From: ccfj@hippo.ru.ac.za (F. Jacot Guillarmod)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: Re: Absence of black posters from SA
Date: 12 Nov 92 22:59:09 GMT
Article-I.D.: hippo.1992Nov12.225909.17957
Organization: Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa

In <1992Nov11.073618.23042@leland.Stanford.EDU> zozo@leland.Stanford.EDU (Fundi Mbangi) writes:

>For the most part it's just that we're getting postings from the same 
>institutions and by the same people. Just wondering, does anyone of you guys 
>in SA know if any of the historically black universities get this newsgroup,
>or whether they have email at all. I mean places like For Hare, Ongoye, UNITRA,
>UNIBO, Turflop, etc.

A full newsfeed (in excess of 2000 newsgroups - the only exception
being alt.binaries.pictures.* which has been excluded because of
volumes ;-) is imported into South Africa, and is distributed to
whatever site wants it with no strings attached.  Most, but not all,
South African universities are linked together via medium to low speed
TCP/IP over dedicated lines, so connect time (and thus cost) is not an
issue.  Disk space to store the newsfeed, and installing the relevant
software are issues, though.  Universities in neighbouring countries
connect via uucp dialup, and thus, while they can get the news if they
want it, mostly have decided they can't afford to.

Fort Hare get news and mail, including s.c.a.  UNITRA currently get
email, and are working towards news.  UWC get email (I think), and UDW
get email and are working on news.  Medunsa, while TCP/IP connected,
don't seem to get anything, not even mail.  University of Zimbabwe only
get email - they'd like news, but it's too expensive over their slow
dialup link.  University of Zambia get email only via dialup.

There's interest from the universities in Lesotho, Botswana and
Swaziland in getting network links, but even if they do get linked up
in the medium term, don't expect them to immediately start posting to
the newsgroups.  Usenet is a luxury, and s.c.a even more so.

One of the problems, I think, is access to the facilities at many of
these sites - I'm blithely saying that Ft Hare get news, but I have no
idea how many terminals can connect to the system that is receiving
the feed, or where these terminals are located.

Another problem is the news reading software - very few sites over here
run courses on how to use it, and people are expected to find out for
themselves what is available where.  Consider the trauma of a new user
firing up something like "nn" or "trumpet" for the first time, and
blam...  2000+ newsgroups to choose from.  A lot of potential users
probably give up at this stage and devote their attentions to IRC or
MUD's, or FTP'ing vast numbers of GIFs from wherever.  Others will zero
in on the minimal set of newsgroups relevant to their field of study.

For a doc on Southern African connectivity, use anonymous FTP to get
hold of:

	ftp.ru.ac.za:/pub/doc/networks

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