From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Mon Nov 2 15:35:10 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id PAA07897; Mon, 2 Nov 1998 15:33:20 GMT Received: from fh102.infi.net (fh102.infi.net [208.131.160.101]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id PAA07893 for ; Mon, 2 Nov 1998 15:33:14 GMT Received: from akron.infi.net (pm1-25.akr.infi.net [207.0.173.25]) by fh102.infi.net (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id KAA18116 for ; Mon, 2 Nov 1998 10:33:02 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <363F2357.586B0B1A@akron.infi.net> Date: Tue, 03 Nov 1998 10:38:00 -0500 From: Bob Pyke Jr X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.05 [en] (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: South Asia List Subject: [Fwd: [Fwd: HELINA-L: World Telemedicine Symposium for Developing Countries]] Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------C99D7CBA01688FD6F68F36AE" Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------C99D7CBA01688FD6F68F36AE Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit  

Bob Pyke Jr wrote:

Fyi,
Sorry for any cross postiings.
Bob Pyke Jr

Nora Oliveri wrote:

> -- To the HELINA-L@uku.fi distribution list
> -- from Nora Oliveri <fim@exito.pccp.com.ar>
>
> Dear Friends of WG9,
>
> The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is planning the 2nd
> Conference on Telemedicine in Latin America. It will take place in Buenos
> Aires, Argentina, next March 22-25, 1999.  There my be funds available for
> African colleagues.
>
> I´m collaborating with the Organizing Commitee in Argentina. Please, don´t
> hesitate to contact me if you need some additional information.  Looking
> forward to seeing you in this Meeting
>
> Kind Regards
> Nora
>
> Preliminary Agenda:
>
> DRAFT
>
> Second World Telemedicine Symposium for Developing Countries
> "From pilot projects to sustainable development"
>
> Buenos Aires, 22-25 March 1999
>
> The Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) of the International
> Telecommunication Union (ITU) is convening the Second World Telemedicine
> Symposium for Developing Countries in Buenos Aires at the kind invitation of
> the Argentine Secretary of Communications (and Ministry of Health) from
> Monday, 22 March 1999 to Thursday, 25 March 1999.
>
> Venue: [to be confirmed]
>
> The aims of the Symposium are to:
> · raise awareness of telemedicine
> · exchange information and experience
> · foster collaboration between the telecom and health care sectors
> · exchange views on how telemedicine can be made sustainable.
>
> The programme for the Symposium is being organised by the Midjan Group with
> support from AHCIET, [the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the
> European Commission… ]
>
> Papers for presentation will be by invitation and selected from the results
> of a call for proposals. Abstracts for papers should be submitted by 7
> January 1999 to the programme committee, comprising representatives from the
> BDT, the Midjan Group, PAHO, the Argentine Secretary of Communications. The
> programme committee will then decide on proposals by 21 January 1999.
>
> Demonstrations of telemedicine applications will be based on pilot projects
> either underway or to be initiated at the Symposium.
>
> Fee: $200 per delegate.
>
> A limited number of fellowships will be available and funded by the BDT,
> [PAHO, AHCIET and the Argentine Secretary of Communications…]
>
> More information about the Symposium, including submission of proposals for
> presentations, registration forms and recommended hotels, can be found on
> the Web sites of the Midjan Group: www.ehto.org/midjan.
>
>  DRAFT AGENDA
>
> Monday, 22 March 1999
>
> 9.30 - 10.30
>
> Welcome, introduction and objectives
>
> · Argentine Secretary of Communications
> · Director of BDT
> · Dean of the School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires
>
> 10.30 - 11.00
>
> Coffee break
>
> 11.00 - 12.30
>
> Telemedicine experience in Latin America, the Caribbean and other developing
> countries
>
> · Argentina
> · Amazonia
> · Colombia
> · Mexico
> · Peru
> · Africa
> · Antarctica
> · Asia
> · eastern Europe/CIS countries
> · etc
>
> 12.30 - 14.00
>
> Lunch
>
> 14.00 - 17.30
>
> Session continues
>
> Tuesday, 23 March
>
> 9.00 - 12.30
>
> Telemedicine applications in developing countries
>
> · Telemedicine and the Internet
> · Teleconsultations and primary care centres
> · Tele-obstetrics
> · Vital signs monitoring
> · Tele-radiology and ultrasound used in pediatrics
> · Telepathology
> · Home health care
> · Tele-dermatology
> · Rural telemedicine
> · Telepsychiatry
> · Continuing medical education (CME)
> · Telecardiology
> · etc
>
> 12.30 - 14.00
>
> Lunch
>
> 14..00 - 17.30
>
> Telemedicine applications in developing countries (session continues)
>
> Telemedicine on the move
> · Telemedicine in disaster & emergency relief
> · Telemedicine in ambulances
> · Providing telemedicine at sea - the case of fishermen
> · What should be in the doctor's electronic black bag?
> · Transfer of military experience in telemedicine to civil populations
> · Insurance companies - providing tourists and business travellers with
> health care & health cards
> · Pharmaceutical companies' initiatives (e.g., telemedicine in the rain forests)
>
> Wednesday, 25 March
>
> 9.00 - 10.30
>
> Managing telemedicine projects in developing countries
>
> · Structuring a telemedicine project
> · Champions - the project manager as a champion
> · Financing a telemedicine  project - sources of funding, who pays for the
> service? Mixing public and private investment.
> · Training - who can or should provide training? what training is needed to
> ensure successful deployment, maintenance and expansion of a telemedicine
> pilot project?
> · Sustainability - how can pilot projects be made sustainable?
> · Telemedicine in telecentres
> · Telemedicine and non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
> · Issuing tenders for telemedicine services with a view to long term
> sustainability
>
> 10.30 - 11.00
>
> Coffee break.
>
> 11.00 - 12.30
>
> Costs and benefits of telemedicine
>
> · What are the socio-economic benefits of telemedicine and how to measure
> their cost-effectiveness?
> · How to measure the clinical benefits of telemedicine
> · Costs - equipment, airtime, services, training, second opinions
> · Competition between suppliers - the need for global directories of suppliers
> · Is telemedicine profitable?
> · The role of mass media in telemedicine  (e.g., promoting immunisation
> programs, CME, etc)
>
> 12.30 - 14.00
>
> Lunch.
>
> 14.00 - 17.30
>
> Policy and legal issues
>
> · Does telemedicine raise any new ethical issues?
> · Liability - who bears the liability?
> · Is there a need for specific telemedicine legislation? What elements
> should be included in national policies? Views of the European Commission.
> · Extending health care from the cities to rural areas
> · Should telemedicine  be included in the universal service obligations of
> telecom operators?
> · Regional and world-wide standards bodies - who are they and what global
> standards are emerging to ensure inter-operability - lifetime health record
> standards
> · Health for all - the telemedicine policy of the World Health Organization
>
> Thursday, 25 March
>
> 9.00 - 11.00
>
> Partnerships in progress
>
> · Raising awareness, exchanging information and promoting telemedicine (EHTO)
> · Collaboration between the public and private health care sectors
> · Co-operation between telecom experts and health care specialists, between
> Ministries of Health & Communications, between ITU and WHO
> · Building links between urban referral hospitals, secondary hospitals and
> rural clinics
> · Building co-operation in telemedicine between countries in Latin America
> · Co-operation between  Latin America and other regions
> · The example of the Midjan Group
>
> 11.00 - 11.30
>
> Coffee break
>
> 11.30 - 12.30
>
> Conclusions and recommendations
>
> · Chairman of the Symposium
> · Chairman of Midjan Group
> · Closing remarks by the Argentine Minister of Health
> · Director of BDT
>
> Dra. Nora Oliveri
> AAIM-Asociacion Argentina de Informatica Medica
> Presidente
> Suc 25 B, CC 240, capital (1425), Argentina
> Te:(+541) 446-1570 / Fax: (+541) 831-1764
> E-mail: fim@pccp.com.ar

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: HELINA-L: World Telemedicine Symposium for Developing Countries
Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1998 00:39:55 -0200
From: Nora Oliveri <fim@exito.pccp.com.ar>
To: HELINA-L@uku.fi

-- To the HELINA-L@uku.fi distribution list
-- from Nora Oliveri <fim@exito.pccp.com.ar>

Dear Friends of WG9,

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is planning the 2nd
Conference on Telemedicine in Latin America. It will take place in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, next March 22-25, 1999.  There my be funds available for
African colleagues.

I´m collaborating with the Organizing Commitee in Argentina. Please, don´t
hesitate to contact me if you need some additional information.  Looking
forward to seeing you in this Meeting

Kind Regards
Nora

Preliminary Agenda:

DRAFT

Second World Telemedicine Symposium for Developing Countries
"From pilot projects to sustainable development"

Buenos Aires, 22-25 March 1999

The Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) of the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) is convening the Second World Telemedicine
Symposium for Developing Countries in Buenos Aires at the kind invitation of
the Argentine Secretary of Communications (and Ministry of Health) from
Monday, 22 March 1999 to Thursday, 25 March 1999.

Venue: [to be confirmed]

The aims of the Symposium are to:
· raise awareness of telemedicine
· exchange information and experience
· foster collaboration between the telecom and health care sectors
· exchange views on how telemedicine can be made sustainable.

The programme for the Symposium is being organised by the Midjan Group with
support from AHCIET, [the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the
European Commission… ]

Papers for presentation will be by invitation and selected from the results
of a call for proposals. Abstracts for papers should be submitted by 7
January 1999 to the programme committee, comprising representatives from the
BDT, the Midjan Group, PAHO, the Argentine Secretary of Communications. The
programme committee will then decide on proposals by 21 January 1999.

Demonstrations of telemedicine applications will be based on pilot projects
either underway or to be initiated at the Symposium.

Fee: $200 per delegate.

A limited number of fellowships will be available and funded by the BDT,
[PAHO, AHCIET and the Argentine Secretary of Communications…]

More information about the Symposium, including submission of proposals for
presentations, registration forms and recommended hotels, can be found on
the Web sites of the Midjan Group: www.ehto.org/midjan.

 DRAFT AGENDA

Monday, 22 March 1999

9.30 - 10.30

Welcome, introduction and objectives

· Argentine Secretary of Communications
· Director of BDT
· Dean of the School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires

10.30 - 11.00

Coffee break

11.00 - 12.30

Telemedicine experience in Latin America, the Caribbean and other developing
countries

· Argentina
· Amazonia
· Colombia
· Mexico
· Peru
· Africa
· Antarctica
· Asia
· eastern Europe/CIS countries
· etc

12.30 - 14.00

Lunch

14.00 - 17.30

Session continues

Tuesday, 23 March

9.00 - 12.30

Telemedicine applications in developing countries

· Telemedicine and the Internet
· Teleconsultations and primary care centres
· Tele-obstetrics
· Vital signs monitoring
· Tele-radiology and ultrasound used in pediatrics
· Telepathology
· Home health care
· Tele-dermatology
· Rural telemedicine
· Telepsychiatry
· Continuing medical education (CME)
· Telecardiology
· etc

12.30 - 14.00

Lunch

14..00 - 17.30

Telemedicine applications in developing countries (session continues)

Telemedicine on the move
· Telemedicine in disaster & emergency relief
· Telemedicine in ambulances
· Providing telemedicine at sea - the case of fishermen
· What should be in the doctor's electronic black bag?
· Transfer of military experience in telemedicine to civil populations
· Insurance companies - providing tourists and business travellers with
health care & health cards
· Pharmaceutical companies' initiatives (e.g., telemedicine in the rain forests)

Wednesday, 25 March

9.00 - 10.30

Managing telemedicine projects in developing countries

· Structuring a telemedicine project
· Champions - the project manager as a champion
· Financing a telemedicine  project - sources of funding, who pays for the
service? Mixing public and private investment.
· Training - who can or should provide training? what training is needed to
ensure successful deployment, maintenance and expansion of a telemedicine
pilot project?
· Sustainability - how can pilot projects be made sustainable?
· Telemedicine in telecentres
· Telemedicine and non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
· Issuing tenders for telemedicine services with a view to long term
sustainability

10.30 - 11.00

Coffee break.

11.00 - 12.30

Costs and benefits of telemedicine

· What are the socio-economic benefits of telemedicine and how to measure
their cost-effectiveness?
· How to measure the clinical benefits of telemedicine
· Costs - equipment, airtime, services, training, second opinions
· Competition between suppliers - the need for global directories of suppliers
· Is telemedicine profitable?
· The role of mass media in telemedicine  (e.g., promoting immunisation
programs, CME, etc)

12.30 - 14.00

Lunch.

14.00 - 17.30

Policy and legal issues

· Does telemedicine raise any new ethical issues?
· Liability - who bears the liability?
· Is there a need for specific telemedicine legislation? What elements
should be included in national policies? Views of the European Commission.
· Extending health care from the cities to rural areas
· Should telemedicine  be included in the universal service obligations of
telecom operators?
· Regional and world-wide standards bodies - who are they and what global
standards are emerging to ensure inter-operability - lifetime health record
standards
· Health for all - the telemedicine policy of the World Health Organization

Thursday, 25 March

9.00 - 11.00

Partnerships in progress

· Raising awareness, exchanging information and promoting telemedicine (EHTO)
· Collaboration between the public and private health care sectors
· Co-operation between telecom experts and health care specialists, between
Ministries of Health & Communications, between ITU and WHO
· Building links between urban referral hospitals, secondary hospitals and
rural clinics
· Building co-operation in telemedicine between countries in Latin America
· Co-operation between  Latin America and other regions
· The example of the Midjan Group

11.00 - 11.30

Coffee break

11.30 - 12.30

Conclusions and recommendations

· Chairman of the Symposium
· Chairman of Midjan Group
· Closing remarks by the Argentine Minister of Health
· Director of BDT

Dra. Nora Oliveri
AAIM-Asociacion Argentina de Informatica Medica
Presidente
Suc 25 B, CC 240, capital (1425), Argentina
Te:(+541) 446-1570 / Fax: (+541) 831-1764
E-mail: fim@pccp.com.ar

