--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- *APCNOTICIAS, the monthly NOTICIASletter of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC)* - October 1999 No. 4 - --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- NOTICIAS FROM THE MEMBERS -- -- PROGRAM NOTICIAS -- -- ICT EVENTS -- -- SITES OF INTEREST -- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- NOTICIAS FROM THE MEMBERS -- FROM INFORM, APC MEMBER IN DENMARK - New Development Portal in Danish Jens Nielsen wrote: "Inform has launched a new Portal in Denmark in joint cooperation thirty-five Danish organisations working on development issues. The project is sponsored by the Danish Foreign Ministry. The portal "www.uland.dk" is the entry point for information solely regarding development issues. The portal is database-driven and contains a comprehensive listing of books, CDROMS, videos, and slides on development, all of which can be ordered online, plus information on Danish NGOs working on development issues, and Danish NGO projects in developing countries. The portal has a section on vacant positions within Danish development NGOs and a searchable index of all known Danish Websites related to development issues. The index is maintained through a specially developed search engine (Volga) which is being released to the Internet community under the GNU license. The portal has different entries to different target groups: primary school age children (4-7 years old), Junior school kids (8-10 years old), teenagers, students, the press, educators, and everybody else! Depending on which entry the visitor chooses, different texts are displayed and different material is displayed when using the search facilities on the site. All indexed information is categorized as relevant for specific target groups." The portal is currently available in Danish. An English version will be available early in 2000. More information is available from the editor: . FROM JCA-NET, APC MEMBER IN JAPAN - JCA-NET launches the "Passo Project" "Passo Project" is a joint project between JCA-NET and Comitê para Democratização da Informática (CDI, Committee to Democratize Information Technology), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Established in 1995, CDI is an NGO dedicated to assisting the establishment of Computer Science and Citizenship Schools in slum areas or favelas of Rio de Janeiro. CDI was born of the massive national Campaign against Hunger, often referred to as Betinho's Campaign, in honour of the inspirational role of Betinho, Herbert de Souza, founder of IBASE, one of founding members of APC. Rodrigo Bassio, director of CDI, told JCA-NET in a brief visit he made there "One night, I had a dream. Poor children were discussing their future using BBS. When I woke up the next morning, I started to think about how to realize this dream". The schools CDI assists are set up and maintained by the favela dwellers themselves and the instructors also come from the favelas. CDI's role is to assist the communities in setting up and maintaining the schools and to provide teacher training. Passo means a "step" in Portuguese and it sounds like the word for "PC" (personal computer) in Japanese. "That's why we decided to give the project this name," Tomo Inyaku told us, "The Passo Project is a step towards using computers." Launched in June this year, the Passo Project involves hunting down hardware donations from companies and individuals. Since June, JCA-NET has received 40 donated computers. Their target is between 200 and 1,000. The computers will be delivered to the Brazilian centres in February 2000. You can find more information about the Passo Project in Japanese at: http://www.jca.apc.org/passo/ Versions in English and Portuguese will be available shortly. We'll let you know. For information on CDI, the Brazilian computing schools initiative, visit: http://www.cdi.org.br/ in both English and Portuguese. FROM C20, APC MEMBER IN AUSTRALIA - End of an era for former APC member network Pegasus Networks, former APC member in Australia turned 10 this September. It was founded by Ian Peter and originally ran out of a cottage about 150 metres from the beach that made Byron Bay infamous. September also saw the closure of Pegasus by its current owners. Pegasus pioneered national dial-up access in Australia and contributed towards the establishment of countless NGO / community networks. FROM CHASQUE - APC MEMBER IN URUGUAY - 1999/2000 edition of The World Guide Published It's twenty years since The World Guide (previously called The Third World Guide) first appeared. The 1999/2000 edition, just published, can be obtained in five languages and in a variety of forms: print, CD-Rom and on the Web. The World Guide, originally known as the "Third World Guide", was published for the first time in Mexico in 1979, as a compilation of reports or monographs on countries, serving to complement information disseminated by the magazine "Third World." It has become THE reference guide from the South to the history and present of society including analysis of major international issues from the viewpoint of human and social rights and the environment. The World Guide was the first initiative of the Third World Institute (ITeM). The second was the founding of Chasque, the Uruguayan member of APC, providing access to the Internet, electronic conferences and information to groups and individuals working for human rights, peace, environmental sustainability and human development around the world. Chasque is the communication backbone of ITeM projects. For more information, visit: http://www.guiadelmundo.org.uy/index_e.html [In English] -- NOTICIAS FROM THE PROGRAMS -- [Read about APC's six programs in http://www.apc.org/english/about/programs/] STRATEGIC USES - TELECENTRE EVALUATION WORKSHOP Telecentre-type activities are mushrooming as experiments to enhance equitable access to ICTs and APC funder, IDRC has supported some telecentre experiences, including telecentres established by APC members, in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. With the aim of promoting and enhancing the credibility of the telecentre experience IDRC called the 'Workshop on Telecentre Evaluation: a global perspective' to ask basic questions regarding the impact and future development of telecentres held in Canada on September 27-30, 1999. Sylvia Cadena from Colnodo, APC Member in Colombia, Roberto Roggiero, director of INTERCOM - Nodo Ecuanex, APC Member in Ecuador, and Rebecca Holmes of Women'sNet, the Women's initiative from APC's South African member, SANGONeT, were invited to participate as representatives of women's networking experiences through the APC Women's Support Networking Program. With the participation of researchers and project leaders with experience setting up and evaluating telecentre activities in Latin America, Africa and Asia, including Rebecca, Sylvia and Karin Delgadillo, former Strategic Uses Coordinator for APC, the meeting provided a space to exchange information and experiences, to develop a common language and understanding of key issues in telecentre evaluation, and to strengthen a common ground to foster collaborative actions for the evaluation of telecentres in different contexts around the world. For information on IDRC involvement in telecentres: http://www.idrc.ca/pan/telecentres.html Read about the Latin American APC experience: http://www.apc.org/english/stratuse.html APC-WOMEN'S SUPPORT NETWORKING PROGRAM - GLOBAL WENT WORKSHOP IN SOUTH KOREA Liz Probert, of GreenNet Outreach wrote: "Karen Bank's (APC-WNSP Coordinator) and myself are about to fly off to Seoul for the WomenAction2000 Global Women's Networking Training Workshop taking place there at Sookmyung Women's University. Also present will be more women from the APC Women's Networking Support Program as well as other women's groups. For a better explanation visit the site we are developing, which should get updated while we are there with more interesting stuff!" The workshop took place from September 27th to October 2nd 1999. You can find the Website at: http://www.womenaction.org/went/ -- ICT EVENTS -- The Internet Gold Rush Of '99: Can We Pan For Gold While Serving The Good? The Pursuit Of Wealth And Equity In Cyberspace and Norbert Wiener Award Reception honoring The Open Source/Free Software Movements, October 2-3, Stanford, California, USA. Panels include: Social Responsibility and Financial Success -- Oxymoron? The Digital Divide: Is the Internet as Great Equalizer Losing Ground? Software at the Crossroads: Open Source Software and the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) Featured speakers include: Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation, Eric Raymond, author of "The Cathedral and the Bazaar", Larry Wall, creator of Perl programming language and Brian Behlendorf, director of the Apache Project, amongst others. All this from Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. Check in at http://www.cpsr.org/ for updates. -- SITES OF INTEREST -- EAST TIMOR APC members all over the world support the protest against the massacre and persecution of the East Timorese people. The APC Website has a comprehensive list of the resources offered by APC members. http://www.apc.org/english/high_new99.html SODEPAZ, SOLIDARITY FOR DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE (Sodepaz, Solidaridad para el desarrollo y la paz) has daily updates of online NOTICIAS related to international solidarity movements, meetings and also its own publications at: http://www.nodo50.org/sodepaz [Spanish language Website] [Produced by Nodo50, part of IPANEX, APC member in the Spanish State] NETWORKED WOMEN (Mujeres en Red) is the Nodo50 space exploring gender. It contains a breakdown of women's fights for equality country-by-country and issue-by-issue. http://www.nodo50.org/mujeresred [Spanish language Website] [Produced by Nodo50, part of IPANEX, APC member in the Spanish State] --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- APCNOTICIAS, in English, and APCNoticias, in Spanish, are distributed the first week of every month. Copyright c.1999 Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Permission is granted to use this document for personal use and for training and educational publications and activities by peace, environmental, human rights or development organizations, provided an acknowledgment is given to the Association for Progressive Communications (APC).