Digital Divide Network

25.08.2003 Fifteen projects have been selected to share a $1-million grant from the Samsung DigitAll Hope programme. The projects range from distance-learning programmes for the blind in Vietnam to helping young farmers in Malaysia improve crops yields through information technology. In India, the Hope grant will go towards funding 10 cyber cafes in rural areas.

22.08.2003 The Irish government is launching a pilot program to deploy broadband Internet via electric power lines. The initiative, part of a EUR50 million project funded by the Communications Ministry, will connect schools, homes and businesses in Tuam, County Galway.

18.08.2003 This report examines how community technology centers (CTCs) could function more effectively as public spaces and as forces for positive social change at the community level. Commissioned by the Ford Foundation and published by BCT Partners, Project for Public Spaces Inc. and New School University's Community Development Research Center.

01.08.2003 A new study shows that low-income children who spent more than 30 minutes a day on the Internet saw improvements in their grade point average and their scores in standardized reading tests. Researchers also found that the Internet did not detrimentally influence kids' psychological well-being nor the amount of time they spent with families and friends.

30.07.2003 After being banned by former ruler Saddam Hussain, cellular phone services restarted in Iraq late last week. Debate is now on whether Iraq should adopt the European GSM model, which allows greater mobility, or the America-backed CDMA.