  --------------C99D7CBA01688FD6F68F36AE Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Message-ID: <363F2306.D4AB1F9@akron.infi.net> Date: Tue, 03 Nov 1998 10:36:39 -0500 From: Bob Pyke Jr X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.05 [en] (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org" Subject: [Fwd: HELINA-L: World Telemedicine Symposium for Developing Countries] Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------043CEB5E6C899CBF1091B8A5" This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------043CEB5E6C899CBF1091B8A5 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Fyi, Sorry for any cross postiings. Bob Pyke Jr Nora Oliveri wrote: > -- To the HELINA-L@uku.fi distribution list > -- from Nora Oliveri > > Dear Friends of WG9, > > The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is planning the 2nd > Conference on Telemedicine in Latin America. It will take place in Buenos > Aires, Argentina, next March 22-25, 1999. There my be funds available for > African colleagues. > > I´m collaborating with the Organizing Commitee in Argentina. Please, don´t > hesitate to contact me if you need some additional information. Looking > forward to seeing you in this Meeting > > Kind Regards > Nora > > Preliminary Agenda: > > DRAFT > > Second World Telemedicine Symposium for Developing Countries > "From pilot projects to sustainable development" > > Buenos Aires, 22-25 March 1999 > > The Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) of the International > Telecommunication Union (ITU) is convening the Second World Telemedicine > Symposium for Developing Countries in Buenos Aires at the kind invitation of > the Argentine Secretary of Communications (and Ministry of Health) from > Monday, 22 March 1999 to Thursday, 25 March 1999. > > Venue: [to be confirmed] > > The aims of the Symposium are to: > · raise awareness of telemedicine > · exchange information and experience > · foster collaboration between the telecom and health care sectors > · exchange views on how telemedicine can be made sustainable. > > The programme for the Symposium is being organised by the Midjan Group with > support from AHCIET, [the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the > European Commission… ] > > Papers for presentation will be by invitation and selected from the results > of a call for proposals. Abstracts for papers should be submitted by 7 > January 1999 to the programme committee, comprising representatives from the > BDT, the Midjan Group, PAHO, the Argentine Secretary of Communications. The > programme committee will then decide on proposals by 21 January 1999. > > Demonstrations of telemedicine applications will be based on pilot projects > either underway or to be initiated at the Symposium. > > Fee: $200 per delegate. > > A limited number of fellowships will be available and funded by the BDT, > [PAHO, AHCIET and the Argentine Secretary of Communications…] > > More information about the Symposium, including submission of proposals for > presentations, registration forms and recommended hotels, can be found on > the Web sites of the Midjan Group: www.ehto.org/midjan. > > DRAFT AGENDA > > Monday, 22 March 1999 > > 9.30 - 10.30 > > Welcome, introduction and objectives > > · Argentine Secretary of Communications > · Director of BDT > · Dean of the School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires > > 10.30 - 11.00 > > Coffee break > > 11.00 - 12.30 > > Telemedicine experience in Latin America, the Caribbean and other developing > countries > > · Argentina > · Amazonia > · Colombia > · Mexico > · Peru > · Africa > · Antarctica > · Asia > · eastern Europe/CIS countries > · etc > > 12.30 - 14.00 > > Lunch > > 14.00 - 17.30 > > Session continues > > Tuesday, 23 March > > 9.00 - 12.30 > > Telemedicine applications in developing countries > > · Telemedicine and the Internet > · Teleconsultations and primary care centres > · Tele-obstetrics > · Vital signs monitoring > · Tele-radiology and ultrasound used in pediatrics > · Telepathology > · Home health care > · Tele-dermatology > · Rural telemedicine > · Telepsychiatry > · Continuing medical education (CME) > · Telecardiology > · etc > > 12.30 - 14.00 > > Lunch > > 14..00 - 17.30 > > Telemedicine applications in developing countries (session continues) > > Telemedicine on the move > · Telemedicine in disaster & emergency relief > · Telemedicine in ambulances > · Providing telemedicine at sea - the case of fishermen > · What should be in the doctor's electronic black bag? > · Transfer of military experience in telemedicine to civil populations > · Insurance companies - providing tourists and business travellers with > health care & health cards > · Pharmaceutical companies' initiatives (e.g., telemedicine in the rain forests) > > Wednesday, 25 March > > 9.00 - 10.30 > > Managing telemedicine projects in developing countries > > · Structuring a telemedicine project > · Champions - the project manager as a champion > · Financing a telemedicine project - sources of funding, who pays for the > service? Mixing public and private investment. > · Training - who can or should provide training? what training is needed to > ensure successful deployment, maintenance and expansion of a telemedicine > pilot project? > · Sustainability - how can pilot projects be made sustainable? > · Telemedicine in telecentres > · Telemedicine and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) > · Issuing tenders for telemedicine services with a view to long term > sustainability > > 10.30 - 11.00 > > Coffee break. > > 11.00 - 12.30 > > Costs and benefits of telemedicine > > · What are the socio-economic benefits of telemedicine and how to measure > their cost-effectiveness? > · How to measure the clinical benefits of telemedicine > · Costs - equipment, airtime, services, training, second opinions > · Competition between suppliers - the need for global directories of suppliers > · Is telemedicine profitable? > · The role of mass media in telemedicine (e.g., promoting immunisation > programs, CME, etc) > > 12.30 - 14.00 > > Lunch. > > 14.00 - 17.30 > > Policy and legal issues > > · Does telemedicine raise any new ethical issues? > · Liability - who bears the liability? > · Is there a need for specific telemedicine legislation? What elements > should be included in national policies? Views of the European Commission. > · Extending health care from the cities to rural areas > · Should telemedicine be included in the universal service obligations of > telecom operators? > · Regional and world-wide standards bodies - who are they and what global > standards are emerging to ensure inter-operability - lifetime health record > standards > · Health for all - the telemedicine policy of the World Health Organization > > Thursday, 25 March > > 9.00 - 11.00 > > Partnerships in progress > > · Raising awareness, exchanging information and promoting telemedicine (EHTO) > · Collaboration between the public and private health care sectors > · Co-operation between telecom experts and health care specialists, between > Ministries of Health & Communications, between ITU and WHO > · Building links between urban referral hospitals, secondary hospitals and > rural clinics > · Building co-operation in telemedicine between countries in Latin America > · Co-operation between Latin America and other regions > · The example of the Midjan Group > > 11.00 - 11.30 > > Coffee break > > 11.30 - 12.30 > > Conclusions and recommendations > > · Chairman of the Symposium > · Chairman of Midjan Group > · Closing remarks by the Argentine Minister of Health > · Director of BDT > > Dra. Nora Oliveri > AAIM-Asociacion Argentina de Informatica Medica > Presidente > Suc 25 B, CC 240, capital (1425), Argentina > Te:(+541) 446-1570 / Fax: (+541) 831-1764 > E-mail: fim@pccp.com.ar --------------043CEB5E6C899CBF1091B8A5 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-Path: Received: from messi.uku.fi (majordom@messi.uku.fi [193.167.224.8]) by fh102.infi.net (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id BAA23364 for ; Mon, 2 Nov 1998 01:52:31 -0500 (EST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by messi.uku.fi (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id IAA68404 for helina-l-out; Mon, 2 Nov 1998 08:27:28 +0200 Message-Id: <199811020627.IAA68404@messi.uku.fi> X-Authentication-Warning: messi.uku.fi: majordom set sender to owner-helina-l@uku.fi using -f Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1998 00:39:55 -0200 From: Nora Oliveri To: HELINA-L@uku.fi Subject: HELINA-L: World Telemedicine Symposium for Developing Countries Sender: owner-helina-l@uku.fi Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Nora Oliveri MIME-Version: 1.0 -- To the HELINA-L@uku.fi distribution list -- from Nora Oliveri Dear Friends of WG9, The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is planning the 2nd Conference on Telemedicine in Latin America. It will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, next March 22-25, 1999. There my be funds available for African colleagues. I´m collaborating with the Organizing Commitee in Argentina. Please, don´t hesitate to contact me if you need some additional information. Looking forward to seeing you in this Meeting Kind Regards Nora Preliminary Agenda: DRAFT Second World Telemedicine Symposium for Developing Countries "From pilot projects to sustainable development" Buenos Aires, 22-25 March 1999 The Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is convening the Second World Telemedicine Symposium for Developing Countries in Buenos Aires at the kind invitation of the Argentine Secretary of Communications (and Ministry of Health) from Monday, 22 March 1999 to Thursday, 25 March 1999. Venue: [to be confirmed] The aims of the Symposium are to: · raise awareness of telemedicine · exchange information and experience · foster collaboration between the telecom and health care sectors · exchange views on how telemedicine can be made sustainable. The programme for the Symposium is being organised by the Midjan Group with support from AHCIET, [the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the European Commission… ] Papers for presentation will be by invitation and selected from the results of a call for proposals. Abstracts for papers should be submitted by 7 January 1999 to the programme committee, comprising representatives from the BDT, the Midjan Group, PAHO, the Argentine Secretary of Communications. The programme committee will then decide on proposals by 21 January 1999. Demonstrations of telemedicine applications will be based on pilot projects either underway or to be initiated at the Symposium. Fee: $200 per delegate. A limited number of fellowships will be available and funded by the BDT, [PAHO, AHCIET and the Argentine Secretary of Communications…] More information about the Symposium, including submission of proposals for presentations, registration forms and recommended hotels, can be found on the Web sites of the Midjan Group: www.ehto.org/midjan. DRAFT AGENDA Monday, 22 March 1999 9.30 - 10.30 Welcome, introduction and objectives · Argentine Secretary of Communications · Director of BDT · Dean of the School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires 10.30 - 11.00 Coffee break 11.00 - 12.30 Telemedicine experience in Latin America, the Caribbean and other developing countries · Argentina · Amazonia · Colombia · Mexico · Peru · Africa · Antarctica · Asia · eastern Europe/CIS countries · etc 12.30 - 14.00 Lunch 14.00 - 17.30 Session continues Tuesday, 23 March 9.00 - 12.30 Telemedicine applications in developing countries · Telemedicine and the Internet · Teleconsultations and primary care centres · Tele-obstetrics · Vital signs monitoring · Tele-radiology and ultrasound used in pediatrics · Telepathology · Home health care · Tele-dermatology · Rural telemedicine · Telepsychiatry · Continuing medical education (CME) · Telecardiology · etc 12.30 - 14.00 Lunch 14..00 - 17.30 Telemedicine applications in developing countries (session continues) Telemedicine on the move · Telemedicine in disaster & emergency relief · Telemedicine in ambulances · Providing telemedicine at sea - the case of fishermen · What should be in the doctor's electronic black bag? · Transfer of military experience in telemedicine to civil populations · Insurance companies - providing tourists and business travellers with health care & health cards · Pharmaceutical companies' initiatives (e.g., telemedicine in the rain forests) Wednesday, 25 March 9.00 - 10.30 Managing telemedicine projects in developing countries · Structuring a telemedicine project · Champions - the project manager as a champion · Financing a telemedicine project - sources of funding, who pays for the service? Mixing public and private investment. · Training - who can or should provide training? what training is needed to ensure successful deployment, maintenance and expansion of a telemedicine pilot project? · Sustainability - how can pilot projects be made sustainable? · Telemedicine in telecentres · Telemedicine and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) · Issuing tenders for telemedicine services with a view to long term sustainability 10.30 - 11.00 Coffee break. 11.00 - 12.30 Costs and benefits of telemedicine · What are the socio-economic benefits of telemedicine and how to measure their cost-effectiveness? · How to measure the clinical benefits of telemedicine · Costs - equipment, airtime, services, training, second opinions · Competition between suppliers - the need for global directories of suppliers · Is telemedicine profitable? · The role of mass media in telemedicine (e.g., promoting immunisation programs, CME, etc) 12.30 - 14.00 Lunch. 14.00 - 17.30 Policy and legal issues · Does telemedicine raise any new ethical issues? · Liability - who bears the liability? · Is there a need for specific telemedicine legislation? What elements should be included in national policies? Views of the European Commission. · Extending health care from the cities to rural areas · Should telemedicine be included in the universal service obligations of telecom operators? · Regional and world-wide standards bodies - who are they and what global standards are emerging to ensure inter-operability - lifetime health record standards · Health for all - the telemedicine policy of the World Health Organization Thursday, 25 March 9.00 - 11.00 Partnerships in progress · Raising awareness, exchanging information and promoting telemedicine (EHTO) · Collaboration between the public and private health care sectors · Co-operation between telecom experts and health care specialists, between Ministries of Health & Communications, between ITU and WHO · Building links between urban referral hospitals, secondary hospitals and rural clinics · Building co-operation in telemedicine between countries in Latin America · Co-operation between Latin America and other regions · The example of the Midjan Group 11.00 - 11.30 Coffee break 11.30 - 12.30 Conclusions and recommendations · Chairman of the Symposium · Chairman of Midjan Group · Closing remarks by the Argentine Minister of Health · Director of BDT Dra. Nora Oliveri AAIM-Asociacion Argentina de Informatica Medica Presidente Suc 25 B, CC 240, capital (1425), Argentina Te:(+541) 446-1570 / Fax: (+541) 831-1764 E-mail: fim@pccp.com.ar --------------043CEB5E6C899CBF1091B8A5-- --------------C99D7CBA01688FD6F68F36AE-- From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Tue Nov 3 12:35:38 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id MAA22892; Tue, 3 Nov 1998 12:33:15 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id MAA22871 for ; Tue, 3 Nov 1998 12:32:39 GMT Received: from ngorc (khi-line-061.super.net.pk [203.130.5.200]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id RAA26201 for ; Tue, 3 Nov 1998 17:29:49 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811031229.RAA26201@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1998 17:34:48 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: Quoted-printable Subject: Government of India surrenders its Internet monopoly Content-Transfer-Encoding: Quoted-printable Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: Quoted-printable [from GKD] ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Mon, 02 Nov 1998 12:20:26 -0500 To: gkd@tristram.edc.org From: Frank Elbers Subject: [GKD] Government of India surrenders its Internet monopoly Previous posts to GKD hightlighted the reluctance of the Indian government to give up its monopoly on provision of Internet access. This article indicates that the government will go ahead and open the Internet to private ISPs. ******************************* http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19981101/V000955-110198-i dx.html India Govt. Dumps Internet Monopoly Sunday, November 1, 1998; 5:59 p.m. EST Washington Post NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced Sunday that his government will soon surrender its Internet monopoly and begin issuing licenses for private providers in a week. The long-awaited announcement was made at an information technology conference in the southern city of Bangalore, India's computer capital, United News of India reported. The government decided in September 1997 to throw open Internet to private service providers, but implementation has been stalled by bureaucratic problems. License agreements that were to have been signed between the government and prospective private Internet service providers were blocked in February by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which said it had not been properly consulted in drawing up license rules. New policy guidelines then had to be developed. The state-owned Internet provider is capable of serving only a limited number of users, and current subscribers complain its service is overpriced and poor. =AC Copyright 1998 The Associated Press From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Tue Nov 3 21:59:49 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id VAA05114; Tue, 3 Nov 1998 21:59:20 GMT Received: from hrea.org ([209.95.107.5]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id VAA05109 for ; Tue, 3 Nov 1998 21:59:15 GMT Received: from pcs4one (felbers2.tiac.net [206.119.19.160] (may be forged)) by hrea.org (8.8.7/8.8.5) with SMTP id OAA01679 for ; Tue, 3 Nov 1998 14:03:03 -0800 (PST) Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19981103142853.0083c280@pop2.igc.org> X-Sender: felbers@pop2.igc.org X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0.5 (32) Date: Tue, 03 Nov 1998 14:28:53 -0500 To: s-asia-it@apnic.net From: Frank Elbers Subject: New Panel Discussion on Impact Y2K Problem on Developing Countries Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk We thought members of this list might be interested in a new discussion which the Global Knowledge list is holding on the impact of the Y2K or Millennium Problem on developing countries. *************** [Si vous desirez recevoir ce message en francais, merci de contacter ] [Si desea recibir este mensaje en espanol, por favor contactar: ] JOIN GKD'S PANEL ON THE IMPACT OF THE Y2K PROBLEM ON DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Global Knowledge for Development (GKD) is a moderated discussion list that examines how information/communications technologies (ICTs) can contribute to developing countries' efforts to improve economic, social and political conditions for their people. Supported by UNDP, the World Bank, and UNESCO, GKD has 1000+ members from 78 countries around the world, with significant representation from developing countries. Launched in April 1997, in support of the Global Knowledge Conference (Toronto, June 1997), GKD was considered by conference evaluators to be "one of the most exciting and interesting aspects of the conference." GKD continues to provide a unique and important forum for a vibrant discussion of issues related to ICTs and development. During November 5-19, 1998, GKD will focus the discussion on the impact of the Y2K problem (Millennium Bug) on developing countries. In highly automated societies such as the United States, government, business, and civil society are growing increasingly nervous about the consequences of the Millennium Bug. The problem seems deceptively simple -- programmers used only two digits instead of four to represent the year in time-and-date computations; thus the year 2000 will be calculated as 00, which could mean 1900 instead of 2000. Yet many knowledgeable professionals fear that the impact could be massive disruption of public services and the business operations. Key questions are: What initiatives are being undertaken by various stakeholders in developing countries, including multilateral organizations, to prepare information systems in those countries for the new millennium? To what extent are public sector and commercial private sector organizations in developing countries preparing effectively to prevent, or mitigate, negative impacts of the Y2K problem? What can NGOs and other civil society organizations do to make their electronic systems Y2K compliant? In order to address these questions, the Y2K Panel discussion will examine: * Analyses of current Y2K compliance in various developing countries * Examples of public policies in developing countries aimed at preparing the public sector for the impact of the Y2K problem, including public awareness campaigns * Examples of training programs, tools and practical tips for developing country businesses, government agencies, NGOs, and other civil society organizations, which are endeavoring to make their information systems Y2K compliant * Additional resources (listservs, web sites, etc.), requests for information and support We extend a special invitation to those in the South, and hope you will share your experience and express your needs! HOW TO JOIN THE LIST AND Y2K DISCUSSION Anyone who has electronic mail with Internet access can subscribe to the GKD List. To join, please send an e-mail to the LISTSERV host: majordomo@tristram.edc.org Do *not* enter a subject. In the body of the message, type the text: subscribe gkd Do *not* put anything after . You will receive a Welcome Letter to the GKD List. WORLD WIDE WEB SITES FOR THE GKD DISCUSSION LIST The Global Knowledge for Development Partnership web site provides information about the Global Knowledge list, as well as archives of GKD messages. The World Bank web site (http://www.worldbank.org> provides access to the GKD archives as well as related material and presentations. WORKING GROUP ADMINISTRATOR GKD is administered and moderated by the Education Development Center (EDC), a nonprofit organization. EDC is directly supported by UNDP, UNESCO, the World Bank and the Global Knowledge Partnership for the activities in this project. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION For further information about the Y2k Panel and the Global Knowledge for Development Discussion List, please contact: Janice Brodman EDC jbrodman@edc.org From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Thu Nov 5 03:38:26 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id DAA08950; Thu, 5 Nov 1998 03:35:49 GMT Received: from teckla.apnic.net (teckla.apnic.net [202.12.28.129]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id DAA08945 for ; Thu, 5 Nov 1998 03:35:43 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by teckla.apnic.net (8.9.0/8.9.0) with ESMTP id MAA00635 for ; Thu, 5 Nov 1998 12:25:19 +0900 (JST) Received: from ngorc (khi-line-058.super.net.pk [203.130.5.197]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id IAA31585 for ; Thu, 5 Nov 1998 08:27:46 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811050327.IAA31585@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 08:30:40 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: (Fwd) The ITU Regulatory Colloquium Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT [from InfoDev] ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Wed, 04 Nov 1998 09:19:30 -0500 From: Pstreet@worldbank.org Subject: The ITU Regulatory Colloquium To: "Infodev Forum" New ITU Web Forum launched to stimulate debate and disseminate information on Telecommunications regulation worldwide Free registration at www.regulate.org/ 30 October 1998 - The worldwide trend towards liberalisation of telecommunications in developed and developing markets highlights the need to establish appropriate regulatory frameworks. The ITU Regulatory Colloquium Web Forum (www.regulate.org/) is being launched to stimulate open debate and ensure that information on telecommunications regulatory issues is widely disseminated. The new Web site is funded by a grant from the Information for Development Program (infoDev), a multi-donor programme administered by the World Bank. Dr Pekka Tarjanne, outgoing Secretary-General of the ITU, will officially launch the Web Forum today at www.regulate.org/. The Web site is hosted and moderated by the leading independent telecommunications consultancy, Analysys, with input from rural and development telecommunications specialist, Intelecon. "This is the first global interactive discussion forum for exchanging views and disseminating information on telecommunications regulatory issues," said David M Leive, of Latham & Watkins, Chairman of the ITU Regulatory Colloquium. "We expect it to become a pre-eminent reference point for those who wish to learn about, or influence, telecommunications regulation worldwide." Forum members will gain access to information on current issues and future trends in telecommunications regulation. This includes, in particular, the ITU Regulatory Colloquium's reports, as well as the latest views and expert opinions from telecommunications regulators worldwide. Weekly email updates will present a digest of the Forum's continuing discussions. "Our remit is to help developing economies to benefit fully from information and communication technologies. We believe this Web Forum will help to ensure that the collective regulatory knowledge of the liberalised world is openly available to those in developing economies," said Carlos Primo Braga, Manager of infoDev. The Web Forum is a natural extension of the ITU Regulatory Colloquium, a grouping of regulators, policy-makers and senior decision-makers from telecommunications operators. It meets regularly under the auspices of the Secretary General of the ITU to address the policies and issues around current major telecommunications topics. The brainchild of Mr Leive and Dr Tarjanne, the first Colloquium took place in 1993 to bring together the best minds in the telecommunications business. This year, the eighth Colloquium will take place in Geneva in December, and will address the policies and regulatory issues surrounding electronic commerce. About the ITU Regulatory Colloquium Web Forum Access to the ITU Regulatory Colloquium Web Forum will be unrestricted, and membership is free. It will be available from 30 October 1998 at www.regulate.org/ About the ITU (www.itu.int/) The ITU, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, is an international organisation within which governments and the private sector co-ordinate global telecommunications networks and services. About infoDev (www.worldbank.org/infodev/) The Information for Development Program (infoDev) is a global programme, managed by the World Bank to help developing economies fully benefit from information and communication technologies (ICT). About Intelecon (www.inteleconresearch.com/) Intelecon is a leading consultancy on rural telecommunications. Its services are focused on emerging markets and developing countries. About Analysys (www.analysys.com/) Analysys is the leading independent telecommunications consultancy. Its understanding of the complex interactions of technology, economics and regulation enables it to work with players throughout the telecommunications value chain. For more information on the ITU Regulatory Colloquium Web Forum, please contact: Martin Brooke, Martin Brooke Associates, Email: martinbrooke@dial.pipex.com, Tel +44 (0) 1223 264050 Michael Denmead, Senior Consultant, Analysys Publications Email: michael.denmead@analysys.com, Tel: +44 (0)1223 341300 ...................................................................... ..... ....................................................... Pamela Street Information for Development Program (infoDev), The World Bank F3K-268, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 USA Tel: 202.458.7654 Fax: 202.522.3186 Email: pstreet@worldbank.org Web: http://www.worldbank.org/infodev/ ...................................................................... ..... ....................................................... --- From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Sun Nov 8 21:11:43 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id VAA00894; Sun, 8 Nov 1998 21:09:01 GMT Received: from garlic.negia.net (IDENT:root@garlic.negia.net [206.61.0.14]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id VAA00886 for ; Sun, 8 Nov 1998 21:08:55 GMT Received: from idn.org (p139.negia.net [207.43.201.149]) by garlic.negia.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id NAA26480; Sun, 8 Nov 1998 13:49:52 -0500 Message-ID: <3645FE87.B58286D0@idn.org> Date: Sun, 08 Nov 1998 15:26:47 -0500 From: Christopher Byrne Organization: International Development Network X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: info@idn.org Subject: This Week at the International Development Network (Nov 8, 1998) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Greetings. The IDN is pleased to welcome the Research Triangle Institute's Center for International Development as a sponsoring member of the IDN. The mission of this organization, located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina (USA) is to deliver innovative and effective research, technical assistance, and decision support services that build human and institutional capacity and promote sustainable economic and social development throughout the world. We thank them for their support in helping the IDN continue and grow. You can find out more about this organization in the IDN membership directory located at http://www.idn.org/members/index.htm Last week, the IDN added a new service for members of the IDN: Headline Links to News, Interviews, and Editorials from other news sources around the world. These are included in the daily e-mail newsletter "The Development Front" and you can see sample headlines below. Here is what else is new at the IDN Web Site (http://www.idn.org/) : TOOLS YOU CAN USE This week's tool is a link to the Greenhouse Gas Emissions - Graphics produced by UNEP/GRID. This set of graphics, which provides greenhouse gas data by country, has been produced in light of the 4th Conference of the Parties (COP-4) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2-13 November 1998. _______________________________________________________________________ QUICK LINK OF THE WEEK This weeks IDN Quick Link is to the official web site for the 4th Conference of the Parties (COP-4) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) being held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2-13 November 1998. _______________________________________________________________________ NEW PUBLICATIONS Developing World: The 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Irish Times, in association with Irish Aid, published this special report on November 4, 1998.  The publication covers topic areas including Human Rights Today, Human Rights 50 Years On, Department of Foreign Affairs, The United Nations, Ireland & The Developing World, The Aid Agencies, The Middle East, Colombia, Asia, Education. The IDN provides a direct link to this publication. _______________________________________________________________________ NEW LINKS African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) - is a public not-for-profit organization devoted to advanced policy research and training. The principal objective is to strengthen local capacity for conducting independent, rigorous inquiry into problems pertinent to the management of economies in sub-Saharan Africa. Children & Armed Conflict Unit - Based at the University of Essex (UK), the Unit monitors the impact of armed conflicts on children and advocates for protection of their rights. Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) - is Germany's finance and consultancy institution to promote the private sector in Africa, Asia and Latin America as well as in Central and Eastern Europe as part of German development cooperation. Euforic - Europe's Forum on International Co-operation. Food and Fertilizer Technology Center - An international information center for small-scale farmers of the Asian and Pacific region. Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID) - aim of FASID is to help Japan's economic cooperation make a greater impact on the developing world, as well as to implement its foreign aid programs more effectively. International Livestock Research Institute - works to improve the well-being of people in developing countries by enhancing the diverse and essential contributions livestock make to smallholder farming. International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics - Through international research and related activities, and in partnership with national research systems, to contribute to sustainable improvements in the productivity of agriculture in the semi-arid tropics (plus other countries in which ICRISAT's mandate crops have relevance) in ways that enhance nutrition and well being, especially of low-income people. The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) - based in Kenya, develops technologies to alleviate world poverty and to ensure food security and good health for the peoples of the tropics through management and control of both harmful and useful arthropods. International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) - aims to improve human welfare by alleviating poverty, improving food and nutritional security, and enhancing environmental resilience in the tropics. International Irrigation Management Institute - works to improve food Security and the lives of poor people by fostering sustainable increases in the productivity of water used in agriculture through better management of irrigation and water basin systems. International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain - mission is to improve the productivity and yield stability of banana and plantain grown on smallholdings for domestic consumption and for local and export markets. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute - works to strengthen the conservation and use of plant genetic resources, in partnership with other organizations, undertaking research, training and the provision of scientific and technical advice and information. International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) - assists developing countries in bringing about lasting improvements in the performance of their national agricultural research systems and organizations. Latin American Economic System (SELA) - is a regional intergovernmental organization that groups 28 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Monsanto Corporation - works to seek answers that link the fields of agriculture, nutrition, pharmaceuticals, health and wellness, and sustainable development. South Pacific Regional Environment Programme - promotes cooperation in the South Pacific region and to provide assistance in order to protect and improve its environment and to ensure sustainable development for present and future generations. USAID/Brazil - official web site of the USAID Brazil Mission. World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) - is a coalition of 125 international companies united by a shared commitment to the environment and to the principles of economic growth and sustainable development. _______________________________________________________________________ CONFERENCES Find out more about the upcoming First International Conference on Rural Telecommunications sponsored by the NTCA. In addition, information about the following conferences has been posted: International Association of Management Annual Conference (will deal with "Burning Issues in Education/Technology/Health Care/Women's Issues in Developing Countries") Good Governance in Indonesia: a workable solution. Preceded by a virtual conference from April 15, to May 5, 1999. Seminar on Women in Agriculture - Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India Cultural Exchange via Internet - Opportunities and Strategies _______________________________________________________________________ THE DEVELOPMENT FRONT As mentioned earlier, the IDN as added a Headline Link Service to our daily electronic newsletter which is provided to sponsoring members of the IDN. The following is a sample of the headlines included last week: Ambassador, Former USAID Official Fired for Sexual Abuses Global experts examine social ills in Copenhagen In Tunisia meeting, experts report progress on women and health UN to broker alliances between corporations and poor nations World offers relief to devastated Central America U.S. tries the carrot and stick to break Colombia's coca crop CAF to loan Peru/Ecuador $500 mln for border plans Nepal's tourism industry climbs to new peak Two Koreas can build ties on industrial park-Seoul   IADB readies $10 billion in emergency Latam loans Get on with job, Downer tells US  RPT-ADB says Japan's Tadao Chino elected president Japan to go on the offensive at APEC ADF says needs $4.4 billion new funds in 1999-2001 Full of promise 2 years ago, Guyana's economy is sliding BBC to train journalists, broadcasters in Rwanda Ghana customs officials hear blunt words on reform Rwanda finmin says cuts spending, raises revenue We need to rethink the basis of global monetary policy U.S. ready to help African reformers-Rubin AfDB gives Egypt $16.45 mln for health reforms AfDB lends Ivory Coast $40 mln to service debt UK sees private sector interest in Commonwealth Development Corporation Pakistan says power sector revamp in own interests Gaza industrial site readies for Clinton visit 200 More Dead From Mitch's Wrath Found In Nicaragua Malawi Villagers fight AIDS epidemic alone; With nearly no outside help, prevention left up to local committees Nicaragua rejects aid from Cuban doctors: Medical supplies will be accepted FEATURE - S.Africa sugar industry gives black farmers leg up South Africa Needs To Spend R170-Billion On Infrastructure: DBSA Moldova seeks to restructure external debt South Asian ministers meet to debate environment Egypt, Canada explore environment joint-ventures   Nigeria's population tops 108 million INTERVIEW-More Thai pain before gain-World Bank Chad President seeks $400 million at UNDP talks Swedish Donor Organisation Took His Breath Away UN official urges world not to forget African poor AMF head calls for more pan-Arab textile trade U.N. urges agricultural reform in North Korea Why-nots of Wye (What is USAID teaching the Children of Palestine?) INTERVIEW-Bargains seen in Bosnia state firm sale USAID brings $117,000 in aid to Kosovo refugees U.S. Community Colleges to Help Train International Workers: $2 Million Project Pairs Colleges with Developing Nations London International Group Awarded USAID Contract for Condoms U.S. to Assist Zambia With $100m in 5 Years Speedy World Bank loans come at a price Japan to work with ADB, World Bank on Asia gvt bond UK aid group to charter plane for Mitch victims: DFID To Channel Aid Through NGOs Heads of six main U.N. bodies meet for first time EA International Selects Strategic Partner In Kenya, East Africa Argentina targets poor countries on climate reform Controversy at climate conference New evidence shows that Indonesian timber companies may be to blame for recent fires Israel and Jordan in sheep breeding cooperation Mexico Issues Global Appeal To Help Centam Rebuild IMF, Brazil hammer out rescue plan to dodge crisis Pope Backs Death Penalty Moratorium World Bank eyes rainforest investment World Bank VP to Assess Russian Impact on Belarus Ukraine Gets $148M from IMF, World Bank Belarus Pledges Reform after World Bank Snub Moldova Leu Slumps as C. Bank Withdraws Support World Bank chief to visit Moscow Nov 12-13 IFC to invest in Burkina gold mine World Asked To Assist C. America Hurricane Victims IMF green light for Philippine deficit no surprise 79-Year-Old Man's Fight to Eradicate Polio Wins Him $50,000 and the First Worldwide Award for Those Who Help Children U.N. medical director, founder of World Health Organization Dies AIDS Could Threaten Economic Progress, Africa Warned Epidemiology at the Web Cafe Mosquito invasion as Argentina warms UK backs treaty for international tobacco control Additional R500M For Poverty Relief Projects In South Africa SA Jubilee 2000 Campaign Launched In Cape Town China to Conduct Door-to-Door National Census Global eco-issues at the push of a button Sarajevo World Aid Sanctions To End Poor Harvest Hurts Farmers And Creditors Canada's troops set to aid hurricane victims Food Piles Up as Survivors Hunger European aid grows for victims of Hurricane Mitch Poverty relief: India's President raps Govt. agencies Rs 250-cr. 'Aadarana' scheme for artisans from Jan. INTERVIEW-Donors to show concern on Vietnam reform Malaysia TRI mulls investing $10 mln in Bangladesh India's PM forms task force on infrastructure Gifford, Nike sign on to task force's sweatshop agreement _______________________________________________________________________ The IDN plans to continue our growth and to expand the depth and breadth of our information services. If you have not yet thought about a membership/sponsorship in the IDN, we encourage you to consider becoming a sponsor/member of the fastest growing, most comprehensive and current International Development Web Site on the Internet! Information is available at http://www.idn.org/membership/ From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Tue Nov 10 05:14:11 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id FAA11680; Tue, 10 Nov 1998 05:11:14 GMT Received: from garlic.negia.net (IDENT:root@garlic.negia.net [206.61.0.14]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id FAA11676 for ; Tue, 10 Nov 1998 05:11:08 GMT Received: from idn.org (p97.negia.net [207.43.201.107]) by garlic.negia.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id WAA10316; Mon, 9 Nov 1998 22:26:45 -0500 Message-ID: <3647C963.64537410@idn.org> Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 00:04:35 -0500 From: Christopher Byrne Organization: International Development Network X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "s-asia-it@postoffice.apnic.net" , "AFRIK-IT@LISTSERV.HEA.IE" , "DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU" , "webmedia-l@runet.edu" Subject: Re: DML:XML for international Development References: <3647597F.18A8D377@bellanet.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit After reading the truncated report of the Bellanet Consultant on their web site (would you please provide the full report?), I will assert (as I have earlier only to be blasted by a Bellanet person that failed to disclose this initiative in his flame) that Lotus Notes/Domino is a superior EXISTING technology for what is being tried here (it provides security, remote access, replication, formula driven access and views if desired, secure web access, and it is tried and true, while there are concerns about untested standards) and that this process that Bellanet is undertaking should be referred to as setting a "metadata" standard (which in and of itself is a worthy undertaking independent of technology (see below). I am surprised that Bellanet worked in what appears to be a 'secret' process with to try to develop the "critical mass" called for in the consultant's report if they truly want this to be an open process. The announcement below also makes it seem like this is a done deal and that Bellanet has been appointed by some higher authority to take the lead on this ("...DML WILL (emphasis added) be a data exchange standard for information that is specific to international development, making"). I do not know if this is really 'full disclosure' on the part of Bellanet. The report talks about getting buy-in from Donors such as the World Bank and CIDA. Do we really expect these organizations to walk away from their monetary and skills investment in Notes for an unproven technology? The consultant also stated that "However few [of the organizations contacted] indicated that they were interested in being actively involved, at least at this time". I find this interesting in that 7 of the 28 organizations contacted by the consultant are donors to Bellanet. It is also interesting to note that none of the larger non-Canadian NGOs (or any NGOs for that matter) or many other Bilateral Agencies were contacted (i.e. AED, MSH, EDC, PATH, CARE, AusAID, DFID, USAID, JICA, World Vision, etc...) The report also says that "the field is wide open for Bellanet to take the initiative and to spearhead a standards development activity." I am sorry, but there are other core issues in the provision of development information that are more important than DML or any other standard: 1. How do we get all development organizations, particularly from the South, on the web and train their staff in information management techniques and tools; 2. How do we convince all agencies that there is core/common metadata/data that needs to be provided on all development web sites (in a consistent manner), and that there IS A NEED for this?; 3. How do we make the process as easy as possible and built to the lowest common denominator (i.e. accomodate people and organizations not using the latest and greatest browser)? 4. How committed are organizations to truly sharing information? I won't even get into USAID's penchant for hiding information because the fear what Jesse Helms might say (yes, that is what one of their IT folks told me the reason was for not putting a lot of information on their web site). We don't need a mark-up language define how we develop information standards. I seriously ask Bellanet to think long and hard before going down this road and to consider all options rather than "spearhead a standards development activity." And I am also curious as to how independent the report is given the nature of Bibliomatics work and their client list. Will they be precluded from receiving funding for implementation work on this project given their participation in the development of it? (Some issues just bring out my procurement hat:-)). Disclaimer: These are personal opinions and not those of my organization. Christopher Byrne info@idn.org Sam Lanfranco wrote: > > ******************************************************** > DML: XML for international development > > XML is a new markup standard for networked documents, a > set of custom tags similar to those used in HTML. While > implementation of the new "meta-language" is in full swing > by software developers, there is currently a window of > opportunity for various professional groups (medical > practicioners, chemists, engineers, etc.) to use XML to > define their own sector-specific markup languages. The DML > Initiative was formed to discuss the possibility of a > Development Markup Language, or DML, for the international > development community. > > As it stands, DML will be a data exchange standard for > information that is specific to international development, > making > it much easier to to share information with regional > offices, partner agencies and with the public. It will also > be easier to > find and manage information about who is doing what, and > where. > > This is a global standards-setting activity which will > have radical implications for development planning over the > next > 10-20 years. We urge all sectors of the development > community to participate. Whether you belong to a > multilateral, > private sector, charitable, academic, or non-governmental > organization, add your voice to this collaborative effort.To > > find out more about the DML Initiative, visit the website > hosted by Bellanet, at [http://www.bellanet.org/xml]. To > join > the discussion, subscribe to the DML e-mail list by > sending an e-mail message to Lucie Lamoureux > [llamoureux@bellanet.org], and ask to be added to the > list. > > ____________________________________________ > Bellanet: an international initiative > to support collaboration in the development community > > ________________________________________________ > Lucie Lamoureux - Outreach Program Officer > Bellanet International Secretariat, c/o IDRC > 250 Albert St., PO Box 8500, Ottawa, ON, K1G 3H9, Canada > tel: (613) 236-6163 # 2424 fax: (613) 238-7230 > email: llamoureux@bellanet.org www: > http://www.bellanet.org > _______________________________________________ > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Sam Lanfranco > > Sam Lanfranco > > Netscape Conference Address > Netscape Conference DLS Server > Additional Information: > Last Name > First NameSam Lanfranco From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Tue Nov 10 18:23:12 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id SAA04334; Tue, 10 Nov 1998 18:19:29 GMT Received: from teckla.apnic.net (teckla.apnic.net [202.12.28.129]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id SAA04330 for ; Tue, 10 Nov 1998 18:19:25 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by teckla.apnic.net (8.9.0/8.9.0) with ESMTP id DAA02367 for ; Wed, 11 Nov 1998 03:16:30 +0900 (JST) Received: from ngorc (khi-line-082.super.net.pk [203.130.5.221]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id XAA29458 for ; Tue, 10 Nov 1998 23:13:51 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811101813.XAA29458@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 23:19:03 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Discussion: The State of the Internet in South Asia Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT [Apologies for cross-posting] --- Discussion: The State of the Internet in South Asia ----- 16 November - 15 December, 1998 The South Asia IT discussion list (S-Asia-IT), which was started in June 1998, is entering into a new phase from 16 November 1998: it is organising a discussion on state of the internet in South Asia -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The discussion will continue till 15 December 1998, and will culminate in the form of a summary of discussions. The purpose of the discussion is to take a snapshot of the internet connectivity and usage; government policies and their impact on IT; and and to see how -- if, at all -- the net is contributing towards social and economic development in South Asian countries. It is hoped that the discussion will develop a broad understanding of the role of IT in socio-economic development. --- About S-Asia-IT ----------------------------------------- S-Asia-IT, a listserv for IT developments in South Asia -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka -- is intended to provide a forum for those interested in the development and use of information technology in the South Asian context. Our specific interest is in advancing information technologies to support equitable social and economic development in the region, recognising that the development of information and communication technologies, particularly internet connectivity, are important tools in this work by activists, donors, NGOs, government and the private sector. Broad involvement of South Asians and others interested in IT development in less developed countries, directly or indirectly, will help define local and regional applications needs, services and networks; promote innovative technical solutions to development challenges; identify investment in technologies related to information and communication infrastructure; and support the development of appropriate IT policies. Looking to the exciting role the Afrik-IT listserv has and continues to play in facilitating information technology development in Africa, S-Asia-IT seeks to help expand the impact of internet initiatives and enhance coordination among development actors in South Asia. Thus, we welcome IT professionals, internet service providers, international agencies, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), educators, activists and all others interested in IT and South Asia. This list is hosted by Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC). Irfan Ahmad Khan & Sean Kline --- How to Subscribe and Post ------------------------------- To subscribe to S-Asia-IT send mail to the address with the following command in the body of your e-mail message: subscribe s-asia-it To post messages to S-Asia-IT send mail to the address --- End ----------------------------------------------------- From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Tue Nov 10 19:42:20 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id TAA06316; Tue, 10 Nov 1998 19:41:46 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id TAA06305 for ; Tue, 10 Nov 1998 19:41:24 GMT Received: from ngorc (khi-line-111.super.net.pk [203.130.5.250]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id AAA31137 for ; Wed, 11 Nov 1998 00:38:33 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811101938.AAA31137@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 00:43:47 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Resources (1): The State of the Internet in South Asia Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Larry Press's "Tracking the Global Diffusion of the Internet" [http://som.csudh.edu/fac/lpress/gdiff/index.htm] has a very useful framework that we may use for our discussion. Check it out! Irfan Khan From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Tue Nov 10 19:42:19 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id TAA06309; Tue, 10 Nov 1998 19:41:31 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id TAA06303 for ; Tue, 10 Nov 1998 19:41:20 GMT Received: from ngorc (khi-line-111.super.net.pk [203.130.5.250]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id AAA30979 for ; Wed, 11 Nov 1998 00:38:31 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811101938.AAA30979@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 00:43:47 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Discussion: The State of the Internet in South Asia Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Dear Friends, This is in continuation to my earlier post (same subject line) re holding a discussion on state of the internet in South Asia. The actual discussion starts on 16 November 1998. While the discussion will be (hopefully!) focused on the topic, we would be using an open-ended format to facilitate qualitative input. One of the ways to start the discussion is to offer your views and experiences, as well as by posting comprehensive country reports. It is perfectly okay to have more than one country-report from a country. In the meantime (i.e. before 16 November), I will try to identify resources (articles, links, etc.) on the topic. Your input is expected! I am looking forward to hear from you, and would apperciate your comments and suggestions. Regards, Irfan Khan --- Discussion: The State of the Internet in South Asia ----- 16 November - 15 December, 1998 The South Asia IT discussion list (S-Asia-IT), which was started in June 1998, is entering into a new phase from 16 November 1998: it is organising a discussion on state of the internet in South Asia -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The discussion will continue till 15 December 1998, and will culminate in the form of a summary of discussions. The purpose of the discussion is to take a snapshot of the internet connectivity and usage; government policies and their impact on IT; and and to see how -- if, at all -- the net is contributing towards social and economic development in South Asian countries. It is hoped that the discussion will develop a broad understanding of the role of IT in socio-economic development. To post messages to S-Asia-IT send mail to the address --- End ----------------------------------------------------- From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Tue Nov 10 21:22:06 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id VAA08760; Tue, 10 Nov 1998 21:21:33 GMT Received: from zephyr.isi.edu (zephyr.isi.edu [128.9.160.160]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id VAA08754 for ; Tue, 10 Nov 1998 21:21:27 GMT Received: (from lpress@localhost) by zephyr.isi.edu (8.8.7/8.8.6) id NAA04754; Tue, 10 Nov 1998 13:20:07 -0800 (PST) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 98 13:20:07 PST From: "Laurence I. Press" To: "Irfan Khan" Cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: Re: Resources (1): The State of the Internet in South Asia Message-ID: Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk > Larry Press's "Tracking the Global Diffusion of the Internet" > [http://som.csudh.edu/fac/lpress/gdiff/index.htm] has a very useful > framework that we may use for our discussion. Check it out! I would like feedback on and extension to that framework -- both on the specification of the dimensions and the determinants. Also -- I have a questionnaire based on that framework. If you are willing to spend an hour or so describing the Internet in your nation, let me know and I will send you the questionnaire. (It is also at the Web site listed above). Larry From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Wed Nov 11 03:45:55 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id DAA18208; Wed, 11 Nov 1998 03:44:47 GMT Received: from jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca [142.177.1.6]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id DAA18199 for ; Wed, 11 Nov 1998 03:44:40 GMT Received: from LOCALNAME ([142.177.92.53]) by jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (Post.Office MTA v3.1.2 release (PO203-101c) ID# 607-45892U60000L60000S0) with SMTP id AAB14133; Tue, 10 Nov 1998 23:44:44 -0400 From: kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller) Organization: hundred flowers publications To: "Laurence I. Press" , s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 00:46:17 -0400 Subject: Re: Resources (1): The State of the Internet in South Asia In-reply-to: X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v3.01b) Message-ID: <19981111034436.AAB14133@LOCALNAME> Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk > > Larry Press's "Tracking the Global Diffusion of the Internet" > > [http://som.csudh.edu/fac/lpress/gdiff/index.htm] has a very useful > > framework that we may use for our discussion. Check it out! > > I would like feedback on and extension to that framework -- both on > the specification of the dimensions and the determinants. > Even if de Sola Pool pointed out that 'telecommunication infrastructure planning is implicit social planning,' it looks as though your framework conflates installation and usage. Pervasiveness and geographic distribution are hardware measures; organization and sophistication are political and social. In any case, it seems that 'Internet success' is to be correlated directly with the number of machines. Wouldn't a figure for 'outreach' - the number of indirectly-influenced citizens per 'user' - be an appropriate counterbalance to the 'bigger is better' tendency? kerry From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Wed Nov 11 05:03:55 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id FAA20277; Wed, 11 Nov 1998 05:03:06 GMT Received: from zephyr.isi.edu (zephyr.isi.edu [128.9.160.160]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id FAA20273 for ; Wed, 11 Nov 1998 05:03:01 GMT Received: (from lpress@localhost) by zephyr.isi.edu (8.8.7/8.8.6) id VAA27564; Tue, 10 Nov 1998 21:02:51 -0800 (PST) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 98 21:02:51 PST From: "Laurence I. Press" To: kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller) Cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: Re: Resources (1): The State of the Internet in South Asia In-Reply-To: Your message of Wed, 11 Nov 1998 00:46:17 -0400 Message-ID: Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk > Even if de Sola Pool pointed out that 'telecommunication infrastructure > planning is implicit social planning,' it looks as though your framework > conflates installation and usage. Pervasiveness and geographic distribution > are hardware measures; organization and sophistication are political and > social. It seems that you are using the term "conflate" pejoratively. I agree that these dimensions are different -- they are intended to be. My goal is to come up with a multidimensional characterization of the state of the Internet in a nation. > In any case, it seems that 'Internet success' is to be correlated directly with > the number of machines. Again, "pervasiveness" is only one of 6 dimensions. > Wouldn't a figure for 'outreach' - the number of > indirectly-influenced citizens per 'user' - be an appropriate > counterbalance I think that what you have in mind here may be close to our "sectoral absorption" dimension which considers usage in business, health, government, and education sectors. (Sector choise was based in turn on the UNDP Human Development Index). If I am mistaken, lets discuss the notion of an "outreach" dimension, and see what we come up with. Larry ps -- I would argue that "geographic disperssion" has a fairly large political component also in that it often reflects a government policy -- for example concentration on coastal cities in China or on Hanoi and HCMC in Vietnam. "Pervasiveness" also has a large policy component -- nations evaluate the risk vs reward potential of the Internet and then proceed accordingly. (Check the risk vs reward figure in the overview article on my web page). Lar From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Thu Nov 12 10:17:11 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id KAA11479; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 10:14:45 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id KAA11469 for ; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 10:14:36 GMT Received: from ngorc (vectrcom.super.net.pk [203.130.5.49]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id PAA02029 for ; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 15:09:31 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811121009.PAA02029@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 15:14:46 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Resources (2): The State of the Internet in South Asia Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT The Network Startup Resource Center maintains a database of "international networking developments and Internet connectivity providers". The information on South Asian countries may be accessed by visisting . Irfan Khan From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Thu Nov 12 15:26:01 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id OAA18712; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 14:37:41 GMT Received: from zephyr.isi.edu (zephyr.isi.edu [128.9.160.160]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id OAA18699 for ; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 14:37:28 GMT Received: (from lpress@localhost) by zephyr.isi.edu (8.8.7/8.8.6) id GAA19231; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 06:36:59 -0800 (PST) Date: Thu, 12 Nov 98 6:36:59 PST From: "Laurence I. Press" To: "Irfan Khan" Cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: Re: Resources (2): The State of the Internet in South Asia In-Reply-To: Your message of Thu, 12 Nov 1998 15:14:46 +0500 Message-ID: Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk > The Network Startup Resource Center maintains a > database of "international networking developments and Internet That is an excellent source of contacts and information. I also have put related information at http://som.csudh.edu/fac/lpress/devnat/. Larry From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Thu Nov 12 15:40:08 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id PAA20247; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 15:39:53 GMT Received: from jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca [142.177.1.6]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id PAA20243 for ; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 15:39:51 GMT Received: from LOCALNAME ([142.177.93.10]) by jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (Post.Office MTA v3.1.2 release (PO203-101c) ID# 607-45892U60000L60000S0) with SMTP id AAB23206; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 11:40:07 -0400 From: kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller) Organization: hundred flowers publications To: "Laurence I. Press" , s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 12:40:30 -0400 Subject: Re: Resources (1): The State of the Internet in South Asia References: Your message of Wed, 11 Nov 1998 00:46:17 -0400 In-reply-to: X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v3.01b) Message-ID: <19981112153846.AAB23206@LOCALNAME> Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Larry, > It seems that you are using the term "conflate" pejoratively. I agree > that these dimensions are different -- they are intended to be. My goal > is to come up with a multidimensional characterization of the state of the > Internet in a nation. > Ever since the idea of 'sustainable development' emerged 3 or 4 years ago, Ive been seeing a lot of concern with 'dimensions' and 'key components' and 'gauges' and 'indicators' to 'measure trends' and the like. This is my first time I've dared to venture onto this ground, so maybe Im a bit flat footed - but it seems to me that the very fact that such indicators seem to rigourously avoid any comparison to statistical validity is indicative of something. In my engineering-type naivete, you see, I suppose that, even if they are tentative, such indicators would at least aspire to represent independent variables. In that case, presenting policy factors alongside hardware would have the merit of showing how some third ingredient could affect policy *without changing the numbers of machines, say, or how a strategy of diffusion could be pursued without changing policy. By a cursory overview of your table 3, the impression I get is that where numbers are low, they are all low; where they are high, they are all high, and my curiosity is stimulated to ask whether there is any real independence. In fact, I think I recall your saying in the text that governmental decisions 'still' play a significant role; is the hypothesis then that as govt influence changes (will 'dispersion' measure that?), some divergence of the other numbers might appear? If there is no such divergence, what will that show? Is there any way to draw *from these numbers another hypothesis? I hope you appreciate my problem: Occam is reading over my shoulder, asking, why 6 'measures' instead of one? > > Wouldn't a figure for 'outreach' - the number of > > indirectly-influenced citizens per 'user' - be an appropriate > > counterbalance > > I think that what you have in mind here may be close to our "sectoral > absorption" dimension which considers usage in business, health, > government, and education sectors. (Sector choise was based in turn on > the UNDP Human Development Index). > > If I am mistaken, lets discuss the notion of an "outreach" dimension, and > see what we come up with. > Actually, I was thinking of more grassroots usage, but the bureaucracy is logically the first place for hard budget items to appear - where they can be accounted for, after all. Therefore, what if we looked at the ratio of govt/ nongovt usage? Otherwise, somebody could say that the one box in the censustakers office influences everybody in the country. ;-) kerry From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Thu Nov 12 16:36:08 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id QAA22348; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 16:35:47 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id QAA22331 for ; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 16:35:12 GMT Received: from ngorc (khi-line-056.super.net.pk [203.130.5.195]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id VAA13615 for ; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 21:32:23 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811121632.VAA13615@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 21:37:03 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: (Fwd) Meet in India Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT [from nettime] ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 14:24:16 +0500 To: nettime-l@Desk.nl From: Frederick Noronha Subject: Meet in India ---forwrded message--- Asia's mega IT event logs out Marking a major milestone for the Rs 2,500-crore software industry here, Bangalore It.Com '98, the giga international show on information technology... computer for easy access and on the spot reference. According to an estimate, nearly 90 per cent of the Web sites in the world are in English, raising concerns not only among Indians but also among many Europeans, that a certain American culture would undermine or overide their traditional cultures and local values. Noting this at the very first session of the three-day technical seminar with "The Global Village" theme, organised as part of the Bangalore IT.Com '98 exposition, Prof. Kenneth Keniston of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said the current "global monoculture" was embodied in satellite TV, CNN, World Cup games, Micorsoft, Intel and such likes. He also pointed out as to how it was virtually impossible in the present context to use the computer until one speaks, reads and writes good English. WARNING: Speaking of cultural and linguistic diversity in the age of global networks, with special reference to India, he said the nation faced "critical choices" with regard to local language softwares. He warned that if software was not localised in the near future it would only increase the gap between the empowered and the powerless, at the same time devaluing local languages and cultures. He also recommended that software codes in all official Indian languages should be standardised to facilitate wider use. Prof. Keniston felt that localisation of software was absolutely essential if the Information Age was to cater to the needs of the "forgotten 95 per cent of Indian computing". If software localisation does not take place it may also lead to "uglier forms of intolerant cultural nationalism," he added. DIGIRATI: As expected it was the 'digirati', the new computer literate ruling class, that dominated the three-day seminar. They dealt in great lengths on their favourite agenda of 'networking' and shrinking the world. But, thankfully, there were a few talks during the course of the seminar which addressed larger issues like the possible spread of 'global monoculture' through the Internet and the 'hegemony' of the English language in the field of information technology. In his lecture on IT and Indian languages during the third session of the seminar, Prof Rajeev Sanyal of the Satyam School of Applied Information Systems, explained the experiments being conducted in the area of machine translation or language access systems in Indian languages. He said the "Anusaaraka" systems that were currently under development would allow a Hindi reader to access texts in the Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali and Punjabi languages. In fact, he said, the alpha-version of Telugu to Hindi "Anusaaraka" system had already been released on the Internet as an e-mail server. Prof Sanyal also concentrated on aspects of mass computerisation in India and also offered interesting solutions. Mr John Clews, chairman of Sesame Computer Projects, UK and member of various committees dealing with standardisation of computer codes, said the European Standards Committee (CEN) could serve as a model for India another SAARC countries to ensure that IT systems meet "real South Asian needs". University of California's Professor Annalee Saxenian's lecture on "IT in the USA: Lessons from Silicon Valley" gave an interesting comparative sociological analysis of Silicon Valley in California and Route 128 in