Juliana Rotich: Meet BRCK, Internet access built for Africa

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

翻译人员: Claire Yeh 校对人员: Tim Lan

Living in Africa is to be on the edge,

在非洲生活等于在边缘生活，

metaphorically, and quite literally

这既是潜台词，又相当符合实际情况

when you think about connectivity before 2008.

只要你想想2008年前的通讯状况就明白了。

Though many human intellectual and technological leaps

在欧洲和世界的其他地方

had happened in Europe and the rest of the world,

历经了人类智慧和技术的大飞跃，

but Africa was sort of cut off.

但是非洲多少有点落后了。

And that changed, first with ships

而改变发生了，首先从船开始，

when we had the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution

就是在文艺复兴的时代、科学革命时代

and also the Industrial Revolution.

以及工业革命时代发生了变化。

And now we've got the digital revolution.

而如今我们又经历了数字革命。

These revolutions have not been evenly distributed

这些革命并非在每个大陆和国家

across continents and nations.

平衡地展开起来。

Never have been.

平衡从未出现过。

Now, this is a map of the undersea fiber optic cables

现在，海底光缆如地图一般铺开

that connect Africa to the rest of the world.

从而把非洲与世界已经联系了起来。

What I find amazing is that Africa

我觉得很令人惊异的是非洲

is transcending its geography problem.

正在突破它的地理局限。

Africa is connecting to the rest of the world

非洲正在与全世界联网，

and within itself.

包括非洲大陆自身

The connectivity situation has improved greatly,

通讯的状况得到了大幅度改善，

but some barriers remain.

不过还是有一些阻碍。

It is with this context that Ushahidi came to be.

就是在这样的背景下才出现了 Ushahidi。

In 2008, one of the problems that we faced

2008年，我们面对的一个问题

was lack of information flow.

是缺乏信息流。

There was a media blackout in 2008,

2008年，当肯尼亚在大选后发生了暴力活动时。

when there was post-election violence in Kenya.

当地开始了一段时间的媒体传播中断。

It was a very tragic time. It was a very difficult time.

那是一段非常悲惨和难熬的时期。

So we came together and we created software

所以我们聚在一起，然后创造了

called Ushahidi.

叫做 Ushahidi 的软件。

And Ushahidi means "testimony" or "witness" in Swahili.

Ushahidi 在斯瓦西里语中的意思是“证词”或“见证”。

I'm very lucky to work with two amazing collaborators.

我很有幸能和两名了不得的人合作。

This is David and Erik.

他们是 David 和 Erik。

I call them brothers from another mother.

他们当他们是我同父异母的兄弟。

Clearly I have a German mother somewhere.

显然我在地球某处有一位德国裔的母亲。

And we worked together first with building

我们一开始一起

and growing Ushahidi.

构建和发展 Ushahidi。

And the idea of the software was to gather information

这个软件的目的

from SMS, email and web, and put a map

从短信、电子邮件和网页上收集信息，然后拼出一张地图

so that you could see what was happening where,

以便看到在什么地方都发生了什么事，

and you could visualize that data.

接着你可以将数据可视化。

And after that initial prototype,

在建立了初始原型后，

we set out to make free and open-source software

我们开始将其做成免费和开源的软件，

so that others do not have to start from scratch like we did.

这样其他人就没必要向我们一样从最基础的地方开始。

All the while, we also wanted to give back

自始至终，我们都想要报答

to the local tech community that helped us

那些在早期帮助我们建造 Ushahidi

grow Ushahidi and supported us in those early days.

并支持我们的当地技术团体。

And that's why we set up the iHub in Nairobi,

这就是为什么我们要在内罗毕建造 iHub，

an actual physical space

这是一个可以让我们

where we could collaborate,

在一起合作的实体空间，

and it is now part of an integral tech ecosystem in Kenya.

其如今也是肯尼亚技术生态系统的一部分。

We did that with the support of different organizations

我们在建造时得到了不同组织的帮助，

like the MacArthur Foundation and Omidyar Network.

比如麦克阿瑟基金会和奥米迪亚网络。

And we were able to grow this software footprint,

而且他们的帮助使我们能够让这个软件走得更远，

and a few years later it became

几年之后它成了

very useful software,

一个非常有用的软件，

and we were quite humbled when it was used in Haiti

当人们在海地使用这个软件的时候，我们感到责任还蛮重大的，

where citizens could indicate where they are

当时人们用它反映自己的位置

and what their needs were,

和需求，

and also to deal with the fallout from the nuclear crisis

同样这个软件也曾用来处理日本的核辐射危机

and the tsunami in Japan.

和海啸。

Now, this year the Internet turns 20,

现在，英特网今年20岁了，

and Ushahidi turned five.

也是 Ushahidi 也迎来了其发展的第五年。

Ushahidi is not only the software that we made.

Ushahidi 这个软件不止是由我们所创造。

It is the team, and it's also the community

是这个团队，还有软件的用户们，

that uses this technology in ways that we could not foresee.

