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 Development Resources
Every laptop assigned a child
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay,
-- Journalist Miguel Peirano finds that "Many people think that a laptop for every child is a magic solution and that just giving the children a machine will make them happy," in his well-documented opinion piece about the CEIBAL Plan. This Uruguyan adaptation of the One Laptop Per Child project turns this South American nation into the only country in the world that has adopted, as government policy, the proposal to endow every schoolchild with a low-cost laptop connected to the internet. - 10/16/2007
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Participatory web for development: Circling the point in a spiral formation
Rome, Italy,
-- Anriette Esterhuysen, executive director of APC, delivered a keynote address at the opening of the conference on Web2fordev at the Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome, Italy in late September. Her ideas around participatory web for development were reported on in the Web2fordev blog. - 10/11/2007
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BaseBox is out! Free software tools for your nonprofit
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa,
-- Tactical Tech and APC-member Women'sNet are pleased to announce the web launch of the latest edition of NGO-in-a-box, the BaseBox. The BaseBox is a collection of tools for the day-to-day running of small to medium sized NGOs. It aims to make it easier to set up base, find the right software and learn how to use it. Targeted primarily at activist and advocacy organisations in developing countries, the BaseBox contains a set of peer-reviewed free and open source software tools, with associated guides and tutorials. The edition can be accessed online but it's primary form is as a physical box set of CDs. - 06/28/2007
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Ugandan women network launches a book about ICT-based entrepreneuship
Kampala, UGANDA,
-- Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) launches Women's ICT-based Enterprises Handbook and a CD entitled "A Guide to Promote, Initiate and Improve Women's ICT Based Enterprises in Uganda". The APC-member WOUGNET published the multilingual document in English and two local languages. - 05/08/2007
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"IT spreads throughout society at all levels, and is not concentrated in the hands of a few"
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa,
-- APCNews interviewed Nicholas P. Sullivan, author of 'You Can Hear Me Now: How Microloans and Cell Phones are Connecting the World’s Poor to the Global Economy', a book published in February 2007 by Jossey-Bass. Sullivan argues that 'inclusive capitalism", combined with the 'external combustion engine' are better approaches to development than foreign aid. Do you agree? - 04/25/2007
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'Gold in the mud' unleashed through ‘inclusive capitalism’?
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa,
-- In 1993, Bangladesh was considered a no-go zone by foreign investors. Foreign direct investment in the country totalled USD 3 million that year. Today, it has multiplied to around USD 1 billion, three quarters of which feeds the telecommunications industry. How did foreign investment skyrocket in such a short period of time? The answer lies in the story of the GrameenBank, if we are to believe Nicholas P. Sullivan, author of You Can Hear Me Now: How Microloans and Cell Phones are Connecting the World’s Poor to the Global Economy. - 04/24/2007
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UN agencies and industry launch network on e-waste
GOA, India,
-- Several United Nations agencies, partners and technology companies are setting up a consortium aimed at extending the life of computers and other electronic equipment, reducing pollution and improving the salvage, which is turning into a growing problem worldwide. - 03/07/2007
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Communication, a cornerstone of development policy
GOA, India,
-- A study commissioned by UK's international development agency lists the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) in the top ten organisations survey respondents identified as networks they find are valuable resources of information relevant to their internetional development work. - 03/06/2007
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Going autonomous with wireless networks
PRAGUE, Czech Republic,
-- “Tricalcar” is a Spanish abbreviation that stands for Weaving Wireless Community Networks in Latin America and the Caribbean. But much more than an abbreviation, it is in fact a project. It brings together ten partner organisations that are all dedicated to training Latin American computer network administrators in building and administering community wireless networks. - 03/05/2007
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E-waste: Impacts, challenges and the role of civil society
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa,
-- That information and communication technologies (ICTs) have a valuable role to play in building a more fair, just, and sustainable world is well established. APC is a firm believer in the power of these tools to transform lives and communities. And yet, while the benefits of expanding access to ICTs are many, there are negative impacts as well, such as the problems associated with a growing volume of e-waste. - 02/28/2007
