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President Mbeki is shown the VR
model by Tebogo Pelo and Dave Lockwood of the Naledi3d Factory. Clive Smith of HP is looking on. |
The Nakaseke VR model. |
The Mogalakwena I-community Centre. |
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Virtual reality learning model supports community development
The Naledi3d Factory has, over the last twelve months, developed a working relationship with HP and is helping to support the HP i-community project. To herald the first anniversary of the launch of the Mogalakwena i-Community project, South African President, Thabo Mbeki visited the centre and was shown developments to date.
The tour included a demonstration of the Naledi3d Factory's basic hygiene model, initially developed with the support of UNESCO, for use in a multi-purpose centre in Nakaseke in Uganda. This virtual reality (VR) model was also used during the 2002 Johannesburg World Earth Summit, where it was included in the e-health display in the HP pavilion.
The Naledi3d Factory, which is working on VR learning content such as HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia and employment skills development in Alexandria (Johannesburg) as well as basic hygiene in Uganda, is also actively involved in developing similar content for health, agriculture, education, life and technical skills; all appropriate to the needs of developing communities such as Mogalakwena and others across Africa.
With HP, we also are looking at ways of supporting, developing and providing this kind of content into broader communities. HP has a commitment to economic and social development through innovative technology and public-private partnerships, especially in the form of "i-Communities".
"With 90 percent of the world's population currently technologically excluded, our goal is to co-invent sustainable and scalable solutions to address the challenges of the global digital divide," said Carly Fiorina, HP worldwide chairman and chief executive officer.
The first South African i-Community was launched in the Mogalakwena municipality in Limpopo in September 2002 by President Thabo Mbeki and HP worldwide chairman Carly Fiorina as a part of the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development. The intention is to transform Mogalakwena into a thriving community where information technology empowers individuals, families and the community at large - and shapes their future in an economically and environmentally sustainable way.
In each i-Community, HP's emerging market solutions team works with local community members to develop optimised solutions to improve literacy, create jobs and expand access to government, education and health services.
HP i-Communities are founded on Public-Private Partnerships, with a goal to establish breakthrough models of sustainable social and economic development that can then be replicated in similar communities around the world.
Contact Dave Lockwood for more information on the Naledi3d Factory.
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This month's highlights
