The eBrain Forum of Zambia would like to see the Zambian education system improve to a level where access to education will no longer be limited by distance and fewer places in Schools, Colleges and Universities.
In an interview with eBrain Chairperson, Lee Muzala said the eBrain Forum of Zambia’s mission was to contribute to the improvement of quality of life through promoting the use of information communication technologies (ICTs) for purposes of development by raising awareness, conducting monthly meetings, baseline surveys, research as well as building capacity among members.
Explaining their role in the eLearning Africa Conference, Muzala said eBrain Forum of Zambia had representation on the eLearning Africa 2010 Organising Committee, and was playing a key role in ensuring that Zambia was prepared to host the event.
“We have also managed to bring on board our funders who will be supporting the preparations by providing and paying for Coordinating Officer as well as paying for a survey to measure the extent of eLearning usage in Zambia,” explained Muzala.
He added that eBrain together with their cooperating partners, the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) will be exhibiting at the conference, and that they have several members that will make presentations during the conference, as well as chair some of the parallel sessions.
He explained that the eBrain Forum willl also be having a special event called “Teachers Forum”, on the pre-conference day, which will enable around 50 pre-service and in-service teachers to share their experiences of using ICT in the classroom. Some will be familiar with ICT in the classroom, others will have little or no experience of ICT.
The goal is to allow Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and teachers to showcase a wide range of tried-and-tested ICT initiatives and tools. This will be done in an informal ‘Market Place’ environment with a view to inspire teachers to replicate similar activities in their own schools, where possible. IICD and the eBrain Forum of Zambia are co-organising this half-day event, which includes space for an interactive discussion and presentations.
Muzala noted that hosting the conference brings with it, its own benefits as pointing out that it will allow local firms, teachers, schools heads, government officials and other interested parties to see technologies being applied in the area of eLearning through the various organisations that will be exhibiting. He said hosting the eLearning Africa event in Zambia will also help give insight to the country as to cases of eLearning in other countries.
He looked at eLearning not look at eLearning as a technology but a process that is there to help students learn even better and differently.
“I would like to believe that eLearning brings with it several benefits such as reducing some of the costs associated with education if implemented correctly. He said it also allows schools to educate people they could not previously like those working for a living and those people who are geographically dispersed and many other kinds of people.
Muzala also added that studies have shown that students who would not raise a hand in class will be very active in posting to discussion boards showing that they communicate better in a web based environment than in the traditional classroom.
Meanwhile, Muzala who is also Managing Director of Trio Consult/Global Teenager Project (GTP) will be part of a discussion panel to discuss issues of content generated during GTP activities and how best they can be packaged and re-used by other students as referal materials. They will also be looking at the benefits of adopting the concept of Learning Circles used as the core activity of GTP, and how they can be used locally to enable learning among Zambian students.
Who Deserves Your Vote?
The run up to this election has seen politicians promoting themselves more via Twitter feeds or Facebook groups than by kissing babies in the street. Clearly this shows us technophiles that today’s politicians are embracing the internet age – or does it? How much of this is just posturing? Did the empty seats in the House of Commons during the debate over the Digital Economy Act indicate that most MPs didn’t understand the Act’s impact, or that they just didn’t care? We decided to find out just what technology policies the different parties are offering, and interviewed the people who will be writing the tech manifesto for their parties if they win the election. There are some impressive claims being bandied about.
Parliament could have a very different look depending on your vote. (Parliamentary images reproduced with permission of Parliament)
Labour has been very vocal about its technology policies, not least its Digital Economy Act. This gives the government the right to block sites infringing copyright and ban downloaders from accessing the internet. They are also championing rolling out high-speed internet (well, 2Mbps) for everyone by 2012 and “superfast” 100Mbps broadband for 90 per cent of the population by 2017.
The Conservatives also want super-fast broadband for most of the country (which would be achieved by opening up BT’s infrastructure to other companies) and would reduce the corporation tax rate to encourage new technology businesses to set up in the UK.
The Liberal Democrats were vociferous in their opposition to the Digital Economy Act, and have plans to uphold net neutrality and overhaul copyright law. They too want high-speed broadband for all.
