ONLINE RESOURCES
--- Websites of Distance Education in Canada
--- Indian Web Resources
--- European Telework Online forum and lists
--- Can community development programmes help build cultures of peace?:
Siobhan O'Reilly
--- Handle with care! Mixed blessings of international capital flows to
Latin America: Stephany Griffith-Jones
--- The Technology Source edited by James, L Morrison

ANNOUNCEMENTS
--- IBA Releases a Discussion Paper on Satellite Broadcasting Regulation
--- ASAFE - Association pour le soutien et l'appui a la Femme Entrepreneur

***************************

NEWS

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SA INDUSTRIES TO FIGHT COPYRIGHT VIOLATION

Microsoft South Africa, ASAMI (Associated South African Music Industry) and

the Pretoria branch of the SAPS Commercial Crime Unit this week joined

forces for the first combined operation against copyright violation in South

Africa. The SAPS, at the request of Microsoft and ASAMI, conducted a raid on

a person suspected of making illegal copies of software and music CDs.

Several counterfeit CDs were confiscated and the suspect is faced with a

serious charge of contravening the Copyright Act No 98 of 1978.

Copyright piracy in the local software and music industry results in a

combined loss to the South African economy of R900 million each year. By

combining their enforcement activities, Microsoft and ASAMI hope to have a

greater impact on stamping out CD counterfeiting. "Buying or selling

illegally copied CDs is supporting the South African crime problem. We are

trying to raise public awareness about products that are legally protected

by copyright. The public's current lack of conscience impacts on many

different industries," says Garry Hodgson, director of legalisation at

Microsoft South Africa.

Source: ITWeb

Internet Radio in Sri Lanka

The Internet is increasingly used for broadcasting radio programmes. The

Kothmale Internet Community radio project in Sri Lanka demonstrates that

this a particularly interesting approach in rural areas. This pilot project,

which aims at assessing the potential benefits of new communication

technologies to remote areas, is being implemented by UNESCO in

collaboration with the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and the Media,

Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, Sri Lanka Telecommunication Regulatory

Commission and the University of Colombo. Kothmale is located in the central

part of Sri Lanka. It takes about three hours bus ride from the capital city

Colombo to reach the location. Kothmale community radio serves a target area

of 20km radius, which includes a number of rural towns such as Gampola,

Nawalapitiya and Thispane.

The project uses community radio as an interface between the Internet and

rural communities. While UNESCO provided computer equipment and training the

Government of Sri Lanka through its Telecommunication Regulatory Commission

provided the Internet connectivity to the community radio through a

dedicated 64KB line.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and the Media of Sri

Lanka, Mangala Samaraweera, officially inaugurated the Kothmale Internet

Community Radio Project during a ceremony held on 30 April at Kothmale. This

official opening took place after three months of trial period during which

a WEB site database http://www.kirana.lk was developed and community

volunteers were trained to handle various elements of the project. Nearly

three thousand rural people attended the opening ceremony, and for many of

them it was the first exposure to computers and the Internet.

There are three basic features in this project, which combine new

information technologies with conventional radio medium.

Here, the community radio broadcasts a daily two hour radio programme, in

which community broadcasters interpret information from selective Internet

sites. The listeners can direct queries to the radio station to find

specific information from the Internet. The advantage is that the community

radio provides the requested information in local language making Internet

information accessible to those who do not understand the English language.

2. Community radio function as a mini Internet Service Provider to the

community with free Internet access

Besides its own Internet Café the community radio has provided two free

Internet access points at Gampola and Nawalapitiya community libraries. This

has a very big advantage for the community because usually Internet Service

Providers are located in capital cities and each time a rural user want to

access Internet he will have to pay telephone bills for long distance

telephone call. The Internet access points at community libraries are

available free of charge. Access points also used as a direct link to radio

station to produce and air live broadcast programmes

3. Community database development

The community radio also develops its own computer database (Internet WEB

site http://www.kirana.lk ), deriving information, which are often requested

by community members, from the Internet. Much of the information in this WEB

site is available in local language. This database attempt to solve the

problem of non-availability of packaged information in the Internet suitable

to rural needs. Beside that a collection of CD-ROMs will be made available

at community radio for community use.

