[APCPress] APCNews - October 2007 - No 79

Thu Oct 18 16:19:48 BST 2007

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                *APCNews, the monthly newsletter of the
           Association for Progressive Communications (APC)*
                     October 2007 No. 79
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-- NEWS FROM THE MEMBERS --
-- NEWS FROM APC --
-- ICT POLICY & INTERNET RIGHTS --
-- STRATEGIC USES & CAPACITY BUILDING --
-- WOMEN & ICTs --
-- ENVIRONMENT & ICTs --
-- APC IN THE NEWS --
-- IMPORTANT EVENTS --
-- WHERE IN THE WORLD IS APC --
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-- NEWS FROM THE MEMBERS --

WEB NETWORKS, Canada: Canadian literary award goes to APC-member

A Web Networks e-learning application that assists students to learn 
Inuktitut (Inuit-language) has won Canada's National Literacy Award. 
Developed in association with Web’s Inuit partner, the Pirurvik Centre, 
the Drupal content management application is now also being extended to 
Guatemala with Mayan (K'iiche') learners by students of Leandro Navarro 
of APC’s Catalonian member Pangea. – Web Networks
http://action.web.ca/home/services/whatsnew.shtml?x=108386

BYTES FOR ALL, South Asia: Pakistan’s Draconian Electronic Crime Bill

A controversial Electronic Crime Bill, drafted by The Ministry of IT & 
Telecom, Government of Pakistan, is currently being tabled in Parliament 
in advance of a vote. The bill has already been approved by Cabinet and 
could receive final approval as early as November. Critics say the Bill 
is draconian and lacks the safeguards to ensure the protection of civil 
liberties. – BytesForAll
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5222705

BYTES FOR ALL, South Asia: BytesForAll, keeping the focus on South Asia

Devices that attempt to lower the cost of computing, ICTs role in the 
battle against harassment of women in Sri Lanka, what a drastic 
realignment of currency rates could mean to a country like India -these 
are some of the topics of discussion on the South Asian-focused 
BytesForAll e-list. To signup or learn more, visit: – BytesForAll
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/join

COMPUTER AID INTERNATIONAL, United Kingdom: Computer Aid International 
wins Nominet’s access award

Access remains one of the greatest challenges facing the internet 
community in the developing world. The Nominet judges believe that the 
work of Computer Aid epitomizes what its access category represents. 
Computer Aid has enabled thousands of people in developing countries, 
who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity, to access to the internet. 
Computer Aid’s partners are also able to provide training, capacity 
building and routine maintenance, to ensure that the use of equipment is 
maximized. – Computer Aid International
http://www.computeraid.org/

PROTEGE QV, Cameroon: Protege QV celebrates Software Freedom Day 2007 
with workshop

APC member Protege QV celebrated a belated but successful Software 
Freedom Day in early October 2007 with a Web 2.0 and web-based project 
management application workshop. The international day to educate the 
public about the importance of software freedom and the availability of 
free and open source software is a Protege QV classic and it attracted 
more than twenty participants this year. – Protege QV
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5247147

RITS, Brazil: Panel considers internet access and freedom of expression

Graciela Selaimen of APC’s Brazilian member group, the Information 
Network for the Third Sector, was one of three panellists invited to 
speak on the first day of the International Freedom of Expression 
exchange (IFEX) conference. During the session ‘Know your rights: 
Article 19 in cyberspace’ on 7 October 2007, she explained how the lack 
of access to the internet limits the freedom of expression. – APC Blog
http://blog.apc.org/en/index.shtml?x=5240607

UNGANA-AFRIKA, South Africa: Ungana-Afrika offers free capacity-building 
workshops

APC’s Pretoria-based member Ungana-Afrika, with the support of the Open 
Society Institute of South Africa, is hosting a selection of free 
workshops that help leaders of non-profit organisational communities 
understand and implement new models of technology support and capacity 
building. Upcoming workshops will take place in Windhoek, Namibia on 
17-18 October 2007. – Ungana-Afrika
http://www.ungana-afrika.org/workshop/Invitation.html

