--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
*APCNews, the monthly newsletter of the
Association for Progressive Communications (APC)*
- August 2005 No. 54 -
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- NEWS FROM THE MEMBERS --
-- NEWS FROM APC --
-- BUILDING CAPACITY & STRATEGIC USE OF ICTs --
-- WOMEN & ICTs --
-- ONLINE TOOLS & RESOURCES --
-- COLLABORATING OPPORTUNITIES --
-- IMPORTANT DATES --
-- SITES OF INTEREST --
-- WHERE IN THE WORLD IS APC THIS MONTH --
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- NEWS FROM THE MEMBERS --
ESLARED, VENEZUELA: Latino networkers connect up at Venezuela
Travelling down seven tracks, an estimated 220 participants from Latin
America and the Caribbean take the fast-road to picking up essential
tech skills that promise to make it easier for the region to communicate
with less hiccups, and help build the much-needed not-for-profit
networks and content-sharing links that serves the people of this
continent. -- APCNews
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=526407
BLUELINK, BULGARIA: "Modern information technology should ensure
guarantee no harmful impact on users" says Bulgarian environmental network
Convincing business and government to ensure that modern information and
communication technologies have no harmful impacts on their users is
proving to be a difficult job. Besides, in the global village,
non-uniform standards and a lack of compatibility among various systems
are blocking people and technologies from communicating freely and
working effectively. --- BlueLink
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=418563
GREEN SPIDER, HUNGARY: Europe says 'no' to software patents for now,
campaigning CSOs glad
European parliament has reject the plan to allow software patents. This
is being seen as providing a "breathing space for new initiatives based
on all the knowledge gained during the last five years". Green Spider
Foundation
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=291531
COMPUTER AID INTERNATIONAL, UK: New East Africa office for non-profit
computer recyclers
After providing over 50,000 high quality refurbished computers, the
UK-based not-for-profit Computer Aid International has now put down
roots in Africa by opening a permanent office in Nairobi. Computer Aid
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=292096
ITeM, URUGUAY: From pioneering data networks to 'WSIS Papers'
APC's member in Uruguay the Instituto del Tercer Mundo (ITeM) has been
participating in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
through its WSISPapers project. This project grew from the realization
that in WSIS's first phase, many Southern government delegates faced
severe roadblocks in negotiating effectively. They found grappling with
certain information and communication technology issues a puzzle,
largely due to the lack of specific information resources to support
their positions. - ITeM
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=566994
OPEN FORUM OF CAMBODIA, CAMBODIA: First large-scale website in Khmer
focuses on community information
Cambodia's Community Information Centre web portal --
www.cambodiacic.org --is currently the only large web portal available
in the Khmer language. Content is fed daily to this web portal, with an
average of 15 articles coming in from media and non-media news sources.
Open Forum of Cambodia
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=292565
SANGONeT, SOUTH AFRICA: Civil society reflect on coming November's summit
When the world meets up at Tunisia, in coming November, during the World
Summit on the Information Society, this meet signals global recognition
that information and communication technologies can play a major role in
social and economic development and contribute significantly towards
poverty alleviation. South Africa's civil society takes a look at the
focus and objectives of the WSIS. SANGONeT
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=130441
RITS, BRAZIL Update: When cyberspace goes to Amazonia...
What happens when wireless, free software and the internet reaches the
Amazon? APC's member in Brazil, RITS, gives an update of their wireless
project in Pará, a territory covered mostly by jungle, and the Amazon
Rainforest. - RITS
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=564968
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- NEWS FROM APC --
The APC Betinho Prize 2005: Community connectivity for economic
development in Latin America and the Caribbean
We are looking for ICT initiatives that:
* make a positive economic contribution to the community
* are driven and developed in Latin America and the Caribbean
* can demonstrate a sustainable use of technology
Find out more the APC Betinho Prize: http://www.apc.org/english/betinho/
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- ICT POLICY & INTERNET RIGHTS --
NEWS: European win on software patents issue
Free Software Foundation Europe says, "patents, copyrights and
trademarks are designed to limit access and knowledge sharing. If
applied wisely and with measure, they can foster creativity and
innovation. If applied carelessly, they can kill both along with their
potential benefit for society: progress. This holds true for any nation
in this world, rich or poor, north or south".