The project intend address a number of challenges faced in introducing the

benefits of communication technologies to rural areas which are common to

many developing countries. Among them is the foremost is lack of access to

computers and the Internet in rural areas. To address this, the community

radio runs an Internet café, free of charge for the community members.

Teachers and other rural inteligencia, who use English language, can use the

facility to browse the Internet and glean information. Alternatively, those

who do not understand English can still receive the information through the

special radio programme by directing their queries in advance to the radio

station. Benefits of this system are described by in the user entries of the

logbook maintained by the radio station for research purposes.

" I printed out 15 page valuable information on diseases caused by

mosquitoes. If not for this facility I wouldn't be able to obtained such

useful information which are directly relevant to my functions as a health

worker". - Muthu Menike

The University of Colombo has launched a continuous process research to

discern the type of users, patterns of use, the kind of information and

pleasure sought leading to a publication synthesising the experience and the

project methodology for possible replication in other rural communities.

The telecommunication costs of dedicated Internet access at the community

radio and the other two access point are absorbed by the Government for two

year period within which community radio will have to develop an income

generation strategy to sustain the facility. This would mean that the

Some income will come from charging for print outs of the public domain

Information retrieved from the Internet. Already work has begun to host a

number of commercial WEB sites at the Internet server available at the radio

station. The local youth have been trained to design and develop WEB sites

for private sector. The Server also has facilities to provide seven

additional access points, which the community radio intends to rent for

governmental and non-governmental organisations. With the "Radio Browsing

the Internet " programme management hopes to get more income from radio

advertising. Also offering computer training to youth, particularly for WEB

site design, is being explored as an income generation method. A Volunteer

provided by the Australian Oversees Volunteer Service for 15 months, is now

working with the community radio staff to develop the income generation

strategy.

http://www.unesco.org/webworld/highlights/internet_radio_130599.html

Global Education Crisis

More than a quarter of the world’s primary school age children face the

prospect of a life of poverty because they never attend school or leave

school before they can read or write. In a new report Education Now: Break

the Cycle of Poverty, Oxfam International says that world-wide 125 million

primary school age children never attend school. Another 150 million more

children drop out of school before they can read and write. According to the

report, education is the single most powerful weapon against poverty.

http://www.oxfam.org/educationnow

Further information:

Alison Woodhead and Ian Bray

Tel: + 44 (0) 1865 312 498 / 311 311

Email: mailto:awoodhead@oxfam.org.uk

Email: mailto:ibray@oxfam.org.uk

Taken from ‘The MEDIA BEAT - May 17’ edited by Warren Feek

Radio Uganda, UTV On World-Wide Link – Uganda

The Monitor - May 12, 1999 - by Katende Norman Ssemakula KAMPALA, Uganda: On

Monday, May 04 Radio Uganda and UTV received US$ 2.6m worth of equipment

from Communication Satellite (Comsat) that is set to change the face of

broadcasting in Uganda.

http://www.africanews.org/media/stories/19990512_feat2.html

GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE SECTOR SIGN Y2K MoU

Communications Minister Jay Naidoo and Constitutional Development Minister

Valli Moosa have signed a memorandum of understanding with the private

sector, state-owned enterprises and the South African Local Government

Association to pledge their commitment and support to the National Year 2000

Task team on local government. The national Year 2000 task team is the

culmination of a series of meetings and correspondence between the ministers

and private sector groupings, in particular, the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut

(AHI), The South African Chamber of Business (SACOB) and the South African

Foundation.

The memorandum of understanding commits parties to provide resources to a

project that includes:

o Ensuring local government Year 2000 readiness.

o National contingency planning and disaster management.

o Communications in respect of all spheres of government and key

infrastructure areas.

In endorsing the existing National Year 2000 Task Team (NYTT), government

also commits to support the 9 Provincial Task Teams that are being created

to interface with local authorities.

