Abstract

Free and open source software (FOSS) has the potential to contribute to development not only by lowering costs but also by reducing barriers to innovation. There is a growing body of research literature on FOSS in general but little or none of it originates in Africa. This project aims to develop research and research capacity on FOSS and FOSS processes in Africa. It will do so by supporting a core network of FOSS developers working on the next generation of learning management software in nine African universities. At the same time, the exercise is expected to provide a better understanding of what makes an online FOSS community sustainable in Africa.

Post-Project Summary

A network of computer scientists from eight, and eventually 12, African universities (nodes) started to meet, collaborate and implement the software platforms that were developed. They collaborated on Chisimba, a Web 2.0 enabled free software development framework for creating Web and distributed applications. The AVOIR website ((http://avoir.uwc.ac.za/) offers visitors developer resources and free downloads of Chisimba. The Mozambique team translated Chisimba into Portuguese. The University of the Western Cape (UWC) began providing open access to course content. The University Edouardo Mondlane followed. The team offered training in KEWL.NextGen and Chisimba beyond Africa, to Afghanistan and the Philippines. The group laid the groundwork for an applied Master's program in the area of Free and Open Source Software Engineering and Application, convening two master's workshops in Nairobi and Cape Town. Through his connection with Sun Microsystems, the project leader managed to get new Sun system servers donated to all the nodes that were also participating in NetTel, a donor-supported initiative aimed at jointly establishing curriculum for regulator training. Sun later donated one to the Centre for Informatics, Eduardo Mondlane University (CIUEM) so that it could have a dedicated server to support Chisimba.

AVOIR was asked by IDRC to do its own internal evaluation of the project. To this end, three members of the team attended an Outcome Mapping training workshop in Cape Town and endeavored to assess the outcome of the AVOIR network. After considering the statistics on uploads, they concluded that most of the software development took place at UWC. However, the IDRC reviewer suggests that using definitions such as implementer, user and localizer as well as developer might have resulted a more accurate assessment of the level of activity of the AVOIR network. A strong sense of ownership was reported by a large number of developers interviewed during the internal evaluation and many credited AVOIR with teaching them about FOSS and allowing them to experience its development.

A list of four conference presentations, seven publications and 12 other electronic products, articles and presentations are appended to the project completion report. Project leader Derek Keats was recognized as a FOSS champion and for his contribution to the development of Web-based education techniques in Africa when he was appointed Vice-Chancellor: Information and Knowledge Management at Witwatersrand University (Wits), a position that he assumed in January 2009. At the time the project ended, Wits was in the process of joining the network, as was the University of Mauritius. Also, a decision was made to add an entrepreneurship component to AVOIR to make it more business oriented, with a view to attracting additional sources of funding.

Recipient Institution(s)