KanoOnline.com Forum

Salam,
Bayan wani dan tunani da nayi; can sai na ga ya kamata na kawo wannan topic din don mu tattauna kuma mu tunawa juna amfaninsa don ko masa wasu su amfana. I know before anybody gets to read this write up he must be online, but then I realised with keen interest the great knowledge one can derive from the internet and it pains me if remeber that  a great number of people in Nigeria ( narrowing down to Kano) are not that aware of this "free knowldge". You will be most supprise to find out that even lecturers in our universities ( BUK 4 example) goes to buy extra cars after the strike for salary increase istead of buying a computer to go online!!
My post here is to find possible ways that we can use to create awareness to students, lecturers and every other memeber of the community about the net. Also, the internet is more expensive in the north, y? Highlights on use of the intenet; religously, tarditionally, socially and otherwise( eg. kanoonline). Na gode, ku zama lafiya, kamil

Mallam Kamil kana da gaskiya. The Internet really provides a boat load of information on just about everything. It's becoming more available and popular in the North.. With time, it will become even more popular especially with the younger generation.
The best way to increase participation is to make it accessible and affordable (or free), like providing Internet access in public libraries (do we still have those ???) and at all levels of the public school system.
My main concern here is that there is alot of trash on the Internet as well so we need to take care so we don't poison our minds and hearts as well.
I recently read an article on the Education minister's plan to stand-up what they call "ICT" centers in the secondary schools. I think it's a great start.!
kdgirl

Salam
Mallam Kamilu Awwal. Are you the elder brother of fatihu Bashir and Habibu. You know Gidan su Najibu New site.
Iam Muhammad Amin nagidan su Ismail Soja and Mahmud .
PS
Are You Kamilu Awwal Abubakar?

where are all u people sef?... bryght leaders of tommorrow... heheh... abeg, u know say there be internet for my village... internet access everywhere in nigeria.. it juss depends on the interest of the person...

for example...
...email... was very common at one point back then... and then people juss stopped using it.... cuz it was quite dumb..when one can juss pick up the phone and talk... or visit... unlike some foreigners, who prefer a cheaper way and "private" way.... we're more of a lets meet...chat hours on the phone...visit anytime kinda peeps... so i understand that part...


as for info on da compura.... hmmm the last tyme the prez released money for computers in a public library..... the money juss "poof"...  :-X

Salam,
Malam Amin(muhammad), abin dai kaga kenan ya fito fili, kanoonline ta taimaka, kaga bamu hadu ba wajen sama da shekara kennan amma yanzu mum hade a forum, ya makaranta? Ya amurka? Kai naji dadin the fact that you are one of those doing this great work. Muna haduwa da Ismail, last two months yazu KD and we were at the pop with Buhari(lt.). Plzz keep up the goog work!!
Fyne..Ni a tunanina muhimmamncin rumbun bayani yana da yawa, kuma idan kika duba ai tsadar waya ba a cewa komai, yanzu idan zanyi wa Amin waya a misali, duk minti daya naira dari to, minti nawa za muyi?!!!
Again, imagine the free quality, upto date information available for our students and lecturers!!!!!

Salaam all

I am responding to the initial posting by Kamil Auwal, particularly his reference to BUK lecturers! I happen to be one, and I don't think Kamil has painted an inaccurate picture of ICT and Internet development in BUK and in Kano. I don't know if he was a student of the university or a visitor, but the fact is that BUK has been on the internet since 1997, through a gateway provided by the Nigerian Universities Commission. Indeed all Nigerian universities have a whole unit called Nigerian Universities Network (NUNet) which had full Federal Government backing.

Kano is one of the most internet-aware cities in the north, second only to Abuja, with as many as 20 cafes all over (located along Beirut Road, Civic Center, Sabon Titi, Club Road, and Sabon Gari), and more coming up, according to a recent survey.

On the BUK campus there are three large cafes - the one run by NUNet (using dial-up access), another by Sammy Davis (an ISP in downtown, via wireless), and NetZone, a student-union initiative with also wireless broadband internet access (at modest 11kbps, but good enough), and about 17 access points operating 24 hours a day.

Thus Kamil's posting gives an impression of unawareness of Internet and its functions among Kanawa. Yet a lot of the materials on www.kanoonline.com and www.dandali.com were uploaded to the internet from BUK since the last two years.

Kamil also seems to ignore the fact that Internet development in Nigeria is a recent phenomena, with only Nitel providing ISP services, and few others concentrated in the Lagos area. It was only when Nitel started a Kaduna POP access that it became possible for Internet to be available in Kano in 1999. GlobalSpace (Zoo Road), the first independent ISP in Kano came into operation in early 2000 using leased lines from Lagos under partnership agreements with Sammy Davis (another Lagos-based ISP, and located in Beirut Road Kano). ECNX another ISP owned by Samanja Electronics (Race Course Road) only started operating last year.

