A digital inclusion program in Ghana to bridge the divide
The Ministry of Communication of Ghana, in collaboration with Intel and Microsoft, has introduced a digital inclusion progamme to assist and advance in information society. In pursuit of this, Intel and Microsoft  have jointly  howcased their plans for personal computers (PCs) designed  and built specifically for the local markets. The digital inclusion would  boost the PC home ownership scheme and would introduce affordable,  locally assembled PCs onto the market. It provides a great opportunity to bridge the divide.
Digital inclusion would lead to a change in the quality of life for the people. This progamme would be a key to attain the targets that the world  has set for itself in the millennium development goals.

Online Training Postgraduate Programme in a college of Ethiopia
The College of Telecommunications and Information Technology is going to launch the first-ever online training programme at postgraduate diploma level in Ethiopia this year to meet the demands of Information  Communications Technology professionals.  The programme is going to be started form next July as the regular training. The programme in different areas of  ICT and telecom would enable students to take the courses in their  own time by accessing the training materials in textual and video content  form. The regular training programmes are offered in the fields of telecom  Ministry to reward teachers who develop computer software

The Ministry of Education and Sports in   Ghana has initiated a special best teachers award for teachers who will develop computer  software for various subjects this year.
The move was part of the government’s efforts to promote information and  communication technology (ICT) in schools in the country; the prize for the
award had already been donated by Microsoft Corporation. By the end of next
month, the government and INTEL would launch the first phase online resource for the teaching of mathematics and science for junior secondary schools (JSS) in the country.
engineering and information technology at MSc levels, and Master of Business Administration (MBA) in telecom in order to move the telecom industry of the country with the pace of the changing technology.

400 cities worldwide planning to deploy municipal broadband networks
There are over 400 cities worldwide planning to deploy municipal broadband networks and the number will double in 2006, making community  broadband initiatives a very real and significant trend. That is the  finding of the latest report, Municipal Broadband Networks: Market impact and implications, 2006-2011, published by industry research firm  Visiongain. As of first quarter 2006, there are over 100 city and regional wireless  broadband networks  perational  worldwide, more than 40 of which are in the US. For a large number of reasons, municipalities are  considering the concept of a  Municipal  roadband Network as the  utility. These communities are choosing between deploying fibre and a wireless broadband network  using Wi-Fi hotspots, mesh  networks  or pre-WiMAX technology.  Semapedia – the physical wikipedia  ntroduced to Africa The Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre  of Excellence in ICT  ntroduced the  Semacode technology and the

Semapedia application to a segment of  the Ghanaian  public.
Introduced for the first time in Africa, the Semapedia is an application of the
vast information available on the Wikipedia and the simple yet practical URL barcode, called the Semacode. With the Semacode approach, all it  now takes is for an ordinary camera phone, equipped with a Semacode  reader software  ackage (available  free of charge by pointing your mobile phone web browser to the ‘over the  air’ distribution. The idea was to bring the amazing knowledge from the wikipedia to places in the real world where it matters. It is rare to find African created technology being used today in  Western cyberspace so this event is indeed a laudable step forward for  African technology as well as an indication of the benefits of collaborative development based on liberal software licensing such as open source software that can arise  from further North/South private sector partnerships.

Intel lands in Lagos
Components giant Intel has once again demonstrated its zeal for targeting new markets, opening an office in Nigeria to serve the West  African market. Intel plans to increase its presence in West Africa and  enhance support for resellers,
integrators and channel members. Intel was also involved in a number of  digital transformation initiatives  including the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education to further  the cause of integrating modern IT into the country’s education  strategies. Intel is also finalising details of its ‘Teach to the Future’  programme in Nigeria. An open source, multi-platform  software for digitising libraries The Greenstone Digital Library had introduced by John B. Rose of the  University of Waikato at the British Council, which is produced in the

University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
The advantage of digital libraries is that they provide access to and storage of multimedia and allow for cooperative input. The software has  provision for multi-lingual interfaces and data entry. Hindi and Kannada  databases have been created by some of the Indian users. The Indian  Institute of Management, Kozhikode, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore,  Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and the Archives of Indian  Labour are among the institutions that  have put the software to use. The Greenstone software is available at  www.greenstone.org and the digital library of the University of Waikato at  www.nzdl.org.

