TAD Consortium November 1999 Information Update 4

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CONTENTS
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NEWS
--- Intermedia Communications: Online Ad Spend Up By 80 Percent in Q1
--- Free Access Boosts Internet in Italy
--- It's not going to break, but India fixes it anyway

PROFILED ORGANIZATIONS
--- Fantsuam Foundation (Nigeria)
--- Applied Broadcasting Centre (South Africa)
--- Center for Health Policy & Strategic Studies (Nigeria)

ONLINE RESOURCES
--- Online Journal Comments On Trends In Computing
--- Study on "Twende na Wakati", a Tanzanian radio soap opera
--- Free State Directorate of Education Management Development
--- Computer programs to support new syllabus design in subject English and
media teaching (critical literacy focus)

ARTICLES
--- Global Brands and Europe - Sorcha Ni hEilidhe
--- Mother Earth's New Nervous System

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NEWS

Taken from: Nua Internet Surveys: October 26th, 1999

Intermedia Communications: Online Ad Spend Up By 80 Percent in Q1

300 Web sites received USD395.4 million in revenue from online advertisers

in the first quarter of this year. The figure is 80 percent increase on

figures from the previous quarter. Despite this, online advertising only

accounts for 1.83 percent of the average company's total advertising budget.

The top two advertisers in the first quarter of this year were computer

software giants Microsoft Corp. and IBM Corp. The third biggest advertiser

was FirstUSA, credit card giant, who increased their spend by 614 percent to

USD4.3 million. General Motors cranked up online ad spend by 159 percent to

USD4.1 million. Telecom giant AT&T increased spend by 140.3 percent to USD4

million.

Dell Computers increased their spend by a whopping 2,787 percent from 1998.

Industry ad pundits are speculating that the dramatic increases in ad spend

by the some of the Net's largest companies proves that online advertising is

now an accepted advertising channel.

The study found that retailers were responsible for the largest increase in

online ad spend, 534 percent, and spent a total of USD25.9 million.

Seminars, schools and camps showed the second largest increase, 197.6

percent and collectively they spent USD5.9 million. government agencies and

organisations increased spend by 180 percent and spent USD4.9 million.

The survey was conducted by Intermedia Advertising Solutions, a branch of

VNU Marketing Information.

http://www.intermedia.com/pressroom/

Taken from: Nua Internet Surveys: October 26th, 1999

Reuters: Free Access Boosts Internet in Italy

With a reputation for one of the lowest Internet penetration levels in

Europe, Italy is currently experiencing a surge and analysts are rethinking

their demographic predictions.

While one in every two Italians owns a mobile phone, the Internet has been

slow to take off and Italy has one of the lowest Internet penetration levels

in Europe at circa 5 percent. However, the introduction of the free ISP

model to the country early this year is set to change that.

Three players own 80 percent of the provider market in Italy, these are

Telecom Italia, Tiscali -the first to introduce the model, and Infostrada.

Telecom Italia launched their free service in September and have already

clocked up 1 million subscribers, they expect to have 2 million by the end

of the year. Tiscali currently have 415,000 subscribers and expect to reach

700,000 by the end of the year while Infostrada counted 500,000 subscribers

in August after starting up their free service in July.

Analysts now predict that 9 percent of the population will be online by the

end of this year and expect the market to grow by 35 percent per year during

the period 1999 to 2002. Stephanie Mollin, a telecom analyst with ING

Barings in London, forecast that over five million would be online by the

end of this year and that 8.4 million will be online by 2002.

The latest figures for Italy in Nua's How Many Online? are from Osservatorio

Internet Italia who released a study in June this year which found there

were 5 million online.

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It's not going to break, but India fixes it anyway

By Ranjit Dev Raj

NEW DELHI - India, which earned $2.5 billion providing Y2K software

solutions to advanced countries, will itself be spared the worst of the

millennium bug, largely because of slow automation.

Power lines, for example, will not go on the blink on New Year's Day for the

simple reason that two thirds of India's power stations are controlled by

outdated analog rather than modern but bug-susceptible digital equipment.

"Of the 92,000MW of installed generating capacity, only 30,000MW is

controlled by digital equipment and this will be Y2K compliant by the end of

October," said Montek Singh Ahluwalia, head of India's Y2K Task Force.

Much the same goes for 10 other critical sectors targeted by the task

force - encouraging Ahluwalia, a leading bureaucrat with a reputation for

being liberalization-savvy, to declare India is 99 percent ready for the

bug.

Dewang Mehta, chief of Nasscom, an umbrella organization for private

software exporters, is quick to prick any hype: "The truth is that low

levels of automation, systems integration and computerization has taken care

of most of India's problem."

However, Ahluwalia himself and a host of film stars and sports personalities

continue to figure in slick television advertisements that daily exhort the

potentially vulnerable in India to be Y2K ready. Ahluwalia said India would

prefer to err on the side of abundant caution with an array of contingency

plans covering all the targeted sectors - just in case.

That means power stations across the country will maintain a state of alert

starting on New Year's Eve and ending on January 2, 2000, with hourly

reviews of demand and fire engines on standby. According to an official

report released by the Y2K Task Force last week, mock exercises are to be

conducted in the first week of November and in December to ensure quick

restoration of power supply to key consumers such as the railways. For

ordinary consumers plagued by all too frequent blackouts and brownouts, the

government's contingency plans seem a trifle elaborate and unreal.

What is also now most reassuring for the long-suffering clients of India's

manpower-intensive public sector banks are the laborious multiple entries

that continue to be made in ledgers and folios by clerks in spite of

computerization.

While most banks now use local area networks, centralized links with

branches are still a far cry, as anyone trying to cash a cheque outside the

capital city quickly discovers. Outstation cheques, as they are called,

cannot be cashed for a month and the large roll-over period is taken

advantage of by unscrupulous bankers who have been known to use the funds

for quick speculation in the stock markets.

The insurance business, so far a monopoly of the state, began

computerization only recently and exchanges no data outside the industry

electronically - a cause for its legendary inefficiency and recent moves

allow its privatization. "Policies will be correctly issued to customers.

There will be no business interruption on the internal working of the

industry," a government spokesman said.

At least some of the credit must go to the trade unions in the insurance and

banking sectors for fiercely resisting computerization and possible

redundancies of their members. Nobody is therefore in any real danger of

losing an insurance policy or a paycheck. But the government, again as a

matter of abundant caution, has ordered disbursal of salaries by December

24.

The real worry seems to be India's defense, space and atomic energy

sectors - understandable in the background of India's nuclear tests last

year and the launch of intermediate-range ballistic missiles. According to

the Y2K Task Force's report, India's indigenously built satellites, launch

vehicles and ground control systems were tested for susceptibility to the

bug as far back as June 1998.

"Even international ground stations which handle data from Indian satellites

have been supplied with Y2K-ready software," said R Kasturirangan, chief of

the Indian Space Research Organisation, recently.

As for India's 22 atomic power facilities, of which 10 produce electricity,

complete readiness is expected by the end of the month although the latest

review on October 10 has already certified full compliance.

Another area of public anxiety are stock exchanges but brokers have been

warned that their terminals will be disconnected unless they prove

compliance to the Securities and Exchange Board of India by the end of

November. All stock exchanges have been ordered to conduct mock trading and

settlement on January 1, although the day is traditionally a holiday.

Besides, intermediaries have been ordered to maintain hard copies of all

transactions.

"Let's show the world that we are Y2K ready," the television advertisements

say. And so, whether there was indeed a problem or not in the first place,

India will be ready.

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PROFILED ORGANIZATIONS

(This component of the TAD Consortium Newsletter kindly sponsored by Times

Media Limited - www.tml.co.za)

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FANTSUAM FOUNDATION - INTERNET ACCESS FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES IN NIGERIA FOR

DISTANCE LEARNING

INTRODUCTION

Fantsuam Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation, works with rural

communities in Nigeria. We have an on-going micro-credit project aimed t

alleviating poverty among rural women. Our other projects include Health

Education, Promotion of the use of solar stoves, Promotion of Rainwater

Harvesting, Literacy and Numeracy programmes for adults and the 'Staging

Post' project. The Staging Post provides relevant health information and

re-training for frontline health workers in our rural clinics and health

centres. The internet is our most prolific source of health information at

the moment, and we access this whenever we are in the UK, download it on

discs and take them back to our field station for translation, re-phrasing

and editting to adapt the information for our health workers. We would like

to use similar system for our distance learning programme.

There is an increasing disparity in academic performance and attainment

between student who live in rural communities and those in urban area. The

latter and their teachers have access to more educational facilities.

Drop-out and failure rates therefore tend to be higher in rural secondary

schools. Women beneficiaries of our Micro-credit schemes are concerned about

the lack of access to quality education for their children.

