Last week, a few colleagues and I started a medium.com publication called Tech + Africa. We did this to have a dedicated channel focused on publishing original content from African techies, makers, DIY-ers, and researchers about tech entrepreneurship and making in/from Africa. I talk more about why we did this here. I encourage you to read the first series of posts by a Ghanaian maker-entrepreneur about his visit to the 'Silicon Valley of hardware' - Shenzhen, China. He refle

The incomparable Hugh Masekela passed away last week. When I saw the message from my former roommate who know how much I Ioved his music, I felt it. Hard. I never met the man or saw him perform live. In fact, I kept missing him whenever he had a show in my general vicinity, always by only a few days due to my schedule; twice in Ghana, then in South Africa. When I heard he was coming to Ann Arbor, I was like ... gotcha. I got my ticket the day it was released and blissfully wa

Sometime last year, a BBC article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26065991 made it's way on the University of Michigan GRID list. I wrote a quick response and replied to the person who sent the email instead of the whole list. Oh well. Here it is: "Gosh, this article goes on the list of 'how not to think/write about technology and/or Africa' for academics and technologists. It certainly has the components of 'how to get attention for your article' checklist if you're a