[WSIS CS-Plenary] Announcing the Telecentres Working Group!

[Andy Carvin]

en/fr/es

Hi everyone,

I would like to announce the creation of the Civil Society Telecentres 
Working Group. As I posted earlier this summer, I'm interested in having 
an interdisciplinary dialogue on the role of telecentres and other 
public technology initiatives in support of WSIS and the MDGs, and many 
list members expressed support for the idea. The list is now 
functioning, though discussions will not begin until September 15, to 
give people the opportunity to subscribe and participate from the 
beginning.

To join the group, please visit 
http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/telecentres and fill 
out the subscription form. Or, you may send an email to 
telecentres-request at wsis-cs.org with this word in the subject line: 
subscribe

Below is an announcement on how to join the group, if you would like to 
circulate it or translate it.

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Je voudrais annoncer la création du groupe de travail civil de société 
pour Telecentres. Car j'ai signalé plus tôt cet été, je suis intéressé 
en ayant un dialogue interdisciplinaire sur le rôle des telecentres et 
d'autres initiatives publiques de technologie à l'appui de WSIS et du 
MDGs, et beaucoup de le soutien exprimé de liste par membres de l'idée. 
La liste fonctionne maintenant, bien que les discussions ne commencent 
pas avant septembre 15, pour donner aux gens l'occasion de souscrire et 
participer du commencement.

Pour joindre le groupe, visitez svp 
http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/telecentres et 
complétez la forme d'abonnement. Ou, vous pouvez envoyer un email à 
telecentres-request at wsis-cs.org avec ce mot dans la ligne soumise : 
subscribe

Au-dessous de est une annonce sur la façon dont joindre le groupe, si 
vous voudriez le circuler ou le traduire.

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Quisiera anunciar la creación del grupo de funcionamiento civil de la 
sociedad para Telecentres. Pues fijé anterior este verano, estoy 
interesado en tener un diálogo interdisciplinario en el papel de 
telecentres y de otras iniciativas públicas de la tecnología en la ayuda 
de WSIS y del MDGs, y muchos ayuda expresada de la lista miembros para 
la idea. La lista ahora está funcionando, aunque las discusiones no 
comenzarán hasta de septiembre el 15, dar a gente la oportunidad de 
suscribir y de participar del principio.

Para ensamblar al grupo, visite por favor 
http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/telecentres y 
complete la forma de la suscripción. O, usted puede enviar un email a 
telecentres-request at wsis-cs.org con esta palabra en la línea sujeta: 
subscribe

Debajo está un aviso en cómo ensamblar al grupo, si usted quisiera 
circularlo o traducirlo.

-------


Announcing TELECENTRES:
A Civil Society Working Group on Community Technology
for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

Open to the public; Discussions begin September 15

In November, 2005, thousands of representatives from governments, civil 
society and the private sector will go to Tunisia for the second phase 
of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), a United Nations 
event to identify strategies to bridge the digital divide and utilize 
information and communications technologies (ICTs) for global 
development. The civil society delegation, which includes 
representatives from NGOs, academia and other groups, is working to 
offer input to government leaders during the WSIS process, developing 
recommendations on a variety of issues, including human rights, privacy, 
health, education and copyright.

As part of civil society's contribution to WSIS, we are forming a new 
working group on telecentres and other public technology initiatives, 
including community technology centers, telecottages, public computing 
centers at schools and libraries, community wireless networks, and other 
initiatives that seek to offer Internet access, ICT training and related 
  community services to the public. Participation in the working group 
is free and open to the public.

Once online discussions commence, the group will brainstorm to identify 
specific projects that could serve the WSIS process, such as the following:

- Informing policymakers of successful strategies to utilize telecenters 
as a tool in reaching the UN Millennium Development Goals;

- Identifying opportunities for cross-sector, public-private 
partnerships for promoting sustainable telecenters;

- Organizing an international thematic conference on telecenters and 
other public computing venues;

- Establishing an international network of telecenters and telecenter 
associations at the local, national and regional level in order to forge 
greater connections between them;

- Collecting and disseminating case studies that demonstrate the rich 
diversity of telecenters, including programs run by libraries and 
community networks, and how they impact various aspects of global 
development (education, health, the environment, civic participation, 
etc.);

- Sharing of best practices and tools, translated for cultural and 
linguistic appropriateness.

Other issues may be identified as well. As discussion proceeds, 
participants will be encouraged to volunteer and coordinate various 
aspects of the working group, from organizing events, writing position 
papers and translating the group's official documents.

As this will be an international discussion, the working group will 
allow posts in English, French and Spanish; participants will be 
encouraged to utilize free translation tools such as Altavista Babelfish 
to help make the daily discussion as accessible as possible.

Subscribing to TELECENTRES

There are two options to join the group:

Option 1: Go to 
http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/telecentres and fill 
out the subscription form;

Option 2: Send an email to telecentres-request at wsis-cs.org with this 
word in the subject line: subscribe

After submitting your subscription request, you'll receive a 
confirmation request from the list server. Please follow the directions 
in this email; you'll then be confirmed as a member of the list.

Reminder: Inaugural Discussions Begin September 15

Since this is a new list, we would like to give incoming members a 
chance to participate from the beginning. To accomodate this, 
discussions on the list will not open until September 15; at that point, 
I will post an announcement welcoming members to the list, encouraging 
them to post personal introductions. Then, we will proceed with the 
discussion.

For more information, please contact Andy Carvin at the address below. 
For more on WSIS, please visit http://www.wsis.org.


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Andy Carvin
Program Director
EDC Center for Media & Community
acarvin @ edc . org
http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org
http://www.edwebproject.org/andy/blog/
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