[APCPress] APCNews - May 2007 - No 75

Mon May 14 19:47:48 BST 2007

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                *APCNews, the monthly newsletter of the
           Association for Progressive Communications (APC)*
                     May 2007 No. 75
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-- NEWS FROM THE MEMBERS --
-- NEWS FROM APC --
-- ICT POLICY & INTERNET RIGHTS --
-- STRATEGIC USES & CAPACITY BUILDING --
-- WOMEN & ICTs –-
-- ONLINE TOOLS & RESOURCES --
-- COLLABORATING OPPORTUNITIES --
-- SITES OF INTEREST --
-- IMPORTANT DATES --
-- WHERE IN THE WORLD IS APC --
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-- NEWS FROM THE MEMBERS –-

C2O, Australia: APC.au, sailing with changing times and moving with the surf

Grant McHerron always has a joke and formidable technical skills to 
share. Or so it was when APCNews ran into APC.au's technical director in 
Sydney, Australia, during the APC's Asia-Pacific members meeting, held 
in mid-April 2007. – APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5059880

JINBONET, South Korea: Opposition to draft legislation on "Communication 
Data Retention"

The South Korean parliament is discussing a dangerous revision of the 
"Protection of Communications Secrets Act". The revision would legally 
enforce telecommunications companies and internet service providers 
(ISPs) to retain 'communications data'. Do people agree with this? 
APC-member in South Korea, Jinbonet, thinks not. International civil 
society organisations think not. They endorsed a letter of protest that 
was sent to the South Korean parliament – Jinbonet
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5059742

UNGANA-AFRIKA, South Africa: Team of social techies moving across 
southern Africa

To address the current information and communication technologies 
capacity crisis most development organisations are facing, APC-member 
Ungana-Afrika will be expanding and strengthening the network of 
development sector oriented ICT consultants, eRiders, across the 
southern African region. - Ungana-Afrika
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5059645

WOUGNET, Uganda: Ugandan women network launches a book about ICT-based 
entrepreneuship

Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) launches Women's ICT-based Enterprises 
Handbook and a CD entitled "A Guide to Promote, Initiate and Improve 
Women's ICT Based Enterprises in Uganda". The APC-member WOUGNET 
published the multilingual document in English and two local languages. 
- WOUGNET
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5060807

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-- NEWS FROM APC --

THREE NEW APC MEMBERS: In April 2007, three new members joined the APC 
family. For this occasion, the Association for Progressive 
Communications has grown to 48 members in total. BFES from Bangladesh, 
Protégé QV from Cameroon and Metamorphosis from Macedonia are presented 
here succinctly. APCNews will continue covering the APC members so as to 
count on in-depth analysis of their many projects.

BFES, Bangladesh: Bangladesh Friendship Education Society becomes new 
APC member

Bangladesh Friendship Education Society (BFES) is a non-government 
development organisation based in Bangladesh. It was established in 1993 
and its mission is to promote educational projects in rural areas. – APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5060810

PROTEGE QV, Cameroon: PROTEGE QV, the first central african member at APC

PROTEGE QV is a group of people who are passionate about educating and 
promoting youth, women and leaders so that they can play their roles as 
citizens in full. The Yaoundé-based APC-member who brings the number of 
francophone members at APC to three, herewith catalyses innovative 
solutions, good practices to those who are in need, rural populations 
and women particularly. - APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5060830

METAMORPHOSIS, Macedonia: Metamorphosis, a think and do tank

Metamorphosis is a think and do tank from Macedonia, gathering experts 
and activists devoted to the development of an information society, 
which we see as crucial element in bettering people’s lives. Most of the 
people currently involved rely on a background in the IT industry and 
the NGO sector, but in general, we favour an interdisciplinary approach 
and broad involvement of stakeholders. APCNews interviewed Bardhyl 
Jashari, director of this newest APC-member. – APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5060819

REMINDER APC POOL OF WRITERS: Two job announcements, one pool, one day 
left to apply!