Sharing of Free intellectual Assets (SOFIA)
Sofia Open Content Initiative: Content  for eight courses is now available online for free through the Sofia open  content initiative, thanks to the joint contributions of faculty, The William   Flora Hewlett Foundation,  California and Foothill-De Anza Community College District, and can  now be accessed at the Course Gallery (http://sofia.fhda.edu/  gallery).  The Sofia finalists include the courses in Creative Typography, Elementary  Statistics, Physical Geography (http:// sofia.fhda.edu/), Free High School  Science Texts (http://www.nongnu.
org/fhsst/index.html), California Open  Source Textbook Project (http:// www.opensourcetext.org/).  Becta school website to bring transformation in teaching

The British Educational  Communications and Technology
Agency (Becta) will reduce the number of online services and brands it provides for schools in response to the Department for Education and  Skills five-year strategy and e- Strategy, ‘Harnessing Technology’.  Over the coming months some changes would be seen in Becta’s  online presence. This includes the  news, features and school website directory. The aim is to work towards a position where teachers should be  able to work from any Internet access  point at any time, linked to the tools and learning services they need in  order to plan, prepare, manage and follow up learning experiences for  their students. The site provides online curriculum, which features  multimedia resources to support teaching and learning.

e-Book offerings from Sony Electronics and Borders Inc
Sony Electronics and Borders Inc  have declared a joint venture of a reading device for e-Books and text documents, available through about  200 Borders stores in the United States.  The Sony Reader will debut in Borders and more than 30 Sony Style stores around the country as well as  online at www.sonystyle.com. The  reader will allow active readers to carry as much as they want to read  whether they are travelling on the road or just around the corner. The device can store hundreds of books  and other documents using a
combination of internal flash memory and optional Memory Stick or Secure  Digital (SD) flash memory cards.

Singapore schools promote e-Learning in case of emergency closur
Some schools in Singapore have adopted an e-Learning system to keep up with lessons for their students in the event of a flu pandemic. In case of  an  mergency closure, teachers in these schools may upload lesson  slides, set  omework for their  students, track whether the homework is done, and even conduct tests online. Students can discuss study topics with each other and  post questions to their teachers all day  long by way of online forums. However, the e-Learning system is inapplicable to some neighborhood schools as its  operation costs at least  20,000 Singapore dollars (about USD 12,000) a year and some of their students do not have broadband  access at home. The  Education  Ministry is saying that it will facilitate free-to-air television  roadcast
services to ensure that all students can continue with their lessons once  the schools are shut.

Taipei tsunami aid pays for e- Learning centre in Indonesia
The post-tsunami relief effort of Taipei residents and the city  government has facilitated the launchof an e-Learning centre in Aceh, Indonesia after the re gion was  devastated by the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami disaster.  The centre was built with USD 1.14 million donated by civil groups,  individuals and Taipei City
Government staff. It will offer free Internet and Chinese language  courses to about 2,000 high school students each year.

Filipino schools seeing the  benefits of e-Learning
The Department of Education (DepEd), Philippines has stressed the need to make the school curriculum relevant. Through the “School-based  ICT in Education Program”, teachers have to take on technology as their ally in catching the attention of new learners who are said to be multitaskers  and have a penchant for things that are visual and auditory.  With these in mind, Genyo, an integrated e-Learning program was  developed by Diwa Learning Systems,
one of the main sources of books and educational materials for Filipino  students for the past 25 years. Diwa Learning Systems believes that “the perfect e-Learning environment is where superior   learning happens.” Studies have shown that students only retain: 20% of what they see;  30% of what they hear; 50% of what they see and hear. But of what they  see, hear and do  imultaneously,  80% is retained. With the superior education environment that
e-learning provides, effective teaching and faster learning  take place.