So just what are the most important tech policies for each party? Read on to see.
Conservative party
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Jeremy Hunt, Shadow Secretary for Culture, Media and Sport told us: “Our key policy to promote the technology industry is to ensure that Britain has a modern, fast broadband infrastructure. We will deregulate the market and force BT to give access to its underground ducts and overhead telegraph poles to rival ISPs. This will allow ISPs to lay their own fibre at a lower cost, and a super-fast broadband-supporting fibre network will be established over much larger parts of the UK. Funding, where needed, would come from the Digital Switchover segment of the licence fee.” What about the technological economy? “It’s vital that we encourage technology companies to set up in the UK. We’ll cut the headline rate of corporation tax to 25p or lower and the small companies’ rate to 20p, funded by reducing complex allowances.” What in the Tories’ opinion have Labour got wrong? “An over reliance on massive-scale IT projects that have gone over budget and not been delivered on time. We will create a level playing field for open-source IT in government procurement and open up government IT contracts to [smaller companies] by breaking up large IT projects into smaller components.” |
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Labour Party
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Ben Bradshaw, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport told us: “Labour wants Britain to be the world leader in the digital economy. We will create over 250,000 skilled jobs by 2020 and [become] the world leader in public service delivery. “We will ensure universal access to today’s broadband services at 2Mbps by 2012 – this will be delivered through upgrades to the existing networks and be supported with public funding including the underspend from the Digital Switchover Help scheme.” “The Digital Economy Act is a key part of our active industrial strategy, helping us maintain and build on the digital economy. It ensures a competitive digital communications infrastructure [and] protects intellectual property. The Conservatives offered no practical solutions on [either] of these.” Labour also has plans for a new technology institute: “The Institute of Web Science will be based in Britain and will work with government and business to realise the social and economic benefits of technological advances. It will assemble the best of the world’s scientists and researchers and be headed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and the leading web science expert Professor Nigel Shadbolt.” |
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Liberal Democrats
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We asked Don Foster, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which Lib Dem policies would interest a PC Plus reader. “Our policies on broadband roll-out and extending IT skills, and the work we’ve done on the Digital Economy Bill,” he answered. “The more people who have the skills and access to make use of technology, the more useful it becomes. “We do not believe that the country’s broadband infrastructure can be left solely to market forces, which is why we advocate an outside-in use of public funds to begin delivering broadband from day one to rural areas. The market will deliver the infrastructure in urban areas.” How would the Liberal Democrats attract tech companies to the UK? “We support the proposed tax break for the video games industry and we will also tackle the growing burden of red tape, which continues to cost businesses increasing amounts of time.” What was the current Government’s biggest technology mistake? “Not prioritising the Digital Economy Bill in debate. The Bill was an opportunity to ensure that everyone is able to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the internet. The government’s unwillingness to give the Bill the time necessary for proper parliamentary scrutiny shows how low in their priorities it sat.” |
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Small parties with big tech policies
What do the smaller parties contending for parliamentary seats offer to people passionate about the web, computers and technology? We spoke to five and found out. We also asked which of the policies that the big three parties were proposing could, in their opinion, damage the internet and technological development.
During our fact-finding mission we found much of interest. The Communist Party want to make tech-literacy part of the educational process as they feel computers are no longer a luxury, but a necessity. The Green party think broadband should be a fixed-rate service available to all. The Pirate Party UK are all about free speech – and not just on the internet. They want to ensure that personal privacy is a priority of government and industry. Plaid Cymru want an ultra-fast national broadband network and the SNP aren’t sure the Digital Economy Act goes far enough. The last word goes to the Monster Raving Loony Party, who, when contacted said: “What on earth are you talking about? Don’t be so serious.”
Ben Stevenson, National Secretary, Communist Party
“There are IT-related issues important to us. We oppose the Digital Economy Act, a sop to international big business. We recognise the need for a far-reaching and proactive approach to ensure all citizens can access all aspects of technology. It’s obvious that the speed of the technological revolution has made basic access and experience in using computers and the internet a necessity. Britain’s Broadband speed currently ranks 17th in the world, 23 times slower than Japan. We need an integrated communications strategy to bridge the gap. Education is essential to ensuring that tech-literacy is considered a vital part of modern life in Britain. IT needs to be given greater prominence in the National Curriculum and to be fully integrated into all its aspects.”
