Digital colonialism: South Africa’s education transformation in the shadow of Silicon Valley

This dissertation investigates the social implications of technology choices for the emerging education transformation of the South African basic education sector. In October 2015, then President Jacob Zuma launched Operation Phakisa Education (OPE), an initiative designed behind closed doors to fast-track digital education into all South African public schools. This study identifies and analyses policy choices and perspectives regarding the technology considered and deployed for the national education rollout. It documents the OPE proposal, and examines how e-education policy choices relate to humanitarian objectives. Theoretically, this study draws upon libertarian socialist theory (anarchism) to examine the sociology of education technology policy. Using anarchist theory, it assesses the perspective, aims, and choices of e-education policy at the national level. It also draws on the Free Software philosophy for society as articulated by Richard Stallman and Eben Moglen. Finally, it compares classic colonialism with global power in the digital era, and posits a theory of digital colonialism. Synthesizing anarchism and the Free Software philosophy into a single theoretical framework – placed into the context of colonial relations – it is the first work to apply anarchist sociological theory to education technology policy, and the first doctoral study on digital colonialism. For its methodology, this dissertation utilizes two qualitative methods: document analysis and semi-structured interviews. Interview subjects include high-level e-education policymakers and administrators in government, key stakeholders, and experts at the intersection of technology innovation and human rights. These methods were used to both identify and interrogate e-education policy as it relates to the humanitarian objectives of education policy at the national level. The findings demonstrate that South African education policy is beholden to largely United States-based corporations and models for e-education. The study found that the types of technologies for consideration in education are rooted in surveillance capitalism, which is spreading across the world. It contends that current e-education policy choices will entrench the power and exploitation of US state-corporate power in South African education, economy, and society. It argues that an alternative set of choices, People’s Technology for People’s Power, is consistent with the spirit of South African technology policy, and should be chosen for South African schools in order to counter the power of foreign power and resist surveillance capitalism. This dissertation is the first publication to document and analyze what the new government education policy is about and how it relates to equality and human rights. It argues that present South African e-education policy constitutes a new form of digitally-driven technocratic neoliberalism which ultimately favors ruling class interests in the United States and South Africa. It also argues that OPE violates South Africa’s Free and Open Source policy and the spirit of democracy outlined in the Phakisa methodology and the Batho Pele principles. This study found that OPE replicates the latest trends in e-education implementation popular in Silicon Valley. Tech multinationals are providing both the products and models for use in South Africa. The dissertation concludes that US technological and conceptual dominance in South African education constitutes digital colonialism. It emphasizes the need for public inclusion in the policy process, and proposes alternative policies and technologies for e-education based on the idea of People’s Technology for People’s Power. It also argues that current scholarship on education technology neglects the political and sociological importance of People’s Technology to education, economy, and society, as well as the global significance of Big Tech dominance vis-a-vis digital colonialism, and that subsequent literature would be enriched by addressing these issues

Images of nature in recent South African printmaking and ceramics.

Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000This dissertation considers nature imagery in selected South Afiican ceramics and printmaking. The main focus is on ecological issues in recent art productions. The text consists of five chapters. The first examines the ideologies of Fritjof Capra in relation to issues about deep ecology and ecofeminism; this chapter seeks to clarify the scope of the words 'land' and 'landscape' as used in a late 20th century context. The second chapter examines some historical works and ideas that have influenced perceptions of nature imagery in South Afiica. Chapters three, four and five constitute the main body of the thesis, and examine nature imagery in selected examples of contemporary printmaking and ceramics. Chapter three investigates selected landscape images ofceramist Esias Bosch and printmakers Gerda Scholtemeijer and Kim Berman. In chapter four the focus is on the flora as the point of reference. Prints of Gerhard Marx, Douglas Goode, EIsa Pooley and Karel Nel, who were all participants in the Art meets Science: Flowers as Images exhibition, will be examined. Important issues such as the separation ofbotanical and fine art, and art and science will be discussed with reference to their work. This will be followed by discussion of works of Susan Sellschop (a ceramic mural) and Bronwen Jane Heath (a wood engraving) in order to demonstrate the different intentions and outcomes ofthese to artists. Three dimensional works of the three ceramists, Lesley-Anne Hoets, Samantha Read-and Katherine Glenday are discussed in the final section of chapter four. Chapter five examines the interrelationship oflandscape and land. This chapter comprises two main sections. The first deals with aspects of landownership in South Africa reflected in recent ceramics and printmaking. Examples of the work of Marion Arnold and Ellalou O'Meara reinterpret images of early explorers and colonists situating them in a contemporary arena, demonstrating connections between past and present. Landownership is the overt subject in the Fee Halsted Berning, whose ceramic relief panel reflects a different perspective of landownership from the prints ofthe Schmidtsdrift artists. The second section surveys work of four artists whose images draw attention to ecological matters. Wendy Ross, Diana Carmichael, Marion Arnold and Carol Hofrneyr create images that higWight different aspects of the fragile balance of nature

