Community

The MIIA community is growing! Not only are we connecting and partnering with other AI and Data Science communities across the African continent and the rest of the world in an inclusive manner to be part of the MIIA community, but we also have thousands of people from Africa and around the globe participating and/or following us via MIIA’s social channels and collaboration platforms:

• MIIA community on LinkedIn
• MIIA meetings via Meetup
• MIIA community on Twitter
• MIIA on Facebook
• MIIA community chat on Slack
• MIIA community on Google+
• MIIA project collaboration on Trello
• Share your visualisations with MIIA on Plotly

If any one of the following statements are relevant for you, then you are highly encouraged to join MIIA:

• you would like to participate or at least monitor MIIA’s progress with establishing an innovative community to help transform Africa and solve some of its problems via Machine Intelligence technologies
• you are keen to see Africa reach its potential and overcome obstacles by driving long-term inclusive and sustainable scientific, technological and socio-economic development on the continent
• you have an interest in Machine Intelligence technologies (e.g., AI, Machine Learning, Data Science, Data Mining, etc.) and/or its applications
• you have industry and/or enterprise domain expertise, application ideas or needs, or some identified African problems that you would like to see addressed
• you would like to research and/or test the commercial viability of specific applications using Machine Intelligence technologies from an entrepreneurial or business perspective
• you would like to promote MIIA and/or help to get funding to grow MIIA and its activities (given that MIIA is a nonprofit organization)

To join MIIA, follow us on LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter, Meetup, and Google+, and join us on Slack,

To join the MIIA community on Slack, our real-time community messaging platform, sign-up here or please send your name, surname, and email address to info@miiafrica.org so that we can send the corresponding invite directly from Slack.

As Slack will be our primary community chat and messaging vehicle, we highly recommend that you join us on this platform as well.

See also HOW TO PARTICIPATE page for more details on various ways to help MIIA execute its mission.

• Become an active member of the MIIA community
• Become a Community Activity Leader
• Promote MIIA and follow us on social channels and collaboration platforms
• Become a sponsor and/or help to get funding to grow MIIA and its activities

The Sponsors page outlines more details with respect to financial support and the various types of sponsoring available.

•  Become an active member of the MIIA community

  • Participate in projects, which can for example be practical applications, research or technology related. See link to Projects on the Activities page for more details. We are currently using Trello for project collaboration.
  • Interact with the rest of the community on Slack (via channels or direct messaging). See also link to Community chat on the Activities page for more details. Any relevant information (e.g, news, resources, sites, blogs, articles, etc.) can be shared with the rest of the community or specific groups within the community (via setting up channels).
  • Attend MIIA local meetings (see meetings via Meetup) and other relevant meetup and conferences. We also intend to have local Meetups at various hubs across the continent.
  • Provide industry and enterprise domain expertise, application ideas or needs, or some identified African problems that you would like to see addressed
  • Do research and/or test the commercial viability of specific applications using Machine Intelligence technologies from an entrepreneurial or business perspective
  • Share your Machine Intelligence and Data Science related knowledge with the rest of the community or within project context.
  • Participate in training courses (e.g. doing training courses, share your learnings, or help to present training course material)
  • Provide mentorship
  • All community members are invited to submit blogs on the MIIA website and/or via MIIA’s social channels.

• Become a Community Activity Leader

  • As we get more momentum, we need leaders/managers within the MIIA community to volunteer and help drive various activities. We anticipate various roles to be filled on a volunteer basis of which some can become full-time employment and/or contracted positions:
    • Technology Managers
    • Training & Events Coordinator(s)
    • Project Coordinator
    • Website Content Manager
    • Geographical Community Leaders
    • Project Leaders
    • Africa Specialists
    • Machine Intelligence Leaders
    • Data Science Leaders
    • Partnerships Manager
    • Funding Manager
  • Nominations and recommendations in this regard are welcome at info@miiafrica.org.

• Promote MIIA and follow us on social channels and collaboration platforms:

  • MIIA community on LinkedIn
  • MIIA community on Google+
  • MIIA community on Twitter
  • MIIA community chat on Slack
  • MIIA project collaboration on Trello
  • MIIA meetings via Meetup
  • Share your visualisations with MIIA on Plotly
  • MIIA on Facebook

• Become a sponsor and/or help to get funding to grow MIIA and its activities

  • See below or the Sponsors page for more details.

MIIA Community’s real-time messaging and chat environment 

As Slack is utilised as the MIIA community’s real-time messaging and chat environment, we would like to encourage everyone in the MIIA community to join us on Slack. Each member that has signed in on the official MIIA website with their LinkedIn profile along with members that have joined us from other social platforms such as LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter and FaceBook are all welcome to use Slack. 

To join the MIIA community on Slack, our real-time community messaging platform, please sign-up here. 