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-- NEWS FROM APC --

The first APC FOSS Prize established in 2006 to honour Chris Nicol, a 
long time FOSS advocate and activist who for many years, worked with APC 
has been jointly awarded to Free Geek (USA) and NepaLinux (Nepal). An 
honourable mention goes to the educational project Gleducar in 
Argentina. Read the interviews with APC at:
Free Geek: http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5241758
NepaLinux: http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5241651
Gleducar: http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5245948

NEW MEMBER: AZUR Développement joins the APC family

There is a Congolese proverb that says, “You can’t wash your face with 
just one finger”. That's the expression APC's new member AZUR 
Développement is using in reference to the need to solidify links with 
other APC members in order to get the ICT job done in Congo. And they 
mean it. Recognising that APC’s members have a lot of experience with 
ICTs, they believe that their activities and those of APC's members will 
blend in well. - APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5246052

NEW BOOK: APC launches new book on WSIS, developing countries and civil 
society: Time for lessons learned

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) has been roundly 
criticised in the past and this new study from APC concludes that the 
summit “is not the best starting point for new action”. So, what is the 
point of looking at how developing country delegations and civil society 
fared at the summit? Because, says the author “it is always important to 
learn from experience – particularly where it did not deliver up to 
expectations”. - APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5202187

EVENT: Equitable access to ICT infrastructure

APC announces a one-day event on equitable access to ICT infrastructure 
on 10 November 2007 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Why this event? Access 
brings people together to exchange information, promotes new spaces for 
social inclusion and is fundamental to development in any society. 
However many of these innovative solutions are happening in isolation. 
APC’s event provides a forum for stakeholders working in the area of 
equitable access to share knowledge and experience and to discuss the 
issues. - APC
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5183537

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-- ICT POLICY & INTERNET RIGHTS --

ARTICLE: Low-cost voice communication blocked

“An attack on net neutrality and an act of censorship”, was how Miguel
Acosta, editor of a New York-based Paraguayan newspaper referred to the
measure taken by the Paraguayan Communication Company to block access to 
internet telephony or voice over internet protocol (VoIP). Civil society 
has responded forcefully to this situation. - APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5245900

OPEN ACCESS EVENT: APC announces civil society workshop for Connect 
Africa Summit in Kigali

The Association for Progressive Communications, in collaboration with 
its partners, will be convening a civil society workshop on Sunday 28 
October 2007 in Kigali, Rwanda, to accompany the Connect Africa Summit, 
taking place 29-30 October 2007. – APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5242115

ARTICLE: Every laptop assigned a child

At present, Uruguay is the only country in the world that has adopted, 
as government policy, Nicholas Negroponte’s proposal to endow every 
schoolchild with a low-cost laptop connected to the internet. A few 
other countries, such as Libya, Thailand and Rwanda have expressed 
similar intentions, and others, such as Brazil and Argentina, are 
implementing partial projects. But in Uruguay President Tabaré Vázquez 
wagered heavily, and announced in December 2006 that by the year 2009, 
this benefit would be extended to every schoolchild without exception. - 
APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5247132

BLOGGING in BELGIUM: Europe-China Forum: IT systems in the age of the 
internet
By Leandro Navarro

Citizens from China and Europe, academia, non-profits, companies and the 
government met in early October in Liège, Belgium to exchange 
perspectives and discuss the information society and the internet in 
China and Europe. The workshop on "IT systems in the age of the 
internet" was the first step in bringing the participants together. – 
APC Blog
http://blog.apc.org/en/index.shtml?x=5240402

BLOGGING in PAKISTAN: Keep the independent media at distance, they are 
troublemakers
By Shahzad Ahmad

