ICTworks by Inveneo

Starting now, you can submit questions to President Kagame on any topic, like Rwanda’s economy, technology policy, how the country has grown over the 17 years since the genocide or the issue of regional integration. You can also ask questions as wide ranging as issues related to the future of Africa and its young people. Go to www.youtube.com/worldview to submit your question via video or text, as well as vote on your favorites.

You can also tweet in your question - make sure to use hashtag #askkagame in your tweet, and it will automatically be added to the World View queue.

On May 5th, the President will sit down for a special interview with Khaya Dlanga, a YouTube partner and one of South Africa’s leading video bloggers. During the interview, President Kagame will answer a range of the most popular questions submitted by you. The deadline to submit your question is May 3 and the final interview will be available on May 7.

In 2010, Google really started to engage with African countries. One of its highest profiles moves was to start a YouTube South Africa channel targeting the largest economy in Sub-Sahara Africa. So what were the most watched videos in South Africa last year? Here's the top 10 list curtsey of MyBroadband.co.za:

Die Antwoord’s ‘Enter the Ninja’ with over 8.5 million views (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc3f4xU_FfQ, 8,638,552) and ‘Zef Side’ with over 5 million views (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q77YBmtd2Rw, 5, 258,927) proved hugely popular.

Other videos that drew significant interest included ‘6 Second Poison’ by Locnville(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIBljX4VPuI, 667,170) , 'Show Dem (Make the Circle Bigger)' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM_Ew6zsnDY, 223,944) and Jack Parow’s ‘Dans, Dans, Dans’ featuring Francois van Coke (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yWeMIALolY, 419,100).

South African politics and current affairs also fascinated YouTube fans. Favourites include the AWB’s ungraceful exit from an e.tv studio during a live interview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmMj72bQuDI, 338,438) and Julius Malema dismissing a BBC journalist from a press conference (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpIcwctC7nQ, 174,684).

While the AWB incident prompted the ‘Don’t Touch me on my Studio’ remix (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOFkSktQDFQ,91,568) Malema’s reaction inspired the creation of the popular ‘Julius Malema Song’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0B_nz539wo, 117,621).

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn - these social networking technologies are driving ICT adoption worldwide. They're also increasing revenues and efficiencies in leading American and European companies.

But what's the impact, if any, of social networking technologies on businesses and communities in the developing world? Are they really driving ICT adoption and business revenues in rural areas? Or does Facebook, Twitter, and the like just reinforce the techno-elite echo chamber - bypassing the Global South completely?

Join us for the February #ICT4D Twitter Chat, where we'll explore these vital questions with our guides: ICTworks, Michael Downey, and Chloe Feinberg.

We'll start at 12-noon Eastern Time (noon worldwide) with introductions, then move into the discussion, using the #ICT4D hashtag in Twitter. Be sure to RSVP here.

• Handy Re-Tweet
  Feb #ICT4D Twitter Chat:
  Social Networking 4 Development -
  Feb 26 @ 12:00/noon Eastern -
  RSVP: http://ow.ly/18WdH

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For those new to Twitter Chats, its a freewheeling conversation around our central questions on the Twitter platform. Our hope is to learn from each other and find ways we can increase our impact using social media.

We'll archive the Chat too, in case you miss out.

Be sure to follow ICTworks on Twitter and RSVP today!

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Trying to watch a YouTube video on the low-bandwidth connections common in Africa is an experience in frustration. Download speeds are so slow that you often wait more than a minute for every minute of video. A 5 minute YouTube video can take 10 or 15 minutes to download. And if you're on Nigerian Internet - forget about it.

For everyone who starts a YouTube video download and then takes a nap, we now have a low-bandwidth viewer: YouTube Feather

The "Feather" project is intended to serve YouTube video watch pages with the lowest latency possible. It achieves this by severely limiting the features available to the viewer and making use of advanced web techniques for reducing the total amount of bytes downloaded by the browser. It is a work in progress and may not work for all videos.

But Feather has another advantage - its great for low-power computers too. Because of its lower processor needs, it runs better on Inveneo Certified Solutions than regular YouTube. And let's be honest, when do you use the advanced YouTube features that Feather strips out?

You can sign up for the YouTube Feather Beta here and once you do test it with ICTworks YouTube Channel:

Wanna see more ICTworks Interviews? Then subscribe to ICTworks YouTube Channel today!

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