Herewith some steps to get you started:

• For those new to Slack, see the following introduction to Slack as well the Slack guide: Getting started for new users.
• Each member should get an invite to join the MIIA community chat on Slack (URL: https://miia-community.slack.com/).
• As can be seen from the figures below, there is a menu on the left hand side with two main ways to communicate with other community members:
  • CHANNELS
    • Channels are for sharing information and discussing topics within group context or at least members in the community that are subscribed to those channels.
    • All community members are by default subscribed to the #general and #random channels:
      • The purpose of the #general channel is for team-wide communication and announcements.
      • The purpose of the #random channel is for non-work-related messaging.
    • Although we have already created a few channels in line with some of the topics (and projects – see Projects Dashboard) that we want to discuss and share information on, everyone in the community is invited to create any relevant channels and contribute to any existing channel. We anticipate that there might also be a need for channels that deal with specific projects or project-related topics.
  • DIRECT MESSAGES
    • Direct Messages are used for private one-on-one messages with any other team member in the MIIA community.
    • One can also have direct messages with multiple people.
• Figure 1 shows a Slack screen with the #general channel selected and some postings are shared about General communication with other community members.
• Figure 2 shows a Slack screen with the #deep_learning channel selected and some postings are shared about Deep Learning related material with other community members.
• Figure 3 illustrates a Slack screen with one of the channels selected, called #africa, where some Africa-related postings are shared with other community members.
• In Figure 4 a Slack screen is shown with the #events channel selected that allows community members to share any event-related topics.
• Figure 5 shows a Slack screen where a specific channel, called #trello, is selected that allows community members to get notifications about Project updates in Trello. See also Project Collaboration with Trello for an introduction to Trello, what it is and how to use it.

Figure 1 Slack screen showing one of the Channels selected, called #general, with postings shared about some General communication with other community members

Figure 2 Slack screen showing one of the Channels selected, called #deep_learning, with postings shared about some Deep Learning related material with other community members

Figure 3 Slack screen showing one of the channels selected, called #africa, with some Africa-related postings shared with other community members 

Figure 4 Slack screen showing a specific channel, called #events, where the community members can share any event related topics

Figure 5 Slack screen showing a specific channel, called #trello, where the community members can get notifications about Project updates in Trello.

Current Sponsors

See some of MIIA’s current sponsors listed on the Sponsors page.

Different Types of Sponsoring

There are various types of sponsoring available to support MIIA’s mission and help grow the community and its activities. Become a sponsor and/or help us to get funding via donations, grants, project-specific funding, and/or technology/tools/platforms related donations.

Donations

• Your donations are needed to help establish a community that can execute on the vision and mission of MIIA and help fast track Africa’s technological and socio-economic progress via the research and application of Machine Intelligence & Data Science technologies.

• Donations to MIIA can be made online via PayPal:
  • Single donations
  • Monthly recurring donations

• Donations to MIIA can be made online via GivenGain:
  • Single donations
  • Monthly recurring donations

• Start fundraising via GivenGain:

• Donations can also be send to us via check:
  • Make checks payable to:
    • Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa
    • Unit 20230, Bel’Aire Estate, Somerset West, 7130, South Africa.
  • Please include a note with an email address to mailing address so we can provide a tax receipt.

• See MIIA’s nonprofit organization registration number in the registration details below.
• Thanks in advance for your contributions which are very much appreciated and will help grow MIIA.
• Please send any questions or comments to us at info@miiafrica.org or the Contact page.

Grants

• MIIA is applying for grants and various types of funding that support its vision and mission to help transform Africa by solving African problems, supporting entrepreneurial activity, and help drive long-term inclusive and sustainable scientific, technological and socio-economic development on the continent.
• If you know of any applicable grants / funding that we should apply for, please send the relevant information to us at  info@miiafrica.org  or via the Contact page. Any inputs and recommendations in this regard are appreciated.

Project-specific funding

• We also cater for project-specific funding that address a specific problem or research area within the ambit of MIIA’s mission. This might include funding for new or existing projects registered on MIIA’s Projects page and be done in consultation with our partners (which might include business, nonprofit organizations, academic and research organizations, startup incubators, or government organisations).
• If you have any questions or requests in this regard, please send them to us at info@miiafrica.org or via the Contact page.

Technology/Tools/Platforms donations

• If you have or know of technology/tools/platforms that might be useful or relevant to MIIA in the execution of its operations and/or machine intelligence / data science related projects (and can be offered at a discount or for free), please send the relevant information to us at  info@miiafrica.org or via the Contact  or via the Contact page. Any inputs and recommendations in this regard are appreciated.
• MIIA is also registered with SANGONeT and TechSoup Global. The SANGOTeCH online technology donation and discount portal is a partnership between SANGONeT and TechSoup Global, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organisation that assists nonprofits globally to access technology to deepen the impact of their work. TechSoup Global’s mission is working toward a time when every nonprofit and NGO on the planet has the technology resources and knowledge they need to operate at their full potential.

MIIA’s Registration Details: