What's new on DigitalOpportunity.org 9-Apr-03 10:30 AM



What's New on Digital Opportunity Channel -
http://www.digitalopportunity.org

****************************************
News
http://www.digitalopportunity.org/news/
****************************************

Al-Jazeera under attack on all fronts
http://www.dfn.org/news/mideast/al-jazeera.htm
The destruction of the 24-hour Arabic language satellite station 
Al-Jazeera's office in Baghdad by the United States is likely to have a 
significant impact on the ability of people around the world to obtain 
different perspectives and formulate opinions concerning their stance on 
the war in Iraq.

New Open Source software to help build digital libraries
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/ev.php?URL_ID=8765&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201&reload=1049171533
Greenstone, a suite of Open Source software for building and distributing 
digital library collections, provides a new way of organizing information 
and publishing it on the Internet or on CD-ROM.

US churches use cyberspace to grow community links
http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/content/news/index.cfm?key=862
Dr. Abdul Alkalimat, director of the Africana Studies programme at the 
University of Toledo, has launched a digital divide initiative that has 
captured the interest of hundreds of churches across the city of Toledo in 
North America. Cyber-Church has helped local churches go online by 
recruiting young people to train church members and staff.

Online forum launched to discuss WSIS issues
http://www.ctrlaltesc.org/wsis/wsis.shtml
Mandate The Future, an Internet forum for sustainable development, has 
unveiled its online forum on the World Summit for Information Society 
(WSIS), the Event 2003. The forum is devoted to the discussion of issues 
pertaining to the WSIS in Geneva 2003 in particular, and the information 
society in general.

Djibouti prepares national digital strategy
http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2003/april/4apr03/index.html
President Ismaïl Omar Guellah of Djibouti is supporting a national strategy 
to move the country into the digital age by 2010 to promote development and 
reduce poverty. The ministry of communication and culture has prepared the 
national ICT strategy with UNDP's help.

Ethiopia towns to get 200,000 new mobile phone lines
http://allafrica.com/stories/200304040560.html
Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa and 12 major regional towns will get 200,000 
new mobile phone lines. The Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation has 
signed a new deal with the ZTE Corporation of China for procuring the new 
lines.

Attacks on Al-Jazeera Website condemned
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=10848
The Association for Progressive Communications has condemned actions 
against the online presence of Al-Jazeera, a prominent news and information 
source from the Middle East. The Al-Jazeera Website has been the target of 
hacker attacks, domain name hijacking and the withdrawal of hosting 
services all within the first few weeks of the US-led war on Iraq.

Online guide to setting up community telecentres
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/ev.php?URL_ID=8827&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201&reload=1049343882
Unesco has published "Ten Steps", an online guide to strengthening 
communication and information facilities at the level of local communities. 
Ten booklets cover the aspects of establishing, operating and managing 
multi-purpose community telecentres.

New Website on sustainable ICT initiatives
http://www.ictdevagenda.org/frame.php?dir=07&sd=11#summary393
As part of a research programme into information and communication 
technology (ICT) sustainability factors, Gamos and Big World have launched 
a new website called Sustainable Initiatives 
(http://www.sustainableicts.org) to distribute practical research 
information on the subject.

'Alternative' payphones planned for Malyasia, Bangladesh
http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/content/news/index.cfm?key=863
Malaysian telecommunications firm REDtone plans to install 20,000 
"alternative" payphones across Malaysia and Bangladesh. Users can make 
calls at rates up to 70 percent less than other telephone services by 
leaving a small deposit with the owner of the establishment.

Open-Source platforms coming of age
http://allafrica.com/stories/200304030461.html
The Open Source Software movement that began as a rebellion against 
big-name, big-bucks technology titans is making serious inroads into the 
corporate marketplace, thanks to the endorsement of the same companies it 
initially seemed to undermine.

Need to strengthen local knowledge networks stressed
http://www.iconnect-online.org/base/ic_show_news?id=2070
Respect for local knowledge underpins successful communication strategies. 
Case studies from Peru and Zimbabwe highlight that organisations should aim 
to build on people's knowledge and strengthen their knowledge systems.

*****************************************************
Analysis
http://www.digitalopportunity.org/features/analysis/
*****************************************************

Africa and the digital divide
http://allafrica.com/stories/200303280232.html
All the telecoms talk in Europe is about the application of new generation 
whizz-bang technologies and how service providers, still shaken by 
excessive expenditure in implementing previous generations, are hesitant to 
embrace them, writes Herb Payne. One wonders, therefore, whether this isn't 
just the opportunity for South Africa to steal the march on them and 
leapfrog into a lead.

Socio-cultural factors and ICT adoption
http://www.iconnect-online.org/base/ic_show_news?id=2069
How important are local socio-cultural factors in the implementaton of an 
ICT project? Drawing on research from Jamaica and Tanzania, Marjon 
Hagenaars concludes that the cultural dimensions of an ICT development 
project are as important as the organisational, technical and financial 
dimensions that are normally addressed.

Profile: the Kubatana Project of Zimbabwe
http://www.bridges.org/iicd_casestudies/kubatana/index.html
The Kubatana Project manages Kubatana.net, a website portal that provides 
Zimbabwean civil society organisations with an online presence and a 
platform to voice their concerns about human rights abuses in their country.

