[APCPress] APCNews - April 2006 - No. 63

Mon Apr 10 16:16:53 BST 2006

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                *APCNews, the monthly newsletter of the
           Association for Progressive Communications (APC)*
                     April 2006 No. 63
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-- NEWS FROM THE MEMBERS --
-- NEWS FROM APC --
-- ICT POLICY & INTERNET RIGHTS --
-- WOMEN & ICTs --
-- ENVIRONMENT & ICTs --
-- APC IN THE NEWS --
-- ONLINE TOOLS & RESOURCES --
-- COLLABORATING OPPORTUNITIES --
-- SITES OF INTEREST --
-- IMPORTANT DATES --
-- WHERE IN THE WORLD IS APC --
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-- NEWS FROM THE MEMBERS –-

FANTSUAM FOUNDATION, Nigeria: A computer for Africa, will it work?

A computer that’s encased in wood to resist tropical temperatures and 
consumes thirty times less electricity than the standard PC? The “Solo” 
-a unique computer that fights rural Africa’s heat, dust and unreliable 
power supply- is being tested in Nigeria and will be ready for 
commercial production shortly. APCNews interviews Ochuko Onoberhie, a 
technician from the Fantsuam Foundation, the APC member responsible for 
testing the Solo. - APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=4847159

ALTERNATIVES, Canada: Fighting poverty with ICTs in the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo

In a country where the majority of the population lives below the 
absolute poverty level, where political crises and violence have done 
away with social institutions, does it make sense to invest energies in 
information and communication technologies? Canadian APC member 
Alternatives firmly believes in this opportunity. - APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=4919512

NODO TAU, Argentina: Community news portal enREDando awarded the Juana 
Manso Prize 2006

The Juana Manso Prize 2006 ceremony -which awards prizes to 
communication initiatives that disseminate news about women's rights- 
took place on Wednesday March 8, 2006 at the Municipal Bank Auditorium 
in the city of Rosario, Argentina. The Juana Manso prize in the digital 
journalism division was awarded to the www.enredando.org.ar website’s 
electronic bulletin. - Nodo Tau
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=4919556

ZAMIRNET, Croatia: New independent media network gets the voices of 
Croatian citizens out

ZaMirNET's award-winning online newsmagazine about civil society issues 
in the Balkan region - ZaMirZINE (www.zamirzine.net) - just established 
a network of independent news sites. The network is activated by 
Croatian social change organisations and civic groups. Their focus is 
clear: balancing the often biased representation of civil society and 
its values in the media. – ZaMirNET
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=4820298

COLNODO, Colombia: Municipalities made transparent through the web

Can the internet be used to keep your mayor's office accountable? 
Colombian APC member Colnodo is carrying out two programmes aimed at 
local governments. In this article, Colnodo tells APCNews about its 
participation in the Internet Project for Accountability [of municipal 
governments] and a project to empower municipalities in using basic web 
portals. - Colnodo
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=4911081

COMPUTER AID INTERNATIONAL, United Kingdom: UK computers avoid mid-life 
crisis by migrating south

For 92 million Latin Americans, the lack of access to information and 
communication technologies is a daily reality. British non-profit 
Computer Aid International thinks that supplying computers for 
institutions that work with vulnerable communities is a good place to 
start tackling the inequity.. - APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=4919510

ITeM, Uruguay: Is it possible to control financial institutions through 
the internet?

The annual coordination meeting of IFIwatchnet took place March 7-9 in 
Montevideo, Uruguay. The meeting was organised by the project’s current 
coordinator, APC member ITeM (Third World Institute). Members of the 
executive committee and regional outreach coordinators participated. - ITeM
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=4911138

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-- ICT POLICY & INTERNET RIGHTS --

OPEN ACCESS CAMPAIGN: East Africa needs a fair entry-ticket to afford 
cyberspace: Easing Access to EASSy

Africa currently has to pay for some of the most expensive bandwidth in 
the world. All this will change if the proposed East African Submarine 
Cable System (EASSy) cable is built as it will connect countries on the 
eastern side of the continent and if this new capacity is offered in a 
way that maximises use and lowers price. To help make this possible, APC 
has launched a new website “Fibre-for-Africa” and on March 10, held a 
consultation with more than 80 key stakeholders from all over Eastern 
and Southern Africa to ensure that access to EASSy - which will serve 
eight coastal and eleven land-locked countries - is ‘easy’, affordable 
and open. - APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=4513981

