Title: The Right to information in Latin America: a comparative legal survey
Author: Toby Mendel
Pages: 164 pp.
Publisher: UNESCO, Quito office
Date published: 2009
Date accessed: 26/07/2009
Type of information: book
Language: English, Spanish
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
UNESCO’s Office in Quito releases a legal survey on the right to information in Latin America, comparing the currently existing laws in 11 Latin American countries: Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Uruguay. Conducted by Toby Mendel, this study confirms UNESCO’s commitment to promote the right to information, in line with its strategic objective of enhancing universal access to information and knowledge.
Those tasked with drafting or promoting legislation guaranteeing the right to information face a number of challenges. How should the regime of exceptions be crafted so as to strike an appropriate balance between the right to know and the need for secrecy to protect certain key public and private interests? How extensive should the obligation to publish and disseminate information be and how can the law ensure that this obligation grows in line with technological developments? What procedures for requesting information can balance the need for timely, inexpensive access against the pressures and resource constraints facing civil servants? What right of appeal should individuals have when their requests for information have been refused? Which positive measures need to be taken to change the culture of secrecy that pervades the public administration in so many countries and to inform the public about this right?

Title: Research and Information Technology Connectivity - Opportunities for Innovation and Issues for Africa
Author: Olusola Oyewole
Pages: 8 pp.
Source: UNESCO Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge. Workshop on Research in Diverse Social Contexts:Tensions, Dynamics and Challenges, (UNESCO, Paris, 19-21 March 2009)
Publisher: UNESCO
Date published: 2009
Date accessed: 26/07/2009
Type of information: workshop paper
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"The importance of knowledge as a critical element of sustainable development in today’s competitive global economy is well known. People and nations therefore need to be challenged to create, access and employ knowledge to be able to meet the challenges of life and survive in our ever-changing world. This challenge cannot be met if the quest for knowledge through research is not attended to. Higher Education Institutions especially Universities have for all time been identified as the space for generating knowledge through research. Unfortunately, for many African countries, higher education had witnessed a long period of relative neglect and stagnation...In order to improve the effectiveness of African research and educational systems, the Information Communicational Technology (ICT) of these institutions need to be improved."

Contents:
1. Introduction
2. State of Information Communicational Technology (ICT) Infrastructures in Africa
3. Challenges of Information Technology in Africa
(a) The Bandwidth Limitations
(b) Bandwidth Management
(c) Human resources
(d) Policy and regulatory Challenge
(e) Poor Networking and Lack of Regional Collaborations and Cooperation:
4. Opportunities for Innovation and Issues
(a) Promote Global, Regional Links and Collaborations:
(b) Address problems of energy generation in many countries of Africa
(c) Leadership education
(d) Improved funding for research

Title: Proceedings of DigCCurr2009: Digital Curation: Practice, Promise, and Prospects
Editors: Helen R. Tibbo, Carolyn Hank, Christopher A. Lee, Rachael Clemens
Pages: 221 pp.
ISBN: 978-0-578-02215-4
Publisher: School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US
Date published: 2009
Date accessed: 22/07/2209
Type of information: conference proceedings
Language: English
On-line access: yes (dowvnloadable e-book, pdf)
Abstract:
DigCCurr2009 was held on April 1-3, 2009 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina as part of the Preserving Access to Our Digital Future: Building an International Digital Curation Curriculum (DigCCurr) project. DigCCurr is a three-year (2006-2009), Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)-funded project to develop a graduate-level curricular framework, course modules, and experiential components to prepare students for digital curation in various environments. Contributions to DigCCurr2009 take the form of long and short papers, posters and panels.

Title: Open Data is Civic Capital: Best Practices for "Open Government Data"
Author: Joshua Tauberer
Publisher: Joshua Tauberer
Date published: 20/07/2009
Date accessed: 22/07/2009
Type of information: research document
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
This document is a best practices guide for governments embracing the notion of "open data". It discusses why open government data is beneficial to society, i.e. how it is civic capital, and what kinds of technological considerations must be made when making government data open. The document is intended to be read both by web managers, who may wish to skip the final Recommendations section, and by government web developers.
...
Open government data is a valuable public resource for its ability to fuel innovation in areas far beyond the mandate or resources of government. Several examples were listed above that benefit public health, safety, business and the economy, and especially civic engagement, transparency, accountability, public trust, and digital inclusion. These benefits come from the ability for computers to sort, search, and transform data into new purposes that can't often be predicted before they are discovered.

