Information Policy

UNDP donates ICT equipment to Zambian parliament

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) donated and installed information communications technology (ICT) equipment Wednesday at the National Assembly of Zambia at the cost of 790,000 U.S. dollars.

http://english.people.com.cn/200608/31/eng20060831_298334.html

OSS Watch Survey 2006

OSS Watch performed a survey during February and March 2006 on UK Higher Education and Further Education institutions with the purpose to get an image of the present situation of open source software (OSS) in the target group. A comparison was made with the previous similar report drafted in 2003 and future work areas were identified for OSS Watch activities.

The survey was carried out by Dr. Ellen J. Helsper. Helsper, a Tutorial Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, considered also the reasons for using OSS and the contribution to the OSS community by the target group.

Having received answers from 23 institutions, the present study shows a positive trend in the use on OSS in both types of institutions.

Some of the findings of the 2006 survey are that:

• Although only 25% of institutions mention OSS in an institutional policy, in practice 77% of institutions consider OSS when procuring software;
• 69% of institutions have deployed OS software on servers;
• 100% of institutions provide Internet Explorer on their Windows desktop PCs, yet 68% now also provide Mozilla Firefox;
• 56% of Further Education institutions use Moodle as a Virtual Learning Environment;
• there is a big number of CMS solutions in use;
• cost continues to the principal driver in reasons for considering OSS.

One of the most important results of the report is that OSS solutions have increased since 2003 and will certainly continue to be used in educational institutions also in the future.

OSS Watch Survey 2006 (07.06)
http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/studies/survey2006/

The Digital Learning Challenge: Obstacles to Educational Uses of Copyrighted Material in the Digital Age

The paper builds on four detailed case studies of initiatives that have encountered such obstacles. Each of these initiatives is moving forward, but only by fighting against a copyright-related system that instead should be helping educators accomplish their goals. Drawing on these case studies, other research, and comments made by a cross-section of scholars, lawyers, librarians, and educators who participated in two day-long workshops organized as part of the project, the following emerged as the most significant copyright-related obstacles to educational uses of content.

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/media/files/copyrightandeducation.html

Internet Filtering in Vietnam in 2005-2006: A Country Study

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam regulates access to the Internet by its citizens extensively, through both technical and legal means. This study by the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) finds that the Vietnamese state attempts to block citizens from accessing political and religious material deemed to be subversive along various axes. The technical sophistication, breadth, and effectiveness of Vietnam's filtering are increasing with time, and are augmented by an ever-expanding set of legal regulations and prohibitions that govern on-line activity.

http://www.opennet.net/studies/vietnam/ONI_Vietnam_Country_Study.pdf

Defining E-learning 2.0

In this article, Stephen Downes from the National Research Council of Canada exposes what could be define as the “E-Learning 2.0”. Mr. Downes presents where we are now in terms of Learning Management Systems, or notions such as "Learning Objects" -today defined by new Standards- that can be sequence and organize into courses. The article relates the state of trends or Open Education concept to share knowledge through out new types of licences (Free and Open Source Software or Creative Commons Licences) also adopted by E-Learning.

http://elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=29-1

Hitting the Spot - African Wi-Fi Hot Spots Come of Age

African markets are very price-sensitive so it is probably not surprising that hot-spots have been so slow to take off in Africa: it would be easy to think of it as a luxury. But a number of countries now have a growing number of hot-spots. Russell Southwood looks at one of the fastest growing markets - South Africa - and looks at different business models that might emerge.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200608281125.html

The Failure of E-Government in Developing Countries: A Literature Review

While there is much hype about success stories, the bitter truth that presents itself is that the majority of e-government projects in developing countries fail. After an introduction to Ciborra's (2005) view on e-government, this paper proceeds to use Heeks' (2003) 'archetypes of failure', which are brought about by gaps between the design of the technology itself and reality of the context, to classify some of the current literature. This classification provides a brief overview of themes manifested within this body of knowledge, serving as a useful background for practitioners and implementers of e-government in developing countries.

http://www.ejisdc.org/ojs/include/getdoc.php?id=299&article=305&mode=pdf

SI: Slovenian entrepreneurs flock to register on-line

e-VEM, a portal for business-related issues set up in 2005, has proven very successful with Slovenians wishing to register as independent entrepreneurs.

The e-VEM portal brings considerable savings for entrepreneurs registering for the national register of independent entrepreneurs due to its ‘one-stop shop’ nature and the cancellation of registration and other fees. Over the past year, the service experienced a 16% increase in activity.

The portal enables those wishing to become independent entrepreneurs to register on-line and to provide the requisite tax data. At the same time, entrepreneurs can take out obligatory health insurance for themselves and their children with the Slovenian Health Insurance Institute. Registered entrepreneurs can also change their data or remove their name from the list.  

Entrepreneurs can use the service safely through a qualified digital certification system or in one of the 200 VEM access points where a clerk performs these procedures for them.  

All the other services that can be used or carried out by existing or future entrepreneurs through the e-VEM portal are also free of charge.

http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/5776/194 Owing to its success, the range of electronic services offered by the portal will be expanded. The on-line registration of limited companies and other procedures will be available next year.

ES: Virtual learning for Europe’s local police forces, the WebPOL way

Serious organised crime, terrorism and drug and human-trafficking are an ongoing battle for Europe’s federal and border police forces. Collaboration through Europol and Interpol strengthens cross-border policing and security, but what about collaboration between local police forces? The EU-funded eLearning project, WebPOL, is gearing up to answer this question.

Thanks to the virtual learning platform being set up by WebPOL, best ‘learning’ practices may soon be shared Europe-wide on all manner of crimefighting. The project is working on a virtual environment for improving vocational training aimed at local police officers initially in Valencia (Spain), Gdansk (Poland) and Bologna (Italy), but the system is “transferrable” to other police branches, say its developers.

The project complements EU efforts to promote better law enforcement training, as witnessed by the creation, in 2005, of the European Police College for senior officers. But WebPOL is combining actual training activities with virtual modules via an internet training centre and an innovative training management system – thus better leveraging ICT in public services, such as municipal policing and security.

Originally proposed by Valencia’s Local Police force, the project consortium includes the Security and Police Research Institute of Bremen (Germany), the Hypermedia Laboratory of Digital Media Institute of Tampere University of Technology (Finland), and research partners in Poland, Greece and Italy. It is being funded by the EU’s Leonardo da Vinci training programme.

According to the partners, care in the design of the virtual training means it should be easily transferred to other police corps, such as special branches, customs- and frontier police, maritime police, traffic cops, civil protection authorities, etc.

http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/5773/194

Freedom of Information around the World 2006

A Global Survey of Access to Government Records Laws The international advocacy organisation freedominfo.org has just released its report Freedom of Information Around the World 2006: A Global Survey of Access to Government Records Laws. The report provides an overview of access to information laws from dozens of countries.

http://www.civicus.org/new/media/global_survey2006.pdf