ARTICLE: Internet infrastructure: APCNews meets ‘open access’ advocates 
in the EASSy run up

Since 9 March 2006, an informal African ‘open access task force’ – made 
up of NGOs and small and medium sized ISPs – was initiated to lobby for 
the implementation of an open access model in internet infrastructure. 
The task force is currently mobilised to make the East African Submarine 
Cable System (EASSy) ‘easy’, affordable and open. APCNews staff writer 
Frederick Noronha has gathered statements from two civil society 
stakeholders in what is to become a determining project for Africans’ 
equitable access to the web. - APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=4924979

POSITION PAPER: AfrISPA launches a paradigm shift to stimulate internet 
growth through content

On March 23 2006 at the keynote session of the Digital Africa Summit in 
Cape Town, the African Internet Service Providers Association (AfrISPA @ 
www.afrispa.org) launched their first position paper in a series which 
is focused on strategies for increased internet growth. "A call for a 
paradigm shift to stimulate internet growth through content" is the 
first position paper which argues that based on research finding, most 
Africans are interested in the value they get out of connecting to the 
internet and not just for the sake of having access. - AfrISPA
Report: http://www.afrispa.org/PositionPapers/content.pdf

WSIS FOLLOW-UP: IT for Change makes commentary piece public

IT for change, an NGO fighting alongside APC during the World Summit on 
the Information Society (WSIS) published "WSIS: The beginning of a 
global information society discourse" on March 11 in the Economic and 
Political Weekly. The piece attempts to place WSIS in the present 
geopolitical context and discusses its outcomes. It concludes that "WSIS 
may need to be judged more from the processes that it has set into 
motion than what it has achieved substantively." – IT for Change
http://itforchange.net/mambo/content/view/117/1/

APC’s reflection on WSIS: 
http://rights.apc.org/documents/apc_wsis_reflection_0206.pdf [English]
http://rights.apc.org/documents/apc_wsis_reflection_0206_ES.pdf [Spanish]
http://rights.apc.org/documents/apc_wsis_reflection_0206_FR.pdf [French]

WSIS FOLLOW-UP: UNESCO opens platform for implementing WSIS

UNESCO has now opened an online platform to facilitate initial contacts 
among stakeholders and to launch activities under the Action Lines of 
the Geneva Plan of Action that are in the area of competence of the 
Organization. This includes the following action lines:
C3: Access to information and knowledge
C7: E-learning and E-science
C8: Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local
content  C9: Media
C10: Ethical dimensions of the Information Society
Online platform: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/wsis/consultation/

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-- WOMEN & ICTs –-

ARTICLE: Making dry policy come alive with WITTy tools for activism

"There is great potential for using free software in women's 
organisations,” said an enthusiastic Lenka Simerska insisting that this 
potential “is driven by needs and growing interest in training and 
networking.” Simerska - one of three trainers in the Women's Information 
Technology Transfer (WITT) team - commented at the end of a three-day 
‘IT for women’ workshop which took place in Prague, Czech Republic 
earlier this year. - APC WNSP
http://www.apcwomen.org/news/index.shtml?x=93802

INTERVIEW: Gender issues at all levels – from policy formulation to 
implementation

Sonia Jorge is an expert in telecommunications regulation, economics and 
public policy, specialising in gender and development. In this interview 
with GenderIT.org, Sonia points out some issues on which gender and ICT 
activists should focus their strategies and stresses the importance of 
the participation of gender experts in the implementation of policies, 
not only in their formulation. - GenderIT.org
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?w=a&x=93423

INTERVIEW: Indigenous women succeed in shedding light on their situation 
through the ingenuous use of technologies

Indigenous women want to be the protagonists of the information and 
communication technology (ICT) appropriation process that they are 
experiencing and they are finding that the only way to avoid being 
excluded or sidelined is to plunge head-on into the debate. Sixty 
participants, from different indigenous Latin American groups and 
organisations were part of an online discussion on indigenous women and 
ICTs in preparation for the August Know How Conference that will take 
place in Mexico City. APCNews spoke to the moderator about the 
highlights. - APC WNSP
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=4923395

