Creation of Globally
Collaborative Innovation Network (GCIN)
in
Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Egypt,
and later entire African region
Excerpted
from
Concept
Paper
Submitted to
the Research on Knowledge Systems (RoKS) of the IDRC of Canada
June 15,
2006
Takeshi
Utsumi, Ph.D.
I. RESEARCH QUESTION and OBJECTIVES
1.
Goals:
By this
project, African countries (i.e., Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Egypt, and
later other African countries) will forge ahead on the creation of Globally
Collaborative Innovation Network (GCIN) through broadband Internet, as making a
significant paradigm shift of research and development in global scale, out of
the so-called isolated, academic ÒIvory TowerÓ approach. This project will foster friendship
among youngsters around the world for the creation of new knowledge in the
Knowledge Age of the 21st Century.
2.
Research Questions:
The essence
of new economy in Knowledge Society is the creativity and innovation in science
and technology, which is more than the mere accumulation of knowledge for
enhancing job skills. In
accordance with rapid globalization thanks to the advancement of ICTs, higher
learning institutions of African countries need to prepare for globally
collaborative creation of new knowledge.
The keys to this transformation from industrial society to knowledge
society are education and health, which are the very basis of the national
wealth.
We envision
higher learning institutions act as the knowledge center of their community
with the following three functions;
(i)
To
provide e-learning and e-healthcare/telemedicine,
(ii)
To
lead community development, and
(iii)
To be
a gateway to the outside world.
At the
initial workshop, we will form a consortium of higher learning and healthcare
institutions in each of participating countries. This may join with the
National Research and Education Network (NREN) of the Association of African
Universities (AAU).
The
participating institutions will be interconnected with broadband Internet, each
of which would then be a hub of their Local Community Development Network
(LCDN) which will connect the universities with secondary and elementary
schools, libraries, hospitals, local government offices and NGOs, etc., by
broadband wireless Internet at drastically discounted rates.
The
consortium members will construct a guideline of their country for;
(i)
Exchanges
of training/educational courses and their credits through broadband Internet
— firstly national, then regional and later in global scale,
(ii)
Promotion
of community development around each of those institutions with the use of
broadband wireless Internet – which will foster cooperation between local
entrepreneurs and academics,
(iii)
Collaborative
research among the participating institutions with the use of Beowulf mini
supercomputers and of the GRID networking technology, -- locally, regionally
and then globally, etc.
3.
Supporting Objectives:
Following
opportunities will be explored to formulate a specific agenda for joint
activities;
II. METHODOLOGY
1. How
will each of these objectives be achieved?
Building on
extensive in-country consultations and national level assessment of existing
resources, a regional planning workshop will be held to review best options for
moving forward including the tools for building and strengthening the network.
National
level teams will form task force teams for producing national guidelines for
organizing the GCIN. In the
subsequent six months, the teams will produce a well-developed proposal of each
of participating countries for interlinking consortium members with broadband
Internet trunk lines and LCDN with the precise action plan and budget for the
next design phase of the project, as conducting market survey, feasibility
study, system design of infrastructure, design of support system and
administration structure, and also constructing business model for maximum
effectiveness and sustainability and replication in other locations.
2.
Description of proposed investigation.
2.1
Global E-Learning:
Prior to
the planning workshop, we will investigate the current status of e-learning in
each country, and desired/relevant courses which may be usefully imported from
outside world (giving preference to open content). At the workshop, we will arrange meetings of the course
instructors with facilitators of the receiving universities to discuss how to
provide the courses to learners and setting up administrative structure, etc.
Some of those courses may be provided through currently available
narrowband Internet at their institutions prior to the deployment of broadband
Internet.
2.2
Globally Collaborative Innovation Network:
Now emerging
GRID networking technology has great potential in education, offering a
framework that opens new ways of teaching and learning that have not been
possible before. E-mail and
multimedia World Wide Web of Internet so far contributed significantly to the world
society on the dissemination of information. The next phase of the Internet
development with global GRID computer networks should be the globally
collaborative experiential (the so-called Òhands-onÓ) learning and constructive
creation of knowledge by interactive actions with counterpart scientists and
researchers in developed countries, on virtual reality simulation models of
joint global projects on various subjects. The extraordinary resources with Beowulf mini supercomputers
and GRID technology will provide a computing environment to enhance teaching,
learning, and research at the higher learning institutions in African
countries.
(a) One example would
be to distribute each of socio-economic-environmental simulation models of
Ghana and of the US to supercomputers in both countries, which will then be
interconnected by broadband Internet, thus forming a distributed computer
simulation model, which will act as if a single interactive (gaming) model in a
global scale supercomputer. This
is to make policy analysis on the interactions between the two countries, which
would train the would-be decision-makers in crisis management, conflict
resolution, and negotiation techniques basing on Òfacts and figuresÓ with
consensus-building by rational analysis and critical thinking.
