Ghana ICT Journalists (Association)

AJICT-GH Executive Member Appointed to ECOWAS Network of Science Journalists (ENSJ) steering committee

2011-11-08T04:24:00.000-08:00

We, Executive Members of the Association of Ghanaian Journalists in ICT (AJICT-Ghana), are pleased to announce that Mawutodzi Abissath, also an executive member of the Association of Ghanaian Journalists in ICT (AJICT-Ghana), is now a member of the steering committee of the newly-created ECOWAS Network of Science Journalists (ENSJ). This follows a two-day meeting sponsored by UNECA, UNESCO, ECOWAS and the AU that was held in Abuja in October 2011. Please find below a list of members of the steering committee, followed by a report by AJICT-Gh's Mawutodzi Abissath:

N°	Position	Country	Name
1	President	Burkina-Faso	Ms. Ramata Sore – Senior Journalist – Evenement – Burkina-Faso E-mail. ramata_sore@yahoo.fr
2	Vice-President	Mali	Mr. DIAKITE Filifing Chargé de Mission, Cellule de Communication Primature, Bamako, Mali E-mail. filifing@filifing.org
3	Secretary	Nigeria	Mr. Remy Nweke – Senior Reporter Champions newspaper- Nigeria E-mail: remnekkv@gmail.com;[R1]
4	Members	Benin	Mr. Guedegbe Gérard - Journaliste- Peer Mentor- President - Réseau béninois des Journalistes et Communicateurs Spécialisés en Education(RJCE-BENIN)- Benin E-mail. seragerry@gmail.com
5		*Ghana*	**ABISSATII Mawutodzi Kodzo, Senior Journalist, Executive member of Ghana ICT Journalist Association E-mail. abissath@gmail.com**
6		Guinea	CAMARA Bangaly- Director General - Institut Supérieur de l’Information et de la Communication, Guinea Conakry E-mail. isicgn@yahoo.fr
7		Liberia	Ki Abdullai Kamara, Chairman Center for Media Studies and Peace Building, Monrovia E-mail. abdullai824@yahoo.com
8		Niger	KHAMED Abdoulaye, Director General IFTIC Niger E-mail. khamed.abdoulaye@gmail.com
9		Senegal	SARR Ibrahima, Director CESTI, Senegal E-mail. sarr.cheikh@gmail.com
10		African Federation of Science Journalists- AFSJ-	Jimoh Akinlabi Kareem, Development Communications Network and World Federation of Science Journalist, Nigeria Email. ajimoh@devcomsnetwork.org

[R1]Mr. Remmy Nweke – Senior Reporter/Head,ICT Desk, Champions Newspaper- Nigeria; Editor, ITRealms Online

E-mail: remmyn@gmail.com;

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ECOWAS Science Journalists To Champion Africa’s Development Agenda

from: http://abissathmodernblog.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=6

The significance of the philosophy of SANKOFA in Ghanaian folklore is more profound than the mere notion of going back to pick or fetch what one may have forgotten.

Indeed, the SANKOFA concept admonishes that if you forget something and you remember it, it is no crime to go back for it. But the caveat is when you go back to fetch that which you might have forgotten, you should not remain rooted in your seemingly comfort zone alone , but to turn back and continue with your intended journey.

Today, some modern sociologists are trying to debunk the notion that the media is the fourth estate of the realm after, the executive, legislature and the judiciary. In fact, some of these ‘latter-day- sociological-gurus’ have “nickodemously” downgrade the media from the fourth position to the ninth on the scale of 1-10 where 1 is the highest and 10 the lowest. They are entitled to their imaginations.

This author recalls vividly that in 1994, after the Rwanda’s genocide episode, the then Former UN Under Secretary for Peace-keeping, Mr. Kofi Annan, issued a statement in May the following year, in commemoration of the International Press Day and called on journalists worldwide to practice what he termed as “Preventive Journalism.”

Dr. Kofi Annan who later became the first black African UN Secretary General in 1997, reasoned that if Rwanda journalists had practiced Preventive Journalism the unfortunate genocide that traumatized the conscience of the world could have been avoided. This shows how powerful the media was considered by such an international man of global wisdom.

But the object of this piece is not to eulogize the media or vilify those sociologists who think the media is of no consequence to societal evolution as far as socio-economic, political and cultural advancement of mankind is concerned.

The purpose is to alert the suffering masses of the West African sub-region that their regional political body – Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has identified journalists in general and science journalists in particular as a force to reckon with when it comes to the development of the entire African Continent.

This writer wonders why it took ECOWAS almost 40 years of its existence to discover journalists as being one of the best partners in development for the prosperity of the continent. But as it is commonly agreed in principle, too late is better than never. The French will put it this way: “Mieux vaut tard que jamais!” Of course, some previous military governments had their own notion about the media. Thus some media practitioners were treated more as common criminals than development agents on our wealthy but poor continent.

Did you know that on 17 and 18 October, 2011, in the magnificent capital city of Abuja, Nigeria, ECOWAS made history that could be described as innovative in the development strategy of the African Continent? On those two memorable days, ECOWAS, in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the Scientific, Technical and Research Commission (STRC) of the African Union Commission (AUC), organized a Science Communication Training Workshop for some selected journalists from the sub-region.

The workshop brought face to face forty (40) top-notch managers of communication training institutions, high level representatives of AU, ECOWAS, UNESCO and ECA, scientists and journalists for this innovative brain-storming event of capacity building. The workshop was under a broad theme of “Making Science and Technology Information More Accessible for Africa’s Development”

Without exaggeration, one can characterize delegates of the training workshop as ‘Commanders-in-Chief’ of development communication, who called for an emergency session to plot strategies to launch an attack on problems confronting Africa’s development. The strategy sought to deploy journalists as the first infantry battalions, who were armed with Science, Technology and Innovation as weapons to move onto the battle field. It was fireworks all the way! Intellectual and academic debates ensued.

Deliberations were frank amidst heated but friendly arguments of give and take. People spoke their minds freely without looking over their shoulders. Naturally, no genuine forum of journalists can flourish without some kinds of controversy. As a matter of fact, there was one topic on “Reporting on Controversies – Ethics in reporting science controversies”

Like other speakers, the resource person from Ghana expressed his views with passion. His area was to focus on the Ghanaian Experience as far as the deployment of ICT tools for development was concerned. With all humility, his presentation was one of those acclaimed.

He felt rather disappointed that Africa was crawling instead of flying on the developmental plane on this planet of science and technology. He could not fathom why Africa should be wallowing in abject poverty with all the resources at its command.

When he was challenged by a Professor from Nigeria that it was not totally correct to create the impression that Africa was not developing, he agreed with the view that something was being done. But he reminded the learned Professor of the natural resources such as gold, diamond, bauxite, uranium, oil and gas etc, with which the Continent was endowed.

He opined that if half of those resources were to be allocated to some other countries like, Singapore, Israel and others, the Continent would have been feeding, clothing and sheltering the entire world with ease.
At the end of it all, a comprehensive pack of recommendations were drawn up and adopted. An African Network of Science Journalists was launched and a ten-member (10) Steering Committee set up to ensure the implementation of the adopted recommendations.

