From gkd-mod@phoenix.edc.org Mon Dec 11 15:37:32 2000
Date: Sat, 02 Dec 2000 14:06:53 -0500
From: Global Knowledge Dev. Moderator
Reply-To: gkd@phoenix.edc.org
To: gkd@phoenix.edc.org
Subject: GKD List Summary 11/20 - 11/24/00
Dear GKD Members,
This message attempts to summarize briefly the major discussion points
made on the GKD Discussion List. Inevitably, many valuable points will
not be captured here and we welcome comments and corrections from GKD
Members. Reports on the discussion of the GDG will be based on the
summaries; therefore, it is important to let us know if there are any
errors or omissions in the summaries.
New List members are encouraged to obtain past messages from the GKD
archives, which may be obtained by visiting the archive at:
<http://www.globalknowledge.org>
Key issues addressed by the members of the List included: ICT and
access, appropriate technologies, ICT and education, ICT and health, ICT
content development in the South, GDG next steps, recommendations for
the GDG content development, call for papers, other Web resources.
*** ICT AND ACCESS ***
Ethiopia: A member from Ethiopia described a new telecentre, established
in a small town that, notably, already had the required infrastructure
and serves as a hub for surrounding towns. Funded by the British
Embassy, with support from the British Council (BC) and the Ethiopian
Science and Technology Commission (ESTC), the telecentre offers email,
fax, phone, CDs, a printer, some training, and is intended to be the
first of several in small towns. GKD members will not be surprised to
hear that, even with BC involvement, it took years to obtain phone lines
and an ISP. The GKD member from Ethiopia noted that the telecentre's
success will depend on its ability to meet local needs, e.g., by
offering convenient hours of operation, sensitivity to culture, useful
training, an acceptable fee structure. The member also expressed doubt
that the telecentre will become self-sustaining within a year, as is
planned. (Further information available from: Addis Tribune
<http://addistribune.ethiopiaonline.net).
Brazil: A member from Brazil applauded earlier GKD members' suggestions
that the World Bank and other donors promote access to ICTs, including
the GDG, through Southern grassroots NGOs. He suggested establishing
local Internet Stations, and reiterated suggestions made by other GKD
members that efforts to serve the poor emphasize effective use of email.
*** APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGIES ***
A GKD member from Ghana, currently living in Canada, offered a rejoinder
to the notion that developing countries should focus on the use of
radio, rather than the Internet. He argued that developing countries can
- indeed must - adopt modern technologies in order to leverage knowledge
for development. Otherwise they will be forever relegated to trailing
behind those with access to modern technologies, in a world where global
market competition demands the ability to utilize new technologies
effectively, comfortably, and innovatively.
India: A member from India discussed the Linux pavilion, "Powered by
Linux," at the Bangalore IT.COM show. The pavilion had five themes:
development, home and multimedia, web-development, e-commerce,
education. Booths presented a range of applications, including education
software, math packages, typing tutors, animation tools, and programming
tools. Some attendees suggested that a CD of Linux/GNU packages for
students is needed; others recommended such sites as
<http://www.linuxforkids.com> and <http://www.openclassroom.org>.