BLOGGING at WAM!: Making women's words matter

Women from the Center for New Words this weekend have said that's what 
they are all about: finding new solutions for old problems, making 
women's words matter, wedging open spaces for women's voices to be 
heard. The CNW launched WAM!, Women, Action and Media three years ago as 
part of this effort. Audio streams of the WAM!2006 keynote speakers can 
soon be heard at the CNW site and are well worth listening to, if you 
have the bandwidth. Though all three journalists are rooted in the 
(diverse) reality of US media, for me their comments served as an 
illustration of WHY the APC Women's Networking Support Programme (and so 
many other gender media and ICT advocates) insists on governments 
respecting Section J of the Beijing Platform of Action and not leaving 
media and ICTs in the hands of a small group of powerful white men.
http://blog.apc.org/en/index.shtml?x=4924640

BLOGGING at WAM!: Radio journalism: A REALLY quick and dirty guide

A bunch of Women, Action, Media conference participants learned how to 
create a 5 minute radio news piece in just 50 minutes! Lisa, a trainer 
from The National Radio Project, commented that she’d never seen such a 
succinct, practical training session on the topic.
http://blog.apc.org/en/index.shtml?x=4918800

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-- ENVIRONMENT & ICTs –-

BLOGGING in Baramati: The potential of e-agriculture

Later today, the 6th Annual Baramati Initiative on information and 
communication technology (ICT) and Development (focussing on The 
Potential of e-Agriculture) gets underway at this rural, but 
education-oriented island two hours away from Pune in Central India. 
Among other things, there's a report launch on 'e-Agriculture: 
Empowering India', talks, a field trip to a sugar-cooperative (this is 
the heart of Indian sugarland), and more. - APC blog
http://blog.apc.org/en/index.shtml?x=4549390

BLOGGING in Baramati: Costly blindspot... FLOSS and ICT4D

In a vast country the size of India, the left hand doesn't quite know 
what the right hand is doing in the ICT4D field. Also, very little of 
India's vast free software potential has actually been channelled into 
this field. Musings from Baramati... home to a recent, ambitious 
e-agriculture conference. - APC blog
http://blog.apc.org/en/index.shtml?x=4805899

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-- APC IN THE NEWS --

MAIL & GUARDIAN, South Africa: Not so EASSy
By Lloyd Gedye. Sunday March 19, 2006

Major South African weekly, the "Mail and Guardian", reports from the 
APC-organised conference on EASSy, the East African submarine cable. The 
good news is that excessively high international bandwidth prices in 
Africa are to be challenged says the M&G but the benefits can be 
curtailed if operators maintain monopoly control. - Mail & Guardian
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=267024&area=/insight/insight__economy__business/

THE DAILY STAR, Bangladesh: Govt blamed for delay in submarine cable link
By Staff Correspondent. Sunday March 19, 2006

Business leaders and telecom experts at a roundtable yesterday strongly 
criticised the government for delaying in linking the country with 
submarine cable and allowing operators to do illegal VoIP business for a 
long time. A particular group is controlling the illegal Voice over 
Internet Protocol (VoIP) business, they said, adding that the illegal 
business flourished in the last four and half years due to the lack of 
will on the part of the government. Bangladesh Friendship Education 
Society (BFES) organised the roundtable on 'What do we expect from 
submarine cable line?' in cooperation with the Association for 
Progressive Communications at Brac Centre in the city.
http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/02/19/d60219060160.htm

BBC, United Kingdom: APC's unease with EASSy made loud and clear
By Staff Writer. Wednesday March 15, 2006

A BBC News article published on the British Broadcasting Corporation's 
online edition on Wednesday March 15 reports on the East African 
Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and APC's reluctance to the way it's 
expected to be implemented. The Association for Progressive 
Communications (APC) has made its concerns and reservations about the 
new optical cable project for East Africa loud and clear at a 
consultation conference taking place a couple of days prior to the 
article's release. BBC readers from Ethiopia, South Africa, Burkina 
Faso, Namibia and many other countries are presently commenting on the 
BBC article which highlighted that "campaigners [such as the APC] fear 
that the cable might not actually make much difference to consumers 
because of high prices."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4787422.stm

THE STANDARD, Kenya: Editors to revive professional association
By Caroline Mango. Monday March 13, 2006

Sixteen senior editors from local media houses have resolved to revamp 
the Editor’s Guild. The guild intends to strengthen the media industry 
in the wake of the raid on the Standard Group and the general anti-media 
environment prevailing in the country. They were speaking at a two-day 
retreat at the South Coast organised by the Kenya Information and 
Communication Technology action network and supported by the Association 
for Progressive Communications to discuss ‘Catalysing access to ICT in 
Africa’ and the proposed ICT Bill.
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=37811

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-- ONLINE TOOLS & RESOURCES --

