Information Policy

World Press Freedom Day 2006 website now online

A new UNESCO website in support of the World Press Freedom Day that is celebrated on 3 May is now online providing regular news services, practical information, links to conferences, thei programmes, speakers and participants’ lists, etc.

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=21672&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Local Content

How IOCs Can Deliver
By Paula Bernier

If there’s one advantage independent telcos have over larger telco and cablecos it would seem to be their connection to local communities. As IOCs move to offer video services, they can maximize this position by delivering content with a local flavor.

That content may include offering on a broadcast- or on-demand basis local sporting events, parades or historical reenactments; documentaries about historical aspects of the community (or anything else of interest), as New Ulm Telecom Inc. in Minnesota did; cooking shows; or whatever, says Ken Pyle, co-founder of Viodi LLC, which does consulting and produces events and educational materials targeted at independent telcos interested in delivering TV services. IOCs can leverage existing content, such as instructional video provided by the local college, for example, or stage their own content, such as starting a local morning show, like Horizon Telcom Inc. did, or a local children’s show, as Ellijay Telephone Co. in Georgia does, Pyle says, adding that this also opens the door to IOCs selling show sponsorships.

http://www.onthetube.net/articles/631tube03.html

IN: Backwater ripples: Net kiosks to bridge digital divide

The biggest thrust will come from the government with its project of setting up 100,000 kiosks by December '07, with private participation. If all goes as planned, more than 40% of India's countryside will be logged on to the Web by 07-end.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1468150.cms

Global digital divide grows wider

More computers are produced than ever before, but they're even more concentrated in rich, developed countries than 10 years ago. While an hour of Internet access at a cybercafe costs people in New York about 6 percent of their average daily income, it costs people in Lagos, Nigeria, about 75 percent. Those in developing nations are less likely to find news and other content generated from within their countries.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/03/21/1476944.htm

Global Information Technology Report, 2005-2006

Since it was first launched in 2001, the Global Information Technology Report has become a valuable and unique benchmarking tool to determine national ICT strengths and weaknesses, and to evaluate progress. It also highlights the continuing importance of ICT application and development for economic growth.

http://www.weforum.org/site/homepublic.nsf/Content/Global+Competitiveness+Programme%5CGlobal+Information+Technology+Report