Panel Discussion | Women in ICT

28/11/12

Changing the game: The role girls and women play in domestic internet economy.

After the full day of gathering content for our app "Food for thot" we were all invited to stay back for the Panel discussion on Women in ICT. While helping set the place up for the evening function I was notified that I will be one of the four panelists. The other three are also young women participants from this Forum.
The Key Note speaker was Mrs. Stephanie Danclair (Chief Operations Officer of Bright Path Foundation) and remarks were given by Katalaini Duaibe (from United Nations Women department).

I do not consider myself in the ICT sector so I was extremely nervous about being on the panel. But it was not that bad.

The first question was:
What do think about the development in Fiji and what role do you play in this? 
The developments taking place locally are escalating at different wavelengths and Youth development is huge. Young people are developing in all spheres of life. They are excelling in Education (experimenting with different types of careers, doing volunteer works, going abroad for studies and also engaging in vocational studies), Sports and Advocacy work as well. The Youth community uses the Internet for communicating and searching for information daily and they too become part of the ICT network in doing so.

What is my role in this? 
I thought that all this time I am not a part of the ICT world. But my blogs are also a big part of the ICT world. The blogs I write are also a big part of this ICT World. It is helping me connect the information I have to people in the wider community and most importantly with my Internet family.

The second question was:
What challenges do you face in your professional work and what are the solutions?
Challenges we face are one too many.
1) Time: Timing of events are usually in the evenings and many young women face difficulties in attending forums in the evening. One reason is because they have home commitments and the second reason being many of them do not feel safe to travel in the evening.
2) Being taken seriously is an issue. Just because we are 'youth' we do not have enough experience to make decisions - is a common myth!! Youth also have experience (even though it is not much) even if it experience of a few weeks, months or years.
3) As a tutor a challenge I have faced is the two set of students I have. The fresh out of high school students know more about ICT than I do, while the matured students face more difficulties. So I have to learn from the students on one end of the wavelength and try my level best to impart that information to the students on the other end of the wavelength.
4) Commitment - Not everyone shows the same level of commitment as you would want them to. This I have noticed in Youth groups and in Students. Weather it is doing community outreach or completing assignments some youth are very reluctant and leave things to be done last minute. A better time management system needs to utilized for effective results and for us to be taken seriously in the community.

There is a grave need to change the mindset of people regarding Youth and ICT and most importantly towards women in ICT.

Till bad internet connection do us part . . .
Alzima Elisha Bano

DAY 3: YTC_MAD 'Food for thot'

28/11/12
Day 3: Youth Tech Camp | Mobile App Development

And today the good people of Bright Path Foundation announced which six app's we will actually design and launch on Friday. And Food for thot is one of the six apps to be developed. This is a very exciting achievement for me personally and the rest of the team was overwhelmed as well. A slight moment of sadness for the team because we have been divided into different groups now - Developers, Designers and content. Shareen has joined forces with the Development elite :-) While Micheal is drawing with his design team. I felt stranded and a little alien because I was in the content team with 8 new people. At first I thought the idea I had is going to be bulldozed but the members of the group were very helpful. They worked together with me and shared useful feedback. 

We went into the City after lunch and divided ourselves into pairs. We covered four categories of restaurants: Local/Fijian, Indian, Oriental and Fast Food.
We approached approximately 15 restaurant owners and received positive response from 12.
At present our database has:
1) Natural Blends (MHCC)
2) JJ's Takeaway (At the market)
3) Maya Dhaba (Victoria Parade and MHCC)
4) Curry Hosue (Waimanu Road)
5) Ashiyana (Victoria Parade)
6) Vine Yard Palace (Victoria Parade)
7) Korea House (Waimanu Road)
8) Tui B. (At the Market)
9) Chopsticks (Renwick Road)
10) Jodys (Central Suva)
11) McDonalds (Central Suva)
12) Chicken Express (Mid City Mall)
13) Wishbone and Pizza King (Central Suva and Sports City)

It has been a great experience collecting the content and tabulating it  but it has been tiring as well. We have slotted the Restaurants into the different categories. 
For homework we have to follow up with a few more restaurants and also put all these information into tables. 
Some changes were required for the wire frame since the app will not do what we initially pitched :-) 

So it has been a very productive day for the team.

Until next blog. . .
Alzima Elisha Bano

Day 1: Mobile App Development

26/11/12      Day 1 of Mobile App Development.

This week of the Youth Tech Camp sponsored by U.S Department of State is being held at Novotel Convention Center, Lami. We have some amazing facilitators from Bright Path Foundation, US and from Pasifika Nexus. 
Some of the information shared were on the lines of:
- Importance of internet in the world.
- Issues with technology in the world.
- Statistics on Internet users and Mobile application users.
- Types of Applications that we need to and should be creating. 
- Apple generally has two handsets.
- Android has many types of handsets so when making an Android app the developers need to consider the type, size and resolution of the different android phones. 

An important point stressed over and over was the need for Local Content. We can not expect the International market to develop app's that can work and meet the needs of the local market. 

Our Task:

• To understand what constitutes local content.
• To develop the mobile app and services that can meet local, regional and International needs.
• To build the local ecosystem needed to support and sustain true ICT-based industries. 

By the end of Lunch time we had (in groups) pitch a few ideas we had for Mobile App's. 
Our group (members: Alzima Bano, Shareen Taiyab and Micheal Irava) Pitched a few ideas.

1. Food for thot - this app will show a list of restaurants in the local area  (that have subscribed to this app) and the availability of seats in that restaurant. It will also show a rating from customers on the quality of food and service. So before you go to the restaurant you will know if there are seats available and what ratings have been given to these restaurants. 
2. It gives tourists an opportunity to see reviews before they got dinning.
3. It gives restaurant owners an opportunity to see how customers are rating their food and services.

So that was Pitch one. 

The other pitches will be posted/updated in time to come :-)

Untill next blog...

Alzima Elisha Bano.