Andy Robinson, Party Leader, Pirate Party
“We don’t just know what technology is, we know how it works and how it has affected our society. In the modern age, existing copyright and patent laws do not make sense. Our policy is to shorten the duration of copyright to five years, and to allow the sharing of copyrighted material provided that no profit comes of it.
The Digital Economy Act is a terrible piece of legislation. It legitimises corporate spying on individuals, forces ISPs to throttle or even ‘suspend’ connections based only on allegations of infringement and allows copyright holders to demand ISPs censor websites on the flimsiest of evidence. PPUK is unquestionably against these policies.”
Caroline Lucas, Party Leader, Green Party
“The Green Party believes that the development of computer communications has reached the point where BT should have an obligation to provide broadband-capable infrastructure to every household. Funding for marginal ‘uneconomic’ lines may come from a small levy on every access line. The principle of universal access at the same base price to the household should prevail.
Many of us believe that [the Digital Economy Bill] threatens to infringe fundamental human rights through the disconnection of internet accounts and the new ‘website blocking’ laws could result in new ways to suppress free speech and legitimate activity.”
Lowri Jackson, Research and Policy, Plaid Cymru
“Connecting Wales to the world digitally will encourage innovation and job creation. We believe that new technology must be harnessed to provide Wales with a strong voice on the global stage and to ensure that there are no communication ‘not spots’. We call for research into the construction of a super-fast national broadband network. We also support compulsory network sharing between mobile phone and broadband operators. Westminster can learn a lot from the National Assembly with its transparent and democratic processes. We’re also concerned about the threat to our civil liberties implied by increased internet monitoring, and will campaign for freedom of the internet.”
Pete Wishart, Culture and Broadcasting, Scottish National Party
“While the ambition to secure universal broadband access is to be welcomed, more must be done to protect those who are working in our creative economy. Our creative industries contribute significantly to the economy and are a key route to economic recovery, yet protection for artists and creators remains an afterthought. Writing letters to persistent downloaders and threatening slower internet speeds seems a feeble response to the loss of millions of pounds of income to artists and creators. What is needed is a mixture of effective technical measures and creative solutions, but above all the political will to tackle this problem.”
Question time with the Pirate Party
For some political parties technology is the reason they exist, and it seems to be paying off. The Swedish Pirate Party caused a stir last year when it gained two seats in the European Parliament. The UK’s Pirate Party has the same three core platforms: reform copyright and patent law, end ‘excessive’ surveillance of innocent people and ensure ‘real’ freedom of speech. But all these issues have possible downsides. We asked Pirate Party UK’s leader Andy Robinson if its policies would actually work in the real world.
PCP: Surely reforming copyright and patent law will damage British businesses?
Andy Robinson: There are always winners and losers when any law changes. Reforming copyright law will reduce the power of record industry ‘rights-holders’ to dictate what music we get to hear and what we don’t. It will also benefit lesser-known musicians who don’t want to sign away future royalties to get their music heard. Reforming patent laws to fix problems like the ring-fencing of huge areas by overly broad patents will increase competition and reduce red-tape. A better regime would encourage manufacturing and design investment, boosting the economy at no cost to taxpayers.
Did you know it’s illegal to sing Happy birthday in public without paying a fee? The Pirate Party would like to put an end to this.
PCP: Isn’t surveillance central to UK security?
AR: A certain degree of surveillance is necessary, but we urgently need to set sensible limits on it. Vehicles are being tracked: the police’s automatic number plate recognition camera network takes 14 million photos a day. We need rules that say how much is too much, before we sleepwalk into a surveillance state.
PCP: One man’s freedom of speech is another man’s persecution. How do you intend to protect the weaker and less vocal in society from the strongest and loudest?
AR: New media outlets empower many of the people who were previously disempowered to have their say. The best counter to persecution is not censorship, but education. Teaching people to get together and stand up for themselves is far better than short-term measures taken just so politicians can be seen to be doing something. That said, we support current equality legislation banning unfair discrimination and would not change this policy.
