2 nd ANIE International conference 4 th -5 th November, 2010- Kampala,Uganda

1. 2nd ANIE International conference 4th-5th November, 2010- Kampala,Uganda Topic: OERs & Research: The Role of Grid Computing for Knowledge Creation and Sharing By: Karume Simon & Omieno Kelvin (MasindeMuliroUniversity,Kenya)

2. Background summary • Collaboration within higher education is often driven by scale of challenge and desire to impart knowledge and experience as widely as possible • ICT related tools are linked with our desire for: • a prosperous and competitive economy • a sustainable environment • a more democratic, open and healthy society 2nd ANIE Conference 2010, Kampala-Uganda

3. What is grid computing? • Combination of computer resources from multiple administrative domains to reach common goal. • Grids are more loosely coupled, heterogeneous, and geographically coupled • Education institutions depend very much on access to other knowledge resources 2nd ANIE Conference 2010, Kampala-Uganda

4. Research agenda • Determine the standing of grid computing in higher education in Africa as an effective and catalytic tool for knowledge creation and sharing • Determine how grid computing technologies can be utilized to expose institutions of higher learning in Africa to international collaborative research and partnerships for capacity building • Tool used is survey 2nd ANIE Conference 2010, Kampala-Uganda

5. HEI in support for knowledge society • The economy is changing • Transition from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy • HEI has been a major factor behind economic development • Information and distributed computing technologies can greatly improve higher education in less developed countries • Its upon HEI in Africa to take advantage of the grid computing trends 2nd ANIE Conference 2010, Kampala-Uganda

6. Potential of the grids Grid computing has the following potentials: • Improved cost/improved efficiency • Exploit underutilized resources • Enable collaborations/peer-to-peer discussions • Virtual resources and virtual organizations • parallel processing capability • Support heterogeneous systems • provide reliability/ availability • Resource balancing • Reduce time to results • Increase capacity and productivity 2nd ANIE Conference 2010, Kampala-Uganda

7. Anatomy of International grid projects 2nd ANIE Conference 2010, Kampala-Uganda

8. 2nd ANIE Conference 2010, Kampala-Uganda

9. Volunteer computing projects 2nd ANIE Conference 2010, Kampala-Uganda

10. Current Status of Grid infrastructure in the world – a global computing platform for global collaborations (source Bruce Becker, for Sigrid JRU and Ops | BBecker@csir.co.za | www.sagrid.ac.za) 2nd ANIE Conference 2010, Kampala-Uganda

11. Emerging Grid activities in Africa • UNESCO-HP Brain gain Initiative: • Algeria:Centre de Développement des Energies Renouvelables (CDER) • Senegal:Cheikh Anta Diop University, DakarComputing Centre, Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) • Nigeria:University of Nigeria, Nsukka • Ghana:College of Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology • Zimbabwe:Chinhoyi University of Technology • Bukina Faso: Ouagadougou University • Cameroon: Douala University and Yaoundé I University 2nd ANIE Conference 2010, Kampala-Uganda

12. Côte d’Ivoire :Cocody University, Ethiopia:Mekelle University • Kenya: MasindeMuliro University , Nairobi University • Kuwait: Kuwait University, Lebanon: Saint-Joseph University • Morocco:CNRST, Tunisia: Université de la Manouba • Uganda: Makerere University, Mbarara University • Senegal: Gaston Berger University b) HP Catalyst Initiative • Kenyatta University: Kenya • Cairo University:Egypt • MasindeMuliroUniversity:Kenya • University of Fort Hare: South Africa • North-west University: South Africa 2nd ANIE Conference 2010, Kampala-Uganda

13. Turning Africa Grid dream in to Reality a) EUMedGrid and more recently EUMedSupport in the Mediterranean basin b) Sub-Saharan Grid in the southern region of Africa c) South Africa's Cyberinfrastructure program d) EPIKH project e) Proposed CHAIN project f) HP-UNESCO Brain Gain g) UbuntuNet Alliance h) EUMEDCONNECT2 i) FEAST j) Hp catalyst initiative 2nd ANIE Conference 2010, Kampala-Uganda

14. REN organization in Africa • ASREN covers the Arab league member states in North Africa that have cooperated since 2002 in the EUMEDCONNECT project initiated by EC. • Ubuntunet Alliance covers Eastern and Southern Africa, roughly COMESA, EAC and SADC + IOC member states • -WACREN Task Force-West and Central Africa(essentially ECOWAS and CEMAC member states) 2nd ANIE Conference 2010, Kampala-Uganda

15. Conclusion • Grid expose students to the “tools of the trade” in a wide range of disciplines: - Learning experiences become far richer, • Allow institutions to deepen and broaden the scope of their educational programs • Encourages partnerships among HEIs (inter-site networking, • Leverages investments hence better ROIs Scientific collaborations, technical training and dissemination) Its upon HEIs in Africa to migrate the existing research efforts to improved collaboration and innovation and in the long run promote internationalization of higher education 2nd ANIE Conference 2010, Kampala-Uganda

16. END Thank You for Listening