Far out
Another space station
Shenzhou-10: China launches next manned space mission
Three astronauts blasted away from the Jiuquan base in Inner Mongolia on a Long March 2F rocket at 17:38 Beijing time (09:38 GMT).
The commander, Nie Haisheng, and his crew, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping, plan to spend just under two weeks at the orbiting Tiangong space lab.
Wang is China's second female astronaut and she will beam the country's first lesson from space to students on Earth.
The crew's capsule was ejected from the upper-stage of the rocket about nine minutes after lift-off. Mission controllers clapped enthusiastically once the ship's solar panels had been deployed…
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Labels: capacity, China, technology
Catching up
Mexico's economy is globalized. One bit of infrastructure needs some major work. Can the government lead the way? Rachel Levin, reporting for
al Jazeera in this 2-minute video offers one perspective.
Mexico aims to close the digital divide
Mexico wants to be recognised as high-tech, but 70 percent of country lacks computer or internet access.
Mexico wants to be recognised as a high-tech nation competing against countries like China and India with manufacturing jobs and foreign investment.
Mexico has signed more free-trade agreements than any other country in the world, and its economy is currently out-pacing Brazil, but there is one thing that could threaten its potential - that is the digital divide.
Around 70 percent of Mexicans have no access to either computers or the internet. As Mexico's economy roars towards the future, much of its success will depend on how many people get the skills necessary to participate in the boom.
See the video report
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Labels: economics, infrastructure, Mexico, politics, technology
Nigeria's space program
As an old man who has paid attention to Nigeria for 50 years, I need reminders that Nigeria is a modern nation. I think that students also need to be reminded that most of Nigeria is a 21st century country. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)
This 3-minute video report from the BBC in Lagos illustrates the politically controversial Nigerian space program.
Nigeria develops one of Africa's biggest space programmes
Nigeria is running one of Africa's biggest space programmes in a bid to combat flooding, urban overcrowding and desertification.
Data collected from satellite images assists the government as it shapes policies which help ensure food security for a rapidly expanding population.
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| Space program headquarters in Lagos |
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Labels: infrastructure, Nigeria, technology
Social media and civil society
I'm told (correct me if I'm wrong) that a rubric for an FRQ on last year's AP exam did not allow using social media as an example of civil society. I wasn't there and I didn't read exams, so my inclination to include social media in civil society doesn't mean much.
Clay Shirky, professor of New Media at NYU, writing in
Foreign Affairs, offers an argument that social media are part of civil society, but perhaps not in the way you might think at first. [
Summary: Discussion of the political impact of social media has focused on the power of mass protests to topple governments. In fact, social media's real potential lies in supporting civil society and the public sphere -- which will produce change over years and decades, not weeks or months.]
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And, oh, yes, Happy New Year.
The Political Power of Social MediaOn January 17, 2001, during the impeachment trial of Philippine President Joseph Estrada, loyalists in the Philippine Congress voted to set aside key evidence against him. Less than two hours after the decision was announced, thousands of Filipinos, angry that their corrupt president might be let off the hook, converged on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, a major crossroads in Manila. The protest was arranged, in part, by forwarded text messages reading, "Go 2 EDSA. Wear blk." The crowd quickly swelled, and in the next few days, over a million people arrived, choking traffic in downtown Manila.
The public's ability to coordinate such a massive and rapid response -- close to seven million text messages were sent that week -- so alarmed the country's legislators that they reversed course and allowed the evidence to be presented. Estrada's fate was sealed; by January 20, he was gone…
As the communications landscape gets denser, more complex, and more participatory, the networked population is gaining greater access to information, more opportunities to engage in public speech, and an enhanced ability to undertake collective action. In the political arena, as the protests in Manila demonstrated, these increased freedoms can help loosely coordinated publics demand change...
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Labels: civil society, concepts, technology
Ah, technology
One of the wonders of the Internet is the plethora of alternative routes that messages can take to get from here to there. Nigeria has a problem because the whole country relies on one big undersea cable routed through Benin. When that cable is disrupted, lots of things don't work.
This is the report from
ThisDay.
Damage to Sat3 Cable Cripples Banks, Internet ServicesThe damage to the mainstay of Nigeria's terrestrial internet service provision, SAT3, has disrupted businesses in the private and public sectors across the country.
The unavailability of internet services disrupted banking and telecoms services yesterday as most banks could not meet their obligations to their customers.
Telecoms operators as well were not left out as their operations were also impacted negatively.
The SAT-3 cable facility is a key communication infrastructure that links Nigeria with the rest of the world...
Most of the affected businesses offered either skeletal or no services at all, with many of them scrambling to look for alternative internet support for their operations.