In addition, the cost of re-training and skills up-date are generally borne

by teachers. The existing programmes requires the teachers to attend some

residential teaching at a university which is about five hours travel from

their work stations. The programmes are run by the university during the

long vacation which also coincides with the period of intense farming

activities in our rural communities. To attend such programme, teachers have

to forgo their farm work for that season with its attendant hardship on the

family's budget and nutrition. These factors contribute to the declining

motivation for self-improvement among secondary school teachers in rural

areas. Consequently, education with quality content is largely inaccessible

to teachers and students in rural communities. Acquisition of higher

qualifications and proficiency is rapidly becoming a privilege rather than a

necessity and this also contributes to the poor performance of their

students in the National Examinations.

We are therefore making efforts to put a distance learning programme in

place towards meeting this educational need in the rural communities we

serve. We are starting with a pilot project to provide communication access

for distance learning to our communities where there is no access to phones

or electricity. Distance Learning can be an effective means of providing

this service to these communities where there is no access to telephones or

electricity.

PROBLEM

We want to provide internet access, affordably, to our Mobile Community

Telecentre from our field office in Kunyai, Nigeria, a remote village where

there is no electricity or phone lines. The Mobile Community Telecentre is a

van that is being rigged up to carry four computers from one rural community

to the next within a 20 mile radius. We want to access quality content from

the internet at an affordable price for our distance learning programme. The

programme will provide basic skills training for our youths, English

language lessons and other subjects relevant to the secondary school

curriculum as well as relevant information for frontline health workers in

our rural communities.

BENEFICIARIES

Our rural communities (comprising women, youths, secondary school teachers

and students, and Community Health Workers) are the immediate beneficiaries

of the distance learning programme. The project will provide communication

access for distance learning for secondary school STUDENTS to supplement

their formal studies, and also access for TEACHERS to re-train for diplomas

and degrees. We want to be able to provide access to information for our

secondary school students to supplement their formal studies, and also

provide opportunity for rural teachers to re-train for diplomas and degrees.

There are three secondary schools serving five of the villages where we

work.

There is a Health centre in Kagoro and a clinic in each of the other four

villages. The Community Health Workers at the clinics and the nurse at the

Health Centre will be able to access information for their re-training and

skills up-dates.

VILLAGES INVOLVED

Five village Communities within the radius as of 15-20km have been earmarked

as a pilot area in which the distance learning programme will operate. These

villages will also have access to email services from the proposed Mobile

Community Telecentre. Our field office for the distance learning is located

in the central village of Kunyai with its population of about 1,300. The

nearest ISP to Kunyai is about 5hours drive on some difficult roads. The

other participating villages are Kagoro (population about 7,000), Kamuru

(2,000), Chenckuk (1,500), Ungwa Rimi (4,000) and Sakwak ( 2,500).

SCHOOLS INVOLVED

The Government Day Secondary School at Ungwa Rimi serves the communities in

Kamuru, Kunyai and Chenchuk, while Sakwak has its own Mission secondary

school. The third school is the Government College at Kagoro. The tertiary

institution (College of Education) at Gidan Waya trains secondary schools

and will also be involved in the project.

This pilot project will involve a total of 360 students, teachers selected

from these educational institutions as well as 10 frontline health workers.

The two senior classes in the secondary schools (SS II & SS III) will

provide 250 students and 30 teachers while the College of Education will

nominate 60 teacher-trainees and 10 of their lecturers.

AVAILABLE RESOURCES

We have a van which is being rigged up as our Mobile Community Telecentre to

provide internet access for the rural communities. We have also acquired

four computers which will be carried in the van from one village to the next

on designated days.

RESOURCES REQUIRED

-. - Internet access to the van.

- - Source of power for the computers within the van (?car batteries)

- - Funds to maintain the van for duration of the project, including wages

for the driver who will also be a resource person able to impart some

computer/internet skills.

- - Funds for a printer with its accessories, stationeries, floppy discs

TIME FRAME

It is envisaged that the pilot project will last 18months.

SUSTAINABILITY

The Mobile Community Telecentre project will be incorporated into our

existing micro-credit project, with staff from this project trained to

operate the system put in place. We will put in place a Telecentre

Sponsorship Programme similar to the strategy being used in our Micro-credit

schemes. Nigerians who live in developed countries are often members of

clan, village, and cultural organisations in their new countries of

residence. Many of these groups are willing to participate in community

development activities for their home-villages and clans. They will be

invited to adopt the telecentre project for their own villages or clans and

provide support for its continued operation. Similar organisations including

professional associations and corporate bodies within Nigeria will also be

invited to sponsor the telecentre programme for the communities in which

they operate.