Companies using Linux were present, e.g.:
* Sanisoft <http://www.sanisoft.com/> offers various Linux
applications; also has a youth portal <http://www.klubq.com>
* G.T.Enterprises, a one-stop-shop for Linux or
<http://www.gtcdrom.com>
* Linux Learning Centre, focusing on inexpensive ($42-$100) Linux
administration training, <http://www.linuxlearningcentre.com> or
* Aeronautical Development Establishment in Bangalore discussing Linux
for building flight simulators
* ADE, which said they replaced multi-million ruppee proprietary
systems for a few hundred thousand rupees with Linux
* Peacock Solutions Ltd. has developed GNU/Linux programs for Indian
languages; also "incubates" other Linux companies
or <http://www.peacocksys.com>
* SuSE, a Linux firm based in Germany (seeking dealers in India)
, or <http://www.SuSe.co.in>
* Yahoo India R&D, which described a panoply of Linux software
* Freeos.com described a range of Linux software, including the
Indlinux project, aiming to make computing more relevant to people
throughout India or <http://www.indlinux.org>
* IBM'S Solution Partnership Centre and PartnerWorld for Developers
said IBM is a strong supporter of open standards cmanuel@in.ibm.com>
<http://www.ibm.com/in>. IBM-Bangalore demonstrated using Linux/GNU
for super-computing tasks, e.g., supporting heavy-volume web-server
processors
* The Net4Rural project aiming to bring email and web-browsing to the
poor, even illiterate and
<http://www.net4rural.org>
*** ICT AND EDUCATION ***
A member from The World Computer Exchange (WCE) provided an update on
their activities. They are now working with 85 NGOs in 33 countries in
Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and have recruited 420 schools in 16
countries. The Southern schools connect their students with students in
the US to develop websites to share their history and culture. Among
other activities, WCE is working with the Self Employed Women's
Association (SEWA) in Gujarat state, India, in 25 SEWA academies and 10
public schools. Other NGO partners are listed on the WCE website
Micronesia: A member from the University of Guam described development
of local action plans for distance education in the Western Pacific,
which will provide the basis for a regional planning framework. The goal
is to meet education needs of remote areas as well as population
centers. They are developing a guide for those involved in the planning
process and would welcome examples of plans or workbooks developed in
other regions (send to John Woodard ). For more
information on Micronesia activities in distance education see:
.
*** ICT AND HEALTH ***
India: A member from India highlighted a recent issue of Bytesforall
, which provides information on a range of topics
related to ICTs and public health.
*** ICT CONTENT DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOUTH ***
Africa: A member highlighted "Woyaa! The African Web Portal," which,
with sponsorship from UNESCO, has chosen 50 African Web sites they
consider best in education, science, culture, public information and
community development. See
<http://www.woyaa.com/topweb/all50sites.html>.
A GKD member recalled a book cited on GKD a year ago, "@the Internet, An
Ethnographic Approach," which examines how people in Trinidad are using
the Internet. He noted that local users often develop more effective,
interesting, innovative ways to use ICT than were envisioned by "the
experts" who design and develop ICT programmes. He welcomed other
members to identify positive, unexpected, uses of ICT by local groups.
*** GDG NEXT STEPS ***
GKD members suggested some "next steps" for the GDG, including:
* Participate in ODC, and encourage governments to participate in the
process * Maintain the GKD forum permanently, until the governance and
other strategic procedures have been defined * Examine the link between
the GDG and "national development strategies/programs" * Continue to
involve GKD participants actively in the follow-up
GKD members also recommended next steps for NGOs including:
* Maintain contact with the GDG Team and participate in the GDG or a
CDG, as appropriate * Continue to share experience with one another,
related to the GDG
*** RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE GDG CONTENT DEVELOPMENT ***
A GKD member urged the GDG (and other development organisations) to
establish an organisational learning environment that utilizes input
from multiple perspectives, provides evidence of how the input has been
used, and is held accountable for the use of input.
A member offered two major "lessons learned" from the experience of
British Petroleum (BP), once identified by Fortune magazine as an
outstanding company in knowledge management/sharing. One lesson was that
a comprehensive database is likely to fail if it is designed by
technical experts without significant involvement of users. The second
lesson was that a single, common database is inordinately difficult to
create, even for a relatively homogenous group such as BP staff. She
also warned that establishing common fields and thesauri may obstruct
rather than foster learning by rejecting innovative contributions and
interconnections that don't fit into pre-established criteria. Echoing a
recommendation made earlier by other GKD members, she urged the GDG Team
to utilize a flexible search facility rather than a single comprehensive
database. She also noted that the GDG notion of "allowing" local
communities a corner of the Gateway might be perceived as setting little
value on their role and contribution. However, a member from terre des
hommes-Germany India Programme noted that
although one might make such an inference, the GDG team welcomed
comments, and thus appears to value ongoing collaboration, interaction,
and suggestions.
A member from the NGO Counterpart International applauded a
recommendation made earlier in the discussion: the GDG provide
development project data that measure the extent to which projects
achieve their objectives.
