Information Policy

European project to promote e-government good practice 'portability'

Supported by the European Commission’s eTEN programme, the ‘Provide eGovernment Good Practice Portability’ project – dubbed PPP – will enable the people behind best of breed e-government projects to meet face to face with parties from other administrations and explore practical ways of transferring good practice.

Project PPP is a new initiative launched under eTEN, the European Community Programme designed to help the deployment of e-services with a trans-European dimension. Based on working groups that will study specific cases of e-government good practice in four key areas (electronic identity, secure infrastructure, cross-border portals, and citizen portals), the project will enable owners of good practices to meet face to face with interested parties from other administrations.

http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/document/4479/194

e-Commission Benchmark Survey launched

The European Commission is currently carrying out a public consultation aimed at collecting external opinions on how it could improve its use of ICT in communicating and providing services for citizens and businesses.

The e-Commission is an ambitious project aimed at making the European Commission a model in its use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). In 2004 the European Commission organised an internal survey resulting in a first benchmark measuring ICT usage in its internal administration activities. Now, the Commission is conducting an online survey aimed at collecting external opinions and views on how it could improve its use of ICT in communicating with outside partners and in providing services for the general public and businesses. Thus, the target groups of this survey are citizens, businesses, and external partners of the Commission – such as national administrations, universities, and other public and private sector organisations.

http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/document/4481/194

WIPO launches PatentScope

WIPO has recently launched a new web portal for all patent-related information and services concerning the international patent filing system (Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) System) at http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/. Existing information on PCT filing, electronic filing and other patent-related resources is available through this new portal. In addition, new sections have been introduced on patent data, statistics and current issues. The patent data section provides access, through a PCT Online File Inspection System, to the complete collection of published international patent applications filed under the PCT system (now more than a million) from 1978 to the present day.

http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/en/

UNESCO prepares to launch new ICT teacher training project

26-07-2005 (UNESCO Bangkok) - Preparing teachers to judiciously use technologies for teaching and learning is the aim of the Next Generation of Teachers (NET) Project, which is designed to assist teacher education institutions in the Asia-Pacific region. It is one of UNESCO’s most recent initiatives for the professional development of teachers that the Organization as supported for 60 years.

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=19535&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

South Korean citizens get Super Smart Cards

Smartcard provider e-Smart Technologies has launched its Super Smart Card in the city of Busan in South Korea. At a ceremony sponsored by the city government, the city’s transit authority and other government organisations, e-Smart unveiled the first of 5 million "e-Smart MYbi" cards due to be distributed to citizens.

http://www.forum-edemo.org/article.php3?id_article=408

EDRI launches petition against data retention

European Digital Rights, together with the Dutch ISPs XS4ALL and Bit, launched an international petition today against mandatory data retention. The petition is aimed at the European Commission and the members of the European Parliament.

EDRI argues that retention of telecommunication traffic data is an invasive tool that interferes with the private life of all 450 million people in the European Union. Secondly, the petition points out that data retention is illegal under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, because it is disproportionate. Thirdly, the petition explains that security gained from retention may be illusory, as traffic data may easily point to another user and finally, the means through which this policy is being pursued are illegitimate.

In the next two months, EDRI hopes to collect an impressive amount of signatures from all over Europe, to convince Commission and Parliament that data retention is no solution against terrorism and crime. Supporters are kindly invited to help distribute information about this petition, by placing the banner on their sites or homepages and spread the news through mailinglists.

The petition-initiative will be presented during the opening speech of the open-air hacker event What the Hack, Thursday 28 July. During and after the event, everybody is invited to contribute to the website by adding translations in many other languages and back-ground files.

The petition script uses confirmed opt-in to verify every signature. This means everybody has to provide the organisers with a valid e-mail address to receive the confirmation. The e-mail address will not be used for any other purpose. Only the name and country of every signer will be published publicly on the website and presented to Commission and Parliament. The specific privacy policy for this campaign guarantees that personal data will only be used for this specific purpose and all personal data will be destroyed after presentation of the list.

http://www.dataretentionisnosolution.com/

ICT law ‘a balancing act'

Johannesburg, 27 July 2005 - Delegates at the first day of an ICT law conference in Johannesburg have heard that meeting ICT law requirements is something of a balancing act. Legal experts say the interests of a company must be weighed against the need to provide information, while juggling practical considerations which come into play when trying to meet the requirements of various ICT laws. They were addressing representatives of government departments and companies at the start of a three-day ICT law conference at the Park Hyatt hotel yesterday. The conference was organised by Marcusevans, with Leon Perlman, head of telecoms law division at Michalsons attorneys, chairing the event.

http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/business/2005/0507271100.asp?A=LEG&S=Legal%20View&O=FPT

EU says R&D stagnation a major threat to European knowledge-based economy

The European Commission has published a worrying report on Europe’s position in research and innovation. The “Key figures 2005 for science, technology and innovation” show alarming trends in R&D investment and innovation in Europe.

The growth rate of R&D intensity (R&D expenditure as % of GDP) has been declining since 2000 and is now close to zero. Europe is on track to miss the objective it set itself to boost spending on R&D from 1,9 to 3% by 2010.

European Commissioner for Science and Research Janez Potočnik said: “We must heed this wake-up call. If the current trends continue, Europe will lose the opportunity to become a leading global knowledge-based economy.”

The 2005 key figures show that EU R&D intensity is close to stagnation. Growth of R&D investment as a % of GDP has been slowing down since 2000 and only grew 0.2% between 2002 and 2003. Europe devotes a much lower share of its wealth to R&D than the US and Japan (1.93% of GDP in the EU in 2003, as compared to 2.59% in the US and 3.15% in Japan). While China has lower R&D intensity (1.31% of GDP in 2003) it grew at about 10% per year between 1997 and 2002. If these trends in the EU and China continue, China will be spending the same amount of GDP on research as the EU in 2010 – about 2.2%.

http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3350

You Blog, We Blog: A Guide to How Teacher-Librarians Can Use Weblogs to Build Communication and Research Skills

There is no shortage of coverage on the phenomenon of blogging. What started out as a cultish form of online journal writing has taken off to become the web application of the day. Part of its attraction is that blogging gives a writer the capability of reaching a large audience with little overhead costs. Many bloggers like Blogger or RadioUserLand even offer free hosting services for your blog, allowing individuals to concentrate solely on the act of blogging and leaving the technical considerations to others. This article looks at the practice of blogging from an educational point of view and offers useful tips on how educators can set up blogs to encourage communication and web-based research activities for their learners. The article also provides some handy resources for those who wish to get started and create their own blogs.

http://www.teacherlibrarian.com/tlmag/v_30/v_30_2_feature.html

OECD-Development Assistance Committee: Donor ICT Strategies Matrix

The Matrix aims at compiling information on how bilateral and multilateral donors have mainstreamed ICT in their development assistance programmes in order to achieve development goals, particularly the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Published in December 2003

http://www.oecd.org/dac/ictcd/docs/matrixdocs/FullMatrix.pdf