Dada, J PhD RN

Director Fantsuam Foundation

Registered Company 3789968

National Office: Hasken-KU, Mai-Adiko, Rayfield

PO Box 8452, Anglo-Jos - NIGERIA

UK Office: 4 King George Avenue

Leeds. LS7 4LH

Tel 0113 2624833

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Applied Broadcasting Centre (ABC) Ulwazi - South Africa - has trained over

300 community radio broadcasters from over 40 community radio stations (CRS)

in S. Africa in the past 2 yrs. They produce and distribute educational and

developmental radio programmes. Through special training sessions for CRS

personnel, they demonstrate how to "localise" content by producing further

programmes and how to extend the usefulness of their own programmes through

phone-ins, discussions and news-items. Thus, CRS personnel understand and

"own" material, and feedback and evaluation are an important aspect of

distribution. Contact John van Zyl

abctraining@classicfm.co.za

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Center for Health Policy & Strategic Studies - Nigeria - a health NGO seeks

partners for technical assistance and funding support for a youth centered

initiative - "YOUNG 2000" (YOUth Network for Good knowledge and practices in

general and reproductive health). 3 components - 1) Youth Net-C: grassroots

network to distribute condoms and disseminate simple information packages on

safe and responsible reproductive knowledge, habits and practices in

secondary and tertiary institutions throughout Nigeria; 2) Youth Edition:

15-22 min. radio shows on safe and responsible sexual knowledge, habits and

practices in youths; 3) Youth Advocates Network for better health in

Nigeria: an advocacy/pressure group demanding accountability and better

health programs from local, state and federal legislators and executives.

Contact Akintola B.Odutola Eodutola@msn.com

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ONLINE RESOURCES

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ONLINE JOURNAL COMMENTS ON TRENDS IN COMPUTING

The RAPIDLY CHANGING FACE OF COMPUTING (RCFoC) is "not a new publication --

it's been around for years providing tens of thousands of employees at

Digital Equipment Corporation with . . . analysis and commentary on the

innovations and trends of contemporary computing." The editor, Jeffrey R.

Harrow, Senior Consulting Engineer, Technology & Corporate Development,

Compaq Computer Corporation, is now making the journal available online at

no cost to readers. RCFoC is published about forty times a year and is

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A recent study shows that "Twende na Wakati", a Tanzanian radio soap opera,

has resulted in behavior change and family planning adoption nationwide.

Married women who listen to the show are more than 2x as likely to adopt

family planning than non-listeners. Non-listeners are 1/2 as likely to

engage in frequent discussions about family planning. Data from 79 family

planning clinics indicate that the soap opera increased both new and

continuing family planning visits to Ministry of Health clinics, and that it

has been the source of referral for about 25% of all new clients. About 23%

of Tanzania's adult population listens regularly to the show; the average

listener tunes in at least once a week. Regular listenership increased from

47% in 1994 to 58% in 1997. --from "Effects of an Entertainment-Education

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Free State Directorate of Education Management Development - If you are

interested in education in a changing country, please have a look at our web

site. All comments are welcome. Visit our CSAEMP website:

www.EMDFreeState.com

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I have written a series of computer programs to support new syllabus design

in subject English and media teaching (critical literacy focus) as part of

my PhD research. I presented a paper on my work at the International

Federation of Teaching English Global Conference in Warwick UK in July. I

will also be presenting a keynote address for ATOM (The Australian Teachers

of Media) at their Victorian State Conference in Melbourne in December on

film theory. The three titles in the series of computer programs are now

available on line from the New Horizons web site. The programs allow English

and media teachers and their students to create text based study questions

(based on any print or non print texts of their choice). I enclose a link to

my paper which I presented at the IFTE Global conference and to descriptors

of my programs:

--- New Horizons (computer package information: The Study of English series)

I would be most grateful if you would consider adding these new links to

your website and/or pass the information on to any interested colleagues.

Best wishes

Tony Hughes

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ARTICLES

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Taken from: Nua Internet Surveys: October 26th, 1999

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Global Brands and Europe - Sorcha Ni hEilidhe

The first study to be released by MMXI Europe, a joint venture between Media

Metrix Inc., GfK, a German research company and Ipsos, French market

research company, has found that US brands are dominating the European

Internet experience. In the top 25 web sites for Germany, France, Spain and

Belgium, one third were from the US, these were Microsoft.com, MSN.com,

Yahoo.com, Altavista.com.

