> Current topic: Issue of Access and Barriers:
> Hi everyone. Below is a copy of the newsletter we put together for WSIS.
> Special thanks to everyone on the list for submitting their suggestions to
> us!
>
> thanks,
> Andy Carvin, Benton Foundation
> Washington DC (by way of South Hadley, Massachusetts today)
> acarvin@benton.org
>
> Communications-Related Headlines:
> An Online News Service of the Benton Foundation
> http://www.benton.org/news
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> COUNTDOWN TO WSIS:
> A Headlines Special Edition for September 1, 2003
>
> Today marks the 100-day countdown to the World Summit on the Information
> Society (WSIS). The goal of the summit, hosted by the International
> Telecommunications Union under the patronage of UN Secretary-General
> Kofi
> Annan, is to develop a unified plan for utilizing information and
> communications technologies (ICT) for global development.
> Representatives
> from civil society and the private sector will join world leaders and
> policymakers in Geneva December 10 through 12 to tackle the
> international
> digital divide and forge strategies to bridge it. The summit will be
> followed by a second WSIS, to be held in Tunis in November 2005.
> Communications-Related Headlines dedicates today's newsletter to the
> summit,
> reviewing news and analysis from both supporters and critics of the
> event,
> and provides a list of related events and online resources.
>
> In today's issue:
>
> WSIS NEWS
> Whassup with WSIS?
> Major UN Conference Lacks Media Attention in the US
> Unzipping the World Summit on the Information Society
> UN Net Summit Spurs Concerns of Censorship
> Gender at the WSIS
> 2003 ICT Stories Competition
> Speech: Developing Resources for the ICT Society
>
> PLUS....
> WSIS-RELATED EVENTS & WEB RESOURCES
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> WSIS NEWS
>
> WHASSUP WITH WSIS?
> "WSIS Geneva is a talkshop that's worth taking seriously," reports Guy
> Berger of South Africa's Rhodes University. Setting the stage for the
> global
> telecommunication and IT sector in the future, the World Summit on the
> Information Society will capture what Berger calls the "global public
> opinion" about ICT and the kinds of regulation that will be permissible.
> As
> evidence of the importance of global public opinion and the potential
> impact
> of WSIS, Berger points to three developments over the last decade: the
> shift
> in telecom regulation from state-run to state-regulated to perhaps
> unregulated; the shift in how communications technology is used, from
> person-to-person exchanges to data and commerce; and the ability of the
> summit to set the global agenda for ICT as a development tool for
> developing
> countries. Berger cautions that while this third development has its
> merit,
> more focus should be placed on content and context. "Overlooked are the
> rights to democracy and free expression as preconditions for an
> Information
> Society," he writes. "Neglected too are questions about the quality,
> source
> and relevance of information." He also points out the danger in the
> assumption that information exchange is a one-way street, from the
> "info-rich" to the "info-poor." Berger sees WSIS as the source for
> change in
> the years that follow the Geneva meeting, and the Tunis follow-up in
> 2005
> will serve as a progress report on December's benchmarks.
> SOURCE: The Guardian; AUTHOR: Guy Berger
> http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=19631&sa=58
>
> MAJOR UN CONFERENCE LACKS MEDIA ATTENTION IN THE US
> Media watchers such as blogger and community technology activist Steve
> Cisler note the lack of media attention to WSIS, particularly in
> developed
> countries. There are a number of reasons put forth for this gap in
> coverage.
> Rik Panganiban of the World Federalist Movement says challenges include
> the
> "usual obtuseness and lack of drama of UN meetings in general" and the
> "technical nature of much of the discussion." His colleague Ramin
> Shahzamani
> adds, "The US media is not able to shrink the issue to sound bites that
> their audience can digest." In addition, there is a growing "perception
> that
> the UN is increasingly becoming irrelevant with the US being able to
> bypass
> the UN and the Security Council at will," speculated Panganiban. He is
> working with the UN Conference of NGOs (CONGO) on an "information
> center"
> that would provide daily reporting on the progress of WSIS negotiations,
> made available via website, email and a daily newssheet. Gary Fowlie of
> the
> International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Panganiban agree that
> civil
> society has a role to play in getting the story to the media.
