A documentary that follows a group of hackers to Africa where they explore the local tech communities.
When we hear about software, hacking and entrepreneuship, most of the development seems to happen in the U.S., Europe and some places in Asia(*). Africa, the forgotten continent?
In October 2013 a group of software developers, designers and bloggers will travel to Africa in order to explore the local tech communities. From our research we know that there's a lot going on down there. Now we want to see and experience it ourselves. We will be visiting four countries: Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. At every stop we will organize a hack event together with the local people. We will work together, learn from them, see what they can do.
In areas such as mobile computing or micropayments, these places are actually more technologically advanced than we are in Europe or the U.S.. We want to see how it works in real life with our own eyes. And with our cameras. We will talk to local hackers and entrepreneurs, look at what they do and document everything. And when we come back we will show the world what we have learned.
Learn (from Africa) and teach (the western world).
Before diving into this project we were mostly ignorant about technological developments in African countries. We feel that too many people are the same, and as a result a lot of opportunities are lost. We want to change that. By producing a short film and releasing it online for free we have the chance to make a big impact. We want to educate people in the western world about the developments in Africa, motivate deveopers to connect to projects, entrepreneurs to go into these markets.
What happens when smartphones outsell computers four to one, and 50% of a continent's population is below the age of 20? You have a technology-literate mobile generation unlike any that has come before.
African governments aren't fast or savvy enough to build the infrastructure needed to support this type of entrepreneurial tech activity. Academic institutions are woefully behind in teaching skills for computer science and design.
So where do people [..] go? What mechanisms support their start-ups and connect them to capital, businesses and their peers?
Incubators and accelerators. There are now more than 50 tech hubs, labs, incubators and accelerators in Africa, covering more than 20 countries.
Inspired by the article From Kenya to Madagascar: The African tech-hub boom by Erik Hersman, Gregor Martynus in mid 2012 decided that it was time to travel to Africa and see for himself what it was like. After a bit of asking around a group of a dozen people quickly formed to organize the trip.
We are 12 software developers, designers, bloggers, entrepreneus from Europe and the U.S. who like to expand our horizons by traveling.
Alexander Lang is an amateur film maker with experience in documentary films (conferences, tech events, trips) and small film productions (web tv series).
TBD: other film/photography/tv/journalist experience.
- 20-30 mins. documentary
- interviews: local technology leaders, developers, users
- filming events and our travels
- target audience: developers, people interested in technology and developments in Africa
- filmed on digital video cameras/DSLRs
- distribution: online (vimeo), film festivals (?)
The film accompanies us throughout our trip. It starts with background information about Africa and more detailed introductions about the countries we are visiting. These are given by members of the group as well as our local contacts.
Next we dive into the backgrounds and motivations of the group. Why are we even going? What do we expect to see? What do we hope to learn? We then follow the preparations that lead to the trip. This includes research, contacting African communities, finding accomodationd and means of transportation as well as organizing our events.
Finally in October 2013 groups will be flying in from the U.S. and Europe to meet in one of the countries. In each ___location we will establish a base camp by renting a house that accomodates all of us. From there we will work, pland events and trips – the all-the-time-present cameras capturing our discussions and decisions.
Besides hacking and working we will go on day trips to explore the local culture and natural environment.
Self-organized hackathons: working on open source projects together with locals.
Existing events we will participate in: TBD
Four countries in four weeks: Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania.
Self-organized journey, one person is responsible for each ___location.
Questions asked: TBD
TODO: conclusions, structure (beginning, middle, end)
TBD
(TBD)
- filming: October 2013
- editing: November/December 2013
- release: January 2014
* and Australia of course :)