The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Floating school offers hope in Nigeria’s ‘slum on stilts’ Posted: 11 Feb 2014 08:02 PM PST Makoko's makeshift huts rise from the murky waters of the lagoon around Nigeria's biggest city, a far cry from the ornate bridges and buildings that mark out Venice's cultural and commercial past. The arts transformed Venice and sealed its reputation as one of the most important centre of the European Renaissance. Now it is hoped that education, with the help of innovative architecture, can help create a better future for the children of Makoko. The prospect comes in the shape of a floating school, built entirely by locals and launched last year, whose triangular frame rises from the water like a half-built house submerged in a flood. The project, backed by the UN Development Fund, the Nigerian government and the Heinrich Boell Foundation, is the brainchild of local architect Kunle Adeyemi. His design was inspired by life in the so-called "slum on stilts" and he said that improving the neglected area required a new approach more in tune with local customs and the environment. "Living on water is actually a way of life... so, the question is then how do you improve that condition, how do you address the challenges of living on water in a safe, healthy and environmentally sound way?" he told AFP TV. A landmark building Unlike Venice, which attracts millions of tourists from around the world every year, few visitors to Lagos are likely to find their way to Makoko. From the Third Mainland Bridge which snakes nearly 12 km through the lagoon, thick wood smoke and fumes from diesel-powered generators can be seen hanging above the patchwork of corrugated iron and tarpaulin roofs. Fishermen on the lagoon scour the waters in search of the day's catch. Wooden canoes - the only way to get around - ply the watery strips between the flimsy lean-to shacks and washing lines. The new school is also visible from the bridge, floating on 250 empty blue barrels fixed under its wooden base designed to get around the problems of periodic flooding in the area. Its three storeys makes it the tallest structure in Makoko and with 220 square m of floor space, it is also the neighbourhood's biggest communal facility. Fishermen can tether their canoes to the base and come just to mend their nets, as much as children wanting to learn - often for the very first time - or play. From the top of the A-frame, under its solar panels, the high-rise buildings and lights of Lagos Island - the heart of Nigeria's financial hub - can be seen in the distance. Adaptable design The people of Makoko eke out a living by fishing and trading. Few of the estimated 150,000 people who live in the neighbourhood can aspire to escape a life of poverty. Jeremiah Oleole Austin is one of the few young people to have gone on to further education. "I was born and brought up here so I know how the people suffer, I feel their pain, I feel their cry and I also know their happiness," said the art student, who is also known as "Big Babba". "I know what they really need in this community and which is not capable for us to do it. Without some... training or skills, how can they go places? "There's only a few of us that went out into the city to see more... If there are more schools, I believe there is going to be changes in the community." Headteacher Noah Shemede agrees. "Every child deserves an education wherever they are," he said. "We are on water and that doesn't mean that we can't go to school on water. We have to. "We need more schools to accommodate thousands of children that are at home. We need more schools." Adeyemi for his part said the building could also be used differently - both in Nigeria and beyond. "Its main aim is to generate a sustainable, ecological, alternative building system and urban water culture for the teeming population of Africa's coastal regions," his firm, NLE, said on its website. "It is really just a structure that could actually be used for different forms of uses," added the architect. "It could be a home, you could use the same prototype and develop that into homes, you could develop it into hospitals, you can develop it into a theatre, a restaurant, all kinds of facilities. "The key thing is that we have developed a prototype of building and architecture on water using local materials and local resources and available technology." – AFP, February 12, 2014. |
| New twists for love in age of big data Posted: 11 Feb 2014 07:32 PM PST Online dating companies say they have the know-how and scientists have been studying the question for years. The answers, alas, are not clear-cut for the lovelorn who scour the Internet looking for the perfect mate. A 2012 study by researchers led by Northwestern University psychologist Eli Finkel concluded there was no algorithm that could predict a successful match, notwithstanding the claims of online dating firms. "No compelling evidence supports matching sites' claims that mathematical algorithms work," said the study published in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest. The researchers wrote that dating sites "are in a poor position to know how the two partners will grow and mature over time... and how the dynamics of their interaction will ultimately promote or undermine romantic attraction and long-term relationship well-being." But could it be that dating sites simply have not yet found the right mathematical formula? 'Netflix formula' for love? A team of researchers led by Kang Zhao at the University of Iowa say in a 2014 study that they found a method that markedly improves chances for online matches. The new formula, interestingly, is based on the techniques used by successful online companies like Amazon and Netflix, and are based on user recommendations, not merely profiles filled out by love seekers which may be incomplete or inaccurate. "What we did in our study is to look at users' activity instead of their profiles," Zhao told AFP. "Your activity reflects your tastes and your attractiveness, or your unattractiveness. We extend what Amazon and Netflix have been using." So if person A shares a lot of characteristics with person B who draws a lot of positive responses from the opposite sex, the reasoning is that person A will elicit a similar response. This is known as "collaborative filtering" and is used by online commerce firms, according to Zhao, who has been in talks with dating companies on using his formula. "The new model can better recommend partners that match a user's taste and attractiveness," said the study to appear later this year in the IEEE Intelligent Systems Journal with co-authors Xi Wang, Mo Yu, and Bo Gao. He said that using this system, "the chances of getting a response increase 40 percent" compared to a baseline without collaborative filtering. "Whether it's a perfect match, I don't know," he said. "But we can at least help people get a successful date." No more stigma The new research comes amid growing interest in online dating. A 2013 Pew Research Center survey found 11 percent of Internet users - or some nine percent of all American adults - said they have personally used an online dating site. That is a sharp increase from 2008, when just three percent of American adults had used online dating sites. The survey found 66 percent of those who use online sites or apps have gone on a date with someone they met through one of these services. And 23 percent of online daters have married or begun a long-term relationship with someone they met through a dating site or app, Pew found. A separate study last year by University of Chicago researchers found more than one-third of US marriages between 2005 and 2012 began with online dating, and those couples may be slightly happier than couples who meet through other means. However, some experts took issue with the findings because the survey was commissioned by eHarmony.com, one of the largest US dating sites. Hacking OKCupid While the algorithmic method for love has come under fire, one case suggest it may be possible to tweak or hack those formulas to optimize results. Christopher McKinlay, while studying for a Ph.D in mathematics, "scraped" data from the profiles of 20,000 women on the dating site OKCupid to find what would get them interested, and increased the "matches" and the number of responses he got from women on the site. And in the end he found his match, who became his fiancee, according to the account in his just-published e-book, "Optimal Cupid: Mastering the Hidden Logic of OKCupid." In their 2012 paper, Finkel and colleagues point out that there are benefits to online dating, notably its "efficient" means of facilitating the meeting of potential partners. But they caution that there is a downside to this approach - people can get overwhelmed by the large number of choices and can reduce people to "two-dimensional displays of information." As the science of love is debated, more people are turning to mobile dating apps which help identify available partners nearby based on smartphone geolocation. Some apps allow people to make their own assessment of a dating prospect. Hinge, a dating app launched in Washington last year, draws information from users' Facebook profiles to help match people. Hinge data scientist John Kleint told AFP the app's use of Facebook likes and postings helps in setting connections, but he acknowledges the limitations of any formula. "Trying to develop an algorithm for love is probably the most difficult thing you can do," Kleint said. "We try to get you a good first date and you can take it from there." – AFP, February 12, 2014. |
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