IFAP Information Society Observatory
Welcome to the Information Society Observatory of the Information for All Programme of UNESCO (IFAP)!
The Programme was established by UNESCO to provide a framework for international co-operation and partnerships in “building an information society for all”. IFAP’s focus is on ensuring that all people have access to information they can use to enhance their lives.
UNESCO has assumed the task of assisting Member States in the formulation of national information policy frameworks, in particular within the framework of the Information for All Programme (IFAP).
The need for such policy frameworks is highlighted repeatedly in the WSIS outcome documents: the Geneva Declaration of Principles; the Geneva Plan of Action; the Tunis Commitment, and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society. The latter document specifically calls on governments that have not yet done so to elaborate, as appropriate, comprehensive, forward-looking and sustainable national e-strategies, including ICT strategies and sectoral e-strategies as appropriate , as an integral part of national development plans and poverty reduction strategies, as soon as possible and before 2010.
This Observatory aims to provide building blocks for the development of such policies and strategies, by making accessible up-to-date information grouped, in the first instance, around the IFAP priority areas: Information for development; Information accessibility; Information literacy; Information ethics and Information preservation. The Observatory will be continuously updated with new, relevant strategic documents, events, books and experiences, annotations and links, following the development of the field.
You are invited to comment on the contents of this Observatory, but also to provide new information on important developments in the area of national and international information policy frameworks and their implementation. Please send your comments and reports to: ifap-is-observatory@ittk.hu
Karol Jakubowicz
Chairman, Intergovernmental Council, IFAP
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Towards an Information Society in Botswana: ICT4D Country Report
Title: Towards an Information Society in Botswana: ICT4D Country Report
Authors: Balulwami Grand, Stephen M Mutula, Peter M. Sebina, Saul Zulu
Pages: 86 pp.
Source: Botswana Thetha ICT Discussion Forum
Publisher: Department of Library and Information Studies University of Botswana and Southern African NGO Network (SANGONeT)
Date (published): 08/03/2010
Date (accessed): 10/03/2010
Type of information: research report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
The Thetha - Regional ICT Discussion Forum Project is an initiative of SANGONeT aimed at tracking ICT4D initiatives in SADC member states and facilitating networking and dialogue among civil society organisations, academia, government organisations, corporate sector and development agencies to share information and experiences of the different countries in this regard. The Thetha project is funded by the Embassy of Finland (South Africa) and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), and is administered by SANGONeT.
The Botswana Thetha - Regional ICT Discussion Forum is organised through the partnership of the Department of Library and Information Studies (University of Botswana) and SANGONeT. A similar event was co-hosted by BOCONGO and SANGONeT - dubbed the Botswana ICT Discussion Forum - in Gaborone from 5-6 October 2006. The Forum at that time sought to provide a platform for discussing the Maitlamo ICT policy which was at that stage a draft document. The policy was subsequently enacted by Parliament in 2007 and is the foundation upon which ICT4D initiatives are being undertaken in Botswana. The policy, for example, aims at creating an enabling environment for the growth of an ICT industry in Botswana, the provision of universal service and access to information and communication facilities and making Botswana an ICT hub for the region. It is therefore timely to review again what progress has been achieved not only after the enactment of the 'Maitlamo' policy but also with regard to WSIS, AISI, the SADC IT protocol and Vision 2016.
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Communication Technologies in Latin America and Africa: A multidisciplinary perspective
Title: Communication Technologies in Latin America and Africa: A multidisciplinary perspective
Editors: Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, Adela Ros Híja
Pages: 396 pp.
ISBN: 978-84-692-8402-5
Publisher: Internet Interdisciplinary Institute of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC)
Date (published): 17/02/2010
Date (accessed): 09/03/2010
Type of information: research volume
Language: English, Catalan
On-line access: yes (individual chapters in pdf)
Abstract:
As a result of the “Conference on Development and Information Technologies. Mobile Phones and Internet in Latin America and Africa: What benefits for the most disadvantaged?” held on 23-24 October 2009 at the IN3-UOC, we are happy to inform you that the book Communication Technologies in Latin America and Africa: A multidisciplinary perspective is now available
Introduction (English, Catalan)
Section 1. Shaping the economic sphere
Chapter 1: Mobile-based livelihood services in Africa: pilots and early deployments (English)
Jonathan Donner
Chapter 2: Mobile phones as a tool in the household production process Evidence from Puno, Peru (English)
Roxana Barrantes
Chapter 3: Mobile opportunities: Poverty and Mobile Telephony in Latin America and the Caribbean. The case of Mexico (English)
Judith Mariscal
Chapter 4: Broadband Internet access in developing countries: Universal service provision and pricing schemes (English)
Carlos Gutiérrez Hita and Juana Aznar Márquez
Section 2. Shaping communicative practices
Chapter 5: Managing the cost of mobile communication in Ghana (English)
Araba Sey
Chapter 6: Africa connects: Mobile communication and social change in the margins of African society. The example of the Bamenda Grassfields, Cameroon (English)
Mirjam de Bruijn
Chapter 7: From “lands at the end of the earth” to “lands of progress”? Communication and mobility in South-Eastern Angola (English)
Inge Brinkman and Silvia Alessi
Chapter 8: Imagined connectivity, poetic text-messaging and appropriation in Sudan (English)
Siri Lamoureaux
Section 3. Shaping migratory cultures
Chapter 9: Connectivity, Migration and Socio-Economic Development with a focus on the Maghreb (English)
Ivan Ureta
Chapter 10: ICTs in Senegal: between migration culture and socio-cultural and politico-economic positioning (English)
Aly Tandian
Chapter 11: Moving and mediating: a mobile view on sub-Saharan African migration towards Europe (English)
Joris Schapendonk
Chapter 12: ICT and codeveloppement between Catalonia and Senegal (French)
Papa Sow and Rosnert Ludovic Alissoutin
Chapter 13: Can the diaspora contribute to the development of their home countries? (English)
Ana M. González Ramos, Jörg Müller and Milagros Sáinz Ibáñez
Summing up (English, Catalan)
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Shower of Aid Brings Flood of Progress
Title: Shower of Aid Brings Flood of Progress
Author: Jeffrey Gettleman
Source: NYTimes.com
Publisher: The New York Times Company
Date (published): 08/03/2010
Date (accessed): 09/03/2010
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Sauri, Kenya — In the past five years, life in this bushy little patch of western Kenya has improved dramatically... Sauri was the first of what are now more than 80 Millennium Villages across Africa, a showcase project that was the dream child of Jeffrey D. Sachs, the Harvard-trained, Columbia University economist...His intent was to show that tightly focused, technology-based and relatively straightforward programs on a number of fronts simultaneously — health care, education, job training — could rapidly lift people out of poverty.
