Next week is Wits Internet Week, and during that week various speakers will look back on what key events helped shape the history of the Internet in South Africa, how its progress has been and what the future holds.
We are rapidly approaching the next milestone for the Internet in South Africa, a mere 16 months away now, 25-years of the Internet on 12 November 2016. What are our memories of the early days, what are the key events that shaped the history of the Internet in South Africa, has progress in connecting South Africans been fast or slow, what are the successes and failures, what can we learn from the past and how can we build the future Internet? These questions will be considered by a number of speakers and debated by participants. Speakers include William Stucke (ICASA Councillor 2009 – 2014), Mike Lawrie (Internet pioneer), Nkateko Nyoka (Head of Regulatory Division, Vodacom), Pria Chetty (EndCode), Ant Brooks (ISPA), Ntsibane Ntlatlapa (CSIR Meraka), Duncan Martin (ZA Central Registry), Peter Knight (Fernand Braudel Institute, Brazil), Adrian Shofield (JCSE) and Luci Abrahams (LINK Centre).
This public seminar is part of Wits Internet Week 2015 and has been developed as part of the research project on the history of the Internet in South Africa commissioned by the ZA Central Registry. All are welcome including practitioners from the electronic communications sector; practitioners, advocates and innovators from the main user sectors such as policymakers, the sector regulator, media, banking and finance, travel and tourism, education and health, government departments, researchers and postgraduate students.
The Internet is the most important medium promoting digital transformation of society and the economy, reshaping trade, commerce and social services. As more and more South Africans join the mobile Internet, access online content at public Wi-Fi spots and communicate across the country, the continent and the globe, new questions, challenges and public debates arise relating to costs and benefits, access and the digital divide, Gigabit Internet in fibrehoods, cybersecurity and harmful content. Come and participate in the discussions towards 25 years of the Internet in South Africa.
