Meraka Institute participates in National Youth Service Week Expo
23 June 2006

Meraka Institute's Open Source Centre participated at the National Youth Service Week Expo at the ELKA Stadium in Soweto

On request of the Department of Communications, the Meraka Institute participated in the National Youth Service Week Expo from 13-15 June 2006. The event was organised by the National Youth Commission and held at the ELKA Stadium in Soweto. The Meraka Institute is a national research centre managed by the CSIR.

The National Youth Service Week Expo was timed to coincide with the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of 16 June 1976, a seminal event in the history of South Africa's move towards an equitable and democratic society. The institute's participation at the expo was aimed at exhibiting programmes and initiatives, which present opportunities for the youth in the information and communications technology sector.

The Meraka Institute was represented at the expo by 12 interns who are enrolled in the Youth Development Trust's "Make a Connection" project (link to www.makeaconnection.org) and hosted by the institute's Open Source Centre (OSC) at the Meraka Institute Soweto office. These interns have been working on the translation of Drupal (an Open Source Content management system) into "township speak".

Dr Ntsika Msimang, focus group leader of OpenProject in the OSC, explains, "Selecting this group of talented young people to represent the Meraka Institute allows us to demonstrate the power of the Open Source model. When people have access to the source code, they can mould the software to suit their needs, which includes translating the software into their own languages."

He emphasises, "We want young people to see that there is no mystery in creating software and that anyone with an interest and the will to innovate can do it. If young people have a chance to see technology being taken apart and created in front of their eyes, we stand a better chance of enticing them to become innovators, as opposed to passive consumers of imported products."

For more information, contact Ntsika Msimang

News supplied by: Biffy van Rooyen