Radiant launches Community PC
Radiant Infosystems, has launched Community PC, a rural Internet kiosk in the Indian state Andhra Pradesh as a part of its project Rajiv Internet Village, an e-initiative by the government of Andhra Pradesh to  enrich the interaction between rural residents and service  providers(government/business), by
harnessing information ad communication technology  capabilities. Designed as a result of defining locally relevant computing solutions  based on Intel   echnology, the Intelpowered Community PC platform is  equipped to operate in a community setting while accommodating the  varying environmental  onditions  prevalent in the country. The Rajiv Internet Village has been taken up as a pilot project in Chittoor and Kadappa  districts with 10 PCs. On seeing
success in the sphere of online activities by villagers, it will be  replicated with 1500 PCs in 14 districts in the state.

Microsoft in making of selfsustaining rural India
Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd is going to launch a rural portal shortly within next three to six months. The company is looking at partnerships to develop the portal with relevant information.  The company has unveiled a  elfsustaining kiosk model initiative  aimed at taking IT benefits to rural India. It is a public-private partnership, called as Saksham  (meaning self-sustaining in Sanskrit), on which the portal is being  developed. Market linkages will be strengthened in association with  ICRISAT and other institutes.

An online course for CET 2006
To help the aspirants of Common Entrance Test 2006 (CET 2006) in India, e-Learning company Radius  Consultancy which is involved in the promotion of open source software has designed a novel online course.  CET Online is  available as an  anywhere, anytime learning course, which will prepare the aspirants to perform better in the ensuing CET  2006 examinations. The web-enabled courses are accessible through the  Internet enabled PCs, school
computers, service providers network and Internet browsing centres. The  first level is an introductory course covering soft skills, previous year  question papers, mock tests and internet resources. The URL is  www.virtualteacher.org/cetonline. The second level course is designed  to enable aspirants from rural areas with low bandwidth connection, while  the third level course is meant for urban centres with high bandwidth, a  web cam and a headset. Those desirous of having one to one  tutoring through video conferencing may avail the opportunity through  the use of their own computer
systems or through the facilities available at Reliance Web World  established in Chennai, Vellore, Pondy, Salem, Erode, Tirupur,  Coimbatore, Madurai, Triuchi, Tanjore and other towns.

Website for Vedic literature launched in Chennai, India
A website on Vedic literature, history and music, www.vedicsangeet.in, was  launched at a seminar on the  importance of Vedas in modern times in Chennai, India. The seminar was organised jointly by  Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai
Kendra and Vedic Sangeeta Foundation. The site introduces the  four Vedas and details events and programmes of the Foundation.

A separate classroom for Haryana teachers
The government of Haryana in India  and Intel India join their hands together to equip teachers of Haryana to become professionally well in the computerised environment in schools.  The state government has accepted the proposal from Intel to train the teachers. Intel’s training programme  for teachers would include their  sustained professional development for the integration of ICT in
government schools in the state. The programme also includes a posttraining  implementation factor. Intel  would collaborate with the commissioner and director general, school education, Haryana, to  develop independent subject-wise education modules.

Educomp to add 250 more people
e-Learning solutions provider in India Educomp Solutions Limited plans to scale up headcount at its Bangalore facility by adding  250 people. The company plans to invest close to INR 40 million in a new 30,000 sqft  facility, that would house its global development centre here.  Educomp is in the business of developing digital content meant for  K12 students (kindergarten to class 12), and has installed its ‘Smart Class  TM’ — an end-to-end multimedia
learning solution which comprises of nearly 8000 digital modules on a host  of subjects — in over 900 schools in the country. Educomp proposes  to reach out to 10 million e-Learners by 2008. It has trained close to three  lakh teachers in 20 metros and 40 peripheral towns across  India, having worked with 5000
schools so far.
India ranked 40th in Global ICT  index
Despite all the hullabaloo about India’s prowess in IT and skyrocketing telecom subscriptions, the country still figured at the bottom  rung (rank 40) in the World Economic Forum’s Global Information  Technology Report 2005-2006. US topped the list, followed by  Singapore, Denmark and Iceland at second third and fourth positio ns, respectively.  India’s ranking at 40th position amongst 115 economies remained largely unchanged. In fact, India slid  one rank from last year’s 39th position. China’s rank dropped 9  positions from 41st last year to 50th position this year.

