south africa

Telkom is awesome.

brad — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 05:57:58 +0200

In a week we are moving houses. We have a list of things that need to be sorted before we move. So, one of the things on the list is moving our phone line/ADSL. I have a one price ADSL from cybersmart so I can take advantage of their Night Rider plan. Little did I know, paying for our ADSL portion from another supplier was something Telkom Just Couldn't Handle during a transfer.

I phoned Telkom's 10219 number, and was told I needed to call a random number to have the transfer done, because there was an ADSL linked to it. So we tried the cybersmart route. Mandy phoned and asked if we could have the line moved. Cybersmart wasn't so sure. So, we tried Telkom again. After some lengthly discussions Telkom came back with the point that the ISP has to initiate the move. So, back to cybersmart. This time cybersmart was helpful, and said I just needed to fax them my details and request, and they could go ahead, provided they had my signature. Cybersmart phoned back a few days later to tell me the fax was quite light, so they couldn't make out much. After chatting to the very helpful cybersmarter, she said she could transfer the ADSL portion back to Telkom, and then I could handle the transfer, and once it was complete Cybersmart could migrate the line back. Convoluted, but Telkom understandable. Took a few days, but today the migration went through, and round 2 started.

I phoned Telkom, and the very helpful call centre person started to sort me out. No charges, just time. I thought I was on the home run. Then I pointed out that the line had an ADSL on it, and I wouldn't mind having the number changed. Apparently it costs R543.23 to transfer an ADSL line between premises. WHAT? But, doing a self-install of ADSL costs R0.00. So, after some protracted negotiations, the path became clear:

Cancel my ADSL portion ("downgrade" my line), transfer to the new premises (and because there is no ADSL associated I can roll in a phone number change), once the line is active in the new house, then I can re-initiate the ADSL portion for free. WOW.

It's like peeling layers off an onion, and then putting the onion back together. Through all of this the call centre people were lank nice and helpful, but the system gets me down.

Just to re-cap, to have ADSL and a phone line moved to my new house (which is about 1km away from my old one) I have to:
Instruct Cybersmart to migrate my ADSL back to Telkom, Ask Telkom to cancel my ADSL, Ask Telkom to move my phone line to my new house, Wait for the new line, Ask Telkom to "upgrade" my line to include ADSL, transfer the ADSL back to Cybersmart. Awesome system guys.

Internal knowledge, or, make it easier for others to participate

brad — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:28:30 +0200

It has struck me for a while that South Africa, and generally Africa (See Jonathan's mention of Ghana in this post), has a problem with with wrapping stuff up in what I call Internal Knowledge. I define Internal Knowledge as the knowledge needed to operate within a system which is inaccessible (or poorly accessible) without that knowledge.

Now, The Internet definitely represents as tool that internal knowledge is necessary. Okay, almost everything in our lives needs some form internal knowledge. I think the difference is that it is relatively easy to learn the knowledge necessary to operate The Internet. There are courses about The Internet, we teach it in schools and universities, and endevour to expose every unsuspecting rural or uneducated person to The Internet. So that is an example of something that requires internal knowledge, but there is a clear, accessible path to learning that knowledge, you can look it up in books, there are adverts, internet cafes will offer courses in it, or refer you to someone who does.

But, in South Africa, we have a wonderful, efficient, heart-in-your-throat good taxi system. Except as a foreigner to the system (not only to a Dutch or German tourist visiting) it is barely fathomable. There are dedicated street corners, there are routes, sometimes you need to go to a rank and move between two routes (a lot like a train system). The point is, people who have grown up using the system know it backwards, it is the easiest thing in the world. People using the taxi system are generally helpful and friendly, so you can always get some hints how to accomplish what you want. But, like the Ghana system of addresses, you can't really write it down, it is often relative information, it is somewhat organic, and the only way to figure it out is to use it. This is not ideal, as it generally makes people start by learning the exact path they need to get from home to work and back, and not how to generally use the system. You can't pick up a book in the tourist info office that spells out how the system works, and what popular pick up/drop off points are.

There are more examples, I am sure if you look not-too-hard. I have been a tourist in a foreign country. It is not easy, and it varies country to country.

So, I think we can all be accused of creating some kind of system that excludes others purely on the basis of the knowledge they need to know in order to participate. We have the choice to alter the system so that the barrier to entry for potential participants is lower, or create independent, accessible, knowledge/information about how to work out the system.

This thread has been floating around my head for a while, and when I was looking over the booking page for the Kirstenbosch summer series of concerts on the tunegum internet website. I am glad to have an on internet booking site for tickets for what usually amounts to awesome concerts, but (being a family man who doesn't have time to keep up with all the hip, cool bands of today), who the fuck is 'Zebra and Giraffe'? Surely they could provide links to a service like last.fm, or have a 100 word mouse-over, or something. The point is that to understand that list of bands you have to have internal knowledge of the South African Band Scene. They don't provide you tools to find out the information right then and there. Maybe this is not the most striking example of relying on internal knowledge, and assuming all participants know what the game is, but it struck me, and you have to read what I have written here in case there is still some good stuff coming at the bottom of this post.

I don't want to google for Zebra and Giraffe. I want to believe they are some hip-ironic-indie-but-a-little-bit-grungy band pushing boundaries and enlightening their crowds by challenging assumptions about the South African condition. But a part of me knows they are actually some band for 2-8yo kids, and they literally are a big, plushy, Zebra, and an equally plushy (but not proportionally big) Giraffe who sing along to prepared tracks, and encourage the crowd to clap a lot, and sing along. They will never be a Raffi, and they both know it, and it crushes their spirits every time they sing along and smile for kids who don't know any better.

