CQU\'s Dr Taylor hasvisited Capetown as a guest of the Cape Technikon University to discuss establishment of a Community Informatics centre for the emerging Capetown University of Technology. He was hosted by Professor Geoff Erwin, Dean of the Faculty of Business Informatics, who presented a paper at the recent ITiRA conference in Australia.

Dr Taylor also met with senior academics, research staff and research centre leaders.

He was able to visit a number of the settlements on the Capetown flats (including Khayeltsha) to examine the approaches being used to create micro enterprises (clothing, carpentry, welding works, bed and breakfast houses, fish biltong, restaurants, tourism, whale watching etc) in these areas which each house close to one million people.

Cape Technikon and the University of the Western Cape are heavily involved in these projects at the community level both on campus and in the settlements.

"It was hard not to be impressed with and humbled by the commitment of the universities and the people involved at the community level. I was very struck by the visible levels of pride, neatness of dress, happiness and self determination amongst these people who have very little physical comfort in these shanty towns with very limited running water and electricity," Dr Taylor said.

"As a result of my visit the Cape Technikon University will establish a Community Informatics Centre (research and praxis) involving the Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) which comprises some 30 international researchers and which has been established by the COIN Internet Academy at CQU and the Centre for Community Networking Research at Monash." Photo: Dr Taylor visits a local school in Khayeltsha, a settlement in Capetown, as a part of his examination to establish a Community Informatics research centre in the Western Cape Province. The Capetown centre will based on the model established by Dr Taylor for the COIN Internet Academy in Rockhampton.