他们用我们预料之外的方式来使用这个软件。

We did not imagine that there would be this many maps

我们没有想到现在全世界

around the world.

会出现这么多地图。

There are crisis maps, election maps, corruption maps,

有危机地图，选举地图，腐败地图，

and even environmental monitoring crowd maps.

甚至还有环境监控包众地图。

We are humbled that this has roots in Kenya

让我们感到责任重大的是这个软件为肯尼亚而生，

and that it has some use to people around the world

而如今全世界的人

trying to figure out the different issues that they're dealing with.

都在用它处理不同的问题。

There is more that we're doing to explore this idea

我们还在继续努力

of collective intelligence, that I, as a citizen,

去探索集体智慧的理念，而我，作为一个公民，

if I share the information with whatever device that I have,

如果我用任意一种设备来分享我的信息，

could inform you about what is going on,

我可以告诉你发生了什么，

and that if you do the same, we can have a bigger picture

而且你要是也这样做的话，我们就能更加清楚地看到

of what's going on.

正在发生的事情。

I moved back to Kenya in 2011.

我2011年的时候回到了肯尼亚。

Erik moved in 2010.

Erik 2010年搬到这里。

Very different reality. I used to live in Chicago

现实是那么的不同。我以前住在芝加哥

where there was abundant Internet access.

那里的网络无处不在。

I had never had to deal with a blackout.

我从来都不用考虑断电。

And in Kenya, it's a very different reality,

但在肯尼亚，反差很大，

and one thing that remains despite the leaps in progress

尽管有着飞跃性的进步和发生了数字革命，但仍有一个问题

and the digital revolution is the electricity problem.

电力问题。

The day-to-day frustrations of dealing with this

日复一日的沮丧中处理这个问题中

can be, let's just say very annoying.

可以说是非常恼火的。

Blackouts are not fun.

停电一点都不有趣。

Imagine sitting down to start working, and all of a sudden

想象一下你刚坐下准备开始工作，突然间

the power goes out,

停电了，

your Internet connection goes down with it,

你的网络也中断了，

so you have to figure out, okay, now, where's the modem,

然后你要想，okay，现在，调制解调器在哪里，

how do I switch back?

我怎么重启它？

And then, guess what? You have to deal with it again.

然后，你知道吗？你还要再重来一遍。

Now, this is the reality of Kenya, where we live now,

现在，这就是我们住的地方：肯尼亚的实况，

and other parts of Africa.

这也是非洲其他地区的实况。

The other problem that we're facing

我们正在面对的另一个问题是

is that communication costs are also still a challenge.

通讯费用，这也是个大挑战。

It costs me five Kenyan shillings,

打电话到美国、加拿大或者中国

or .06 USD to call the U.S., Canada or China.

要花我5肯尼亚先令，也就是0.06美元。

Guess how much it costs to call Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria?

你猜下打电话到卢旺达、加纳、尼日利亚要多少钱？

Thirty Kenyan shillings. That's six times the cost

要30肯尼亚先令。在非洲大陆内相互打电话

to connect within Africa.

还要花6倍的价格。

And also, when traveling within Africa,

同样，在非洲内部旅行，

you've got different settings for different mobile providers.

不同的移动通信运营商要求的手机制式也不一样。

This is the reality that we deal with.

这是我们要解决的问题。

So we've got a joke in Ushahidi

因此， Ushahidi 流传着一个笑话

where we say, "If it works in Africa, it'll work anywhere."

是这么说的，“如果在非洲行得通，那到处都能行得通了。”

[Most use technology to define the function. We use function to drive the technology.]

[大多数人用技术来定义功能，我们却用功能来推动技术发展。]

What if we could overcome the problem

如果我们可以解决

of unreliable Internet and electricity

网络和电力不稳定的问题

and reduce the cost of connection?

并且降低通信费用，那会怎么样呢？

Could we leverage the cloud?

我们能否利用云技术？

We've built a crowd map, we've built Ushahidi.

我们已经创建了一张包众地图，还有 Ushahidi。

Could we leverage these technologies

我们能否利用这些技术

to switch smartly whenever you travel from country to country?

来实现在无论何时发生的跨国旅行中的智能转换呢？

So we looked at the modem,

因此我们目光转向了调制解调器，

an important part of the infrastructure of the Internet,

这是英特网构造中非常重要的一部分，

and asked ourselves why

我们问自己为什么，

the modems that we are using right now

我们所使用的调制解调器

are built for a different context, where you've got

是为与现在不同的，有着

ubiquitous internet, you've got ubiquitous electricity,

无处不在的互联网和电力的环境而造的，

yet we sit here in Nairobi and we do not have that luxury.

但是在内罗毕这里我们可享受不到这种奢侈待遇。

We wanted to redesign the modem

我们想要重新设计

for the developing world, for our context,

一种适用于发展中国家的，适应我们现在的环境

and for our reality.

和现实情况的调制解调器

What if we could have connectivity with less friction?