Source: ITWeb

RESEARCH WARNS OF Y2K HITCHES

In a teleconference, Louis Marcoccio, Year 2000 research director at the

Gartner Group warned his listeners that in a growing number of cases,

software that was previously designated as "Year 2000-compliant" is turning

out to be non-compliant after all. This disquieting news is supported by the

results of the March 1999 Compliance Tracker Delta Report from Infoliant.

Each month, the company classifies some 30,000 hardware and software

products into five categories: "Compliant," "Not Compliant," "Action

Required," "Pending Evaluation" and "Vendor Will Not Test."

It's a common misconception that products move in a linear progression from

non- compliant to compliant status. In March, more than a third of the

compliance changes reported by Infoliant were "negative changes" -- products

regressing from "Compliant" status to "Vendor Will Not Test" or "Pending

Evaluation." Needless to say, this is sobering news for Year 2000 managers.

There are 217 days until 1 January, 2000

Source: Year 2000 www.year2000.com

ONLINE RESOURCES

-----------

Websites of Distance Education in Canada

--- Canadian Association for Distance Education: www.case.aced.ca

--- Distance Education Opportunities at Ontario Colleges and Universities:

http://node.on.ca/courses

--- Franchophone Teachers across Province…Education and Professional

Development: http://www.Ednet.ns.ac/educ/pre>srel/current/engteach.htm.

--- Canadian Association for University Continuing Education: Cause@igs.net

or www.cause-aepuc.ca

--- Contact person in eductional technology at OISE, University of Toronto:

Cbrett@oise.utoronto.ca

--- Ontario Institute for the Study of Education: www.oise.utoronto.ca

Indian Web Resources

--------

Research, Academia

--------

The following items have been announced through the European Telework Online

forum and lists (see http://www.eto.org.uk/discuss/discuss.htm):

Telecoms - Death of Distance means New Neighbours - ETD analysis reveals a

New Geography of work and trade which places Germany closer to USA than to

France, UK closer to Australia and Hong Kong than Spain

http://www.eto.org.uk/eustats

Bulgarian Telework Association (BgTA) launched - Claimed as the first

Telework Association in Central and Eastern Europe

http://www.eto.org.uk/nat/bg/

Can community development programmes help build cultures of peace?

contributor(s): Siobhan O'Reilly - World Vision

Area Development Programmes (ADPs) aim to create sustainable, integrated

rural community development, based on the principle of participation,

interaction and co-operation between all beneficiaries. Each ADP covers a

large area the size of an entire administrative district and brings together

a wide range of groups of different religions, ethnic identities and

political allegiances to work for community development. Research by a World

Vision team set out to evaluate ADPs as a tool for peace-building.

http://www.id21.org/static/8civ1.htm

Handle with care! Mixed blessings of international capital flows to Latin

America. contributor(s): Stephany Griffith-Jones - Institute of Development

Studies (IDS), UK

The main feature of the new economic model (NEM) for financial policy reform

now gaining ground in Latin America is its openness to free trade and the

lifting of foreign exchange controls. Under the right circumstances in

countries seen as economically stable, applying the NEM will lead to large

capital inflows from abroad. Most commentators welcomed this trend in the

1990s, and used it as a key indicator of the success of the NEM. Others

cautioned against the risks of volatility of capital flows to Latin America.

They were proved right when crisis hit Mexico in 1994. Against this

background, research conducted at the Institute of Development Studies

examines the impact of external capital flows on income distribution and

poverty.

http://www.id21.org/static/7bmj2new.htm

Further information:

Stephany Griffith-Jones

Institute of Development Studies

University of Sussex

Brighton, UK

BN1 9RE

Tel: +44 (0)1273 606261

Fax: +44 (0)1273 621202

Email: mailto:s.griffith-jones@ids.ac.uk

Morrison, is an online publication the purpose of which is to 'to provide

thoughtful, illuminating articles that will assist educators as they face

the challenge of integrating information technology tools in teaching and in

managing educational organizations'. Many of the articles focus on higher

education and use of computer applications in educational settings. An

archive of previous articles is available.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

-----------

IBA RELEASES A DISCUSSION PAPER ON SATELLITE BROADCASTING REGULATION

The Independent Broadcasting Authority has today released a Discussion Paper

on its research into the long awaited satellite broadcasting mode in South

Africa during a press and industry briefing in Johannesburg.

