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[RRE]Bytes for All #3
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Date: Thu, 07 Oct 1999 22:34:14 +0500
From: Frederick Noronha
01010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 10101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101 01010101 bYtES For aLL bYtES For aLL bYtES For aLL 10101010 10101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101 n e w t e c h n o l o g i e s w i l l m e a n h a v i n g m o r e i n t h e h a v e-n o t c a m p i f w e a r e n o t c a r e f u l 10101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101 01010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 0101010101 SOUTH ASIA SPECIAL 1010101010 0101010101 Issue No 3 * Oct 1999 1010101010 1010101010 AN OCCASIONAL NEWSLETTER TO MAKE 0101010101 0101010101 COMPUTING AND TECHNOLOGY 1010101010 1010101010 FRIENDLY TO THE NEEDS OF THE MILLIONS 0101010101 1010101010 Compiler: Frederick Noronha fred@vsnl.com 0101010101 0101010101 1010101010 10101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101 01010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010
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VISIT OUR NEW WEB SITE http://www.bytesforall.org
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FIGHTING POVERTY WITH THE INTERNET: A new website offers the potential to engage a new constituency of people, networked by a common concern. The site is called NetAid. It will allow those who log on to learn more about world poverty and find out what they can do to help. http://www.netaid.org
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INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR DISTANCE LEARNING (ICDL) is an international centre for research, teaching, consultancy, information and publishing activities. ICDL distance education databases contain information on over 31,000 distance learning programmes and courses mostly in the Commonwealth countries, over 1,000 institutions teaching at a distance worldwide, and over 11,000 abstracts of books, journal articles, research reports, conference papers, dissertations and other types of literature relating to all aspects of the theory and practice of distance education http://www-icdl.open.ac.uk/>http://www-icdl.open.ac.uk/ SOURCE: George Lessard
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LOW-EARTH ORBITING SATELLITES FOR EMAIL: Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA), together with its collaborators, is gathering information on the use of communications by non-governmental organizations in development. A store-and-forward email system using existing low earth orbiting satellites to serve humanitarian and development purposes will soon be a reality. Information from this survey will help ensure that the system is designed to meet real needs. Details from: garyg@VITA.ORG Gary Garriott SOURCE: DEVEL-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
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EMPOWERING VILLAGERS THROUGH IT: The information age, so far confined to the urban population, is making an entry in rural India. The Chennai based M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation has set up an "Information Village," with an aim to provide location specific information to five villages near Pondicherry. Info courtesy: INDEV e-mail digest http://www.indev.nic.in/
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TASKNET'S SOUTH ASIAN KNOWLEDGE NETWORK: Some 300 people involved
in international development and IT will gather in Delhi's Vigyan
Bhawan, November 23-24, 1999 for a major international conference
to explore the role of knowledge, information and technology in
development. TASKnet: Towards a South Asian Knowledge Network
will focus on turning the information revolution into a force for
economic development, social cohesion and poverty alleviation in
the 21st century.
TASKnet is a part of the global knowledge partnership committed
to sharing information, experiences and resources to promote
access and use of knowledge and information as tools of
sustainable, equitable development. It's co-hosted by National
Informatics Centre and The British Council. Other major partners
in this effort include UNDP, British Department for International
Development (DFID), UNICEF, UNESCO, WHO, The World Bank,
Delegation of European Commission in India, CAPART, The Hindu,
VSNL, Development Alternatives and M S Swaminathan Research
Foundation.
More information: TASKnet Secretariat, C/O British Council, 17,
Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001, E-mail:
tasknet@in.britishcouncil.org Website: http://www.tasknet.nic.in
Info courtesy: Shadrach
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REGIONAL SEMINAR ON IT (BANGLADESH): The Federation of
Engineering Institutions of South and Central Asia (FEISCA) and
The Institution of Engineers, (Bangladesh),Chittagong Centre, are
jointly organizing a Regional Seminar on Information Technology
for National Development: Sharing Regional Experience from
October 28-30, 1999. Only recently have many of the developing
countries have started looking seriously into the role that IT
can play in national development. In this regional seminar, the
experts from the FEISCA countries and other developed countries
including Development financing agencies, UN Agencies and NGO's
will exchange view on how best the countries can become active
player in the IT revolution and reap maximum benefits for socio-
economic development.
Seminar objectives include human resource development;
application of IT in government agencies, in poverty alleviation,
and applications of IT in e-commerce; future opportunities for
Third World countries; development of national information
infrastructure; and nation IT policies and plans.
Submit papers to IEB, Chittagong Centre by October 15. Send in an
email copy to
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HARAPPA.COM from Pakistan: Interesting focus on South Asia. Promises some "very unusual material". It calls itself the 'oldest site on the web'. Also has a mailing list, details from owner-harappamail@list.sirius.com You can automatically subscribe and unsubscribe to this list at http://www.harappa.com/serai/mail.html Information courtesy: Omar Khan, Producer
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VOLUNTEERING ON-LINE is an electronic newsletter produced on a free voluntary basis which aims to encourage the participation and involvement of all forms of voluntary work through the media and in particular by the direct use of the Internet. Contributing some free time every week can make all the difference to us and especially and most important to those, who may receive our help and support without even our knowledge. To Subscribe, write "subscribe" to: teddy@vol.net.mt
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THE HUMANITY LIBRARIES PROJECT: of the Global Help Projects is a network project of more that 100 partners. Its aim is to provide universal free or low-cost information access through co- operation between UN Agencies, Universities and NGO's. http://www.oneworld.org/globalprojects/humcdrom/
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PAKISTAN IT SUMMITY RECOMMENDATIONS: (By Ikramul Haq) ISLAMABAD
(August 17) : New legislation on freedom of information at the
federal and provincial levels was seen as top priority for
inducting e-government for good governance in Pakistan. This was
one of several recommendations made by a working group on this
subject and presented at the concluding session of the summit on
Information Technology. The other proposal is that the government
website should be extended to three important government
activities namely procurement of goods of over Rs 10 million;
recruitment and foreign scholarships. This should be implemented
in phases first by December 1999 and full implementation by March
2000. Also mooted was setting up of a cabinet division to
promote development of IT human resources. A special cadre for IT
should be created and promotions should be linked with IT
literacy.
Details at http://www.brecorder.com/story/S0011/S1103/S1103109.htm
Information courtesy: Irfan Khan
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CONFERENCE ON INTERNET IN THE THIRD WORLD: "Converging Responsibility: Broadcasting and the Internet in Developing Countries" was a conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from September 4-6, 1999. It was attended by people from 35 institutions in 19 countries. In their report, conference participants expressed concern about the disparities between levels of access in various parts of the world and stressed the importance of addressing the issue with innovative responses. "As we enter the era of the knowledge society and the knowledge economy, access to the infrastructure to share knowledge is essential for social and economic progress..." Conference participants examined a number of pilot projects combining the radio and the Internet to mutually enhance their development impact. Some of these, such as Latin America's Agencia Informativa Pulsar and Indonesia's Kantor Berita Radio 68H, use the Internet to link radio stations. Others, such as Kotmale Community Radio in Sri Lanka, are experimenting with using radio as a "gateway" to the Internet. These projects seek to make the Internet's information resources available to rural and under-served communities. Further info: http://www.comunica.org/kl/ http://www.comunica.org/kl/press.htm
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COMMUNICATION, INFO AND CHANGE: The Communication Initiative Partnership. Backed by Rockefeller Foundation, UNICEF, USAID, WHO, BBC World Service, CIDA, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs, The European Union, Soul City, The Panos Institute, UNAIDS. Information and dialogue on communication, development and change. Details: Warren Feek, Director wfeek@coastnet.com HOME PAGE http://www.comminit.com/ STRATEGIC THINKING http://www.comminit.com/strategic.html SEARCH http://www.comminit.com/search.html VACANCIES http://www.comminit.com/vacancies.html EVENTS CALENDAR http://www.comminit.com/bin/calendar/events_cal.cgi UNIVERSITY COURSES http://www.comminit.com/university.html THE DRUM BEAT http://www.comminit.com/drum_beat.html THE MEDIA BEAT http://www.comminit.com/news.html
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MEDIA FOR DEVELOPMENT -- ABHIVYAKTI: Based in Nasik, India, this
group has been producing for the last four years a quarterly
video magazine 'Satyachitra' (True Stories) portraying struggles
and stories of the marginalised people in India. It is about 40
minutes in duration, and is in English and local language,
Marathi.