BOOK: Digital Scheherazade
The rise of women as key players in the Arab Gulf communication 
strategies "The key problem giving anxiety fits to elites and masses, to 
heads of states and street-vendors, to men and women in the Arab world 
today is the digital chaos induced by IT such as the internet and the 
satellite which has destroyed the hudud, the space frontier which 
divided the universe into a sheltered private arena where women and 
children were supposed to be protected, and a public one where adult 
males exercised their presumed problem-solving authority". - Fatema 
Mernissi.
http://www.mernissi.net/books/articles/digital_scheherazade.html

BOOK: Community-based Networks and Innovative Technologies: New models 
to serve and empower the poor. A UNDP publication by Séan O Siochrú and 
Bruce Girard.
An innovative combination of community-driven enterprises and the new 
wave of wireless and related technologies may have the potential to 
extend networks and offer new services to poor communities and to 
empower them to develop solutions that are more focused on their 
development needs.
http://propoor-ict.comunica.org/

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-- COLLABORATING OPPORTUNITIES --

CAMPAIGN: Free Our Data
Government-funded and approved agencies such as the Ordnance Survey and 
UK Hydrographic Office and Highways Agency collect data using taxpayers' 
funds, but then charge users and companies for access to it. Making that 
data available for free would vastly expand the range of services 
available.
http://www.freeourdata.org.uk/

GEEKCORPS paid volunteerism in:
- LEBANON: Geekcorps is looking for volunteers for their wireless for 
development programme in Lebanon. A few seasoned outdoor wireless people 
are needed for a 4 month stay. The positions are all-paid and include a 
per-diem scheme.

- AFRICA: Geekcorps is looking for IT experts (Knowledge management 
experts, C++ programmers, GNU/Linux OS developers) to travel to Africa. 
http://www.geekcorps.org

e-GOVERNANCE COURSES: The University of the West Indies Distance 
Education Centre (UWIDEC) and UNESCO are offering the online course on 
Local e-Governance in the Caribbean for a second time, starting April 2006.
http://e-gov.dec.uwi.edu/

RESEARCH: The Sustainable Fisheries Livelihoods Programme (www.sflp.org) 
is looking to commission a piece of work on the use of ICTs in the 
small-scale fisheries sector in developing countries. It represents 
about 20 days paid work, including a visit to FAO Rome, and probably to 
Senegal. Timetable is fairly flexible, but preferably before end 
September 2006.
Contact: Edward Allison E.Allison at uea.ac.uk
CALL FOR PAPERS: TOSSAD 2006 - A Workshop on Governmental, Educational, 
Usability, and Legal Issues towards Open Source Software Adoption 
(tOSSad) in an enlarged Europe. Co-located with The Second International 
Conference on Open Source Systems
Como, Italy, June 10th 2006
http://www.tossad.org/tossad/events/tossad_2006

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-- SITES OF INTEREST --

aAqua, taking a harvest of IT solutions to the Indian farmer
APC member in South Asia, BytesForAll took part in the Baramati 
Initiative 2006 (www.baramatiinitiatives.org), a meet meant to promote 
information and communication technologies for development (ICTD) in 
rural India, in March 2006. This year's theme was ICT-in-agriculture. 
 From there, APCNews files a report on an interesting website. 
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=4846941

Jeremy's Journal on Media and Democracy
This blog on media access, accountability, and alternatives looks into 
the workings of the mainstream media. From print to online publications, 
Jeremy's journal provides insights and pointed criticism of the 
commercial and distant press, while referencing alternative and 
autonomous media. The blog is USA-centric, with rare exceptions, which 
are devoted to Latin America.
http://jeremy-adam-smith.blogspot.com/

APDIP e-Notes
APDIP e-Notes are brief snapshots that present analyses of specific 
issues related to information and communication technologies (ICTs) for 
sustainable human development in the Asia-Pacific region. This online 
series introduces readers to the who, what, where, why and how of a wide 
range of current issues related to ICTs such as internet governance, 
ICTs and poverty alleviation, e-governance, free and open source 
software, and many others.
http://www.apdip.net/apdipenote/

Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio & Communication
Networking body working for building a democratic society based on the 
principles of free flow of information, equitable and affordable access 
to information and communication technology (ICT) for remote and 
marginalised populations.
http://www.bnnrc.net

Tonga.Online
Tonga.Online is a project on media, ICT and art focusing on the Tonga 
people living along the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. The project 
goal is to promote a Tonga voice on the internet and to provide the 
Tonga minority with the most advanced information and communication tools.
http://www.mulonga.net/