> SOURCE: Digital Freedom Network; AUTHOR: Shravanti Reddy
> http://www.dfn.org/focus/wsis/attention.htm
>
> UNZIPPING THE WORLD SUMMIT ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY
> [Commentary] Taking what can only be called a cynical view of
> international
> organizations and the possibility of international cooperation,
> Autonomedia's Alan Toner offers a critique of WSIS. He compares the
> conference to other "nebulous policy extravaganzas" that have ranged
> from
> women (Beijing 1995) to sustainable development (Johannesburg 2002).
> Toner
> sees behind the WSIS agenda "a very specific and ongoing set of
> strategies
> designed to use control of information, and information property, to
> advance
> Northern interests on the global scene." As evidence, he notes that
> addressing the "social terrors being carried out in the defense of
> intellectual property" is strictly off the agenda. He characterizes the
> draft declaration as "resuscitating a ruse reminiscent of the heights of
> the
> 'dot com' folly: addition of prefix 'E-' to any given human activity to
> cast
> it as an 'ICT issue.'" Though skeptical of the "so-called 'civil
> society'"
> movement, Toner does have a positive view of a campaign known as
> Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS). This is because
> CRIS
> is "highly critical of the official WSIS agenda for its fixation on
> technical issues, neglect of the social context, and fetishization of
> the
> digital at the expense of what may be more accessible and useful
> technologies such as radio."
> SOURCE: Metamute; AUTHOR: Alan Toner
>
http://www.metamute.com/look/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=1&NrIssu
> e=26&NrSection=10&NrArticle=873&ST_max=0
>
> UN NET SUMMIT SPURS CONCERNS OF CENSORSHIP
> Free press advocates warn that WSIS will be used by countries such as
> China
> and Saudi Arabia to justify existing restrictions on Web publishing.
> Each of
> the 185 UN member nations, of which about 60 percent do not have free
> press,
> will have equal votes in the outcome. The World Press Freedom Committee
> (WPFC) is urging the US State Department to be more forceful in speaking
> up
> for press freedom. The worst-case scenario, said WPFC Executive Director
> Marilyn Greene, is that the summit "will adopt a declaration that says
> Internet content should be controlled by the government and restricted,
> because that would mean the end of the free flow of information around
> the
> world." Organizations such as WPFC, the Inter-American Press Association
> and
> the International Press Institute have issued a statement indicating
> that it
> is crucial that the summit create an explicit implementation of Article
> 19
> of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, upholding freedom of
> opinion
> and expression.
> SOURCE: Washington Times; AUTHOR: Stephanie Barber
> http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20030826-092642-4829r.htm
>
> GENDER AT THE WSIS
> South African Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri will present
> a
> Women's Charter at WSIS. Drafted by participants in the South African
> Women
> @ WSIS Forum, the charter will also be given to government departments,
> business and civil organizations. The charter will commit South Africa
> to
> using technology to improve the lives of women. Its recommendations
> include
> government's role in ensuring that technology is made available to women
> through educational, economic, social, political and cultural
> activities. It
> also recommends that training materials be developed in local languages,
> employed women be offered technology training, and girls be educated and
> mentored in science and technology. Ms. Matsepe-Casaburri said that
> South
> Africa must now prepare the draft charter for the international summit
> to
> ensure that the outcome is truly representative of all nations --
> "otherwise
> the technology have-nots in developing countries would continue to be
> marginalized." Additionally, a WSIS Gender Caucus Orientation Session is
> planned for September 13 in Geneva (see EVENTS, below). The overall goal
> of
> the Caucus is to integrate gender equality and women's rights into the
> WSIS
> Declaration, Action Plan and outcome processes.
> SOURCE: AllAfrica.com; AUTHOR: Lesley Stones
> http://allafrica.com/stories/200308210157.html
>
> 2003 ICT STORIES COMPETITION
> The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), with its partners infoDev and
> the
> International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD), is
> organizing the 2003 ICT stories competition. The deadline for entry is
> September 26, 2003. Winners will be invited to present their story at
> the
> ICT4D Platform, a parallel event taking place at WSIS (see EVENTS). GKP
> will
> award a financial prize to the winner whose project contributes the most
> to
> poverty alleviation.