Details: Nitin Paranjape
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ALUMNI ENGINEERS OF the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai/Bombay have started a non-profit organisation that collects donations and sends them to the IIT Mumbai. http://www.iitbombay.org
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PASSPORTS FROM INDIA, VIA THE NET: India's Central Passport Organisation of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is making forms and other related information available on its newly- launched website. Information on passports, visas and Person of Indian Origin cards will be available. Dr Seshagiri of the National Informatics Centre said experiments were underway to use e-mail for new application, along lines similar to the one followed for filing income tax returns. http://passport.nic.in SOURCE: The Economic Times
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SPECIALISED SOFTWARE FOR DOCS: Docspro is a specialised software package designed to cater to the needs of doctors who have no prior knowledge of computers. The package is an electronic case sheet of out-patients documenting all the conversations the doctor has with the patient and recording the details personally with the click of a mouse as the patient is being examined. The package acts as a ready reference of all medicines available for prescription. It can extract any kind of report, including prescriptions, case history and discharge summary reports. It is a user-friendly package with facility for online chats and net conferences with peers across the world. SOURCE http://www.economictimes.com/today/16tech03.htm
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PORTAL ON EDUCATION FACILITIES IN INDIA: Offers comprehensive information on educational facilities and opportunities available in the country. Web based post-graduate engineering courses will also be available on the ETH portal in collaboration with Anna University, Tamil Nadu. The portal provides model question papers of standards 10 and 12 along with answers. There are also practical tips on how to look out for jobs and prepare a bio- data. http://education.eth.net SOURCE: Rediff On the Net
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INDIA AND ICT: In "Can the Cultures of India Survive the Information Age?", Professor Kenneth Keniston, Director of MIT's India Program, who is looking closely at the question of "how, if at all, modern information and communication technologies ranging from cell phones to ordinary telephones to networked computers can be used to strengthen the economic position of the disadvantaged and to preserve and enhance cultural diversity." http://web.mit.edu/kken/Public/papers6.htm SOURCE: Arun Mehta, India-GII mailing list.
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INDEV, A SITE TO PROMOTE DEVELOPMENT: To receive email updates, please send a mail to indev@bc-delhi.bcindia.sprintsmx.ems.vsnl.net.in with the message "subscribe" with your contact details.
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TASKNET web site: Towards a South Asia Knowledge Network is a new partnership initiative that is committed to sharing information, experiences and resources to promote greater access to information and knowledge universally. TASKNET web site provides virtual space for individuals and organisations to air their views on global knowledge themes. From the INDEV web-site (write to request a full-text copy of this report to the above address).
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SCIENCE DISTRICT IN SOUTH INDIA (MADRAS): An information highway in Chennai's `science district' - Adyar, Taramani area - to share, receive, distribute and debate on frontiers of science and technology is now closer to reality. A grand alliance of 60 scientific, technological and academic institutions of higher learning, to enable research scholars and scientists access to one another's common facilities such as libraries, is envisaged. From the INDEV web-site (write to request a full-text copy of this report to the above address).
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SITA- STUDIES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY APPLNS: The World Bank's Information for Development Programme has recently sanctioned Project SITA - Studies in information technology applications: Training in computer skills for low-income women. The objective of this project is to help women move away from the "achaar- papad" (low-income, low status) areas of employment to high-tech areas, and to link technology to societal concerns and make this linkage commercially viable. From the INDEV web-site (write to request a full-text copy of this report to the above address).
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VIRTUAL CONFERENCE ON TELECENTRES: The International Institute
for Communication and Development (IICD) is hosting an email-based
virtual conference on telecentres. It began on September 21. The
goal is to explore several telecentre concepts for developing
countries, and to share information about practical issues
surrounding setting up and running a telecentre.
To subscribe to the conference, send a message to:
telecentres@iicd.org Do not enter a subject. In the body of the
message, type the text: SUBSCRIBE telecentres
Further information: Arjan de Jager, ICT developer
jager@iicd.org - http://www.iicd.org
Located in the Netherlands, IICD aims to assist developing
countries to keep up with the latest trends in Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs).