(b) Micro-weather
forecasting simulation models of Ghana and the US may also be interlinked with
the global weather simulation model through the planned broadband Internet, as
well as exchanging of ideas and information between the scientists of both
countries. This will complement
existing climate modeling work currently underway at the Advanced Information
Technology Institute (AITI) of the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Center of Excellence
in Accra, Ghana.
The
combination of the above two may eventually become a forerunner of the Globally
Collaborative Environmental Peace Gaming (GCEPG) project. This project will forge ahead to a new
direction on the use of advanced ICTs, as effectively utilizing the broadband
Internet connection between the US and Ghana, which is now being planned with
the US National Science Foundation fund.
3.
Gender issues should be identified and analysed.
Efforts
will ensure gender balance among both students and researchers and to explore
the gender dimension of all simulation models and research topics.
4.
Results expected.
See the
Section ÒRESULTS AND DISSEMINATIONÓ below.
5.
Techniques and methodologies to be used to carry out research.
The
cause-and-effect analysis of System Dynamics methodology based on feedback
theory, along with computer simulation modeling, is the best tool to understand
the inter-relatedness and inter-dependency of various complex world phenomena.
Email,
listserve, VoIP and multicasting videoconferencing will be used extensively for
coordination among participating members in global scale.
6.
Limitations to proposed research.
Anticipated
difficulties are;
(i)
Formation
of consortium with holistic approach for multi-stakeholders to aggregate
demands for attaining drastic cost reduction on broadband Internet trunk line
to the outside world from the secretariat institution of the consortium
members.
(ii)
Finding
an appropriate champion who will lead this project during prolonged duration of
lobbying local and national governmental agencies and then obtaining the
Japanese ODA.
(iii)
Inadequate
Internet services for communication with lack of constant electric power at
some of participating consortium members.
III. RESULTS AND DISSEMINATION
1.
Expected outputs of the research.
The outputs
of the workshops include the proposals for design phase project, which would
produce proposal for the deployment of the telecom infrastructures,
interconnections of mini supercomputers and simulation models, and the
implementation of administrative organizations. The comprehensive project
proposals from each participating countries will then be submitted to the
Japanese governmentÕs ODA fund.
This project will support an innovative distance learning
infrastructure in the region, based in the university system and extending out
to community learning centers and to schools. This project will also excel
on fostering globally collaborative creation of new knowledge, create the right
environment to stimulate high-level context-responsive ICT research and
development, provide high-end consulting services to achieve global quality
standards for clients, and hence attract business partnerships with social,
economic and technical benefits as being in the forefront of ICT
development. This project will
also stimulate growth of the ICT sector and the use of ICT to accelerate
development in the ECOWAS subregion.
2. How
will these be disseminated?
The results
of this project will be disseminated throughout the communities of
participating institutions to add to the general body of knowledge or
methodology by the following procedures;
(a)
Through
the design of socio-economic-environmental problem and solutions framework into
the nationÕs education curriculum and system,
(b)
By
using art, culture, books, and magazines, etc.,
(c)
Through
the electronic media (Internet/Radio/TV/Local Films).
The success
of the planning workshops will also be publicized over Internet and with press
release and presentations at various conferences to attract further support
from other contributors.
IV. EVALUATION
Benchmarks
for monitoring and evaluation will be established with participating
institutions and clients. In
addition to on-going participatory monitoring and evaluation using e-mail and
virtual and face-to-face (F2F) discussion groups, external evaluation will take
place on an annual basis. Additional
support from outside experts will ensure independent assessments of the
solutions adopted. An expert from the
telecoms field will oversee the deployment of broadband infrastructures from
its design to maintenance, technical support, administration, revenue
mechanism, and user satisfaction.
The selection, quality assurance and accreditation of e-learning courses
and their delivery will be evaluated along with the administration and
accounting mechanisms. The most
important assessment on e-learning would be on the functioning of facilitators
and learner support mechanisms, including optimal frequency of F2F gathering of
instructors and learners. Experts
on Beowulf mini supercomputer and GRID technology will evaluate the use of
distributed simulation system, particularly for the training of youth on
fostering rational analysis and critical thinking.
Creativity
is difficult to measure. Economic
underdevelopment is NOT necessary synonymous to intellectual underdevelopment. Africa has vast resources of excellent
brainpower. This is the only raw material of new knowledge economy. The issue is to motivate and energize
young people to unleash their creativity.
Value creation in a digital age increases with relationships, links and
connections, and more sharing in global collaboration. Commingling of creation creates a new
culture. This project will allow
African countries to leapfrog as borderless globalization imposes a new vision
of education with interaction, collaboration and participation among the youth globally.
V. Collaborating Institutions
1. Ghana-India Kofi Annan Center of Excellence
in ICT, Accra, Ghana
2. Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
3. University of Sierra
Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone
4. Cairo University, Algiza, Egypt
VI. PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS