--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
*APCNews, the monthly newsletter of the
Association for Progressive Communications (APC)*
- June 2005 No. 53
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- NEWS FROM THE MEMBERS --
-- NEWS FROM APC --
-- ICT POLICY & INTERNET RIGHTS --
-- BUILDING CAPACITY & STRATEGIC USE OF ICTs --
-- WOMEN & ICTs --
-- ONLINE TOOLS & RESOURCES --
-- COLLABORATING OPPORTUNITIES --
-- IMPORTANT DATES --
-- SITES OF INTEREST --
-- WHERE IN THE WORLD IS APC NEXT MONTH --
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- NEWS FROM THE MEMBERS --
RITS, BRAZIL: Wireless technology takes internet access to remote Amazonian
communities
APC member RITS was concerned that introducing telecentres in the Amazon
would snuff out the traditional culture. But they report, "the opposite has
happened". The locals have embraced this new world on the internet, "have
succeeded in better identifying who there are and now want to launch
community sites to present their reality to the world." Two telecentres are
now running on the banks of the Tapajós River and another telecentre is
planned. But there are other new developments in the air. - RITS
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=78107
CEPES, PERU: A venture on the Net helps sow a better crop
In Peru, the internet acts like fertilizer in the field. Or, you could say
it helps to harvest information needed about sowing operations in a timely
and far more accurate manner. This promises to bring home some benefits to
poor farmers working on a subsistence model. - CEPES
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=34478
FMA, PHILIPPINES: Civil society joins a new information society round
APC members in the Philippines, the Foundation for Media Alternatives, took
the lead in a consultative workshop on the national leg of the information
society summit. While welcoming the workshop, it also spoke out to voice
concern that the first national summit of May 2004 had not been taken
seriously by the government, with very few discussions held last year. - FMA
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=34183
BytesForAll, SOUTH ASIA: Building a new community website
BytesForAll's newly developed ICT4D community website is at:
http://www.bytesforall.net You can contribute articles, news, stories and
events and let the ICT4D (information and communication technology for
development) community know about it. To subscribe to the fairly active
BytesForAll_Readers mailing list that focuses primarily on the
otherwise-neglected South Asia region sign up at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers or send in a blank email
to bytesforall_readers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- NEWS FROM APC --
ANNOUNCING THE APC BETINHO COMMUNICATIONS PRIZE IN 2005:
Community connectivity for economic development in Latin America and the
Caribbean
In 2005, the APC Betinho Prize will be offered in recognition of community
initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean that use the internet and
other networks to access markets, skills and opportunities to derive real
economic benefits.
APC is looking for ICT initiatives that make a positive economic
contribution to the community, are driven and developed in Latin America
and the Caribbean, and can demonstrate a sustainable use of technology
The US$ 7500 prize is open to civil society organisations, community-based
groups, networks, and social movements anywhere in LAC. Applications will
be accepted in Spanish, Portuguese and English. Deadline for nominations:
October 16, 2005. More about the prize at
http://www.apc.org/english/betinho or write to betinho@apc.org
NEW APC MEMBER: Ungana-Afrika works to counter Africa's 'capacity crisis'
APC's new member Ungana-Afrika is a non-profit organisation that provides
technology support, and helps others initiate technology support programs,
within the development community of Southern Africa. Their work includes
incubation of ICT capacity building programs, in-house ICT programs, and
individual projects. - APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=58051
NEW APC MEMBER: WOUGNET, Uganda, takes ICTs to women where little exists
APC's new member WOUGNET, the Women of Uganda Network, is seen as well
thought of within the women's movement in that country. It works actively
to support grassroots involvement in ICTs and facilitate access to
information to those not connected. WOUGNET works out of a country where
there is much to do regarding ICTs. - APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=58155
NEW APC MEMBER: EsLaRed of Venezuela networks networkers in Latin America
A Venezuelan organisation with a reputation for its high-level technical
training in ICTs for over a decade in Latin America has joined the APC as
member, raising hopes for enhanced reach and credibility for both sides of
the new partnership in the region. - APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=34529
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- ICT POLICY & INTERNET RIGHTS --
NEWS: Europe's software patents threatens free speech in an information society
By a (legal) sleight of hand, the European Parliament 2003 vote against
software patents has been effectively overturned, allowing monopoly control
over the critical tools of an 'information society'. This threatens both
the free and unhindered access to information, and even free speech. This
special report from Hungarian techie and activist Peter Somogyi for
APCNews. http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=77328
DISCUSSION PAPERS: WSIS papers from ITeM
APC member, the Instituto del Tercer Mundo (Third World Institute, ITeM)
has been developing the WSIS Papers project which is aimed at producing
input on aspects of information and communication technologies that have an
impact on the development of Southern countries. This input is intended to
feed the debate at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), and
other multilateral processes that model the present systems of ICT global
governance. See http://wsispapers.choike.org
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- BUILDING CAPACITY & STRATEGIC USE OF ICTs --
REPORT: Secure computing, online communications workshop for Asia
As civil society organizations increasingly use personal computers and
online communication tools, they are becoming prone to ever-advancing
threats ranging from malware (viruses, spyware or adware, spam, phishing),
to digital surveillance and interception, and even the seizure of
equipment. Development organisations in Asia recently faced up to the
challenge at a workshop organised by APC. - Foundation for Media Alternatives
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=34238
NEW VIDEO: "Make ICT Training Work For You" introduces multimedia resource
for non-profits
Commissioned by APC, media specialists c2o/Toy Satellite designed and
produced "Make ICT Training Work For You", an introduction to the
ItrainOnline's Multimedia Training Kit (MMTK). The MMTK provides trainers
in telecentres, community media organisations and the development sector
with a structured set of materials to help make that jump between new and
traditional media or train in a new skill area. The MMTK is a joint project
of the APC, Bellanet, IICD, INASP, Oneworld.net and UNESCO.
Download the video and other resources utilised in the making of the
video: http://www.toysatellite.org/mmtk/
More about the MMTK: http://www.apc.org/english/press/primers/apc_mmtk_1104.doc
Visit the MMTK: http://www.itrainonline.org/itrainonline/mmtk/
[in French, English and Russian]
AUDIO: ActionApps - developers explain how it's being used
ActionApps is a free content management system for not-for-profits
developed by APC and the free software community. It is flexible, fast and
easy, and innovative in publishing news, events, resources, contacts and
more online. Developers tell us about their favourite ActionApps-based site
and the benefits for them of using ActionApps.
http://www.apc.org/actionapps/english/general/uses.html
See more about ActionApps at http://www.apc.org/actionapps/
RSS: News feeds from APC
APC and APC members offer RSS feeds:
APCNews: http://www.apc.org/apps/aa/view.php3?vid=518
APCNoticias (in Spanish): http://www.apc.org/apps/aa/view.php3?vid=559
ICT policy and internet rights:
http://www.apc.org/english/rights/rss.php?lang=en&v=1
Feeds from APC members around the world: http://www.apc.org/english/news/rss/
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- WOMEN & ICTs --
APC-Africa-Women: GenARDIS small grants awarded
The GenARDIS small grants fund was initiated in 2002 by CTA, IICD and IDRC,
to support work on gender-related issues in ICTs for ACP agricultural and
rural development. Ten winners of the € 5000 one-time grants have just been
announced. The fund is coordinated by APC-Africa-Women.
http://www.cta.int/about/genardis2_winners.htm
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- ONLINE TOOLS & RESOURCES --
LATIN AMERICA STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY: The Institute for
Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) and Cisco Systems has released a study
on the impact of technology in Latin America that found 70% of
organizations report technology has helped improve customer or citizen
satisfaction by an average of 32 percent. This study also found that
customer satisfaction and the desire to improve competitiveness are the
main drivers for technology investment by Latin American companies.
http://www.icamericas.net/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=715
ONLINE ACTIVISM, FUNDRAISING, E-DEMOCRACY: A paper on the future of
online activism, fund-raising, e-democracy. Power to the Edges: Trends
and Opportunities in Online Civic Engagement
http://evolvefoundation.org/files/Pushing_Power_to_the_Edges_05-06-05.pdf
IPDC/UNESCO PRIZE FOR RURAL COMMUNICATION: IPDC/UNESCO has sought
nominations for its 10th Prize for Rural Communication worth US$ 20,000.
Apply by October 1, 2005. http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ipdc Contact
Valéri Nikolski, UNESCO, v.nikolsski@unesco.org
USEFUL LINKS IN CHOIKE: Choike a portal on southern civil societies- is
produced in English and Spanish by the Third World Institute (ITeM), APC's
member in Uruguay. Use Choike's search engine to find information in the
civil society web sites: http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/tools/buscador.htm
http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/14/52/links.html offers many links to
groups working in ICT-for-development. http://www.choike.org
MANY-TO-MANY, A GROUP WEBLOG: A useful group weblog on social software.