SOURCE: Katherine Morrow
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NETWORK OF INDIAN ENVIRONMENT PROFESSIONALS: With membership of more than 135 environment professionals from all over the world. The archive at the website claims to have the richest collection of details pertaining to environment. It is a electronic mailing list whose members are from premier institutes like Indian Institute of Forest Management, IRMA, IIT , Forest Department and others employed and working in varied institutions like Tata Energy Research Institute, Professors from Administrative Staff College of India(ASCI), IIFM, IIMs, NGO's like Society for Promotion of Wasteland Development (SPWD) , Researchers studying at Yale, Penn and other institutions in U.S. and others. Membership is free. Any environment professional or nature lover can become the member. Contact rosydas@vsnl.com or visit the website http://www.egroups.com/list/niep
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HEALTHNET NEWS: HealthNet News is a newsletter that is put together and sent out by SatelLife, electronically, free of charge, once a week. The newsletter consists of a compilation of abstracts, summaries, editorials, and full-text articles taken from prominent medical journals, with special publisher permission. Topics included cover a wide range of information in medicine, public health, and scientific research. The number of articles per issue is around 8 to 10. Details from: Robin Brett Parnes, M.P.H. rbp@usa.healthnet.org http://www.healthnet.org
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POOR INDIAN VILLAGES GET VIDEO E-MAIL:Video e-mail will open up India's Internet revolution next month to thousands of poor, illiterate -- and awe-struck -- villagers who have never seen a computer, AP reported. On Oct. 2, the birthday of Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi, video e- mail booths were scheduled to be inaugurated in eight towns in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar -- two of India's poorest and most populous states. It will cost 15 rupees -- or 35 cents -- to send or receive a three-minute message, including a video image and voice, through an e-mail account. http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/012091.htm Source DEVMEDIA@LISTSERV.UOGUELPH.CA
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TEL-isphere 99 IN THE CARIBBEAN: The Caribbean & Technology- Enhanced Learning Seminar from 24 - 27 November 1999, St. Michael, Barbados. Speakers include Newfoundland and Labrador premier Brian Tobin, who boasts that his government has ensured that the Internet reaches every school in the province and that it has the highest per capita use of the Internet in education across Canada. Over 50 papers have been approved for presentation in parallel sessions and a plenary panel session is shaping up. Details at http://www.col.org/tel99 E-mail: tel99@col.org
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INDIA TOUCHES 1.5 MILLION NET USERS: Internet remains the fastest growing media in India, says a new survey. And India currently has 1.5 million net users, reports Uday Lal Pai, the India correspondent of asia.internet.com The Internet has once again proved to be the fastest growing media, according to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS '99). http://asia.internet.com/cyberatlas/0923-india.html
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INDIA TECHNOLOGY PORTAL LAUNCHED: Bangalore based Microland Group debuted its technology-focused community site, ITspace.com. It aims to be the resource destination of choice and preferred personal networking platform for savvy IT decision-makers by offering a range of news, user-generated content, discussion forums and peer networking opportunities, writes Hans Lombardo, Managing Editor of asia.internet.com http://asia.internet.com/1999/9/2301-micro.html
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ONLINE EDUCATION CATCHING ON IN INDIA: Online training fever grips India. While major software training institute NIIT has already commenced online courses, Aptech is launching its online training soon. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bangalore is starting virtual classes. Global majors also join the fray. Lotus Development Corporation announced its plan to set up centres for training via the Net. Sun/Netscape is scouting for alliance to impart training online to its corporate customers in India. While a normal MCSD (Microsoft Certified Solution Developer) course would need around $712 (Rs 30,000), the online version of the same course is available at a price tag of $302 (Rs 12,800) at NIIT's `niitnetuniversity.com.' Other courses like MCSE (Microsoft Certified System Engineering), and 40 other skillets like Java Programming, HTML Programming, Advanced Browsing is available on the Net, writes Uday Lal Pai, India correspondent of asia.internet.com http://asia.internet.com/1999/9/2104-india.html
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USE OF IT IN MEDICAL PRACTICE: Subbiah Arunachalam