The hydrogeology of the Oman Mountains

Northern Oman is an arid area almost entirely dependent upon groundwater recharged by highly sporadic rainfall. Precipitation estimates are hampered by a lack of any reliable altitude-rainfall relationship. Below 700 m there is no statistically significant relationship. The isotopic composition of groundwater is strongly influenced by the rainfall amount (related to storm frequency), and not just by altitude/temperature. Storm events with long return periods are of disproportionate importance to recharge. Despite the huge volume of carbonate formations, holokarstic development is generally immature, and groundwater storage is greatest in alluvial piedmont surrounding main limestone massifs. Isotopes, chemistry and hydrologic measurements show that post-storm evaporative losses are very large. The origin of limestone springs and their chemical and physical anomalies are described. Structure rather than petrology controls groundwater flow in the limestones, hence regional differences in structural style produce contrasting hydrologic regimes between the various massifs. The Semail nappe mantle sequence is the only other hard-rock formation of groundwater significance. Though much less productive than the carbonates, these ultramafics display extraordinary chemical activity, yielding bicarbonate waters from the weathered zone, whilst more deeply circulating groundwaters produce hyperalkaline springs by low-temperature serpentinisation. Associated processes include solute reduction, hydrogen evolution, hydroxide and carbonate precipitation, hydroxide-basic rock reaction, salt enrichment and water-rock isotopic exchange. Throughout the interior catchments, groundwater mostly flows into narrow buried alluvial channels which are often constricted at hard-rock nodal points, thus facilitating very efficient interception and recovery by the "falaj" system. Traditional agriculture has evolved to cope with fluctuating groundwater supply but is sensitive to increased abstraction. On the Batinah plain, greatly increased coastal abstraction has locally induced moderate to severe salinisation. Existing process studies are insufficiently quantified to provide the resolution necessary to manage groundwater resources, especially in high-risk coastal areas

Propagation effects handbook for satellite systems design. A summary of propagation impairments on 10 to 100 GHz satellite links with techniques for system design

The NASA Propagation Effects Handbook for Satellite Systems Design provides a systematic compilation of the major propagation effects experienced on space-Earth paths in the 10 to 100 GHz frequency band region. It provides both a detailed description of the propagation phenomenon and a summary of the impact of the effect on the communications system design and performance. Chapter 2 through 5 describe the propagation effects, prediction models, and available experimental data bases. In Chapter 6, design techniques and prediction methods available for evaluating propagation effects on space-Earth communication systems are presented. Chapter 7 addresses the system design process and how the effects of propagation on system design and performance should be considered and how that can be mitigated. Examples of operational and planned Ku, Ka, and EHF satellite communications systems are given

Making space for sharing in the global market: the Focolare Movement's Economy of Sharing

The thesis argues that insights into global economic alternatives can be gained from examining existing global cultures which are in contrast to the market. Religious movements form one of the most ancient, but also one of the most enduring and controversial examples of such global cultures. Such movements, it is argued, could be one possible source, not only of localised alternatives to the dominant capitalist regime, but of emerging global alternative economic geographies. Through ethnographic research, the various geographies of one such emerging global socio-religious movement, the Focolare, are examined in depth. It is argued that this movement offers a social vision, rooted in the idea of a Trinitarian perspective, which therein contains concepts of economic life and its relationship to other dimensions of human existence not present within contemporary economic discourses. The thesis considers, in particular, the emergence of a global 'economic' project, the Economy of Sharing, which grew from within the Focolare Movement in 1991. It first explores the evolution of the Economy of Sharing, providing a statistical overview of the main contours of the project. It also examines the various local, regional and global organisational structures which form the institutional dimension of the project. The implementation of the Economy of Sharing is then examined at a local level in the social, cultural and economic geographies of two contrasting regions: Sao Paulo in Brazil and Milan in Italy. The different spaces in which the Economy of Sharing is applied are then examined in turn. In successive chapters, the spaces of sharing of the Economy of Sharing are opened out, from the local to the global, examining the new possibilities and conflicts which arise through the application of the Focolare's ethos at these different scales. The thesis concludes by asking what could be the wider implications of this economic and social experiment. In a series of more theoretical reflections, three inter-linking themes with particular geographical pertinence are re-examined in the light of the empirical research: the relationships between the cultural and the economic, the economic as networks, and the question of care for distant strangers. The possible futures of the Economy of Sharing are explored and the potential of the concept to solve the pressing global problem of the distribution of wealth ar