http://fsfeurope.org/projects/wipo/statement-20050721.en.html
NEWSLETTER: Chakula focuses on WIPO and the 'Development Agenda'
Issues highlighted in the latest Chakula newsletter from APC's Africa
ICT policy monitor, dated July 2005, focus on the World Intellectual
Property Organisation and its 'Development Agenda'. Chakula traces the
background to calls for reforms at WIPO, outlines the key issues of the
proposal for the establishment of a development agenda for the
organisation, and the developments so far after a series of meetings
this year. Chakula is the Swahili word for 'food'. This Africa Policy
Monitor newsletter got its name to reflect its intended nature as a
"form of nourishment" for organizations working in the field of ICTs for
development in Africa. - Chakula Newsletter
http://africa.rights.apc.org/en-chakula.shtml?x=578861
APC's Africa ICT policy monitor: http://africa.rights.apc.org
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- BUILDING CAPACITY & STRATEGIC USE OF ICTs --
WIRELESS NETWORKING IN SOUTHERN AFRICA THIS SEPTEMBER
APC has announced its mid-September 2005 Southern African regional
training workship that aims to develop technical skills in wireless
networking, and "lay the foundation" for a community of like-minded
practitioners to share knowledge, skills and experiences. Wireless
technologies offer the less affluent parts of the globe an important
low-cost, versatile alternative for communications. Read the
announcement of the event. -- APC
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=291802
More about APC's wireless work: http://www.apc.org/wireless/
FREE SOFTWARE TOOL: ActionApps 2.8.1 released
ActionApps is a set of collaborative web publishing tools for
not-for-profit organisation. It offer a low cost solution for content
sharing that both increases the functionality of not-for-profit and NGO
websites and facilitates the creation of portals sites, improving the
visibility of civil society information. They are driven by free/open
source software (FOSS).
You can download it from Sourceforge
http://sourceforge.net/projects/apc-aa/
or use CVS access http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=6341 For an
upgrade, run the sql_update.php3 script, which upgrades database to
latest version.
More about ActionApps: http://www.apc.org/english/press/primers
See a long list of new features at:
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/apc-aa/apc-aa/CHANGES?view=markup
See how ActionApps can help your group publish better and faster online.
Learn about, or join, the free software project behind ActionApps.
http://www.apc.org/actionapps/index.htm
For a comprehensive FAQ on ActionApps see http://actionapps.org/faq/
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- WOMEN & ICTs --
OPINION from Rio: After sessions ending at 4 am, do gender issues count?
The belief that technology is gender-neutral is still rife. At Rio's
recent regional World Summit on the Information Society meet, this point
was driven home once more says Dafne Plou of the Latin American branch
of the APC Women's Networking Support Programme. Representatives of
international organisations, financing institutions, and government
representatives too simply overlook gender concerns in ICTs (information
and communication technologies). Dafne Sabanes Plou, APC WNSP
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=564578
This month, APCNews begins to feature news articles written for
GenderIT.org a new ICT policy and gender portal supported by the APC
women's programme. Contributing journalists are based in Africa, Latin
America, Central and Eastern Europe and Asia.
GenderIT.org Special: Gender and ICT policies: time to reorder forces,
understand what's happening
Magaly Pazello is the only Brazilian feminist who is been active in the
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process since its
inception. A member of the WSIS Gender Caucus, she is also a member of
of the DAWN network (Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era).
