Local is a critical ingredient for success in open source and open content
Jarred Cinman has written a great article on the importance of stressing both the local and the open in local technology policy. As Cinman notes, there are major flaws with the South African government not considering the use of a) local, and b) open source software in the ICT Charter and Black Economic Empowerment weighting. The same philosophy can be applied to content developed by Africans. If we don’t prioritise the local and the open at the same time, “open” content will continue to be as irrelevant as the majority of content is currently for African users in education, culture and science.