************************************************************
Success Stories
http://www.digitalopportunity.org/features/success_stories/
************************************************************

**********************************************************
Campaigns
http://www.digitalopportunity.org/get_involved/campaigns/
**********************************************************

Donate a dollar, raise a dollar for free!
http://www.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=21715
The Worldwatch Institute has launched a 'Friends For A Sustainable Future' 
campaign for raising funds online. Every dollar you donate towards this 
campaign will be matched dollar for dollar effectively doubling the value 
of your contribution.

Have your say on e-governance and corruption issues
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/11iacc/
Transparency International has initiated a one-month-long online discussion 
on e-governance and corruption issues. The discussion will help develop 
recommendations to be delivered to the intergovernmental Global Forum III, 
taking place in May 2003 in Seoul.

Online series on development and the Internet
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/bold/devel03/index.html
The Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School is 
holding a five-week online series on initiatives being undertaken, 
worldwide, to bridge the digital divide. It aims to provide a basic 
conceptual framework of background information, readings and case studies 
derived from personal experiences and projects.

******************************************
Events
http://www.digitalopportunity.org/events/
******************************************

Southern African Internet Forum
http://www.aitecafrica.com/events/2003/SouthAfrica/southafrica.html
Fri 11 April 2003 - Sun 13 April 2003
Pilanesberg, South Africa

Southern African ISPs, telecom operators, policymakers, regulators and 
civil society organisations are invited to attend the first Southern 
African Internet Forum ? a unique opportunity to meet industry peers, 
benefit from an intensive knowledge-sharing programme and develop business 
partnerships.

Building the Information Commonwealth
http://www.communities.org.ru/conference/
Tue 22 April 2003 - Thu 24 April 2003
St. Petersburg, Russia

The conference will focus on several key problems of civil society 
development in CIS countries, through the prism of ICT use. These 
discussions will be informed in part by specialists from numerous other 
countries, who will provide case studies, models, methods and projections. 
The conference will also feature numerous training workshops and occasions 
for networking and exploring collaborations and partnerships

Social Study of IT workshop
http://is.lse.ac.uk/Events/SSIT3/default.htm
Thu 24 April 2003 - Fri 25 April 2003
London, UK

Through presentations, panels and debate we hope to explore, in various 
contexts and through diverse research strands, some sustaining links that 
can expose the intricate and tricky connections between knowledge and the 
act of organizing.

ICTs in African Schools - A Workshop for Practitioners and Policymakers
http://www.schoolnetafrica.net/IAS2003/index.htm
Sun 27 April 2003 - Fri 2 May 2003
Gaborone, Botswana

SchoolNet Africa, The Commonwealth of Learning (COL), the International 
Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) and the World Bank (WB) 
are organizing a historic workshop: ICTs in African Schools - A Workshop 
for Practitioners and Policymakers, where both schoolnet practitioners and 
education policymakers and officials will engage on practical and policy 
issues relating to efforts to bridge the educational and digital divides in 
Africa.

International Conference on Management of Technology
http://www.iamot.org
Tue 13 May 2003 - Thu 15 May 2003
Nancy, France

This conference will discuss one of the most important issues facing both 
technology and business managers. Attendees will focus on the necessary 
evolution of management and sharing of knowledge practices among 
organizations due to the development of the new information technologies. 
Consequently, the conference will also give strong importance to researches 
or experiences concerning the social impact of technology development.

RTPNet Conference: Bridging North Carolina's Digital/Human Divide
http://www.rtpnet.org/rtpconf
Fri 30 May 2003
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

Some people are benefiting from new technology and some are not. This 
conference addresses the gap between those people in North Carolina who 
have access to technology and the development of information skills and 
those who do not. While the focus of the conference is on initiatives in 
North Carolina, the conference will benefit anyone interested in community 
technology centers and issues associated with bridging the digital divide.

IADIS e-Society 2003
http://www.iadis.org/es2003/
Tue 3 June 2003 - Fri 6 June 2003
Lisbon, Portugal

This conference, hosted by the International Association for Development of 
the Information Society, aims to address the main issues of concern within 
the Information Society. Broad areas of interest are E-Commerce, E-Learning 
and E-Government.

FreeNetworks Conference on Community Wireless
http://con.freenetworks.org/
Fri 6 June 2003 - Sun 8 June 2003
Las Vegas, USA

The FreeNetworks Conference (FN-CON) is focused on giving the public an 
in-depth look into the the fast growing worldwide movement of Community 
Wireless Networking. FN-CON aims to gather the experts and implementors in 
community wireless networking groups from across the globe, innovators from 
the wired community and municipal networks, and the technologists designing 
the hardware for future phases of this amazing movement for a conference 
like no other.



========== HURIDOCS-Tech listserv ==========
Send mail intended for the list to <huridocs-tech@hrea.org>.
Archives of the list can be found at:
http://www.hrea.org/lists/huridocs-tech/markup/maillist.php
To subscribe to the list, send a message to <majordomo@hrea.org>,
with the following text in the message: subscribe huridocs-tech
To unsubscribe from the list, send a message to <majordomo@hrea.org>,
with the following text in the message: unsubscribe huridocs-tech
If you have problems (un)subscribing, contact <owner-huridocs-tech@hrea.org>.


[Reply to this message] [Start a new topic] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Author Index] [Subject Index] [List Home Page] [HREA Home Page]