A PC that can withstand dustyconditions, varying  temperatures and high humidity like in India, can work in the harsh conditions of rural  environments, can provide massive  rural populations access to the Internet and thus opening up a world of business and personal  communication opportunities and canmake the rural community, not an individual the end user! Yes, Intel  community PCs launched last month are suited to meet all these  requirements.
The initiative of launching of the community PC, according to Frank  Jones, President, Intel India, is an  effort towards social inclusion, which will enable positive change in India in terms of increased technological  penetration and access and thereby higher standards of living for the  citizens. The low cost IT solutions on mass scale is big issue, which  is worked upon through the community PC. The Community PC is part of an effort  by Intel to apply its technology to emerging markets (India, China, Brazil,  Russia, South America and African countries). Designed as a result of  defining locally relevant computing  solutions based on Intel technology, the PC platform is equipped to
operate in a community setting while  accommodating the varying environmental conditions prevalent in  the country. With the objective to  ridge the urban-rural divide, Intel also announced its ‘Jagruti’ initiative. By  collaborating with leaders in  business, government, education, online services and Internet service providers, Intel’s Jagruti programme  will support the  pread of rural  Conference Report Internet kiosks based on the new  Intel-Powered Community PCs. These PCs would be available through Intel  partners, HCL and Wipro. The launch was done by Frank Jones  driving a tractor into the main hall and  bringing the “community PC” followed by a lecture- umdemonstration  by Intel Vice President Will Agatstein and the Product  Manager Rakesh Godhwani; they  showed a set of applications – adult literacy (from TCS), children education (from Azim Premji  Foundation) and  ntertainment (Hindi  movie) – convincing the audience that the hardware is “best” (no deficient  functionality) and “cheap” (shared access will bring down the costs to Rs 10 per person per day for 3 persons  over 3 years) too. This was followed by talks by Intel Corporate VP Bill Siu and Amar Babu,  Intel South Asia MD. They informed that the PCs have already been tested  in pilot projects at the following locations: Bedeti, Assam, Juna  Chamu, Gujarat, Mandya,  Karnataka, Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh, Mallapuram,  Keral