Describes itself as "tech news, filtered daily".
http://www.corante.com/many/
COLLABORATION SPACE ONLINE: ConsultantCommons.org provides an online
collaboration space and community for non-profit technical assistance
providers to collaboratively build and share knowledge. This system is
designed so that consultants can find, contribute and collaborate on
tools and information they use to maintain a consultancy and provide
services to nonprofits. http://www.consultantcommons.org/
TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANCE FOR COMMUNITY-BUILDING ORGANISATIONS: CompuMentor is
a nonprofit organization specializing in technology assistance for
community-based organizations and schools. Through their consulting
practice, they offer technology planning, implementation, and support
services. CompuMentor is also the home of TechSoup.org, the technology
website for the nonprofit sector. http://www.compumentor.org/
CAPACITERIA.ORG, PEER REVIEWED CAPACITY RESOURCES FOR NONPROFITS:
Capaciteria is a new database resource index of useful administrative
capacity links for nonprofits. Capaciteria has resources related to
nonprofit jobs, volunteer, advocacy, philanthropic services, software and
grant or funding and in-kind support because they tend to be the most
sought after queries. See the FAQ at the top answering basic questions.
Thanks to Teresa Crawford for passing on the link. http://capaciteria.org
IFIs LATIN AMERICAN MONITOR: This initiative aims at contributing to the
Latin American and global International Financial Institutions (IFIs)
campaigns for reform of the Bretton Woods institutions by translating key
information, producing and disseminating analysis and providing a point of
access to research results, opinions and campaigning activities, thus
promoting dialogue and collaboration between key actors. This is a project
of the Instituto del Tercer Mundo (ITeM). http://ifis.choike.org
NPOACTION, USING CELL PHONES IN ADVOCACY: The rise of cellular
technology has given telephone organizing another breath of life.
Examples of cell phone advocacy demonstrate the potential this
technology has for low cost, effective communications in an advocacy
campaign. http://www.mobileactive.org/blog
http://www.npaction.org/article/articleprint/607/-1/{category_id}/
MORE SMS TOOLS: Activism-oriented or free services that can be used
http://wiki.advocacydev.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?SmsTools
ICTs AND SMALL ENTERPRISES, HANDBOOKS: Limited free copies of handbooks
about ICTs and small enterprise are available. One is for support agency
staff, advisers, consultants and researchers. The second handbook is for
entrepreneurs. It explains how to get the most of the technologies. For
hard copies, email richard.heeks@man.ac.uk giving your name and full postal
address, and under 50 words on your work with small enterprise. Online
versions at
www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/research/is/ictsme/index.htm (in French,
Spanish and Arabic too). Hard copies are in English only.
VOICES FROM ASIA-PACIFIC, INTERNET GOVERNANCE PRIORITIES: UNDP-APDIP's Open
Regional Dialogue on Internet Governance (ORDIG) has produced a two-part
report entitled, "Voices from Asia-Pacific: Internet Governance Priorities
and Recommendations". These documents stem from months of consultations
involving stakeholder groups from the public and private sectors, as well
as civil society. ORDIG Survey Report
http://igov.apdip.net/ORDIG.Survey.Report.pdf
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- COLLABORATING OPPORTUNITIES --
SOUTH KOREA, AUSTRALIA: NEW CULTURAL COMMONS BEING FORGED
Synesthesia Urbania is a collaborative Australian-South Korean audio/visual
performance requiring public participation through input from mobile
devices and incorporating live performance of electro-acoustic sounds and
visuals. Collaborators identify -through photos, text, video and audio
clips- diverse cultural references in their respective countries which are
sent via a multimedia messaging system (MMS) gateway to a common online
workspace. Produced by APC members in Australia and South Korea and others.
The project will see the emergence, funds permitting, of a multilingual
cultural commons in association with Creative Commons Australia.Synesthesia
Urbania: http://toysatellite.org/syn-urbania/
Or find out how to partipate:
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=77582
INFORMATION ON FREQUENCY ALLOCATION IN ASIA:
Do you have access to recordings of community radio broadcasts, interviews
with estranged radio journalists, copies of articles or essays on the state
of spectrum allocation in your country? Do you know of pirate stations
streaming over the net, radio activists who lobby their governments to
ensure spectrum allocation for community use, or attempts to sell parts of
the spectrum to private enterprise?
