Maneno
Encyclopedia
Maneno is a blogging application
powered by PHP
, Smarty
, and MySQL
with content management capabilities
. Initially released in October, 2008, it focuses on creating a multi-theme, multi-author, multi-lingual system that works in a hosted setting http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/03/03/maneno-a-multilingual-blogging-platform-built-for-african-bloggers/. The name Maneno means 'words' in Swahili
and focuses on having low latency/filesize options to make it fast to load on low bandwidth
connections http://aidworkerdaily.com/2009/02/22/maneno-a-lightweight-blogging-platform-for-folks-heading-to-the-field/. Additionally, it has an architecture that allows for heavy customization by end users.
The core of the system was envisioned after a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2008 by two of the founders. They realized that while trying to write articles from the country via VSAT connections, the connection speeds proved incredibly slow and discouraging for not only them, but anyone striving to pursue citizen journalism
endeavors http://whiteafrican.com/2008/11/08/maneno-a-blogging-platform-made-for-africa/. Additionally it was shown that the language spheres of Africa had nearly no crossover between one another. Taking these issues in to account and coming to the conclusion that no current blogging system adequately addressed them, this entirely new platform for blogging was created to serve the African blogging community.
Currently Maneno is available in Bambara
, English
, Spanish
, French
, Fula
, Swahili
, Lingala
, Portuguese
, and Zulu
. The available languages cover all of the lingua franca
languages of Africa as well as a selection of large local African languages that are gradually being added to. The site works in allowing a user to be able to view and interact with the site in any one of the languages available for the interface as well as being able to translate articles and sections of the site via a crowdsourcing
method http://highwayafrica.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/open-source-09-ed-1.pdf.
In August of 2010, Maneno announced that would be scaling back their extensive social media outreach initiatives to focus on developing the core technology of the site http://siteblog.maneno.org/eng/articles/twa1280781130/
The Board of Directors is a group of bloggers and technology enthusiasts working to expand the platform and reach out to new bloggers. Current members are: Rebecca Wanjiku, Elia Varela Serra, Saul Wainright, and Miquel Hudin.
Weblog software
Weblog software is software designed to simplify the creation and maintenance of weblogs...
powered by PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
, Smarty
Smarty
Smarty is a web template system written in PHP. Smarty is primarily promoted as a tool for separation of concerns.Smarty is intended to simplify compartmentalization, allowing the presentation of a web page to change separately from the back-end...
, and MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
with content management capabilities
Content management system
A content management system is a system providing a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based...
. Initially released in October, 2008, it focuses on creating a multi-theme, multi-author, multi-lingual system that works in a hosted setting http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/03/03/maneno-a-multilingual-blogging-platform-built-for-african-bloggers/. The name Maneno means 'words' in Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
and focuses on having low latency/filesize options to make it fast to load on low bandwidth
Bandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
connections http://aidworkerdaily.com/2009/02/22/maneno-a-lightweight-blogging-platform-for-folks-heading-to-the-field/. Additionally, it has an architecture that allows for heavy customization by end users.
The core of the system was envisioned after a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2008 by two of the founders. They realized that while trying to write articles from the country via VSAT connections, the connection speeds proved incredibly slow and discouraging for not only them, but anyone striving to pursue citizen journalism
Citizen journalism
Citizen journalism is the concept of members of the public "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information," according to the seminal 2003 report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information...
endeavors http://whiteafrican.com/2008/11/08/maneno-a-blogging-platform-made-for-africa/. Additionally it was shown that the language spheres of Africa had nearly no crossover between one another. Taking these issues in to account and coming to the conclusion that no current blogging system adequately addressed them, this entirely new platform for blogging was created to serve the African blogging community.
Currently Maneno is available in Bambara
Bambara language
Bambara, more correctly known as Bamanankan , its designation in the language itself , is a language spoken in Mali by as many as six million people...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Fula
Fula language
The Fula or Fulani language is a language of West Africa. It is spoken as a first language by the and related groups from Senegambia and Guinea to Cameroon and Sudan...
, Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
, Lingala
Lingala language
Lingala, or Ngala, is a Bantu language spoken throughout the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a large part of the Republic of the Congo , as well as to some degree in Angola and the Central African Republic. It has over 10 million speakers...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, and Zulu
Zulu language
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...
. The available languages cover all of the lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
languages of Africa as well as a selection of large local African languages that are gradually being added to. The site works in allowing a user to be able to view and interact with the site in any one of the languages available for the interface as well as being able to translate articles and sections of the site via a crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community through an open call....
method http://highwayafrica.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/open-source-09-ed-1.pdf.
In August of 2010, Maneno announced that would be scaling back their extensive social media outreach initiatives to focus on developing the core technology of the site http://siteblog.maneno.org/eng/articles/twa1280781130/
The Board of Directors is a group of bloggers and technology enthusiasts working to expand the platform and reach out to new bloggers. Current members are: Rebecca Wanjiku, Elia Varela Serra, Saul Wainright, and Miquel Hudin.