A member reiterated earlier recommendations that the GDG experiment with
LETs (local exchange trading schemes) as a means to promote communities
of practice. LETS arrangements create a knowledge exchange in which
traders negotiate a mutually agreed upon value for one another's
knowledge. These types of arrangements have been successful in small
communities, and should be explored on a broad, online basis.
India/Brazil: GKD members from India and from Brazil, along with other
members, strongly supported an earlier suggestion from other GKD
members, that the GDG create a multi-lingual platform, and adopt this
approach for all elements of the GDG's activities. The member from India
suggested that GDG content be quickly translated into German, Arabic,
Chinese, Swahili, Urdu, Persian, Nepali, Pashto and Hindi.
The member from Brazil also urged the GDG Team to use the Gateway as a
forum for promoting interactive examination of fundamental questions
regarding the nature of development and the impact and sustainability of
current development activities. To do so, the GDG should welcome
contributions from all stakeholders, facilitate input from those
typically bypassed in such discussions, enable frank debate on
controversial yet central issues, and encourage innovative approaches to
sustainable development.
Some members offered suggestions regarding technical aspects of the GDG
architecture strategy. A member from Wageningen University, Netherlands,
who has been involved with the IDAI pilot, raised a number of questions.
In particular, he asked whether the time is right to define a meta-data
set with XML syntax; also, whether it is better to develop a
comprehensive schema for a superset of meta-data, or, alternatively, a
library of smaller schemas that can be linked. He also wondered whether
the GDG Team is urging others to adopt the same architecture as that
used by the Gateway, or simply informing others of the approach the GDG
Team plans to follow.
A GKD member from CIDA supported the GDG Team's decision to use XML, but
offered several technical suggestions, including: consider the diverse
technologies and protocols associated with XML; take a collaborative
approach, using XML markup plus interoperability of metadata, rather
than shared schema(s), as the key integrating concept; and explore the
use of XLink and XHTML Basic, browsers that are "resource efficient,"
and hierarchical and object-oriented database systems as well as the
object-relational database management systems already in use.
*** CALL FOR PAPERS ***
Gender, Technology and Development seeks
contributions for a special issue on "Women and Digital Divide" for the
Winter 2001 issue.
*** OTHER WEB RESOURCES CITED ***
Viva Rio, a large, grassroots-based NGO in Brazil
United Religions Initiative, US-based grassroots NGO operating in 60
countries
Linux Programmer's Bounce Point
<http://www.ee.mu.oz.au/linux/programming>
Linux India
<http://www.linux-india.org>
Freshmeat lists open source projects
<http://www.freshmeat.net>
Linux animation tools
<http://www.blender.nl>
Information on Resource Definition Framework
<http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/discovery/rdf/resources/>
Information on XML Topic Maps
<http://www.doctypes.org/xtm/home.html>
"Topic Maps and RDF: A First Cut" by Steve Pepper
<http://www.ontopia.net/topicmaps/materials/rdf.html>
The Semantic Web: A Primer by Edd Dumbill
<http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2000/11/01/semanticweb/index.html>
INDIX DAI database
<http://www.indix.org/indix_dai/index.html>
Metadata for the Web - RDF and the Dublin Core, Andy Powell
<http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/presentations/ukolug98/paper/intro.ht
ml>
Paper suggesting links may be more valuable than the resources linked
<http://www.stepuk.com/technology/tech_lin.asp>
Web Standards Project
<http://www.webstandards.org/>
Wap Forum
<http://www.wapforum.org/>
Mozilla browser
<http://www.mozilla.org/roadmap.html>
Opera browser
<http://www.opera.com>
"XML Enters The DBMS Arena"
<http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO53026,00.html>
Review of Tamino XML database
<http://www.softwareag.com/tamino/references/tamino.pdf>
Information on object-oriented database systems
<http://www.xml.com/axml/testaxml.htm>
<http://www.exceloncorp.com/formapp/createform.asp?formnum=90>
<http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20000131S0011>
<http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?IWK20000131S0026>
Woyaa! The African Web Portal, 50 Best African Web sites
<http://www.woyaa.com/topweb/all50sites.html>
GNU operating system project
<http://www.gnu-india.org>
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