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ONEWORLD RADIO NEWS SERVICE: Ever since the invention of radio as a medium, broadcasters have grappled with the problem of how to transfer audio material over long distances - between studios, stations and journalists in the field. Check out options at OneWorld Radio News Service. Audio features and reports of up to half an hour in length about human rights and environmental issues are now available free and worldwide via the Internet. This service uses RealAudio technology to compress audio files so they are small enough to be transferred quickly over the Internet. It's possible to get hold of a 20-minute documentary programme with less than 20 minutes online. It has been encoded to a high RealAudio standard. (Technically speaking, it's 40.3Kbps.) And it's miles better than the telephone. http://www.oneworld.net/radio_news/index.html
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FREEOS.COM OFFERS OSs AND DOCUMENTATION: An India-based group this week launched a new Web site that offers users 11 different operating systems and their accompanying documentation, including Linux. The FreeOS.com site is based in Bombay, India, which staunchly opposes the lucrative practice of charging for operating systems. Besides Linux, other operating systems supported by FreeOS.com include, FreeBSD, BPMK, Cynus, FreeDos, Freedows, GNU Hurd, Minix, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and VSTa. While the site offers support for all 11 free operating systems, FreeOS.com said that the vast majority of activity in the market revolves around Linux and will probably remain that way for the foreseeable future. Contact Prakash Advani prakash@freeos.com http://www.freeos.com
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WIDE-TECHNICAL COOPERATION: WIDE's mission is to facilitate exchange of information and knowledge for technical cooperation among developing countries (TCDC). All information maintained in WIDE is in the public domain and is available to anyone, anywhere, free of charge. http://www.wide.org.br/htmlEstaticoEn/Pinfo.html
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DEVELOPMENT RESOURCE CENTRE in New Zealand: runs an email list
offering links to development-related resources via cyberspace.
To subscribe, contact Phillip Hewitt
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VIRTUAL EDUCATION: The Commonwealth of Learning commissioned an international group of experts to look at this phenomenon and provide a snapshot report. The entire study is available on-line [in pdf format] from http://www.col.org/virtualed/index.htm Contents include 'Virtual Institutions in the Indian Subcontinent by Dr. Sugata Mitra'.
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RURAL HEALTHCARE IN VIETNAM: Humanitarian assistance project to rural healthcare in Vietnam, focused especially on children. Organizes annual medical missions to bring reconstructive surgery to children with orofacial deformities, and eye surgery to children with correctible eye diseases. Also training to healthcare staff, and develops sustainable projects to improve health outcomes (neonatal mortality, acute respiratory illnesses, malnutrition, cervical cancer detection etc.). URL http://www.vietnam21.com/projectvietnam Info courtesy: The Asian Studies WWW Monitor
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INDIA TO HAVE 5million Net users by 2003
INDIA will be among the four Asian markets to have five million
Internet users by the year 2003. Market research agency IDC India Ltd
made this forecast at its 12th annual industry briefing. China is
expected to have over 15m users, followed by India with about 8m, and
Australia and Korea slightly behind.
http://www.economictimes.com/today/04tech01.htm
Information courtesy: Irfan Khan
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SHOHOJOGI-AIDS from Bangladesh a mailing list and discussion forum based on HIV/AIDS issues. See postings here: http://www.hivnet.ch:8000/bangladesh/tdm
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DRIK-LEARN INITIATIVE: an initiative to provide computer education to the rural kids. the initiative is also associated with Mit Media Lab in the USA. (http://www.drik.net/learn) trying to have more information from the organizers.
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KIDS TURN INTO MICROSOFT CERTIFIED PROFESSIONALS: In India Subia Hashmat, 11 and Supriya Singh, 12 are probably the youngest "person ever to attempt and clear the Microsoft Certified Professional examination." Story at http://www.rediff.com/computer/1999/aug/04mcp.htm Meanwhile in Pakistan a 14-year student Bilal Iqbal "is the youngest Microsoft Certified System Engineer". Details at http://www.brecorder.com/story/S0011/S1102/S1102103.htm Info courtesy: owner-s-asia-it@apnic.net
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TECH NEEDS OF NON-PROFIT GROUPS: After 18 months of research and
consultation to analyze the technology needs of the nonprofit
sector, the National Strategy for Nonprofit Technology (NSNT),
has developed a blueprint for how the sector can use technology
more effectively and creatively. The blueprint is published on
the web at http://www.nten.org. You may also retrieve it via
email by sending a message to jmcLOKA@hamp.hampshire.edu using as
your SUBJECT-line GET BLUEPRINT. The NSNT blueprint recommended a
series of steps be taken that, combined, should increase the
technology resources, tools and know-how of the nonprofit sector.
