Full coverage: ICT

30.09.2005 Indian technology students start Rural Information Kiosk in the north Indian village of Rajasthan which will assist villagers in accessing knowledge from the Internet. A student of Birla Institute of Technology (BITS) Rakesh Anugula tells more about the initiative.

30.09.2005 New Delhi-based NGO Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is holding a training programme on library, information management and documentation from Octoer 25 - 28 in New Delhi.

30.09.2005 The STS (Science, Technology and Society) Forum held in Kyoto during September 11-13 deliberated on many societal issues that could be addressed by science and technology. While no earth-shaking declarations were made, the conference brought together outstanding global talent across diverse disciplines, who identified six key issues.These key isuues were sustainability, life sciences,ICT, capacity building, science and technology for human security and finally on the new frontiers opened to science and technology.

30.09.2005 Four South Africans have set up a social networking website to connect South Africans from all over the world.

30.09.2005 Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Labs, has been outlining designs for a sub-$100 PC.

30.09.2005 A Village Knowledge Centre by name, Vivekanand Gramin Gyan Kendra was opened at the Dhandhar village near Pilani on Sunday 25th September 2005.

30.09.2005 At the inauguration of the South Australian Film Festival at Chennai,South Australia Premier Mike Rann said the two States were working on forging a memorandum of understanding in various areas.

30.09.2005 In five years, every man and woman in the country will be in a position to access hi-tech healthcare with dignity, said Narayana Hrudayalaya Chairman and Managing Director Devi Prasad Shetty, accepting the Lifetime Achievement-Management Excellence Award conferred on him by the Bangalore Management Association.

30.09.2005 UNESCO will support a workshop on preparing a master plan for the national press in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to be organised in Kinshasa from 18 to 21 January 2006 by the Ministry of Press and Information.

29.09.2005 Most ICT initiatives till date have been in the form of pilot projects that have worked well in a small community. To upscale this to the national level would need not only excellent planning, but also support from a wide range of players. OneWorld South Asia organized a Panel Discussion "From Pilot Syndrome to Up scaling ICT initiatives - the Grassroots Perspective" at PrepCom 3 on 28th September in this context. Reports Bidisha Pillai, Digital Opportunity Channel Manager, from Geneva.

29.09.2005 At the present time, there is broad consensus on the impact Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have at different levels of society. ICTs come into being as new instruments for which a wide variety of uses is thus generated, being one of the main conditions that they should operate as efficient tools for development. This correlation between ICTs and development has been thoroughly studied and researched and, in general, it is believed that a positive association exists between both variables, so that investment is considered as an important dimension for the successful achievement of development projects. In spite of this, there is still a long road ahead before such technologies are included in the development agendas, given the fact that Southern countries do not usually give priority to investment in these areas.

29.09.2005 This document is intended to describe the funding strategies of the Information Society (IS) that are currently under discussion at the preliminary meetings of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) – Second Phase, which will be held in November 2005 and, from a gender perspective, to tie them into the commitments undertaken through the Goals of the Millennium, the Beijing Action Platform and Funding for Development, among others.This paper has been prepared for the Regional Workshop titled "From Fringe to Center: Gender Equity in Building the Information Society”, called upon by the Steering Committee of WSIS Gender Caucus with the objective of ensuring gender equity and women’s rights integrated into WSIS and its subsequent processes”.

29.09.2005 Banglalink, a cell phone operator in the country, has introduced voice message service styled i'bubble that will enable all Banglalink subscribers to send a message as voice instead of text to all local mobile operators.

29.09.2005 The University Grants Commission (UGC) likely to release a draft of the Right to Information policy guideline for universities to follow as part of the implementation of the recently enacted Right to Information Act, 2005

29.09.2005 This APDIP e-Note illustrates the benefits that ICTs can have for SMEs; discusses why countries should be proactive in embedding ICTs into SME policy; and gives examples of how Asian governments have encouraged and enabled SMEs to use ICTs.APDIP e-Notes are brief snapshots that present analyses of specific issues related to ICTs for sustainable human development in the Asia-Pacific region. This online series introduces readers to the who, what, where, why and how of a wide range of current issues related to ICTs such as Internet governance, ICTs and poverty alleviation, e-governance, free and open source software, and many others.

29.09.2005 The Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) has launched a mobile summons printing and warrant faxing system that will enable traffic officers to re-issue summonses and produce warrant copies to traffic offenders on the road.

29.09.2005 At a cost of just 4 paise per litre, rural India can now have access to safe drinking water without the use of electricity.A high-technology membrane filter, developed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), can remove bacteria as well as viruses from water.

29.09.2005 Surfing the net through the wired networks is all set to change with Wireless Fidelity or Wi-Fi services entering India in a big way.

29.09.2005 A seminar entitled “Towards the Incorporation of Vocational Technical Education in the Future Secondary School Curriculum” in Brunei Darussalam has highlighted the “vital role” of incorporating vocational and technological education in the school curriculum.

29.09.2005 A regional workshop on ICT for Community Empowerment through Non-formal Education (NFE) will be convened by the UNESCO Asia Pacific Programme of Education for All (APPEAL) in Chennai, India from 3 to 7 October 2005.