Internet Connectivity Providers as Involuntary Copyright Enforcers : Blocking Websites in Particular

This article-based dissertation examines the involuntary role of Internet connectivity providers in copyright enforcement in the EU, and in particular injunctions ordering user-end providers to block access to websites facilitating infringement. The main method is doctrinal legal scholarship supplemented by a socio-legal study of legal policy, seeking answers to the why questions underlying the law. Copyright enforcement measures using providers include website blocking, disconnecting the website or the user, subscriber information disclosure, and notice or graduated response mechanisms. There are also dozens of other options for enforcement, and the IPR holder may select the optimal one(s). In international settings, this can be further optimised by the choice of jurisdiction, the applicable law, and characterisation of the infringement. These provide opportunities for gaming the system . Enforcement proceedings are problematic because typically only the copyright holder and possibly the provider are represented in court. Nobody is responsible for arguing for the users or website operators. The court should take their interests into account on its own motion. Unfortunately, many courts have not yet recognised this responsibility. Even this dual role as both the defender of unrepresented parties and judge is less than ideal and improvement is called for. All the enforcement mechanisms must be compatible with EU fundamental rights, as well as the national ones. A proportionality evaluation procedure is suggested, consisting of identifying the context, the interests of different parties, and applicable principles as well as formulating the evaluation criteria and applying them in a proportionality test. In the test, the legitimacy of the objective, suitability for the purpose, necessity and balancing need to be critically assessed. The underlying goal of copyright enforcement has implications for how the scale tilts. Ineffective enforcement mechanisms can be more easily accepted if the goal of symbolic, educational or politically motivated enforcement is deemed legitimate. However, if the goal is to decrease the impact of infringement, greater efficiency and economically quantifiable results may be required. A proportionate mechanism does not necessarily exist in any particular case. Current enforcement legislation is a product of heavy lobbying by the copyright industry. This has led to the legislators being inundated with copyright ideology and proprietarian bias. In consequence, the legislation fails to take the more general public policy interests and the rights of others into account adequately. The pressure is on rationalising rather than expanding the role of connectivity providers. This background context also calls for a critical approach to interpreting the law. Such an approach might help in achieving more rational and balanced justifications and conclusions.Tässä artikkelimuotoisessa väitöskirjassa tarkastellaan Internet-yhteydentarjoajille sälytettyä roolia tekijänoikeuden noudattamisen valvonnassa EU:n laajuisena ilmiönä. Erityisesti selvitetään verkkosivustojen estämistä (esimerkkinä The Pirate Bay). Ilmiötä tutkitaan lainopin ja oikeuspolitiikan näkökulmista. Erilaisia valvontakeinoja on runsaasti ja tekijänoikeuksien haltijat