Information courtesy: Richard Zorza
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SARAI: (sary, sho-rai) n. (Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali,
Persian, Turkish) an enclosed space in a city, or, beside a
highway, where travellers and caravans can find shelter,
sustenance and companionship...
Sarai is to study the transformations of the contemporary
cultural space in India. Sarai aims to become a focal point of
independent and critical new media culture in Delhi.
It plans to host websites, online discussion forums and news
groups; provide free and public access internet facilities and
offline/dial-up connectivity, create and maintain a non-
commercial ISP server and encourage the generation and
dissemination of alternative software and shareware; host
visiting media practitioners and scholars; conduct exchange
programmes for scholars, artists and media activists on an
international scale, etc
The Sarai initiative will have an active South Asian focus.
More info: Shuddhabrata Sengupta
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EASIER TO FIND BLOOD DONORS: (By N Venugopal HYDERABAD 16 AUGUST)
-- Thanks to the spirited efforts of two Hyderabad-based IT
companies, the hassles of finding a matching blood donor and
making a deal in an emergency are going to be lessened. One can
find a prospective blood donor and access the donor
instantaneously from a large database, with only the click of a
button. Enfolg NetSoft Solutions (ENS) and Cyber Planet Web
Services (CPWS), the two IT companies focusing on Internet-
related software services, have come out with the site
http://www.blood-donors.com, to be launched shortly.
More info: http://www.economictimes.com/today/17tech04.htm
Info courtesy: Irfan Khan
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PLUGGED IN: THIRD WORLD STRUGGLES TO GET ONLINE Issue: Digital Divide/ International The Internet has been hailed as the ultimate global information network, but the promise of bringing the world online is far from a reality in 1999 when only 2% of the globe has access to the Internet. Developing nations -- faced with poverty, illiteracy and lack of telecommunications infrastructure have been slow to stake out their place on the Net. People in many Third World countries have been forced to be very creative in forging links to the World Wide Web. SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Nicole Volpe http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/761187l.htm
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SPEECH ANALYSER FOR "INDIAN" ENGLISH: IBM Software Group on August 17 launched the 'Indian English' version of speech recognition software, ViaVoice, for the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) market. IBM ViaVoice has been developed to suit the Indian English accent with the help of Speech & Software Technologies (India), a Tata group company. IBM had been working for nearly a year to develop ViaVoice. In order the make the software recognise Indian accented speech, an Indian acoustic model with frequently-used Indian words has been built, the company said. Speech recognition software is used for giving commands to computers, as a dictation tool and as a reader, among other things. The starter set vocabulary consists of 62,000 words occurring frequently in the 16 million sentences collected from various Indian publications. This software has been trained to recognise words such as lakh (a hundred thousand), crore (ten million), Mumbai (Bombay) and Chennai (Madras) and other proper nouns which are unique to India. http://www.economictimes.com/today/18tech01.htm
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FIRST HINDI PORTAL (Sept 23) Indian Internet users need no longer communicate in English. With the launch of an Internet portal in Hindi, http://www.webdunia.com, the information superhighway has been opened up for millions of people who use only Hindi as the means for communication. Webduniya offers usual e-mail and chat service provided by other websites, and also rich information on India from news and current affairs to culture arts and music, entertainment, astrology, religions, festivals and rituals. Suvi Information Systems has developed E-patra which, it claims, enables one to send e-mail messages in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam and Punjabi even if one does not have a lingual keyboard. It has also developed E-varta, which enables multi-lingual online chat.
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BRIDGING THE INFO-GAP: SDNP-PAKISTAN is the Sustainable
Development Networking Programme (http://www.sdnp.undp.org). It
is one of the first public email service providers -- having
started its services way back in March 1994.
In a nutshell, SDNP's aim is to promote sustainable development
through electronic networking. But during the initial phase of
its operations, in the absence of any public networking services
available in Pakistan, it tried to promote electronic networking
per se and act as a catalyst for creating a national network. It
was a demonstration project to show that even without any massive
capital investment or the use of state of the art networking
technologies, a cheap dialup alternative could cater for useful
national and international networking needs.
