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Digitally disadvantaged strive to get online

According to statistics from the UN, only seven out of 100 countries in the developing world are connected to the Internet, a significantly lower number than in the developed world where 54 out of 100 countries are online. However the situation is improving, with internet connectivity in developing countries rising at an average annual rate of about 35 percent between 2000 and 2004.

In 2004 in the developing world, there were only 18.8 mobile phone users per 100 inhabitants compared to 76.8 per 100 in the developed countries. And although broadband markets are growing fast; 158.9 million subscribers worldwide by the end of 2004, Oceania and Africa had only 1.1 and 0.2 percent of subscribers respectively. However, despite this digital doom and gloom, the number of internet users in the developing countries is growing: increasing by 43 percent between 2000 and 2001; 49 percent in 2001-2002; 25 percent in 2002-2003; and 30 percent more by 2004. Africa also managed to add 15 million new mobile phone subscribers in 2004.

The latest initiative – which is aiming to develop a global decentralised “network of networks” operates in four areas: health, education, poverty reduction through new enterprises, and citizen participation in government. Intel has already been involved in bringing Internet access to remote areas of the world. Its most recent project involved creating a wireless, high-speed internet network for residents in the Amazon as part of its Intel World Ahead Program. This is an initiative that plans to invest more than USD1 billion to speed-up access to technology for inhabitants of developing communities. The Amazon project is designed to bring access to medical, educational and commercial knowledge resources through computers. Parintins, a town on an island in the Amazon River, is now digitally enabled – an achievement that is predicted to improve the healthcare and education of its 114,000 residents. The Amazon University is now beginning a telemedicine program, which is being developed jointly with the medical school of Sao Paulo University. This will give the town's medical professionals better access to the latest medical data, with video interaction between specialists providing faster access to second opinions.

HP innovation wins award

Hewlett-Packard announced that its innovation, the Gesture-Based Keyboard, was declared the runner-up in the Consumer Electronics category of the Wall Street Journal's 2006 Technology Innovation Awards.

The gesture-based keyboard was designed as an input device for Indic languages by the firm's research division here in India. GKB has the potential to reach over 1.5 billion non-English speaking people, including Indian, Nepalese, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi and other phonetic script users. The winner was a digital-music networking system by the US-based Sonos.

Microsoft

    Microsoft India has entered into a partnership with Hughes to create a self-sustaining IT infrastructure in rural areas by deploying broadband enabled ICT kiosks in about 200 towns and villages across the country.

     

    The company will roll out about 5,000 such kiosks, which will be operated on a franchisee model and enable new entrepreneurs across the rural landscape to use technology for e-Commerce, education and e-Governance. It will lead to better communication and access to information through all round connectivity and offer people a platform to acquire skills sets, undertake e-Literacy programmes for ordinary citizens. Microsoft, as part of its rural computing initiative 'Project Saksham', will work with Hughes to set up the ICT kiosks across blocks, talluqas and villages. Microsoft aimed to drive technology access at the grass root level to enable socio economic development of rural communities, Microsoft Head – Rural Computing Tarun Malik said. Hughes India CEO and President Pranav Roach said, the ITC kiosks would not only provide a platform for exchange of information and knowledge but also serve as a platform to create over 15,000 jobs and self-employment opportunities.

    USAID helps reconstruct schools in Macedonia

    Hundreds of Macedonian schools are involved in USAID projects that are helping them provide a better educational environment. USAID has been helping bring computers to Macedonian classrooms.
     
    Thirteen schools in Macedonia are getting new roofing, toilets, heating systems, lighting, doors and windows with US funding. USAID has donated US$600,000 for restoration of the school buildings in Tearce, Bosilovo, Kriva Palanka and Debarca. The renovation is being carried out through the USAID project for assisting decentralisation in Macedonia. As part of the decentralisation process, school management has been transferred to municipalities.

    The agency also has been introducing new teaching methods, drawn from the USAID Creative Teaching and Learning (CTL) programme. The curriculum, introduced after the sophomore year, is now in 18 secondary and 45 primary schools. A total of 1,025 teachers participated and, following intensive training, are now implementing new interactive teaching methods in their classrooms. Teachers now have e-access to international issues, literature, newspapers and magazines. It is expected that the project will enhance the quality of educational services, facilities and resources for students — some of them future teachers themselves.

    Another USAID programme is the Roma Education Project that has been implemented for the past three years, in collaboration with USAID, FOSIM, the Swiss Pestalozzi Foundation, and the OSCE. The programme focuses on preparing pre-school children for entering primary education; increasing enrolment and transition rates, lowering drop-out rates, and improving the school performance and attendance of Roma students in primary and secondary schools. It also helps Roma students at universities to gain equal opportunities and achieve more academically. USAID also implemented a project related to improving computer infrastructure.

