Hello, community! We are super excited to announce that we have rebranded from "Port Harcourt School of AI" to "AI School" in what has been a tremendous effort by all the volunteers at the organization. We're back, but with a new look!

Why did we need to rebrand?

In a nutshell, we recognized that having "Port-Harcourt" in our previous name was a bit restrictive and did not accurately represent the diversity and dispersal of our members (some of whom were from other states and even countries). We're also transitioning to what we term a member-driven community. We aim to return the power of the community to its members. Members will have the authority to make decisions that influence the organization's direction.

Now, when you think of AI School, we want you to think of her as:

• Collaborative and always seeking ways to work with others, and is willing to listen to the suggestions of others.
• Resourceful, with the latest and most up-to-date information on hand that she can hand over to anyone interested in it and has connections that can literally change lives if taken advantage of.
• Friendly and accessible to everyone who claims to need her help and those she identifies that in fact need her help.

Some more details: What to expect going forward

Organizational Changes

The organization will now be fully owned by members of the community but the day-to-day activities will be governed by democratic leadership. We are now fully independent from the "School of AI" entity and are an independent, remote-first, and community-owned organization.

There are various levels of membership and the highest level of members will be allowed to vote in new an executive board run the day-to-day activities of the organization every one calendar year (August to August).

The organization like other non-profit organizations will need a constitution and manifesto to enable sustainable operations and keep activities community-centered. We have developed the constitution and will be sharing those and the manifesto with the members of the community.

Special Programs

AI School will host some special programs we consider unconventional, but that also in some ways define who we are and the cause that drives us. We share some details on some of the current special programs below.

Data Science Content For Members With Disabilities:

We are working on partnering with organizations that cater to learned with disabilities to create course materials on Data Science that will be updated every year to keep the content fresh and relevant. Once our plans have been finalized for this program, we will release a press statement with the necessary details on how to participate in this program. This program was ideated because of the requests from leaders of communities with people with disabilities.

Twice A Year Data Science Bootcamps In Rural Africa

One of the significant partnerships we have secured will enable us to sponsor volunteers in select countries across Africa to carry out mini-bootcamps in rural regions in Africa and run hackathons. This is in line with our cause to provide quality data science education without paying a premium as a community built on collaboration and accessibility.

The way this program will work is that twice a year, volunteers can apply to host a mini data science bootcamp in a rural region in their country. Once the applications are scrutinized and consequently approved, the bootcamps and resulting hackathons will be sponsored financially and with branded items from our partners.

More details will also be released on this special program soon, as we plan the program with our current partners, and as we get sponsors for this program. We are inadvertently saying we are open to sponsorships and if you are interested, you can email us for early notice.

Improved Media Programs

We're going to be putting in more effort to improve our podcast and YouTube content, and you're welcome to help :)

Podcast Show

Our podcast show is back and better! With upgraded production equipment and an additional host (who will be announced soon), you will be able to immerse yourself in the stories we tell of data science and data scientists in Africa.

You can also {follow us on Twitter} as we plan to revisit points that are worth re-listening from previous episodes.

YouTube Channel

All our community webinars will continue to be streamed through our YouTube channel and more time will also be spent ensuring there is visibility around the valuable content on the channel.

Fresher Brand Identity

Our fresh brand identity was largely influenced by the ever-talented Osaro Iyoha, and in this section, we explain the significant changes we have made in our brand identity to reflect who we are, why we exist, and where we are heading towards.

We’ve updated our logo to reflect the new brand, evolved our wordmark, typeface, colors, and imagery like photography and illustrations. The standout letter in the logo is the "c" which represents community, collaboration, and curiosity. The network also depicts a connected and collaborative community that also has equal representation with neural networks which, alongside the brain icon, depicts our core focus on data and artificial intelligence.

We now have a dedicated brand experience team that will ensure our brand identity is present, consistent, and compliant across every activity we engage in. Our compliance standards are set in our style guide and brand book, which should make the process of ensuring brand alignment easier.

Refined Target Audience

Our primary target audience is people interested in quality data science and artificial intelligence education and opportunities across Africa.

Our secondary Target Audience is:

• Learners with disabilities such as hearing impairments and visual impairments, and other forms of underrepresentation, interested in quality data science and artificial intelligence education and opportunities across Africa.

A Member-Focused Community

• We currently have some partnerships in the pipeline that will not just provide upskilling and educational opportunities for our members, but also job opportunities. We will be announcing those in the coming weeks to months.

• Our members will be able to decide the meetup theme they'd love to have for a particular month. This is one of the exciting and shiny experiences of our membership program.

• While the executives will be needed to brainstorm new programs and activities, it will be up to certain levels of community members to decide which programs to run.

• Community members will also be given the chance to submit quarterly feedback and suggest new directions and steps to executives during the feedback process.

❗ More details on our membership program, including the various levels of membership, the benefits, privileges, and so on, will be explained in a press release in the coming month (September 2021). We have a lot of exciting benefits to look out for including mentorship programs, and closed-access monthly webinars with experts from top technology companies. 🚀🚀!

Moving on: what should you do?

We are truly excited about this new journey and do hope you are as excited as we are. So what now? Well, there are two things you can do right now to stay in touch.

• Register for our upcoming webinar and virtual meetup on "APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS VS GRADUATE SCHOOL VS BOOTCAMPS FOR DATA SCIENCE". Details can be found on the registration page here.

• Sign-up to be part of our mailing list here so you can get relevant updates as progress is made within the organization, and more importantly, on our membership program.

• Follow us on Twitter @aischool_africa.

• Follow us on LinkedIn.

Press Release Contributors:

• Linda Ikechukwu, Community Manager at AI School Africa.
• Stephen Oladele, Lead Volunteer at AI School Africa.

---

In summary, we started out as an AI community catering for members in an underrepresented region, we will continue delivering on that path but this time giving the power of the community to the members. We thank individuals, organizations, and institutions that have been part of our progress. 🙏🏽🙏🏽.

The pandemic era of 2020 to 2021 has been a difficult time for everyone. We leave you with some memorable pictures from physical events during our time as "Port Harcourt School of AI".