Information Policy

British University launches post graduate course in ICT4D

The University of Manchester is launching a new one-year MSc programme to address the training needs associated with recent massive expansion in information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) projects.

ICT4D projects include telecentres, ICT-enabled microenterprise, public service kiosks, e-government initiatives, e-health projects, and ICT-in-education in developing and transitional economies.

Successful oversight of these projects requires ICT4D champions who possess a combination of technical competencies (e.g. information systems skills) and contextual competencies (e.g. development skills). Such a combination is, as yet, rarely found. This has resulted in a high project failure rate, and a recognition of training need.

Aim

Creation of "ICT4D champions" who combine technical competencies in information systems and project management with an understanding of development context and practice.

Participants

Designed for those applying, or seeking to apply, ICTs in pursuit of socio-economic development goals; covering direct design and implementation responsibilities and/or project managerial responsibilities and/or broader strategic or policy-related responsibilities.

Content

Modules on ICT4D, development project practice and management, and information systems implementation and management (subject to final approval); dissertation on an ICT4D topic; plus field visits to ICT4D projects.

Timing/Location

Annually full-time or part-time in Manchester from September 2006.

Scholarships

Applicants with a formal offer by end June will be considered for a competitive full fee-waiver scholarship; Applicants with a formal offer by end July will be considered for a competitive partial fee-waiver scholarship.

Reputation/Expertise

Combines the University of Manchester's global reputation for excellence with employers, with the ICT4D expertise and worldwide profile of the University's Development Informatics Group.

For further details, application or assistance with the online application, visit the university website or contact Dr.Richard Heeks.

http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/134896/1/

UNDP launches guides for ombudsman institutions

In order to help Ombudsman institutions in Eastern Europe and the CIS better serve individuals and groups seeking justice, the UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre (BRC) has produced two new publications for Ombudsman institutions, How to Handle Complaints and How to Conduct Investigations, aimed at providing personnel with accessible guidelines on the rules and approaches for examining complaints and conducting investigations. Sharing best practices developed by Ombudsman institutions around the world, both guides draw on data, knowledge and experience accumulated during the past two decades, including through several International Roundtables for Ombudspersons in Eastern Europe and the CIS organized by BRC to share experience and build capacity of institutions. 2006.

http://europeandcis.undp.org/?menu=p_cms/show&content_id=A993A820-F203-1EE9-B84D5181456F4942

Wi-Fi “Innovation” in Indonesia: Working around Hostile Market and Regulatory Conditions

With their low-cost and quick deployment time, wireless Internet technologies like Wi-Fi offer last-mile access network solutions to developing countries with limited network infrastructure. Among developing countries, Indonesia is unique for the extent of Wi-Fi that has been deployed by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and private entrepreneurs in more than 40 towns and cities across the archipelagic nation. However, the findings from the current study finds that Wi-Fi “innovations” in Indonesia are not a result of enlightened policy designed to extend communication infrastructure to unserved areas but rather a workaround solution to hostile market and regulatory conditions.

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ict/rc/filedownload.do~itemId=1065719

EU: The e-society in 2005

More than a third of EU25 population have no basic computer skills In the EU25, in 2005, 37% of people aged between 16 and 74 had no basic computer skills. This percentage was slightly higher for women (39%) than for men (34%). Among Member States for which data are available, the survey showed notable differences between countries. Large differences also existed between age groups and between different education levels.

http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=STAT/06/83&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Syria blocks independent news website

Syrian authorities have blocked an independent news website run by a group that promotes free press. "Authorities blocked the Mashed al-Suri (syriaview.net) site, an independent online newspaper run by the Syria Center for Free Press and Expression," said laywer Mohannad al-Hassani who heads the Syrian Organization for Human Rights.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/23062006/323/syria-blocks-independent-news-website-rights-group.html

Global alliance outlines work to solve information technology needs of the poor

Proposed initiatives include creating a Cyber Development Corps, establishing resource centers to boost human capital, and setting up networks and working groups to promote outreach and partnership for action.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=18949&Cr=&Cr1=

New European Comission news release: The renewed European Sustainable Development Strategy 2005-2010

Following the review of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy 2001 launched by the Commission in 2004 and on the basis of contributions from the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and others, the European Council adopted in June 2006 an ambitious and comprehensive renewed Sustainable Development Strategy for an enlarged European Union.

