Sophiatown was once the cultural hub of South Africa; a small place with a big heart. After being demolished, the remembrance of this vibrant cultural heritage site remains alive in the minds of those that once visited. But can this vibrance be recreated in virtual reality? This is what Izak Potgieter will explore in their PhD Study.

Cloudebate podcast series: Using the Metaverse for Education

Hosted by Dr Herman Myburgh

Senior Lecturer

Institute of Intelligent Systems

Our guest is Prof. Umesh Ramnarain

HOD: Department of Science and Technology Education

Faculty of Education

Discussing the use case of Metaverse technology in the Education space.

This year’s Cloudebate™ series will focus on the hugely important topic: What is blockchain technology, and how can Africa leverage this technology? Some of the items discussed in the podcast interview will be the following:

• What is the simple explanation for the man/woman on the street “ What is blockchain technology”

• How can Africa leverage this technology moving forward into the future

• What are the opportunities presented by this technology in the Education space ?

• Should governments be supporting this technology or be aware of it in terms of regulations and law?

UJ COLLABORATORS:

Although several partners from South Africa, the United Kingdom and Uganda formed part of this project, for the purpose of this podcast, we would like to report on the UJ-related leg of this project. The collaborators on the UJ section of this project comprised of

• Dr Anica Zeyen (PI) (Royal Holloway University of London and research associate of UJ),

• Prof Heidi Lourens (team leader) (Department of Psychology, University of Johannesburg),

• three research assistants namely, Dr Michelle Botha (Stellenbosch University), Dr Emma McKinney (University of the Western Cape) & Dr Vic McKinney.

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT:

During the ongoing COVID19 pandemic, much emphasis is placed on medical vulnerability and less on its social impact on people. This is particularly the case for disabled people. The impact on disabled people goes beyond a risk of infection and can negatively influence their (long-term) wellbeing. To address this need, this project aimed to understand the non-medical impacts of COVID19 on disabled people in South Africa and Uganda.

Three co-ethnographers collected ethnographic data from three disabled South African participants (9 ethnographies altogether). These accounts included an entry interview of about two hours, diary keeping by participants for 2-months and then exit interviews of about 1-1.5 hours. This rich qualitative data allowed us to gain deep insights into how the pandemic has impacted the lieves of disabled people within South Africa.

In addition to the qualitative data mentioned above, a disabled artist – Mr Surprise Khoza – is currently painting a representation of disabled persons’ experiences during the COVID19 pandemic. He is painting with acrylic paint in order to provide a tactile representation for visually impaired persons.

The podcast discusses contemporary threats to the pursuit of truth. One of these threats is the unreflective acceptance of (what might be termed) a neo-colonial pseudo-moral framework that ahistorically, parochially, and dogmatically imposes its values upon former colonies.

Having this conversation is Dr Asheel, a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and his guest is Mark Oppenheimer. Mark is a practicing advocate and member of the Johannesburg Bar. He has appeared in the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court in a series of cases that seek to determine the boundary between freedom of expression and genuine hate speech. Mark has also authored submissions to Parliament on hate speech and expropriation without compensation.

The global onset of COVID-19 has resulted in substantial public health and socioeconomic impacts. An immediate medical breakthrough is needed. However, parallel to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic is the proliferation of information regarding the pandemic, which, if uncontrolled, cannot only mislead the public but also hinder the concerted efforts of relevant stakeholders in mitigating the effect of this pandemic. It is known that media communications can affect public perception and attitude toward medical treatment, vaccination, or subject matter, particularly when the population has limited knowledge on the subject. Objective: This study attempts to systematically scrutinize media communications (Google News headlines or snippets and Twitter posts) to understand the prevailing sentiments regarding COVID-19 vaccines in Africa.

Multidisciplinary aspects

Sustainable development goals principles:

Earth systems

Techno-economics

Social dynamics

Geopolitics

Enabling the fast-emerging needs for multi-Gbps communications and Implementing with multidisciplinary factors accounted for.

Ransomware is big business

The illegal criminal practise of holding corporate business or even personal computer files hostage through virtually impossible to crack encryption tools, commonly known as ransomware attacks, has rapidly increased in scope, public visibility and, indeed, success. In fact, these days so-called Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) is a well-organised, evolving and accessible criminal business endeavour.

Mainstream media are progressively reporting more incidents of ransomware attacks, with the result that the general public has become increasingly aware of the practise.

Usually companies under attack pay up, as they have almost no other choice. Because the criminals who hold files at ransom want repeat business, they almost always also release the key to decrypt the locked files upon payment. Payment is often demanded and received in Bitcoin as the astute cyber thief’s cryptocurrency of choice.

According to an article by Danny Palmer for the influential tech website ZDNet, ransomware industry researchers estimate these kinds of attacks increased sevenfold in 2020 compared to the previous year. The reason, according to Palmer, is attackers are seemingly aiming for bigger paydays all the time. “A single attack can result in cyber criminals making hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars,” he highlights.

The well-publicised recent ransomware hack of the Colonial Pipeline, an infrastructure system that supplies almost half of the fuel used throughout the east coast of America, has again shone a light on the goal of most of these kinds of actions: Profit. And where there’s profit to be made, even if illegal, business model structures soon follow.

Guidelines for physical activity and return to training: During and after the COVID-19 lockdown.

Many people believe that as long as they are healthy and asymptomatic, their sports conditioning programme may begin where they had left off before the coronavirus lockdown. This is fallacious thinking, as this long layoff may lead to injuries, overtraining and staleness. It is, rather, a progressive process where the principles of exercise science need to be heeded when they start a training programme after the layoff, as well as preventative measures. Further, it is not only fitness that needs to be considered, but also the skills that may have also regressed with lockdown as a result of COVID-19. Players, coaches and support staff are encouraged to take cognisance from the guidelines and recommendations in this chapter for prevention from COVID19 and return to athletic and fitness activities.

A mathematical model and strategy to guide the reopening of BRICS economies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The chapter provides a possible strategy in counteracting the spread of the virus and reopening of the economy. This chapter demonstrates the overall risk model of each of the BRICS nations as at 1st October 2020. Following this model and strategy would allow countries to reduce the complacency towards the virus and assist in the reopening of their economy/country.

Alongside debate on the availability of vaccines in South Africa, there is widespread concern about people’s willingness to be vaccinated. This briefing reports on findings from Round 3 of the University of Johannesburg (UJ)/Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) Covid-19 Democracy Survey. This was conducted between 29 December 2020 and 6 January 2021. Only adults living in South Africa were included. We asked: ‘If a Covid-19 vaccine became available to you, would you take it?’ This was followed by an open-response question that allowed participants to explain their answer in their own words. Here we present key findings and offer critical insights into the public’s acceptance of the Covid-19 vaccine. This report provides crucial information for the public health campaign that will need to precede and accompany the vaccine roll out.