Calculative Making: The Fear of Failure in Kenya’s Makerspaces

Calculative Making: The Fear of Failure in Kenya’s Makerspaces

By Theresa FendNo Comments
When I first entered a makerspace in Nairobi in 2016, I was surprised that most people were sitting in front of their computers. My imagination of a messy makerspace where everyone tinkers with 3D printers and materials to build clumsy prototypes was disenchanted. A makerspace is a collaborative workshop equipped with tools and machines to process various materials. Contrary to the origins of makerspaces in hacker and do-it-yourself cultures that are aimed at an anti-capitalist appropriation of mass-produced goods (Maxigas 2012), the contemporary global phenomenon of emerging makerspaces focuses predominantly on entrepreneurial workplaces providing access to digital fabrication machinery like laser cutters, Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines, and 3D printers. Nairobi’s first makerspace – the epicenter of my three-year ethnographic research - joins the chorus of celebrating digital machinery for the development of cutting-edge prototypes to attract investment. On a state level, developing and innovating technology is seen as a path-breaking driver of national development in Kenya and as a historic moment for...
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Digital, transparent and self-determined: development cooperation can do more

Digital, transparent and self-determined: development cooperation can do more

By Theresa FendNo Comments
An outdated self-understanding prevents Europe from working with developing countries towards a common digital future. Europe, the fortress that everyone wants to storm. A Europe whose values and economy must be protected against immigrants from Africa and other parts of the world. This is the rhetoric that the leading development politicians are applying in Germany today: "Europe's fate and future is decided on the African continent," said Development Minister Gerd Müller in the Presse Release about the Marshall Plan with Africa of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Unfortunately, this does not mean that Africa is becoming increasingly important as a business partner and engine for digital innovation. Instead, their concern is about ensuring that jobs are created in Africa and that we limit the effects of climate change to prevent millions of people from migrating to Europe. As response to the provocative question: "Are hundreds of thousands sitting on packed suitcases in Africa?" posed by the BZ-Journalist, Günter...
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Emancipation through Technology in Africa 4.0

Emancipation through Technology in Africa 4.0

By Zen EditorNo Comments
Geraldine de Bastion, radio interview Africa produces an amazing number of technical developments and applications for technical developments, according to Geraldine de Bastion, curator of re:publica and founder of the NGO Global Innovation Gathering. For the Arte documentation " 'Digital Africa', she reports in a cross-media project on mobile payment in the countryside, drones to monitor the harvest, 3D printers that supply spare parts and traffic control robots. According to de Bastion, many young people in African countries took the opportunity to innovate so that they no longer have to be petitioners in their own countries. Jan 25, 2019 – SWR2, Geraldine de Bastion: Emanzipation durch Technik im Afrika 4.0 | [Engl: Emancipation through technology, Africa 4.0] | Download audio (4,43 MB | mp3 | German) ...
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GIG @ re:publica Accra 2018

GIG @ re:publica Accra 2018

By Mugethi GitauNo Comments
re:publica Accra, the very first re:publica conference held in Africa, took place on 14-15th December 2018 at the Trade Centre in Accra, Ghana and was attended by over 2000 people from 32 countries. 1st @republica in Africa was a blast. More than 2000 attendees came to Ghana to debate the rising digital society. 274 spokesperson, 110 Hours of program. It was hot, exciting and mindblowing. I learned so much about Africa! Thank you everyone who was involved doing it. #RpAccra pic.twitter.com/RcBpAHSSYV — netzpolitik (@netzpolitik) December 15, 2018 GIG was a supporter for this African edition of re:publica. Many GIGers were among the curation & organizing team as well as speakers. GIG also  hosted the makerspace through Kumasi Hive. Kudzai M Mubaiwa (iZone Hub, Zimbabwe), Nanjira Sambuli (World Wide Web Foundation, Kenya) and Jorge Appiah (Kumasi Hive, Ghana) curated the tracks around the topics ‘Business and Innovation’, Politics and Society’ and ‘Science and Education’. Nanjira Sambuli gave the first keynote speech right after the opening...
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African born 3D printing in Greece

African born 3D printing in Greece

By Zen EditorNo Comments
For the past few weeks our [AB3D Kenya] team was in Athens, Greece working with MIT’s d-lab and a local NGO Faros as we trained unaccompanied refugee minors to build their capacity through teaching them relevant hands-on and digital skills. ...
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GreenFingers Mobile digitizes farming

