[AFRINIC-rpd] Academic IPv4 Allocation Policy Second Draft (AFPUB-2013-GEN-001-DRAFT-02)

[Guy Antony Halse]

On Mon 2013-02-04 (11:05), Jackson Muthili wrote:
> Andrew Aston assumption apply to student from very rich family only in
> SA. Even in SA student from 80% of economy not considered rich can not
> afford 5 IP device.

I've been quiet for a bit because we're in the middle of first year
registration and I've real work(tm) to do.  However, I think there are two
important points that are being missed in the current discussion.

1) The current form of the policy does not prescribe a ratio at all.  Any
   university is free to apply on the basis of any ratio that it feels will
   meet its needs.  This works at both ends of the spectrum: if I believe my
   university only needs a ratio of 2:1, the policy will support that; if I
   believe my university needs a ratio of 10:1, the policy will also support
   that (albeit with additional requirements).

   All the policy says is that ratios up-to and including 5:1 do not need
   *additional* justification; ratios greater than 5:1 do.  It is a somewhat
   arbitrary (but well informed and objective) cut-off to determine at what
   point AfriNIC should start asking more questions.


2) In South Africa at least it is increasingly recognised that supporting
   student devices is part of supporting teaching & learning.  There is
   plenty of peer-reviewed research to support this (ask Google Scholar).

   We as a university strongly advocate to potential funders that they
   include funding for IP-enabled devices in any student packages -- just as
   they used to include funding for textbooks and stationary.  We also try
   and find creative ways to reduce the costs of ICTS (like the Student
   Laptop Initiative[1]).  We are certainly not the only university that is
   doing this; I can list ten off the top of my head.  In addition there's
   interest from the likes of OLPC and other philanthropic organisations.

   The result of all of this is that we have students from very
   disadvantaged backgrounds -- who either have no parents, or who's
   families have a net income of ZAR 0.00 -- who own laptops or tablets,
   funded by bursaries, scholarships and donations.

   This is a matter of educational priorities, not money.  And thus Owen
   DeLong is right: your sentence needs to be suffixed with "yet".

- Guy
-- 
Manager: Systems, IT Division, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
Email: G.Halse at ru.ac.za   Web: http://mombe.org/   IRC: rm-rf at irc.atrum.org
*** ANSI Standard Disclaimer ***                                    J.A.P.H

[1] http://www.studentlaptop.co.za/