Mr. Thierry Amoussougbo, Regional Advisor, ICT, Science and Technology Division of ECA, who chaired this gamut of ceremony of drafting, reading, adoption, nomination and inauguration of the steering committee, told members to live up to expectation.

Dr. Fackson Banda Programme Specialist Communication Development Division of Communication and Information Sector of UNESCO assisted Mr. Amoussougbo with his expertise in drafting of the recommendations. He did not mince his words at all when he told the Committee members in the face to “stop talking and work and work, and work,” he stressed.

Among other things, the recommendations were premised on the fact that, “Science, technology and innovation have served as the foundations of social and economic well-being since the beginning of human civilization.”

That Africa cannot meet its healthcare, water, infrastructure, education, employment needs, develop industries and overcome economic challenges without significant investment in science, technology and innovation.

That poor relationship which exists between scientists, research institutions and journalists tends to affect effective communication; adding that only effectively communicated knowledge could benefit individuals with the power and skills to put that knowledge in practical application.

Participants took special note of the tremendous efforts UNESCO is making in building science journalism capacity on the African continent. As to whether Ghana is taking advantage of these efforts is yet to be verified.

As part of the workshop programme, some of the representatives of the UNESCO Reference Centres of Excellence were given the opportunity to brief participants on activities of their respective countries. These countries included Niger, Guinea, Senegal, Burkina-Faso and Nigeria.

Workshop participants also commended the efforts made by ECOWS, ECA, UNDP, AU and other individuals and organizations for the realization of the programme. This workshop happened to be the first of its kind. Resources were limited and the organization had not been easy at all.

It is the noble intention of the organizers to extend this training programme to journalists of other sub-regions such as Eastern, Central, Southern and Northern Africa to galvanize science journalists to champion the development agenda of Africa by making science and technology information available, affordable and accessible to all.

First batch of journalists who benefited from the training workshop were drawn from Benin, Burkina-Faso, Liberia, Guinea, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda and Senegal as well as African Federation of Science Journalists, (AFSJ), USECO, ECA, ECOWAS and AU.

This writer will like to take the opportunity to call on Ghanaian journalists to embrace science reporting to enable them to benefit from the capacity building package UNESC has in store for media practitioners on the Continent. There is a need for ICT journalists in particular and science journalists in general to come together to form a solid national body and join the continental professional organization. It has been observed that apart from Nigeria, only French speaking countries are taking advantage of the science related training opportunities available.

It is also suggested that in future, some African millionaires like Moh Ibrahim and former African Heads of State like H.E. President Olusegu Obasanjor should be approached for sponsorships to supplement the efforts of ECOWAS for the advancement of the sub-region.
I have no doubt that some African industrialists and corporate bodies would be willing to support. ECOWAS has good intentions but its financial base needs to be strengthened in order to support journalists to champion the course of Africa’s Development Agenda.

Group Photograph of Participants at the Abuja Workshop
The Writer is Deputy Director/Head of ICT at ISD

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Done on behalf of the Execs,

Emmanuel.K.Bensah Jr, Ag.President AJICT-Ghana

Ruby Amable, Ag-Vice-President (outgoing)

Veronica Kwablah -- Assistant Treasurer

Emily Nyarko -- Treasurer

Nana Appiah -- Secretary

ekbensah@ekbensah.net

West Africa’s ICT industry faces major threat unless ...

2009-04-16T05:31:00.000-07:00

Local players in the ICT sector have expressed pessimism over the liberalization of trade in ICT services saying, West Africa stands to lose heavily unless national policies were reviewed to promote indigenous creativity and innovation.

The participants, who comprised experts from major telecom operators, Internet Service Providers, small scale operators in the software development sector and the media, indicated that, West African countries were being forced to open up their markets without being able to evaluate the cost and gains of the liberalization of ICT services.

This came out at a focused group discussion held by the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) of Ghana last Wednesday as part of the LICOM project, a sub-regional study, which aims at contributing to a better understanding of international challenges of the liberalization of trade in ICTs under the WTO’s General Agreements on Trade in Services (GATS).

The project, which comprised four countries, Ghana, Nigeria Senegal and Benin, also intends to encourage the formulation of public policies conducive to the development of ICT and private sector in the sub-region.

The participants also advocated a harmonization of national policies on ICTs and telecommunications in the region within the ECOWAS legal framework in the sector.

Even those who supported the liberalization of the sector in the light of the global GATS, which Ghana was a signatory, cautioned that the national efforts must be pursued with the recognition that the private sector’s role was critical to the overall growth of the industry.

The group that appeared to be the most worried as it came up at the discussion was the software developers, who strongly intimated that current legislations on ICTs in the Ghana give them limited space to develop their creativities because of low recognition.

They said government definition of the ICT sector rested only on the so called “giant” operators such as mobile telecom operators and until recently the Internet Service Providers.

“But the small software developers who mostly comprised young graduates with fresh minds and constituted the majority of about 70 percent, are not so much counted,” they indicated.

Giving an overview of the LICOM project, Dr Godfred Frempong, Director of STEPRI said ICT domination in West Africa is still overwhelming and therefore there was the need to streamline public polices for member countries to take advantage of the numerous services and products the sector offers.

He said the ICT sector ought to be facilitated in its assimilation into the socio-economic activities of countries and this required commitment from governments and all stakeholders within the region.

Dr Frempong, who has carried many research activities in the field of ICT in Ghana, identified difficulties to access to finance, lack of human resources and inadequate policies as some of challenges the liberalization of ICTs poses to West Africa.

Under human resource for instance, he said, currently in Ghana, due to the inadequate expertise, many companies were using all kinds of means to poach skills workers from sister operators.

“This means that the few experts we have, kept moving from one company to another. We need to assist public policy making institutions to get deeper understanding of the trade liberalization on ICT goods as well as build more capacities,” he added.

The International Development and Research Centre (IDRC) are funding the LICOM project with PANOS Institute of West Africa coordinating with the support of Ghana’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research through STEPRI.

GNA

Source: gna
Story from Modern Ghana News:
http://www.modernghana.com/news/210735/1/west-africas-ict-industry-faces-major-threat-unles.html

Published: Saturday, April 11, 2009

Fwd: [penplusbytes] Ten things every journalist should know in 2009

2009-01-15T03:13:00.001-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: International Institute for ICTJournalism (Penplusbytes) <info@penplusbytes.net>
Date: 2009/1/15
Subject: [penplusbytes] Ten things every journalist should know in 2009
To: Penplusbytes <penplusbytes@dgroups.org>

1. How to use Twitter to build communities, cover your beat, instigate and engage in conversations.

2. How to use RSS feeds to gather news and manage them using filtering techniques (basic or advanced).

3. That there is a difference between link journalism and 'cut and paste' journalism (aka plagiarism).

4. That your readers are smarter than you think. In fact, many are smarter than you - they know more than you do.

5. That churnalism is much easier to spot online. If you do this regularly, your readers are already on to you - merely re-writing press releases without bringing anything to the table no longer cuts it.

6. Google is your friend. But if you are not using advanced search techniques, you really have no idea what it is capable of.

7. You do not have to own, or even host, the technology to innovate in journalism and engage your readers. There is a plethora of free or cheap tools available online, so there is no excuse for not experimenting with them.