This document sets out a single, coherent strategy on how the EU will more effectively live up to its long-standing commitment to meet the challenges of sustainable development. It reaffirms the need for global solidarity and recognises the importance of working with partners outside the EU, including those rapidly developing countries which will have a significant impact on global sustainable development.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1998,47433161,1998_47437045&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

EU Moves to Ease Telecoms Rules

The European Commission is set to announce new plans next week to reduce price controls and regulation for the telecoms market, the Financial Times reports today. Citing a draft proposal, the report adds that the Commission wants to free seven of the present 18 telecoms markets from regulation, including the important markets for providing local, national and international calls to retail customers.

http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/18519?7649

Comparing e-Governance and e-Government

e-Government and e-governance can be defined as two very distinct terms. e-Governance is a broader topic that deals with the whole spectrum of the relationship and networks within government regarding the usage and application of ICTs e-Government is actually a narrower discipline dealing with the development of online services to the citizen, more the e on any particular government service - such as e-tax, e-transportation or e-health. e-Governance is a wider concept that defines and assesses the impacts technologies are having on the practice and administration of governments and the relationships between public servants and the wider society, such as dealings with the elected bodies or outside groups such as not for profits organizations, ngos or private sector corporate entities. E-Governance encompasses a series of necessary steps for government agencies to develop and administer to ensure successful implementation of e-government services to the public at large. The differences between these two important concepts are explored further in this essay.

http://www.rileyis.com/

Blogs test political limits of Internet in China

BEIJING (Reuters) - A New York Times columnist has created Chinese-language blogs on two of China's most popular Web portals to test the limits of the Internet in China -- but one of them could not be accessed on Wednesday.

In new blogs on Sohu (SOHU.O) and Sina (SINA.O), Nicholas Kristof denounced the imprisonment of his Chinese colleague, Zhao Yan, and called for President Hu Jintao to set an example in the fight against corruption by disclosing his financial assets.

He also mentioned Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned by Beijing as a cult in 1999, and described how on June 4, 1989, he saw the Chinese army fire on Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protesters -- both taboo subjects in China.

Zhao, 44, has pleaded not guilty to fraud and leaking state secrets, but his lawyers expressed little hope he would be cleared of charges for which he faces more than 10 years in jail.

Sohu appeared to have pulled the plug on Kristof's blog on Wednesday but his Sina blog could still be accessed.

A Sohu spokeswoman reached by telephone declined to comment.

"The upshot is that China is much freer than its rulers would like," Kristof wrote in his column. He shared the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting with his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, for their coverage of the 1989 massacre.

"To me, this trend looks unstoppable. I don't see how the Communist Party dictatorship can long survive the Internet, at a time when a single blog can start a prairie fire," he wrote, borrowing a quote from the late Chairman Mao Zedong.

In December, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O) shut down a blog at MSN Spaces belonging to Michael Anti, a Chinese researcher for the New York Times in Beijing, under Chinese government orders.

Google Inc. (GOOG.O) has come under criticism for toeing the government line by blocking hundreds of words or by denying access to politically sensitive Web sites.

China employs about 30,000 Internet censors to filter politically sensitive information and help the Communist Party cling to power.

The search engines of Sohu and Sina resumed operation on Wednesday amid media speculation they had been closed down by the government after failing on-the-spot censorship tests.

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, citing unnamed industry sources, said on Tuesday Beijing had stepped up controls on portals that had failed to filter certain words deemed politically harmful.

But spokeswomen for Sina and Sohu said their search engines had been closed on Monday afternoon for "system upgrading." They denied knowledge of any government crackdown.

The Ministry of Information Industry declined to comment.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/21/AR2006062100271.html