There is a lot happening in Pakistan these days on political front, 
mostly for worst though. Believe me, its been looooong time that we have 
heard any good news. What bad news? Suicide bombings every second day, 
massacre in northern Pakistan every now and then due to bombardment of 
"allied forces" from across the border, highest ever inflation, 
unprecedented price hike, power outage, water shortage, flour and sugar 
crises, natural disasters etc. are some highlights. – APC Blog
http://blog.apc.org/en/index.shtml?x=5237467

BLOGGING in PAKISTAN: Freedom of expression like never before!
By Shahzad Ahmad

In Pakistan, it’s "freedom of expression like never before". This is the 
lead line of advertisements by the state owned media. Yes, it is freedom 
as never before, essentially, freedom to kill journalists, freedom to 
kidnap journalists, freedom to pick their family members and keep them 
in detention, freedom to baton charge and tear gas shelling on public 
meetings, freedom to curb the voice of general public using police and 
army. – APC Blog
http://blog.apc.org/en/index.shtml?x=5235286

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-- STRATEGIC USES & CAPACITY BUILDING --

INTERVIEW: Community radio in India: It is not just a question of bread 
vs. radios

“Other voices: The struggle for community radio in India” by two Indian 
scholars, has just been published by Sage. APC member BytesForAll's 
Frederick Noronha interviews the authors of the book, Vinod Pavarala, 
Professor of Communication and Dean of the Sarojini Naidu School of 
Communication, University of Hyderabad, and Dr Kanchan K Malik, a 
lecturer at the university. - APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5240835

BLOGGING in ITALY: Participatory web for development: Circling the point 
in a spiral formation
By Brenda Zulu

Anriette Esterhuysen, executive director of APC delivered a keynote 
address at the opening of the conference on Web2fordev at the UN’s Food 
and Agriculture Organisation in Rome, Italy in late September. Her ideas 
around participatory web for development were reported on the Web2fordev 
blog. - Web2fordev
http://blog.web2fordev.net/2007/09/26/participatory-web-for-development-circling-the-point-in-a-spiral-formation/ 

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-- WOMEN & ICTs --

EVENT REPORT: Breaking with tradition, African women dare to denounce 
violence through digital storytelling

Violence against women was the theme of a recent digital storytelling 
workshop organised by APC's programme in Africa and APC's South African 
member Women’sNet, held in Durban, South Africa from 25-29 August 2007. 
Seventeen women from throughout Africa gathered for one week to develop 
the skills to use technology for the creation of digital stories as a 
means of combating domestic, sexual and other forms of violence faced by 
African women. – APC Africa Women
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5240690

ARTICLE: 'Wanting to' versus 'Being able to': The rhetoric of access to 
the information society

Uruguay has one of the highest rates of internet coverage in Latin 
America, but studies demonstrate this fact is gender-blind. So what have 
been the experiences of Uruguayan women with new technologies in 
relation to the three basic dimensions of digital inclusion initiatives, 
connectivity, education and infrastructure? – GenderIT.org
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?w=a&x=95366

BLOGGING in the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Presenting evaluation results with 
creativity

Training people to use the Gender Evaluation Methodology is always a 
challenge. There are lots of expectations about the results of this 
training. For the trainer, the usual finding is that evaluators very 
seldom take a gender perspective into account when planning a project or 
considering its results. – APC Blog
http://blog.apc.org/en/index.shtml?x=5241957

INTERVIEW: Gambia radio journalist alerts to the seriousness of violence 
against women

Fatoumata Drammeh is a Gambian journalist. She attended a training 
organised by the APC-Africa-Women and Women'sNet in August 2007 to learn 
how to make digital stories on violence against women. In this audio 
interview she explains how women are affected by violence in Gambia and 
denounces the culture of silence. – APC Women’s Networking Support Programme
http://www.apcwomen.org/resources/radio_gambia_alerts_seriousness_violence_against_women 