In the Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Preparatory Conference,
held in June 2005 in Rio de Janeiro, Graciela Selaimen interviewed
Magaly Pazello, speaking about the participation of Latin American women
in the WSIS process, urgency to address the gender perspective in the
information society, her expectations about the Tunis WSIS Summit and
other themes. GenderIT.org
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?w=a&x=91448
GenderIT.org Special: WSIS Rio regional meet - Very few doors open for
the gender perspective
No participation of civil society as observers in the governmental
delegations' meetings; no gender working group in the final regional
action plan for the information society (ELac 2007); almost no women,
black people or indigenous people as panelists. Although the Rio WSIS
Regional Meeting opened two slots for civil society statements in the
plenary and produced documents which were fairly positively received by
NGOs and social movements, there was a step back regarding women's
participation in the regional action plan. GenderIT.org
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?w=a&x=91427
GenderIT.org Special: Women, Gender and Media - Issues and concerns
When I was a trainer at a media and gender workshop in 2002, the only
male participant there confessed, "Our organisation is not prioritising
gender actually. We are more concerned about other issues issues which
are political". This statement reveals much about the stand that most
media institutions take on gender. GenderIT.org
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?w=a&x=91365
GENDER-RELATED THEMES: Choike.org has these gender-related discussions
in its recent newsletter: WSIS follow-up: Role of civil society
contested, activists locked out of next meetings [1], WSIS-Gender Caucus
e-discussion: Gender issues in the Tunis Phase [2] and Gender and ICT
Issues at Women's World Congress [3].
[1] http://www.choike.org/cgi-bin/choike/nuevo_eng/jump_inf.cgi?ID=3149
[2] http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/3160.html
[3] http://www.choike.org/cgi-bin/choike/nuevo_eng/jump_inf.cgi?ID=3150
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- ONLINE TOOLS & RESOURCES --
NEW WIRELESS SITE IN SPANISH: Wireless Technologies for Development has
just got a new focus online -- and that too in the planet's third most
widely spoken language, Spanish -- with the launch of an information
portal, WiLAC, that focuses exclusively on this theme. It is designed to
support individuals, organisations, municipalities and businesses
currently implementing community wireless connectivity projects, or
those about to launch on this road. http://www.wilac.net
A STARTER KIT... FROM eRIDERS: APC member Ungana-Afrika -- also part of
the eRider network -- is using and promoting the recently-out eRider
starter kit. Executive director Toni Eliasz points to this resource that
has been created by Teresa Crawford and the Tactical Technology
Collective with the support of the global eRider community,. The starter
kit is designed to help organizations understand, design, implement,
maintain and sustain an eRider
project or program. Its focus is on "NGO-centered technology".
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=528579
TELECENTRES, A MODEL FOR SOCIAL APPROPRIATION OF ICTs: An indepth study
on telecentres from Choike, portal developed by APC member in Uruguay,
the Instituto del Tercer Mundo (ITeM).
http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/3084.html
ITRAINONLINE RESOURCES: ITrainonline a site for sharing internet
resources, has beefed up what's available on its site. ItrainOnline
offers a single source on the web with a selection of the best and most
relevant computer and Internet training resources for development and
social change. Apart from the main sites in English, Spanish and French,
ItrainOnline contains a small selection of resources in other languages.
Resources recently added include tips on document management, setting up
folders and naming files for multimedia and web page projects,
organising your PC files, tips to manage your files better, optimising
PDF files, getting your videos out to your online audience, RSS for
non-profits, and more http://www.itrainonline.org
EARNING DONATIONS ONLINE: Lincproject.org's Accepting Donations Online
guide:
http://www.lincproject.org/toolkit/techtips/tt_onlinedonation_072005.shtml
TECH SKILLS FOR EDUCATORS: Teresa Crawford <teresa@speakeasy.net> points
to this article, "Technology Skills All Educators Should Have". The
article includes links to resources to help folks get these skills.
Here are 20 basic technology skills that all educators should now have:
http://thejournal.com/magazine/vault/articleprintversion.cfm?aid=5387
ENERGY RESOURCES TOOLKIT: The Energy Solutions Toolkit for ICT Projects
is designed to help ICT program managers, decision-makers and
entrepreneurs select the most cost-effective mix of ICT and energy
systems for projects in off-grid and poorly electrified areas. The
toolkit is still a prototype.
http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/Toolkit.htm
TAKING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO AGRICULTURE IN THE FIELD: ICT Update is
a bimonthly web magazine with an accompanying printed bulletin and an
email newsletter. It is published by the Technical Centre for
Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA). http://ictupdate.cta.int
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- COLLABORATING OPPORTUNITIES --
ONLINE PETITION CALLS ON THAILAND'S SHIN CORP TO DROP LIBEL SUIT
What happens when popular media takes on the political class? In
Thailand, it resulted in a $10 million civil suit, and a criminal libel
suit, slapped on the young campaigner who leads that country's campaign
for popular media reform. You can add your voice to an online campaign
gaining momentum and drawing support from some prominent global campaigners.