> SOURCE: International Institute for Communication and Development
> http://www.iicd.org/stories/
>
> SPEECH: DEVELOPING RESOURCES FOR THE ICT SOCIETY
> Speaking before a symposium audience assembled by the ITU and UKTA, the
> Gambia's H. E. Dr. Bakary K. Njie, Secretary Of State for
> Communications,
> Information and Technology, addressed the issue of developing resources
> for
> the information society. "Much is said about the digital divide between
> the
> developed and developing countries of theworld. Among these is the issue
> of
> funding," he remarked in his opening. "It is however, important to note
> that
> money also will not solve the problems unless it is strategically and
> effectively used." In 1998, acting on statistics that showed the
> widening
> gap between sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the world in terms of ICT
> deployment and Internet use, the ITU moved to hold a World Summit on the
> Information Society, an idea which the United Nations later endorsed.
> Dr.
> Njie said that the summit intends to release a Declaration of Principles
> and
> an Action Plan to help countries "facilitate the effective growth of the
> information society and to help bridge the digital divide." Preliminary
> findings by an ITU working group identified conditions under which ICT
> development could be achieved, including secure infrastructure, access
> to
> health care and education and adoption of national legal frameworks. All
> of
> these support the assertion that ICTs "should therefore be regarded as a
> tool and not an end in themselves," Njie said. "They are useful only to
> the
> extent that they enrich and empower individuals through the information
> they
> make available and the capabilities they offer."
> SOURCE: Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation
> http://www.cto.int/frame.php?dir=07&sd=11&id=1098
>
> WSIS-RELATED EVENTS
>
> WSIS Gender Caucus Orientation Session
> September 13, Geneva, Switzerland
> The session is open to women and men who work on advocacy issues for
> social
> justice and change in international organizations, governments, academia
> and
> civil society. The meeting is part of the capacity building activity of
> the
> WSIS Gender Caucus, which aims to ensure that the lobbying and advocacy
> geared to mainstreaming gender in the WSIS process is increasingly more
> effective.
> http://www.genderwsis.org/events/orientation.html
>
> PrepCom-3
> September 15-26, Geneva
> The final ITU preparatory meeting leading up to WSIS, PrepCom-3 will
> focus
> on several important issues, including accreditation of NGOs, civil
> society
> and business sector entities; adoption of the Rules of Procedures and
> Draft
> Agenda for the summit; and the finalization of the Draft Declaration of
> Principles and the Draft Plan of Action.
> http://www.itu.int/wsis/preparatory/prepcom/pc3/index.html
>
> South Asia Network Meeting
> October 10-12, Dhaka, Bangladesh
> This meeting will try to culminate the issues, ideas and thoughts
> towards
> the World Summit on the Information Society from across South Asia.
> Please
> send your interest to participate by September 15 to bfes@bdonline.com.
> http://www.bfes.net
>
> Volunteerism and Development of Human Capacities in the Information
> Society
> (ISV 2003)
> October 23-25, Dakar, Senegal
> This conference will look at the mobilization of volunteers for ICT
> projects. The conference will analyze volunteer mobilization in five
> specific areas: Infrastructure, Training, Development of Internet
> Content,
> Partnerships and Financing and Legal Frameworks.
> http://www.worldwidevolunteer.org/isv2003/en/index.cfm
>
> Ghana National Youth Forum
> October 24-25, Accra, Ghana
> This national event will bring together ICT stakeholders to discuss the
> role
> of youth in the Information society and its relevant to national
> development. Participants will also discuss and finalize a national
> declaration document on Ghanaian youth's position in the information
> society. For more information, please contact Kafui A. Prebbie,
> oneVillage
> Foundation (kafui@onevillage.biz)
>
> Libraries @ the heart of the Information Society:
> IFLA Pre-World Summit Conference
> November 3-4, Geneva
> The idea of the International Federation of Library Associations and
> Institutions Pre-Summit conference is to bring together library and
> information professionals from many countries and the national delegates
> to
> the World Summit. The purpose is to facilitate the briefing of the
> delegates
> of the issues which we believe to be important in order to make a real
> difference to people's lives by harnessing the power of ICTs.
