Juliana Rotich: Meet BRCK, Internet access built for Africa

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

譯者: Yuen-Lam Tsang 審譯者: Ho-chung Chou

Living in Africa is to be on the edge,

住在非洲就像是住在邊陲地帶

metaphorically, and quite literally

這不單是比喻，也是事實

when you think about connectivity before 2008.

如果你想想 2008 年前的通訊品質

Though many human intellectual and technological leaps

雖然人類的智慧和科技

had happened in Europe and the rest of the world,

在歐洲和世界其他地區大為躍進

but Africa was sort of cut off.

但是非洲就像被屏除在外

And that changed, first with ships

而情況改變了，一開始是因為海運

when we had the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution

那時候是文藝復興、科學革命

and also the Industrial Revolution.

和工業革命

And now we've got the digital revolution.

而現在我們有數位革命

These revolutions have not been evenly distributed

這些革命的影響力並沒有均衡地

across continents and nations.

遍佈各大洲的各個國家

Never have been.

從來都沒有

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

這張是海底光纖電纜分佈圖

that connect Africa to the rest of the world.

讓非洲連結世界其他地區

What I find amazing is that Africa

令我感到驚訝的是

is transcending its geography problem.

非洲正在突破本身的地理侷限

Africa is connecting to the rest of the world

非洲正和世界其他地方建立聯繫

and within itself.

還有自己內部

The connectivity situation has improved greatly,

通訊情況已經大幅改善

but some barriers remain.

但是仍然存在某些阻隔

It is with this context that Ushahidi came to be.

此時 Ushahidi 應運而生

In 2008, one of the problems that we faced

2008 年，我們面臨的問題之一

was lack of information flow.

就是資訊缺乏流動性

There was a media blackout in 2008,

2008 年有過一次媒體封鎖

when there was post-election violence in Kenya.

正值肯亞選舉後的暴動

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

那是一段很讓人悲哀的日子 一段很艱困的日子

So we came together and we created software

所以那時我們聯手寫了一個軟體

called Ushahidi.

名叫 Ushahidi

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

Ushahidi 是斯瓦希里語的「證詞」或「見證」

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

我有幸能和兩位優秀的夥伴合作

This is David and Erik.

他們叫作大衛和艾力克

I call them brothers from another mother.

我當他們是同父異母的兄弟

Clearly I have a German mother somewhere.

顯然地，我的母親是德國人

And we worked together first with building

首先我們同力建造

and growing Ushahidi.

並發展 Ushahidi

And the idea of the software was to gather information

而這軟體的目的就是收集資料

from SMS, email and web, and put a map

來源是短訊、電郵和網絡 然後繪成地圖

so that you could see what was happening where,

這樣你們就能知道何地發生何事

and you could visualize that data.

你們可以看得到數據

And after that initial prototype,

建立了初始原形系統後

we set out to make free and open-source software

我們開始嘗試寫出 開放原始碼的免費軟體

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

這樣其他人就不用像我們一樣 從零開始

All the while, we also wanted to give back

一直以來，我們都想報答

to the local tech community that helped us

早期幫助我們製作 Ushahidi

grow Ushahidi and supported us in those early days.

並支持我們的當地技術團隊

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

因此我們決定在奈洛比設立 iHub

an actual physical space

一個實際存在的空間

where we could collaborate,

讓我們可以一起工作

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

這地方現在成了 整個肯亞科技生態系統的一部分

We did that with the support of different organizations

我們得到了不同機構的協助

like the MacArthur Foundation and Omidyar Network.

例如麥克阿瑟基金會 奧米迪亞網路

And we were able to grow this software footprint,

因此我們可以擴張這軟體的版圖

and a few years later it became

短短幾年就成為了

very useful software,

一個十分好用的軟體

and we were quite humbled when it was used in Haiti

我們自覺不能居功 當海地的居民使用它

where citizens could indicate where they are

來標示自己的位置

and what their needs were,

和需要的物資

and also to deal with the fallout from the nuclear crisis

還有人們用它來處理 日本的核幅射危機

and the tsunami in Japan.

和海嘯的時候

Now, this year the Internet turns 20,

然而 今年是網際網路的二十週年

and Ushahidi turned five.

Ushahidi 也五歲了

Ushahidi is not only the software that we made.