8. Multimedia for multimedia's sake rarely works, and is often embarrassing. If you are going to do it, either do it well enough so it works as a standalone item or do it to complement your written coverage - for example, add a link to the full sound file of your interview with someone in your article, or a link to the video of someone's entire speech at an event. The latter will enhance the transparency of your journalism too. Great tips and resources here and some useful tips on doing video on a budget.

9. How to write search engine friendly journalism. Old school thinking about headline writing, story structure etc no longer applies online and there is also more to learn about tagging, linking and categorisation. Sub-editors (if you still have them), editors and reporters all need to know how to do this stuff.

10. Learn more about privacy. You can find a lot of information about people online, especially via social networking sites, but think carefully about the consequences. And bear in mind that it cuts both ways, if you do not do it carefully, your online research could compromise your sources.

credit : http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2009/01/13/ten-things-every-journalist-should-know-in-2009/

visit our website at www.penplusbytes.net our blog is located at http://penplusbytes.blogspot.com/ --- --You are currently subscribed to penplusbytes as: --To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-penplusbytes-445548X@dgroups.org Penplusbytes online list is hosted on Dgroups- a joint initiative of Bellanet, DFID, Hivos, ICA, IICD, OneWorld, UNAIDS

Fwd: [From Tunis...to WSIS] When will the National Communications Authority stand up?

2008-07-24T03:28:00.000-07:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------

The NCA is an agency of the government with oversight to, in effect, regulate the telecommunications sector and implement terms of Ghana's National Telecommunications Policy. According to the policy (2004) that can be downloaded from the Internet, while the Ministry of Communications is "responsible for the definition and elaboration of Government policy regarding telecommunications", the NCA has a number of roles that it plays in implementing the policy, which include: "regulation of competition, including interconnection; tariff regulation consistent with Ministry policies; monitoring of operator activity, performance, and compliance", and last but not least "consumer protection."

Reading the policy itself is enlightening, for the policy sounds robust. There is a section on "Principles of Transparent regulation" that explains that NCA "shall promote public participation in and awareness of its activities and ensure that the public has adequate access to sector information." Only last week, I checked to see whether the website of the NCA that is still under construction, and with some limited information about the sector, has managed to offer some new information. There is still nothing. Neither is there what there ought to be--as stipulated in the policy: an Annual Report in collaboration with the Ministry of Communication publishing "up-to-date industry information…" made available "for public review."

Protection for Whom?
In what would prove to be an unprecedented move last year, the Authority not only threatened ONETOUCH and MTN to stop selling re-charge cards, but that they should also improve the quality of their service, otherwise huge fines would be slapped on them. This was a historic feat of epic proportions it appeared, for even with the psychedelic MTN plane then-still-perched at the Tetteh-Quarshie interchange and MTN flags virtually drowning any Ghanaian ones, the Authority barked. At the eleventh hour, the Authority yielded, allowing both mobile providers get away with only an agreement to improve their services.

I don't know about you, but I don't call that consumer protection.

Giving customer service a new life?
Then there is the recent case of Gateway Broadcasting Services (GBS) that entered the country in October last year. I do not know of anyone--and I know three official establishments around my workplace use GBS--that has been able to get through to GBS customer service. Beyond one who had given out his mobile number to subscribers (regrettably, he is no longer working for the company), no-one else can be contacted when one's service is cut off -- either accidentally or not. When your payment has been made, the several landlines that have been given will forever put you through to a call centre operating outside Ghana in…Southern Africa, where, it stands to reason, there is a more clinical approach in dealing with you, given that the people are not in the country. As helpful and "nice" as they sound, nothing beats having Ghanaians help when I want my service re-connected , even if I have to have to lose my voice in doing so.

The anecdotes aside, such continuous practices remain an indictment of the NCA's work. As a regulator of the telecommunications industry, it behoves it to ensure standard regulation--as stipulated in the policy. To wit: "all public telecommunications operators shall be required to establish service level agreements with their customers, which identify the minimum quality of service standards to which customers are entitled, and the remedies and compensation available when service falls below such standards."

Concrete steps
The biggest step to ensuring regulation, in my humble opinion, would seem to be a clear and necessary *adoption* of the National Telecommunications Policy as a working document for all in the first place! Another issue is of toll-free numbers. The other day, the sixth biggest bank called to inform me that they now have a toll-free number that operate 24/7. If banks can do it, why not our MDAs? And certainly, why not NCA? Just a small query: I noticed the toll-free number works on the ONETOUCH network for now. In the event of government passing through any privatisation of GT by way of a totally-unnecessary emergency bill, will Vodafone not seek to make profit by disbanding the toll-free nature that GT has a great interest in maintaining?

Nigeria's NiTel to be Privatised…for Vodafone?
As if the attempt to privatize Ghana's national provider Ghana Telecom is insufficient, British-based Vodafone is ready to hit the Nigerian market with the acquisition of ECOWAS neighbour Nigeria's only landline provider. Rumours and accusations of the phone company being "beleaguered" and "inefficient" don't wash with me. They are code-words for any excuse to privatize. An article in Nigeria's *Punch" newspaper actually goes further arguing that: "…we can be certain about one thing: NITEL is currently bedeviled[sic] by multifaceted problems. These problems include malfunctioning lines, erratic billing system, poor customer satisfaction, infrastructural decay and a backlog of worker's salaries…" It seems to me that chance would be a fine thing were NiTel to escape privatization.

NiTel Privatisation Not New
As far back as May 2002, then-President Obasanjo was planning a divestiture of the state-run phone company. It had been scheduled for March of that year, but had to be postponed for September 2002. It is interesting to note that still at that time, 51% was what was being offered to the so-called strategic investors!

On a more serious note, whereas the incumbent Ghanaian administration has put forth 70% of GT to be privatized, even the horror stories associated with NiTel have warranted 50% to Vodafone. Why such discrepancy one wonders? Is it that Ghana Telecom has more of these calamities at its doorstep than NiTel? Let's examine them for a second. Last time I looked, GT was offering broadband4u (broadband4u.com.gh); dialup4u; ExZeed company which offers 24hour service to ONETOUCH subscribers, where MTN has not a 24-hr hotline, and Tigo's is non-existent (exists only as a number); a mobile provider since 2000 (albeit itself bedeviled with astronomical prices when it started, with sim cards then going for around GHC150!); Ghana Telecom University; EasyFone (which enables landlines to be set up more easily than ever before).

According to the reports I've been reading, M-Tel, NiTel's mobile operation that is a year younger than NiTel (having been established on October 2001), has only 176,000 subscribers. Compare that to MTN Nigeria that has 15,873,000 active lines. Switch to Ghana, and we find that where MTN Ghana is around 4 million subscribers, with ONETOUCH around 1.4m. That is subscribers over one million, yet Nigeria's is able to attract only a fraction. Despite this, it is being sold for 50%!

Is it me, or is there something odd about the whole rationale of the GT purchase?

Still always about politics?
Then I think, and think some more, and remember how early last year, South Africa's Standard Bank, operating under Stanbic Bank, was so keen to take over state-owned Agricultural Development Bank (ADB). One of its main motivations for the attempted sale (which incidentally, the government, according to financial papers two weeks ago have *de-prioritized*) was so that it could use the entry of Ghana as a gateway to penetrate the Nigerian market. A year ago today, Reuters reported that Standard Bank had bought a part of Nigeria's IBTC Chartered Bank Plc, which expertise is in investment banking with 55 branches across Nigeria. Standard Bank spokeswoman Kim Howard would say that "If you are going to have a pan African strategy, you have to include Nigeria."