Massachussetts, the two leading centers of electronics innovation and entreprenuership. Prof Saxenian argued that Silicon Valley had scored over Route 128 after 1980 because it had adopted a decentralised industrial system that encouraged innovation and collective learning. Noted Sociologist Prof M N Srinivas making an intervention after Prof Saxenian's lecture sought to know if ethnicity had anything to do with the sucess of the Silicon Valley, which triggered an interesting debate. Finally, the incorporation of the point in the Bangalore Declaration to examine the possibility of setting up a global agency to study the cultural impact of Information Technology and protect the cultural diversity of nations comes as a welcome step and highlights the seriousness of the issues raised by the speakers. ________________________________________________ CCI Mailing List-http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/cybercom.html To Join send mail to LISTSERV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU with follwing message SUBSCRIBE CYBERCOM First_name Last_name --- # distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission # is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@desk.nl and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/ contact: nettime-owner@desk.nl From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Thu Nov 12 18:34:07 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id SAA25027; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 18:33:29 GMT Received: from psg.com (root@psg.com [147.28.0.62]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id SAA25023 for ; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 18:33:26 GMT Received: from localhost (1757 bytes) by psg.com via sendmail with P:esmtp/R:inet_resolve/T:smtp (sender: ) (ident using unix) id for <>; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 10:33:20 -0800 (PST) (Smail-3.2.0.101 1997-Dec-17 #1 built 1998-Feb-8) Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 10:33:19 -0800 (PST) From: "Steven G. Huter" X-Sender: sghuter@psg.com To: Kerry Miller cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: Re: Resources (1): The State of the Internet in South Asia In-Reply-To: <19981112153846.AAB23206@LOCALNAME> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk > Ever since the idea of 'sustainable development' emerged 3 or 4 years ago, > Ive been seeing a lot of concern with 'dimensions' and 'key components' and > 'gauges' and 'indicators' to 'measure trends' and the like. This is my first time > I've dared to venture onto this ground, so maybe Im a bit flat footed - but it > seems to me that the very fact that such indicators seem to rigourously > avoid any comparison to statistical validity is indicative of something. There are numerous attempts at doing such studies, but they are mostly filled with conjecture and anecdotes, as real data are hard to come by. Many of the researchers writing them have little practical experience with actually building networks that connect to the public Internet, so a lack of first-hand knowledge and understanding of the issues involved is a problem that taints how the studies are approached. There has been no useful actual measurement that I have seen. It is very hard, the population is small, and most of the folks who know enough to provide meaningful data are too busy actually building the networks, configuring routers, servers, debugging problems, etc. Regards, Steve Huter From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Thu Nov 12 21:36:51 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id VAA29515; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 21:36:05 GMT Received: from jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca [142.177.1.6]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id VAA29510 for ; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 21:36:02 GMT Received: from LOCALNAME ([142.177.23.101]) by jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (Post.Office MTA v3.1.2 release (PO203-101c) ID# 607-45892U60000L60000S0) with SMTP id AAB12305 for ; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 17:36:19 -0400 From: kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller) Organization: hundred flowers publications To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 18:38:00 -0400 Subject: Re: Resources (2): The State of the Internet in South Asia References: Your message of Thu, 12 Nov 1998 15:14:46 +0500 In-reply-to: X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v3.01b) Message-ID: <19981112213616.AAB12305@LOCALNAME> Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Just to tie in to "international networking developments," there is an excellent site hosted by the Natural Resource Management Programme (Massey University, NZ) at http://nrm.massey.ac.nz/changelinks/ The page "provides links to topics including current Internet uses, the emerging debate of its impact on developing countries, and how its hypermedia capabilities can be used to facilitate a distance-learning environment. The first set of links provide practical guidance from a range of groups who are pioneering new roles for the Internet within the fields of community-building and international development." I was prompted to venture this far off topic by a link to an 'Online learning' site, http://www.assiniboinec.mb.ca/user/downes/future/technology.htm which contains the following paragraphs, which, if they are not *currently relevant to South Asia, may provoke some thoughts towards its future connectivity: "Technology, they say, should not drive content. However, when technology is the bottleneck through which instruction must be delivered, then technology, if it does not drive content, most certainly limits content. Today, institutions offering online learning must live with the reality that instructional material must be delivered through narrow pipes to underpowered computers running dubious software. In the future, this will all change. [...] "Computer programs of the future will be function based. They will address specific needs, launching and manipulating task based applications on an as needed basis. For example, the student of the future will not start up an operating system, internet browser, word processor and email program in order to start work on a course. The student will start up the course, which in turn will start up these applications on its own. "The operating system will not be needed to control these applications because the course software will do that. Except for a slim menu which allows you to start your course, the operating system will fade into the background, broken into component parts. These components would be run only when needed by an course or an application started by the course. "There are two reasons why operating systems will evolve in this way. The first is the demand by users for simplicity. It will be seen as absurd that a user needs to learn how to use Windows before being able to send a postcard to Grandma. And second, operative systems and task based programs will need to fade to the background because they are constantly changing. It is absurd to expect a user to relearn the operating system and applications every six months or so. The course software will maintain a constant interface while automatically upgrading component software. ===== kerry From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Thu Nov 12 21:38:02 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id VAA29583; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 21:37:59 GMT Received: from jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca [142.177.1.6]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id VAA29578 for ; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 21:37:57 GMT Received: from LOCALNAME ([142.177.23.101]) by jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (Post.Office MTA v3.1.2 release (PO203-101c) ID# 607-45892U60000L60000S0) with SMTP id AAA12931 for ; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 17:38:14 -0400 Received: from zephyr.isi.edu ([128.9.160.160]) by jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (Post.Office MTA v3.1.2 release (PO203-101c) ID# 607-45892U60000L60000S0) with ESMTP id AAA13548 for ; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 14:37:07 -0400 Received: (from lpress@localhost) by zephyr.isi.edu (8.8.7/8.8.6) id KAA01576 for kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller); Thu, 12 Nov 1998 10:33:39 -0800 (PST) Date: Thu, 12 Nov 98 10:33:38 PST From: "Laurence I. Press" To: kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller) Subject: Re: Resources (1): The State of the Internet in South Asia In-Reply-To: Your message of Thu, 12 Nov 1998 12:40:30 -0400 Message-ID: Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk > In my engineering-type naivete, you see, I suppose that, even if they are > tentative, such indicators would at least aspire to represent independent > variables. I would agree that the dimensions should be orthogonal. When you speak of "independent," variables, are you thinking of what I have called "determinants?" Could you go along with this statement: it would be nice to find independent variables (determinants) which predicted the values of one or more orthogonal dependent variables (dimensions)? > I hope you appreciate my problem: Occam is reading over my shoulder, > asking, why 6 'measures' instead of one? Can you meaningfully map something as complex as "the state of the Internet in a nation" onto a single, well-defined, and interperable value? People try to do that sort of thing in sports -- quarterback efficency ratings and such, but aren't their indices arbitrary functions of only partially orthogonal underlying dimensions? Whoops -- I am being too negative here -- after applying Occam's razor, what would you see as a good single indicator? > Actually, I was thinking of more grassroots usage, but the bureaucracy is > logically the first place for hard budget items to appear - where they can be > accounted for, after all. Therefore, what if we looked at the ratio of govt/ > nongovt usage? Chris Demchak has good data on government web sites in each nation. You might want to look at her data and play with some ratios of govt webs to total hosts in nations. There is a link to her in the list of links on my web site under developing nations/links to other sites. Lar From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Fri Nov 13 04:34:53 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id EAA06216; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 04:32:17 GMT Received: from manaslu.mos.com.np (root@manaslu.mos.com.np [202.52.255.3]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id EAA06199 for ; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 04:31:59 GMT From: shahid@icimod.org.np Received: from pumori.mos.com.np (root@pumori.mos.com.np [202.52.255.2]) by manaslu.mos.com.np (8.6.9/8.6.9) with ESMTP id KAA04336; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 10:19:37 +0545 Received: from menris1.icimod.org.np (menris1.icimod.org.np [202.52.254.1]) by pumori.mos.com.np (8.8.5/KRG1.0) with SMTP id KAA09770; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 10:15:36 +0545 (NPT) Received: from [202.52.254.93] by menris1.icimod.org.np (AIX 4.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA03128; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 09:15:48 +0500 Message-Id: <9811130415.AA03128@menris1.icimod.org.np> Comments: Authenticated sender is To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 09:05:25 +0000 Subject: The Internet : South Asian Realities and Opportunities Cc: amehta@cerfnet.com, amehta@cpsr.org X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.23) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk dear list members, i saw irfan khan's announcements dated 10 and 11 november on the upcoming e-iscussion list o the 'state of the internet in south asia'. i wish to draw to your attention an ongoing discussion on precisely this topic that actually commenced on 5 october and on which you can find further details below. you can join the ongoing discussion by visiting and registering at the web site (url) given below as well as view the previous postings. as you will see, the traffic has been somewhat slow up to now because todate this discussion was by invitation only. indeed , we had been meaning to 'advertise' it more broadly in other lists such as these . given this ongoing discussion, the sponsors of the new s-asia-it discussion list may wish to discuss some kind of merger so that we do not have too many competitive discussions going on at the same time on the same topic. arun mehta , who is the moderator for the e-discussion that began 5 octoberand i look forward to hearing peoples views on these two intiatives and how best to reconcile them now. best regards, shahid akhtar. ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 18:04:32 -0700 (PDT) From: Arun Mehta To: "Multiple recipients" Subject: Invitation to electronic discussion South Asia is the world's most illiterate region, and confronts myriad man-made and natural problems. Can the Internet help us overcome these? Undoubtedly yes. But what needs to be done to remove the roadblocks that the Internet itself faces in the region, and what are the right steps to take, to promote its use? How can we help and learn from each other? Questions such as these will be taken up in an electronic discussion, which you can join by visiting http://www.PanAsiaNetworking.org.sg/cgi-bin/majordomo/lwgate.sasianet/sasianet For about 16 participants of this electronic discussion, the organisers will be able to fund the travel and stay for a 3-4 day workshop, at either Dacca, where we will have the opportunity to see the very interesting example of Grameen Telecom, or in Khatmandu some time next February. The rest, we hope, will participate electronically in this workshop as well. I do hope you will join, and actively participate in this discussion, which will enable you to make friends and useful contacts in this region, plus contribute to its development. Please pass on this message to anybody else who you feel may be interested as well. Warm regards, Arun ____________ THE INTERNET : SOUTH ASIAN REALITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES Introduction The Internet offers a rare opportunity to policy-makers, regulators, NGOs and citizens, since it bears the potential for increasing wealth and improving health and education in nations that learn to use it well. At the same time, it brings with it problems, as its inherent anarchy resists regulation and planning. Because of this, success can only come in societies that engage in comprehensive discussion of the issues involved in promoting the Internet. All the players mentioned above are inextricable parts of this complex, and there is a dire need to open communication channels between them. The countries of South Asia face similar problems with the Internet, yet they have adopted very different models for its advancement. While in Pakistan the private sector dominates, in India the government has so far been the monopoly service provider. Bangladesh has been remarkably innovative in bringing telecom to the poor, demonstrating clearly the considerable scope there is to learn from each other. To facilitate this comprehensive discussion, and to help look for solutions to the blockages in the path of the Internet in South Asia, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu with financial support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada , proposes to organise a workshop in February 1999. Approximately 16 key players and observers in this rapidly changing field will be invited from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, bringing together experts from government, regulatory bodies, NGOs, ISPs and the user community. The participants of this workshop will be selected primarily from the contributors to a moderated electronic discussion, which will be open to anyone wishing to contribute meaningfully to this process. While there are a large number of issues to discuss in this endeavor, it is hoped that the electronic discussion will help prioritize and select key issues for face-to-face discussion. Issues A preliminary list of issues for electronic discussion is given below: 1) Access a) A comparison of models of ISP ownership (eg., private, government, NGO) b) Providing access to the poor and illiterate c) Technological aspects relating to bandwidth (eg. quality and quantity) issues relating to technical manpower and the sharing of technical expertise d) Regional backbone and ISP collaboration in South Asia e) Security f) Gender-related issues 2) Content a) Culture -- threats and opportunities b) Generation of local-language content, and cross-border flows c) Direction and flow of information (e.g. North--South) and its implications d) Applications in health, etc e) Use of the Internet in distance education, and as an educational tool 3) Regulation a) Regulation vis-a-vis the Internet and policy formulation -- what works and what doesn't, pricing policy/tariffs, licensing practices b) Role of Government, ISPs, Regional and International Bodies, Users c) E-Commerce in the South Asian region d) Mechanisms for user feedback into policymaking 4) Opportunities for regional cooperation in promoting the growth of the Internet It is expected that the electronic discussion will add to this list, and hopefully select approximately six issues, in which a face-to-face discussion could significantly help raise the level of clarity in areas where decisions need to be taken by the countries involved. The organizers will also set up a web-site to collect and present information emanating out of the electronic discussion, including links to other useful sites in the areas under discussion. A small working group consisting of one representative each from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan as well as the ICIMOD project coordinator for this initiative and the electronic discussion list moderator will be created to plan this initiative further. The working group members will also help to propogate this initiative further, seek greater country-level participation in the electronic discussion as well as prepare and present a country paper/report at the workshop itself. While funding is available for travel and living expenses of about 16 participants, others are invited to participate electronically in the deliberations at the workshop, which will last 3 or 4 days (exact dates and venue yet to be decided). Tentative Agenda Day 1: Introduction of participants. Presentation of country reports, which highlight the current situation of the Internet in each country. Presentation of summary report by the moderator of the electronic discussion list, highlighting the key issues emerging out of the electronic discussion. Discussion of agenda for working groups andestablishment of the same Day 2: Meetings of working groups to cover the priority issues identified by the electronic discussion list. Plenary meeting to finalise recommendations. Day 3: Continuation of Working group meetings to discuss identified priority issues. Possibly a field visit. Day 4: Concluding plenary session. Report Shortly after conclusion of the workshop, a brief report highlighting the issues discussed and the conclusions reached will be added to the web site, and possibly published in a journal. If there is sufficient interest among the participants, electronic discussion will continue after the workshop is concluded, to foster on-going contact between experts of the region. Moderator Dr. Arun Mehta, amehta@cerf.net, a Delhi-based net activist who has been involved in several campaigns relating to cyber rights and who moderates the "India-gii" discussion list, will serve as the moderator for this exercise. He will also present the summary results of the discussion list at the workshop in February 1999 and prepare a final report of the workshop. Project Coordinator Mr. Shahid Akhtar, shahid@icimod.org.np who is in-charge of ICIMOD's communication, information and networking activities, is the project coordinator and will oversee the entire activity in all its dimensions from beginning to end. Arun Mehta, B-69, Lajpat Nagar-I, New Delhi-110024. Phone 6841172, 6849103 http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta amehta@cerfnet.com, amehta@cpsr.org Shahid Akhtar Head,Documentation,Information & Training, and Coordinator,Mountain Forum - Asia Pacific, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), GPO Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal. Phone: (977-1) 536741, 525313 Fax: (977-1) 524509, 524317 Url: http://www.south-asia.com/icimod Email: shahid@icimod.org.np From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Fri Nov 13 04:34:53 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id EAA06217; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 04:32:17 GMT Received: from manaslu.mos.com.np (root@manaslu.mos.com.np [202.52.255.3]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id EAA06201 for ; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 04:32:04 GMT From: shahid@icimod.org.np Received: from pumori.mos.com.np (root@pumori.mos.com.np [202.52.255.2]) by manaslu.mos.com.np (8.6.9/8.6.9) with ESMTP id KAA04371; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 10:19:48 +0545 Received: from menris1.icimod.org.np (menris1.icimod.org.np [202.52.254.1]) by pumori.mos.com.np (8.8.5/KRG1.0) with SMTP id KAA09768; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 10:15:30 +0545 (NPT) Received: from [202.52.254.93] by menris1.icimod.org.np (AIX 4.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA03118; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 09:15:31 +0500 Message-Id: <9811130415.AA03118@menris1.icimod.org.np> Comments: Authenticated sender is To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 16:24:34 +0000 Subject: The Internet : South Asian Realities and Opportunities Cc: amehta@cerfnet.com, amehta@cpsr.org X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.23) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk dear list members, i saw irfan khan's announcements dated 10 and 11 november on the upcoming e-iscussion list o the 'state of the internet in south asia'. i wish to draw to your attention an ongoing discussion on precisely this topic that actually commenced on 5 october and on which you can find further details below. you can join the ongoing discussion by visiting and registering at the web site (url) given below as well as view the previous postings. as you will see, the traffic has been somewhat slow up to now because todate this discussion was by invitation only. indeed , we had been meaning to 'advertise' it more broadly in other lists such as these . given this ongoing discussion, the sponsors of the new s-asia-it discussion list may wish to discuss some kind of merger so that we do not have too many competitive discussions going on at the same time on the same topic. arun mehta , who is the moderator for the e-discussion that began 5 octoberand i look forward to hearing peoples views on these two intiatives and how best to reconcile them now. best regards, shahid akhtar. ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 18:04:32 -0700 (PDT) From: Arun Mehta To: "Multiple recipients" Subject: Invitation to electronic discussion South Asia is the world's most illiterate region, and confronts myriad man-made and natural problems. Can the Internet help us overcome these? Undoubtedly yes. But what needs to be done to remove the roadblocks that the Internet itself faces in the region, and what are the right steps to take, to promote its use? How can we help and learn from each other? Questions such as these will be taken up in an electronic discussion, which you can join by visiting http://www.PanAsiaNetworking.org.sg/cgi-bin/majordomo/lwgate.sasianet/sasianet For about 16 participants of this electronic discussion, the organisers will be able to fund the travel and stay for a 3-4 day workshop, at either Dacca, where we will have the opportunity to see the very interesting example of Grameen Telecom, or in Khatmandu some time next February. The rest, we hope, will participate electronically in this workshop as well. I do hope you will join, and actively participate in this discussion, which will enable you to make friends and useful contacts in this region, plus contribute to its development. Please pass on this message to anybody else who you feel may be interested as well. Warm regards, Arun ____________ THE INTERNET : SOUTH ASIAN REALITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES Introduction The Internet offers a rare opportunity to policy-makers, regulators, NGOs and citizens, since it bears the potential for increasing wealth and improving health and education in nations that learn to use it well. At the same time, it brings with it problems, as its inherent anarchy resists regulation and planning. Because of this, success can only come in societies that engage in comprehensive discussion of the issues involved in promoting the Internet. All the players mentioned above are inextricable parts of this complex, and there is a dire need to open communication channels between them. The countries of South Asia face similar problems with the Internet, yet they have adopted very different models for its advancement. While in Pakistan the private sector dominates, in India the government has so far been the monopoly service provider. Bangladesh has been remarkably innovative in bringing telecom to the poor, demonstrating clearly the considerable scope there is to learn from each other. To facilitate this comprehensive discussion, and to help look for solutions to the blockages in the path of the Internet in South Asia, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu with financial support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada , proposes to organise a workshop in February 1999. Approximately 16 key players and observers in this rapidly changing field will be invited from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, bringing together experts from government, regulatory bodies, NGOs, ISPs and the user community. The participants of this workshop will be selected primarily from the contributors to a moderated electronic discussion, which will be open to anyone wishing to contribute meaningfully to this process. While there are a large number of issues to discuss in this endeavor, it is hoped that the electronic discussion will help prioritize and select key issues for face-to-face discussion. Issues A preliminary list of issues for electronic discussion is given below: 1) Access a) A comparison of models of ISP ownership (eg., private, government, NGO) b) Providing access to the poor and illiterate c) Technological aspects relating to bandwidth (eg. quality and quantity) issues relating to technical manpower and the sharing of technical expertise d) Regional backbone and ISP collaboration in South Asia e) Security f) Gender-related issues 2) Content a) Culture -- threats and opportunities b) Generation of local-language content, and cross-border flows c) Direction and flow of information (e.g. North--South) and its implications d) Applications in health, etc e) Use of the Internet in distance education, and as an educational tool 3) Regulation a) Regulation vis-a-vis the Internet and policy formulation -- what works and what doesn't, pricing policy/tariffs, licensing practices b) Role of Government, ISPs, Regional and International Bodies, Users c) E-Commerce in the South Asian region d) Mechanisms for user feedback into policymaking 4) Opportunities for regional cooperation in promoting the growth of the Internet It is expected that the electronic discussion will add to this list, and hopefully select approximately six issues, in which a face-to-face discussion could significantly help raise the level of clarity in areas where decisions need to be taken by the countries involved. The organizers will also set up a web-site to collect and present information emanating out of the electronic discussion, including links to other useful sites in the areas under discussion. A small working group consisting of one representative each from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan as well as the ICIMOD project coordinator for this initiative and the electronic discussion list moderator will be created to plan this initiative further. The working group members will also help to propogate this initiative further, seek greater country-level participation in the electronic discussion as well as prepare and present a country paper/report at the workshop itself. While funding is available for travel and living expenses of about 16 participants, others are invited to participate electronically in the deliberations at the workshop, which will last 3 or 4 days (exact dates and venue yet to be decided). Tentative Agenda Day 1: Introduction of participants. Presentation of country reports, which highlight the current situation of the Internet in each country. Presentation of summary report by the moderator of the electronic discussion list, highlighting the key issues emerging out of the electronic discussion. Discussion of agenda for working groups andestablishment of the same Day 2: Meetings of working groups to cover the priority issues identified by the electronic discussion list. Plenary meeting to finalise recommendations. Day 3: Continuation of Working group meetings to discuss identified priority issues. Possibly a field visit. Day 4: Concluding plenary session. Report Shortly after conclusion of the workshop, a brief report highlighting the issues discussed and the conclusions reached will be added to the web site, and possibly published in a journal. If there is sufficient interest among the participants, electronic discussion will continue after the workshop is concluded, to foster on-going contact between experts of the region. Moderator Dr. Arun Mehta, amehta@cerf.net, a Delhi-based net activist who has been involved in several campaigns relating to cyber rights and who moderates the "India-gii" discussion list, will serve as the moderator for this exercise. He will also present the summary results of the discussion list at the workshop in February 1999 and prepare a final report of the workshop. Project Coordinator Mr. Shahid Akhtar, shahid@icimod.org.np who is in-charge of ICIMOD's communication, information and networking activities, is the project coordinator and will oversee the entire activity in all its dimensions from beginning to end. Arun Mehta, B-69, Lajpat Nagar-I, New Delhi-110024. Phone 6841172, 6849103 http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta amehta@cerfnet.com, amehta@cpsr.org Shahid Akhtar Head,Documentation,Information & Training, and Coordinator,Mountain Forum - Asia Pacific, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), GPO Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal. Phone: (977-1) 536741, 525313 Fax: (977-1) 524509, 524317 Url: http://www.south-asia.com/icimod Email: shahid@icimod.org.np From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Fri Nov 13 04:56:37 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id EAA06736; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 04:56:34 GMT Received: from jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca [142.177.1.6]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id EAA06732 for ; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 04:56:31 GMT Received: from LOCALNAME ([142.177.27.39]) by jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (Post.Office MTA v3.1.2 release (PO203-101c) ID# 607-45892U60000L60000S0) with SMTP id AAA4834 for ; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 00:56:38 -0400 From: kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller) Organization: hundred flowers publications To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 01:58:26 -0400 Subject: Re: Resources (1): The State of the Internet in South Asia References: Your message of Thu, 12 Nov 1998 12:40:30 -0400 In-reply-to: X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v3.01b) Message-ID: <19981113045637.AAA4834@LOCALNAME> Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Larry, > > When you speak of "independent," variables, are you thinking of what I > have called "determinants?" > The framework says, " The Internet does well in nations with robust, competitive telecommunication and computer industries, ample financial and human resources and an interested, supportive government." Isnt this as much as to say the 'success' of the net is itself a measure and an indicator? If we can measure robustness and amplitude of resources and official support, why not go with those? > Could you go along with this statement: it would be nice to find > independent variables (determinants) which predicted the values of one > or more orthogonal dependent variables (dimensions)? > If theyre dependent, they cant be orthogonal! ;-) > > I hope you appreciate my problem: Occam is reading over my shoulder, > > asking, why 6 'measures' instead of one? > > Can you meaningfully map something as complex as "the state of the > Internet in a nation" onto a single, well-defined, and interperable > value? > > Chris Demchak has good data on government web sites in each nation. > You might want to look at her data and play with some ratios of govt > webs to total hosts in nations. There is a link to her in the list of > links on my web site under developing nations/links to other sites. > Yes, theres some good thinking going on there, prompting me to throw another factor into the ring: the merit of any chosen dimension should have a *temporal aspect to it: mere existence, whether of hardware or policy, shouldnt count for much. In this view, my earlier criticism may be irrelevant . Until they can be mapped over time, we might pick practically anything as a factor. In self-defence, however, I recall the perpetual tendency to read *descriptive matter as *prescriptive: the very fact that 'pervasiveness' say (or Demchak's 'openness') is picked out may lead some parties to design their organizational policies to maximize the numbers, rather than working towards some more socially useful functionality. The other thought I have is that 'who's asking' may be a relevant question in this kind of assessment. Demchak's and your measures both reflect, I think, the assumption that a (hypothetical) 'global citizen' should be able to make the relevant observations by herself (rather than, for instance, by reading some official minutes). To this extent, then, mapping "the state of the Internet" equates to mapping the state of democracy (good luck!) While this may not be impossible, it does suggest that such maps are of use *only to outsiders - because the participants are busy using their democratic/ netted tools to get on with accomplishing things. Yes, it's an ideal, and I have a lot of time for ideality, for where would we be if we all only ever tended our own knitting? But it could well be the case that a system exists wherein its users are being fully open and transparent to one another, are geographically and sectorally distributed and all -- yet *we* are not going to know about it. Seems to me they shouldnt lose points on that account. kerry From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Fri Nov 13 05:39:08 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id FAA08090; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 05:38:37 GMT Received: from zephyr.isi.edu (zephyr.isi.edu [128.9.160.160]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id FAA08085 for ; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 05:38:35 GMT Received: (from lpress@localhost) by zephyr.isi.edu (8.8.7/8.8.6) id VAA12773; Thu, 12 Nov 1998 21:38:25 -0800 (PST) Date: Thu, 12 Nov 98 21:38:25 PST From: "Laurence I. Press" To: kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller) Cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: Re: Resources (1): The State of the Internet in South Asia In-Reply-To: Your message of Fri, 13 Nov 1998 01:58:26 -0400 Message-ID: Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk > The framework says, " The Internet does well in nations with robust, > competitive telecommunication and computer industries, ample financial and > human resources and an interested, supportive government." Isnt this as By "telecommunication" here I meant the telephone industry -- mainlines/capita, percent digital, etc. The sorts of indicators the ITU tracks. > If theyre dependent, they cant be orthogonal! ;-) We are using the terms differently -- I meant "independent" and "dependent" in the sense they are used in multivariate data analysis -- for example in regression analysis where you have several independent variables which are used to explain the variance in a dependent variable. You are using the term in the sense of non-orthogonal. Coming back to your use of independent -- two variables being correlated does not imply an underlying causal mechanism. I was looking for variables that were (largely) logically independent (in your sense) and yet described what I thought were some important characteristics of the state of the Net in a nation. Again -- if you can reduce it to fewer dimensions or redefine mine to better achieve independence go for it! > a *temporal aspect to it: mere existence, whether of hardware or policy, > shouldnt count for much. Yes, time series are needed -- whether my variables or others. A major feature of Mark Lottor's host counts is that we have them for several years. A problem is that (as in Lottor's case), technology or practice may render the old method of gathering data obsolete. Also, scales can shift dramatically over time (especially on the Internet :-), necessitating redefinition. Lar From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Fri Nov 13 19:05:55 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id SAA29176; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 18:45:52 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id SAA29168 for ; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 18:45:36 GMT Received: from ngorc (khi-line-103.super.net.pk [203.130.5.242]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id XAA09242; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 23:38:38 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811131838.XAA09242@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: shahid@icimod.org.np, amehta@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 23:43:53 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: The Internet : South Asian Realities and Opportunities CC: s-asia-it@apnic.net In-reply-to: <9811130415.AA03128@menris1.icimod.org.np> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT On 13 Nov 98 at 9:05, shahid@icimod.org.np wrote: <> Thanks for the info. It was quite exciting to learn about the discussion, and as a result, I have subscribed to the discussion list. Considering the importance of the discussion being taking place at SAsiaNet, I seek your permission to forward all posts that appear on SAsiaNet to S-Asia-IT for wider outreach. Regards, Irfan Khan From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Fri Nov 13 22:27:13 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id WAA04483; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 22:26:30 GMT Received: from jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca [142.177.1.6]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id WAA04476 for ; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 22:26:27 GMT Received: from LOCALNAME ([142.177.24.30]) by jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (Post.Office MTA v3.1.2 release (PO203-101c) ID# 607-45892U60000L60000S0) with SMTP id AAA24469 for ; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 18:26:43 -0400 From: kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller) Organization: hundred flowers publications To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 19:28:29 -0400 Subject: Re: The Internet : South Asian Realities and Opportunities In-reply-to: <199811131838.XAA09242@isp.super.net.pk> References: <9811130415.AA03128@menris1.icimod.org.np> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v3.01b) Message-ID: <19981113222639.AAA24469@LOCALNAME> Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk It may also be useful to review the Nov 97 special issue of the Internet Society's magazine "OnTheInternet" entitled "Strategies for development: from thought to action" http://www.connected.org/develop/develop.html Most of the contributions are from Africa and Latin America, but I suspect the 'opportunities and threats' are similar. On a related note, I would be interested to hear others' opinions of the DNS corporatization process going on these days - is there a possible role of 'country-code' administrators in assuring that public communications remains higher on the agenda than comercialism? kerry From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Sun Nov 15 05:32:40 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id FAA19176; Sun, 15 Nov 1998 05:30:03 GMT Received: from ram.wlink.com.np (IDENT:qmailr@ram.wlink.com.np [206.82.134.33]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id FAA19139 for ; Sun, 15 Nov 1998 05:29:57 GMT Received: (qmail 5888 invoked from network); 15 Nov 1998 05:33:17 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO watchftp.wlink.com.np) (206.82.134.53) by ram.wlink.com.np with SMTP; 15 Nov 1998 05:33:17 -0000 Message-Id: <3.0.32.19981116111002.0069b640@206.82.134.33> X-Sender: watchftp@206.82.134.33 X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0 (32) Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 11:15:25 +0500 To: sushma@mos.com.np From: watch ftp Subject: Change of Phone Number Cc: bol@mos.com.np, s-asia-it@apnic.net, nepal-list@mos.com.np Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk >Dear all. >Warmest Greetings from WATCH!!! > >OUR PHONE NUMBER 475653 IS CHANGED STARTING FROM 16 NOVEMBER 1998. OUR NEW PHONE NUMBER IS 494653. > >Thank you very much. > >With Best Regards. >Bhagawan >WATCH. > > > > From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Sun Nov 15 20:17:28 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id UAA19254; Sun, 15 Nov 1998 20:16:19 GMT Received: from garlic.negia.net (IDENT:root@garlic.negia.net [206.61.0.14]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id UAA19250 for ; Sun, 15 Nov 1998 20:16:15 GMT Received: from idn.org (p117.negia.net [207.43.201.127]) by garlic.negia.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id PAA01939; Sun, 15 Nov 1998 15:10:37 -0500 Message-ID: <364F3463.A4311D8C@idn.org> Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998 15:06:59 -0500 From: Christopher Byrne Organization: International Development Network X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: info@idn.org Subject: This Week at the International Development Network (November 15) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Greetings! This past week, the IDN (http://www.idn.org/) welcomed visitor number 15,000 and welcomed over 950 visitors for the week, a new high. We also posted our first publicly available job listings from the Research Triangle Institute, which is a service we offer our organizational sponsoring members. Here is what else is new this week: AIDS in Zimbabwe: What Happens to the Children Surviving on the Farms? On Thursday, 12 November, National Public Radio's (NPR's) Brenda Wilson reported on the problems that AIDS is causing on farms in the African nation of Zimbabwe. She visits a three-thousand acre commercial farm in the Mashonaland (muh-SHOH-nuh-land) region of northeastern Zimbabwe, where an estimated one in five persons is infected  with H-I-V. One of the biggest problems is what to do with the orphans left behind by parents who die from the disease. There may be as many as 500-thousand children in Zimbabwe who have lost one or both parents because of AIDS. The IDN provides a direct link to the audio file containing this story, instructions on how to locate the story and a link to download Real Audio software to hear the story on your computer. _______________________________________________________________________ TOOLS YOU CAN USE Development Stories from National Public Radio This week's tool is a link to the archive sites for National Public Radio's All Things Considered and Morning Edition. These programs often contain stories on development problems and initiatives around the world. For example, last Thursday, the lead story was about scientists that don't believe the storm caused the most damage. They say a lack of environmental controls and widespread poverty brought much of the devastation to the region. NPR is working on a search engine for all of their programs, but this is not done as of yet. _______________________________________________________________________ QUICK LINK OF THE WEEK This weeks IDN Quick Link is to the web site for the Bellanet initiative to define and implement an Internet markup language specific to the development community which will facilitate transparency, learning and coordination of action. The IDN does not endorse this initiative in its current form (if you would like to know why, please write) but provides the link for informational purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ NEW LINKS *Advocates for Youth - The International Division of Advocates for Youth continues to lead in supporting innovative adolescent reproductive health programs in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. African Medical and Research Foundation - mission, in partnership with communities, governments and donors, is to improve health care for the underserved in Africa through service delivery, training and research. CAUSE Canada - Supports work in geographical regions where there is an under representation of international aid organizations. Catholic Institute for International Relations - Tackling the causes of poverty and injustice internationally through advocacy and skillsharing. We work with people of all faiths and none. Charles Stewart Mott Foundation - grants for programs in Civil Society, Environment, and Poverty. Cottonwood Foundation - a charitable, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization, is dedicated to promoting empowerment of people, protection of the environment, and respect for cultural diversity. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation - provides international grants to nonprofit organizations in the following broad program areas: Science, Children, Population, Conservation, Arts, Community and Special Areas that include Organizational Effectiveness and Philanthropy. Horizons of Friendship - is a Canadian non-profit, international development agency committed to addressing the root causes of poverty and injustice through the cooperation of people from the South and North. The Institute of International Finance - is the world’s only global association of financial institutions. The International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) -  is the international nongovernmental organization which deals with hydrology and water resources. International Commission on Water Quality (ICWQ) - is responsible for promoting the advancement of water quality aspects of hydrological systems, including assessment and management. International Vaccine Institute - works on the belief that health in developing countries can be dramatically improved by the development, introduction and use of new and improved vaccines and that these vaccines should be developed through a dynamic interaction among science, public health, and business. The Microfinance Centre for Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States - mission is to support existing and future microfinance institutions in CEE and the NIS in their efforts to alleviate poverty, create employment, and privatize the economy through the development of microenterprises and self-employment. The Ontario Council for International Cooperation (OCIC) - is a coalition of more than sixty members and forty associates involved in international development and global education in Ontario. Project Harmony - is a not-for-profit cultural organization founded on the belief that active citizenship and community involvement strengthen the international community. Links with an (*) are modified links or link descriptions. _______________________________________________________________________ THE DEVELOPMENT FRONT - Selected Sample Headlines From Nov 8-14 The following is a sample of the headline links provided to sponsoring members of the IDN last week: Dark Side of Mongolia Bosnia union critical of Daimler-Benz supply deal Bush Tours Honduras, Urges Aid Storm Weary Hondurans rush for vaccinations British Navy Maps Plan For Nicaragua Rescue Haiti Nominee Accused in Report American aid worker expelled by Nicaragua Drug smugglers turning to Haiti Frisby Technologies to Support President's Council on Sustainable Development SGI-Sponsored Environmental Exhibition Opens In the Amazon City of Belem, Brazil Poor Countries Make Pitch For Global Warming Aid Have Your say in How South Africa Cashes in on its Coast India Environment Ministry Forms Panel on East Coast Road Nonprofit Groups Make Big Push - Story on Strength of NGO Community Int’l Communications Organization Approves Country Code for Palestinian Authority Give battered countries a break on debt, coalition says APEC Subgroup Proposes Guarantees On Capital UK denies U-turn on disaster debt relief On easing of sanctions, India says U.S. favors Pakistan China Introduces Regulations for Sanctioned Private Social Groups Vietnam to tighten grip on jobs at foreign firms Afghanistan says nine agencies can resume aid work ENVIRO-ACOPs Conference on the Seas Set in South Africa U.S. to urge donors to combat Peru coca production Joint Report Details Central America's Environmental Decline EDUVERSE Enters Into Cooperative Initiatives to Extend Product Distribution Into Malaysia and Thailand, (CIDA Project) Irish MEP decries falling Irish aid to Third World TransAlta Receives Worldwide Recognition for Sustainable Development Initiatives Stofile Roadshow reaches out to Rural People (Sustainable Development in SA) Government Commitment on Overseas Aid Sought in Ireland FOCUS-Europeans urge debt relief for Mitch nations U.N. Disappoints Tanzania Official Pfizer joins forces with charity to fight blindness  Diana fund blocks mine war aid Book Review - Compassion fatigue:  How the Media Sell Disease, famine, war and Death _______________________________________________________________________ The IDN plans to continue our growth and to expand the depth and breadth of our information services. If you have not yet thought about a membership/sponsorship in the IDN, we encourage you to consider becoming a sponsor/member of the fastest growing, most comprehensive and current International Development Web Site on the Internet! Information is available at http://www.idn.org/membership/ From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Mon Nov 16 09:05:31 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id JAA09672; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 09:02:41 GMT Received: from manaslu.mos.com.np (root@manaslu.mos.com.np [202.52.255.3]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id JAA09660 for ; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 09:02:28 GMT From: kishor@icimod.org.np Received: from pumori.mos.com.np (root@pumori.mos.com.np [202.52.255.2]) by manaslu.mos.com.np (8.6.9/8.6.9) with ESMTP id OAA18015 for ; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 14:50:12 +0545 Received: from menris1.icimod.org.np (menris1.icimod.org.np [202.52.254.1]) by pumori.mos.com.np (8.8.5/KRG1.0) with SMTP id OAA12503 for ; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 14:46:05 +0545 (NPT) Received: from [202.52.254.103] by menris1.icimod.org.np (AIX 4.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA03228; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 13:46:07 +0500 Message-Id: <9811160846.AA03228@menris1.icimod.org.np> Comments: Authenticated sender is To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 02:42:37 +0000 Subject: Telecommunication liberalised in Nepal X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.23) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk The following news on liberalisation of telecom policy in Nepal was published on 15 November in a local English daily. May be of interest to the South Asian list members. *** Govt breaks NTC's monopoly in telecom, The Kathmandu Post, 15 November, 1998, by Ram Sharan Sedhai. KATHMANDU, Nov 14 - It's been a long time since Parliament in 1996 passed the bill that would allow private sector to operate various telecommunication services. But it was only this week that the government finally opened up the VSAT, including 11 other telecom services, to the private sector. Indeed, a welcome step. VSATs are specialised earth stations equipped with transceivers (transmitter+receiver) capable of uplinking as well as downlinking voice, data and video signals. One can use these portable sets in the middle of a jungle or on top of the Himalayan peak - without the assistance of any cable-connection. As far the consumers are concerned, one big plus of the VSAT is that the entry of private sector will not only make the services more efficient and actually bring down the tariff rates. With this decision, now the government has in total allowed 12 telecom services - VSAT-Network Provider and VSAT User, Audio Conferencing, Pay phone, Pre-Paid Calling Card, Local Data Network, Radio Paging Network and Trunk Mobile Radio, among others, to the private operators. The users are required to obtain individual licence for each service. But the licence fees are not decided yet. However, there is no provision for providing Video Conferencing and Internet phone yet. Says the Chairman of Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) Bhupa Raj Pandey, "Video conferencing is not allowed to private sector at present because of technical reasons and Internet phone because of the low quality to the Internet phone. But we plan to provide them to the private sector later". However, experts view the whole thing differently. They say the government is zealously protecting the monopoly of the Nepal Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) and this at the cost of consumers. They argue if these facilities are given to the private sector they need not depend upon the NTC's leased lines. Instead, they will have direct access to the international gateway. All private operators should be given a comprehensive licence which allows them to run all services thus letting them capitalize the opportunities being offered by the convergence of technology. Recently, India has allowed internet to the private sector with no licence fees for the first five years and a token of Re 1 fee thereafter. Since the government has opened the telecom services to private sector and has not formulated all the required rules and regulations, it will do well to listen to opinions from various sectors. VSAT offers reliable, flexible and efficient means of data communication which have impressive through put. This is most useful in a country like Nepal whose development of terrestrial facilities are hamstrung by its inaccessible topography. Though VSAT is basically confined to the high-end users--as corporates-- it is gradually getting to the low-end users--those who have their own VSAT or use others. Rajiv Subba, member of Nepal Internet Users Group (NIUG), an institution working for better IT culture in Nepal, lauds the policy: "It is a big boost for the IT sector which will reduce the lease line cost and Internet tariff. This will help provide better services as there will be fewer hubs. The result, according to him, will be a greater number of Internet users. The more the Internet number, the higher would be the benefit for the NTC. According to Bijaya Krishna Shrestha, President of Computer Association of Nepal (CAN), it is "a most welcome step which had to be allowed long ago". It is undeniable that access to information at the nick of time has become more than a necessity and VSATs are ready made answers. They can be used in transportation, service industry, manufacturing, banking, insurance, financial services, hospitality, distribution, publication, energy, and so on. Suresh Kumar Regmi, former general secretary of CAN, says that the decision has broken NTC's monopoly on telecom services. And the most important thing is that it encourages new ventures and renders better service at low cost. /\ /\ /\ /\ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \/ \/ \/ \ Kishor Pradhan, Network Assistant APMN/MF, DITS, ICIMOD, 4/80 Jawalakhel GPO BOX 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal TeL: (977-1) 525-313 Fax: (977-1) 524-317, (977-1)524-509 E-mail: kishor@icimod.org.np URL: http://www.south-asia.com/icimod/AP.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Think not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"- Abraham Lincoln. "Yesterday a tree, today a tree, tomorrow a tree is what is sustainability"- anonymous. "Development should bring wider choices for people to better their life and for their children"- anonymous. "You only live once, if you live it right, that is enough"- anonymous. "DON'T LEAVE FOR TOMORROW, WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY" - anonymous. From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Mon Nov 16 11:48:22 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id LAA14431; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 11:47:43 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id LAA14289 for ; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 11:47:19 GMT Received: from ngorc (khi-line-036.super.net.pk [203.130.5.175]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id QAA26700; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 16:37:10 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811161137.QAA26700@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 16:42:13 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Resources (4): The State of the Internet in South Asia CC: p.a.v.hall@open.ac.uk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Many thanks to Pat Hall who recommended the April 1998 issue of Himal (cover story: Native Computers) for our discussion. The lead article "The Political Economy of Software" in the April 1998 issue has been written by Kenneth Keniston of MIT, and covers the issues of globalisation, "localisation", and the dynamics of economics and culture in South Asia. This article is also available on the Himal's website (http://www.himalmag.com). [Keniston also spoke in the Bangalore It.Com '98 (see my forwarded post of 12 Nov, which had originally appeared in the nettime of 10 Nov).] Irfan Khan From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Mon Nov 16 11:48:22 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id LAA14425; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 11:47:39 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id LAA14326 for ; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 11:47:19 GMT Received: from ngorc (khi-line-036.super.net.pk [203.130.5.175]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id QAA27575 for ; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 16:37:02 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811161137.QAA27575@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 16:42:13 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: the discussion and delays... Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Dear Friends, As a firm believer in the Murphy's Law, I knew something would go wrong on 16 November: there is a lot of static in my telephone line since last night. My apologies for the delay caused by it. Anyway, the discussion starts from today. Here is what we want to do: [from the announcements] S-Asia-IT is organising a discussion on state of the internet in South Asia -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The purpose of the discussion is to take a snapshot of the internet connectivity and usage; government policies and their impact on IT; and and to see how -- if, at all -- the net is contributing towards social and economic development in South Asian countries. It is hoped that the discussion will develop a broad understanding of the role of IT in socio-economic development. The discussion will continue till 15 December 1998, and will culminate in the form of a summary of discussions. [end] Already a couple of good sources of information have been identified (a list is being sent as a separate post). In the first 7-10 days, the emphasis will be on the current situation (connectivity, infrastructure, user base, personal experiences, etc.). Looking forward to hear from you. Regards, Irfan Khan From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Mon Nov 16 11:48:41 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id LAA14472; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 11:48:40 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id LAA14302 for ; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 11:47:19 GMT Received: from ngorc (khi-line-036.super.net.pk [203.130.5.175]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id QAA24656 for ; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 16:37:24 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811161137.QAA24656@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 16:42:13 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: list of resources mentioned so far Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT [resources mentioned so far. the list is by no means complete. ik.] Larry Press's "Tracking the Global Diffusion of the Internet" [http://som.csudh.edu/fac/lpress/gdiff/index.htm] The Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC)'s database of "international networking developments and Internet connectivity providers" [http://www.nsrc.org/ASIA/asia.html] "Strategies for development: from thought to action" in Internet Society's magazine "OnTheInternet" (Nov 1997) [http://www.connected.org/develop/develop.html] "The Political Economy of Software" in Himal (April 1998) [http://www.himalmag.com] From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Mon Nov 16 15:09:36 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id PAA18988; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 15:08:41 GMT Received: from findmail.com (m6.findmail.com [209.185.96.140]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id PAA18984 for ; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 15:08:37 GMT Received: (qmail 30530 invoked by uid 505); 16 Nov 1998 15:09:07 -0000 Date: 16 Nov 1998 15:09:07 -0000 Message-ID: <19981116150907.30529.qmail@findmail.com> Received: from 202.54.14.211 (via http) from to list "rre" From: "Nareshchandra Laishram" Subject: About India To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Hi, Just chanced upon your message. The Internet Policy of India has just been announced. You people might like to have a look at the latest Voice & Data magazine to find our more about it. The site address is www.voicendata.com Also you can check out our September issue from the same web site to find out in detail about the ISP situation in India Bye, Nareshchandra Laishram Senior Reporter From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Mon Nov 16 19:25:01 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id TAA26228; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 19:23:55 GMT Received: from MIT.EDU (PACIFIC-CARRIER-ANNEX.MIT.EDU [18.69.0.28]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id TAA26223 for ; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 19:23:52 GMT Received: from MIT.MIT.EDU by MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA27786; Mon, 16 Nov 98 14:12:11 EST Received: from ERMURROW.MIT.EDU by MIT.MIT.EDU (5.61/4.7) id AA06088; Mon, 16 Nov 98 14:12:09 EST Date: Mon, 16 Nov 98 14:12:09 EST Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net From: Venkatesh Hariharan Subject: Portals go international Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Here's an interesting article from News.Com. I hope this is the first signs of a great upsurge of interest in localised content. Venky http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,28819,00.html?st.ne.fd.mdh Portals go international By Scott Martin Staff Writer, CNET News.com November 16, 1998, 5:00 a.m. PT International portals are vying for some of the action. Portal developer Orientation, which maintains a network of regional sites internationally, joined forces with InfoLanka, a Sri Lankan content developer and aggregator to form Orientation Sri Lanka. The service follows on the heels of the firm's rollout of a similar service, Orientation Costa Rica, that was launched last week. Adopting the strategy for success that has proved lucrative for the likes of Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, and AltaVista, among others, international portal efforts are cropping up, as firms try to replicate the model of search, packed services, and localized directory assistance that nets eyeballs, ergo big advertisers. Another international portal service, 24.com, based in South Africa just beefed up its offerings by signing on Northern Light's search. The search firm will provide 24.com's Internet gateway users with access to more than 5,000 publications that are included in queries with its "research engine." 24.com offers users guides to South African restaurants, music, and entertainment, among other search services. Orientation Sri Lanka gives users access to a similar smorgasbord of local offerings. The service also provides access to local Usenet discussions, Sri Lankan IRC chat channels, news, and travel information powered by travel publisher Lonely Planet, among other features. "Our goal is to make Orientation Sri Lanka the premier one-stop gateway to information on Sri Lanka," spokesperson Muditha Aghayagunawardhana said in a statement. Orientation's services span from Asia and Africa to Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed. Venkatesh Hariharan Knight Science Journalism Fellow @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology 156 Magazine Street, Apt # 33, Cambridge, MA 02139 Tel: (O) 617-253-6709 Fax: 617-258-8100 URL: http://www.venky.org ***NEW*** Read my article on young Indian s/w entrepreneurs at http://www.upside.com/texis/mvm/story?id=36222fdc0 From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Mon Nov 16 19:44:22 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id TAA26704; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 19:44:15 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id TAA26659 for ; Mon, 16 Nov 1998 19:41:29 GMT Received: from ngorc (khi-line-044.super.net.pk [203.130.5.183]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id AAA06228 for ; Tue, 17 Nov 1998 00:37:29 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811161937.AAA06228@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 00:42:27 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: (Fwd) [CCI] Indialine: Dr Madanmohan Rao Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT [appeared on the Cybercom mailing list; was originially in two parts; slightly reformated] ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998 17:53:48 +0500 Reply-to: From: Frederick Noronha Subject: [CCI] Indialine: Dr Madanmohan Rao To: CYBERCOM@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU --------------------------------------------------------------- T H E I N T E R N E T I N I N D I A INDIALINE.com PRIVATE COMPANIES BEGIN TO RECEIVE LICENSES IN NEWLY LIBERALISED INDIAN ISP MARKET __________________ By Madanmohan Rao __________________ Two private companies - Ortel Communications and Surevin Consultants have become the first private ISPs to receive licenses for Internet access in the Indian market. Government-owned telecom provider MTNL has also received licenses for the Delhi and Mumbai Internet markets, and the government monopoly ISP for commercial services has announced aggressive new plans for the Internet market. I think India shall boast of more than 6-8 national level ISPs, over 30-40 regional ISPs (operating in more than one city), and over 200 local ISPs as early as August '99, said Manish Sharma, CEO of Mumbai-based Web solutions company DBS Internet Services , in an interview. The ISP policy, mired in litigations and controversy for over a year, was unveiled late last week by the minister of state for communications Kabindra Purakayastha. ISP licenses will be issued for 15 years and there will be no licence fee or any limit on the number of licenses awarded. The railways, state electricity boards and the National Power Grid Corporation are allowed to provide Internet backbone services. Foreign equity of up to 49 per cent in an ISP is permitted. Several large Indian industrial groups such as the Modis, Nandas, Rais and Mittals - are reportedly undertaking ISP feasibility studies. The Bharti group, HCL, Crompton Greaves, the Escorts group, Bharti-British Telecom, and a host of other companies are in the ISP business pipeline. Demand for PCs is now expected to increase significantly as it did in the West once the Internet catches on; India currently has an installed base of about only two million PCs, and about 500,000 Internet users. One of the greatest challenges that the country faced was broadening Internet access, said Sanjay Kumar, president and CEO of the company Computer Associates. Kumar delivered a keynote address titled The Dawn of the Net Era, at the Connectivity India '98 conference in Bangalore. But in the wake of the recent Asian economic crisis, prospective ISPs will need to carefully examine currency variation issues. Any currency fluctuation will hit the ISP the most as he is charging in local currencies but paying in dollars for international connectivity. Also, the entire infrastructure is imported and an ISP needs to keep upgrading it to maintain minimum service standards, Sharma cautioned. The largest challenge will be in terms of lack of expertise in handling ISP operations. Most of those jumping in to the ISP business have no clue about the dynamics of the game and the exponential demand it produces in relatively short periods, Sharma observed. Indias software business, which relies heavily on computer networks for international operations, is reportedly poised to touch revenues of US$ 6 billion by the turn of the century, out of which exports would account for about US$4 billion. The software industry grows hand in glove with the proliferation of the Internet, according to Dewang Mehta, director of the National Association of Software and Services Companies. Other analysts were of the opinion that the long-overdue policy still had some shortcomings in terms of bank guarantee stipulations and prohibition of Internet telephony. For an ISP, a bank guarantee works out pretty expensive too - they won't call it that, but it pretty much amounts to a license fee. The spirit of the national infotech taskforce recommendations have been lost here, said Arun Mehta, a datacom consultant in New Delhi. He said it was also a shame that the government had decided to ban Internet telephony. I expect we'll need to mount a full legal challenge here, said Mehta, who has in the past lobbied for progressive legislation for bulletin board systems in India. He advised Indian ISPs to examine cable and wireless options for delivering service, and form lobbying groups. Join and strengthen organisations such as the E-mail and Internet Service Providers Association of India (EISPAI). Pay attention to customer service - this is where VSNL fails miserably. Set up and nurture user groups, Mehta suggested. He said the government monopoly may be shaken, but it is still formidable. The monopoly ISP for commercial services, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL), has a couple of years experience in offering Internet services in