Frequency Post is an investigation of the radio frequency spectrum by six
composers from three countries and you can contribute to it. Contact
http://rights.apc.org.au/contact.php
SCHOLARSHIPS FOR WOMEN BLOGGERS:
Blogging company Six Apart has announced they will offer five scholarships
for women bloggers interested in attending the upcoming BlogHer conference,
which will focus on the role of women in blogging culture. See
http://www.sixapart.com/about/corner/2005/05/upcoming_bloghe.html
Details about the conference: http://www.blogher.org/
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- IMPORTANT DATES --
AUGUST 22-30: Community Informatics (CIRN) Conference 2005, Cape Town South
Africa
Registration is now open for the CIRN 2005 conference which forms part of
Information Society Week to be held in Cape Town. The CIRN conference will
include more than 90 selected presentations, workshops and panels relevant
to the social appropriation of ICT for local benefit. http://www.cirn2005.org
JUNE 20 - JULY 29: Online World Dialogue on Regulation (WDR)
session on 'Diversifying Participation in Network Development'
Participation in telecom development traditionally has been highly
restricted to national monopolies or specified nationally licensed
operators, with restrictions against the participation of others in
supplying telecom facilities and services, or in acting as intermediaries
or facilitators of demand. For further information or a short description
of this dialogue theme:
www.regulateonline.org/content/view/172/31/. RSS feed available.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- SITES OF INTEREST --
WOMEN IN GLOBAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, WIGSAT: Women in Global Science and
Technology (WIGSAT promotes the contributions women make in science and
technology for development, and helps NGOs, governments, bilateral and
multilateral agencies and women themselves to understand the gender
dimensions of S&T and the implications of this for development policy and
practice. WIGSAT provides services in the area of gender, science and
technology for development, with a special focus on information and
communications technologies. It also acts as a broker or disseminator of
information and resources. Email: shuyer@wigsat.org http://www.wigsat.org
http://GSTGateway.wigsat.org
BUILDING AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GENDER AND IT:
Project website for building an Encyclopedia of Gender and Information
Technology, being edited by Eileen M. Trauth, Ph.D. School of Information
Sciences and Technology, The Pennsylvania State University
http://genderitencyclopedia.ist.psu.edu
TSUNAMI LINKS: Contains news feeds and blogs from around the world,
collected by Andy Carvin. http://www.tsunami-info.org
COASTAL HAZARDS: A coastal hazards portal from India. Covers both natural
and man-made events along coastlines that have the potential of damaging
life, property and the environment. India, with her vast coastline, is
often struck by natural events like cyclones crossing from land to sea and
the resultant coastal storm surges. Other hazards, like the occurrences of
algal blooms along coastlines are not new to South Asia. Say the site
promoters, the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa: "Increasing marine
traffic in this region alarms us, we have to be ready for man-made events
like oil spills. Coastal erosion is a coastal hazard that is both natural
and man-made."
http://www.coastalhazards.info
CIVIBLOG, A ONE-STOP-SITE FOR GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY: Based in Canada, and
devoted to peacekeeping and "globalist" foreign policies. Says the site
promoters, "We are tapping into two explosive movements at once: (1) the
growth of the citizen sector and (2) blogging, which is an increasingly
popular tool with the potential to empower citizens the world over, one
post at a time. Civiblog has no hosting costs or licensing fees. Civiblog
is targeted, designed by and for civil society workers. It is
community-driven. http://www.civiblog.org/
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- WHERE IN THE WORLD IS APC IN JULY? --
You can meet up with APC and/or APC WNSP (APC women's programme)
representatives at the events below during July 2005. Write to
events@apc.org to obtain contact information. See you there!
July 9-21: Durban (South Africa)
GRACE Workshop: Gender Research in Africa into ICTs for Empowerment
www.apcafricawomen.org/brochure.doc
July 11-15: Luxembourg (Belgium)
ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) meeting
http://www.icann.org/financials/proposed-budget-17may05.html
July 11-13: San Francisco, (USA)
AdvocacyDev II Convergente
http://www.advocacydev.org
July 18: Geneva (Switzerland)
WSIS WGIG (Working Group on Internet Governance) Report release
http://www.wgig.org/
http://www.wgig.org/Meeting-June.html
July 25-29: Merida (Venezuela)
WALC Workshops
VII Latin American Networking School
VIII Latin American and the Caribbean Workshop on Internet Technologies
http://walc2005.ula.ve
http://walc2005.ula.ve/english/
July 26-27: London (UK)
CRIS Campaign Strategic Evaluation Meetings
http://www.crisinfo.org
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --
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 - 2005 Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
========== 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]