SunSITE — possibilities for Africa

Abstract

This paper describes the challenges faced by the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in bringing First World technology to the Third World that still exists in rural and much of urban southern Africa. Although SunSITE technology is simply that of a World Wide Web server or FTP site, opportunities are now ripe for Wits to place some of its priceless academic resources within reach of the community at large. The story of the Taung skull discovery and subsequent important anthropological discoveries around the Sterkfontein caves is just one example of what has essentially been ‘hidden’ at Wits for years. Additional academic expertise in areas such as constitutional law or primary health care delivery can now also be shared, and will be of considerable benefit to those responsible for implementing Reconstruction and Development Programmes (RDP). As South Africa once more resumes its rightful place in the family of nations, SunSITE Africa will be able to provide Africa north of the Limpopo, as well as the rest of the world, with readily‐accessible information and research unique to this country but long hidden behind the barriers of sanctions and apartheid.

Citation

Leong Man, D., Myers, G. and Pranjivan, T. (1995), "SunSITE — possibilities for Africa", The Electronic Library, Vol. 13 No. 4, pp. 379-382. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045393