    The project helped create 460 computer labs in primary and secondary schools through networking and the use of 5,300 computers donated by China. A series of training programmes were conducted for 180 secondary school teachers, focusing on the use of ICT through project-based learning strategies and networking. This cohort of 180 teachers will disseminate the training to 2,500 high school teachers. The activities do not stop there. Around 550 elementary and secondary schools, research institutes, universities and dorms now have broadband internet connectivity via the three-year activity of USAID's Macedonia Connects Project.

    E-procurement tops in 7 surveyed e-Governance projects in Andhra Pradesh, India

      The Government of India has got 39 e-Governance projects in the country assessed by independent agencies. Out of these 7 projects have been taken up for the assessment in Andhra Pradesh which are  Computer

      NIIT ventures into financial service training

      NIIT has ventured into financial services training with the launch of the Institute of Finance, Banking and Insurance (IFBI). < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

       

      NIIT has set up the institute in partnership with ICICI Bank to cater to the needs of the banking, insurance and financial services sectors in India and overseas.  IFBI will commence admissions in October 2006. It will start with a six-month, full-time programme, the post-graduate diploma in banking operations (PGDBO), that will focus on grooming entry-level professionals for the banking industry. IFBI will also offer training programmes for the entry-level professionals in the banking sector. The training programmes will be offered from IFBI education centres set up in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Calcutta.

       

      Educational institutions in India can run community radio

      The Group of Ministers (GoM), which has been assigned the task of ironing out differences within the Union Cabinet on amendments to the community radio regime, has cleared the changes proposed by the Union Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry in India. This includes the contentious issue of allowing advertisements on such radio stations.

      Headed by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, the GoM was set up in October 2005 after some members in the Cabinet expressed reservations about the proposal to allow limited advertising on community radio stations. The I&B Ministry had suggested that the stations be allowed to generate revenue through advertisements and sponsored programmes, those backed by Central and State Governments and of public interest.

      As against the existing policy wherein no advertising is allowed on such stations, the Ministry wants five minutes an hour of transmission to be dedicated to localised advertising so that such stations can generate revenue to meet running costs. Besides advertising, one of the major changes proposed by the I&B Ministry pertains to allowing educational institutions, other than those within the government set-up, and non-profit organisations to run community radio stations. Other changes include increasing the licence period from three to five years and having an inter-ministerial committee headed by the I&B Secretary as a single-window clearance system for government-run educational institutions. In the case of non-government applicants, the Ministry has said that if the necessary clearances do not come from the Ministries concerned – Home, Communications and Human Resource Development in the case of private educational institutions – within three months, it would be deemed that they have no objection and the inter-ministerial committee would clear the application.

      While the country has a capacity to let out 50,000 frequencies for community radio, the Ministry has set its eyes on letting out 4,000 frequencies over the next four years by having a more liberal regime. It also envisages graded punishment for violations instead of the current threat of revocation/termination/suspension of licences.

      NEPAD scores ICT education of students in Africa low

      The New  Partnership for African's Development (NEPAD) has scored the level of students experience with ICT and their proficiency in using them very low in Africa.

      In the first monitoring and evaluation report using feedback from the  participating schools it has been disclosed that more than 55% of the students drawn within Africa, including Nigeria, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Republic of  Congo, Egypt, Gabon, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda who are participating in the first phase, had  no experience at all in using computers. The report has also mentioned that African typical school environment do not provide much opportunity for student's access to computers and related ICTs and also do not provide training to  use them. The aim of the NEPAD e-Schools Initiative is to equip all secondary schools in Africa with ICT equipment including computers, radio and television sets, phones and  fax machines, communication equipment, scanners, digital cameras, copiers etc. It is necessary that each participating country formally establish a National Implementing Agency for NEPAD e-Schools that will bear  responsibility for all operational aspects of the initiative” implementation as stated by the project Coordinator Content with the NEPAD e-Schools initiative, Sandy Malapile .

      Website brings little difference in the lives of villagers

        Nata, a village in Botswana, has made a history this year by creating its own website in the country.

         

        This website initiative that started off introducing Nata village to the rest of the world has made a difference in the lives of the ordinary residents. Melody Jenkins, the technical adviser for the Nata website said that since the launch, visitors to the website had made generous contributions that had helped residents of the village. She said that so far they had raised more than P45,000 through the website. Some of the money would be used to fund projects aimed at improving the lives of those infected by HIV/AIDS in the village. She revealed that the website acted as a cultural exchange platform and they always put up pictures that reflect the traditional Setswana activities in the village. Seloma Tiro the chairman of the board of trustees said that the establishment of the website was significantly contributing to the lives of the residents. He added that people's lives were changing everyday and they were confident that the website would continue making a positive contribution. He said money raised from the website had been used to buy food for children and the destitute.

        ICT training for Ghana journalists

        The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) is to undertake a capacity building in Information Communication Technology (ICT) for Journalists in the country.< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

        A renovation works have been completed at a new Internet caf

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