In the larger context of an emerging global knowledge society and economy, education policies around the world have stressed the increasing importance of both ICT and ‘active’ models of lifelong learning. Similarly, aid for development has often focused on local capacity-building in terms which increasingly refer in various ways to a perceived digital as well as economic divide between developed and developing social or community contexts. Common to both formal learning and development is an alternately theoretical and informal assumption of “knowledgebuilding” which is often contradicted or frustrated in practice because of the difficulty in effectively reconciling or connecting topdown imperatives and bottom-up aspects of local context. This article investigates how ICT is integral to new, changing, and characteristically ‘21 century’ models of knowledge in the inevitably connected contexts of both learning and community development (e.g. Weigel & Waldberger, 2004; Bracey & Culver, 2005). Indeed it argues that recognizing this connection is an important basis for encouraging both dialogue and action to overcome related missing links which often frustrate related policy, project and general imperatives for the integration of ICT in schooling for deep or active models of learning, and the similar goal of local autonomy in ICT-focused community capacity-building projects. Thus the paper focuses on identifying and refining a convergent 21st century model of knowledge-building (also, life-long learning) grounded in the local contexts and typical processes of the human condition in retreat from topdown, fixed and privileged models of knowledge and education. Such a notion of knowledge-building to encourage active, innovative and open-ended learning and capacity development thus represents a convergent link between the alternately informal and formal aspects of digital learning on one hand (e.g. Jonassen et al, 2003; Weigel, 2003), and the alternately community-based and institutionallyorganised notions of social capacity development (e.g. Blumenthal 2003; World Bank Knowledge and Learning Group, 2005). Why new educational theories/ fail to be connected to local contexts of learning and practice “Without sufficient training and support, ICT equipment put in schools [and in ICT centres generally in developing countries] is often under utilised, and in some cases entirely redundant. Any meaningful roll-out of ICT hardware must be accompanied by training to have any impact” – K. Woods, Digital Links quoted in C. Witchalls (2005), ‘Bridging the Digital Divide’, The Guardian, February 17 2005. It is increasingly clear that in the 21st Century ICTs are tied closely to the emerging requirements and opportunities of a global economy and networked knowledge society – also, that a related emerging digital divide may represent the very survival of many local communities and even regional societies around the world. Thus, there is growing awareness of: (a) the related ‘community development’ and ‘educational implications’ of ICTs, and (b) the importance of assisting remote or rural areas in developing countries (Papert & Calvallo, 2002). Many initiatives aimed at tackling both global and regional notions of a digital divide are being funded, supported and investigated by both governmental and NGO agencies in rural and developing contexts of the Asia-Pacific region (Weigel & Waldburger, 2004). Our previous investigations into (and dialogues with others about) both the possibilities and issues of sustainability related to community ICT learning centres in the Asia Pacific region have realised that the key to an effective as well a sustainable approach lies in (a) the connections between education and community development; (b) agenuinely dialogically or interactive partnership model that allows for the examination of external or ‘top-down’ influences on one hand, and local interests or ‘bottom-up’ contexts on the other, and (c) recognizing and addressing both the sufficient conditions of ICT development(including designing and training for locally relevant models of authentic use) as well as the necessary conditions including ICT infrastructure and general accessissues (Richards, 2005a).ICTs represent a dilemma for schools, universities and other educational institutions everywhere in terms of
the challenge to transform the rhetoric of new ideas and models into actual practice and an appropriate  organisational context (Richards 2004). In other words, it is not always  easy to see through the short-term frustrations of ICT integration to  understand how this can productively transform education in the long-run.  The resulting gap or missing link between innovative rhetoric and
policy on one hand, and actual implementation and practices on the  other, is often the source of much frustration for both teachers and their  students. This is especially the case where (e.g. even in wired societies  such as Singapore and Hong Kong)  the residual effects of traditional values and an examination-oriented  curriculum often make it difficult to translate new and innovative policies  into institutional practice – unless teachers redefine their role and authority in the learning process in  other ways. Towards positive prophecies of life-long learning Promising capacity development  project models indicate that ICT community learning centres do  represent potentially viable and transformatory agencies for  connecting up local communities and schools in less developed regions.  Such projects exemplify how a  strategic approach can do a great deal  with limited resources and that the key is promoting a similarly proactive  attitude which links into a local community sense of ‘where there is
