To: CIVIC <icacaribbean@dgroups.org>

someone was asking about telecentres

>Date: Wed, 08 Sep 2004 11:45:44 +1000
>From: "Stuart Mathison, FDC" <stuartmathison@fdc.org.au>
>Subject: [pignet] TELECENTRES: A Civil Society Working Group on
>Community Technology for WSIS
>To: "Pacific Internet Users Group Mailing List" <pignet@lyris.spc.int>
>
>Anyone interested can sign on for the following discussion .....
>
>Stuart Mathison
>Program Manager
>Information and Communication for Development
>The Foundation for Development Cooperation
>www.fdc.org.au <http://www.fdc.org.au/>
>
>Tel: +61 7 3236 4633
>Fax: +61 7 3236 4696
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>---------
>
>TELECENTRES: A Civil Society Working Group on Community Technology for the
>World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
>
>Open to the public; Discussions begin September 15
>
>In November, 2005, thousands of representatives from governments, civil
>society and the private sector will go to Tunisia for the second phase of
>the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), a United Nations event
>to identify strategies to bridge the digital divide and utilize information
>and communications technologies (ICTs) for global development. The civil
>society delegation, which includes representatives from NGOs, academia and
>other groups, is working to offer input to government leaders during the
>WSIS process, developing recommendations on a variety of issues, including
>human rights, privacy, health, education and copyright.
>
>As part of civil society's contribution to WSIS, we are forming a new
>working group on telecentres and other public technology initiatives,
>including community technology centers, telecottages, public computing
>centers at schools and libraries, community wireless networks, and other
>initiatives that seek to offer Internet access, ICT training and related
>community services to the public. Participation in the working group is free
>and open to the public.
>
>Once online discussions commence, the group will brainstorm to identify
>specific projects that could serve the WSIS process, such as the following:
>
>- Informing policymakers of successful strategies to utilize telecenters as
>a tool in reaching the UN Millennium Development Goals;
>- Identifying opportunities for cross-sector, public-private partnerships
>for promoting sustainable telecenters;
>- Organizing an international thematic conference on telecenters and other
>public computing venues;
>- Establishing an international network of telecenters and telecenter
>associations at the local, national and regional level in order to forge
>greater connections between them;
>- Collecting and disseminating case studies that demonstrate the rich
>diversity of telecenters, including programs run by libraries and community
>networks, and how they impact various aspects of global development
>(education, health, the environment, civic participation, etc.);
>- Sharing of best practices and tools, translated for cultural and
>linguistic appropriateness.
>
>Other issues may be identified as well. As discussion proceeds, participants
>will be encouraged to volunteer and coordinate various aspects of the
>working group, from organizing events, writing position papers and
>translating the group's official documents.
>
>As this will be an international discussion, the working group will allow
>posts in English, French and Spanish; participants will be encouraged to
>utilize free translation tools such as Altavista Babelfish to help make the
>daily discussion as accessible as possible.
>
>Subscribing to TELECENTRES
>
>There are two options to join the group:
>
>Option 1: Go to
>http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/telecentres and fill
>out the subscription form;
>
>Option 2: Send an email to telecentres-request@wsis-cs.org with this word
>in the subject line: subscribe
>
>After submitting your subscription request, you'll receive a confirmation
>request from the list server. Please follow the directions in this email;
>you'll then be confirmed as a member of the list.
>
>Reminder: Inaugural Discussions Begin September 15
>
>Since this is a new list, we would like to give incoming members a chance to
>participate from the beginning. To accomodate this, discussions on the list
>will not open until September 15; at that point,
>
>I will post an announcement welcoming members to the list, encouraging them
>to post personal introductions. Then, we will proceed with the discussion.
>
>For more information, please contact Andy Carvin at the address below. For
>more on WSIS, please visit http://www.wsis.org .
>
>--------------------------------------
>Andy Carvin
>Program Director
>EDC Center for Media & Community
>acarvin @ edc . org
>http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org
>http://www.edwebproject.org/andy/blog/
>
>
>
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>To be on this list you must be an ISOC member:
>Register at www.isoc.org it is free.
>Select the Pacific Islands Chapter.

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