Y2KAFRIK - the Cinderella Y2k for Africa Project The response to my call for Y2k volunteers in Africa has been startlingly successful to say the least. My Inbox overfloweth. Thank you to all those who responded. Please bear with me if it takes a couple of days to produce a suitable infrastructure and modus operandi. We now have startup contacts in Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Lets hear from countries not on this list. HERE IS WHAT I SUGGEST WE DO. I have started a new Project under the Cinderella Umbrella called "Y2KAFRIC - The Cinderella Y2k for Africa Project". A Web Page will be made available for each country participating. Each Country page will be used to list useful Y2k information and contacts for that country. Obviously we will have to build this information from scratch. The objective is to build local people networks, to concentrate expertise and provide leadership for achieving Action. At this point Cinderella can only provide English as the support language. Volunteers who can provide translation facilities and thus include the Francophone nations would be most welcome. Similarly for local African language support. In due course, Countries may wish to start their own web sites, but we have a starting point that can be used now, today. I ask all those who volunteered to join the new list server that has been set up. This is called SURVIVE@CINDERELLA.CO.ZA NO, this has nothing to do with hoarding tins of baked beans or survivalism, but a list is easy to maintain and control and eliminates spammers and time wasters. It would also be unfair to hijack the "mother" list at AFRIK-IT. Details on how to join the list are appended at the end of this message. WHO CAN BE INVOLVED IN Y2KAFRIK? The vast majority of replies were from Individuals. Some in the IT industry. There were some businesses, Academic Institutions and a Bank. Y2k covers a large area of human activities and we need this type of multidisciplinary approach. So there is a place and need for everyone. Anybody with an interest in the subject who has access to email and a Web browser can participate. WHAT WILL PARTICIPANTS GET OUT OF ALL THIS? First and foremost, Y2k Activism is not a get rich quick scheme. Usually precisely the opposite. Cinderella supplies Information, not funding. Obviously as individuals learn more about the subject, and acquire confidence and expertise, they will utilise opportunities as Speakers and Entrepreneurs. It is very likely that the only reward will be in the satisfaction of a job well done. But the primary rule is that Y2k information must be freely available to all those who want it. All participants are eligible to receive free Y2k Consultancy services from the Cinderella Project. Any question on Y2k can be addressed to me. The primary startup activity will be to produce educational "Information Packs" suitable to the needs of participants. For that purpose I need some basic data. WHAT WILL PARTICIPANTS BE EXPECTED TO CONTRIBUTE? Let us make one ground rule clear. No monetary contribution by anyone for any purpose may be levied for participation in this Web Project. Participants will be expected to participate in the assigned project tasks by doing research and sharing results. Participants will be expected to educate themselves on the subject of Y2k, and be prepared to pass this on to others. --------------------------------------------------- PLEASE RETURN THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION TO slug@fast.co.za Preparatory Questionnaire AREA OF ACTIVITY ( ) Home computing ( ) Small and Medium Business ( ) Church ( ) Large Business ( ) Association of Professionals ( ) Medical ( ) Academic Institution ( ) Local Government ( ) Central Government INTENDED USE ( ) Hobby ( ) Social ( ) Business SYSTEM OF INTEREST (PREFERABLY AVAILABLE FOR TESTING) SMALL SYSTEMS ( ) IBM PC ( ) Macintosh ( ) Other .................. Operating System Used ( ) MSDOS ( ) NOVELL ( ) Windows 3.1 ( ) Windows 95 ( ) Windows 98 ( ) Windows NT 3.5 ( ) Windows NT 4 ( ) OS/2 ( ) Unix/Linux ( ) Other ................... LARGE SYSTEMS ( ) IBM MVS ( ) IBM VSE ( ) IBM VM ( ) OTHER ............ ------------------------------------------ WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? 1. It appears that the majority of the participants are involved in Home or Small Business. May I suggest that you have a look at the Cinderella Website and investigate the "Cinderella Method". Try out this method on your own machine. Learn and Understand by Doing. If you have Realaudio 5 in your browser, listen to the "experts" talk on Y2k in the "XX files" in the Cinderella [Audio] section. 