the will there is a way’. In other  words, the digital divide in learning is much more an issue of attitude and  cultural context than technical capacity or access. We have thus  identified three related focus questions that have to be considered  together or integrally rather than in isolation as is often the case: 1. What are the infrastructural, requirements for ensuring  ongoing access to computer systems whilst avoiding  unnecessary costs?  2. How can school-based education and community development be  linked to promote the engagement of community members?  3. What are the appropriate training  and educational design needs for effective learning?  Figure 1: Global dilemmas  about educational ‘cultural change’    Learners often want more hands-on, learner-centered and outcomesoriented approaches by their teachers, but also  till want the ‘right answers’  bypass the learning process (pedagogical) • Educational institutions have generally embraced the rhetoric, policy and theory of ‘new learning’, but are not often prepared to productively change  actual practices  • ‘Societies’ today want their young to be somehow innovative  nd become  successful in a future knowledge society or global economy, yet at  the same  time retain acquiescence to traditional values of the past Adapted from Richards 2004 Figure 2 depicts how ICT-CLCs  represent or at least exemplify a convergent future vision of learning,  community centers, and new ICTs linked together for integrated  educational and social purposes.  The key to such a vision is a complementary or dialogical  rather than oppositional view of
how learning for personal and/or social purposes provides a  sufficient or motivating basis for social and economic progress  grounded in an ethos of community  development. In short, learning is more effective when it goes beyond basic information or skill  acquisition to also focus on relevance, process and authentic  applications. In terms of the so-called digital divide of rich and poor or centre and margins,  such a perspective on the  potential role of ICT-CLCs is  one of recasting a defensive strategy of mere survival into one a more positive one of potential ‘thriving’.
Convergently, many of the educational policy initiatives promoting ICTs in schools and higher education are premised on new  learner-centred and constructivist theories of learning which project the  goal of more active and innovative learners harnessing the educational  possibilities of ICTs. Constructivist  models of learning (e.g. Jonassen et al, 2003; Weigel, 2003) are  typically  contrasted with models of teaching and learning which emphasise a hierarchical and linear “transmission”  of content or skills from authoritative teacher to passive learner. Such  influential concepts as ‘anchored instruction’ and ‘situated learning’ outlined how novice learners develop  better applied understanding and generic skills in terms of specific  examples, problems and authentic learning contexts – a framework for  linking ICTs, problem-solving, and  content-specific teaching or learning. In this way ‘knowledgeable’ teachers
and/or experts should be able to  better transmit their knowledge. Practical concepts such as problembased learning, collaborative learning,  project work, authentic assessment and inquiry-based activities all  represent alternatives to the linear  and hierarchical assumptions of formal lesson-planning and course
design. Such approaches emphasize  how effective learning should rather be understood as a process, cycle  and/or set of stages proceeding from  nitial skill or information acquisition to more applied and reflective  understanding, knowledge and even  innovation. It may be argued that general notions of constructivist  learning tend to mix up and sometimes confuse or oppose the alternate cognitive and social  aspects of knowledge building. Whilst in one sense they do  converge in ‘active’ modes of learning some of these models arguably either directly or indirectly  privilege the social and critical thinking over individual and local contexts of practice as well as  theory over practice. Towards a convergent notion  of the knowledge-building  process  Although ‘knowledge-building’ is a central concept in new ICT-focused  learning theory it has been  influentially defined as the process by  which ‘expert groups’ construct knowledge as a social process of   collaborative discussion and synthesis of ideas (Scardamalia and  Bereiter, 1999). Such a definition exemplifies a common dilemmas of  much new learning theory to remain inherently conceptual, top-down and  elitist, and thus at odds with the grounded and potentially innovative  practice and active learning of ‘every learner’. Just as  As indicated above a common ‘communities of practice’ model informs various notions of digital learning and capacity-building for  either institutional or community  development. General organizational learning models such as articulated by  Wenger (1998) have especially articulated with social constructivist  models of digital learning. Weigel (2003) for instance directly connects  various general notions of a ‘community of practice’ with specific  learning ‘communities of inquiry’ in constructivist classrooms and related  lifelong and virtual modes of learning. A ‘communities of practice’ model is indeed most helpful for engaging  with the challenge of ICT integration in particular educational and  social contexts. As McNabb & McCombs (2002) point out, professional learning  communities (of practice) involve  three levels of interaction – community, institutional and  individual – which inform two key collaborative approaches to ICT   professional development: (a) thecollegial sharing of resources; and (b)  particular ICT professional development projects. McNabb & McCombs article makes special mention of the e-learning facility of  networked learning communities and e-learning professional  development – extending from the collaborative use of intranets through to the use of learning management programmes.  ICTs have made possible new modes  of formal as well as informal ‘lifelong learning’ that are as applicable to  communities and institutions as well as individual learners. Á bottom line  is that the kind of active experimentation needed to build and transform any kind of personal  knowledge can be initiated through partnerships and dialogue but  ultimately requires self-organisation and self-learning. A convergent  notion of 21st century knowledgebuilding which harnesses the learning  possibilities of ICTs serves to overcome the paradox identified in the Knowledge Management literature as  Figure 3: Towards a convergent framework of 21st Century Knowledge-Build  ng ‘if only we knew what we know