Looks like this time, they decided to strike Nigeria after an attempted one here in Ghana. Whether they will succeed remains moot. Whatever will happen with the sale of GT, it has become crystal-clear that the stage has certainly been set for a new revolution before our very eyes.

Forget the Industrial Revolution. We are all sitting at the cusp of a revolution that implicates a sector so critical to our lives we could never have imagined. To think that a consortium of former MTN executives are bidding—so the telecoms newsletter Balancing Act reports – for NiTel is not just a reflection of the motivation of big people with big capital, but where the next wars might be fought. Forget your Cold War. Prepare yourself for the Telecoms Wars.

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Posted By Emmanuel.K.Bensah II to From Tunis...to WSIS at 7/24/2008 03:02:00 AM

MTN Ghana denies tax evasion charges

2008-07-23T03:46:00.001-07:00

from: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/telecoms/2008/0806271034.asp?A=AFN&S=All%20Africa%20News&O=FPLEAD

MTN Ghana denies tax evasion charges

BY DAMARIA SENNE , ITWEB SENIOR JOURNALIST

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Breaking it down

Fragmented regime

Corporate social responsibility

Damage control

[ Johannesburg, 27 June 2008 ] - MTN has denied it is evading its tax and social responsibilities in Ghana, stating it was the top taxpayer in Ghana in the past three consecutive years.

MTN paid a total of $172.1 million in taxes in 2007, with 2006 payments adding up to $127 million, and 2005 taxes coming to $103 million, says Mawuena Azo Dumor, MTN Ghana's corporate services executive.

The denial follows a statement by Solomon Abam Quaye, the district chief executive of the Awutu-Senya region. He alleged that telecoms companies operating in the districts were evading their tax and social responsibility obligations, which resulted in low revenue generation.

Quaye named MTN, Tigo, One Touch and Kasapa as those refusing to pay up.

Modern Ghana reports that Quaye's office "met with the companies to prevail upon them to pay their taxes, but to no avail; and that – apart from MTN, which has paid something small – the rest have refused to pay".

"He said letters and bills have been sent to the companies informing them about the need to pay their taxes to the assembly, but none had responded. Quaye called on the companies to pay up their taxes and that the assembly would have no option but to take legal action against them," the report says.

Breaking it down

Dumor says MTN Ghana's payments included withholding tax, value-added tax, pay-as-you-earn taxes and custom duties.

MTN's 2007 tax payments included $8 million in withholding tax, $43 million in value-added tax, $0.9 million of pay-as-you-earn taxes and $5.5 million in custom duties, she says.

These figures represent payments outside of property rates for telecommunications cell site roll-outs and other fees charged by local government assemblies as operating fees, Dumor adds.

"It is clear that the district chief executive [DCE] unfortunately is unclear about the difference between corporate taxes, local government property rate/operation fees and corporate social responsibility investments," she says.

Fragmented regime

Dumor concedes there have been challenges with standardising the tax payment regime in Ghana.

However, the industry is working closely with the regulators and the sector ministry to address those disparities, she says.

"Operators were recently informed at a meeting with the honourable minister for communication that a directive had been sent to the various local government assemblies that this standardisation process would be addressed within the next one month time frame."

In the interim, further payments were to be deferred, she adds. The deferred payments are probably the fees cited by the DCE, which he erroneously called "taxes" in the corporate sense, she says.

Corporate social responsibility

Dumor also contends that MTN has invested heavily in social responsibility initiatives in Ghana.

Scancom Ghana donated $20 million to the Ghana Water Company, and MTN provides educational scholarships to about 400 students, she says.

In addition, MTN has committed $600 million towards the refurbishment of the country's major referral centre for all maternal health cases, she points out.

Damage control

Dumor says the Ghanaian Ministry of Communications has noted the publication of the tax evasion allegations, and supports efforts to ensure the DCE is acquainted with the relevant distinctions.

The government also supports MTN's view that property rates and operating fees are separate from corporate taxes, as well as social responsibility, she says.

"MTN is making efforts to engage with the DCE to clarify his comments and the company is aware that other operators that were also mentioned in the article are doing the same."
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Fwd: Ghana Telecom Majority Sale to Vodafone: Potential Threat to National Security of Ghana

2008-07-10T09:44:00.001-07:00

from: http://www.myjoyonline.com/features/200807/18069.asp

<<Print>>

Ghana Telecom Majority Sale to Vodafone: Potential Threat to National Security of Ghana

The sale of majority shares of Ghana Telecom, GT, to Vodafone will have the potential to diminish the integrity of Ghana's sovereignty and threaten its national security.

Since taking over power of the state of Ghana in 2001, the New Patriotic Party, NPP, government led by President John Agyekum Kufuor, has not ceased playing political games with the telecommunications sector of the country. The expected sale of GT to the British-based Vodafone is ample testimony that the Kufuor administration is bent on handing over a strategic asset of our country to all-comers, within the circuit of neo-colonization and world imperialism.

When the British government offered recently to pay for the medical bills of pregnant women of Ghana I could not help myself to thinking that there was a string attached; there is no free lunch in the international system. It is commonplace knowledge that in the capitalist world economy nations have tended to pave the way for the profit interest of private corporations in their dealings with the foreign countries they expect to exploit. So, there you have it.

At the time of writing this article, both the government of Ghana which has the controlling authority over GT and Vodafone of Britain had announced versions of completion of negotiation for the latter to acquire 70% majority ownership of Ghana's leading telecommunications corporate agency of the state. A Reuters' news report released simultaneously in Ghana's capital city Accra and London on Thursday July 3, indicated that Vodafone Group had "paid $900 million (454million pounds) for a 70 percent stake in Ghana Telecom, the African country's third largest mobile phone operator," yahoo.com news carried the story.

According to the Reuters news story, the agreement signed between the government of Ghana and Vodafone in Accra "still requires approval of the country's parliament." In that regard, "Vodafone spokesman Simon Gordon said it was expected" that the parliamentary approval will be "given by the end of the third quarter of 2008."

When I broach the fear of threat to national security of Ghana in connection with the negotiated GT-Vodafone deal, I have in mind the infamous political episode that ended with swapping some citizens to the United States for the release of former President Jerry Rawlings' cousin Michael Soussoudis from American prison. The Soussoudis case remains a clear indication as to why and how the integrity of national security of a developing country like Ghana can be compromised easily by the infiltration of foreign intelligence agents for the collection of vital information. Did Ghana learn any useful lesson from the Soussoudis Spy Swap case?

Who knows what could happen to Ghana when foreigners are given unfettered access to the nerve center of the country's only significant telecommunications superhighway outfit in this day and age of advanced Information and Communications Technology, ICT.

Meanwhile, the leading opposition political party in the parliament of Ghana has issued a statement raising serious questions about the process and content of the reported deal signed between the Ghanaian government and Vodafone. The opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC, questions why the GT-Vodafone deal was for 70% acquisition instead of the advertised 66.77% shares.