So, your mission: consider how something you assume is easy is actually difficult for someone else, and take some steps towards making it easy for others to be involved (unless you don't want others involved, and would rather be a closed group for ever), or change the system to be inherently easier to access. And get naked on Thursdays (even if conversations in the office kitchen will be uncomfy for the first few Thursdays).

When services fail

brad — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:46:07 +0200

I am a bit mad at the moment. 20 days ago I posted my acceptance letter to OV. I sent it speed post, and I registered it. I made a boo-boo and I lost the slip for the tracking (very dof, I know), but then, one expects post to arrive, right? Except my contract still has not arrived in Johannesburg, and It makes me mad. It cost me in the region of R25 to post, and it took time out of a small budget, and now I have to take more time, and spend more money on faxing it up. I won't be surprised if it costs me more money to fax it than to post it (thanks telkom, and all you other stars).

What to do when basic services don't function as they should, cost more than they should, and generally make one blister behind the eyes at all turns?

South African web development companies

brad — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 11:15:07 +0200

Vincent Maher wrote quite a nice post about Are web development companies still the best place for web advice?. He speaks about how the South African web development/design companies are a bit off the mark (in general) about how websites should work, and how users should interact with the site. Once when chatting to a local company they spoke about how “We need to own the customer and to do that we need to block off all points of exit from this website.” I think they push heavy crack, and I don't think they ever actually learnt about the web, they figured it was an interesting way to put billboards up for higher margins.

I suppose it is the same attitude that sees us embroiled in yet another format war, the same market practices that exclude rather than include. These are the same people who don't understand why Amazon, et al work as well as they do, they don't understand that the web is about the people. It all comes back to jealousy and greed really...the jealous and greedy person tries to control the situation so they can milk it for everything, the pragmatic person works with the situation, moves and flows, and benefits the most in the end. This attitude of greed and control kind of works in the real world (but ultimately the greedy are brought to their knees), but on the internet the best players are the ones who fit into the neighbourhood, the ones who let you put your lemonade store on their front lawn because they know you will tell your friends to come buy lemonade, and maybe catch passing traffic (instead of kicking you off when they see your success, and starting their own lemonade stand which fails dismally).

I think a few examples are in order: how come people put google search on their website long before they would put yahoo? Google is a nice neighbour! google recognises that helping you make money helps them make money, they facilitate and help you grow, while they grow (and they grow because you grow). It comes back to the Google Code of Conduct which basically says Don't be evil. Being evil is trying to steal or control revenue streams (as opposed to dipping into the stream, or making the stream bigger so everyone can play).

The point of this ambling warble? The South African web industry needs a serious shake up, companies need to start waking up to the w3c and it's recommendations (it goes beyond just code - the w3c thinks about accessibility, etc.). The industry needs to start understanding the web as a community, and the fact that the play ground is so big it doesn't make sense to try and cordon of your corner of the web, spin some razor wire around it, and force people to use the intercom to come and play on your swings. In a related thing I have always been boggled when people talk about catering for mobile media, and reaching mobile phone browsers, etc. They build specialist websites and engines, just to make the site usable from a cellphone (don't get me wrong, I am all about sites making tweaked versions which remove stuff that is irrelevant or complex to use from a phone), when all they actually need to do is follow web standards and produce proper XHTML and CSS, and suddenly your site works on a mobile phone, looks good, and is usable for anyone and any browser. I suppose it is the hype train, and when you can charge more money to get your clients on the hype train, then greed wins.

Vincent touched on the recent spate of flash only websites (and how making flash only websites is a lot like shooting yourself in the foot, because you basically trade the power of the web - hyperlinking - for a bit of glitz). Vincent didn't name the sites, but I will (I am crazy like that):

E-TV is the local free to air broadcaster. Does it make sense that I cannot link to an episode, day guide, etc. from a blog post? no, it doesnt. Their website is a wonderful testament to the white elephant (in the box, at the back of the cupboard in the basement, that can only be reached using the stairs).
Ster-Kinekor is another site that probably implemented an entire toolkit in flash, just to do what html was designed for. Updates are probably a whore for some lowly paid minion, and again, how can I link to a movie I want to see? How do I put a widget on my sidebar that tracks the movies I have watched (maybe even pulled from my ster-kinekor card)? oh, right, not possible.
Entertainment Africa is TelkomMedia's little jaunt (at a cost to the tax payer, and anyone who pays telkom for anything) into becoming an entertainment hub for ZAers. Luckily no one can actually link to any sub-section of the site, so they won't get too much additional traffic from their users. The flashing "loading" text makes me bring up a little

Any surprises that they are oldmedia houses and they clearly got sold the whole hook line and sinker? Two of those sites were made by a local company called (lol) Prezence. No surprises that they are a flash house (probably copy-pasted directly from the 90s). I guess they really have a solid prezence (sp?) on the internet. They certainly make their prezence (sp?) felt. I hope I am going to get nice prezence for my birthday (which is just around the corner).

I know I am a minimalist, and the sites could look worse than they do, but when I see all the glitzy flash, and sliding things all over the place, it makes me mock charge a bit, but maybe that is related to feeling like the sites are alive and trying to attack my eyes.

So, shake and bake SA, you have been warned.