See the 'Story of SDNP Pakistan' prepared for the NetAid's
website http://www.sdnp.org.pk/aboutus1.htm
SDNP was the first network in Pakistan to introduce international
Usenet newsgroups and APC conferences in March '94. It is also
the first -- and so far the only network in Pakistan -- to launch
a host of information services. Ranging from the extremely
popular 'Cybermart' (a daily electronic leaflet of ads and
announcements) to about half a dozen active discussion lists, a
dozen distribution lists (for various kinds of news services and
net publications) and more than 30 Usenet-like newsgroups, it
provides a fairly wide choice. All these information services are
free and more are in the offing
http://www.sdnp.org.pk/service1.htm
SDNP is to also develop its own web site envisioned to become a
one-stop site for all significant development information about
Pakistan.
Info from: Hasan A. Rizvi"
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STRUGGLING FOR WEB-ACCESS: Having Web sites on the Internet is only half the battle. The real challenge is to provide access nationally in a country with very little infrastructure. http://www.economictimes.com/today/18tech04.htm
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INFO CENTER ON MICRO-FINANCE: PlaNet Finance has launched the on-
line information center on micro-finance, PlaNet Library, during
the month of September. It allows you to view on-line on-going
events from the world of micro finance, publications, up-to-date
newsletters from specialists and interviews. You can also gain
real access to an on-line documentation center storing scientific
and technical reports, case studies, articles, methodology,
working papers, project publications, report notes and theses.
To become a partner, visit
http://www.planetfinance.org/fr/library/library.htm or contact
library@planetbank.org
Info courtesy: Gnassounou Viwanou
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DEAD-ENDS IN CYBERSPACE? Twenty nations all but bar the Internet from their borders out of fear that the medium is a threat to either national security or the social order, a French media organization said in a report released earlier this week. Reporters Sans Frontiers' list focuses on the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Also on the list: Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Vietnam.
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INTERNET SOCIETAL TASK FORCE has its web-site at http://istf.isoc.org You may find it interesting and useful.
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PAKISTAN'S INTERNET BACKBONE: (Recorder Report) Pakistan's National Internet Backbone (NIBB) will be operative by October 1999 decreasing the time consumed in surfing for the user of Internet manifold. It will also support the local software industry, Pakistani Information Technology Board chairman Dr Jawed Ghani was quoted as saying by reports from Lahore on Aug 23 said. He said that PTCL has laid additional fibre optics lines on both sides of the Indus of which 12 line pairs are lying un-utilised. Only one line pair will be sufficient to meet the data transmission needs of the country as it could carry 150 Mega bites of database while the country's international traffic of data is not more than 12 megabytes, he added. http://www.brecorder.com/story/S0010/S1002/S1002106.htm
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INTERNET PRICING IN INDIA: Rediff on the Net has published a good story on the pricing of internet services in India, and why, inspite of the presence of private ISPs, the internet access remains expensive in India. http://www.rediff.com/computer/1999/aug/21isp.htm
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INT'L WOMEN'S UNIV TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE: From July 15th to October 15th 2000, on the occasion of the world exposition in Hanover (EXPO 2000), Germany, the International Women's University will offer 900 female students from all over the world the opportunity to participate in a postgraduate program in English which will be centered in Hanover. Subjects include Body, City, Information, Migration, Water, Work. In order to become an ifu scholar, you are expected to commit yourself to one of the project areas, and your academic specialization should be from a related field. Please note that ifu particularly looks forward to receiving applications from women artists as well as political activists working in NGOs. Apply before Oct 15, 1999. Details: http://www.int-frauenuni.de
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ORIENTATION BANGLADESH: Orientation.com, the world's first global network of local and regional Internet portals, in partnership with Drik, (http://www.drik.net) a renowned visual resource company that also boasts multimedia and ISP services in Bangladesh has launched Orientation Bangladesh (http://bd.orientation.com). The new Web site provides Bangladeshis one of the first-ever independent forums for timely news, information, and community discussions in their history. Orientation Bangladesh delivers news, historical and cultural information, economic and commerce data, an extensive database of Bangla Web sites, and free email that will help fuel the country's drive into the 21st century. For citizens both of Bangladesh and of the world, Orientation gives a unique opportunity to learn more about the country and history of Bangladesh -- in the local language -- and gives insight about where the country is headed through the emergence of high technology. Our alliance with Drik is a critical component to achieving this success. Today, Drik estimates that nearly 50,000 people are online in Bangladesh as the market continues to grow daily. http://bd.orientation.com