In a press statement released July 3, the NDC parliamentary opposition expressed "disappointment at the general lack of openness and transparency in the privatization of the major National asset (GT), which has major National Security and Economic implication[s]." The statement indicated that several telecommunications companies from around the world, including "a local Ghanaian-led consortium," had expressed interest in GT in October 2006, "when the Government of Ghana begun a process of identifying a strategic investor to acquire between 55% and 65% of the equity of Ghana Telecom (GT) and to take over management of " it's operation. In that context, the NDC DOCUMENT
posted on Myjoyonline.com July 3, 2008, stated: "The minority wants to know why Government is exclusively negotiating with only Vodafone plc UK without consideration for other bidders who are likely to offer higher bids than Vodafone, and address the socio-economic needs of the country."

"In March 2008, overtures were made to Vodafone plc UK seeking an offer. Vodafone's offer as we were told from Government's own sources was $960 million with stringent caveats still far below the Minority expectations of $1.5 billion or more for the value of GT (subject to its own internal valuation and audits to be conducted during its due diligence process)," the NDC document stated.

In news reports regarding completion of negotiation with Vodafone, the Kufuor administration invokes rising expectation from the deal, suggesting higher level of efficiency and technical competence in Ghana's telecommunications industry. While the government's statement assures Ghanaians of benefits from the GT-Vodafone agreement, it seems to be silent on Vodafone's profit interest, as if Vodafone were a charitable organization.

Vodafone sees its principal benefits in the GT acquisition deal in terms of "Exposure to the attractive and growing Ghanaian telecommunications market," in a country with "total population of 24 million with more than 50% under the age of 25" and with "real GDP growth of 6.3% in 2007, contained inflation and a stable political background," according to a statement on Vodafone's website (http://www.Vodafone.com), accessed on July 4, 2008. The statement notes also that Ghana has a "low mobile penetration at c.35%, with 2.7 million subscribers added in 2007." More interestingly, Vodafone notes "significant additional growth prospects from recent oil field discoveries" in Ghana.

A fair question to ask is that given the positive indicators identified by Vodafone and the prospects for growth, what stops Ghanaians themselves from managing operations of GT in order to realize the benefits for the country, as opposed to giving away the hen that is expected to lay golden eggs, so to speak? In the possible answer to this question lies the issue of diminishing sovereignty of Ghana: Why can't Ghanaians do for themselves what others can do?

In addition to the positive indicators associated with GT mentioned above, Vodafone recognizes it is the third largest mobile telephone player in Ghana "with approximately 17% market share and 1.4 million customers as at 31 March 2008." In addition, GT is the "leading fixed line and broadband operator with c.99% of the total number of lines and c.90%market share of the retail ADSL market." Vodafone has noted also that GT had "revenue growth of 9.3% in the 12 months ended 31 December 2007 …." Again, it is fair for one to ask why would Ghana hand over majority controlling share in a corporate entity that has the market data indicated by Vodafone?

Of course, it is no wonder that Vodafone has recognized the "Substantial turnaround potential" of GT and expects "to invest US$500 million in its operations and network, restoring and expanding network coverage and completing and integrating the fiber backbone." However, the parliamentary opposition, NDC, has raised its ire with "the inclusion of the National Fiber Optic backbone constructed at the cost of $100 million with a loan from China, which has never been part of Ghana Telecom's (GT) assets," in the Vodafone transaction. "We demand to know why this [fiber optic] has been included as part of Ghana Telecom's assets as the second phase of this ICT infrastructure highway is yet to commence," NDC's press statement stressed.

The parliamentary opposition notes also that selection of Vodafone contravenes "A major requirement as was advertised by government for a strategic investor" with "significant fixed wire line operations experience." As it turns out, "Vodafone is the world's largest mobile telecommunications group …," according to the corporation's statement on its website. In this regard, Ghana's parliamentary opposition states, "The selection of a mobile only network operator (Vodafone) clearly flaunts the Government of Ghana's own non negotiable selection [criterion] that states the successful bidder must have significant experience operating Fixed Wire Line telecommunications network with (a minimum of 10 million lines/subscribers)."

In connection with the need for experience in fixed line operation, the parliamentary opposition NDC noted, that "This requirement cannot be met by Vodafone plc UK as it is a wireless mobile network operator and has no real fixed network operations record experience, no unbundled broadband internet experience. As such they may abandon fixed network operations in favor of highly profitable mobile wireless unit unless there are legal safeguards."

Active Ghanaians may recall that the GT-Vodafone deal is not the first time the Kufuor administration has promised the country one thing and delivered another in the telecommunications sector. In 2002, the Kufuor administration's Minister of Communications, Felix Owusu-Adjepong (MP, NPP-Akim Swedru) told Ghanaians he was inviting a strategic investor in GT and brought in Telenor Norway which turned out to be an expensive "management consultant." The Telenor deal took place after politically motivated ousting of Telekom Malaysia orchestrated by Owusu-Adjepong.

Unlike the other opposition political parties in Ghana such as the Convention People's Party, CPP and PNC that have chickened out of commenting on the GT-Vodafone deal, it is commendable that the NDC has mustered the courage to air its disagreements with portions of the agreement, even though it is not against the sale, per se. Yet, the NDC cannot be looked at as an angel regarding using the state-owned Ghana Telecommunications Ltd, GT, as a political cash cow.

Four months before Ghana's 2000 general elections, the NDC government, led by ex-President Jerry Rawlings, sold 15% more shares of GT to Telekom Malaysia for which the Asian multi-national paid $100 million in cold cash. (Ref. "Telekom Malaysia to Buy 15% More in Ghana Telecom for $100 Mln," at www.ghanaweb.com: Business News of Thursday, 17 August 2000. Source: Bloomberg L.P).

Since there was no public accounting of the $100 million paid by Telekom Malaysia, the perception that the NDC administration used that money for its electioneering campaign cannot be challenged. Hence, refusal of the NPP government to renew Telekom Malaysia's GT contract in 2001 could be considered truly as motivated by political consideration. Of course, this view is not intended to hold brief for Telekom Malaysia whose performance in Ghana left more to be desired.

It is interesting and disturbing also that with the arrival of Telenor Norway management consultant on the Ghanaian telecommunications scene, the Kufuor administration made high-flying pronouncements about potential benefits and raised expectations of Ghanaians similar to what it is doing with the GT-Vodafone deal.

In the process towards hiring Telenor, Felix Owusu-Adjepong promised Ghanaians 400,000 fixed line telephones in short order. Almost seven years to date, GT is short of the 400,000 fixed line telephones. In this regard, why must Ghanaians believe the Kufuor Administration's promise of high expectations from the GT-Vodafone deal?

Unlike the Telenor arrangement, Vodafone has protected itself with the provisions of United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Ghana will incur a hefty price if and when it decides to get out of the GT-Vodafone deal.

Given the degree and intensity of reportage of the GT-Vodafone deal globally, it is clear the whores and vultures of international big business are celebrating a good hunting day on the carcass that the NPP government of Ghana has delivered on a golden parachute.