voivat valita niistä itselleen suotuisimmat. Suomessa mahdollisia ovat erityisesti Internet-yhteyden tilaajan yhteystietojen luovuttaminen ja keskeyttämismääräys, jota on käytetty sekä pääsyn estämiseen että käyttäjän yhteyden katkaisemiseen. Mahdollisuuksia muihinkin valvontakeinoihin on ollut valmisteilla. Kun tekijänoikeuden valvonta-asiaa käsitellään tuomioistuimessa, asetelma on ongelmallinen, koska kukaan ei varsinaisesti puolusta käyttäjien tai loukkaavaksi väitetyn sivuston ylläpitäjän oikeuksia tai perustele, miksi oikeudenhaltijan vaatimukset tulee hylätä. Tämä ei kuulu yhteydentarjoajan velvollisuuksiin, eikä se myöskään - ennakkotapauksia lukuun ottamatta - näin yleensä menettele. Tekijänoikeuden väitettyä loukkaajaa ei välttämättä tunneta tai sille ei tässä vaiheessa varata tilaisuutta tulla kuulluksi. Näin ollen tuomioistuimen tulee toimia sekä edustamattomien tahojen puolustajana (kyseenalaistajana) että tuomarina. Kyseenalaistajaroolia ei ole yleisesti vielä omaksuttu näissä asioissa. Niinpä tuomioistuin on määrännyt yhteydentarjoajaa luovuttamaan oikeudenhaltijoille muun muassa tilaajan yhteystiedot yksittäisen musiikkialbumin tai elokuvan jakamisen perusteella varsin löyhin perustein. Hakemuksia on tehty vuosittain satakunta, yhteensä yli 500 kappaletta, joista vain yksi on hylätty. Niin ikään yhtä tapausta lukuun ottamatta viidessä tapauksessa vertaisverkossa aineistoa saatavilla pitäneen käyttäjän Internet-yhteys katkaistiin käyttäjää kuulematta, vaikka toimenpide oli ilmeisen ylimitoitettu ja tarpeeton. Verkkoestomääräyksiä annettaessa tulisi kiinnittää huomiota varsinkin oikeasuhtaisuuden arvioimiseen. Tutkimuksessa esitetään kriteerejä, joiden valossa tätä voidaan konkretisoida. Suhteellisuutta arvioitaessa erityinen kysymys koskee verkkoestojen tarkoitusta. Jos tarkoitus on tekijänoikeusloukkausten vähentäminen, tulisi toimenpiteillä olla mitattavissa olevaa vaikutusta oikeudenhaltijoiden taloudellisten tappioiden vähenemiseen. Muuten estojen legitimiteetti on kyseenalainen. Oikeudenhaltijoiden tarkoitukseksi voidaan hahmottaa muitakin, paremmin sopivia syitä. Ensimmäinen on symbolinen tekijänoikeusvalvonta käyttäjien, omien viiteryhmien tai lainsäätäjien vakuuttamiseksi tai niihin vaikuttamiseksi. Toinen on yritys valistaa käyttäjiä lähteiden laittomuudesta. Kolmas on oikeuspoliittinen valtakamppailu vahvan tekijänoikeusideologian ylläpitämiseksi, omiin liiketoimintamalleihin kohdistuvien uudistamistarpeiden torjumiseksi ja kolmansien osapuolten vastuuttamiseksi tekijänoikeuden vastaisiin toimenpiteisiin niiden omalla kustannuksella. Jos jokin näistä syistä katsottaisiin hyväksyttäväksi, kevyemmätkin toimenpiteet voivat johtaa tarkoituksenmukaiseen lopputulokseen. Tällaisille tavoitteille ei kuitenkaan voi antaa kuin korkeintaan hyvin vähäistä merkitystä. Tekijänoikeuslainsäädäntö on tekijänoikeusteollisuuden vahvan vaikuttamisen seurausta, eikä se ota riittävästi huomioon yleisiä intressejä ja muiden tahojen, kuten käyttäjien, yhteydentarjoajien ja palveluntarjoajien, oikeuksia. Lainsäätäjät ja valmistelevat virkamiehet näyttävätkin tuudittautuneen tekijänoikeusideologiaan, jossa tekijänoikeuden suoja on alati laajeneva ja tekijänoikeutta on suojattava yhä vahvemmin keinoin. Olisi tarpeen herätä kriittiseen ja tietoon perustuvaan valmisteluun, jossa myös tasapainoisemmin kuullaan ja huomioidaan eri tahojen näkemyksiä