PCP: Where do you stand on more prosaic issues like internet speed?
AR: Consumers have been complaining about this for years. We plan a system where payment will be based on the speed the user actually gets, not the advertised headline speed. Of course, we’ll be unable to achieve any of our aims, prosaic or otherwise, without votes or the support of donations through our site (www.ppuk.it/donate).
The Future Of 3D Entertainment
New 3D films such as Avatar show more restraint than earlier offerings, which overwhelmed viewers.
The future is here – and it’s looking pretty. I’m sitting in a darkened room at Sky’s HQ in West London, peering through a pair of polarised glasses at television’s next evolutionary step. In front of me is a 46in JVC TV displaying a show reel of Sky’s best efforts in the brave new world of 3D entertainment.
It’s impressive. The action appears to be happening an inch or so behind the razor-thin bezel of the TV, then telescoping off into the distance. There’s a real sensation of depth. With Sky’s Senior Product Development Manager John Dollin, I watch clips of a Champions’ League game, a boxing match featuring Ricky Hatton and a spot of rugby. The ball zooms into the screen from the corners and the players run convincingly in front of the distant stands.
“All the investment we did in 2005 and 2006, when we did HD, is what enables us to do 3D. We’re just piggybacking off that,” Dollin says. The changes Sky needed to make to its broadcast technology to offer 3D channels were “small and incremental”, and it plans to launch its first 3D offering in 2010.
The three dimensional clouds are gathering into the perfect storm. In December 2009, it was announced that 3D Blu-ray discs will be available from this summer. Graphics card manufacturer Nvidia already markets a 3D solution for PC gamers, complete with a high-spec monitor and 3D glasses. Even better, the tech works, and big-name manufacturers and content producers are getting in on the act. “Every single [television] manufacturer you can think of has a 3D TV coming out,” says Dollin.
But promises of a 3D future are all too familiar. Since the advent of 3D cinema in the early ’50s, entertainment companies have sporadically announced that the future is 3D – and it’s arriving soon. Whether it was House of Wax in the ’50s or the 1983 box office smash Jaws 3D, the future has worn silly glasses for as long as most of us can remember. What makes this time any different, and how is the entertainment industry going to make 3D stick?
The third dimension
Happily, 3D technology has progressed beyond recognition since the days of glasses made of cardboard and red and blue cellophane. The only constant is how we detect depth – each eye sees a slightly different image and the brain merges them together. Flatscreens use a little trickery to display a 3D image: each eye is fed a different picture by filtering out light, and the brain is fooled into providing information about an image’s depth.
One of the oldest – and least commercially successful – tricks in the book is adding red and blue tints to a pair of images and displaying them simultaneously. Known as anaglyph 3D, a pair of coloured glasses filter out either the blue or red channel, tricking the brain into thinking that it’s seeing different perspectives. However, the technology isn’t that impressive visually, and anaglyph has failed to find favour with the new wave of 3D technology.
Now there are two frontrunners. The first is known as passive polarisation, and it’s what Sky is demonstrating. Footage is shot using two cameras that are placed in slightly different positions but converge on a single focal point – like your eyes. It then broadcasts two images, each 960 x 960 in size. These are stretched across a special HDTV with what Dollin calls a “pixel perfect” polarising filter across it. Finally, a pair of polarised glasses filter out light line by line, providing your eyes with slightly different images and your brain with enough information to build a 3D image. The advantage is that the glasses are cheap, making them perfect for Sky’s initial intended audience of pub-goers. Dollin also says that the 3D image can be received by all of Sky’s 1.6 million Sky HD subscribers without the need for a new decoder box.
The second approach is more accessible for PC users. It doesn’t require a polarised screen – just a monitor or a TV capable of running at 120Hz or faster. Instead of showing two perspectives at once, the display flickers between them. Light is filtered out by a pair of active shutter glasses that have LCD crystals for lenses. When a charge is applied to each lens, it blacks out for a fraction of a second, perfectly in sync with the image that the screen is showing thanks to a transmitter connected to the display. This means the screen is a little cheaper – ViewSonic’s 22in 120Hz VX2268wm display costs just over £200. However, the glasses are far more complex than Sky’s passive solution. Nvidia’s 3D Vision set – which comprises just one pair of glasses and a wireless transmitter – costs just over £100.