The writer, Yaw Adu-Out, WOODBRIDGE, Virginia; is the author of "Ghana, In Search of Illusive Positive Change: A Review of the First Kufuor Administration" (Available Online)

Story from Myjoyonline.Com News:
http://www.myjoyonline.com/features/200807/18069.asp

Published: 7/9/2008

© Myjoyonline.com

Where did World Telecommunication Information Society Day go?

2008-06-10T03:17:00.001-07:00

Where did WTIS Day Go?

By E.K.Bensah II

So, Tigo won an award for telecommunications company of the year; ONETOUCH launched its mobile tv outfit—BLACKSTAR TV; MTN outdoored its MTN swap kit; and Kasapa was runner-up to the company of the year for the Ghana ICT Awards. Can someone tell me when the promoters of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day can stand up?

It was as if it never happened. That Saturday 17 May, I scanned both the local and foreign media to find out whether the day had been celebrated. On the Internet, it seemed like every country was celebrating it—and considering most UN members also belong to the UN's International Telecommunications Union(ITU), it would not have been strange if they were. Instead, I consistently drew a blank. Especially painful was the Ghanaian media, which provided scant coverage of it in the news. Beyond the odd newspaper report, none of our Saturday weeklies had anything about the day on the Saturday itself.

The following Monday, I decided to ask some of my ICT journalist colleagues who were also monitoring. They all drew a blank, bar one who said that Ghana Telecom had said something about it on their website.

I do not know what it is supposed to say about the country—anyone can make up their own mind—but I believe it is a serious indictment of a country that aspires to be the ICT hub of West Africa. With companies like BusyInternet (reputed to be the biggest Internet Cafe in Africa) in the country that have propelled Ghana towards the image of a Ghana that is ICT-savvy, the lack of celebration of WTIS day puts paid to interesting anecdotal evidence about an emerging silicon valley in Accra.

Furthermore, the lack of celebration of the day reflects a lackadaisical attitude to the symbolism of such special days. Although we might be apportioning unnecessary blame to the media, I believe they are the ones that ought to stand up and promote the day for us. After all, the tools that they use—from the mobile phone, radio, satellite and television—represent the quintessential ICT tools that have come to be part and parcel of the work they do. In the same way that a week earlier, the media was able to report to us about the necessity of freedom of the press, so it is incumbent that they remind society how they are able to effectively do the work they do

The Future

I can only say that we can do better next time—and I believe we can. We still have one year to prepare—even if it falls on a Sunday! I presume there will be another Ghana ICT Awards next year and possibly other ICT-related events in 2009. I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to policy-makers, industry-watchers, and any emerging bloggers out there to make some big noise about WTIS day next year.

First of all, It could be used as an opportunity to bring pressure to bear on our regulators, such as the National Communication Authority, to exercise greater vigilance on the mobile service providers in the country. Issuing threats without implementing them has never been a good way of regulating. Secondly, it could be a moment to evaluate the communication services tax (CST) or talk-time tax and establish whether it is yielding the desired outcomes it sought to do, and/or whether there needs to be a call for it repeal or not.

In short, there are many opportunities that a developing country like ours can maximise on special days that are celebrated globally to make changes that will benefit us all. Each year the information society becomes that more sophisticated and complex; the earlier we begin to recognise this and act accordingly, the better an information society it will be for us all!

http://twelvedaysintunis.blogspot.com / ekbensah@gmail.com / 020.7550845

MINUTES OF GHAJICT MEETING on 27 March, 2008 at Busy Internet, Ring Road (Belated)

2008-05-29T09:49:00.001-07:00

Many thanks, Nana Appiah!--EKB

MINUTES OF GHAJICT MEETING on 27 March, 2008 at

Busy Internet, Ring Road

Present:

n Nana Appiah, EXECUTIVE MEMBER

n E.K.Bensah, Ag. PRESIDENT

n Fred Sarpong, Ag.PRO

ISSUES

state of play:

GHAJICT Logo (costs, etc)
registration of ghajict
contacts pro has collected for launch

recommended action for launch
aob

GHAJICT Logo (costs, etc)

Emmanuel started off first by enquiring from the others whether Veronica has been able to get things going with the Association logo and letterheads. Comments had been made a few months back on the GHAJICT list-serv, but nothing had ensued. It was agreed it was important to pick up.
since time is of the essence, Vero should try as much as possible to maintain regular contact with members on what efforts she has made on the logo.
Emmanuel said he would hook up with Vero to see how best the logo can be done—and how quickly.

registration of ghajict

Members need to act in order to make the Association a legitimate one
Emily Aggrey is in charge of ensuring that members pay their dues promptly so that Association can go ahead and be registered
Emily needs to provide feedback on what has happened with the registration, as well as necessary future steps

contacts pro has collected for launch

contacts are ready

2. recommended action for launch

a. Delegation of roles to each member towards the setting up of the Association

b. encouraging GHAJICTers to register with Facebook.com to enhance activities of GHAJICT

c. deadline date for all payment dues was set for 1^st week of May

AOB--RECOMMENDATIONS

GHAJICT preparation towards World Telecom and IS Day on 17^th MAY, 2008
Nana Appiah was charged to register GHAJICT with ECOBANK. ECOBANK needs the Association registered before it can accept the application
Nanna Appiah was appointed as secretary as Listowell Fordjour is studying

ENDs

Fwd: UN'S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BODY TO FOCUS ON FOUR MAJOR CONCERNS

2008-05-19T05:05:00.001-07:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 2008/5/18
Subject: UN'S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BODY TO FOCUS ON FOUR MAJOR CONCERNS
To: news2@secint00.un.org

UN'S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BODY TO FOCUS ON FOUR MAJOR CONCERNS
New York, May 18 2008 6:00PM
A leading United Nations body working to spread the benefits of information technology should concentrate on the four areas that most concern people around the world, the chair of that body said today.

Craig Barrett, Chair of the UN Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Development, told the third annual meeting of the Global Alliance in Kuala Lumpur that people were most interested about: getting software and hardware, connectivity, local content and ICT education.

The Global Alliance "should concentrate on programmes that focus on access," such as public-private partnerships, community centres and ICT for schools, said Mr. Barrett, who is also the Chairman of Intel.

It should concentrate "on the fundamentals of getting connectivity; on local content, which can create huge local economic possibilities; and on educating people on using the technology -- and there are marvellous new education programmes out there that are reaching millions of teachers."

The top UN official for economic and social affairs also called for a more focused scope. "The Global Alliance is at a turning point," said Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang, whose department hosts the Alliance.

"It has the brand -- it is a big name now. It has the recognition, the platform and the networks," he told some 150 participants of the Alliance's Strategic Council. "It has launched initiatives and partnerships that are already yielding initial results. It is now important to better focus the work of the Alliance on fewer activities of strong impact."

Maximus Ongkili, Malaysia's Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation and co-chair of the meeting, said his country and the Global Alliance had a similar approach on the issue: both were involving all interested parties, mobilizing global partnerships, stressing the importance of human capital and emphasizing knowledge-sharing.

"ICT is gaining importance in addressing climate change and the food crisis," said International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré, a member of the 17-person Alliance Steering Committee. "On these issues, ICT is part of the solution, not part of the problem," he said.

The Alliance, which was launched in Kuala Lumpur in June 2006, had already achieved results, Mr. Barrett said, such as "improvements in education, health care and the ability of governments to communicate with their citizens." A health-care project supported by the Alliance had won an award for the best application of ICT in India, he noted.