Contents:
Introduction
Open Data as Civic Capital
How Open Data Is Useful
Recent Trends within the United States Government
Trends on Other Countries
Why Data Format Matters
Machine-Processable Information
The Ramifications of Data Formats
Best Practices
A Path to Achieving Best Practices
What is Open Government Data?
On The Openness Process
Related Guidelines for Web Pages & Databases
Conclusion

Title: African Women and ICTs. Investigating technology, gender and empowerment
Editors: Ineke Buskens and Anne Webb
Pages: 233 pp.
ISBN: 9781848131927 (paperback)
Publisher: Zed Books, International Development Research Centre
Date published: 15/03/2009
Date accessed: 22/07/2009
Type of information: scholarly book
Language: English
On-line access: Only table of contents
Abstract:
About the Book
The revolution in information and communication technologies (ICTs) has vast implications for the developing world, but what tangible benefits has it brought, when issues of social inclusion and exclusion, particularly in the developing world, remain at large? In addition, the gender digital divide is growing in the developing world, particularly in Africa - so what does ICT mean to African women?

African Women and ICTs explores the ways in which women in Africa utilize ICTs to facilitate their empowerment; whether through the mobile village phone business, through internet use, or through new career and ICT employment opportunities. Based on the outcome of an extensive research project, this timely book features chapters based on original primary field research undertaken by academics and activists who have investigated situations within their own communities and countries. The discussion includes such issues as the notion of ICTs for empowerment and as agents of change, ICTs in the fight against gender-based violence, and how ICTs could be used to re-conceptualize public and private spaces.

ICT policy is currently being made and implemented all over Africa, but the authors argue that this is happening mostly in the absence of clear knowledge about the ways gender inequality and ICTs are impacting each other and that by becoming alert to a gender dimension in ICT developments at an early stage of the information revolution, we may be able to prevent greater scaled undesirable effects in the future.

Contents
Preface

Introduction - Ineke Buskens and Anne Webb
1. Doing research with women for the purpose of transformation - Ineke Buskens

PART 1: ICT tools: Access and Use
2. Women's use of information and communication technologies in Mozambique: A tool for empowerment? - Gertrudes Macueve, Judite Mandlate, Lucia Ginger, Polly Gaster and Esselina Macome
3. Considering ICT use when energy access is not secured: A case study from rural South Africa - Jocelyn Muller
4. Women's use of cell phones to meet their communication needs - A study of rural women from northern Nigeria - Kazanka Comfort and John Dada
5. Egyptian women artisans facing the demands of modern markets: Caught between a rock and a hard place - Leila Hassanin

PART 2: Female Only ICT Spaces: Perceptions and Practices
6. When a gender-blind access policy results in discrimination: Realities and perceptions of female students at the University of Zimbabwe - Buhle Mbambo-Thata, Elizabeth Mlambo, Precious Mwatsiya
7. An alternative public space for women: The potential of ICTs - Leila Hassanin
8. Using ICTs to act on hope and commitment: The fight against gender violence in Morocco - Amina Tafnout and Aatifa Timjerdine
9. The names in your address book: Are mobile phone networks effective in advocating for women's rights in Zambia? - Kiss Abraham

PART 3: Using ICTs: Making Life Better?
10. Mobile phones in a time of modernity: The quest for increased self-sufficiency amongst women fishmonger and fish processors in Dakar - Ibou Sane and Mamadou Balla Traore
11. Women entrepreneurs in Nairobi: Examining and contextualizing women's choices - Alice Wanjira Munyua
12. Internet use among women entrepreneurs in the textile sector in Douala, Cameroon: self-taught and independent - Gisele Yitamben and Elise Tchinda
13. ICTs as an agent of change: A case of grassroots women entrepreneurs in Uganda - Susan Bakesha, Angela Nakafeero and Dorothy Okello
14. The mobile pay phone business: A vehicle for rural women's empowerment in Uganda - Grace Bantebya-Kyomuhendo