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THIRD WORLD INTERNET: By David Zgodzinsky
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NEW JOURNAL ON IS IN DEV. COUNTRIES: The Electronic Journal for Information Systems In Developing Countries (EJISDC) strives to become the foremost international forum for practitioners, teachers, researchers and policy makers to share their knowledge and experience in the design, development, implementation, management and evaluation of information systems and technologies in developing countries. EJISDC targets the digital divide. Our aim is to situate contemporary trends in ICTs within a fully global context that moves away from the currently skewed perspective of developed countries. EJISDC intends to reach its audience in a manner that is consistent with its mission. It will be published electronically. There will be no subscription fees. Editor-in-Chief, Roger Harris, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, roger@mailhost.fit.unimas.my Visit the journal's website for further information http://www.unimas.my/fit/roger/EJISDC/EJISDC.htm
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INDIAN SATCOM SYSTEM: Centre for Development of Telematics (C- DOT), a premier telecom research organisation, has developed India's first satellite communications system. The technology developed by C-DOT, called Insat-MSS, uses transponders in the Insat series of satellites and is ideally suited for providing telephone connections in those areas where it is not cost effective to lay the conventional cable-based network, reports in August said. According to sources, DoT is planning to induct 1,000 satellite phones in its network. These phones will be installed in the rural areas as village public telephones (VPTs). DETAILS http://www.economictimes.com/250899/25tech02.htm
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SOUTH ASIA PUBLIC HEALTH FORUM DISCUSSION GROUP: This email list is meant for the exchange of ideas and information among Public Health Professionals Worldwide, but especially who have interest in South Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives). Postings are welcome about research, health issues and social and economic changes in the region. Also feel free to post Public Health job postings. To subscribe please visit the website at http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Sauna/7723 or email saphf@geocities.com
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INEQUALITY IN COMPUTER ACCESS: The United States has more computers than the rest of the world combined. Bulgaria has more Internet hosts than the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa. South Asia, with 23 per cent of the world's people, has less than one per cent of the world's Internet users. SOURCE: Media-Mentor, George Lessard http://www.undp.org/hdro/report.html
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FREE COMPUTER COURSE FOR TEACHERS: India's leading IT training institution, NIIT, has offered a free computer literacy program, SWIFT Start, to school teachers at all NIIT Centres around the country beginning from Indian Teachers' Day, September 5. NIIT will be offering the eight-hour SWIFT Start Program that will expose teachers to the fundamentals of computers like, how to word-process a document, how to create a spreadsheet, how to surf on the Internet and use an email. Teachers could enrol for this program at any nearest NIIT education centre between September 6 and 11. http://www.rediff.com/computer/1999/sep/04niit.htm
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SOFTWARE FOR NON-PROFITS: The Technology Project of the Rockefeller Family Fund offers for free download off the web a database package designed for nonprofits that need to track donors, members, and supporters. It has all in one database for activist, volunteer,demographic, and civic participation data all in the same database, so you can analyze these data against each other, and against membership & donor data. http://www.ebase.org
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TechKnowLogia, INT'L ONLINE Journal of Technologies for the advancement of knowledge and learning. Subscription is free. http://www.TechKnowLogia.org SOURCE: Richard Labelle, Information Technology and Management Practices for Development. email: rlab@sympatico.ca
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BYTESFORALL LINKS UP WITH PAKISTAN INTERNET JOURNAL: SPIDER,
the Internet magazine from Pakistan and BytesForAll have
worked out a collaboration arrangement, for reproduction
rights of material published on this unique web-site.
BytesForAll is
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THANKS IN A BIG WAY TO Iwan Baan
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bYtES For aLL * Compiled jointly by Frederick Noronha, Journalist Goa India fred@vsnl.com and Partha Pratim Sarker, Drik Multimedia, Dhaka 1209 partha@drik.net Compiled in public interest May be freely circulated Pls credit source http://www.bytesforall.org OUR UPDATES, EARLIER ISSUES AND MORE, AVAILABLE ON ABOVE SITE ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ```
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