Global Alliance Executive Coordinator Sarbuland Khan said that in the past year the body had organized or co-organized some 15 events involving over 6,000 participants, including the first-ever meeting bringing together the private sector and the UN on the issue of climate change.

Created by the UN Secretary-General in 2006, the Global Alliance seeks to mobilize the human, financial and technical resources required to bridge major gaps in ICT infrastructure, services and applications across the world. Its main areas of focus are education, health, economic development and online government services. The Alliance is self-funded, and has been able to raise close to $1 million per year from governments, corporations, foundations and other sources.

2008-05-18 00:00:00.000

________________

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

To change your profile or unsubscribe go to:
http://www.un.org/news/dh/latest/subscribe.shtml

AGENDA for 27 March mtg @ Busy Internet

2008-03-27T09:41:00.001-07:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: E.K. Bensah II <webjournalist@twnafrica.org>
Date: 14 févr. 2008 13:06
Subject: AGENDA for 22 Feb mtg @ Busy Internet
To: GHAJICT EXECUTIVE <ghajict-executive@yahoogroups.com>

1. STATE OF PLAY OF:

a. GHAJICT logo (costs, etc)

b. Registration

c. Contacts Fred Sarpong (PRO) has collected for launch

2. Recommended action for launch

3. Exposure of PenplusBytes Conference on Web 2.0 for GHAJICT / how GHAJICT can capitalise on it

4. AOB

Hope to see you all at Busyinternet by 6.30pm on 27/3/08

ARTICLE: "No country for Microsoft's Men"

2008-03-11T08:52:00.001-07:00

No Country for Microsoft's Men

By E.K.Bensah II

There is a stalker loose on the online world. It is going round killing competition and perpetuating monopolies through dirty tactics of vote-rigging. It has a remarkable ability to pay lip-service to development of any standards, whilst consistently reluctant in sharing what it knows. Last week, it became the victim of yet-another fine from no less than the Brussels-based European Commission.

It's Microsoft again.

Last week, the EU fined the software giant a record 899 million euros ($1.35billion) for using high prices to offset software competition. This fine, the latest sanction in the long-running battle, brings to €1.68bn the total sum that the executive wing of the EU has brought to bear on the software giant. And it is not without good reason: Microsoft has – for four years since the fine was slapped on it for abusing its 95 percent dominance of PC operating systems through Windows—defied the EU by failing to pay.

EC Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes maintains in a statement that "Microsoft was the first company in 50 years of EU competition policy that the Commission has had to fine for failure to comply with an anti-trust decision." She adds: "talk is cheap; flouting the rules is expensive."

While observers and insiders alike may feel this is nothing more than the European Commission punishing Microsoft for being the market leader, there is a phalanx of committed people emerging from that ever-nebulous online world who argue to the contrary—that though the fine might have been steep, it sure as serves Microsoft right.

Delusions

Microsoft may be unpopular, but it's got a certain hold over us. None of us is deluded into thinking that the ability to use Microsoft packages does not make life easier for us. Or is it merely because we have been so used to it? The Free and Open Source Foundation would beg to differ. It, along with many in the open source software community, already have a bone to pick with Microsoft on account of the manner in which it is less than forthcoming on disclosing the codes it uses for its software.

Already, as Reuters reports, rival makers of work group servers, which operate printers and sign-ons for small office groups, have seen their markets diminish considerably because Microsoft stopped providing information they would have needed to hook up to Windows office machines.

This below-the-belt practice has only gone to consolidate the image of an insensitive giant that needs it wings clipped.

It will be re-called that the 2004 case for which non-compliance has landed Microsoft this heavy fine stems from the fact that Microsoft had been tying its Windows Media Player to the then-version of Windows it was using. Norway-based Opera, also another popular browser, complained to the EC that Microsoft had done the same thing with Internet Explorer.

Actions, not Words

As Microsoft has painfully realised, reneging on a four-year decision by claiming you will pay is not just setting a bad example for a company of its stature, but it's also terribly expensive. As to whether it will get about paying as quickly as possible is moot. Either way, the above-case has shown that there is something visceral in the company that chooses to do things that make it unpopular. Many people can only deduce this to be manifestations of an unprecedented rapaciousness. They would not be far off the mark.

At the time of writing, there is a closed-door meeting hosted by the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) in Geneva, where the said-organisation was supposed to assist ISO members address serious concerns that prevented them from approving Microsoft's Office OpenXML (OOXML) document format (compatible with Microsoft Office 2003, 2007 and XP file formats) as a standard approved by ISO last September.

The genesis of it all is that there already exists a format—the one document format (ODF), which has been approved by ISO. Now this approval is important, because an increasing number of national governments and public authorities worldwide are committing to use only ISO-standard-approved products—which ODF is. Failure for Microsoft to ratify its version of OpenXML would mean that many would wave bye-bye to Microsoft's products, opting naturally for the standard. This would translate into falling profits—something completely anathema to a big-business venture like Microsoft.

So if that meant that Microsoft would use unorthodox measures—such as in August 2007, when a good 25 local partners that had not participated in discussions over OOXML paid their admission fee and gave OOXML a resounding corresponding number of votes -- all after Microsoft bussed them to a meeting in Sweden over the ratification of OOXML—it would do so!

Despite all this, in September 2007, ISO would fail to approve OOXML as an ISO-standard—much to the delight and glee of Google which promptly praised the move, saying: "our engineers conducted an independent analysis of the OOXML specification and found several areas of concern, which we communicated both to the ISO and to the public." It ended: "technical standards should be arrived at transparently, openly, and based on technical merit." Google has good reason to explain this development away, for it maintains that there is an already-"high degree of interoperability" and "wide support" for the ODF format, which is already operating in Gmail's Google Docs.

Investigations

In February this year, Microsoft was, yet again, found wanting by the European Commission over the issue of OOXML. The anti-trust arm of the Commission has already begun formal probes against the company. In the first case, the EC said it was investigating a complaint filed by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) alleging how Redmond, Microsoft's headquarters in Oregon, had refused to divulge information about interoperability on a gamut of Microsoft's products. Furthermore, the EC said that it would be scrutinising the OpenOXML on the basis that it fails to work with competitors. They say bad things happen in threes—and this drama is no exception for the third and final probe resides on the EC investigating the role of the software giant in this ISO debate.

After Geneva

When all is said and done in Geneva, what will matter will be the voting. After the meeting, attending national delegations – as well as fifty others that took part in the vote last year—will have until 29 March to shift their positions, so that the Redmond-based giant might get a look-in towards a two-thirds majority. You can imagine that Google has clamped down hard against any approval—along with the open source community.

In the long run, whatever happens in Geneva will matter a great deal to the rest of us consumers, because it will underscore the need to practice the "eternal vigilance" Osagyefo Dr.Kwame Nkrumah talked about in all our dealings. It is frankly ironic that in the so-called information society that we are purported to live in, issues like these assume a Byzantian feel, being further reduced to issues worthy for geeks. For example, had it not been for interested parties who passed much of this information to me, I would have been none the wiser.

