There is no doubt that first time attendees of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers meetings find it hard to understand what the organization is all about and how you can benefit.

For many people, am sure we want to know how it will add more sufurias (cooking pots) in our kitchens or whether it has any relevance at all. You can read more about it www.icann.com

ICANN brings together registrars, registries, businesses, non commercial users. Buts safe to say that ICANN meetings are dominated by commercial interests.

One of the registries participating in ICANN is dot mobi, the people in charge of .mobi registry. I have met Francesco in previous meeting and he has expressed interest to meet Kenyan techies; to get to explain more about dot mobi.

So, Francesco is interested in talking to mobile application developers; dot mobi has cool developer stuff and they are working with major handset manufacturers on various aspects.

Local hosting companies and registries; there is a lot of talk about providing services via web but how do you make sure that end users get the right experience?

Domain marketers; if you buy domains from ICANN accredited registrars, it means you can access resources at dot mobi either in terms of advice or anything else without going through the registrars out there…that is for dot mobi.

Any other interested party; if you just want to learn more about opportunities at dot mobi, just come and listen.

where; Nairobi Innovation Hub (iHub)
4th Floor Bishop Magua Center (opp. Uchumi Hyper Ngong Road)

When; tomorrow (Thursday 4.00-5.30 pm)

Ends

Deep thoughts on the iHub’s potential from @jwesonga…

Just less than a week after our awesome launch,  the Tandaa Symposium will be the first official event to be held at the *iHub_ .

The Kenya ICT Board will bring together local content developers, IT professionals, entrepreneurs, business executives and civil society to:

• Explore the challenges and opportunities in developing local digital content
• Explore how to produce more local content for consumption via mobile phones, digital TV and the internet.

The symposium sponsored by Google will also explore pressing issues like how to manage intellectual property, fight piracy and ensure privacy on the internet; available options and technology for reliable and secure storage of digital content; localization and mapping opportunities for civil society and businesses in Kenya; how to create social change through new media; and how to make the most of cloud computing to scale-up and offer leading services locally and internationally.

The program is shown below:

Tickets: By invitation only (free). For more information email: tandaa@ict.go.ke

Larry Madowo from KTN was at the iHub launch on Wednesday. Here’s his video piece with a lot of good soundbites from the attendees:

“KTN’s Larry Madowo reports that technology startups, application developers, web designers and other techies in Nairobi now have a place to meet, network and get connected to the right people to further their causes. The iHub Nairobi opened Wednesday evening promising to be the launching pad for great technology ideas from the grassroots. Short for ‘Innovation Hub’, the facility on Nairobi’s Ngong Road is open to anybody with an interest in technology and seeks to build partnerships with industry and mentoring. “

After a hiatus for 2009, it looks like Barcamp Nairobi is going to happen again this year.

Get on over to the planning website and put in your opinion on what should happen, what you want to hear about and how it can be made into an electric event that rocks Nairobi!

“BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees.”

Topics thus far (you can add your own on the site):

• Using my (GPS Enabled) cell phone to avoid traffic
• Cloud Computing Applications in Kenya
• Business Skills for Techies
• Rural ICT
• ICT initiatives for youth
• Mobile Application Development
• Web design, and why it’s not as good as it should be in Kenya
• Hardware hacking
• Tips and tricks for internet connectivity around Nairobi
• Merging mobile and electronic commerce concepts
• I want voluteers to map on Google the available free/paid wireless hotspots in Nairobi

(Pics above by Njeri (KenyanPoet), see them here: a lot of great pictures.)

First off, a HUGE thank you to everyone in the Nairobi tech community for coming out and making this even such a big success. It was a true cross-section of our community, and was great to see so many of the movers and shakers in this space together at one time.

We had quick addresses from organizations in support of the iHub, including Google Kenya, Microsoft East Africa, Nokia Research Lab, the Kenya ICT Board, KDN and Zuku. Ory Okolloh and myself, of Ushahidi, gave a quick talk about the iHub, Ushahidi’s position in it and a thanks to our funders Omidyar Network and Hivos. A big thanks to Tonee Ndungu for MC’ing and for he and Bart Lacroix of 1% Club allowing us to use the iLAB for staging area next door.

Read about it on blogs by local attendees:

• Kachwanya
• Kenyan Poet
• Bankelele

VC4Africa

• Lone_ranger
• My Best Show

Pictures and Video
We’ll have some edited videos up shortly, but here are some of the pictures and videos done by the attendees last night.

Joshuan Wanyama of Pamoja Media shot some quality pictures, now up at Africa Knows.

Wilfred Mworia of AfrInnovator did some blogging and also shot some video, here’s one of them:

I’m very excited to announce that someone who has a long history in the tech space in Nairobi is coming on board to help manage the iHub. Jessica Colaço is the new iHub manager as of this month. She’s in charge of operations and will be the main point of contact at the space.

Jessica has been a very active member of the Nairobi tech community over the years, putting on events and engaging both students and professionals at many levels in her role at Strathmore Research and Consultancy Centre. She’s also a TED Fellow and was named by ‘Business Daily’ as one of the top 40, under 40 years of age women in Kenya’s business scene.

“My goal is to put Kenya on the map as the hub for ICT in Africa.” – Jessica Colaço

Jessica is a coder, she’s a great Java programmer in her own right, but has since moved on to the research fields. Here at the iHub, besides the normal operational work, she’ll continue working on research and will communicate with universities about how they connect to the greater tech community in Nairobi.

The guys over at The Ark have done another amazing job of design-side stuff for the iHub, this time with the t-shirts for the launch. There are 3 mens and 3 womens designs. Here are a couple of them:

Coffee, Computers and Gaming… what the tech community is all about.

The new iHub t-shirts, the one on the left is the main iHub shirt, the one on the right is a QR code shirt that’s only available at launch.

A big iHub shoutout goes to these guys who designed them:

• Makumi Wanjohi
• Ashi Kariuki
• Aika-Grace Temu
• Jimmy Gitonga
• Njuguna Gathere
• Ich Gichuki
• Juliet Mukunga
• Fady Rostom

For those who cannot join us physically. Watch us live on ustream. The hash tag for tomorrow’s event is #iHublaunch. Follow us on twitter:

iHub Wall Painting

The live launch of Nairobi’s premier iHub will take  place on Wednesday, 3rd of March 2010 from 5.30  p.m. – 8.30 p.m. on the 4th floor of the new Bishop Magua Centre (directly opposite the Ngong Uchumi  Hyper) on Ngong Road.

We have 50 open slots available for the launch. Please complete this form and tell us why you would like to attend the launch and be part of iHub.