PART 4: Creating New Realities
15. Professional women empowered to succeed in Kenya's ICT sector - Okwach Abagi, Olive Sifuna, Salome Awuor Omamo
16. Reflections on the mentoring experiences of ICT career women in Nairobi, Kenya: Looking in the mirror - Salome Awuor Omamo
17. Our journey to empowerment: The role of ICT - Ruth Meena and Mary Rusimbi

Epilogue - Ineke Buskens and Anne Webb

Title: Computer and Information Ethics
Author: Terrell Bynum
ISSN: 1095-5054
Source: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Publisher: The Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University
Date published: 2001 (2008)
Date accessed: 22/07/2009
Type of information: encyclopedia entry
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
In most countries of the world, the “information revolution” has altered many aspects of life significantly: commerce, employment, medicine, security, transportation, entertainment, and so on. Consequently, information and communication technology (ICT) has affected — in both good ways and bad ways — community life, family life, human relationships, education, careers, freedom, and democracy (to name just a few examples). “Computer and information ethics”, in the broadest sense of this phrase, can be understood as that branch of applied ethics which studies and analyzes such social and ethical impacts of ICT. The present essay concerns this broad new field of applied ethics.

The more specific term “computer ethics” has been used to refer to applications by professional philosophers of traditional Western theories like utilitarianism, Kantianism, or virtue ethics, to ethical cases that significantly involve computers and computer networks. “Computer ethics” also has been used to refer to a kind of professional ethics in which computer professionals apply codes of ethics and standards of good practice within their profession. In addition, other more specific names, like “cyberethics” and “Internet ethics”, have been used to refer to aspects of computer ethics associated with the Internet.

During the past several decades, the robust and rapidly growing field of computer and information ethics has generated new university courses, research professorships, research centers, conferences, workshops, professional organizations, curriculum materials, books and journals.

* 1. Some Historical Milestones
o 1.1 The Foundation of Computer and Information Ethics
o 1.2 Defining Computer Ethics
* 2. Example Topics in Computer Ethics
o 2.1 Computers in the Workplace
o 2.2 Computer Crime
o 2.3 Privacy and Anonymity
o 2.4 Intellectual Property
o 2.5 Professional Responsibility
o 2.6 Globalization
* Bibliography
* Other Internet Resources
* Related Entries

Title: Training in Electronic Records Management (TERM)
Publisher: International Records Management Trust
Date published: 2009
Date accessed: 22/07/2009
Type of information: training material
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
The Training in Electronic Records Management (TERM) programme was developed by the International Records Management Trust as part of the "Fostering trust and transparency in governance: Investigating and addressing the requirements for building integrity in public sector information systems in the ICT environment" (2006 to 2008) project. It consists of a series of five training modules on electronic records management plus related resource materials (Glossary, Route Maps, Best Practice Indicators).

* Module 1: Understanding the Context of Electronic Records Management
* Module 2: Planning and Managing an Electronic Records Management Programme
* Module 3: Managing the Creation, Use and Disposition of Electronic Records
* Module 4: Preserving Electronic Records
* Module 5: Personnel Records as the Information Base for Human Resource and Payroll Management
* Additional Resources for Electronic Records Management: This resource tool provides information about a range of resources available in the field of electronic records management and other relevant fields.
* Glossary of Terms: The glossary defines terms relevant to records management, electronic records management, information technology and information systems within the specific context of the training modules and guidance materials.
* Integrating Records Management in ICT Systems: Good Practice Indicators: This assessment tool defines internationally recognised good practices and links them to a set of performance indicators that can be used to measure whether the practices are being followed in integrating records management in ICT systems.
* Route Maps: 1) Implementing Electronic Records Management; 2) Designing a Records Management Improvement Programme; and 3) Integrating Records Management in the Systems Development Cycle.

