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	Thoughts About K4D \| Web log

	Digital Communities \| Magazine \| International News

	AllAfrica \| ICT and Telecom \| News

	InfoDev \| Highlights

	R4D \| ICTs

	MobileActive.org \| News

	TechSoup \| Articles

	Web2forDev: Web 2.0 for Development


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	Information society

CTA / ICT Update


A current awareness bulletin for ACP agriculture

A base for biodiversity data
26 02 2010 For the last 20 years, the Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust has been collecting the details of the country’s fauna and flora in one multimedia database.

Direct data on demand
26 02 2010 A network of community knowledge workers (CKWs) in Uganda uses a suite of mobile applications to give farmers a broad range of information. The CKWs can provide farming advice, market data, pest- and disease-control training, plus weather forecasts.

The view from above
26 02 2010 The Seeing is Believing project uses very high resolution satellite imagery to give farmers in West Africa information on soil fertility and accurate land size.

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DG / ICT


dgCommunities is both a place to find knowledge resources focused on development issues and an interactive space to share knowledge, participate in discussions and find people with similar interests.

e-Participatory Budgeting: e-Democracy from theory to success?
11 03 2010 This paper concerns the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a strategy for reinforcing democratic processes - broadly defined as “electronic democracy” practices - and focuses on the use of ICTs in participatory democracy initiatives. By considering the experience of the e-Participatory Budgeting in the city of Belo Horizonte (Brazil), the aim is to understand some of the possible prospects and limitations offered by ICTs in participatory processes at the local level.This

Books overtake games as most numerous iPhone apps
11 03 2010 "In what is predicted to be a pivotal year for ebooks, with next month's iPad launch, the number of books available as iPhone apps now exceeds the number of games....."'It's a very exciting time,' agreed Penguin's digital publisher, Jeremy Ettinghausen. 'It's very exciting that people are using iPhones to read books.'...."A significant proportion of these apps are free downloads of out-of-copyright books, but according to Franklin the recent surge in book apps can also be attributed to improveme

Bursary for ICT4D Masters from University of Manchester
10 03 2010 The 2010 ICT4D Bursary, worth £6,000, is available exclusively for developing country applicants to the University of Manchester's one-year MSc ICTs for Development degree programme (http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/courses/06237/index.asp) & nbsp;Application and eligibility details can be found at: http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/funding/idpmbursaries.htm & nbsp;Applications should be sent 28 May 2010. & nbsp;Richard HeeksDirectorCentre for Deve

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iConnect online / News


Information on the application of knowledge and ICTs in sustainable development.

IT agency outlines OSS progress made in SA government
04 09 2009 The South African government’s State IT Agency (Sita) Free and Open Source Programme has released its second public newsletter outlining the progress of open source software in government.

Disease maps can turn a crisis around
04 09 2009 AID workers in Zimbabwe need all the help that they can get, so a website that enables them to share information could be a big boost.

Africa's EASSY project delayed by a year
04 09 2009 The East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSY) will be operational in June 2010 instead of June this year, according to a project official.

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Information Policy / web log

Enlightened ICT regulation can play the role of ‘stimulus plan’
12 03 2010 Complex challenges of a converging, multimedia world Geneva, 9 March 2010 — While demand for information and communication (ICT) services like mobile telephony and broadband Internet remains strong, the global economic crisis is jeopardizing ongoing investment in network rollouts and...

Office of OSCE media freedom representative unveils conclusions about Lukashenka’s Internet use decree
12 03 2010 The Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media said that Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s Internet use decree features several positive elements, but much will depend on how it will be enacted, BelaPAN said. The Office commissioned a legal analysis...

NL Regulator publishes final version of its Open Cable rules
12 03 2010 Dutch national regulator the Independent Post Telecommunications Authority (OPTA) has released its final version of the Open Cable rules and pricing applicable to the country’s major cable operators Ziggo and UPC Nederland, Broadband TVNews reports. Under the OPTA’s new regime,...

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DG / E-Government


dgCommunities is both a place to find knowledge resources focused on development issues and an interactive space to share knowledge, participate in discussions and find people with similar interests.