Ushahidi 並非我們寫過的唯一軟體

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

那是個團體，那也是個社區

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

他們以我們無法預料的方式 使用這種科技

We did not imagine that there would be this many maps

我們沒有想過會有這麽多的地圖

around the world.

出現在世界各地

There are crisis maps, election maps, corruption maps,

有危機地圖、選舉地圖 貪污地圖

and even environmental monitoring crowd maps.

甚至環境監控組群的地圖

We are humbled that this has roots in Kenya

我們不能居功，這本是為肯亞而設

and that it has some use to people around the world

現在卻能為全世界的人服務

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

面臨各種問題時 幫他們想出解決方法

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

我們還要藉著這個概念 發掘出更多

of collective intelligence, that I, as a citizen,

關於集體智慧的想法 而我，身為一個公民

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

如果能運用我所有的設備 來分享資訊

could inform you about what is going on,

告知你們現在發生的事

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

如果你們也這樣做 就可以讓我們大家

of what's going on.

更瞭解全局

I moved back to Kenya in 2011.

2011年，我搬回了肯亞

Erik moved in 2010.

艾力克是 2010 年回來的

Very different reality. I used to live in Chicago

兩個非常不同的世界 我以前住在芝加哥

where there was abundant Internet access.

那裡上網的據點很多

I had never had to deal with a blackout.

我從來不會遇到網路中斷的問題

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

而在肯亞，情況完全不同

and one thing that remains despite the leaps in progress

有件事是連數位革命的大躍進

and the digital revolution is the electricity problem.

也沒能解決的，那就是供電問題

The day-to-day frustrations of dealing with this

每天都要處理這令人沮喪的事

can be, let's just say very annoying.

可說是非常麻煩

Blackouts are not fun.

停電很討厭

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

想像一下，你坐下來準備工作時

the power goes out,

突然所有供電都中斷了

your Internet connection goes down with it,

你的網路連線也跟著中斷

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

然後你要找出問題 好，數據機在哪裡？

how do I switch back?

怎麼重新啟動？

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

而且你知道嗎？ 這種事不會只發生一次

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

這就是我們所居住的肯亞的現況

and other parts of Africa.

非洲其他地區也是如此

The other problem that we're facing

我們面對的另一問題是

is that communication costs are also still a challenge.

通訊費用依然高得離譜

It costs me five Kenyan shillings,

我需要花五肯亞先令

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

或者六角美元 才能打電話到美國、加拿大或中國

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

你猜猜打電話到盧安達、迦納 和奈及利亞的費用是多少？

Thirty Kenyan shillings. That's six times the cost

30肯亞先令。比非洲內陸的通話費

to connect within Africa.

貴了六倍

And also, when traveling within Africa,

而且，在非洲境內旅行時

you've got different settings for different mobile providers.

你還須根據不同通訊營運商 來改變設定

This is the reality that we deal with.

這就是我們正面對的現實

So we've got a joke in Ushahidi

我們 Ushahidi 流傳著一個笑話

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

「在非洲行得通的，在哪裡都行得通了。」

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

［多數人以科技決定功能， 我們以功能推動科技。］

What if we could overcome the problem

如果我們可以藉由解決

of unreliable Internet and electricity

網絡連接和電力供應不穩定的問題

and reduce the cost of connection?

從而減低通訊成本呢?

Could we leverage the cloud?

或許我們可以善用雲端技術？

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

我們建立了群眾匯報地圖 我們寫出了 Ushahidi

Could we leverage these technologies

我們可否利用這些科技

to switch smartly whenever you travel from country to country?

執行所有跨國旅行中的智能轉換呢？

So we looked at the modem,

因此我們著眼於數據機

an important part of the infrastructure of the Internet,

那是網際網路中重要的基礎建設

and asked ourselves why

然後我們自問

the modems that we are using right now

為甚麼我們正在使用的數據機

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

是為了一個截然不同

ubiquitous internet, you've got ubiquitous electricity,

有著無所不在的網際網路 和不會斷電的環境而造？

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

然而，我們奈洛比的人可沒有這些福份

We wanted to redesign the modem

我們希望重新設計數據機

for the developing world, for our context,

使其適用於發展中的國家 適用於我們的環境

and for our reality.

適於於我們面臨的現實

What if we could have connectivity with less friction?

我們的網路連線是不是能更順暢？

This is the BRCK.