India, and has a large installed base of customers. It won't be easy to lure them away, he said. VSNL itself has been upgrading infrastructure, cutting access rates, and planning toll-free access services as well as e-mail to pager gateways. About Rs 10 crore (= US$ 2.36 million) will be invested in the next one or two months to reorganise our Internet services, VSNLs director of operations, Amitabh Kumar, has announced. The Indian ministry has stipulated that ISPs wishing to set up their own international gateways would need to obtain security clearance from an inter-ministerial committee, but the norms for security clearance have not yet been worked out. Despite these uncertainties, many Indian companies are announcing forays into the ISP business. Bangalore-based networking solutions company Microland is teaming up with cable television operators IN TV and Siti Cable to develop cable-TV Internet services. Nortel, which has acquired Micom and Bay Networks, is expected to offer complete hardware solutions to Microland for this purpose, according to Anand Sudarshan, vice president of Microland. "India has a huge potential for providing Internet connectivity through the existing cable TV network, he said. We are very happy, since more users in India means more traffic for our sites. As the size of the Indian audience rises, so will domestic Internet ad spend, according to Rajesh Jain, managing director of IndiaWorld Communications, one of the first content aggregators and Web publishers in India. The policy augurs well for a competitive marketplace, Jain concluded. NEWS, VIEWS, COLUMNS on the Internet in India INDIALINE http://www.indialine.com You can write to feedback@indialine.com --------------------------------------------------------------- CCI Mailing List-http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/cybercom.html To Join send mail to LISTSERV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU with follwing message SUBSCRIBE CYBERCOM First_name Last_name From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Tue Nov 17 16:16:07 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id QAA00273; Tue, 17 Nov 1998 16:12:09 GMT Received: from jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca [142.177.1.6]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id QAA00266 for ; Tue, 17 Nov 1998 16:12:06 GMT Received: from LOCALNAME ([142.177.93.51]) by jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (Post.Office MTA v3.1.2 release (PO203-101c) ID# 607-45892U60000L60000S0) with SMTP id AAC25036 for ; Tue, 17 Nov 1998 12:12:24 -0400 From: kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller) Organization: hundred flowers publications To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 12:08:56 -0400 Subject: The Political Economy of Software X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v3.01b) Message-ID: <19981117161211.AAC25036@LOCALNAME> Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk http://www.himalmag.com/apr98/cover.htm > The Political Economy of Software > by Kenneth Keniston > > 0f South Asia’s 1.3 billion citizens, 96 percent are currently excluded from > using the computer, the Internet, and the World Wide Web. This is due to > the near-total absence of software in the languages that the majority of them > speak.... > > Whether or not software is localised at all, and if so, whether it is adapted to > the cultures to which it is localised, are issues influenced by political and > cultural factors. Future social and cultural impacts of software and of other > aspects of the electronic age in South Asia are in no sense technologically > determined, but depend largely on what South Asians and Americans decide > to do, and specifically on the capacity to work together to set standards for > localisation to non-English languages that are global without being > imperialistic. > I'm sure to disturb someone's sensitivities by even commenting on the article, but perhaps by stomping around some I can break the ice for others to follow: Dr Keniston's remarks are initially framed by editorial references to 'small businessmen, grassroots activists, bureaucrats and administrators ... school teachers, accountants, overseers and reporters,' as the potential users of localised software, which seems perfectly sensible and straightforward. But when numbers such as those quoted above are brought up, equating computer users with native language *speakers*, the picture starts to get a bit vague. By the time the vision of a "cosmopolitan, globalised, consumerist, lowest- common-denominator world culture... inspired and perhaps dominated by Disney, Sony, Murdoch, MTV (suitably adapted to conditions in Delhi or Buenos Aires)" is brought in to emphasise the need for self-determination (a k a localised software) -- which of course will not have the slightest appeal to "ethnic, cultural and political purity" -- I begin to wonder what exactly he is driving at. Are numeracy and lliteracy really essential? While the availability of the command line is no longer what it was, that fact is more often a frustration than a necessity, and I'm sure Im not alone in having noticed that my numeracy skills immediately deteriorated after buying my first calculator. I do seem to recall that log 2 is .30103, but I havent used the fact for years- - and hardly ever think of working out a problem longhand to check the computer! But, he writes, "These assumptions presuppose the presence of a certain kind of person on one end of the computer. But what if he or she cannot use numbers? What if she or he cannot read the instructions on the screen? What if he or she cannot write, or cannot type? What percent of the world’s population today satisfies all these elementary requirements of computer use, when half of the people in the world have never made a telephone call?" Are these the same people as the shopkeepers, businessmen, teachers, accountants, overseers, activists and administrators we started with? Well, perhaps so -- but how then did we come to know that "effectiveness and competitive advantage... [archives] used for future planning... ensuring accuracy, speed and flexibility," are their top priorities? . On one hand, the argument seems to be that everyone in the world deserves to be 'wired'; on the other, that they are entitled to wire themselves in their own way, as they see fit. It's hard to see which way the tragedy should fall out. Could the hegemony of American-packaged software be one small aspect of a larger pattern in which 'American' -- or more precisely, global technetronic -- culture spreads across the world at the expense of local diversity? Indeed it could, and the question is relevant in the so-called first world as well. (But no- one talks about *this* 'convergence'!) I don't think there is any easy way to get your computerized cake without having to eat it all. Sure, one may be able to rescue a few culturally sensitive crumbs such as icons and typefaces, but if technocracy is not what one hungers for, I can only recommend staying out of the kitchen altogether. In the end, Dr Keniston's real message consists of one sentence: "consequences... will not be determined by the technologies as such, but rather by the ways we use them, by the contexts within which we choose to deploy them, by the wisdom and values that guide our actions." The future indeed depends on what we decide to do. This is plain unvarnished truth, and it has been so since Homo sapiens began. Equally true is that people, always and everywhere, have been seduced from the path of (localised) wisdom by (suitably adapted) toys. Computers may seem to empower us to do better, but the error of our ways does not change for having the error message presented in 16 million colors -- or 18 languages. If one sixth of the population already knows what it needs to know, let's set that as a minimum global standard, and use our capacity to work together to increase it if we can. kerry From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Tue Nov 17 18:01:16 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id SAA02978; Tue, 17 Nov 1998 18:00:05 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id RAA02950 for ; Tue, 17 Nov 1998 17:59:50 GMT Received: from ngorc (khi-line-011.super.net.pk [203.130.5.150]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id WAA27837 for ; Tue, 17 Nov 1998 22:56:44 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811171756.WAA27837@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 23:01:44 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: (Fwd) APNIC -- Positions Vacaant Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 20:16:41 +1000 (EST) From: Paul Gampe Subject: Asia Pacific Network Information Centre - Positions Vacant Readers of this list may be interested in the following announcement. The deadline for receiving applications for the position of "Technical Writer" has been extended to November 23rd 1989. Please do not hesitate to forward this email to interested parties. --- Asia Pacific Network Information Centre ** Position Vacant ** Technical writer We seek a candidate with experience in technical and/or legal writing to undertake the development and maintenance of APNIC's on-line documentation library. One to two years experience of technical writing with knowledge of networking fundamentals and TCP/IP routing is required. About APNIC APNIC is one of the three Internet Address Registry organisations which exist in the world today. It has responsibility for allocation of Internet resources across the Asia-Pacific. We work actively with networking organisations in this region, and with the international community of Internet organisations, on a not-for-profit basis in the service of the Internet community in the Asia-Pacific. APNIC offers a unique international working environment, attractive remuneration and travel opportunities. We are an equal opportunity employer. Asian language skills would be an advantage in this position. Location: Brisbane, Australia. Further details of this position can be found on http://www.apnic.net. Interested and qualified candidates should complete the application form on the web site and send it to employment@apnic.net or by post to Positions Vacant, APNIC, PO Box 2131, Milton, Queensland, 4064, Australia. The closing date deadline for the technical writer position has been extended to Monday 23rd November. Interviews will be held during the following week beginning Monday 30th November. From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Tue Nov 17 23:07:49 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id XAA09776; Tue, 17 Nov 1998 23:06:41 GMT Received: from falcon.adelaide.on.net (falcon.adelaide.on.net [203.16.214.248]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id XAA09772 for ; Tue, 17 Nov 1998 23:06:39 GMT Received: from tooheys ([150.101.8.253]) by adelaide.on.net (PMDF V5.1-12 #U3257) with ESMTP id <01J4BBT7TJC6002PGP@adelaide.on.net> for s-asia-it@apnic.net; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 09:36:20 +0930 Received: from sanmiguel.notes.santos.com.au (notes.santos.com.au) by tooheys.santos.com.au (PMDF V5.1-9 #24331) with SMTP id <0F2L00G0G9HBO9@tooheys.santos.com.au> for s-asia-it@apnic.net; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 09:35:35 +1030 (CST) Received: by sanmiguel.notes.santos.com.au(Lotus SMTP MTA v4.6.1 (569.2 2-6-1998)) id 692566C0.00007E88 ; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 09:35:23 +0930 Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 09:34:22 +0930 From: ben Moretti Subject: Linux and Mexico To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Message-id: <692566BF.00836B11.00@sanmiguel.notes.santos.com.au> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: multipart/mixed; Boundary="0__=2GKegKt7GD4KD5nE0DYQyK4YUjXl6DDPBu2k2U7Pe8ianKZi5uAWrdPo" Content-disposition: inline X-Lotus-FromDomain: SANTOS Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk --0__=2GKegKt7GD4KD5nE0DYQyK4YUjXl6DDPBu2k2U7Pe8ianKZi5uAWrdPo Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Hello all, This article comes from http://www.lwn.net/1998/1029/ I am prompted to send this as there are some parallels between the issues discussed in this article and the rationale for this mailing list. The essential outcome of this project is that high performance computing - desktop, server and network - can be made available to many people and countries at low prices. Additionally this solution is not necessarily Americentric - if so much can be translated into Spanish, why not others - hence avoiding the inherent cultural imperialism of much software. Cheers Ben 140,000 Mexican school labs to be outfitted with Linux and GNOME. Out of the blue this week (at least for those of us not deeply tied into the GNOME project) came this message from Arturo Espinosa Aldama, leader of the "Scholar Net" project in Mexico. This project's goal is to outfit every elementary and mid-level school in Mexico with computers and a connection to the net. It is an ambitious project; they intend to set up 140,000 computer labs over the next five years. This is a worthy project, but what really raised eyebrows was their announcement that these labs will be set up with Linux machines running the GNOME desktop. The labs in question are intended for student use. They will give students access to the Internet, via the usual services (email, web). Students will have access to office tools for doing their homework. Their math curriculum includes exercises with spreadsheets. Thus, the tools they need include web browsers, word processors and spreadsheets. Netscape (or Mozilla/GTK), gwp, and gnumeric look set to fill the bill nicely. Some work needs to be done to get these tools to where they need to be for Scholar Net's purposes. The gwp word processor has a ways to go yet before it's ready for prime time. Many of the GNOME tools need some basic work for user interface consistency. And, of course, everything needs to be fixed up to work in the Spanish language. Scholar Net intends to dedicate some resources to pushing forward some of these tools; in particular, they want to focus on gwp. They are also asking for volunteers to help with some of the tasks. What they would like, more than anything else, is for the GNOME folks to work with their needs (consistency, stability, and multi-lingual capabilities) in mind. Since this isn't far from what GNOME wants to do anyway, they are not asking for a lot. They would also like help from those with Spanish skills in the translation of GNOME applications and documentation. Interested persons are invited to contact Mr. Espinosa; see the announcement for contact information. So why did Scholar Net decided to go with the Linux/GNOME platform? According to Mr. Espinosa, the deciding factor was cost (though they certainly appreciate the other benefits of free software as well). The price for proprietary software for 140,000 labs (with an average of six workstations and one server each) is very high. Linux is also able to make better use of cheaper hardware, leading to more savings. For a project of this size, it is far cheaper to hire some programmers to fill in some gaps than to try to work with proprietary systems. One could easily imagine that there could be difficulties in selling this approach to the Powers That Be. However, according to Mr. Espinosa: "We thought there would be some resistance from the big bosses but, due to the attention Linux is being paid in the mainstream computing media, the University is now considering Linux as a valid option and we are being accepted because we do have something to show." He may well be making light of the difficulty of selling any project of this size. Nonetheless, this success is a clear sign of just how far Linux has come in the last year. It would be hard to overestimate the importance of this project and the course that it has taken. Soon, a substantial portion of the Linux user base will be made up of Mexican schoolchildren. Mexico is raising a generation of Linux users. The visibility of this effort will be high; it will make it that much easier to justify the use of Linux in other situations. GNOME is getting more developers and a committed set of users. And, as if the project were not large enough already, Mr. Espinosa suggests that, if Scholar Net is successful, it is possible that it will be expanded through the rest of Latin America via the Instituto Latinoamericano de la Comunicaci --0__=2GKegKt7GD4KD5nE0DYQyK4YUjXl6DDPBu2k2U7Pe8ianKZi5uAWrdPo Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable =F3n Educativa. Again, in Mr. Espinosa's words: "I would like to invite the Universities of other countries to consider Free Software as a real-world solution to the problem of bringing computers to every education level." A web page is being put together to describe the Scholar Net project and to answer many of the questions that have been raised. It is not currently up, so, rather than hand out a dead link, we will ask interested readers to keep an eye on LWN. As soon as the Scholar Net page is available, we will let you know. [Update: the Scholar Net web page is now available.] Scholar Net is important, and we wish them a great deal of luck and the best of success. Finally, LWN is much indebted to Arturo Espinosa Aldama for quickly answering our many questions. = --0__=2GKegKt7GD4KD5nE0DYQyK4YUjXl6DDPBu2k2U7Pe8ianKZi5uAWrdPo-- From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Wed Nov 18 05:28:51 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id FAA20960; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 05:27:27 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id FAA20944 for ; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 05:27:16 GMT Received: from ngorc (khi-line-135.super.net.pk [203.130.5.70]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id KAA04838 for ; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 10:24:35 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811180524.KAA04838@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 10:29:43 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: the discussion Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Dear Friends, I am having difficulty in accessing the interent because of static in the telephone line. My presence on the list during next couple of days is going to be erratic, like my telephone line ;-) The discussion is lukewarm at the moment. Will someone take an initiative and sustain it for next couple of days? Regards, Irfan Khan From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Wed Nov 18 05:28:53 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id FAA20961; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 05:27:27 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id FAA20948 for ; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 05:27:20 GMT Received: from ngorc (khi-line-135.super.net.pk [203.130.5.70]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id KAA03426 for ; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 10:24:38 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811180524.KAA03426@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 10:29:44 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [sasianet] THE INTERNET: SOUTH ASIAN REALITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT You must have read about the interesting discussion taking place at sasianet ("THE INTERNET: SOUTH ASIAN REALITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES") mentioned on this list (13 November 1998). I have already subscribed to sasianet, and have found the discussion to be valuable, and relevant. I will forward selected posts from sasianet (probably in digest form). Those who are interested in joining the discussion, visit the following website for information and subscription: http://www.PanAsiaNetworking.org.sg/cgi-bin/majordomo/lwgate.sasianet/ sasianet Irfan Khan From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Wed Nov 18 06:34:14 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id GAA22321; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 06:05:59 GMT Received: from [202.54.63.194] ([202.54.63.194]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id GAA22310 for ; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 06:05:50 GMT From: N_UdhayShankar@maaln.satyam.net.in Received: from MAALN1 by [202.54.63.194] via smtpd (for alpha.apnic.net [203.37.255.97]) with SMTP; 18 Nov 1998 06:09:38 UT Received: by maaln.satyam.net.in(Lotus SMTP MTA SMTP MTA v1.1.04 (495.1 10-24-1997)) id 652566C0.0021D933 ; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 11:39:42 +300500 X-Lotus-FromDomain: SATYAM To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Message-ID: <652566C0.0021A719.00@maaln.satyam.net.in> Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 11:39:33 +300500 Subject: another resource Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk The homepage of Arun Mehta's india-gii list, at http://members.tripod.com/~india_gii/ also contains a lot of useful information, mostly on Indian telecom and related issues. Udhay -- Udhay Shankar N team IndiaUpdate http://www.indiaupdate.com/ From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Wed Nov 18 08:04:14 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id HAA27524; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 07:55:17 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id HAA27378 for ; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 07:51:56 GMT Received: from ngorc (khi-line-031.super.net.pk [203.130.5.170]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id MAA06196 for ; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 12:49:04 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811180749.MAA06196@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 12:54:24 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: India ISP Policy Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT [with thanks to Nareshchandra Laishram , who provided a pointer to the newly announced India ISP Policy (http://www.voicendata.com/policy.html)] Internet Service Providers Policy - Terms And Conditions In pursuance to the Internet Service Provider (ISP) policy announced by the Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Bangalore, the detailed terms and conditions were announced by Minister of State for Communications, Shri Kabindra Purkayastha at a press conference, here today. Internet is global network for exchanging information and a vehicle to promote electronic commerce, telemedicine and distance learning. Government of India, recognising its great potential, has formulated a policy to promote its growth in the country. Private Internet Service Providers will be allowed to enter the Internet Service Market which was exclusively reserved for VSNL/DoT till date, subject to the following terms and conditions :- ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: A company registered in India under the companies Act, 1956 will be eligible to submit proposal. Foreign equity, if any, shall be a per the Government policy and guide-lines from time to time. At present, the foreign equity is permitted to the extent of 49%. There is no requirement of the application company having any prior experience in information technology or telecommunication services. Service Area: Separate licences shall be granted to any applicant company for each service area. Fore this purpose, the country has been divided into separate service areas in three categories as mentioned below :- 1. Category "A" Service Area - All India basis. 2. Category Circles and four Metro Telephone systems of Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). However, if a licence for the Telephone Systems of four major cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune is required, these will also be treated as a category "B" Service Area at par with the Telecom Circle. 3. Category "C" Service Area - Any Secondary Switching Area (SSA) of DoT will form separate category "C" Service Area with the exception that each of the four Metro Telephone system of Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai and Telephone Systems of four major cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune of the DoT will form a separate category "B" Service Area. Applicants will be required to submit separate application for each service area. The ISP will be required to set up his node/server within the geographical limits of the service area. An applicant company may be granted any number of licences. Also, there shall be no limit on number of licence that can be granted in a particular service area. An applicant company may be granted any number of licences and there will be no limit as number of licences granted in a particular area. PERIOD OF VALIDITY OF THE LICENCE AND ITS EXTENSION: The licence shall be valid for a period of 15 years unless otherwise terminated. If requested by the licensee, extension may be granted by the Telecom Authority of suitable terms and conditions for a PERIOD of five years or more at a time. Financial conditions : Licence fee - waived for first 5 years and Re. 1?- per annum for subsequent period. Bank Guarantee - Rs.2 crore for Category `A' Service Area, Rs.20 lakhs for Category `B' Service Area and Rs.3 lakh for Category `C' Service Area. International connectivity - Through gateways of DoT, VSNL or authorised public/government organisations. Private ISPs are allowed to establish their own gateways after obtaining security clearance. Establishment of transmission links - Private ISPs can obtain transmission links on less from DoT, licensed Basic Service Operator, Railways, State Electricity Boards, National Power Grid Corporation etc. They may also establish their own transmission links, provided they care not available from authorised sources and subject to permission of Authority. Telephony on the Internet is not permitted. Implementation Time - 18 months form the date of signing of Licence Agreement. TARIFF: ISPs will be free to fix their own tariff. The tariff shall be left open to be decided by market forces. However, the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) may review and fix a tariff at any time during the validity of the licence which shall be binding on the Licensee. Further liberalisation in the terms of licence : Government reserves the right to review the terms of the Agreement based on a policy of further liberalisation which would be articulated in the context of a New Telecom Policy. The licenses will be issued to all eligible applicants on submission of completed applications in a prescribed from. The application forms containing the guidelines, general information and the details of the licence agreement are available on sale at the Headquarters of Telecom Commission, Delhi, and the Telecom Circles outside Delhi Application form costs Rs.1000/- Processing fee per application is Rs.5000/- (Non-refundable). http://www.voicendata.com/policy.html From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Wed Nov 18 08:34:15 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id HAA27292; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 07:50:14 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id HAA27274 for ; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 07:49:50 GMT Received: from ngorc (khi-line-031.super.net.pk [203.130.5.170]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id MAA04563 for ; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 12:47:00 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811180747.MAA04563@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 12:47:02 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: India ISP Policy Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT [with thanks to Nareshchandra Laishram , who provided a pointer to the newly announced India ISP Policy (http://www.voicendata.com/policy.html)] Internet Service Providers Policy - Terms And Conditions In pursuance to the Internet Service Provider (ISP) policy announced by the Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Bangalore, the detailed terms and conditions were announced by Minister of State for Communications, Shri Kabindra Purkayastha at a press conference, here today. Internet is global network for exchanging information and a vehicle to promote electronic commerce, telemedicine and distance learning. Government of India, recognising its great potential, has formulated a policy to promote its growth in the country. Private Internet Service Providers will be allowed to enter the Internet Service Market which was exclusively reserved for VSNL/DoT till date, subject to the following terms and conditions :- ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: A company registered in India under the companies Act, 1956 will be eligible to submit proposal. Foreign equity, if any, shall be a per the Government policy and guide-lines from time to time. At present, the foreign equity is permitted to the extent of 49%. There is no requirement of the application company having any prior experience in information technology or telecommunication services. Service Area: Separate licences shall be granted to any applicant company for each service area. Fore this purpose, the country has been divided into separate service areas in three categories as mentioned below :- 1. Category "A" Service Area - All India basis. 2. Category Circles and four Metro Telephone systems of Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). However, if a licence for the Telephone Systems of four major cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune is required, these will also be treated as a category "B" Service Area at par with the Telecom Circle. 3. Category "C" Service Area - Any Secondary Switching Area (SSA) of DoT will form separate category "C" Service Area with the exception that each of the four Metro Telephone system of Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai and Telephone Systems of four major cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune of the DoT will form a separate category "B" Service Area. Applicants will be required to submit separate application for each service area. The ISP will be required to set up his node/server within the geographical limits of the service area. An applicant company may be granted any number of licences. Also, there shall be no limit on number of licence that can be granted in a particular service area. An applicant company may be granted any number of licences and there will be no limit as number of licences granted in a particular area. PERIOD OF VALIDITY OF THE LICENCE AND ITS EXTENSION: The licence shall be valid for a period of 15 years unless otherwise terminated. If requested by the licensee, extension may be granted by the Telecom Authority of suitable terms and conditions for a PERIOD of five years or more at a time. Financial conditions : Licence fee - waived for first 5 years and Re. 1?- per annum for subsequent period. Bank Guarantee - Rs.2 crore for Category `A' Service Area, Rs.20 lakhs for Category `B' Service Area and Rs.3 lakh for Category `C' Service Area. International connectivity - Through gateways of DoT, VSNL or authorised public/government organisations. Private ISPs are allowed to establish their own gateways after obtaining security clearance. Establishment of transmission links - Private ISPs can obtain transmission links on less from DoT, licensed Basic Service Operator, Railways, State Electricity Boards, National Power Grid Corporation etc. They may also establish their own transmission links, provided they care not available from authorised sources and subject to permission of Authority. Telephony on the Internet is not permitted. Implementation Time - 18 months form the date of signing of Licence Agreement. TARIFF: ISPs will be free to fix their own tariff. The tariff shall be left open to be decided by market forces. However, the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) may review and fix a tariff at any time during the validity of the licence which shall be binding on the Licensee. Further liberalisation in the terms of licence : Government reserves the right to review the terms of the Agreement based on a policy of further liberalisation which would be articulated in the context of a New Telecom Policy. The licenses will be issued to all eligible applicants on submission of completed applications in a prescribed from. The application forms containing the guidelines, general information and the details of the licence agreement are available on sale at the Headquarters of Telecom Commission, Delhi, and the Telecom Circles outside Delhi Application form costs Rs.1000/- Processing fee per application is Rs.5000/- (Non-refundable). http://www.voicendata.com/policy.html From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Wed Nov 18 15:04:18 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id OAA10144; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 14:47:41 GMT Received: from omafra.gov.on.ca (srv-gue-con1.omafra.gov.on.ca [142.143.215.6]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id OAA10131 for ; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 14:47:18 GMT Received: from GUE-HQ-PRI-Message_Server by omafra.gov.on.ca with Novell_GroupWise; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 09:44:14 -0500 Message-Id: X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise 4.1 Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 09:40:39 -0500 From: Anne Joselin To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: Subscription info? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Disposition: inline Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk What is the subscription info for s-asia-it? Anne Joselin ajoselin@omafra.gov.on.ca From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Wed Nov 18 17:42:22 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id RAA15232; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 17:40:40 GMT Received: from jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca [142.177.1.6]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id RAA15228 for ; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 17:40:36 GMT Received: from LOCALNAME ([142.177.92.49]) by jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (Post.Office MTA v3.1.2 release (PO203-101c) ID# 607-45892U60000L60000S0) with SMTP id AAA9123 for ; Wed, 18 Nov 1998 13:40:52 -0400 From: kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller) Organization: hundred flowers publications To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 23:22:19 -0400 Subject: Breaking the Language Barrier In-reply-to: <199811161937.AAA06228@isp.super.net.pk> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v3.01b) Message-ID: <19981118174050.AAA9123@LOCALNAME> Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk http://www.upside.com/texis/mvm/story?id=3635f8aa0 Breaking the Language Barrier October 27, 1998 By Robert Buderi In the midst of shaping up a sluggish IBM Corp., Chairman Lou Gerstner took time in 1994 to mention a critical word to his vaunted speech-recognition researchers: China. A longtime Chinophile, Gerstner knew an untapped computer market when he saw one. Although PCs permeated the world, the complex Chinese language made it difficult for even highly educated workers to go digital. Either keyboards comprised mind-numbing arrays of hundreds of characters, or users had to clumsily input English letters representing Chinese sounds. Gerstner realized a good Chinese speech-to-text program could bring computing to the masses. And who better to do that than speech-recognition pioneer IBM? The only catch: Big Blue's linguistic gurus weren't entertaining any such project, and other labs' painstakingly slow progress indicated that any effort would take years to bear fruit. Enter C. Julian Chen, a basic physics researcher with no speech-recognition experience. Chen's remarkable out-of-the-box approach to the Chinese problem catapulted IBM past all competitors--and illustrates how fresh perspectives can spur innovation. Today, Big Blue's Chinese ViaVoice--the first PC application to provide viable recognition of conversational Mandarin--is helping to open the vast Chinese market. [...] From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Fri Nov 20 04:00:03 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id DAA12908; Fri, 20 Nov 1998 03:56:07 GMT Received: from jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca [142.177.1.6]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id DAA12903 for ; Fri, 20 Nov 1998 03:56:03 GMT Received: from LOCALNAME ([142.177.92.1]) by jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (Post.Office MTA v3.1.2 release (PO203-101c) ID# 607-45892U60000L60000S0) with SMTP id AAB17706 for ; Thu, 19 Nov 1998 23:56:21 -0400 From: kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller) Organization: hundred flowers publications To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 23:53:09 -0400 Subject: Re: list of resources mentioned so far In-reply-to: <199811161137.QAA24656@isp.super.net.pk> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v3.01b) Message-ID: <19981120035615.AAB17706@LOCALNAME> Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk As long as you're listing, don't forget your earlier mention of http://www.i-connect.ch/uimonen/publications.htm Internet as a Tool for Social Development by Paula Uimonen Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Geneva From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Sat Nov 21 04:12:22 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id EAA22388; Sat, 21 Nov 1998 04:08:09 GMT Received: from ns.tdg.ca ([209.112.44.226]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id EAA22382 for ; Sat, 21 Nov 1998 04:08:05 GMT Received: from steve (p36.argon.sentex.ca [209.112.4.229]) by ns.tdg.ca (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id XAA27277 for ; Fri, 20 Nov 1998 23:07:53 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from drichard@uoguelph.ca) Message-ID: <00b601be1503$f46b23e0$78e06883@steve.tdg.ca> Reply-To: "Don Richardson" From: "Don Richardson" To: "s-asia-it" Subject: Telecom for Rural Development Conference - Participant Recommendations Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 23:03:50 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3155.0 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3155.