Random musings on computer labs in rural South Africa…

Many machines are Windows XP with an assortment of viruses on them. This turns out to not be a problem for running the workshops because either or both of:

A. The Internet is not available so the viruses are just annoying
B. The Internet is available but no one is using anything the requires “accounts” (like FB) where malware could snoop your account and password

So basically a few reboots during a lab session is not a problem.

Turns out that it would be not a problem to have a whole lab full of Linux machines. These folks are so new to computers it wouldn’t be any harder to start them fresh on Linux. A nicely configured Linux lab would have a much better signal-to-noise ratio (no malware) than these labs of Windoze. Granted, I’d prefer a week to prepare the lab to make sure everything went smoothly, but certainly Linux would cut down on all the malware problems.

…

The teachers in these workshops are very competent in their core areas (Maths, Science, etc) but most (95%) have never even seen a desktop computer before. For Maths, of course, all you really need is chalk, paper, pencil, so… But they are technologically disadvantaged.

Conducting a computer lab first consists of very basic instruction of computer use. Stuff you FBers don’t even think about. How to move the mouse. Double left click, versus 1 right click. Enter key on the keyboard, space bar, backspace. Inserting a CD into the machine. Opening “My Computer”, etc.

They get into it fairly quickly, especially the younger ones (as you would expect!) This of course is done in an environment where malware is popping up random windows and stuff, so there is quite a bit of noise to signal occurring. Thankfully–so far–no random pr0n popups…

Soon enough everyone is browsing the web, google.co.za, and searching for Maths, or Science, or Michale Jackson, or Bob Marley, or soccer scores

Workshops this summer (winter) conducted in Mthatha, South Africa, where each morning there is frost on the ground and snow visible in the Drakensberg range bordering Lesotho.

Photos/videos still coming!