[WSIS CS-Plenary] News: DDN, LearningTimes launch online community for tsunami relief efforts; live webcasts Thursday

[Andy Carvin]

(please redistribute)

For Immediate Release
December 29, 2004

Contact:
Andy Carvin, Digital Divide Network
1-617-335-7646
acarvin -at- edc . org

DDN, LEARNINGTIMES LAUNCH ONLINE WORKSPACE FOR TSUNAMI RELIEF EFFORTS

Virtual tours of the workspace and e-conferencing tool will take place 
Thursday, December 30 at 7am and 12pm ET (12:00 and 17:00 GMT)

BOSTON, MA: In response to this week's devastating tsunami in the Indian 
Ocean, the Digital Divide Network has created an online community 
workspace on disaster relief and emergency preparedness:

http://www.digitaldivide.net/community/disaster-relief

The virtual community can be used for posting online resources, 
documents, news, and articles about tsunami relief efforts. Users also 
may take advantage of the site's Web bulletin board and post their own 
blog entries. For the time being the space will focus on tsunami-related 
relief efforts; in the long haul we hope the space can be used for 
discussing the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) 
in emergency preparedness and disaster relief.

Additionally, LearningTimes has generously donated an e-conference tool 
to aid coordination and discussion of local relief efforts. This means 
users with a microphone and speakers connected to their computer will be 
able to talk to each other over the Internet, or host their own virtual 
meetings and webcasts. I'm hoping NGOs will use the e-conference tool to 
help coordinate their efforts, as well as for tsunami survivors to share 
their stories.

Invitation to Join Live Webcasts on Thursday, December 30

To introduce users to the website and the e-conferencing tool, we will 
host a live webcast twice on Thursday, December 30. The first webcast 
will take place at 7am ET (12:00 GMT) to accomodate users in Asia and 
Europe, while the second webcast will occur at 12pm ET (17:00 GMT) to 
accomodate North American participants. Both webcasts will be conducted 
in English, while recordings will be archived for future online 
listening and podcasting.

To participate in the live webcast, click on the "webcast" link on the 
community's homepage:

http://www.digitaldivide.net/community/disaster-relief

Next, type in your name; the e-conferencing tool will then be downloaded 
to your computer and log you into the webcast. We recommend you do this 
at least 15 minutes prior to joining the virtual tour. You may also log 
on now if you would like to experiment with the e-conferencing tool, as 
it is being made available 24 hours a day.

Participation in the Website

This new DDN community is free and open to the public, but participants 
must first join the Digital Divide Network website in order to post 
content or chat on the bulletin board. If you're not already a member of 
DDN, please visit here:

http://www.digitaldivide.net/members/add.php

Once you're registered and logged in to the website, please visit the 
community's homepage 
(http://www.digitaldivide.net/community/disaster-relief) and click on 
the button in the center column that says "Join this community." This 
will give you posting privileges and allow you to participate in the 
bulletin board discussions.

We are just beginning to post content to the site, so by the time you 
read this email there should be several tsunami-related resources 
published already. Meanwhile, you are invited to join DDN, log in and 
post your own resources and content to share with colleagues around the 
world.

thanks,
ac

-- 
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Andy Carvin
Program Director
EDC Center for Media & Community
acarvin @ edc . org
http://www.digitaldivide.net
Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com
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