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Web.net makes major contribution to Drupal
BERLIN, Germany,
-- With the WebFM module, APC-member in Toronto has made a major contribution at the end of 2006 to the open source content management system Drupal. With simple-to-use drag and drop and folder creation and deletion functions, WebFM is increasingly becoming popular as Web Network's executive director, Oliver Zielke, himself states in the following interview excerpts. - 01/29/2007
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Drupal usability report made available
TORONTO, Canada,
-- Web Networks' report on the usability of the content management system Drupal is now available on drupal.org. APC Canadian member Web Network has developed this detailed and professional report with the support of APC's ActionKit project. Says, the report summary: "the overall conclusion of this report is that the tools Drupal provides to accomplish the most common administrative tasks associated with managing a website are all usable." - 10/03/2006
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Building a vulnerable children's service in Nigeria
GOA, India,
-- APC’s member in Nigeria, Fantsuam Foundation, has launched a vulnerable children's service as part of its rural HIV/AIDS programme. This innovative project is meant to tackle prevention gaps head-on, with the help of multimedia. - 08/29/2006
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Latin Mosaic
SAO PAULO, Brazil,
-- With the objective of producing and disseminating relevant content on the Latin American reality from civil society’s perspective, Rits, in partnership with another eight South American organisations, launched the Social Mosaic information portal on July 5. - 07/31/2006
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Hello, hello... spotlight on how the poor use their phones
DHAKA, Bangladesh,
-- What kinds of phone connections do the poor use? How much do they spend on telecom services? Are they willing to spend more? How do they choose their phone connection? What do they use phones for? And, what difficulties do they face while doing so? Many questions here... but the hints of possible answers come up in a South Asian study that looks at telecom users in India and Sri Lanka who have monthly incomes of less than USD$ 100. - 07/11/2006
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Low cost mobile are coming in, but how to minimise thefts?
DHAKA, Bangladesh,
-- The good news is that mobile phones are becoming cheaper. But the not-so-good news is that the mobile global industry is yet to take up creative solutions to ensure that the mobile handsets increasingly being used by the less-affluent are not stolen from them. - 07/11/2006
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Wiki part II: Find your wiki at the bazaar
PRAGUE, Czech Republic,
-- “The word wiki is a shorter form of wiki wiki (weekie, weekie) which is from native Hawaiian, in which it is commonly used as an adjective to denote something ‘quick’ or ‘fast’,” says Wikipedia, the world’s most important collaborative online encyclopaedia. Fast and quick, they are. But did you know they were free and open? While shedding light on the larger context of free and open source software (FOSS) developed tools, this second article on wikis looks at the concrete experience APC’s Strategic Uses and Capacity Building (SU&CB) programme made with wikis. It delves into the MediaWiki and the TikiWiki. - 07/07/2006
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Wiki part I: Progressive communications, wiki style
PRAGUE, Czech Republic,
-- APC staff started playing with wikis internally four years ago, and started using this online tool seriously about a year later. Collaborative work can normally be documented with the help of a drawing board or some tape recorder in the corner of a room. At the Association for Progressive Communications, people’s collective space is not a room. Instead they work from home, some in small offices, others in affiliated organisations, all over the world. But what is a wiki anyway? How does it differ from other online tools APC uses? How can it support the way we work at APC? This first out of two pieces looks at these questions by rooting the answers in APC’s global working dynamics. - 05/30/2006
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e-Learning module developing electronic communities
SYDNEY, Australia,
-- The Information Management Resource Kit (IMARK) steering group announces the release of its newest e-learning module 'Building Electronic Communities and Networks'. The module is designed to help users develop the strategic, interpersonal and technical skills required to establish and sustain electronic communities. It provides an overview of the benefits and opportunities offered by online communities for facilitating knowledge and information exchange. - 05/08/2006
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So near yet so far: Bangladesh awaits a smoother ride to cyberspace
DHAKA, Bangladesh,
-- So near, yet so far. Bangladesh is keenly looking forward to having an easier, more affordable and smoother ride into cyberspace, as APCNews staff writer Frederick Noronha finds out. In the eighth most populous country in the world (population 144 million), voices from civil society, the media and industry are increasingly surfacing, as this piece - filed from Dhaka in late April - demonstrates. - 05/04/2006
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