A year on

Obviously my blogging career is limited -- though the main fact I discovered in Lesotho is that Internet access across Africa, and particularly Southern Africa, and more particularly Lesotho -- is very limited and horrendously expensive. So no blogging while I was there, but I did manage to keep up a sort-of blog on a wiki, here:

In Lesotho, 1000 computers at a university of 8000 students -- had a one megabit internet connection. That was NOT each, that was shared. So we all stared at the hourglass icon until there was a timeout. Access wasn't slow -- access was impossible. I asked Brewster Kahle of Internet Archive what could be done, and he suggested that the heads of TelCo's needed to be replaced.

Anyway anyone interested can look here: http://www.bbcarchive.org.uk/lesotho/
for the remainder of the 2008 story.

In 2009 we're through to stage two of a funding application process with the British Library, to get scanning equipment for digitising the Lesotho Royal Archives at Matsieng -- a project of the University of Lesotho. So if that funding comes through, I'll go there again (again at my own expense -- the funding is for kit and Lesotho operator salaries) next July-ish. Fingers crossed.