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Greetings, The participant recommendations from the Oct. 26 & 27, 1998 conference on "Partnerships and Participation in Telecommunications for Rural Development" are now on-line at http://www.snowden.org/conference/index.cfm During the two-day conference hosted by the Don Snowden Program for Development Communication at the University of Guelph in Canada, the 200 participants had a chance to work in small groups to share their experiences, reflect on conference presentations and develop specific recommendations that would be of value to policy-makers, decision-makers, funding organizations, program planners and, of course, rural community members who wish to enhance their use of telecommunications for rural development. Below are: 1) specific recommendations from each of the 17 working groups formed during the conference. 2) a summary of these recommendations that was presented back to participants It should be noted that many of the participants commented that the summary did not accurately reflect the level of detail in their recommendations, and asked us to present their recommendations in complete detail, together with the summary - hence both the specific recommendations and the summary are included here. The full proceedings for the conference, including conference papers will be posted to our website within the next two weeks. For further information on the Don Snowden Program and related conference information, including a list of participants see http://www.snowden.org Sincerely, Don Richardson, Director, Don Snowden Program for Development Communication University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ADVANCING TELECOMMUNICATIONS FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT --Taken directly from recommendations made in small groups by participants in "Partnerships and Participation in Telecommunications for Rural Development" Conference, University of Guelph, Canada, October 27-28, 1998 --Each group had a visual icon (e.g. baseball, banana) to maintain continuity between sessions and help participants find their tables and flipcharts for each working group session - hence the "odd" group names! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Group 1: BASEBALL 1) There is a need to analyze the power dynamics of introducing telecommunications in rural communities, taking into consideration the effects of neocolonialism, the potential for violence, and control and subversion of the message. 2) Transfer of technology and knowledge has to be bi-directional and valued in both directions. 3) Listen to, respect and learn from local resistance to the introduction of new technologies in rural communities. 4) Evaluation needs to be a continuous and participatory process recognizing that telecommunications and rural development are "moving targets". Sustainability is not easy to access in a dynamic process and we need to focus on social and cultural impacts, not just economic viability. 5) To ensure rural development, central governments and urban centres *must* contribute to and maintain the telecommunications infrastructure and not leave the private sector to determine equity. As practitioners, we need to promote community interests at the national level by inputting into legislative and regulatory frameworks. Group 2: PAINT CANS 1) Introduction of technologies need to be articulated to local community development needs and wants. 2) There is a strong need to market / educate people about public access so it gets utilized and new innovations can occur from the bottom up. 3) Access to the knowledge economy can help address poverty issues but is not a development end in itself. 4) Public access areas (eg; libraries, community access centres, telecentres, etc.) need to get reduced rates to provide equitable access. 5) Support community-based organizations to introduce ICTs; at the same time, create a "space" for all stakeholders (political, corporate, community) to voice their position and have a place in the development process. Group 3: TELEPHONE 1) Partnerships must provide groups with equal power –a longterm strategy and vision are essential. 2) Need LOCAL CHAMPIONS who understand the needs of community PLUS "pump priming" money for projects (eg; loans at reasonable rates). 3) Expectations and requirements of partnerships should be set in writing. 4) Innovators must be willing to take a "step back" if the project is not working. 5) Identify "systemic barriers" and find ways to overcome them. Group 4: ELECTRICAL OUTLET 1) Technology is the easiest part. To understand what is needed from a sociological, regulatory, political and technological perspective before initiating new projects. 2) NEEDS ASSESSMENT that is flexible, is made at a local level; Decisions need to be made based on the community needs. 3) A business plan that is "evolvable", multi-sourced and easily available (eg; influenced by the state of the market à repairability; What you can buy and repair locally; multi-sourced and easily available as well as appropriate; Ensure the investment is able to move forward.). 4) Finding people in the system who have connections to both local and "high end" of the system; "Outsiders" / agencies need to find a person with influence who is respected; People with needs and local connections. 5) Training: orientation for decision-makers of various development investment re: the use of telecommunications media. Educate people while they are still learning. Group 5: [Group name unknown] 1) Variety of models based on the positive and negative lessons learned (local and professional knowledge). 2) Identify necessary steps… Group 6: BANANA 1) Partnerships –Be clear who is partnering; who should be partnering; why they are in the partnership; benefits and costs to partners; partners behind the partners; ongoing dialogue throughout the process. 2) Be flexible in terms of the partnership –create a dynamic relationship where the roles of the partners change as the needs of the partners change. 3) Be led by the needs, not by the technology. Be aware of the things the technology can do and match to needs where appropriate. 4) Consideration of the positive contribution to local economic development should be taken in the assessment of needs and the design of process and projects. 5) Re: this conference: A website devoted to the conference and follow-up work; links to sites of participants and sites created where they don’t yet exist; noting successes, cautions and resources / tools that we develop. Group 7: WRENCH, PhD! 1) The Goal is to meet "real" and accurately-identified needs, as identified by community members. These must be constantly reviewed and adjusted. 2) Identify the *true* "influencers", those who are truly respected; it is important to note they may or may not be obvious (eg; don’t choose only based on position title). 3) Do "community building" among stakeholders, based on the values that everyone is equally important and should be respected and "heard" –This process is important even before a "project leader" is chosen. 4) Any project should be part of "community development", at the request of the community. This requires a "consultant" who gives options and true choice, whose work fits within the cultural context, with the project created on a "case-by-case basis" (no "template" for a project). 5) A need to know *why* we are doing what we are doing! Need to identify current skill sets and interests for training, and the motivation level. The project needs a "foundation" in the community so it is not a "temporary" project but is sustainable. Group 8: CHERRIES 1) The question of how telecommunications will complement and contribute to the community’s view of rural development. 2) Identify local champions that have credibility for all stakeholders (eg; understand the "big picture" and how interactions affect this). 3) Assuming that technology is available (eg; not a constraint), allow the individual to pursue his/her objectives without (government) regulation. 4) There must be an appropriate opportunity for a neutral body within a framework to respond to political, socio-economic and regulatory constraints in a timely manner. LE GROUPE 9: "CANNETTE" 1) Les demarches participatif. 2) Disponabilite de technologie simple a mettre en oeuvre et facile a utilisation. 2) La formation et la communication. 3) Facilite access aux sources de financement. 4) Developper un bon mechanism de suivi, d’evaluation dans un cadre participatif. Group 10: HAPPY FACE 1) Start with the national development plan and the existing regulations(--this has hopefully developed already through consultation, top down and bottom up). Process feeds directly into policy. 2) Identify the target communities, identify pilot projects; this way, you can identify stakeholders. 3) Concentrate on pilot activities. 4) Concentrate on consultation process: identify major stakeholders in order to determine their specific roles. 5) General information provided to communities (create awareness); provide training for those involved in implementation. 6) Have a feedback mechanism to government institutions to identify deficiencies in structures, policies, etc. (eg; forum could be a mechanism); this way, the regulations can be modified. 7) Exchange of experience and learn from each other (eg; through conferences). 8) For international organizations and member states involved in rural telecommunications, should establish a worldwide forum for exchange of this information. Group 11: [name of group unknown] 1) A successful telecommunications development initiative is only *one* aspect of a community development process. 2) A successful telecommunications development initiative is catalysed by an awareness of other initiatives, successes and failures (availability of information). 3) To ensure that community development benefits are integrated into the process of telecommunications development (contractual obligations). 4) International benchmarks can be useful in establishing standards of accountability and "socially responsible" practice in telecommunications development initiatives. 5) Important: transparency of stakeholder interests. Group 12: APPLE CORE –The co-operative organization for revitalizing everyone!! 1) Ensure that government plays an appropriate role: providing leadership and resources. 2) ICTs should be driven by real needs of people (eg; communities that are being served). 3) Build on existing resources, including organizations infrastructure, skills and indigenous knowledge. 4) Management and technologies should be adapted to meet evolving needs of communities. People skills should compliment technical skills. 5) Partnerships should be inclusive –ensure participation of all stakeholders. Group 13: Combined : CLOCK / LEMON 1) Community empowerment is key. Includes (1) full audit of stakeholders in community; (2) capacity building process, if necessary; (3) profit sharing. 2) Must be focused on longterm returns / results including: (1) financial; (2) social; (3) environmental bottom lines. 3) Proper and full planning process must be done first, including education about positive and negative impacts of new media. 4) Build on existing infrastructure (eg; community groups / community radio; physical infrastructure –towers, etc.). Group 14: LIGHTBULB 1) Awareness / motivation of the people. 2) Establishing co-operatives in rural areas. 3) Establishing community meeting places. 4) Providing basic training to the village-dwellers. 5) Creation of multimedia network. Group 15: DUCK 1) Need for integration of perspectives, community needs. 2) Right to access should be a human right; universal access. 3) Community ownership, buy-in and management imperative. 4) Importance of both centralization and decentralization of policy issues. 5) Role of government in an information society. Group 16: PINK BALLOON 1) That partnerships be defined as being founded on the principles of transparency, compromise, accountability, equity, inclusiveness and the provision of mutual benefit. 2) That technical and macro-commercial concerns should not overwhelm the social, cultural and micro-economic needs of a community. 3) That effective leadership be fostered at the community level and that policy-makers become sensitized to the importance of this leadership’s input to the overall sustainability of any rural development project. 4) The need for "clear" policy guidance which addresses grassroots community needs cannot be under-estimated, and that policies demonstrate consistency. 5) The need to educate the community and decentralize power is achieved through broad community involvement and consensus. Group 17: 8-BALL 1) Define expectations, understandings and interest with respect to rural telecommunications and information needs. 2) Define who are the required partners. 3) Converge differing needs towards a common need and a shared understanding. 4) Define roles and responsibilities of partners. 5) Maintain the view of economic viability throughout the project’s life. 2) SUMMARY OF PARTICIPANT RECOMMENDATIONS Partnerships and Participation in Telecommunications for Rural Development: Exploring What Works and Why, Oct. 26 & 27, 1998, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada Vision - A long-term vision and strategy is essential Community - Stakeholder consultation - Identify local leadership - Focus on people, not technology - Rural telecommunications is not an end in itself, but one aspect of community development. Community - Build on existing skills and infrastructure - Technology must be easy to use and available - Need for a local capacity to repair technology Alliances (Partnerships) - Clarify roles and responsibilities - Need for flexibility in choice of alliances - Respect stakeholder values - Identify expectations and “agendas” Power - Transparency - Mutual accountability in partnerships - Decentralization of power through building community consensus - Respect local resistance and culture Training - Decision-makers - Manager-operators - Rural communities Training - Rural communities need to learn how to operate new technologies and to use them for their own benefit - Raise awareness of negative and positive impacts Management - Clear understanding of purpose - Recognize that both needs and technologies are evolving Evaluation - Evaluation is a continuous process that leads to change - Measure both social and economic impacts Pilot Projects - Use pilot projects to develop models - Share experiences with others Mechanisms - Need for mechanisms to deal with regulatory issues at a global level - Need for a world-wide forum to exchange information - Need to develop international benchmarks and standards Policy - Policies need to be developed at the community level through stakeholder consultation - Policies need to be clear and consistent Financial Issues - Need for loans at reasonable rates for pilot projects - Finances are important for sustainability - Community telecentres should have access to subsidized telephone rates Government - Governments need to be committed to maintaining rural telecom infrastructure - Governments should deal with issues of equity FOLLOW-UP - Web-site to serve as a clearing- house for conference proceedings and ongoing information exchange RESEARCH TOPICS that can yield info of relevance to policy making & decision-making - Organizational policy - Local policy - Gov’t policy - Corporate policy, etc, etc, Components of each research topic or issue: - A *substantive* dimension - what? - A *relationship* dimension - who? - A *procedural* dimension - how? From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Sun Nov 22 19:34:28 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id TAA19455; Sun, 22 Nov 1998 19:30:50 GMT Received: from garlic.negia.net (IDENT:root@garlic.negia.net [206.61.0.14]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id TAA19447 for ; Sun, 22 Nov 1998 19:30:46 GMT Received: from idn.org (p170.negia.net [207.43.201.180]) by garlic.negia.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id OAA07094; Sun, 22 Nov 1998 14:06:21 -0500 Message-ID: <365860EB.1FF78818@idn.org> Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 14:07:23 -0500 From: Christopher Byrne Organization: International Development Network X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: info@idn.org Subject: USAID Annual Performance Plan for FY 1999 Link Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Greetings and apologies for any cross-postings! This week's "Tools You Can Use" from the International Development Network (IDN) at http://www.idn.org/ is a link to the U.S. Agency for International Development Annual Performance Plan for FY 1999. This plan sets out the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Goals and Objectives by which USAID will be evaluated. Here is what else is new this week: _______________________________________________________________________ QUICK LINK OF THE WEEK This weeks IDN Quick Link is to the web site for the UNEP Sponsored International Children's Conference on the Environment which is taking place in Nairobi, Kenya this week. _______________________________________________________________________ NEW LINKS The British Consultants Bureau (BCB) - Through regular liaison with British and international governments, MEPs, aid and funding agencies, the EU, and public and private sector contacts worldwide, BCB ensures that British consultants are represented with one voice in the international marketplace. Compassion International - exists as an advocate for children, to release them from their spiritual, economic, social, and physical poverty and enable them to become responsible and fulfilled Christian adults. Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) - is a multilateral financial institution which promotes sustainable development and regional integration by attracting capital resources for the provision of multiple financial services to the public and private sectors of the shareholders countries. (English/Spanish) Green Globe - is a worldwide environmental management and awareness programme for, and led by the Travel & Tourism industry. Its prime objective is to provide a low-cost, practical means for all Travel & Tourism companies to undertake improvements in environmental practice. International Commission of Jurists - mission is to promote the understanding and observance of the Rule of Law throughout the world. International Federation of Agricultural Producers - organization of world farmers is the only worldwide body grouping together national farmers organizations. Japan Foundation - established in 1972 as a special legal entity under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the purpose of promoting mutual understanding and friendship on the international scene. Japan International Cooperation System (JICS) - is a public service corporation established in 1989. Its overall purpose is to help manage the rapidly expanding ODA budget by responding more effectively to the increasingly diverse and sophisticated needs of recipient countries. Overseas Service Bureau - is a not-for-profit development agency that aims to build links and increase cooperation between Australians and people living in developing countries. Pacific Development Directory - This directory, funded by the UNDP and the Government of New Zealand, brings together a catalogue of agencies with a shared concern for aid and development in the Pacific region. _______________________________________________________________________ NEW PUBLICATIONS OECF (Japan) Special Report on Bangladesh and Sri Lanka: Toward Stability and Growth in Southwest Asia The November 98 OECF Newsletter is a Special Report on Bangladesh and Sri Lanka: Toward Stability and Growth in Southwest Asia. This newsletter is available for download in PDF format (629K) from OECF (Link provided by the IDN). _______________________________________________________________________ THE DEVELOPMENT FRONT - Selected Sample Headlines From Nov 15-21 The following is a sample of the headline links provided to sponsoring members of the IDN last week: War Stifles Guatemalan Town Plans Bridge builds on hopes for new life in war-torn Guatemalan village U.S. to set up trade offices in eastern Hungary to make up for the departure of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) U.S. urges Israel to act against copyright piracy Corporate Welfare - OPIC and USAID Enterprise Funds Packard Donation of $375 Million for Population Programs May Reshape Giving Cambodia hoping for speedy admission to ASEAN In wake of Mitch, years of economic hardship in store for Central America China Denies $4.5B Asian Aid Package forthcoming at APEC Urban Populations Grow with Economic Reforms Foreign Aid Needed for Anti-Desertification Efforts INTERVIEW-Gecamines chief denies Zimbabwe tradeoff Canada Prepares $10 Million Aid Package for Siberia Russia Continues Wheat Exports as Food Aid Pours in Ukraine Opens Gas Pipe to Boost Energy Independence Agriculture Officials Rule out Famine, Thumb Noses at Aid Japan pledges loans to Peru EU looks to help Russia with tuberculosis crisis Colombia declares economic emergency to stem banking losses Report: Suharto owns plantations in eastern Indonesia Unions call another one-day strike in Zimbabwe Kenya tea must seek new markets reform-experts Daley visits USAID-funded water plant at Karni ESCWA ambassadors meet director to discuss future Germany Won't Give Russia Extra Aid U.S. fund may pick up stake in Tirupur water project World pumps aid into Honduras Unnatural Disaster: In a region already scarred by politics, the rubble of Hurricane Mitch is no spur to unity 'A Social Time Bomb Is Ticking' In Venezuela Col. Charming: Chávez's believers say their tough-guy hero can rescue Venezuela, Can he? Banana Battle Burgeons: United States to European Union: treat our produce properly--or your magic industry is in serious trouble, U.S. Generosity Is Long in Coming (Editorial) Navy program helps Hondurans cope with Mitch trauma Zimbabwe farmers in talks as state takes land Sudan rebels agree to improve safety of aid workers Zimbabwe counts cost of social unrest Making aid work: Foreign aid could help to reduce poverty if it were spent on the right countries. Unfortunately, it isn’t The non-profit sector: Love or money Step-by-step with a Dutch Minister on aid-giving tour In Panama, Drug Money's Clout Outlives Noriega Debt pardons for Nicaragua Honduras seen Yugoslavia to seek IMF membership in early 1999 Pakistan crisis seen requiring more than IMF deal Jamaican leader urges Clinton to ease opposition in banana battle Russia Peru and Vietnam enjoy their first summit Malaysia opposition figure writes editorial from jail China expels German magazine journalist Pakistani prime minister calls for Taliban-style laws Forestry officials order temporary halt to DiCaprio film in Thailand U.N. Assembly backs Bethlehem 2000 project Ethiopian Australian Jews turn to fellow Americans for help China and the Internet: The Middle Kingdom struggles with being wired, Bosnia envoy says peace program needs more money Does aid work World Bank aims to prove answer yes World Bank water mapping plan aims to aid farmers Britain to help former Rouge rebels in Cambodia AIDS is devouring African businesses too S.Africa medical aid industry set for upheaval AIDS cases to balloon in Asia - experts India A Major Exporter Of Killer Chemical, USAID, Danida, ODA cited as sources of chemicals World Bank Revolution (Editorial) U.S. relief for Mitch lacking aid groups say U.S. military boosting Central America aid effort Help at hand for abused men of Swaziland Burkina Faso president re-elected by large majority _______________________________________________________________________ The IDN plans to continue our growth and to expand the depth and breadth of our information services. If you have not yet thought about a membership/sponsorship in the IDN, we encourage you to consider becoming a sponsor/member of the fastest growing, most comprehensive and current International Development Web Site on the Internet! Information is available at http://www.idn.org/membership/ From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Sun Nov 22 21:58:29 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id VAA22927; Sun, 22 Nov 1998 21:57:47 GMT Received: from jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca [142.177.1.6]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id VAA22923 for ; Sun, 22 Nov 1998 21:57:43 GMT Received: from LOCALNAME ([142.177.92.90]) by jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (Post.Office MTA v3.1.2 release (PO203-101c) ID# 607-45892U60000L60000S0) with SMTP id AAF8323 for ; Sun, 22 Nov 1998 17:58:08 -0400 From: kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller) Organization: hundred flowers publications To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 17:54:28 -0400 Subject: Search for virtual institutions (fwd) X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v3.01b) Message-ID: <19981122215731.AAF8323@LOCALNAME> Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 09:46:49 +0800 From: Mike Robertshaw To: RESODLAA@usq.edu.au Subject: resodlaa: Search for virtual institutions I'm involved in a project to identify examples of virtual education institutions at all levels - school through to university. My region of research is East Asia/South East Asia, i.e. China down to Indonesia: Malaysia across to Japan. A virtual institution is one making extensive use of the Internet but it could include other new communication technologies. I'm interested in existing examples as well as proposed ones (or those recently started). I've been able to find examples in Singapore, Malaysia and to a limited extent in South Korea, but I'm finding the language a problem in investigating Japan and China. I'd appreciate any pointers to institutions both in these countries and elsewhere in the region. TIA Mike R With apologies for cross posting -- Mike Robertshaw @:-) Maths Programme Leader and U123 co-ordinator MROBERT@OUHK.EDU.HK Tel.: (852) 27686802 Fax: (852) 27891170 Maths http://www.ouhk.edu.hk/~sctwww/maths/ U123:http://learn.ouhk.edu.hk/~u123 The Open University of Hong Kong, 30 Good Shepherd St, Kowloon, Hong Kong --- From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Mon Nov 23 03:48:37 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id DAA00722; Mon, 23 Nov 1998 03:47:47 GMT Received: from jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca [142.177.1.6]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id DAA00716 for ; Mon, 23 Nov 1998 03:47:42 GMT Received: from LOCALNAME ([142.177.18.83]) by jubilee.ns.sympatico.ca (Post.Office MTA v3.1.2 release (PO203-101c) ID# 607-45892U60000L60000S0) with SMTP id AAA29678; Sun, 22 Nov 1998 23:48:04 -0400 From: kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller) Organization: hundred flowers publications To: s-asia-it@apnic.net, netizens@columbia.edu Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 23:45:04 -0400 Subject: Part of the problem X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v3.01b) Message-ID: <19981123034803.AAA29678@LOCALNAME> Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/html/erm9866.html EDUCOM REVIEW: Your work suggests that you see information technology not just as part of the solution, but also as part of the problem. How do you define the problem? JAMES BURKE: The problem is that for the last half a million years we have lived with what I would describe as a culture of scarcity. Ultimately, information technology is power, and power belongs to those who have information. Throughout history, the availability of this power, the concentration of it, the ease with which it was generated and distributed, and the ease above all with which it was denied -- have been a kind of driving force in our social development since we came out of the cave. At any one time throughout history there have been only limited sets of technology available to society to do what it wanted to do. This has led to at least two consequences. First, technology has tended to be in the hands of relatively few people, because there was not enough technology to go around. And, second, many of those people became what we call "leaders." They were the ones who made the decisions. And what we are living through right now is a sudden and accelerated form of that same problem. ER: In what sense? BURKE: In the sense that -- particularly since the advent of radio and television -- the majority of people have lived with a very rapidly increasing awareness of the sense that they don't have what they need, don't know what they need to know. Many of the structures that were originally designed to give people some kind of freedom of action -- and I speak here, for example, of democratic government forms -- have not so far lived up to their promise, in the sense that you cannot really have a democracy without a democracy of information. ER: And what is the consequence of that? BURKE: The social turbulence we are living through at the moment--and will continue to be living through for the next couple of generations at least. A period when people's expectations, thanks to the fueling of those expectations by information technology like television and radio, exceed the ability of the social institutions to provide what it is people increasingly want. We have a couple of generations coming up where the serious problem created by the culture of information scarcity will not be satisfactorily dealt with... Such tools were always limited to a very small number of people. I think the Internet will entirely reverse the process. And in that sense, in a classical sense of the word "tool," the Internet is not a tool at all; the Internet actually destroys the concept of the tool as a specialist artifact. What the Internet does in a sense is to create a medium in which ordinary people can express themselves without needing the kind of specialist knowledge and specialized tools that have been necessary up until now to manufacture and use information and therefore wield power. ... Children went to schools initially when their parents went to the factories. But the new technology will put the parents back with the children, perhaps in small communities. If you think about it, I suppose the industrial revolution was only a blip in the flow of our social development. The other day I heard someone saying, "The only thing I dislike about telecommuting is that I really miss people"; well, that is a sad reflection on this temporary Industrial Age transition we are going through, because if what you mean by "meeting people" is going to a place where you stand or sit next to them working from nine to five every Monday through Friday, well, that ain't much of a way to meet people. Anybody living before 1750 would have thought of a modern factory or office being much like a prison. So I think information technology may well return to an altogether socially healthier way of doing things and that's why I rambled on about precepts and Socratic dialog being better taught by communities and parents than by teachers. ... ER: And when you say that are you thinking mainly in terms of the developed nations or are you thinking in terms of the world? BURKE: Both. The description "developed nations " tends to relate, I suppose, to the physical products of our technology. We have manicured lawns and a car that works, and everybody has a shower and all those other consumer durables. However, I don't know that the "developed" world is, in many areas (particularly, in terms, let's say, of the political process) all that developed.... From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Mon Nov 23 04:03:01 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id EAA01127; Mon, 23 Nov 1998 04:02:43 GMT Received: from [202.54.63.194] ([202.54.63.194]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id EAA01121 for ; Mon, 23 Nov 1998 04:02:37 GMT From: N_UdhayShankar@maaln.satyam.net.in Received: from MAALN1 by [202.54.63.194] via smtpd (for ns.apnic.net [203.37.255.97]) with SMTP; 23 Nov 1998 04:06:10 UT Received: by maaln.satyam.net.in(Lotus SMTP MTA SMTP MTA v1.1.04 (495.1 10-24-1997)) id 652566C5.00169210 ; Mon, 23 Nov 1998 09:36:31 +300500 X-Lotus-FromDomain: SATYAM To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Message-ID: <652566C5.00167A21.00@maaln.satyam.net.in> Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 09:36:07 +300500 Subject: Re: Search for virtual institutions (fwd) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >From: Mike Robertshaw >I'm involved in a project to identify examples of virtual >education institutions at all levels - school through to >university. My region of research is East Asia/South East >Asia, i.e. China down to Indonesia: Malaysia across to >Japan. I presume you are aware of JIVA ? http://www.jiva.org/ Udhay -- Udhay Shankar N team IndiaUpdate http://www.indiaupdate.com/ From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Mon Nov 23 10:49:03 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id KAA13457; Mon, 23 Nov 1998 10:47:25 GMT Received: from IBM.rhrz.uni-bonn.de (ibm.rhrz.uni-bonn.de [131.220.236.2]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id KAA13451 for ; Mon, 23 Nov 1998 10:47:20 GMT Received: from uni-bonn.de (131.220.109.37,1491) by IBM.rhrz.uni-bonn.de (IBM/VM SMTP V2R2) with TCP; Mon, 23 Nov 98 11:46:53 MEZ Message-ID: <36593D22.45595ED2@uni-bonn.de> Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 11:46:58 +0100 From: Dietrich Mueller-Falcke Organization: Zentrum f|r Entwicklungsforschung X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.06 [de] (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: ".. S-ASIA-IT" Subject: ICT use in small enterprises Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear list members, for my research work at the Center for Development Research I am looking for information and data on the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) by small scale enterprises (SSEs). I am particularily interested in data from India since I want to concentrate the empirical work there. I would also like to get in contact with other researcher that already work on this topic. Let me just briefly outline my research project. I am interested in the links between ICT use and the contracting behaviour of SSEs. The working hypothesis is that the use of modern ICT enables SSEs to engage themselves in more complex relationships and extends the group of potential customers. Thus, the general performance of the SSEs is expected to increase. If the use of ICT in external exchanges is supplemented by a raise in productivity (maybe also with the use of ICT) competitiveness of these SSEs will rise as well. To test this hypothesis I am looking for data and studies on the ICT use of SSEs. For the next year I plan to do some empirical research in India on this topic. My project is part of a research programme at the Center for Development Research on ICT in low-income countries. My colleaques are focussing mainly on telecommunications (and information technologies) in rural areas. Case studies are conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia. We want to analyse the current state of ICTs' utilisation and the impact of ICT on income and employment especially of the poor. Some more information can be found at our home page (http://www.zef.de). Best regards Dietrich Mueller-Falcke ____________________________________________ ZEF - Zentrum fuer Entwicklungsforschung Center for Development Research Walter-Flex-Str. 3, D-53113 Bonn, Germany Phone: +49 (0)228 73-1842 Fax: +49 (0)228 73-1869 E-mail: d.mueller-falcke@uni-bonn.de WWW: http://www.zef.de/ From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Mon Nov 23 23:20:01 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id XAA28815; Mon, 23 Nov 1998 23:17:38 GMT Received: from csunb.mit.csu.edu.au (csunb.mit.csu.edu.au [137.166.16.1]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id XAA28810 for ; Mon, 23 Nov 1998 23:17:32 GMT Received: from postoffice.CSU.edu.au (postoffice.csu.edu.au [137.166.201.104]) by csunb.mit.csu.edu.au (8.9.0/8.9.0) with ESMTP id KAA22121; Tue, 24 Nov 1998 10:16:12 +1100 (EST) Received: from dlindley (wmax1-port4.riv.csu.edu.au [137.166.92.204]) by postoffice.CSU.edu.au (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id KAA31256; Tue, 24 Nov 1998 10:17:07 +1100 (EST) Message-Id: <199811232317.KAA31256@postoffice.CSU.edu.au> Comments: Authenticated sender is From: "David Lindley" Organization: Charles Sturt University To: s-asia-it@apnic.net, ict-4-led@ccen.uccb.ns.ca, gkd@tristram.edc.org, konfer-l@trearnpc.ege.edu.tr, jdprice@CITE3.COE.UH.EDU Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 09:41:08 +1000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Cancellation of Pakistan conference CC: Graheem@worldbank.org, Ahirsch@worldbank.org, scicomp@math.uni-augsburg.de, ifla@nlc-bnc.ca X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v2.54) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT ------- CANCELLATION OF CONFERENCE ------- The role of INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ------------------------------------------ Conference and workshops, Multan, Pakistan 12 - 15 April 1999. It is with much regret that the organisers notify all interested parties that this conference has been cancelled. While great efforts was made to find sponsors, especially for presenters from third world countries, insufficient funds were located. Very special thanks is extended to the authors who submitted abstracts and papers. They have produced much interesting and valuable material that warrants and deserves publication. The organisers encourage these authors to seek alternative conferences and/or journals in which to present their work. Please excuse cross-posting. --------------------------------------------------- Dr David Lindley School of Information Studies Charles Sturt University Locked Bag 675, Wagga Wagga Tel: +61 2 6933 2374 NSW 2678, AUSTRALIA Fax: +61 2 6933 2733 --------------------------------------------------- http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/sis/admin/lindley.htm From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Mon Nov 23 23:25:44 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id XAA28982; Mon, 23 Nov 1998 23:25:40 GMT Received: from mail.ixpres.com (root@mail.ixpres.com [207.137.28.