Singapore overhauls free wireless service
10 03 2010 The Singapore government has revamped its free, nationwide wireless internet service Wireless@SG to give citizens and businesses faster and easier access to the internet. It is hoped that the service – which will be free until 2013 - will boost innovation and business activity as the island nation’s economy emerges from recession..

UN defends relevance of e-government rankings
10 03 2010 The United Nations has refuted suggestions that its E-government Survey has lost relevance in an era of increasingly diverse e-government ecosystems. The survey’s director, Haiyan Qian, told FutureGov that the rankings continue to serve as a guide to more efficient, open and transparent governance, and help public sector modernisers “put money in the right places” and avoid commonly made mistakes..

Training Workshop on the UNESCO e-governance Toolkit for developing countries
10 03 2010 UNESCO Windhoek and UNESCO Brasilia in partnership with the Angolan National Commission for UNESCO will hold a two day training workshop for 20 local participants on the E-governance Toolkit for Developing Countries, in Luanda, Angola on 10 – 11 March 2010.This E-Government Toolkit aims to demystify concepts behind e-government and strengthen the understanding of all those involved in planning and execution of E-government projects. The toolkit offers an action framework involving all the stakeh

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Eldis / ICT for development


Information strategic, policy or practical interest for development practitioners based in both the North and South.

Use of computerised information systems in Uganda and Botswana
02 03 2010 The use of Computerised Information Systems has grown rapidly in developed countries in the past two decades. Developing countries are far behind but ...

Enhancing the potential of ICTs for advancing democracy and empowerment in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda
05 01 2010 Access to and the strategic use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) have been shown to have the potential to help bring about economic ...

ICT and gender in Bangladesh
09 12 2009 'Digital Bangladesh' became a key issue in the last election as the benefits of ICT became more well known. At the same time as this growing ...

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Thoughts About K4D / Web log


Dealing with Knowledge and Understanding for Development (K4D), especially in donor assistance policies and projects seeking to enhance knowledge systems in developing countries. Science and technology is a key concern as well as ICT in developing nations. From John A. Daly

A Thought About Prosecutorial Misconduct
02 01 2010 In several recent cases important federal government prosecutions have been halted or overturned due to judicial determinations that prosecutorial misconduct had occurred. The New York Times tells of a judgment against the prosecutors in the Blackrock case (security guards charged with killings in Iraq) and the Justice Department requesting an overturn of the conviction of Senator Ted Stevens.

The Massive Scientific Evidence for Manmade Global Warming
01 01 2010 I just read James McCarthyxx_apos_xxs address to the AAAS to be presented at the annual meeting. McCarthy is the outgoing President of the apex scientific professional organization in the United States. He will give the lecture to an audience of scientists, but relatively few specialized in his area of expertise. He provides an overview of the aggregation of evidence and analysis over the last 150 years

Excerpts froom a message from the United Nations Association of the United States
01 01 2010 For the first time, the United States ran for election to the worldxx_apos_xxs most prominent human rights body, the UN Human Rights Council, and easily won a seat. The United States ended its self-induced exile from the worldxx_apos_xxs first permanent international court for mass atrocity crimes, the International Criminal Court (ICC). And the President and Congress provided over $700 million to pay UN arrears

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Digital Communities / Magazine / International News


Information technology (IT) case studies, applications, news and best practices by and for international, state, city and county government.

Ice Shelves Disappearing on Antarctic Peninsula
23 02 2010 This could result in glacier retreat and sea-level rise if warming continues, threatening coastal communities and low-lying islands worldwide.

Telenurses Face Conflict In Advising Care
18 02 2010 Nurses who provide telephone advice services have to balance the conflicting demands of providing appropriate medical advice and acting as a gatekeeper to limited healthcare services, according to a review in the March issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

LTE Breakthrough for Mobile Television
13 02 2010 Fraunhofer researchers at HHI Berlin developed the cross-layer design SVC over LTE - a coding method that offers HD films in real-time in the appropriate format for cell phones or netbooks.

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AllAfrica / ICT and Telecom / News

Kenya: Silicon Valley in the Making Right Inside Ugenya
11 03 2010 Sega in Ugenya District is a typical dusty village with a reputation for tidit, a potent local brew. But that is changing fast and it is now transforming itself into a hub of information technology.