GreenFingers Mobile digitizes farming

By Zen Editor1 Comment
Hi all! We provide access to market and finance for smallholder farmers through a digital solution that replaces pen and paper farmer management systems. Shifting from Paper to Digital GreenFingers Mobile is a mobile first Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technology platform, to manage and finance large groups of smallholder farmers. Developed by a team of agricultural value chain experts, the platform easily adapts to different crop types and use cases. For more information or to get involved contact [email protected] and visit our website at greenfingersmobile.com....
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GIG @ re:publica 2018

GIG @ re:publica 2018

By Zen EditorNo Comments
“We are what we create together” re:publica #18 is happening again and we are excited that a vibrant, diverse community of innovators joined for the 6th Global Innovation Gathering (GIG). The GIG network brings perspectives from across the world to Europe’s leading conference on the Internet and society. Every year since 2013 the Global Innovation Gathering hosts a track and since 2015 a pop-up Makerspace to showcase innovations from all over the world. In the past couple of days over 85 people from 30 different countries arrived in Berlin to meet up, share sparkles, experiences, design projects and prepare for re:publica with speakers representing projects in Kenya, Pakistan, Nepal, South Sudan, India, Brazil, Colombia and many more. You find many of our sessions in the Tech for Good and also in the tracks such as Blockchain, Fe:male Digital Footprint, or re:health. We will be reporting on how the unconnected are connecting themselves, how Zero Net Neutrality unintentionally accelerated Fake News, tell...
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Building the Africa Open Science Hardware community

Building the Africa Open Science Hardware community

By Zen EditorNo Comments
Our GIG colleagues Vicy, Jaiksana, Stephen and Jo made their way to Kumasi, Ghana to attend the very first Open Science Hardware summit in Africa: AfircaOSH. The event is being hosted at Kumasi Hive. AfricaOSH is a gathering for everyone interested in Open Science & Hardware as a means to achieve locally adapted, culturally relevant, technologically and economically feasible production in Africa; as an alternative to traditional Intellectual Property (IP) and closed knowledge systems; and to understand its potential for development and collaboration across Africa, especially by reducing barriers to entry in education, research and manufacturing. Participants will include but are not limited to makers, hackers, practitioners and researchers in science, technology, engineering, government officials, private sector players and civil society across the African continent, the global South and the World. The GlobalGathering for Open Science Hardware recently launched the Global Open Science Hardware Roadmap: Making Open Science Hardware ubiquitous by 2025. If you are also working towards Open Hardware in general or more specifically with research...
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#ThinkB4UClick to #defyhatenow on social media

#ThinkB4UClick to #defyhatenow on social media

By Zen EditorNo Comments
#ThinkB4UClick (Think Before You Click) is an awareness campaign that aims at pointing out the dangers of misinformation, fake news and hate speech with a focus on South Sudan. Over a period of one month, we aim to discuss with the public the consequences of hate speech and how it can be mitigated through individual actions that aim at creating safe spaces online and offline for citizens to interact with each other and discuss matters in a fruitful and informed manner. As an integral part of the campaign we released an educational music video by Ugandan R&B artists Freeboy Adams the African Boy & Sherry Zania as well as a series of sound clips on the topic of hate speech mitigation and responsible use of social media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMz6s_m0q_I     >> Read the whole press release at defyhatenow.net/[…]...
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PitchDriveXYZ – Presenting the 14 top Start-ups from Africa

PitchDriveXYZ – Presenting the 14 top Start-ups from Africa

By Zen EditorNo Comments
PitchDrive by CcHUB, powered by Google for Entrepreneurs, will engage 14 of Africa’s top tech start-ups on a tour of tech hubs in Europe (London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Zurich and Paris) to pitch to investors, explore international opportunities and learn about frontier technology markets. Last year, it was estimated that African start-ups raised a record-breaking total of $366.8 million in investment, with the top 10 destinations being Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Cote d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia and Uganda. Africa is in the midst of a technological renaissance and we present to you a unique opportunity to interact and network with 14 leading startups from the continent. The Open Pitch session will give the entrepreneurs the unique opportunity to interact, network and pitch to a room full of highly networked individuals and Africans in the Diaspora. We hope you will take out time to join this rare opportunity to get a glimpse of the best of Africa’s tech startups. After an introduction...
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