Kitting up for 3D
The introduction of 3D into your home means one thing to hardware manufacturers: the opportunity to sell more kit. The first thing you’ll need is a new screen, and if 120Hz or faster displays seem costly, you should hold your breath when looking at the price of a passive 3D display. The 46in JVC TV that Sky used to demonstrate its 3D content might be capable of 1080p and come with a pair of 3D glasses, but the £8,000 price tag is positively mouth-drying. Not only are you likely to need a new screen, but you might also need a new graphics card if your PC is looking a little long in the tooth. All 3D games are rendered twice, thanks to the need for distinct left and right images. “It’s quite handy for us that people want to play in this 3D environment,” says Richard Huddy, ATI’s Senior Developer Relations Manager. “The gaming situation clearly requires a great deal more horsepower, because essentially [the video card] is doing twice as much work.”
There’s even worse news if you’re a console owner. Huddy says that while Sony and Microsoft are in the process of giving their PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles longevity by releasing new motion-sensitive controllers, neither has a future in 3D. “The truth is, doubling the memory demand and the fill rate [would] overwhelm both an Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 at any respectable resolution,” he says. If Microsoft or Sony released 3D games for either console, Huddy says that it would be a “token effort”. “You couldn’t take any of the high-end games of the moment – Killzone, Halo 3 or anything like that – and run them in full 3D on those consoles. They don’t have the horsepower,” he warns. However, a Sony spokesperson revealed to PC Plus that “technological investigation” into 3D on the PlayStation 3 is underway, with a view to allowing gamers to play 3D games on the existing hardware.
For the time being, the best way to play 3D games is on a PC. Doug McConkey, a product manager at EA, claims that the PC is the best medium for dragging 3D into the consumer’s consciousness. “The more platforms [3D] is on the better, but the PC has the potential to make it mainstream,” he told us.
Leading the pack
For now, PC users are at the forefront of the 3D revolution. Upgrading a monitor is cheaper than upgrading a TV set and, similarly, a graphics card can be replaced without the need for an entirely new system.
3D is even available on laptops. The Acer Aspire 5738G, for instance, looks like any other mid-range laptop, but its bright 15.6in screen has a polarised filter that’s similar to Sky’s 3D system. Pop on a pair of polarised 3D specs and the ATI Radeon HD 4750 can render videos or games in 3D.
If anything, however, the Aspire underlines how new 3D really is, as well as how far it has to go before it becomes, in the words of an Nvidia spokesperson, “just there” – included by default in all consumer screens. The demo material included with the laptop has an undeniable sense of depth, but vertical lines appear jagged and the laptop screen’s viewing angles are so restricted that tilting the screen just slightly too far towards or away from you ruins the image.
Fujifilm’s FinePix W1 3D camera captures a scene from two viewpoints simultaneously.
3D isn’t restricted to computers. Fujifilm raised eyebrows in July last year when it announced its twin lens, dual-CCD camera, the FinePix W1 3D. Like Sky’s 3D cameras, the set-apart lenses capture the same picture from slightly different angles. Unlike the polarised 3D effects of Nvidia or Acer’s solutions, however, the W1 relies on lenticular technology to trick you into seeing a 3D image. Lenticular technology places a ridged coating on top of an image to feed you different pictures, much like the apparently moving images occasionally found on the back of cereal packets. The W1’s 2.8in screen displays two images at once, so depending on where you stand you’ll either see a 3D image or a mishmash of two separate ones. The upside is that you don’t need a pair of glasses to see a 3D image, but, as with Acer’s 3D laptop, the technology currently feels a little rough and ready. Lenticular technology’s major downfall is that it’s heavily dependent on your viewing angle, so you need to be almost exactly the right distance away from the screen, and viewing it at almost exactly the right angle, which can be difficult with a handheld device. The W1’s price also smacks of early-adopter pocket-squeezing: at £400 it’s more expensive than the far more luxurious – but 2D – Canon G11.
