The University of Iowa's WiderNet Project Broadens Internet Access throughout Africa
Project
with the National Universities Commission in Nigeria is expanded with
$468,000
MacArthur Foundation Grant
For millennia, the world's scholars have traveled far and wide to have access to the best libraries and academic opportunities. Like their predecessors, today's African scholars are leaving the African continent in droves to take up residence in countries where they have access to the largest library that humans have ever constructed: the World Wide Web.
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At the same time, academics in the West are quickly adopting media-rich, high-bandwidth communication tools that are revolutionizing the way they teach, conduct research, and interact with colleagues and students. While a resource gap has always existed between Western and African scholars, that gap has grown into a large divide. The best minds of Africa are becoming further marginalized while their American counterparts are finding it increasingly difficult to collaborate at the speed and intensity to which they have become accustomed.
With the help of a $100,000 ALO seed grant in 2000, the University of Iowa's WiderNet Project works to combat this trend by improving digital communication systems at universities in Africa. Working in partnership with the National Universities Commission in Nigeria, administrators and technical staff, the WiderNet Project assists Nigerian universities to provide their staff and students with access to computers, email, and the Internet.
"Currently, only three out of 27 Nigerian universities have a direct connection to the Internet," reports project co-director, Cliff Missen. "And none have enough bandwidth to serve their users adequately."
In 1999, Missen, a systems analyst in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics and instructor for International Programs, taught as a Senior Fulbright Scholar at the University of Jos in central Nigeria.
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"Back in 1999, the country's telecommunication monopoly possessed as much Internet bandwidth as any American home with a cable modem," recalls Missen. "The largest university computer network consisted of less than 30 workstations. Those directly connected to the Internet could be counted on one hand."
Michael McNulty, the WiderNet Project's other co-director and a professor in the Department of Geography, has worked with colleagues at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria's oldest and largest university, for the last 30 years.
"Ours is a linkage project that aims to create opportunities for UI students and faculty alike," points out McNulty, who recounts that dozens of professors and numerous students have moved back and forth between Nigeria and Iowa over the past three decades.
With funding from USAID, the U.S. State Department, and a $468,000 MacArthur Foundation grant, the WiderNet Project has provided consulting and coaching at eight Nigerian universities over the last year. Over 100 decision makers and technicians have been through the WiderNet Project's in-country training programs. Another 20 Nigerian planners and senior technicians will visit the UI this Spring to witness first-hand the myriad roles that information technology plays in a modern American academy.
"We're focusing on getting relevant information into the hands of those who are steering Nigeria's first forays into academic digitization," says Missen. "Then we're training cadres of new computer technicians to wire up the networks and train the end users. Our immediate mission is to build the human capacity to harness these communication technologies."
The project has garnered support from numerous quarters: LearnKey, Inc. has provided computer-based training modules for technicians; Microsoft and RedHat have donated their respective server software packages; and 3Com Corporation has provided networking equipment. In addition, hundreds of authors and Web publishers have given the WiderNet Project permission to distribute their books, articles, and Web sites via CD-ROMs to partner universities. The partnership has leveraged over half a million dollars in additional support, not counting the value of donated computers.
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"We just delivered a digital library of over 350,000 items to four Nigerian universities," reports McNulty. "Without spending a penny on Internet connectivity, members of these universities now have access to first rate materials, like portions of UI Health Care's award winning Virtual Hospital Web site."
An entirely unexpected outgrowth of the project is a successful effort to collect used computer and networking equipment for partner universities. The WiderNet Project has collected over 300 Pentium-class computers, plus a wealth of accessories, software, books, and printers. Dozens of volunteers have been working at the International Center to collect and prepare the equipment for ocean shipment, which is paid for by the recipient universities.
"Over half of the equipment we've collected so far has come from individuals around the Iowa City area," says Missen. "We've gotten a few large donations from organizations like the Cedar Rapids-based Physicians Clinics of Iowa and the Stanley Foundation of Davenport. It's a win-win situation for everyone. The computers are kept out of a landfill, the donors feel good about helping to bridge this digital divide, and our Nigerian partners get good low-cost computers with many good years of life left in them."
With a population of 125 million and abundant natural resources, including large oil reserves, Nigeria is perceived to be Africa's keystone economy. "If Nigeria succeeds, she will lead her neighbors into prosperity," predicts Missen. "The lessons we're learning in Nigeria will inform the ICT progress of other African universities."
Missen points out that the efforts of the WiderNet Project could be termed 'bridge building.' "Today we are pounding the pilings, laying the steel, and pouring the concrete," he muses. "The noise and hubbub and disturbances are about building a bridge that, one day in the future, will be traversed by millions without a concern about the labors that went into its construction. We will be able to use the bridge to deliver courses, conduct mutually beneficial research, collaborate with our African colleagues at will, and provide our students with unmediated interactions with their peers from other cultures."
McNulty adds, "These sorts of linkages provide us the opportunity to continue as a visible forerunner in this field; opening doors to manifold research and collaboration opportunities as well as bringing dozens of prominent Nigerian academics to the University of Iowa."
To learn more about the WiderNet project, see http://www.widernet.org
To donate computers or network equipment, see http://www.widernet.org/donations
For more information on the John D. and Catherine T. Rockefeller Foundation, see http://www.macfound.org