2. Begin to collect information about the level of Y2k awareness in your country. 3. Utilise your social circle. Your friends, your family, your associates at work, your Church. Any society or body of which you are a member. Y2k Activism works best as a group activity. Organise a weekly meeting of interested persons. Recruit these members as the nucleus of your Country Y2k SIG. WHAT IS CINDERELLA GOING TO BE DOING? The Cinderella Secretariat will act as facilitator and Project Coordinator. The next step will be to collect your feedback from the Preparatory Questionnaire and start assembling the information packs based on the results. If you have any questions or concerns, send me email. Welcome aboard Y2KAFRIK. I applaud your generosity of spirit in offering your time and efforts to this worthy end. It will be a very interesting 18 months. Chris Anderson --------------------------------- Y2KAFRIK - SURVIVE List Instructions (last updated 1998-02-11) The objective of the Y2KAFRIK SURVIVE list is to provide a forum for African users to discuss the Year 2000 problem. This list supports the primary web pages at: http://www.cinderella.co.za/y2kafrik.htm This message contains basic administrative information for this list. It will be posted from time to time. There are eight sections to this message: 0) No SPAM Policy 1) List Subscriber Count; 2) Finding the Y2k MINIFAQ - answers to common questions; 3) List Posting Instructions; 4) How to UNSUBSCRIBE from this list; 5) How to SUBSCRIBE to this list; 6) How to change your subscription e-mail address; 7) How to get archived copies of past messages 0. NO SPAM POLICY ================= It has recently become necessary to implement an anti-spam filter on this list. Only messages from registered members will be posted. Reasonable latitude is given in terms of language and opinion. However, personal attacks and abuse of privilege will be grounds for removal from the list. This is a private list. The decision of the Webmaster is final. 1. LIST SUBSCRIBER COUNT ======================== We currently have 1 subscribers to this list. 2. THE Y2k MINIFAQ ===================== A list of answers to frequently asked questions regarding Y2k can be obtained from http://www.cinderella.co.za/minifaq.txt 3. LIST POSTING INSTRUCTIONS ============================ The number of messages posted to the list will vary depending on events and the degree of activity by our list members. On many days, it is possible that there will be no traffic at all. To post a message to the list, to be distributed to all the registered users, e-mail it to the address: survive@cinderella.co.za Replying to an incoming message will not send it back to the list for posting. Rather, your reply will go back to the author of the message. You must deliberately address your post to survive@cinderella.co.za if you want your reply to go back to the entire list. PLEASE DO NOT EVER send join/leave requests to the list posting address! Please do not include any attachments with your post. They will not be forwarded to the list. 4. UNSUBSCRIBE INSTRUCTIONS =========================== You may leave this list at any time by sending an email message, with subject blank and "leave survive" in the body of your message to: Mdaemon@lists.netactive.net If all else fails, you should send a note to the list moderator asking for assistance getting off the list. The list moderator's e-mail address is: webmaster@cinderella.co.za 5. SUBSCRIBE INSTRUCTIONS ========================= To subscribe to the SURVIVE list, send an e-mail message with subject blank, and "join survive" in the body of the message to: Mdaemon@lists.netactive.net Alternatively, you can register from the SURVIVE section at http://www.cinderella.co.za/y2kafrik.htm You will receive a message confirming your registration. Please ignore any reference to "DIGEST", this feature is not implemented. This messaqe overrides any instructions contained in the confirmation. 6. CHANGING YOUR SUBSCRIPTION E-MAIL ADDRESS ============================================ To change the e-mail address under which you are subscribed to this list, send a message (from your new email address) to Mdaemon@lists.netactive.net, subject blank, "leave survive " on the first line of the body, "join survive" on the second line of the body. 7. OBTAINING PAST LIST ARCHIVES ============================== The DIGEST facilities of the list manager are not implemented. A moderated list of past messages is consolidated at the end of each month. These archives can be downloaded from ftp://www.cinderella.co.za/pub or from the FTP section of http://www.cinderella.co.za =====================