APCNews and GenderIT.org are building a pool of writers to contribute on 
a freelance basis. We are interested in working with writers from all 
continents. APC is a virtual network and in general most of our research 
and interviews are done online. Read the details and send your 
application before May 15, 2007. - APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5060282

WIRELESS NETWORKING: Technical training scholarships offered

Applications are now being accepted until May 18 for technical training 
scholarships that will cover expenses for attending the first workshop 
of the TRICALCAR project. This community based wireless networks project 
is initiated by APC-members in South America. The workshop will be held 
in Huaral, Peru from July 16 to 21, 2007. – APC
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5059907

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-- ICT POLICY & INTERNET RIGHTS --

ACCESS TO INFORMATION ARTICLE: 'All rights reserved’ not the only option 
for documentary filmmakers

Documentary filmmakers take note: there are other ways in which you can 
choose to distribute your films. Rather than the all-rights-reserved 
approach of the copyright world, take a look on the creative side. - APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5059877

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-- STRATEGIC USES & CAPACITY BUILDING --

LOW-COST TECHNOLOGY SERIES: Every month until year’s end, APC offers an 
insight into strategic use aspects of technology. The use of low-cost 
technologies in developing countries should be promoted and implemented 
as a matter of priority. Low-cost technology can be backbone or 
light-weight infrastructure, hardware and software.

APC concentrates its policy advocacy work and strategic use efforts on 
the infrastructural challenges facing ‘developing’ countries. But, this 
does not mean that hardware and software issues are not important. For 
this reason, we aim at providing you with a comprehensive picture of all 
the facets that enter into play when we talk about low-cost technology.

To explain the different aspects of low-cost technology, we kick the 
series off with a special coverage of cell phone technology in two 
‘developing’ country contexts. Short messaging services in South Africa 
and the growing use of GrameenPhone in Bangladesh are the topics of the 
month.

WOMENSNET, South Africa: Cell phones in the fight against HIV/AIDS

Considering the demographic overlap between those most affected by 
HIV/AIDS and cell phone users, it only makes sense that a major focus be 
put on how this low-cost technology can fight this deadly pandemic. 
APC-member Women’sNet recently engaged in a UNICEF-driven speed 
assessment of fifteen projects that apply cell phones towards 
development objectives in Africa, with a particular focus on HIV/AIDS 
prevention, treatment and care. – APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5059953

LOW-COST TECHNOLOGY BOOK REVIEW: Gold in the mud unleashed through 
‘inclusive’ capitalism?

In 1993, Bangladesh was considered a no-go zone by foreign investors. 
Foreign direct investment in the country totalled USD 3 million that 
year. Today, it has multiplied to around USD 1 billion, three quarters 
of which feeds the telecommunications industry. How did foreign 
investment skyrocket in such a short period of time? The answer lies in 
the story of the GrameenBank, if we are to believe Nicholas P. Sullivan, 
author of You Can Hear Me Now: How Microloans and Cell Phones are 
Connecting the World’s Poor to the Global Economy. – APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5059870

LOW-COST TECHNOLOGY INTERVIEW: "IT spreads throughout society at all 
levels, and is not concentrated in the hands of a few"

APCNews interviewed Nicholas P. Sullivan, author of 'You Can Hear Me 
Now: How Microloans and Cell Phones are Connecting the World’s Poor to 
the Global Economy', a book published in February 2007 by Jossey-Bass. 
Sullivan argues that 'inclusive’ capitalism, combined with the external 
combustion engine are better approaches to development than foreign aid. 
Do you agree? – APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5059914

MEDIA & ICT INTERVIEW: Radical question: Can alternative media get a 
push from new technology?

On the sidelines of the OURMedia conference held in Sydney, Australia, 
in mid-April 2007, John D.H. Downing spoke to APCNews. The professor of 
international communications at the South Illinois University in the 
USA, explained where his critique of the media intersects with the 
possibilities opened up by information and communication technologies. - 
APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5059866

HARAMBEE SMALL GRANT WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Harambee (pronounced haram-BAY) means "pulling together" in the most 
widely spoken language of sub-Saharan Africa: Swahili. The word Harambee 
captures the efforts invested to build and maintain communities.

The Association for Progressive Communications not only uses the term, 
it also celebrated it in March 2007. In releasing the list of successful 
applicants in one of its small grants initiatives, APC's women programme 
in Africa injected some real-life into the motto online.  Harambee small 
grants are offered to better equip Africa-based networks to play a lead 
role in development dialogues and actions affecting them. Six applicants 
out of the original 200+ walked away with a grant that highlights their 
networking activities.

