Category Archives: IT in Africa

Browser statistics and Commentary for Benin (or, IE6 isn’t going anywhere fast, so we might as well stop complaining and get back to work)

People Online still guarantees IE6 compatibility for almost 100% of the sites we develop. We don’t even charge extra for it! And this is why: We’ve spent an awful lot of time in cybercafés in West Africa, and an awful lot of these cybercafés are still running Windows XP (or Windows 2000! Or Windows 98!) and [...]
Posted in IT in Africa | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Facts, lies, and conjecture: Benin Telecoms’ latest blow up

What we know (facts): Our Internet connection has been out since last Friday. So have those of all other WiMax clients. Non-WiMax clients of Benin Telecoms have been having problems since Friday for certain types of downloads and have experienced unusual bandwidth shaping. Connections from other ISPs sometimes work, and sometimes don’t. There is probably a [...]
Posted in IT in Africa | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Did you know the sky is blue? Obvious and less-obvious in ICT4D conversations

I have a confession to make. I’m not a development worker. I work with ICTs in the developing world, but I am driven by profit. This is both a luxury and a burden. It’s cool that people think I have something to say about ICT4D. I don’t. I have a lot to say about ICTs in the [...]
Also posted in Development | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

On Internet in Benin and the lack thereof

Last Thursday, we woke up to no Internet. At 8:00, we called Benin Telecoms to signal the problem. “We’ll send a team right away,” they said. “Are you sure you need to send a team out here? We just can’t log in, so the problem’s probably on your end.” “What could you possibly know about [...]
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On why language is important when talking about women in tech

This is the second in a series of posts where I address technology, women in technology, and women in technology in Benin. * Accompanying the recent spate of questions about how to find more and better women speakers for tech conferences, the general lack of women in technology, and a lot of comments about women’s capabilities [...]
Also posted in Getting it off my chest | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

On women in tech, in Benin and back home in the States

This is the first of a series of posts in which I’ll discuss technology, women in technology, and women in technology in Benin. My clients are all businessmen. Accent on men. After over two years of developing websites and web applications in Cotonou, we have a lot of clients (what can I say, we’re good [...]
Also posted in Getting it off my chest | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

On why I don’t hate on PayPal for not operating in sub-Saharan Africa

I’m just going to get this out of the way: I am quite sympathetic to PayPal and how they’ve cut off the entire continent of Africa. Going to a cybercafé in Cotonou means two out of three computers are occupied by Beninese or Nigerian boys scamming rich Americans and Europeans. Sometimes, they’re training 9 and 10 [...]
Also posted in Getting it off my chest | 4 Comments