Barthold Heinrich Brockes, a transmitter of germinal ideas in his Irdisches Vergnügen in Gott

INTRODUCTION What we read about Barthold Heinrich Brookes leaves us with a confusing and contradictory picture.CHAPTER I The sources of Brookes' Irdisches Vergniigen have not been adequately investigated, therefore conclusions drawn from his work about his religion and his attitude to nature are suspect, especially since he sometimes used foreign material without acknowledgment.CHAPTER II Brookes' scientific poems read like versified paraphrases of the work of some of the scientists of the Royal Society and of the Boyle lecturers who preached sermons based on their investigations. Their aim, the glorification of God through the study of his creation, is also Brookes' aim, and their theological interpolations are similar to his.CHAPTER III The theological and philosophical ideas of this group of writers go back to the great philosophers and theologians of the past. Cicero and Galen transmitted much of this material. Brookes uses it as motifs in his poetry. The topoi of the book of nature and the artisan God express the relationship of the Creator to creation. By contemplating God's handiwork man can raise himself to a knowledge of God. Sometimes he is optimistic about this quest, but sometimes he feels that knowledge is restricted to the afterlife. God is active in creation. A passive God would be the God of "atheism." Newton's theory of gravity and other suitable evidence is given for God's continuous presence in creation.CHAPTER IV Most of these ideas are also expressed in the writings of Brockes, Du Bartas, Blackmore, Thomson and several others. The literary tradition goes back to Genesis and the hexaemera of the Church Fathers. Motifs are also taken from Lucretius and Virgil.CHAPTER V In several of his poems Brockes clearly opposes the tendency to deify nature, yet he often writes about a Natura figure or spirit of nature who is responsible for plant growth, the changing seasons, instinct in the animal world and many other mysterious processes. These ideas are found in the work of the Cambridge Platonists and those who were influenced by them. Contemplation of space and the thought of God's infinity produce a kind of religious ecstasy. This is also in the work of Norris, Traherne and More. Brockes writes in the hymnic manner of Theocles' apostrophes to various natural phenomena in Shaftesbury's Moralists.CHAPTER VI Certain aspects of Longinus' theory of the sublime are transformed in the writings of Dennis, Addison, Shaftesbury and Brockes into an experience in which the imagination (or reason) capitulates in the presence of something beyond its capacity. In this state man is raised to thoughts of God. Vast expanses (sky, sea, mountains, forests), wild natural forces (storms and earthquakes) produce a pleasing kind of horror. Brockes finds material of this kind in Burnet's Sacred Theory of the EarthCHAPTER VII Brookes' sources are unexplored. Pope's influence has been exaggerated. Brockes translated or adapted material from many other writers such as Genest, La Motte, Voltaire, Shaftesbury, Sarasa and others.CHAPTER VIII Brockes is considered as an unimaginative descriptive poet. He is said to depict the quiet idyllic landscape. But Brockes' best poems are the products of his imagination in conformity with Addison's theories of the imagination. He perceives nature by means of his senses but his knowledge of scientific theories (Locke, Newton and the Royal Society) makes hirn see things in a certain way. His imagination carries him beyond the actual object of description to a higher kind of artistic reality.CHAPTER IX The Irdisches Vergniigen is full of hymns and hymnic passages. Brockes also translated hymns by other writers. The traditional hymn form is used, but is enriched by the motifs which we have been studying. The transformation of Psalm 148 into Hilton's "Morning hymn" and Thomson's "Hymn to the Seasons" illustrates this. The pagan hymn to the sun develops in the same way. Brookes and Thomson gather together material from widely differing sources in their hymns.CHAPTER X Brookes' Irdisches Vergniigen is a mystery as it has no artistic unity. Banalities alternate with poems of near genius. His successes could "be ascribed to the way in which his imagination adapts and varies material gathered from a wide variety of sources

Relationship between synoptic circulations and the spatial distributions of rainfall in Zimbabwe

This study examines how the atmospheric circulation patterns in Africa south of the equator govern the spatial distribution of precipitation in Zimbabwe. The moisture circulation patterns are designated by an ample set of eight classified circulation types (CTs). Here it is shown that all wet CTs over Zimbabwe features enhanced cyclonic/convective activity in the southwest Indian Ocean. Therefore, enhanced moisture availability in the southwest Indian Ocean is necessary for rainfall formation in parts of Zimbabwe. The wettest CT in Zimbabwe is characterized by a ridging South Atlantic Ocean high-pressure, south of South Africa, driving an abundance of southeast moisture fluxes, from the southwest Indian Ocean into Zimbabwe. Due to the proximity of Zimbabwe to the Agulhas and Mozambique warm current, the activity of the ridging South Atlantic Ocean anticyclone is a dominant synoptic feature that favors above-average rainfall in Zimbabwe. Also, coupled with a weaker state of the Mascarene high, it is shown that a ridging South Atlantic Ocean high-pressure, south of South Africa, can be favorable for the southwest movement of tropical cyclones into the eastern coastal landmasses resulting in above-average rainfall in Zimbabwe. The driest CT is characterized by the northward track of the Southern Hemisphere mid-latitude cyclones leading to enhanced westerly fluxes in the southwest Indian Ocean, limiting moist southeast winds into Zimbabwe

Natural or anthropogenic variability? A long-term pattern of the zooplankton communities in an ever-changing transitional ecosystem

The Venice Lagoon is an important site belonging to the Italian Long-Term Ecological Research Network (LTER). Alongside with the increasing trend of water temperature and the relevant morphological changes, in recent years, the resident zooplankton populations have also continued to cope with the colonization by alien species, particularly the strong competitor Mnemiopsis leidyi. In this work, we compared the dynamics of the lagoon zooplankton over a period of 20 years. The physical and biological signals are analyzed and compared to evaluate the hypothesis that a slow shift in the environmental balance of the site, such as temperature increase, sea level rise (hereafter called “marinization”), and competition between species, is contributing to trigger a drift in the internal equilibrium of the resident core zooplankton. Though the copepod community does not seem to have changed its state, some important modifications of structure and assembly mechanisms have already been observed. The extension of the marine influence within the lagoon has compressed the spatial gradients of the habitat and created a greater segregation of the niches available to some typically estuarine taxa and broadened and strengthened the interactions between marine species

EUROSENSORS XVII : book of abstracts

Fundação Calouste Gulbenkien (FCG).Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)