Zimbabwe: NetOne Mulls Expansion
11 03 2010 NETONE intends to triple its subscriber base from the current 500 000 to 1,5 million by May this year.

Rwanda: Rwandatel's 'Umusaruro' Promotion Nears to an End
11 03 2010 In a campaign to promote social responsibility, Rwandatel the country's second largest operator by market share is set to announce the winner of the 'Umusaruro' promotion.

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InfoDev / Highlights

infoDev launches new project on Spatial Data Infrastructure for Monitoring the MDGs
12 03 2010 InfoDev and the World Bank’s Finance, Economic and Urban Development (FEU) department are working together to advance the Information and Communication Technology for development (ICT4D) agenda in the area of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and Spatial data infrastructure (SDI). Dubbed Spatial Data Infrastructure for Millennium Development Goals (SDI4MDGs), the project will provide Technical assistance to two developing countries, Jordan and Uganda, on how they can use GIS/SDI for monitoring development outcomes with specific focus on the monitoring and achievement of MDGs.

ICTs for Development: Improving Policy Coherence
01 03 2010 This publication draws on discussion papers prepared for the workshop "Policy Coherence in the Application of Information and Communication Technologies for Development" jointly organized by the OECD and infoDev/World Bank held on 11-12 September 2009 in Paris.

Bridging the Gap - Report on Investment Readiness of MSME
11 02 2010 YES Foundation Skopje (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) issues the final report on the project 'Investment readiness of the MSME sector in South-East Europe', which was conducted in cooperation with the Dutch Foundation SPARK and supported by the SENSI and ECAbit networks.

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R4D / ICTs


Up-to-date information on DFID’s current research portfolio

Comment on Finding the right photo by Priyanthi Fernando
04 03 2010 Didn't realise that there were so many photo sources around. Where I work, in the Centre for Poverty Analysis, Sri Lanka we have a passion for taking photographs and tend to use our own mostly. We also had a policy that we do not use any images of ‘recognisable' people in our imaging – this is a reaction to the “wide-eyed developing country child” imagery that we see in many development documentation. In some of the video documentation we do, especially in work that is verbatim documentation or based on testimonies, we are now considering getting permissions to use photographs/images of people, rather than avoiding it altogether… so my question is more about how organisations deal with the ethics of imaging..

Uncovering Hidden Research
04 03 2010 The INASP Journals Online (JOLs) project, part of the second phase of the Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information (PERii), supports peer-reviewed journals from developing and emerging countries to publish online, giving researchers access to local knowledge and the opportunity to contribute their own articles.

WRENmedia Annual Report 2008/9 to DFID. Communicating research: contributing to sustainable development.
26 02 2010 Miscellaneous 2010 22 pp. WRENmedia's activities in communicating research for agricultural development continue to evolve as it responds to user needs, makes its services accessible to a greater number ofpeople, and keeps readers and listeners abreast of agricultural trends, results and innovation. In Agfax, as a result of capacity building workshops for African journalists during the last two years, up to four interviews (from only one in 2007) are now contributed by Africancorrespondents to each radio pack, which is sent out to 80 national, local, FM and community radio stations in 16 African countries. This development over the last two years means thatAgfax is a now an agricultural information service predominantly recorded by Africans for Africans and is greatly valued for the insights it provides on new technologies and developments, the quality of broadcast material, and the tips for adapting topics for local coverage. New Agriculturist continues to be a unique and highly-valued resource on agricultural development. In 2009, the look and layout of the site was redesigned to allow readers to accesstopics of interest more easily and more regularly. Reader interaction with New Agriculturist has been made easier; readers can rate articles, add comments and join the growing number offollowers on twitter. Google stats over a four month period reveal that referrals to New Agriculturist from other websites account for around 16 per cent of visits with leading development organisations providing links to New Agriculturist, including FAO, CG centres, CTA, Eldis, IFPRI, UNDP, UNEP, WFP, CAADP, FANRPAN etc. Evidence of influence is captured for example as a result of an article on livestock keepers rights in New Agriculturist, a young Maasai lawyer has provided feedback on the impact of this coverage in raising the profile of pastoralist-related issues and contributed to his gaining of a fellowship at the World Intellectual Property Organization. As a result of 'Better Science Reporting' training for African radio and print journalists, all trainees report in a recent survey greater confidence in understanding science, interacting withresearchers and conveying science to their audiences. The majority are reporting more regularly on science since the training and are keen to seek further training and professionaldevelopment opportunities. Several have won awards, including an Africa-wide script-writing competition, and a 2009 Best Water and Sanitation Reporting Award. Many trainees are nowattending more major international events and four trainees won scholarships/funding to attend the World Conference for Science Journalists in July 2009. Many of the trainees have also beeninvolved in passing on skills to colleagues or requested to make presentations at events, e.g. Zambia Science Week.