Title: African Information Ethics in the context of the global Information Society
Pages: 353 pp.
ISSN: 1614-1687
Source: International Review of Information Ethics, Vol. 7 (09/2007)
Publisher: International Center for Information Ethics (ICIE)
Date published: 09/2007
Date accessed: 22/07/2009
Type of information:
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
The 7th volume of IRIE (01/2007) is dedicated entirely to the publication of the proceedings of the first African Information Ethics Conference (www.africainfoethics.org) that was held in February, 5-7, 2007 in Pretoria, South Africa.
...
Under the heading 'the joy of sharing knowledge' and the patronage of UNESCO it brought together some 80 policy makers and academic minds from Africa and around the world to discuss the impact of the use of modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on the African continent and formulate a specifically African perspective on the challenges involved - locally and globally.

In addressing the ethical challenges of the information society on the African continent the conference was inspired by the Geneva Declaration adopted by the Geneva World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) of 2003. It was explicitly conceived as part of the implementation of Action Line C10 of the Geneva Plan of Action.

Besides the intercultural dialogue between scholars from Africa and around the globe that can be referred to in the proceedings published in this issue the conference produced some tangible results:

* The Tshwane Declaration as adopted by the participants of the conference as a genuine African contribution to the Code of Ethics for the Information Society
* The ANIE - African Network for Information Ethics to give African scholars a platform to exchange and realize their ideas in the field
* The claim to implement Advisory Boards to African Governments to give advice to policy makers on the continent regarding the ethical implications of ICTs.
* The African Reader on Information Ethics - consisting of a selection of useful articles of this issue translated into main African languages.

See also:
African Network for Information Ethics

Title: Blooming knowledge society and information literacy in India
Authors: Dr. C. R. Karisiddappa, Iqbalahmad U. Rajgoli
Pages: 13 pp.
Source: Sri Lankan Journal of Librarianship and Information Management Volume 3, No. 1(2007) pp. 1-13
Publisher: National Institute of Library & Information Sciences, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Date published: 2007
Date accessed: 22/07/2009
Type of information: research article
Language: English
On-line access: yes
Abstract:
The revolution of the technology that allows people to transmit and receive information has opened a new age in the history of mankind. Alongside the rise of e-commerce, e-health and even e-democracy, the Internet has been positioned as a potential saviour of lifelong learning and learning society. The information technology revolution is creating a new form of electronic, interactive education that should blossom into a lifelong learning system that allows almost anyone to learn anything from anywhere at anytime. This paper discusses the e-governance initiatives undertaken by the Government of India, non-profit and non-government organisations. The role of different types of libraries in providing e-government information and services to the population is discussed with more emphasis on public and government libraries. Also highlights the importance of information literacy and lifelong learning in effectively utilizing the e-governance initiatives undertaken in different parts of rural India and proposes possible programs and initiatives for implementation of information literacy and lifelong learning.

Title: Interview with Dr. Tunde Adegbola, African Languages Technology Initiative (Alt-i) (eLA 2007)
Source: eLearning Africa News Portal
Publisher: ICWE GmbH
Date published: 2006
Date accessed: 22/07/2009
Type of information: web article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Tunde Adegbola is Executive Director of African Languages Technology Initiative, a research organisation with a mandate of making modern ICTs relevant to African languages. A person with a dual career – he is both a research scientist and a consulting engineer. Mr. Adegbola was involved in investigating the application of Cellular Automata Transforms (CAT) to psychoacoustic theory for the compression of digital audio.

His current research interests lie primarily in ICT for development and speech technologies, with particular interests in the Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) of African tone languages. Among his achievements as a consulting engineer is the design, supply, and installation of Africa Independent Television (AIT), as well as the design of Channels Television and MITV, all in Lagos, Nigeria.

As we go further into the information age, more and more human communication will be mediated by machines, and this will raise the demand, not only for humans to communicate through machines but also to communicate with machines. There is no reason whatsoever why we should be made to do this in English. In order to achieve these modes of communication in African languages however, there is a need to supplement the present objectives of the study of linguistics in African universities. Within the contexts of the linguistics of African languages, we need to develop frameworks and theories that can be passed on to and used by practitioners in Human Language Technology (HLT). To this end, Alt-i is involved in developing the relevant human and other intellectual resources to facilitate this process.