All of the above could be described as generalist web sites. These sites,

while extremely useful for the newcomer are not likely to appeal to a

seasoned Internet user. A portal and any online business for that matter

which organises itself horizontally will ultimately fail to inspire repeat

visits. A vertically organised speciality vortal has a far better chance of

survival in the next century.

The popularity of global portal brands in Europe may be more a reflection of

an audience which is not yet mature rather than an audience with a

propensity for established US brands.

Meanwhile Jupiter Communications announced that Europe is among the world's

most sophisticated markets but businesses are not capitalising on unique

opportunities within the market. The research house advice companies to

create more meaningful relationships with their customers in Europe. I

wonder what that means.

So far the dominant business models in Europe have been content, and access,

both of which Jupiter reckon produce low-value, high-volume relationships.

However, given these are the exact models which kick started ecommerce in

the US, this advice seems vacuous.

In addition, the fact that the most popular brands and the most trafficked

web sites in Europe originated in the US, where online marketing is

pioneered, compounds the confusion surrounding the European Internet market.

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Taken from Internet Solution Information Update

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MOTHER EARTH'S NEW NERVOUS SYSTEM

The linking together of humanity via an electronic network has been likened

to the growth of a neural network for the organism we call earth. It's a

very apt comparison - and it's just as apt to look at some of the

fundamental building blocks of the universe and how they change within our

world, as a result of this network's growth.

Since quality of life is so often linked to income, and money is what allows

the haves to have what they do, and causes the have nots to lack what they

do, it makes sense to express the effects of these changes in terms of the

new economy. An economy is clearly driven by needs and wants. Without needs

and wants there can be no demand, and we all have needs and wants. With the

earth developing its own nervous system, it's no surprise that the rules

according to which those needs are expressed, and met, are changing. Many of

the rule changes have been stated before - but combined, they represent a

revolution. The Digital Revolution. Here are, briefly, some of the

fundamental changes that will drive the digital economy:

1. Matter - It's less important. Data is easier, faster and cheaper to

manage. People (intellectual capital), ideas and the intelligent use of key

information-driven assets are the keys to success.

Space - No mountain, no ocean, no river and no political border can define

who competes with, or buys from, or talks to whom any longer. Distance is a

meaningless concept in an economy where the whole world is your customer,

and your competition.

3. Time - The analysts tell us that what previously constituted seven years'

change is now squashed into one. In this brave new digital world, instant

response is critical. If you're going to be part of a winning organisation,

be prepared to change. All the time. Quickly.

4. People - The most valued commodity of the information age. The value of

the information lies in the efficacy of its application, and people are what

will do this for you. More than ever in history, huge value is being

leveraged from clever ideas and new business models they create.

5. Growth - The law of increasing returns. Once a company reaches critical

mass in terms of market share or number of users online marketing takes on

viral growth rates, leading to explosive, exponential growth. This means

first-mover advantage is greater than ever.

6. Value - In normal economics, value and supply are inversely proportional.

In the digital economy, owning the customer has become more important than

supplying product, and therefore value rises with availability. For products

that help establish a platform or a standard, the network effect is even

more pronounced: The more plentiful they become, the more essential each

individual unit is to its users.

7. Efficiency - Intermediaries are being replaced by "infomediaries".

Traditional distribution channels are threatened by an economy where virtual

markets link buyers and sellers directly. Infomediaries are needed to turn

dumb data into usable information - to aggregate the mountain of content and

add value through function.

8. Markets - Buyers are all powerful, because suddenly there are thousands

of options available - and all just a click or two away. Wise sellers

realise that this is an opportunity as well as a threat. In future,

intelligent software will even help buyers find the best deal. Offer real

value, and you can't lose.

9. Transactions - Transactions have to be fast, reliable and secure, and

they have to be exploited to customize the experience for the user. It's a

one-on-one game. The information portion of any good or service is becoming

a larger part of its total value. Thus, suppliers will find it easier and

more profitable to customize products, and consumers will begin to demand

this sort of tailoring.

10. Impulse - The law of the supermarket aisle is redundant. Now every

product is available everywhere, and an impulse buy can happen at any point

in the process - not just at the check out queue. The gap between desire and

purchase has closed. On the World Wide Web shelf life and shelf space are

limitless. The impulse to buy and the purchase itself used to be separated

by a combination of physical and mental barriers. Online, it's different.

Discover a product you desire, and just hit the "buy" button. Marketing,

sales, and fulfilment are becoming the same thing.

You could try to ignore these laws ad carry on as usual thinking your

physical stores and strategies will never be defeated. Then again, that's

what the Byzantines thought. Then they met their equivalent of the digital

economy - the Ottomans.

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