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=545972
E-DEBATE ON ISSUES OF 'INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS' IN AFRICA
What are the critical issues around intellectual property rights (IPR)
for Africa? How does one understand the context of the existing legal
processes and tools? Can Africa discuss alternatives to the current
situation? And, can all concerned build collaboration among themselves?
For a month between late June and August 2005, an e-debate gets underway
over these key issues.
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=528890
TAKE ON DEVELOPMENT AGENDA, NGOs URGE WIPO
Non-governmental organisations from across the globe have supported a
proposal from the Group of Friends of Development (FoD) for a
development agenda at the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO)." Some 99 organisations (at the time of writing) have supported
the demand.
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=417066
OPENING, PART-TIME USER SUPPORT POSITION IN LONDON
APC member GreenNet, a workers' collective, with a horizontal management
structure, has
an opening for a part-time user support position. Location in Central
London/Old Street. Interviews from August 15 to 19, 2005. Start date
September 2005. Salary: £24,000 per annum pro rata Leave: 28 days per
annum pro rata. Part-time (2-3 days a week): 9.30am-5.30pm. Deadline for
applications: 5th August 2005. Contact Anna Feldman anna@gn.apc.org.
DISCUSSION FORUM ON GENDER PERSPECTIVES IN THE WSIS
The WSIS Gender Caucus is organizing an email-based discussion forum on
identifying and integrating gender perspectives into the WSIS
deliberations at PrepCom3 in September and the Tunis Summit in November.
It will be underway July 25 to August 13 2005, and look at four critical
areas -- Internet Governance, Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and
WSIS, Funding and Financing Mechanisms for ICTD, and Implementation and
Follow-up of WSIS. To join, send a blank email to
mailadmin@genderwsis.org You will automatically be subscribed to the
four discussion lists running concurrently (one for each theme). More
information at http://www.genderwsis.org
NEW ENGLISH-LANGUAGE PUBLICATION: COMMUNICATION IN MOVEMENTS
This new publication from the Agencia Latinoamericana de Información
(ALAI), examines the complex relations between social movements and
communication. It studies the experience of organizations such as the
Landless Workers' Movement (MST) of Brazil, the rural organizations
ANAMURI of Chile and ATC of Nicaragua, the indigenous organization
CONAIE of Ecuador, among others, and deals with issues such as the
challenges and difficulties of appropriating ICTs, the repercussions in
organizational terms, for processing information and for training; the
positions movements adopt towards the media, building their own mediaand
the foray into cyberspace.
http://www.alainet.org/publica/comm_mov/en/
TRACK ON ICT AT UK DEVELOPMENT STUDIES ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE
A track on 'Information, Technology and Development' will be held within
the 2005 UK Development Studies Association conference. LSE's Prof.
Robin Mansell and Prof. Lynn Mytelka from UNU-Maastricht will be
participating, along with track sessions during every day of the
conference incorporating 24 papers from international speakers.
http://www.devstud.org.uk/conference.htm
UNESCO PLANS A READER ON FOSS
Gearing up for the LACFREE 2005 Conference to be held in Recife, Brazil
from September 28 to October 1, 2005, UNESCO plans to publish a Reader
on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and its relevance for
development (to be translated in Portuguese and Spanish).
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_freesoft
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- IMPORTANT DATES --
SEPTEMBER 10, 2005: A grassroots global marketing campaign to promote
free and open source software. Anyone can join in, with their own plans.
The more diverse the better. See http://www.softwarefreedomday.org
SEPTEMBER 18, 2005: World Summit Youth Award is an international
competition for youth-led (under 27 years of age) projects that bridge
the content gap in the emerging Information Society. WSYA categories are
Development, Creativity & Culture and Community Engagement and the
online application process at www.youthaward.org is open until midnight
GMT on September 18, 2005. Online application form at
http://www.youthaward.org/apply
SEPTEMBER 28-29, 2005: 'Top Ten Who Are Changing The World of Internet
& Politics' to be announced in a competition sponsored by PoliticsOnline
and the 6th annual E-Democracy Worldwide Forum, at Issy-les-Moulineaux,
(Paris, France). The competition works according to an online voting
structure.
http://www.politicsonline.com/content/main/specialreports/2005/top10_2005/vo
te.asp
SEPTEMBER 2005: ORBICOM, the International Network of UNESCO Chairs in
Communications announces, that it will release a new report on measuring
the 'infostate' of 192 countries in the world in September 2005.