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-- ENVIRONMENT & ICTs --

EVENT: Event on IT for environmental sustainability a success

Last week’s online TV talk show on the potential of IT for environmental 
sustainability (ITES), in Belgrade, proved to be a successful networking 
and awareness-raising event. The live netcast was a side-event to the 
pan-European ministerial conference on the environment. The ITES event 
provided a venue for the exchange of knowledge and good practices 
bridging environment and IT among civil society, governments and 
business. The video archive is available in low resolution (OGG, 81MB, 
160 x 128). – Information Technology for Environmental Sustainability 
http://www.apc.org/greeningit/greeningit-lowrez.ogg
http://www.apc.org/greeningit/

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-- APC IN THE NEWS --

BALANCING ACT: The end of the beginning: DRC plans ambitious 
infrastructure development
7 September 2007

For all the difficulties in Eastern Congo, the DRC has seen a number of 
recent developments that will form the beginning of a backbone 
development plan for the country. Canadian NGO Alternatives launched its 
extremely detailed feasibility study for a backbone plan and the 
Government has begun to look at some of the issues that will need to be 
addressed if it is to be implemented. – Balancing Act
http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act_370.html

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-- IMPORTANT EVENTS --

NOVEMBER 7-9: The African Wireless Broadband Forum
Nairobi, Kenya
http://www.tsnn.com/profile.asp?EventID=15249

NOVEMBER 29-30: International e-Society.Mk conference
Skopje, Macedonia
http://www.e-society.org.mk

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-- WHERE IN THE WORLD IS APC --

You can meet up with APC and/or APC WNSP (APC women's programme) 
representatives at the events below during the next two months. Write to 
events at apc.org to obtain contact information. See you there!

OCTOBER 15-19: Third Latin American and the Caribbean Communication 
Congress - COMLAC
Loja, Ecuador
http://www.comlac.org

OCTOBER 18-21: Gender Evaluation Methodology for South and East Europe 
Workshop organized by OneWorldSEE
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
http://www.apcwomen.org/gem/

OCTOBER 22-27: TRICALCAR (wireless project in LAC) regional workshop
Rosario, Argentina
http://www.tau.org.ar/tricalcar

OCTOBER 28: APC open access event
Kigali, Rwanda
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5242115

OCTOBER 29-30: Connect Africa Summit
Kigali, Rwanda
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/connect/africa/2007/summit/index.html

OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 2: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and 
Numbers (ICANN) meeting
Los Angeles, USA
http://losangeles2007.icann.org

NOVEMBER 1-2: International forum on learning networks and learning 
within networks & GKP Latin America and the Caribbean 2007 regional meeting
San José, Costa Rica
http://fodweb.net/raar/index.jsp

NOVEMBER 2-4: 13th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) civil 
society conference
Singapore

NOVEMBER 4: APC Executive Board meeting
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
http://www.apc.org/english/about/index.shtml

NOVEMBER 5-9: WALC 2007 - LAC Workshop on internet and network technologies
Coro, Venezuela
http://ws-14.ula.ve/eslared/walc2007/english/index.html

NOVEMBER 5-9: APC Council Meeting
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
http://www.apc.org/english/about/index.shtml

NOVEMBER 10: APC public event on equitable access
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5183537

NOVEMBER 11: Exchange of information and ideas about the IGF and its 
main issues
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

NOVEMBER 12-15: Internet Governance Forum
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

NOVEMBER 18-21: 13th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit
Singapore
http://www.13thaseansummit.org.sg/asean/index.php/web

November 21-22: WINDS regional conference
Buenos Aires, Argentina
http://www.winds-lac.eu/events

NOVEMBER 22-23: IICD - APC Strengthening networking capacities for 
Infodesarrollo and EC members' Workshop
Quito, Ecuador
http://www.infodesarrollo.ec

November 26-30: GEM workshop
Badajoz, Spain

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APCNews, in English, and APCNoticias, in Spanish, are distributed 
monthly by APC -- a worldwide network supporting the use of internet and 
ICTs for social justice and sustainable development since 1990.

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Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2007