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MobileActive.org / News


A resource for activists using mobile technology worldwide

Anonymous Cell Phone Video from Iran Wins Journalism Award
11 03 2010 A video filmed on a mobile phone made history when it won the George Polk Award for Journalism this year. Not only was it the first video to win in the newly-created videography category, it was also the first video in the Polk's 61-year history awarded to an anonymous citizen journalist. Read More>> read more

Mobile Security Redux: Comparing the Tools
10 03 2010 We have been very keen on exposing the security issues related to mobile communications for activists in insecure environments. To that end we have, to date, produced a number of how-to guides that evaluate some of the tools available. We just added a matrix of available tools that compares existing applications for secure communications more systematically. So, here is the line-up of mobile security resources on MobileActive for easy reference:

A Guide to Mobile Security for Journalists (and others who produce content!)
A Mobile Surveillance Primer
NEW: A Matrix of Mobile Security Tools (Google spreadsheet, downloadable in various formats).

We will continue to pay close attention to this space as there are not enough tools and resources yet for activists and journalists to communicate securely via mobile. If you are aware of other projects or resources, please add a comment! Photo courtesy: rafeblandford via flickr Read More>> read more

Women and Mobile: Is It Really a Global Opportunity?
10 03 2010 This review was written by Anne-Ryan Heatwole with Katrin Verclas. Today is International Women's Day and as we do every year, we are looking at the complex and intriguing issue of women and mobile technology around the world. A new report, “Women and Mobile: A Global Opportunity,” by the GSMA Development Fund, the Cherie Blair Foundation and Vital Wave Consulting, tackles the issue of the gender gap in mobile phone usage with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. Read More>> read more

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TechSoup / Articles


TechSoup.org offers nonprofits a one-stop resource for technology needs by providing free information, resources, and support.

Network Troubleshooting: Introduction
10 03 2010 First in a three-part series on how to pinpoint your organizations network problems.

Manuals for Refurbishing Computers
04 03 2010 Find a series of free "how-to" resources for developing your own computer refurbishment program

A Few Good Tools for Online Data Backup
24 02 2010 What are the best hosted backup options for nonprofits?

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Web2forDev: Web 2.0 for Development


Web2forDev Gateway. Web 2.0 learning and sharing in the context of development work

Proud to have mastered Web 2.0
11 03 2010 "Today we are proud, for we have managed to sit in front of a computer. We have braved our fears and we have succeeded. We have demystified this tool, which we thought was mainly reserved for intellectuals." There was a feeling of overwhelming pride at the close of the training workshop held from 27 April to 8 May 2009 in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Attending the sessions were 26 rural women who gathered from Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali and Niger to master the main tools offered by Web 2.0.

Selecting content and reducing complexity to counter information overload
11 03 2010 Thanks to social networks, such as Twitter, information can spread around a lot faster. People can easily connect to others or sharing similar interests; Exchanges among peers make information circulating more relevant. But the downside of social networks is that they do not help to cope with what many of us do experience: information overload. On the contrary, the speed of the real-time web is breathtaking.

The other side of Web 2.0: People’s online reputation and identity
11 03 2010 As private and professional life are increasingly moving to the Internet – particularly through online social networks – each user creates a cyber-identity with variable levels of details and ability to control its use. It becomes increasingly important to care for one's reputation on the Internet because of the far reaching effects it could have. To recover a once failed reputation is quite difficult. This is a common lessons learnt by individuals and companies.

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