Warana

I saw this article relating to the Warana Village project Morana was talking about and thought it was a great supplement to discussion today.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998628,00.html?promoid=googlep

Helping people effectively help others

Hey everyone,

I came across this really awesome go-to website to help a non-profit or any individuals actively pursuing global development. It’s a a great source for ICT help to assist developers in effectively utilizing and understanding ICTs for the further development of others. In our class we focus on which ICTs are most effective for developing nations, but I think it’s also important to recognize that international development is only as effective as the developers facilitating or promoting that development.

The website is: http://infoshare.lk/

They help non-profit developers using ICTs in these ways:

• By researching and developing ICT applications that support their missions of positive social change. 
• By consulting with and supporting organizations in the development community to maintain a robust ICT infrastructure. 
• By building their capacity in basic and advanced ICT skills, including operating systems, office productivity suites and social media.
  (from the http://infoshare.lk/ website)

Oh ya, and on a side note: some of you have mentioned my user-name was very cryptic, so I thought I would clarify that this was Lydia.

Linux, the Free +Open Source software!

I recently read an article on the free software and open source computer operating system known as Linux. It is a software that you can download and run on your computer, and also download all the source code the programmers created to build the operating system. You can then modify or extend the code to meet your needs.”Linux runs on a wide variety of hardware platforms, from huge mainframes to desktop PCs to cell phones. It is licensed under the Free Software Foundation’s GNU Project’sGNU General Public License, version 2, which lets users modify and redistribute the software.” (http://www.linux.com/whatislinux/119700).

The reason I found Linux interesting and relevant to our course is because it has been made accessible to people who were unreached because it has been translated into multiple languages. The uniqueness of Linux lies in the fact that it is created, advanced, and modified by the developer. Therefore, liberty is given to people who choose to invest in this software, thus being an ‘open source’ software.

Another unique aspect to Linux is that it is a free software.

“Free software is a matter of the users’ freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it refers to four kinds of freedom, for the users of the software:

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.”

(http://www.gnu.org/)

To find out more about Linux and its uses visit

http://www.linux.com/whatislinux/119700

http://www.gnu.org/

U.N. ICT Tunis Summit

I thought the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force was an interesting player in the promotion and development of ICTs in countries and found a great article discussing their summit in Tunis, Tunisia on Nov. 16 to 19, 2005. This summit was successful in bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds.

“Some 20,000 participants at an immense convention center represented 174 countries and more than 800 private-sector businesses and civil society organizations. While governments focused on cooperation and coordination in managing emerging information and communication technology, participants from the private sector and civil society enthusiastically networked in parallel events amidst high-tech marvels on display in a giant exhibition hall complex.

The United States government, Japan, Italy, Finland, Switzerland, Tunisia, Malaysia, Mozambique, South Africa, Egypt, Israel, Iran, Jordan and Cuba, among others, mounted official exhibits. Well-known global corporations such as IBM, Sun, Microsoft, Vivendi, Alcatel, Ericsson and Nokia mounted stunning exhibits in trade fair style. Earnest civil society organizations provided materials on a range of issues such as Internet management, primary education in developing countries and health in rural areas.”

I think the incorporation of the private sector is crucial, especially in developing countries, because these individuals are the ones that know the most about the needs of that society and having numerous private sector organizations/businesses present provides more input from different interest groups.

The WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society) took place in two places. The first was Minneapolis in 1998. At this meeting, Tunisia (a country devoted to modernization) proposed the idea of a world summit.

As Yoshio Utsumi, secretary-general of the ITU and WSIS states, “It is fitting that this stage of our journey ends here in Tunis, the capital of the country that launched the process…Uniquely, WSIS was a summit held in two phases. Through this approach, WSIS took place in one developed and one developing country. This helped ensure that the full range of issues of the information society were addressed, while highlighting the critical need to bridge the digital divide.”

The U.N. task force did excellent work in Tunis. One example is the trip they took to a rural village hours away with vans loaded with satellites, IBM laptops, and gas powered electric generators. They left behind eight brand new IBM PCs for their school’s new computer lab. Participants at the Tunis Summit hope to see increased internationalization of Internet governance and development of regional and national Internet resources. There is a hope that information and communication technologies will promote more open and democratic societies.

For more information check out http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/wb/xp-42953

For information on the U.N. ICT Task Force check out:

http://www.unicttaskforce.org/