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id XAA28974 for ; Mon, 23 Nov 1998 23:25:29 GMT Received: from [209.75.55.106] (PM3-2-55-106.ixpres.com [209.75.55.106]) by mail.ixpres.com (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id PAA10198; Mon, 23 Nov 1998 15:28:14 -0800 (PST) Message-Id: <199811232328.PAA10198@mail.ixpres.com> X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express for Macintosh - 4.01 (295) Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 15:23:57 -0800 Subject: Re: Cancellation of Pakistan conference From: "John Hibbs" To: ict-4-led@ccen.uccb.ns.ca, s-asia-it@apnic.net, ict-4-led@ccen.uccb.ns.ca, gkd@tristram.edc.org, konfer-l@trearnpc.ege.edu.tr, jdprice@cite3.coe.uh.edu CC: Graheem@worldbank.org, Ahirsch@worldbank.org, scicomp@math.uni-augsburg.de, ifla@nlc-bnc.ca, Neil Hynd Mime-version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear David and all others re the cancellation of your conference: 1) We know the feeling about the difficulty of finding sponsors or funding for events of this type. Although we have received a webcasting services which will enable our event, Global Learn Day II to be held December 19/20, we have yet to receive one dime, yen, mark, shilling or yuan in cash. 2) You may wish to contact me or Neil Hynd to see if any of your presenters would like to participate in GLDII - although space is VERY limited. The good news is we will post your articles to our globalization URL http://www.bfranklin.edu/hubs/global/mastime.htm. More good news is that if we can indeed find a "slot" (see http://www.bfranklin.edu/timetable.htm), is that presenters need travel no further than their nearest telephone...although being near a computer is helpful, but not mandatory. Again, my regrets to you. I know how much work goes into these things! ---------- >From: "David Lindley" >To: s-asia-it@apnic.net, ict-4-led@ccen.uccb.ns.ca, gkd@tristram.edc.org, konfer-l@trearnpc.ege.edu.tr, jdprice@CITE3.COE.UH.EDU >Cc: Graheem@worldbank.org, Ahirsch@worldbank.org, scicomp@math.uni-augsburg.de, ifla@nlc-bnc.ca >Subject: Cancellation of Pakistan conference >Date: 07Mon07Nov Nov23Sat19981998Sat3:41 PM > > ------- CANCELLATION OF CONFERENCE ------- > > The role of > > INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES > > IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT > ------------------------------------------ > >Conference and workshops, Multan, Pakistan 12 - 15 April 1999. > >It is with much regret that the organisers notify all interested >parties that this conference has been cancelled. While great efforts >was made to find sponsors, especially for presenters from third world >countries, insufficient funds were located. > >Very special thanks is extended to the authors who submitted >abstracts and papers. They have produced much interesting and >valuable material that warrants and deserves publication. The >organisers encourage these authors to seek alternative conferences >and/or journals in which to present their work. > >Please excuse cross-posting. > --------------------------------------------------- > Dr David Lindley > School of Information Studies > Charles Sturt University > Locked Bag 675, Wagga Wagga Tel: +61 2 6933 2374 > NSW 2678, AUSTRALIA Fax: +61 2 6933 2733 > --------------------------------------------------- > http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/sis/admin/lindley.htm > > From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Tue Nov 24 03:40:11 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id DAA05022; Tue, 24 Nov 1998 03:15:04 GMT Received: from isp.super.net.pk (isp.super.net.pk [203.130.2.4]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id DAA04993 for ; Tue, 24 Nov 1998 03:14:53 GMT Received: from ngorc ([203.130.5.176]) by isp.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.1) with SMTP id IAA16510 for ; Tue, 24 Nov 1998 08:05:10 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <199811240305.IAA16510@isp.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 08:09:39 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: India City Woos Software Firms (Fwd) X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.01d) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date sent: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 02:00:04 -0500 From: ecarm-news@ecarm.org Subject: ECARM NEWS for November 23,1998 First Ed. New York Times November 22, 1998 India City Woos Software Firms HYDERABAD, India (AP) -- India on Sunday unveiled a technology park created as part of a campaign to woo software companies Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee called the new park in the southern part of the country the "biggest and most exciting development in the information technology sector in India." http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-India-Software-Park.html ------------------------------------------------------------- Help with Majordomo commands plus list archives and information is available through the ECARM web page at http://www.ecarm.org/. Sponsored by The Knowledge Connection. From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Wed Nov 25 00:25:57 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id AAA28072; Wed, 25 Nov 1998 00:23:09 GMT Received: from garlic.negia.net (IDENT:root@garlic.negia.net [206.61.0.14]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id AAA28068 for ; Wed, 25 Nov 1998 00:23:06 GMT Received: from idn.org (p125.negia.net [207.43.201.135]) by garlic.negia.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id TAA31839; Tue, 24 Nov 1998 19:12:47 -0500 Message-ID: <365B4C11.B0E6CB85@idn.org> Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 19:15:13 -0500 From: Christopher Byrne Organization: International Development Network X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "AFRIK-IT@LISTSERV.HEA.IE" , "s-asia-it@postoffice.apnic.net" Subject: USAID called "Dunce of the Year" in Y2K Procurement Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit And these are the folks helping Africa in IT? Rep. says feds still working 'too slowly' on Y2K BY ORLANDO De BRUCE, Federal Computer Week Although some agencies this fall picked up the pace of fixing millennium bug glitches, a House Republican overseeing Year 2000 computer progress today gave the federal government another below-average grade for its overall efforts. Rep. Stephen Horn (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology, gave the administration a D for its overall management of the Year 2000 computer problem, the same grade he gave the government in August. "Unfortunately, the federal government has not made enough progress since the last report card, when it also received a D,'' Horn said. "Executive branch departments and agencies are responding too slowly in assessing and repairing their mission-critical systems, their telecommunications equipment, their embedded chip systems and their data exchanges.'' Of the 24 agencies Horn graded, three received an A, six received a B, eight had a C, two had a D and five were given a failing grade. Those agencies receiving an F were the departments of Justice, Energy, Health and Human Services, State and the U.S. Agency for International Development. USAID received an F because its recently purchased computer system is not Year 2000-compliant, Horn said. "They receive the dunce of the year award,'' Horn said... From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Thu Nov 26 05:52:07 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id FAA00976; Thu, 26 Nov 1998 05:48:03 GMT Received: from garlic.negia.net (IDENT:root@garlic.negia.net [206.61.0.14]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id FAA00970 for ; Thu, 26 Nov 1998 05:47:59 GMT Received: from idn.org (p68.negia.net [207.43.201.78]) by garlic.negia.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id XAA10965; Wed, 25 Nov 1998 23:51:46 -0500 Message-ID: <365CDF29.F054F110@idn.org> Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 23:55:05 -0500 From: Christopher Byrne Organization: International Development Network X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "AFRIK-IT@LISTSERV.HEA.IE" , "s-asia-it@postoffice.apnic.net" Subject: USAID-Bashing? No, just want the Agency to be Accountable and forthright Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I received the following message and felt I should answer to the whole list because of issues that are raised: Brian Bacon wrote: > > Chris, > > In a quick survey of your International Development Network (IDN) home page, seems you've devoted a fair amount of energy to publicizing the activities of organization receiving USAID funding. A number of these activities even appear to target groups "helping Africa in IT." Front and center is NTCA's First International Conference on Rural Telecommunications, sponsored by their International Program - which is principally funded USAID. > > Regarding your latest contribution to AFRIK-IT, is this yet another case of USAID-bashing chic, or do you have something constructive to add? > > Brian Bacon > Senior Analyst > Research and Reference Services Project/ > Leland Initiative > Tel: 202-661-5819 > Fax: 202-661-5891 What Brian and others need to understand is that just because the IDN covers organizations that receive USAID funding does not mean we are covering USAID. In fact, if USAID is mentioned in more than 5% of the total content of our site, it is not because of anything USAID has done or provided. In fact it is just the opposite: USAID does not possess the political will to provide any meaningful information lest it might get Senator Jesse Helms or some other politician upset and it seems they lack a coherent, comprehensive (i.e. agency-wide) Information Strategy (including IT Procurement Issues, IT Security, and Information Dissemination). (Have they ever replaced their WANG Word processors?) This is important because in an earlier message, Jeff Cochrane stated that 'oh that is a different system and office from what we are doing so do not worry'. Jeff (and Brian), I hope you have been in Washington long enough to remember that perception is reality and if USAID is criticized for having 6 out of 7 Mission Critical Systems not being certified as Y2K compliant, USAID will and does have a serious credibility problem when they try to implement IT Projects in developing countries. Distinctions between offices will not be made. Heck, I wonder how many people on this list realize that Jeff does not work for USAID, but is only an employee of a USAID Contractor, which means he does not speak for the agency. What does this lack of a comprehensive IT Plan mean for USAID? 1. A global web presence for an agency without discipline or structure. By this I mean that there are USAID Offices, Missions and Projects off in their own little domains and are not part of the USAID.gov domain. This means that a visitor to their site cannot do a comprehensive search for information because the information is not centralized. Of course the assumption is that there would be meaningful information to search for to begin with. It is sad that the IDN provided links to missions that did not even appear on the USAID Web Site. 2. Employees creating their own unofficial USAID web sites because they realize that the USAID Site is difficult at best to navigate (there are at least two out there that I have come across). 3. The procurement of systems for vital agency functions that are not Y2K compliant. You must remember that Y2K for the government is October 1, 1999, not Jan 1, 2000. Only a procurement and financial system? I hope your employer's invoices get paid! 4. The publication of information which has absolutely no meaning or worth as published. For example, on the web page for new awards (which is merely a print version of what goes into the Commerce Business Daily), one can see that 6 Contracts were awarded on 9/30/98, all with the title "PROFESSIONAL, ADMINISTRATIVE AND MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SERVICES" with no description. Tell me, what good does this kind of information do anybody? It may as well not be published. 5. The availability of information before it is supposed to be made public. The example here is the "RESULTS-ORIENTED ASSISTANCE: a USAID SOURCEBOOK". The IDN got ahold of this document from a contractor's site at least 2 months before it was supposed to go public. 6. The fact that the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. The example here is the publication of the 1999 Annual Performance Plan on the Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC) Web Site, buried down a layer or two, with absolutely no mention on the USAID web site (and yes I think the DEC is a great tool except for the fact that you have to pay for documents which should be available free electronically). Is this any way to treat one of the most important documents USAID has in order to comply with GPRA? 7. The publication of databases that are misleading and cut out entire classes of web users. The example here is the Technical Consulting Services database. When originally posted by USAID, it was posted as a tool for all potential consultants to post cv's to for potential opportunities. Some months after the fact, the posting is modified to say "Oh sorry, this is actually only for one office of USAID, nit for all offices". And of course, unless you used versions 4.04 of a browser, you can't access the database. No, 3.0 won't cut it nor will 4.5. I am sorry , but Government Agencies have a responsibility and obligation to build web sites and tools to the lowest common denominator, even if that means text only. I could go on and on, but it is late. This is not bashing Brian, this is just the way it is. If I wanted to bash, I could really bash (and it would not be pretty), but that is not productive. Just yesterday, I read an article about what a wonderful job USAID (and others) do in spending development money wisely, making the best decisions for the people in the countries through empowerment and education, shifting most of their consulting dollars to Host Country Nationals, etc. And then I woke up. Have a great Thanksgiving, Christopher and remember, these views are MY PERSONAL VIEWS and I do not plant flags, I just call them as I see them. From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Mon Nov 30 02:36:36 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id CAA05378; Mon, 30 Nov 1998 02:32:11 GMT Received: from garlic.negia.net (IDENT:root@garlic.negia.net [206.61.0.14]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id CAA05373 for ; Mon, 30 Nov 1998 02:32:02 GMT Received: from idn.org (p111.negia.net [207.43.201.121]) by garlic.negia.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id VAA31115; Sun, 29 Nov 1998 21:16:38 -0500 Message-ID: <36620169.D65B7C1E@idn.org> Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 21:22:33 -0500 From: Christopher Byrne Organization: International Development Network X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: info@idn.org Subject: This Week at the International Development Network (Nov 29) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Greetings and apologies for any cross-posting! The IDN is pleased to welcome our 3 newest members: Mr. Fausto Martins, Ms. Janice Moore of the World University Service of Canada, and Mr. Dominique J.M. Lelievre. Mr. Lelievre is presently a Project Officer with the Common Fund for Commodities in Amsterdam. He has over 27 years experience as a development economist working on a variety of projects throughout Africa. His CV (as well as the CVs of other IDN members) is available for downloading at the IDN for any organizations that would like to utilize his expertise As soon as profiles of Mr. Martins and Ms. Moore are received, they will be posted in the IDN membership Directory. Also, the Research Triangle Institute is recruiting for a Health Policy Analyst and and a Health Finance Specialist. More information on these positions is available on the web site, including application instructions. Here is what else is new at the IDN this week: __________________________________________________________________ This week's "Tools You Can Use" from the International Development Network (IDN) at http://www.idn.org/ is a link to the subscription based UN Development Business On-Line. It is the only business publication providing comprehensive sources of information on opportunities to supply goods, works and services to projects financed by the world's leading development banks and the United Nations System.  _______________________________________________________________________ QUICK LINK OF THE WEEK This weeks IDN Quick Link is to the web site for the OECD/DAC Development Co-Operation Review of Finland: Summary and Conclusions. _______________________________________________________________________ NEW LINKS Austrian Foundation for Development Research - maintains a research archive, as well as Austria's largest specialized library of literature covering all topics concerning development aid, development policy and Austrian relations with the countries of the South. (English/German) Centre for Development Research (Copenhagen) - carries out social science development research in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It supports development research through library and documentation services and offers consultancy services. Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) - a Global Network of Organisations Sharing their Experiences of Information on Children's Rights. European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) - purpose is to promote development research and training activities in economic, social, cultural, technological, institutional and environmental areas. Global Water Partnership - Building a network for sustainable water management The Henry Luce Foundation - financial support for projects involving the interdisciplinary exploration of higher education; increased understanding between Asia and the United States; the study of religion and theology; scholarship in American art; opportunities for women in science and engineering; and contributions to youth and public policy programs. International Committee on Fundraising Organisations - The association of national monitoring agencies. Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) -  an informal alliance which participates in independently financed projects in partnership with member organizations and technical support agencies. Pacific Forum CSIS - operates as the Asia-Pacific arm of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Research School for Resource Studies for Development (CERES) - is the coordinating body for development oriented research in the Netherlands Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) - works to recognize, support and promote excellence in scientific research in the South and to provide promising scientists in the South with research facilities necessary for the advancement of their work. _______________________________________________________________________ Meetings, Conferences and Symposia Information on the following conferences has been posted this week: Connecting Knowledge: Bridging the Gap between Training and Employment in Communications Building Information Communities in Africa (BICA) 1999 _______________________________________________________________________ THE DEVELOPMENT FRONT - Selected Sample Headlines From Nov 22-28 The following is a sample of the headline links and full text stories provided to sponsoring members of the IDN last week: £20m pledged by McCreevy to World Bank Y2K 4 agencies, including USAID, critical USAID Funded Ukraine Energy Center Steps Out On Its Own First-Ever Family Planning, Dental Services in Rasuwa, Nepal, Inaugurated Shaping a Tobacco-Free Cambodia The World Water and Climate Atlas: Powerful New Computer Tool Examines Earth in Detail US administration to try to revive Africa trade bill Israeli and Palestinians seek total of $1.6 billion in aid Uganda To Give Out 1M Condoms 60000 Indians Isolated After Mitch Caribbean Parliamentarians Seek to Increase Women's Leadership Roles in Politics and Peace Initiatives Loan Agreement Helps St Petersburg to Improve the City's Investment Climate and its Financial Position African Statistics Day 1998 to Focus on 'Harnessing Information for Development' Comparative Study of Education in Industrialized Countries And Latin America Secretary General of South Pacific Forum Invites Review of Forum Process Controlling Diseases After Mitch Will Cost Money Director-General Calls for Action to Stem Human and Cultural Rights Abuses in Afghanistan Director-General Pleads for the Consolidation of Peace and Democracy in Niger Upturn Predicted for Food Aid Luce Foundation Will Sponsor Program Grant to Fund Exchanges Between American and Asian Legislators "No Human Being on the Planet Should Be More Than  300 Yards from …A Condom" $102.2 Million to Improve Water And Sanitation, And Public Finances in Venezuela Approved $45,226,000 For Family Allowances in Honduras to Assist The Poor Approved $93.8 Million in Soft Loans to Honduras And Nicaragua Approved Cairo Ministerial Meeting Links Climate Change and Ozone Solutions Measles in Central America Poses Risk Agencies Join Forces to Tackle Child Marriages, Forced Marriages and Rape in Marriage International Bioethics Committee to Hold it 5th Session in The Netherlands, December 2 - 4 Brazil's TV Cultura Wins Children Broadcasting Award Working Together With Indonesia to Solve Y2K Problem World Bank and China Hold Seminar on Year 2000 Problem German Government makes DM 18 million available to GTZ to year-end Reconstruction in Central America PNG at mercy of epidemic Rep. says feds still working 'too slowly' on Y2K, USAID Called Dunce of the Year Pleas for aid put U.S. in a tight spot Ne’eman to Try to Convince US Israel Won’t Use Special Aid to Strengthen Settlements Squatters invade white-owned farms in Zimbabwe Investors upbeat on new Mozambique gas project Nicaraguan leaders put differences aside for disaster relief Mexico's Zedillo faces backlash from tax plans China urges Marshall Islands to correct ``mistake'' Jordan and Syria agree to monitor disputed river waters Iraq's oil-for-food wish list: Liposuction breast implants Danish Minister wants to make an impact on social issues globally UK charity campaigns over Asian sex slave trade Storm aid to Central America will get improved coordination Future water shortages seen as a threat to parts of world OAU chairman wins reelection as Burkina president Nigeria inches towards hard decision on fuel price UN leaves police trainers in Haiti for another year U.N. panel says Australian uranium mine should be stopped 45 countries to go to Palestinian aid meeting USAID-South Africa and VITA Announce Tycoon Award Winners Latvian Health Reform Project Loan Signed Today World Bank Moves Swiftly to Provide US$200 Million For Bangladesh Fast-track Emergency Flood Recovery Project Migration of Thousands of Hungry Somalis an Early Warning of Food Crisis First WFP Food Arrives in Remote Northeast Honduras WFP to Dedicate Memorial to Colleagues Killed in The Line of Duty Twenty-two African Countries Participate in First Regional Seminar on Sports And Environment Canada to Support New Human Rights Initiatives in Developing Countries ADRA Continues to Aid Honduran Hurricane Victims EXPO 2000 / OECD Forum for the Future: Conference on 21st Century Economic Dynamics - Anatomy of a Long Boom PAHO Working with Countries on Mosquito Control in Central America International Seminar to Examine New Information and Communication Technologies' Role in Population Advocacy _______________________________________________________________________ The IDN plans to continue our growth and to expand the depth and breadth of our information services. If you have not yet thought about a membership/sponsorship in the IDN, we encourage you to consider becoming a sponsor/member of the fastest growing, most comprehensive and current International Development Web Site on the Internet! Information is available at http://www.idn.org/membership/ From owner-s-asia-it@ns.apnic.net Mon Nov 30 23:12:21 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) id XAA07261; Mon, 30 Nov 1998 23:09:44 GMT Received: from MIT.EDU (SOUTH-STATION-ANNEX.MIT.EDU [18.72.1.2]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id XAA07256 for ; Mon, 30 Nov 1998 23:09:40 GMT Received: from MIT.MIT.EDU by MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA11055; Mon, 30 Nov 98 18:09:12 EST Received: from ERMURROW.MIT.EDU by MIT.MIT.EDU (5.61/4.7) id AA16987; Mon, 30 Nov 98 18:09:18 EST Date: Mon, 30 Nov 98 18:09:18 EST Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: sasianet@pan.idrc.org.sg From: Venkatesh Hariharan Subject: Grassroots revolution for PCs Cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net, Vanita Shastri Sender: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net Precedence: bulk I have been mulling over my last post on Sasianet to the effect that, governments have to be involved in disseminating IT. In case governments turn a deaf ear, this example demonstrates a successful alternative approach. This article was written by one of my staff members at Express Computer in India, around three years ago. Venky HEADLINE : Silicon goes to the roots Abhijit Basu Udang (West Bengal) This village in the Howrah district is quite like what it used to be hundred years back. Farmers work small tracts of land. The fish ponds double as swimming pools for kids. Women tread dirt paths lugging buckets of water or firewood. Everything here has the 19th century written all over it. Everything ? Well, not quite. In a small white-washed building, villagers are taking on poverty and changing their future by logging on. Welcome to Udang, a wonder-village in West Bengal's Hooghly district, around 100 km from Calcutta. Even while approaching the village, one is aware that there is something very different here. Ask anyone for the computer centre and they will guide you to it, for it is the village's pride. Nestled between 20 villages, Udang is the centre for all activities in the region. Despite having only a couple of telephone lines leading to it, the village has managed to come a long way from the backward state it was a few years back__thanks to the computer centre. The computer lab is the brainchild of Prof. Marmar Mukhopadhyaya, currently the senior advisor at the National Institute of Education, Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi whose roots lie in the village. The first computer was purchased in 1993__ a PC-XT. "Although we managed funds from the Department of Electronics and other sources, we were running short by around Rs 7,000 and believe it or not, the villagers shelled out the money from their own hard-earned money. This is something that I shall never forget in my life and I shall always remain indebted to them for this," said Prof. Mukhopadhyaya. Apart from the DoE, the project has also received support from local engineering colleges. Recollected Mukhopadhyaya, "I still remember that a computer dealer of a large computer company delivered a computer to us with a discount of Rs 3,000. Actually, we were again running short by that amount and he willingly pitched in that for us." "I have grown up in the village and I have undergone the hardships of life there. I know how much those people crave newer and better technology," Mukhopadhyaya stated. So, he set out to make the dream a reality. It took him three years to convince the government and the local bodies that his project was not just a myth but was really possible with their support. Today, the centre has a total of 10 computers, most of which are PC-XTs sans hard drives. The most "powerful" computer is Udang is a 386-based IBM clone. Most of the computers are rescued from the junkyards of large corporates who usually dump these machines or sell them off at throw-away prices. The local school also sports a couple of BBC micros, ones which are history today. The villagers are fluent in the usage of word processors and spreadsheets. Said Ram Mohan while breezing through a spreadsheet, "I can use this as easily as I can ride a cycle." In fact, the local "Neville Bulsara" clone actually makes a living selling tele bhaja (pakora). The computer has not only taught the villagers about the modern technology but has also changed their lives. Today, their entire lifestyle revolves around it. Even traditional activities like crop cycles and fish cultivation are planned through keystrokes. In the absence of a doctor, the computer helps the villagers to take care of minor ailments like headaches, rashes, insect bites et all as the treatment (medication too) is stored in the form of a database. Also available as a spreadsheet is a survey conducted by the Howrah Rural Teachers' Forum which reveals the average age, educational status, health condition and other details of the residents of Udang and the neighbouring villages. The computer has led to wide-scale development of the villages around Udang. Today, the area has a number of quasi-educational vocational projects, inspired by the success of the computer. "We had to face a lot of resistance in the beginning from the village elders. They did not know anything about the computer and neither did the villagers. However, the majority were hopeful about its prospects and they did their bit to make this programme a success," said Suchandan Porel, the headmaster of the local school who has now retired and looks after the day-to-day working of the society. In addition to the computer setup, the villagers have set up a local bio-gas plant, courses in electrical setup, machine tools, However, there are still a few problems that plague the setup. The main obstacle is access to better technology. "We are unable to keep pace with the technology as it changes very rapidly and we are dependent on our old machines." Citing a minor example, Porel explained: "We are unable to compete with the city schools in the inter-school computer competitions as we use BBC Micros which are not used anywhere else. So, our programmimg skills are limited to it while others use advanced software like Pascal and FoxBase." However, the place does not fail to enthral all who visit that place. As Dr. Sugata Mitra, the head of the research and development division of NIIT , which was closely associated with the project put it: "It is a convergence of rural life with what is dubbed the technology of the elite. And computers in rural areas--why not? After all, it is not something exclusively for the rich. The government has been harping on education in the rural sector for a long time now and this is an ideal example of the same, without little outside support. This only shows the will of the people and the villagers involved in the project." The centre has also had a immense social impact on Udang, with residents starting to look beyond the region. Bhobani Mondal who till recently walked 6 kilometres five days a week to study at the centre, feels that his chances of getting a "good job" in Calcutta have now substantially improved. In fact, his cousin Protik has decided to follow in his wake by typing out his destiny on a keyboard. ends Venkatesh Hariharan Knight Science Journalism Fellow @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology 156 Magazine Street, Apt # 33, Cambridge, MA 02139 Tel: (O) 617-253-6709 Fax: 617-258-8100 URL: http://www.venky.org ***NEW*** Read my article on young Indian s/w entrepreneurs at http://www.upside.com/texis/mvm/story?id=36222fdc0