The Discussion Paper represents the beginning of a consultative process

through which an appropriate policy for satellite broadcasting will be

developed.

The process of establishing regulatory regime for satellite is proceeding

because of the urgency about the regulation of satellite broadcasting in

South Africa. The industry has invested large sums of money in satellite

broadcasting without regulatory or licensing certainty, while the Authority

on the other side is confronted by a growing queue of aspirant satellite

broadcasters wishing to operate a range of different services.

In the Discussion Paper the Authority requests comment on broad areas such

as market structure, the nature and number of satellite broadcasting

licences, television and music content, licence fee, technical standards,

human resource development and ownership and control as well as code of

conduct.

The public is requested to submit their written responses on the Discussion

Paper to the Authority by 18 June 1999. Public hearings will commence on 19

July 1999. A Position Paper on satellite broadcasting regulation can be

expected on 23 September (same day for invitation of application) and

licence hearings will be held early 2000.

Written comments can be faxed to Ms. Lara Kantor: Head Policy, Research and

Technical Development on (011) 447-3228 or posted to her at Private Bag X31,

Parklands 2121 on or before the closing date. The Discussion Paper is

available from the IBA library at 26 Baker Street, Rosebank or at web site:

http://www.sn.apc.org/iba

Issued by Independent Broadcasting Authority Contact Pekwane Mashilwane

Telephone (011) 441 1473

I thought I should let you know about an initiative that is being

spear-headed by an African organisation based in Cameroon called ASAFE -

Association pour le soutien et l'appui a la Femme Entrepreneur. ASAFE is

proposing to integrate information technologies and aspects of electronic

commerce in its work with 3000 women entrepreneurs spread across the west

and central African region.

One aspect of this long term vision involves running a regional meeting and

trade exposition of women entrepreneurs in November this year in Douala,

Cameroon, where ASAFE has its offices. Put simply, ASAFE has been approached

by members of its network of entrepreneurs, to introduce electronic commerce

and the workings of the Internet into their trade and marketing operations.

As a first response, ASAFE is proposing to bring together over 80

participants from west and central Africa to acquire an understanding of the

workings of e-commerce and its options. This unique face-to-face meeting

will capitalize on the expertise around the table by bringing in training

and demonstration components from both the technical and the business

angles. Entrepreneurs will gain technical skills on the Internet as well as

display and compare the products that they are hoping to eventually market

over the Web. The initial meeting will also help to identify those aspects

of the internet and trade relevant to small/medium scale entrepreneurs that

require either more research, more development or both.

This initiative is both ambitious and realistic, and as such, has to be

understood for the incremental process that it is. A good number of the

women entrepreneurs are familiar with audio-visual communication

technologies and many live in urban centers that have some

telecommunications connectivity. Several of the entrepreneurs are finding it

necessary to network with each other in order to co-ordinate their

production and quality control levels so as to meet domestic and overseas

demand. On one end of the spectrum, it is anticipated that basic

computer-based networks will greatly simplify this process and introduce

economies of scale. At the other end of the spectrum, these entrepreneurs

want to explore the opportunities opened by the Internet to manage marketing

and commercial transactions directly over the WWW.

ASAFE is a respected NGO based in Douala, Cameroon that has been actively

promoting and supporting women entrepreneurs since 1987. Amongst other

things, ASAFE provides technical support to its members in business

management; manages a finance system to improve access to credit in urban

and rural areas and runs a youth program. All of these programmes have been

built and run following intensive grass-roots level research by ASAFE

research teams.

If you are aware of other groups that we should be linking in with, or

business women in South Africa who may potentially be interested to

participate in this meeting, please do let me know.

Nidhi Tandon

ntnp@interlog.com

Telematics for African Development Consortium

P.O. Box 31822

Braamfontein

2017

Johannesburg

South Africa

Tel: +27 +11 403-2813

Fax: +27 +11 403-2814

neilshel@icon.co.za

www.saide.org.za

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