> http://www.ifla.org/III/wsis.html
>
> RSIS: The Role of Science in the Information Society
> December 8-9, Geneva
> CERN, the International Council for Science, the Third World Academy of
> Sciences and UNESCO are organizing a forum to discuss the role of
> science in
> the information society. Speakers at the forum include Tim Berners-Lee,
> inventor of the World Wide Web, former ICANN chair Esther Dyson,
> Romanian
> President Ion Iliescu and Thai Crown Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
> http://rsis.web.cern.ch/rsis/
>
> Digital Divide, Global Development and Information Society:
> IRFD World Forum on Information Society
> December 8-10, Geneva
> This conference, running parallel to the summit, will focus on
> strategies to
> bridge the digital divide and uses of ICTs for global development.
> http://www.irfd.org/events/wf2003/intro2.html
>
> WAFUNIF Symposium
> December 9-10, Geneva
> The symposium, sponsored by the World Association of Former United
> Nations
> Interns and Fellows (WAFUNIF), is designed to address the feasibility of
> creating effective policies and multi-stakeholder partnerships to enable
> all
> countries, especially developing countries and economies in transition
> to
> benefit from the ICT revolution. For more information, please contact
> Juan
> Ramon Avila at wafunif@wafunif.org. World Electronic Media Forum
> December
> 9-11, Geneva (invitation only) Also running parallel to the summit, WEMF
> will highlight the contribution of broadcasting and broadcasters to the
> Information Society.
> http://www.wemfmedia.org/
>
> ICT for Development Platform
> December 9-13, Geneva
> The Information and Communication Technology for Development Platform
> (ICT4D
> Platform) is a multi-stakeholder event consisting of an exhibition,
> workshops, presentations and discussions. It will take place at Geneva
> Palexpo and is one of the most important side events at the World Summit
> on
> the Information Society (WSIS).
> http://www.ict-4d.org
>
> World Summit on the Information Society
> December 10-12, Geneva
> The first of two world summits organized by the International
> Telecommunications Union. The second will occur in November 2005 in
> Tunis.
> http://www.itu.int/wsis/geneva/index.html
>
> WEB RESOURCES
>
> World Summit on the Information Society -- Official Homepage
> http://www.itu.int/wsis
>
> Latest Version of WSIS Draft Declaration of Principles
> http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_single.asp?lang=en&id=894
>
> Latest Version of WSIS Draft Plan of Action
> http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_single.asp?lang=en&id=944
>
> WSIS Swiss Executive Secretariat
> http://www.wsisgeneva2003.org
>
> WSIS Civil Society Platform
> http://www.geneva2003.org
>
> ICT For Development Platform
> http://www.ict-4d.org
>
> Digital Opportunity Channel:
> Special Coverage on WSIS
> http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/4732
>
> Information Society: Voices from the South
> (Interactive discussion forum)
> http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/frontpage/308/4726
>
> The World Summit on the Information Society Meeting Point
> (An index of civil society discussion groups focusing on WSIS)
> http://www.wsis-cs.org/
>
> UNESCO WSIS Homepage
> http://portal.unesco.org/wsis
>
> openWSIS
> (A consultation process allowing all stakeholders to identify issues of
> common concern or interest)
> http://www.openwsis.org
>
> International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
> (Organizing library involvement in the summit)
> http://ifla.org/III/wsis.htm
>
> The Africa Civil Society Caucus
> http://www.wsis-cs.org/africa
>
> WSIS Preparations in Uganda
> http://www.wougnet.org/WSIS/ug/ugandawsis.html
>
> WSIS Gender Caucus
> http://www.genderwsis.org
>
> Swiss Development Cooperation Report on ICTs and Poverty Reduction
> http://www.gersterconsulting.ch/fs/fs_main.asp?kt=2&skt=5
>
> World Wide Volunteer: Volunteerism and the Information Society
> http://worldwidevolunteer.org
>
> Summary of WSIS E-Lists Discussions
> http://www.globalcn.org/fr/article.ntd?id=1552
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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> --
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> message.
> Communications-Related Headlines is a free news service posted Monday
> through Friday by the Benton Foundation (http://www.benton.org). This
> service will keep you up-to-date on important developments and policy
> issues
> in communications, the Internet, edtech, community technology,
> journalism,
> public media, regulation and philanthropy. Headlines are compiled,
> summarized and edited by Andy Carvin (acarvin@benton.org), Jennifer Hill
> (jhill@benton.org) and Charles Meisch (charlie@benton.org) -- we welcome
> your feedback.
>
> Based in Washington DC, the Benton Foundation's mission is to articulate
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