Digital Access Index
'Digital divide' map of the so-called Digital Access Index (DAI). The 
DAI measures the overall ability of individuals in a country to access 
and use information and communication technologies.
http://wireless.ictp.trieste.it/simulator/

The Communication Initiative
The Communication Initiative network is an online space for sharing the 
experiences of, and building bridges between, the people and 
organisations engaged in or supporting communication as a fundamental 
strategy for economic and social development and change.
http://www.comminit.com/

Pacific Online Telecentre Community
PacTOC (PACific Telecentre Online Community) is regional network of 
telecentres in the South Pacific. It is the latest initiative to have 
joined the Telecentre.org family. Resources about connectivity, resource 
people in your area and fresh stories about Samoa telecentres can all be 
found on the portal.
http://pactoc.telecentre.org

EngageMedia
EngageMedia is a website for video about social justice and 
environmental issues in Australia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. It is 
a space for critical documentary, fiction, artistic and experimental 
works from this region. You might as well go check it out since, as they 
say, "The growth of digital tools such as peer-to-peer networks and 
increased bandwidth mean distributing high resolution video online is 
becoming increasingly easy."
http://www.engagemedia.org/

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-- IMPORTANT DATES --

ERRATA: World Congress on Communication for Development. The dates in a 
previous newsletter are no longer valid as the WCCD was moved from March 
2006 to October 2006. The new date is  October 25 to 27 still in Rome, 
Italy. Participation in the WCCD is to be by invitation. You can get 
more information on the event at the website:
http://www.devcomm-congress.org/worldbank/macro/2.asp

APRIL 19–21: ICL2006 - 9th International Conference on Interactive 
Mobile and Computer aided Learning
Amman, Jordan
http://www.imcl-conference.org

MAY 21-26: Usability Week 2006 Conference
London, United Kingdom
http://www.nngroup.com/events/

MAY 22-24: International Radio Conference
Dubai
http://irc-dubai.com

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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 six weeks. Write to 
events at apc.org to obtain contact information. See you there!

April 2-4: Prague, Czech Republic
ISSS regional conference on e-government
http://www.isss.cz/loris/

April 4-7: Cape Town, South Africa
Workers' Education & Workers' Media in a Global Economy International 
Workshop
http://www.sangonet.org.za/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3050&Itemid=224

April 10: Mexico City, Mexico
APC Women’s Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) workshop with Enlace 
Continental (regional indigenous women's organisation)

April 19-22: Dhaka, Bangladesh
APC South Asian Policy Meeting and APC Asia member meeting
Follow along on the APC blog http://blog.apc.org

April 21-23: New York, USA
Access to Knowledge (Information Society Project at Yale Law School)
http://islandia.law.yale.edu/isp/a2k.html

April 24-28: Delhi, India
APC WNSP Gender Evaluation Methodology Asia workshop

April 26-28: Mexico City, Mexico
"Rural Women and ICTs" workshop (Modemmujer, APC WNSP member)

April 28-29: Lisbon, Portugal
IV Latin American - European Union Ministerial Forum on the Information 
Society

May 2-5: Washington, USA
Computers, Privacy and Freedom Conference
http://www.cfp2006.org/

May 8-9: Colombo, Sri Lanka
Knowledge Knowledge Partnership (GKP) international forum
http://www.globalknowledge.org/internationalforum/

May 9-11: Geneva, Switzerland
World Summit on the Information Society follow-up: ITU/UNESCO: 
Promoting multilingual content
http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/multilingual/

May 10: Colombo, Sri Lanka
Knowledge Partnership (GKP) annual members meeting
http://www.globalknowledge.org/annualmembersmeeting

May 11 or 12: Geneva, Switzerland
World Summit on the Information Society: Science and Technology for 
Development (CSTD) informal consultation on WSIS follow-up

May 12: Geneva, Switzerland
World Summit on the Information Society follow-up: UNESCO open 
consultation on cultural diversity and identity
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=21663&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

May 15-16: Geneva, Switzerland
World Summit on the Information Society follow-up: Consultation on 
information security

May 15-19: Geneva, Switzerland
World Summit on the Information Society follow-up: Commission on Science 
and Technology for Development (CSTD) annual meeting

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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. APCNews 
Archive: http://www.apc.org/english/news/apcnews/

Some rights reserved: Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial Licence 2.0
Association for Progressive Communications (APC), 2006