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Women and Mobile: Is It Really a Global Opportunity?
Title: Women and Mobile: Is It Really a Global Opportunity?
Authors: Anne-Ryan Heatwole with Katrin Verclas
Source: MobileActive.org
Date (published): 08/03/2010
Date (accessed): 08/03/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Today is International Women's Day and as we do every year, we are looking at the complex and intriguing issue of women and mobile technology around the world. A new report, “Women and Mobile: A Global Opportunity,” by the GSMA Development Fund, the Cherie Blair Foundation and Vital Wave Consulting, tackles the issue of the gender gap in mobile phone usage with a focus on low- and middle-income countries.
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Convergence in Information and Communication Technology: Strategic and Regulatory Considerations
Title: Convergence in Information and Communication Technology: Strategic and Regulatory Considerations
Authors: Rajendra Singh, Siddhartha Raja
Pages: 136 pp.
ISBN: 978-0-8213-8169-4
e-ISBN 978-0-8213-8171-7
Source:
Publisher: The World Bank
Date (published): February 2010
Date (accessed): 08/03/2010
Type of information: report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (Flash)
Abstract:
Growth in the information and technology (ICT) sector has exploded over the past 20 years. Dynamic market and technology developments have led to a phenomenon known as convergence, defined in this volume as the erosion of boundaries between previously separate ICT services, networks, and business practices. Examples include cable television networks that offer phone service, Internet television, and mergers between media and telecommunications firms.
The results are exciting and hold significant promise for developing countries, which can benefit from expanded access, greater competition, and increased investments. However, convergence in ICT is challenging traditional policy and regulatory frameworks. With convergence occurring in countries across the spectrum of economic development, it is critical that policy makers and regulators understand it and respond in ways that maximize the benefits while mitigating the risks.
This volume analyzes the strategic and regulatory dimensions of convergence. It offers policy makers and regulators examples from countries around the world as they address this phenomenon. The authors suggest that countries that enable convergence are likely to reap the greater rewards. But the precise nature of the response will differ by country. Hence, this book offers global principles that should be tailored to local circumstances as regulatory frameworks evolve to address convergence.
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Information Literacy: A Neglected Core Competency
Title: Information Literacy: A Neglected Core Competency
Author: Sharon A. Weiner
Source: EDUCAUSE Quarterly, EQ Volume 33 (2010) » Volume 33, Number 1, 2010
Publisher: EDUCAUSE
Date (published): 2010
Date (accessed): 08/03/2010
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Researchers at the Information School at the University of Washington released an important and thought-provoking report in late 2009: "Lessons Learned: How College Students Seek Information in the Digital Age."1 The study confirms and expands on the results of other reports. Its particular value is the size of the population studied, the diversity of institutions represented, and the use of both a survey and follow-up interviews for data collection.
The findings are troubling.
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Freedom Fone promotes information-for-all
Title: Freedom Fone promotes information-for-all
Author Editor: kiwanja, Amy Saunderson-Meyer
Source: Build it Kenny, and they will come…
Date (published): 07/03/2010
Date (accessed): 08/03/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Kubatana.net – a Zimbabwean NGO who work to strengthen the use of email, mobile and the Internet among local NGOs and civil society organisations – were the very first FrontlineSMS user way back in October 2005. This initial contact lead us to work together on an early prototype of “Dialup Radio”, an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) service they’re now about to fully launch as “Freedom Fone”. As the service nears release, Amy Saunderson-Meyer – Media and Information Officer at Kubatana – talks about the tool and how they see it helping civil society in Zimbabwe and beyond.
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Brazil launches new version of their electronic government portal
Title: Brazil launches new version of their electronic government portal
Source: Free Software in Latin America
Date (published): 07/03/2010
Date (accessed): 08/03/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
The Brazilian federal government has launched a new version of their portal, offering more than 500 online services to Brazilian citizens, built entirely with free software...
Technology: The Brazil Portal is developed with Plone 3.1.7 and runs on Zope Application Server 2.10.6, programmed in Python 2.4.4. “The use of free platforms is the direction of the federal government. And the choice of the tools for the construction of the Portal would not be different. So, we chose Zope/Plone,”
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African Nations with Active National ICT Plans
Title: African Nations with Active National ICT Plans
Author Editor:
Source: Online Africa
Date (published): 05/03/2010
Date (accessed): 08/03/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Below is a list of African nations with relatively current and well-publicized ICT plans.
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