Development of a Knowledge Management System Integrated with Local Communication Channels and Knowledge Management Initiatives for Kenyan Rural Farming Communities

Abstract

This paper presents an innovative application of wireless, mobile and ubiquitous technologies to support informal and collaborative learning in Kenyan rural farming communities. Such an approach is achieved by the development of a Knowledge Management System (KMS) integrated with existing local community communication channels, together with experimental Knowledge Management (KM) initiatives employing the VeSeL (Village e-Science for Life) distributed resource kits (DRKs). The initiatives support illiterate and semiliterate farming community groups, in learning new agriculture practices, and also enable the use of advanced digital technology to improve their agricultural practices and literacy levels. Results of a recent field trip to Kenya are presented and an application sketch is developed. The process of applying wireless and Internet technologies for the education of local farming communities, using irrigation and water management as the application, concludes the paper.

A Technical Framework for Designing Wireless Sensor Networks for Agricultural Monitoring in Developing Regions

“…Village e-Science for Life (VeSeL) project is a collaboration of key research groups in the UK and Kenya with an overarching aim of enabling rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa to use advanced digital technology to improve their agricultural practices and literacy levels [3,4,5]. The early phases resulted in developing an iteratively designed Community Resource Kit [3] and Knowledge Management System [4] which are currently in their second iteration.…”

“…The early phases resulted in developing an iteratively designed Community Resource Kit [3] and Knowledge Management System [4] which are currently in their second iteration. Part of the technical strand is a development of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for technology-enabled test farms in the addressed communities in Kenya.…”

“…These sink nodes are to be located along the edge of the field for automatic data logging when some complementary hand-held devices pass by. In the VESEL project these devices are part of a community Resource Kit which also serves other purposes [4]. Here their frequent existence around the field is opportunistically exploited.…”

Making memories available: a framework for preserving rural heritage through community knowledge management (cKM)

“…Caithness (Scotland) has initiated a community online bulletin board which contains a wealth of relevant news on what is happening in the region (www.caithness.org). Research in Kenya has underpinned wireless technologies with a KM system which supports learning about innovate farming practices for rural farmers (Wirastuti et al, 2008). The Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France is working with computer science researchers to digitise their huge scientific archive of heritage artefacts and documents in a KM system that is underpinned by semantic web technologies (Aitken et al, 2007).…”

Wireless Sensing for Development: An Integrated Design Approach

“…Based on the proposed model, the paper explains the research directions adopted in an ongoing project (Village e-Science for Life -VeSeL) which aims at enabling rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa (initially Kenya) to use advanced digital technology to improve their agricultural practices and literacy levels [5,6,7].…”