In Abuja, activities at ministries, the National Assembly, banks and private media houses practically came to a halt as difficulties were encountered in internet connectivity...
[Corporate Services Executive, Mr. Wale Goodluck] said while the submarine cables were owned and maintained by a third party, MTN had ensured that all available resources were mobilised to ensure that a solution was found.
He estimated that "based on available information from our service provider, the repair work may take up to 10 days"...
See
Fibre for Africa"To give it its full name, SAT3/WASC/SAFE Consortium is an international fibre that goes from Portugal to South Africa and out across the Indian Ocean to Asia. The cable system is divided into two sub-systems, SAT3/WASC in the Atlantic Ocean and SAFE in the Indian Ocean. The combined length of the SAT3/WASC/SAFE system segments measures 28 800km. It has 36 members who put up US$600-million to build and operate it for the life of the cable over the next 25 years..."
Labels: Nigeria, technology
Radio? check TV? check Internet? next
"After ignoring the Internet for years to focus on controlling traditional media such as television and newspapers, the Kremlin and its allies are turning their attention to cyberspace, which remains a haven for critical reporting and vibrant discussion in Russia's dwindling public sphere.
"Allies of President Vladimir Putin are creating pro-government news and pop culture Web sites while purchasing some established online outlets known for independent journalism. They are nurturing a network of friendly bloggers ready to disseminate propaganda on command. And there is talk of creating a new Russian computer network -- one that would be separate from the Internet at large and, potentially, much easier for the authorities to control...
"Putin addressed the question of Internet censorship during a national call-in show broadcast live on radio and television this month. 'In the Russian Federation, no control is being exercised over the World Wide Web, over the Russian segment of the Internet,' Putin said. 'I think that from the point of view of technological solutions, that would not make any sense.
"'Naturally, in this sphere, as in other spheres, we should be thinking about adhering to Russian laws, about making sure that child pornography is not distributed, that financial crimes are not committed,' he continued. 'But that is a task for the law enforcement agencies. Total control and the work of the law enforcement agencies are two different things.'
"Many people here say they believe Putin didn't mind a free Internet as long as it had weak penetration in Russia. But with 25 percent of Russian adults now online, up from 8 percent in 2002, cyberspace has become an issue of increasing concern for the government...
"Prosecutors have begun to target postings on blogs or Internet chat sites, charging users with slander or extremism after they criticize Putin or other officials. Most such incidents have occurred outside Moscow, and federal officials deny that they signal any broader campaign to control the Internet..."
Labels: political culture, Russia, technology
Technology and politics
Technological change obviously affects economics and education, but what will it bring to politics and governance? Ask your students what they would expect.
Nigerian Space Program Isn't a 419 Scam
"Nigeria, a country whose best-known technological export is probably the flowery e-mail output of its "419 scam" artists, is ramping up a scrappy space program that's working wonders with a relatively small investment.
"Robert Boroffice, leader of Nigeria's National Space Research and Development Agency... looks to the sky to solve his country's earthly problems of hunger and disease. The country has launched satellites on the cheap to aid agricultural and medical initiatives and is seriously contemplating building an international spaceport...
"His defense to charges of misplaced priorities -- wasting money on space technology when Nigeria faces so many other pressing problems -- is as disarming as it is forward-thinking: Space is one of the smartest micro-investments a developing nation can make, he said...
"Africa's most populous country, Nigeria is saddled with a sub-Saharan developing nation's standard-issue burdens: disease, poverty, coruption, and malnutrition.
"Boroffice thinks space technology is the key to addressing such woes relatively cheaply and efficiently. For example, NASRDA spent $13 million... in the 2003 launch of NigeriaSat-1, an advanced imaging satellite that punches its weight with 1990s satellites in the $300 million class. NigeriaSat-1... helped sow the seeds of technological development in a nation that needs engineers, infrastructure and IT...
"Today, Nigeria imports food for its booming population while Nigerian farmers' yields depend on seasonal variations in things like water availability and soil fertility. NigeriaSat-1 beams up-to-date agricultural data back to... mission control in Abuja every day, and Nigeria's space support program helps farmers make use of the information to make smart decisions, said Boroffice...
"The challenge... is reaching the point of self-sufficiency so Nigerian engineers can build, launch and operate satellites from within the country's borders...
"With the successful launch earlier this year of Nigeria's first communications satellite... telemedicine is now possible...
"'Most of our doctors don't want to go to rural areas,' [Boroffice] said. 'So we have created primary health-care centers, and we link them to two teaching hospitals. And these two hospitals, with videoconferencing, can provide high-quality medicine to these remote (areas).'..."
See also:
Labels: Nigeria, technology
