As ex-pats around much of the world will attest, one of the weirdest things about returning to the country of one`s birth after even the shortest absence is realising how little things have changed in the interim.
While I understand that it`s been a tough time financially, it does seem that even the most inexpensive of innovations have been overlooked.
Basheera Khan, UK Correspondent, ITWeb
Much of the experience can be put down to the rate at which one has to deal with change when transplanted to a new, sometimes completely different environment. Every day brings something different to be dealt with, and after a while, one simply grows accustomed to the roller-coaster ride.
Having spent the last fortnight in Jozi, I must say that while local television appears to be thriving - I`ve never seen such emotive advertising, nor in the case of e-tv, such admirable news presentation - on the face of it at least, the online roller-coaster has run out of steam.
I had cause over the weekend to trawl the ZA Web for some much needed information. Having grown accustomed to the route planning services offered by the AA and the online Yellow pages in the UK, I thought that something similar would no doubt be on offer here as well.
Fat chance. The closest thing I found is Swoop, an AfriGIS project linked off the Ananzi homepage, and man, does it suck. Never mind that the link hasn`t been updated in a while, with the result that users will be directed to a holding page, but the site itself is a mess - much of it is under construction and the bits that do work are clunky and inelegant at best. Amazingly enough, the service is intended to work through WAP as well as Web. The mind boggles.
Another disappointment is how almost every site I`ve been to appears roughly the same. It`s been almost a year, and most of the local sites I surfed by haven`t changed a bit in terms of visual impact. Even if the content is slightly augmented, or the services somewhat expanded, it has made zero impression on me because it all looks exactly the same.
While I understand that it`s been a tough time financially, it does seem that even the most inexpensive of innovations have been overlooked. IOL seems to be the exception - though I find it hard to believe in the virtues of online dating, it`s a refreshing enough change from the norm to warrant some commendation.
Of course, I`d be hard pressed to say that sites overseas are all faultless, but the general impression I get from UK-based Web content is one of constant improvement and evolution. One could conceivably miss the introduction of anything new - if one were living under a rock.
Admittedly, the market there is larger, and quite a lot more competitive than this local loop, but let`s not forget that it is this environment which has at times birthed uniquely entrepreneurial projects, the technical superiority of which have often given UK-based new media companies something to think about.
I certainly hope the current stagnation is merely a phase - it would be a terrible shame otherwise to see this once vibrantly evolving industry descend into relentless mediocrity.
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