Infostate is an aggregated index of information networks, education and
skills, and uptake and intensity of the use of ICT.
http://www.orbicom.uqam.ca/
OCTOBER 15, 2005: Deadline for abstracts for the First International
Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development
(ICTD) bringing together researchers in both the social and technical
sciences, with anticipated representation from anthropology, sociology,
economics, political science, computer science, electrical engineering,
industrial design, and so on.
http://sims.berkeley.edu/events/ictd2006/
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- SITES OF INTEREST --
TUNISIA'S RECORD ON FREE EXPRESSION QUESTIONED: International free
expression groups in mid-July launched a new website detailing the state
of free expression in Tunisia and challenged the government to end
internet blocking in the lead-up to the November 2005 World Summit on
the Information Society (WSIS). The Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG), a
coalition of 13 organisations belonging to the International Freedom of
Expression eXchange (IFEX), says Tunisia should show its commitment to
upholding the principles of freedom of expression by ceasing the
practice of blocking news and information websites that are critical of
the Tunisian government. The TMG website is available in English
http://campaigns.ifex.org/tmg and in French
http://campaigns.ifex.org/tmg/fr_index.html
SOFTWARE FOR THE NON-PROFIT SECTOR: The Social Source Foundation (SSF)
is a non-profit organization that exists to create open source,
mission-focused technology for the non-profit and NGO sector. SSF is
creating and distributing an internationalized, open-source platform for
nonprofits, offering an online donor database integrated with online
engagement tools (email and advocacy). CiviCRM 1.0 Beta is a demo of the
software is available at http://www.openngo.org/
Download the feature overview: http://makeashorterlink.com/?S1F64216B
Detailed list of features: http://makeashorterlink.com/?O2073216B
CiviCRM 1.0 Beta demo (English or Polish) http://www.openngo.org
SHARING E-BOOKS, ACROSS THE GLOBE: Prof Michael Hart <hart@pglaf.org>
has announced that Project Gutenberg, a venture to make copyright-free
e-books available to all, has completed 34 years. Says Hart: "If our
average eBook has reached only 1% of the world population of
6,451,809,157 that would be 16,621 x 64,518,092 = 1.07 Trillion."
Project Gutenberg has just officially launched its new companion,
Project Gutenberg of Europe. Project Gutenberg of Canada is beginning:
pgcanada@lists.pglaf.org Mailing list at:
http://lists.pglaf.org/listinfo.cgi/pgcanada Project Gutenberg efforts
are also starting to get on track in Portugal and The Philippines. In
addition, this project is also working on The Million Dollar DVD of
which the current prototype contains nearly 26,000 eBooks, and is about
3/4 full. They hope to put perhaps 40,000 eBooks on one single-sided
single-layered DVD that they can encourage people to copy onto $1 blanks.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-- WHERE IN THE WORLD IS APC THIS MONTH --
You can meet up with APC and/or APC WNSP (APC women's programme)
representatives at the events below during June 2005. Write to
events@apc.org to obtain contact information. See you there!
Aug 1-4: Johannesburg (South Africa)
APC Management Meeting
Aug 4-8: Frankfurt (Germany)
The first Wikimedia Foundation international conference
http://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Aug 6-8: Pretoria (South Africa)
Pre-workshop trainers' meeting for APC Southern African Regional
Training Workshop 'Community Wireless Connectivity for Africa
http://www.apc.org/wireless/
Aug 24-26: Capetown (South Africa)
Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) 2005
http://www.cirn2005.org/
August: Guayaquil (Ecuador)
Infodesarrollo ICT Policy Workshop
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
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)
[ENDNOTE: This issue is dated August 2005. Unlike earlier,
APCNews/APCNoticias will be dated with the current month, not the past.
In view of this, there will be no issue dated July 2005. The previous
issue was cover-dated June 2005. Apart from a change in the date, the
continuity of the issues carries on.]
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