這就是 BRCK

It acts as a backup to the Internet

其功能是充當網際網路的後援

so that, when the power goes out,

因此，電力中斷時 它會執行

it fails over and connects to the nearest GSM network.

故障轉移 連結至最近的全球行動通訊系統網路

Mobile connectivity in Africa is pervasive.

行動網路在非洲十分普及

It's actually everywhere.

可說是無處不在

Most towns at least have a 3G connection.

很多市鎮至少都有三頻網路

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

我們何不善用這技術？ 這就是我們建造 BRCK 的原因

The other reason that we built this

我們建造它的另一個原因

is when electricity goes down, this has eight hours

是電力中斷時 這裝置的電池還能撐

of battery left, so you can continue working,

八小時，因此你可以繼續工作

you can continue being productive,

你的效率不受影響

and let's just say you are less stressed.

可以說你的壓力就不會那麼大了

And for rural areas, it can be

對郊區的人來說

the primary means of connection.

這可能是主要的連線方式

The software sensibility at Ushahidi is still at play

Ushahidi 這軟體的靈敏度仍很有用

when we wondered how can we use the cloud

當我們思索如何善用雲端科技

to be more intelligent so that

提高其智能表現

you can analyze the different networks,

那麼你就能分析不同的網路

and whenever you switch on the backup,

每當你開啟一個備份

you pick on the fastest network,

你就能選一個最快的網絡

so we'll have multi-SIM capability

所以我們也會提供多 SIM 卡功能

so that you can put multiple SIMs,

讓你能同時插入多張 SIM 卡

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

哪個網路較順暢 就連到哪個網路

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

如果網路的運行速度不理想

then you hop onto the next one.

就會切換到另一個

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

我們的想法是 讓你在哪裡都能上網

With load balancing, this can be possible.

靠著負載均衡技術 這是可能實現的

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

對我們來說，還有一件很棒的事 我們喜歡感應器

is this idea that you could have an on-ramp

就是你可以掌握一個閘道

for the Internet of things.

連接上各種網路

Imagine a weather station that can be attached to this.

想像一下 這個閘道能連接到某個氣象台

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

這用模塊化的形式來建立

a satellite module so that you could have

因此也可以連接到衛星的模塊上

Internet connectivity even in very remote areas.

那麼在偏僻地區也能上網了

Out of adversity can come innovation,

身處逆境可以刺激創新

and how can we help the ambitious coders and makers

我們該如何協助肯亞 的雄心勃勃的編碼師和設計師

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

在基礎設施問題百出的環境中 隨機應變呢？

And for us, we begin with solving the problem

我們的作法首先是解決

in our own backyard in Kenya.

肯亞內部的問題

It is not without challenge.

過程不是一帆風順的

Our team has basically been mules carrying components

我們的團隊可說像騾子一般 把零件由美國運到肯亞

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

有些很有趣的對話，是我們當初

with customs border agents.

遇到那些邊境人員時說的

"What are you carrying?"

「你們帶的是什麼？」

And the local financing is not

而當地的金融機構並不屬於

part of the ecosystem for supporting hardware projects.

支持硬體計畫的生態系統

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

我們只好依靠 Kickstarter 我很開心的說

through the support of many people,

因為許多人的支持

not only here but online,

不只這裡，還有網路上的

the BRCK has been Kickstarted,

BRCK 起步了

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

現在有趣的步驟開始了 那就是把產品帶入市場

I will close by saying that, if we solve this

最後我想說的是 要是我們能

for the local market, it could be impactful

為當地市場解決這個問題

not only for the coders in Nairobi

影響的不止是奈洛比的編碼員

but also for small business owners

還有小型企業的老闆

who need reliable connectivity,

他們需要可靠的網路連接

and it can reduce the cost of connecting,

這項技術可以降低連接的成本

and hopefully collaboration within African countries.

希望也能促進非洲各國共同合作

The idea is that the building blocks of the digital economy

我們的理念是 數位經濟的基石就是

are connectivity and entrepreneurship.

連繫力和創業精神

The BRCK is our part

BRCK 就是我們所作的努力

to keep Africans connected,

為了讓非洲人民能保持聯繫

and to help them drive the global digital revolution.

並且幫助他們搭上 全球數位革命的列車

Thank you.

謝謝大家

(Applause)

（掌聲）