APC's writers will offer you the profiles of the six Harambee grantees 
of 2007 over the next three months. This month, APCNews zooms in on the 
"Diary Project" in Uganda and the "Blogs for African Women" out of Nigeria.
http://wikis.bellanet.org/harambee/index.php/Main_Page

Réseau Sida Afrique, Congo: Fighting HIV/Aids with blogs, wikis and 
electronic mail

Often, people working in prevention of HIV/Aids experience difficulties 
in gaining an overview of successes and failures of HIV/Aids programmes 
in the most affected countries. The key information about vulnerable 
segments of the population who are not yet enrolled in these programmes 
is generally absent. It is around these two reasons that Réseau Sida 
Afrique’s work revolves.  APCNews asked some questions to Lydie 
Diaboungana of the secretariat of the network, located in Brazzaville, 
in the Congo. Chronicle of a tough fight with the help of ICTs. – APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5062177

ITOCA, South Africa/Zimbabwe: Ever heard of soil health? If not, 
networking is taking it to you front door

The Information Training & Outreach Centre for Africa (ITOCA) is a 
capacity building organisation for librarians, information specialists, 
scientists, researchers and students of sub-Saharan Africa. Better said, 
it assists them in mastering information and communication technology. 
APCNews talked to Gracian Chimwaza, executive director of ITOCA, about 
the organisation’s latest project aimed at groups working on ‘soil 
health’. The goal? Help them locate and access information 
cost-effectively. – APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5060900

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-- WOMEN & ICTs –-

ARTICLE: "If technology were like shoes...." Take Back the Tech gets 
ready to sprint

Shoes, technology, and violence against women? How do they all get tied 
together? In 2006, Take Back the Tech called on internet users to 
examine the connections between violence against women and information 
and communication technologies (ICTs) and take action during the 16 Days 
of Activism against Gender Violence. – APC WNSP
http://www.apcwomen.org/news/index.shtml?x=95240

ARTICLE: More women into IT in the Czech Republic

It's hard to find women in the IT sector in the Czech Republic so the 
IBM corporation decided to break with the status quo and bring "Women 
into IT". In partnership with the Association for Progressive 
Communications Women's Programme, IBM aims to attract more women into 
the information technology field through a new project aimed at high 
school girls and women. "Women into IT" features training and gender and 
IT awareness sessions as well as public round table discussions, in the 
cities of Prague and Brno. – APC WNSP
http://www.apcwomen.org/news/index.shtml?x=95263

WORKSHOP REPORT: Women’s networks for effective communication

Dafne Sabanes Plou is the regional coordinator for Latin America for the 
APC Women’s Networking Support Programme (WNSP). In mid-March she 
coordinated the “Building inclusive community networks” workshop in 
Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut Province, Argentina, in which women 
interested in learning about strategic uses of information and 
communication technologies took part. This is an account of the 
experience, prepared exclusively for GenderIT.org. – GenderIT.org
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?w=a&x=95201

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-- ONLINE TOOLS & RESOURCES --

NEW PUBLICATION: APDIP and APC WNSP release publication on Gender and ICT

This publication, with a foreword by Executive Director of UNIFEM, 
Noeleen Heyzer, looks at information and communications technology (ICT) 
for development through a gender lens and discusses ICT within a gender 
equality framework.
http://www.apdip.net/news/gender

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-- COLLABORATING OPPORTUNITIES --

RE:PUBLICA: re:publica, or the blogger pilgrimage to Berlin
By Frédéric Dubois

Re:publica was on in Berlin! This blogger conference is a first for 
Germany and that might help to explain its success. More than 600 people 
showed up already to discuss what tools to use for blogging, what 
censorship in Egypt implies and what politics 2.0 means. You might want 
to revisit, or participate for that matter, in re:publica 08. – APC blog
http://blog.apc.org/en/index.shtml?x=5059564

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-- SITES OF INTEREST --

CAMBODIA MIRROR: The Cambodia Mirror, an interesting publication that 
collates material from the Khmer press, run by Norbert Klein of APC’s 
member in Cambodia is now layed out in an online version.
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

ALTERNATIVES-INTERNATIONAL: APC’s Québec member Alternatives, has 
engaged in extensive collaborations with similar-minded communication 
NGOs in several countries. These groups, from places such as Niger, 
Palestine-Israel or South Africa are social and political movements 
struggling against neoliberalism, imperialism, social injustice and war. 
Their common website is full with fresh articles on the topics of the day!
http://alternatives-international.net/?lang=en

CRISSCROSSED is a blog that aims to explore and develop social changes 
through communication. It focuses on tools such as internet — it's 
impact, potential and challenges it faces within different cultures 
around the world. Christian Kreutz is the person behind the blog. He is 
interested in knowledge management and communication and works at the 
GTZ, the German Technical Cooperation agency.
http://www.crisscrossed.net/

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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!

