Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Ethekwini online
The Ethekwini metro – also known as Durban - has a rather interesting site called Ethekwini online which you can find at Durban.gov.za. In fact on the front page of the site it says: Welcome to Ethekwini online – the official website of Durban, South Africa. Once you get past that slight confusion you will find quite a useful site, with tourism playing a prominent part high on the front page.
Down the left hand side nav bar there is a fairly detailed weather forecast that appears to be regularly maintained.
The buttons link to a policing conference, City maps and a section where you can check your account balance and pay your accounts online – pretty cool but since I am not a Durban resident, I couldn’t check to see if they work.
I did check out a very cool feature that allows you to find the name of your local councilor. I typed in “Reservoir Hills” an area that I have heard of in Durban – and out popped a list of councilors who I presume represent the area. The list not only gives you their names but also their home and work phone numbers.
I didn’t actually phone the numbers to see how accurate they are – but the feature looked good. The ward maps next to the councillors’ names did not work so well because instead of giving you’re a ward map as the button said – it gave you a much larger map.
A feature that I really loved is the traffic webcam section. You can monitor web cams strategically located at five major routes coming into Durban as well as North beach.
I checked out all six webcams – I guess it’s the voyeur in me – and three worked perfectly – not a bad average really. And they worked very well – it was so cool watching the traffic on the highway or watching the waves break on the beach – it gives you the feeling that you are actually spying on someone.
The leisure section was a little patchy – the news part did not appear to be regularly maintained – but the museum section was really excellent. The site lists fourteen museums and has sub sections for most of them. Of course I clicked on the KwaZuzulwazi science centre page and found loads of interesting material about the natural history of the region.
One of the most unusual buttons on the Ethekwini online site is a link to the Durban Film Office – a web site located at durbanfilmoffice.com – that is specifically designed for people who wish to produce a film in the city.
On the front page of this site it explains why you should wish to film in Durban in the first place – then it has a list of locations; advice on regulations and tells you about incentives to make your movie in Ethekwini.
So there you have it. And that wraps up this edition of Cybersurf – Be sure to join me again next Wednesday same time, same place for more on the best of the web.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Status of e-government - not up to scratch
Some years ago one of the hottest buzz-words in a sector renowned for hot – but short lived buzz-words was "E-government" – Everyone was talking about it – we kept hearing about how the government was going to put everything on-line and we would soon be able to do all official transactions on the internet.
It was such a fantastic prospect that they even established the State Information Technology Agency – web site address: www.sita.co.za/ . International experts came flooding to this country to tell us about e-government - and a number of local officials made overseas trips.
Almost all government departments set-up web sites – the only one that doesn't appear to have any web presence is the Presidency itself – which is strange because the president is well-known for his weekly letter on the ANC web site.
There is even a central Batho Pele Portal site – you can find it at www.gov.za - it says South Africa government online - putting people first.
The Portal site needs revamping – while it has hundreds of useful links to many parts of the government's online presence – it is far from intuitive. There is a lot of information available but finding it is not easy.
In fact I found a links page on the SA web site that gives you a much better picture of what government resources are available online – check out www.saweb.co.za/links1.html
By the way the SA web dot co dot za is an excellent portal page if you are looking for information about our country.
The individual government sites are patchy – some have loads of information – while others see their main function as nothing more than blowing the trumpet of the relevant minister – plus the usual organograms, ministers' speeches, vision and mission.
While that type of information does have its place, it is not really practical for most of us.
In my view, the city of Johannesburg is closest to having some sort of realistic e-government infra-structure. You can receive your monthly bills on line – and that has been working well for some time now. To become an online user of the site you have to go through a tedious registration process – which is fair enough – but then when you want to look at your online account – they expect you to remember your account number – come on guys through my registration you already have so much info about me do you really need an account number?
I believe you can also type in your electricity and water readings on line – the idea being that you don't have to rely on those strange people who demand to look at the meter readings at odd times of the day.
Then there's a link to "Free Maps" of Johannesburg - but when I tried to look at a free map all I got was a lengthy disclaimer - but no map.
A very useful feature tells you whether you have outstanding traffic fines or not. I just typed in my ID number and hey - guess what - I have no outstanding traffic fines. So that's the good news.
More good news is that you can find the full script for this program and the links I've mentioned on the Cybersurf Bl;og which will pop up on your screen if you type in www.cybersurf.blogspot.com - one more time cybersurf dot blogspot dot com.
As we wrap up today's edition of Cybersurf - here is an important notice - as from next week - Cybersurf will be coming to your on Wednesday mornings not Mondays. So let's make a date for Wednesday mornings as from next week at about a quarter to eight. Cheers for now.
Monday, March 13, 2006
CeBIT and ODI cricket
But before we go there, I have to send special congratulations to Graeme Smith and the Proteas for what was undoubtedly the most exciting cricket match ever.
And for Shane Warne, a quick question (P) “Who did you say doesn’t have big match temperament?”
To read more about the biggest and most exciting one day international cricket match, you should visit the cricket section of SABCnews.com or the United Cricket Board site which is at www.cricket.co.za.
(T) Rapid change of tack
This week, CeBIT is holding its twentieth annual fair in
Big exhibitors such as Microsoft, Intel or Sharp have put up stands with something for everybody. The professionals looking for business products can be shown through to presentation booths and the general public can ogle digital-entertainment products outside.
Both the professionals and the consumers will be keen to try out
The software giant is also showing off its new office package, Office 12, which Bill Gates says is the most important software for writing letters, keeping accounts and running a simple database since Office 95.
The company says that Office 12, which is set to go on sale in the second half of this year, will replace the familiar fly-out menus and toolbars with a range of cleverly designed symbols that are said to make it far more intuitive to use the software's different tools.
Well, I am keen to see that, and I am sure that in due course, Beta versions of the Office 12 suite will be available for testing.
Other interesting stuff on show at Cebit includes a new Mini PC – sort halfway between a regular laptop and a PDA, and new technology to make longer lasting laptop batteries. The new technology uses methanol to generate power in fuel cells.
To find out more about the dozens of cool gadgets on show at the trade fair use the www.cebit.de address that is C.E.B.I.T dot D.E.
It is a great site packed with information and free videos about all the latest toys.
And so we wrap up Cybersurf for today. Thanks for listening and remember to keeeeeeep on surfing