The content question
For 3D to succeed, it will take much more than a token effort. According to Sky’s Dollin, part of the reason previous generations of 3D have failed to capture the imagination of the gaming and film-going public is that 3D was treated as a “fairground ride” – a gimmick. Unsuccessful efforts at 3D tried too hard, he says, exhausting audiences by providing a constant stream of 3D trickery designed to make as much of the technology as possible. Modern producers “are trying to be a lot more sympathetic to the medium, and trying to make it more real,” he says.
Andrew Pulver, Film Editor at The Guardian, agrees. Past attempts to bring 3D into the mainstream resulted in “low-rent, exploitative [films],” he says. New films such as Avatar – which is reported to have cost as much as £300million – could prompt an explosion of 3D films. Pulver says the 3D “works really well” in Avatar and that, for the first time, a studio has financed a “serious, major [3D] blockbuster by the biggest director in town”. There’s little arguing with the list of upcoming 3D releases, either: director Tim Burton features heavily, with releases such as Alice in Wonderland and The Nightmare Before Christmas due in the next 12 months.
Games are easier to convert. Depth information is already programmed in, so the only major added cost is the hardware needed to play the result. “In development time, the costs are minimal,” says EA’s Doug McConkey. Hopefully this should mean a proliferation of 3D games – and soon.
Controlling 3D
Even if the future of entertainment isn’t 3D screens, the world of the controller is expanding in every direction. Nintendo’s Wii Remote is the most famous example – a controller that knows where it is in relation to the screen. Richard Huddy describes the Wii Remote as “immensely attractive” to gamers. And the figures seem to prove him right: the Wii is by far the best-selling console, leaving Microsoft and Sony playing catch-up.
Sony’s forthcoming motion controller works in a similar way to the Wii Remote. Currently known as the Gem, it features a coloured orb on the top. This is tracked by a webcam on top of the display, while the controller itself also feeds back motion information. A spectacular demo at E3 last summer hinted at an incredibly powerful system.
There’s little extra work involved in developing games in 3D compared to 2D.
Microsoft’s Project Natal for the Xbox 360 is even more advanced, removing the controller altogether and tracking a user’s movements in real-time via a display-mounted camera. To hit an opponent, simply throw a punch in mid-air. Speaking at the technology’s launch at CES in Las Vegas back in January 2009, Steven Spielberg described Project Natal’s announcement as “a pivotal moment” that would “reach far beyond video games”.
With Sky’s 3D service set to launch later this year, 3D gaming beginning to emerge and popular blockbusters such as Avatar making great use of 3D technology, you might think that the battle is won. But the experts PC Plus spoke to were cautious. “The truth is, it’s stumbled many times before,” says ATI’s Richard Huddy, describing the longevity of the latest 3D tech as “the toughest question”.
Will 3D stick this time?
Back in September 2009, The Guardian ran a story saying that the BBC might show Olympic events in 3D in 2012. This raised the prospect of a BBC 3D channel arriving in less than two years. However, Roger Mosey, the Director of the BBC’s 2012 Olympics operation, has been quick to talk the BBC’s plans back to reality. “There won’t be a BBC 3D channel in 2012,” he told PC Plus. But that’s not to say that the BBC is shunning 3D altogether. Instead, the corporation plans to capture certain Olympic events in 3D regardless of the public’s ability to receive them at home. “It would be a shame for some of the big moments not to be captured in 3D,” he says – but for now, the BBC’s priorities lie with broadcasting the Olympics in HD rather than 3D. The BBC aren’t alone in holding off from investing in 3D technology, and The Guardian’s Pulver seemed to share the corporation’s misgivings. “I wouldn’t be surprised if [3D] did peter out,” he says, noting that Avatar is largely responsible for the medium’s future. The film’s results need to be “pretty spectacular” for studios to finance more 3D films.
Sky’s John Dollin is optimistic, though. He says that Sky isn’t releasing a 3D service “just for the sake of 3D”. ATI’s Richard Huddy sees hope for the future, too: “If the BBC, Sky, Virgin and so on roll [3D] out over the next couple of years, then it will work.”
Sky’s service is to launch this year, although the company refuses to be drawn on precisely when. “This is going to be bigger than I think people believe,” says Dollin. We just hope he’s right.