如果我们可以建造一个比较稳定的连网方式该多好？

This is the BRCK.

这就是BRCK。

It acts as a backup to the Internet

它相当于英特网的后备，

so that, when the power goes out,

比如遇到停电的状况，

it fails over and connects to the nearest GSM network.

它会为你切换连接到最近的GSM网络。

Mobile connectivity in Africa is pervasive.

在非洲，移动通信网络是很普及的。

It's actually everywhere.

其实到处都覆盖到了。

Most towns at least have a 3G connection.

大部分的城镇都至少有一个3G网络。

So why don't we leverage that? And that's why we built this.

那么我们为什么不利用这个条件呢？这就是为什么我们建造了这个。

The other reason that we built this

还有一个建造这个的原因是

is when electricity goes down, this has eight hours

当电力中断，它还能通电8个小时，

of battery left, so you can continue working,

所以你可以继续工作，

you can continue being productive,

你可以继续生产，

and let's just say you are less stressed.

也可以说你不需要在那么神经紧绷着了。

And for rural areas, it can be

在农村地区，可以算得上

the primary means of connection.

是首选的连网方式。

The software sensibility at Ushahidi is still at play

我们想要知道怎么使用云技术来变得更智能时，

when we wondered how can we use the cloud

Ushahidi社区对软件的灵敏性依旧能起作用，

to be more intelligent so that

因此你可以

you can analyze the different networks,

分析不同的网络，

and whenever you switch on the backup,

随时随地打开备份，

you pick on the fastest network,

选择一个最快的网络，

so we'll have multi-SIM capability

于是我们打造了多SIM卡多待的功能，

so that you can put multiple SIMs,

这样一来你就可以插入多张SIM卡，

and if one network is faster, that's the one you hop on,

如果某个网络比较快，就会连上那个网络，

and if the up time on that is not very good,

如果它的运行时间不是很理想，

then you hop onto the next one.

那你就可以立马换下一个。

The idea here is for you to be able to connect anywhere.

这个想法就是让你可以在任何地方连网。

With load balancing, this can be possible.

有了负载平衡，就用有可能了。

The other interesting thing for us -- we like sensors --

另外一个有趣的事情——我们喜欢感应器——

is this idea that you could have an on-ramp

这个想法是说你可以拥有

for the Internet of things.

一个连接各种网络的通道。

Imagine a weather station that can be attached to this.

想象一下它能连接到一个气象站。

It's built in a modular way so that you can also attach

它是以模组化的方式建立的，因此它也可以连接到

a satellite module so that you could have

一个卫星的模组上，这样你就可以

Internet connectivity even in very remote areas.

在很偏僻的地方也可以连接网络。

Out of adversity can come innovation,

逆境可以激发创新，

and how can we help the ambitious coders and makers

那么我们要怎么帮助那些在肯尼亚的雄心勃勃的程序员和编程师们

in Kenya to be resilient in the face of problematic infrastructure?

去迅速适应基础设施常发生问题的环境呢？

And for us, we begin with solving the problem

至于我们，首先着手于解决

in our own backyard in Kenya.

我们在肯尼亚自家后院的问题。

It is not without challenge.

这并非没有挑战性。

Our team has basically been mules carrying components

我们的团队基本上一直要做苦力，把零部件

from the U.S. to Kenya. We've had very interesting conversations

从美国运到肯尼亚。我们和报关员还有过

with customs border agents.

一些很有趣的对话。

"What are you carrying?"

“你们都在运什么呢？”

And the local financing is not

然后当地的金融机构又不

part of the ecosystem for supporting hardware projects.

参加支持硬件项目。

So we put it on Kickstarter, and I'm happy to say that,

所以我们只好在众筹网站Kickstarter上面去，对此我可以很开心的说

through the support of many people,

在很多人的支持下

not only here but online,

不止来自Kickstarter这儿，而是来自整个网络

the BRCK has been Kickstarted,

BRCK开始起步，

and now the interesting part of bringing this to market begins.

然后接下来就要开始进行有趣的市场推广了。

I will close by saying that, if we solve this

最后我想说，如果我们能为当地的市场

for the local market, it could be impactful

解决这个问题的话，这不仅

not only for the coders in Nairobi

对内罗毕的编码员有着重要的影响，

but also for small business owners

而且对那些需要稳定网络的

who need reliable connectivity,

小企业老板们来说也很重要，

and it can reduce the cost of connecting,

它可以降低通讯费用，

and hopefully collaboration within African countries.

而且也希望对非洲各国的相互合作也会大有帮助。

The idea is that the building blocks of the digital economy

这个想法是这样的，数字经济的基础构成模块

are connectivity and entrepreneurship.

是充满连接可能性和具备着创业精神的。

The BRCK is our part

BRCK是我们

to keep Africans connected,

让非洲人民保持联系的努力，

and to help them drive the global digital revolution.

同时也是帮助他们一同促进全球的数字革命的努力。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）