documents and completing research and assignment papers.

Something we didn’t know: Many Liberian medical students take advantage of iLab as a means of accessing online medical resources that wouldn't otherwise be accessible without the high speed internet.

Last month, we received a delegation from Ghana’s Ashesi University. In addition to visiting iLab and getting a sense of our operations, the delegation came to offer scholarship opportunities to qualified Liberian students.

Ashesi University is a coeducational institution whose goal is to educate African leaders of exceptional integrity and professional ability. The university, which began instruction in March

 2002 with a pioneer class of 30 students, has quickly gained a reputation for innovation and quality education in Ghana.

The university is an independent, private, not-for-profit institution.

The University co-founder, Patrick Awuah, speaks at TED talks about the university on the topic “educating leaders”; we highly recommend this video - watch it here.

The day after our meeting with Ashesi delegation, we invited iLab users to attend and informational session explaining the procedure and necessary forms to apply for the scholarship opportunity. More than 80 interested candidates were in attendance, including both iLab users and others new to our facility. During our meeting, we explained about the University, the levels of scholarships awarded, procedure for applying for the scholarship, and a virtual tour of the campus through the university's website, and at the end of our meeting, we encouraged all interested candidates to attend the official Ashesi University Scholarship launch which was to be held the next day at the Joseph Jenkins Roberts United Methodist School in Monrovia.

Our team attended the launch and found that nearly 50% to 60% percent of the people at the launch had attended the scholarship awareness meeting at iLab Liberia the day before.

The scholarship opportunity

Ashesi University has over $3,000,000 from the MasterCard Foundation to give financial assistance to applicants who otherwise could not afford the college’s tuition. Nearly 40% of their student body receives scholarships from the University.

Ashesi offers a four-year bachelor’s program grounded in the liberal arts core curriculum. Degrees offered include:

• Business Administration

• Management information Systems

• Computer Science

Ashesi University is here in Liberia to award significant financial support to qualified students who need such assistance. Students accepted will be eligible for full or partial scholarship support to cover their tuition fees, textbooks, housing, and meals. In addition, 40 scholarship recipients will receive laptops each year.

The admission and scholarship application forms can be downloaded here.

Requirements for scholarship

1. WAEC – All applicants are required to have obtained division I, II, & III in the West African Examination.

2. If in High School, you are required to provide your transcript along with your application form(s)

3. Engage with other activities, skills, leadership ability, volunteer job, sports, talents, etc is an added advantage

4. Bank Statements, pay slips etc from family

5. Fill in the Admissions and Scholarships Forms (if you are applying for a scholarship)

6. Complete Application Forms in CAPITAL LETTERS

7. Submit Forms my post and email

8. If selected you will have to undergo on-phone interview (The University admissions office will call and interview you by phone on the number you will provide in your application form).

Frequently Asked Questions about the Ashesi scholarships

Who can apply for a scholarship at Ashesi?

Any family that can not afford the full fees should complete a scholarship.

Application Form and turn it in with their admissions application.

You can not apply for a scholarship after you have been admitted.

Will I need to submit any supporting documentation with my scholarship application?

A letter requesting why you need a scholarship is required. Families will able be required to submit bank statements, pay slips and any other relevant documentation. The more information you can include to support your inability to pay the full fees, the easier it will be to process your request. However, if you are unable to provide supporting documentation please explain in your letter why you are unable to do so.

How are scholarship decisions made?

First, the selection process begins by determining who should be given an offfer of admission based on each applicant's overall profile

Second, based on your scholarship need, you are placed into one of three categories:

Extreme Need (over $5,000)

High Need (between 3,500 – 5, 000)

Medium Need (between 2,000 – 3,500)

Low Need (less than 2,000)

For each category, there is a set amount of scholarships Ashesi can award.

Third, students in each category are selected based on the competitiveness of their admissions application.

When will I know whether I have been awarded a scholarship?

Typically, decisions are made within three weeks of submitting a completed application. You will receive both your admission and scholarship decision at the same time.

Will the scholarship be renewed every year?

As long as you and your family can continue to demonstrate financial need, you can expect that your scholarship award will be renewed annually. The scholarship committee meets annually to assess the financial status of each scholar's family. You may be asked to submit updated bank statements, pay slips and other supporting documents of verify your family's financial standings.

Where iLab comes in

Looking at iLab Liberia's mission to provide and encourage innovation, access and technology, we are in a position to provide our users with any possible learning opportunities that enable them to excel. In an effort to helped our users understand the requirements and submit their applications, iLab has pledged to do the following:

1. iLab sent out a citation to all her users and the public upon which they gathered at iLab's office where they were briefed about how to apply, provided copies of the application Forms, and encouraged them to attend the launching ceremony to hear from the horse's mouth.

2. Obligated her lab to all applicants to send their applications by email.

It is our hope an prayer that a good number of Liberians applying will be qualified and admitted.

sudo apt-get update

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lexical/hwe-wireless

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install rtl8192ce-dkms

sudo apt-get update

sudo reboot

Who uses iLab

What events are people attending

Gender

Raw Data

• Bag checks by security when visitors enter and leave iLab
• An automated doorbell that rings whenever the front door is opened
• Having at least one iLab staff located in the lab at all times
• Locks on computers and all equipment in the lab at all times
• Making sure we have all the details of our equipment (not just the computers) – serial number, model and make – recorded so we can easily identify our equipment should it be taken
• Possibly hiring another security officer to station directly outside the iLab door

• A customized set of trainings for IT professionals seeking employment in Liberia’s NGO community
• Providing free access to online courseware in ICTs and computer programming for Liberian students and professionals
• HTML, PHP, CSS and Python programming language trainings
• Introductory course in ICTs for small business entrepreneurs
• Office hours for interested users to learn, experiment and create their own projects with assistance from our staff
• ICTs for young women in Liberia: a course designed by iLab and Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee
• Data management trainings with a focus on standardization and portability of information for variety of users from government ministries to NGOs
• YouTube parties that allow our users to contribute local content and directly experience the power of video as a learning tool

• Mapping parties where Liberians use Google's Map Maker software to add the breadth and depth of their local knowledge to the map of Liberia
• Beginner, intermediate and advanced free and open source software (FOSS) trainings
• Hosting Google Technology Users Group meet-ups and other IT-related groups in need of a regular meeting place
• Blogging and “social media for development” trainings
• Web development classes for high school students
• Continuing to host workshops and events for organizations requiring ICTs