Information Policy

"e-Citizenship for All" benchmark survey shows progress being made

The 2nd annual "e-Citizenship for All" benchmark survey shows progress is being made by European cities with regard to internet access and online services.

At the EUROCITIES Knowledge Society Forum – TeleCities spring conference in Tallinn, supported by the City of Tallinn, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu’s public sector group presented the findings of its second European benchmark survey into eCitizenship for All 2004, an annual joint initiative of EUROCITIES Knowledge Society Forum - TeleCities and Deloitte.

The survey investigated the status of eCitizenship and eGovernment within European cities focusing on four key challenges: Re-engineering of Local Public Administration, eLearning and Inclusion, eSecurity and eDemocracy and Community Building. A total of 102 European cities from 23 European countries, including 18 cities in new EU member states, participated in the survey.

http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2820

World Governance Assessment

The quality of governance is an issue of increasing concern in countries around the world, both developed and developing. While the evidence suggests governance matters for development, there is less understanding regarding what aspects matter most and how to improve governance. The main problem is the lack of reliable, valid and comparable data on key governance issues. This has left many unanswered questions regarding when, why and how governance makes a difference to the way countries develop. Current indicators also provide inadequate measures for assessing changes and informing strategies to improve governance. The WGA is a global, collaborative effort to improve the assessment and analysis of governance. This work builds on the findings and lessons of a pilot study conducted in 2000-01 by the project team with supported from the United Nations University and United Nations Development Programme.

http://www.odi.org.uk/WGA_Governance/Index.html

Developing Countries Not Immune From Cyber Crime - U.N.

When mobile phones in the Philippines, Vietnam and China were attacked by a computer virus in the second half of last year, the world's cyber sleuths realised they were up against a new form of cyber crime.

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=28430

Wireless Rating System Planned To Tackle Porn

The wireless industry is creating a rating and filtering system that eventually will be applied to all content, including music, offered on such networks. The work is being done through the industry's trade group the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. Driving this effort is the recent explosion of interest that the adult entertainment industry has shown in providing cellular content.

http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-5682956.html

Looking Behind the Internet: Empowering Women for Public Policy Advocacy in Central America

Research in Costa Rica and Nicaragua has shown that the dominant approach to gender and information and communications technologies (ICTs) mirrors the approach to e-government in which women are viewed as individual recipients and users rather than organised actors. The authors argue that lack of meaningful, relevant, public information makes it hard for women to promote policy changes, as this type of information is required to even make the argument that a policy change is needed. If ICTs are to empower women, they claim, policy formation needs to be considered, as do the interests and agendas of those participating in policymaking.

https://www.comminit.com/strategicthinking/st2003/thinking-219.html