MAY 14-25: World Summit on the Information Society action line follow-up 
meetings and World Information Society Day
Geneva, Switzerland
http://www.itu.int/wsis/implementation/cluster.asp?year=2007&month=0&type='alf'&subtype=0

MAY 14-15: Second facilitation meeting on “Building confidence and 
security in the use of ICTs” (WSIS action line C5)
Geneva, Switzerland
http://www.itu.int/pgc

MAY 16: Joint facilitation meeting on action lines on information and 
communication infrastructure (C2), capacity building (C4), and enabling 
environment (C6).
Geneva, Switzerland
http://www.itu.int/itu-wsis/implementation/al-c2.html
http://www.itu.int/itu-wsis/implementation/al-c4.html
http://www.itu.int/itu-wsis/implementation/al-c6.html

MAY 16: Press briefing on the World Information Society Report 2007

MAY 21-25: Annual meeting of the Commission on Science and Technology 
for Development (CSTD)
Geneva, Switzerland
http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Meeting.asp?intItemID=4066&lang=1

MAY 22: Joint meeting of CSTD and the Global Alliance for ICT and 
Development (GAID)
Geneva, Switzerland
http://www.unctad.org/Templates/meeting.asp?intItemID=2068&lang=1&m=13496

MAY 22: Global Information Society Watch report launch
Geneva, Switzerland

MAY 23: Second facilitation meeting on the action line on the role of 
public governance authorities and all stakeholders in the promotion of 
ICTs for development (C1)
Geneva, Switzerland

Internet Governance Forum (IGF) consultation meeting
Geneva, Switzerland
http://www.intgovforum.org/

MAY 24: Second facilitation meeting on the action line on ICT 
applications (C7): E-government and e-employment (two parallel meetings)
Second facilitation meeting on the action line on cultural diversity and 
identity, linguistic diversity and local content (C8)
Second facilitation meeting on the action line on media (C9)
Geneva, Switzerland
http://www.itu.int/itu-wsis/implementation/al-c7.html

MAY 25: Second facilitation meeting on the action line on ethical 
dimensions of the information society (C9)
Second action lines facilitators meeting: all action lines
http://www.itu.int/wsis/implementation/consultations.html

MAY 18: OpenNet Initiative second conference
Oxford, United Kingdom
http://www.opennetinitiative.org/

MAY 18-20: International Summit for Community Wireless Networks
Columbia, Maryland, USA
http://www.wirelesssummit.org/

MAY 21-25: Latin American and Caribbean Internet Address Registry 
(LACNIC) meeting
Isla Margarita, Venezuela
http://www.lacnic.org/en/eventos/lacnicx/

MAY 27-29: APC Europe member meeting
Barcelona, Catalunya

MAY 28-30: Second international conference on ICT4D, education & 
training: Building Infrastructures & Capacities to Reach out to the 
Whole of Africa
Nairobi, Kenya
http://www.elearning-africa.com/
http://www.elearning-africa.com/themes.php

MAY 30: APC Building Communication Opportunities (BCO) Impact assessment 
meeting
Barcelona, Catalunya
http://www.bcoalliance.org/

MAY 31-JUN 2: APC Executive Board meeting
Barcelona, Catalunya

JUNE 3: Reclaim the Web, organised by APC member GreenNet
London, United Kingdom
http://www.gn.apc.org

JUNE 4-6: Regional Workshop 'Communication Public Policies and the 
Popular Radio in LAC' and Public National Forum and Workshop 
'Communication and the Constituent Process in Ecuador'
Quito, Ecuador

JUNE 11-12: Knowledge Management Conference: Influencing Policy and 
Practice (Gdnet)
Cairo, Egypt
http://www.gdnet.org/middle.php?oid=1196

JUNE 15-17: i-Commons second Annual Conference
Dubrovnic, Croatia
http://icommons.org/

JUNE 25-29: ICANN meeting
San Juan, Puerto Rico
http://www.icann.org/meetings/sanjuan/

JUNE 28-30: Civil Society Forum
Geneva, Switzerland
http://www.ngocongo.org/index.php?what=events&id=10408

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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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Some rights reserved: Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial Licence 2.5
Association for Progressive Communications (APC), 2007