And even now, when you access a Nitel dial-up internet service from Kano, you are actually dialling to the leased line in Kaduna, and therefore paying for a trunk call! This is extremely expensive, as it limits the time you can afford to stay online. Plus, not many people have phones in their houses due to the sheer wahala in getting a phone line. So no phone, no internet.

So it is not as if people in Kano are not interested in Internet: the facilities were simply NOT THERE for them to use. Most people who jumped on the internet bandwagon too recently are not aware of the historical and technical problems faced in getting even the dial-up access to Kano which are serious limiting factors in getting online.

I don't know exactly when Kamil became aware of the internet himself, but this is a medium that has been in Kano for quite sometime and has been quite useful to students and lecturers alike and many activities are held in BUK Kano to support it.

Last last week (Oct 10 -11 2002) the Center for the Study of Nigerian Languages held a workshop on translating and standardizing new terminologies in various disciplines. One of these was computing and internet where about 150 terms were translated into Hausa language. One common coinage for the internet, which I created, was Giza-gizan Sadarwa na Duniya, which has been long since been adopted by VOA, BBC and other international news agencies broadcasting in Hausa. If you are interested in the full paper, you can download it from:

http://www.gumel.com/BUK/Giza-gizan%20Sadarwa.pdf

The MacArthur Foundation of US has also been supporting a series of initiatives to provide full-blown independent internet access to the Bayero University campus in a partnership agreement which will be in place before Christmas.

One point we need more discussion, though, is our interaction with the Internet, and I think Kamil is trying to draw our attention to the need to be more active. We spend more time DOWNLOADING information, than UPLOADING it.

Kamil and others are also excited about the amount of "free information" available on the Internet, without realizing that NOTHING is free; it has an ideological fee. When you access documents on the Internet, you are accessing someone's thoughts and further entrenching those thoughts. You are inadvertently, adopting somoneone's ideology and mindset. That is quite expensive. And frightening. The only defense is yourself; you have to make your own voice heard, you presence felt, overwise you will drown in the spill-out of other people's ideas.

We therefore need therefore more forums, bulletin boards, websites and other avenues to educate the world about Kano and Hausa culture, rather than allowing orientalists to continue doing the job for us.

Abdalla

EXACTLY WHUT I MEANT!!!!.....(xcept mynes was short and sweet...... 8))

internet dey!!!!!..... people are using it..... some people juss dont kare.... but internet dey...

WOW!!! that was a tremendous enlightment!! hip hip hurray must echo loud to such a development highlighted by Abdalla. Iam more than happy with these development because in essence it is what made me post the topic, although iam in kaduna; now I can tell anybody that cares to listen how far Kano tumbin giwa has gone concerning the net. I so much wish more people will join these forums so as to learn from the members. Abdalla is the browsing getting cheaper, because I know it is very cheap NOW in kaduna?

Assalaam Alaikum,

LOL...ofcourse there is a chatroom...it's on the General page or Kano online forum main page...just at the bottom of the page u'll see a link, click on it, and it'll take you there.

I completely agree with you Abdalla. It seems like every topic that has been started, some people find it necessary to just say things that are completely off the mark, off topic and unrelated. Please chit & chat as well as one-liners should be restricted to the Chat Room and the Private Instant Messages sections of the Forum. It seems like we are somewhat turning this space to a Chit & chat Forum. This is not the reason why we came together to create this Forum. It is supposed to be a place where people should come to get and share relevant and positive information and ideas. It is better that you do not respond at all to any topic that you do not have any positive input to, than to just respond for the sake of responding.

From now on, please look at the topic and the subject matter being discussed before you are compel to respond and respond only if you have positive and relevant information - not a chit - chat one-liners. All unrelated response to topics will be REMOVED!

I will also be Romoving postings already made that are not related to the topic under which it was posted!

Aw c'mon! This is pushing it. There are rules and regulations governing the behavior of any group of people, no matter how young or old. The mod was perfectly acting in line. The thread and topic were getting off-tangent and it is time to remind people what is going on here. It is not as if the mod said people should stop talking - just that if they have to talk it should be related to the thread; there are other fora for discussing other topics, chats etc.

I participate in 15 fora and am part of about 30 discussion groups, and the rules everywhere, remain the same. KEEP TO THE POINT or SHUT UP.

And are we resorting to threats now? Sure people keep this board alive. But remember, it is a service that is voluntary and aimed at providing an opportunity for our people to get together, share opinions and even locate each other. We must enforce simple regulations of behavior in every zaure. Does that make us so bad? Are nihilism and anarchy preferred political stances of our visitors?

Salisu, if this is going to go the way the rock band saga went, I suggest you close this thread. Clearly the person who started it has lost interest in it.

Thanks to ?Kamil Auwal for starting this topic and thanks to all for responding to it. I have started a related topic List of Internet Access and Cafes Services in kano . Visit and make your related contribution.

Salam all,
Abdalla I didn't tell you that I lost interest on this topic, my last reponse to your posting was a question I asked you and you didn't bother to reply rather you were talking about chit-chat and closing the topic. Haba, we are doing this to help ourselves. Malam salisu thank you for starting a new topic.
Ma'assalam.