There will be blood

On more substantive issues, as to whether Microsoft will naturally fall from grace or be proverbially pushed over the edge by steep fines from the European Commission remains to be seen. Ultimately, the impact of these developments would depend on how we, as consumers, here in Ghana and beyond, respond.

Opera, for example, from this month will start using Google as its default search engine on its ever-popular opera browser for mobile. The release on its website of 27 February reads: "Google has been the default search option on Opera's desktop browser for seven years. This new mobile collaboration covers all global territories except Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and includes all of Opera's standard mobile Web browsers". What is perhaps implicit in the news is the fact that despite the erstwhile collaboration on the desktop browser, Opera is choosing to link to Google in response to the Microsoft-Yahoo saga a few weeks ago. By cementing its stance vis-à-vis Microsoft, the yawning gap between itself and the software giant will be clearer.

As for the rest of us, the atavistic tendency of Ghanaians to accept all that comes from the West as the best will present challenges on combating the growing menace that is Microsoft. As long as there exists no real online regulator of the virtual world—save the increasing presence of the EC—it is clear there will be battles… and blood. It probably behooves us to become passive resistors, by boycotting Microsoft goods, where necessary.

They say you don't kick a dog when it's down. The proverb scribes probably forgot to add "even if it is a multi-billion-dollar one". What is crystal-clear in what appears to be cries of blue murder against Microsoft is this: as long as the European Commission is here to stay and as long as virtual expansionist appetites continue to know no bounds – whether it finds expression in a Microsoft-Yahoo hostile merger, or Microsoft's strategy to extend market dominance through the use of Vista—reputed to be riddled with more holes than a Swiss cheese; or vote-rigging in Geneva to have its Microsoft Office standard passed at an international body—we are quickly and surely being reminded that the online terrain will be no country for Microsoft's greedy men.

ENDs.

ARTICLE: (Pod)Casting Aspersions on Ghana's Media

2008-03-03T02:11:00.000-08:00

(Pod)Casting Aspersions on Ghana's Media

By E.K.Bensah II

Quite a number of Ghanaian media outlets—both print and otherwise—own websites. Rare is the website that provides the possibility of downloading digitally-recorded material. In the Ghanaian case, it is downright non-existent. I am not quite sure whether it is a technical lacuna within these organisations, or that the Ghanaian media feel there is nothing qualitative from, say, their radio stations for download. For whatever mysterious reason, the state of the Ghanaian media insofar as facilitation of ICT tools and applications, such as podcasts, remain downright execrable.

Each time I listen to the BBC, which I know many Ghanaian journalists are wont to listen to, I am both quizzed and mad. I feel quizzed because I cannot for the life of me understand why despite the fact that some journalists enjoy the privilege of being sent out of the country to consolidate their journalism skills, their training fails to translate into dexterity and/or an appreciation for the current ICT tools. I am mad because a number of these tools that are part and parcel of what is considered the "New Media" are free! If any of us are able to become, say, a blogger overnight, you can imagine how a journalist – writing in his capacity as a private person – can maximise the use of blogs. If that journalist works for a radio station, you can imagine how much he/she can benefit from the use of podcasts by the radio or television station.

Pleasure of podcasts

Put simply, podcasts are recorded digital media files – usually audio – that can be downloaded onto any device, including mobile phones. It is exclusively distributed over the Internet, often using syndication feeds, for playback on portable media players and personal computers. The term is what online encyclopaedia Wikipedia calls a 'portmanteau' term of "i-pod" and, it is assumed, "broadcast". The Apple I-pod is the brand of portable device for which "scripts" were developed. In turn, these scripts enabled podcasts to be automatically transferred to a mobile device after they were downloaded.

Listen to the BBC World Service and within each hour, you are bound to hear remonstrations by both the station's presenters and continuity alike to visit the world broadcaster's podcast page, so that you can enjoy and re-visit the rich experience that the World Service offers. It has been advertised so many times you might get the impression that these podcasts are for sale. In fact, they are absolutely free, and can range from a minimum of 5 minutes to more than 60 minutes.

Not just for radio

It would be erroneous to believe, on the strength of the BBC, that only radio can offer podcasts. The truth of the matter is that if you look closely to how the quality Western media is doing it, even newspapers are doing it. Far be it for me to plug London's Guardian newspaper, but you cannot avoid it, especially when it's been, for a long time, dubbed the best online newspaper. The website has a podcast page, where you can obtain audio downloads on Money; Culture; US elections; Travel; Environment, etc. You name it; the site has a podcast for it—even if it's only three minutes long. In my view, this is innovation at its best: taking the print platform and revolutionising it to the extent that it becomes real—without being too in your face. Surely the Ghanaian media is capable of this as well?

When UEFA-licensed coach Nana Agyeman suggested on a private radio station (with a "refreshing lifestyle") three weeks ago that sports journalists were generally uneducated in the journalism profession, he incurred the wrath of many. The truth of the matter is that journalism has ironically had bad press for so long –- what with solidarity money, or sole, to write stories; bad pay, and whatnot –- that when journalists are not seen to make the rest of Ghanaian's lives easier by making it pleasurable to read, watch, and listen to practitioners of their profession, they will only go to reinforce an image of their profession that is far from positive.

Let's face it: podcasts are not only supposed to educate us; they are supposed to make our lives easier. Issues with internet connectivity notwithstanding, last time I looked, most internet cafes enabled you download from the 'Net and even from and unto your storage devices. Even without a connection at work or in your home, if you knew you could re-listen to your popular breakfast, or lunchtime show, by way of a podcast, I could imagine you would end up feeling both sated and dedicated to your station of choice—knowing they not only care about the kind of programmes they produce, but want you to be further interested in giving you the opportunity to listen again. To boot, your productivity would inevitably be boosted knowing you would not make too much effort to listen to a programme on the hour, especially when you can catch it again—albeit without contributions by text and email you might want to make.

Future for Media can be Podcasting

Truth be told, the tectonic shifts in technology and the media is spawning not just a whole slew of terminology that was alien to us a decade ago, but a whole phalanx of media practitioners that are forced to become media warriors—armed with new ideas and new skills on top of the traditional ones they know. Despite the fact that organisations like the Ghanaian-based PenPlusBytes—Ghana's only Institute of ICT Journalism—has regularly offered training to Ghanaian journalists, the commitment by these journalists has been this side short of poor. I do not believe for one moment that aspersions should merely be cast on the individuals, for opportunities, in theory, ought to be made by the management of these media institutions. If that is failing, that it can only be incumbent on these media-warriors to grab up their skills and interest and teach themselves within the information society.

From my experience, the saturation of information is such that there are little excuses these days to be technologically-illiterate, especially when you are a practitioner of the proverbial Fourth Estate. Journalism, surely, ought to not simply be about re-hashing press releases, and waxing incessantly about issues that are bound to polarize us, but ought, in my view, to be about formatting, or packaging, the information within society by using the information society to inform society in the traditional gate-keeper fashion. Let's be clear: podcasting alone will not do this, but undoubtedly, it can revolutionise the media and, by extension, society into keeping in tune with what the twenty-first century has to offer.

ENDs.

Microsoft fights to have its programme (Office Document) standardised!

2008-02-29T05:22:00.000-08:00

from: http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSL2555696320080225

UPDATE 1-Microsoft gets another shot at Open XML standard

Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:02am EST

(Adds details, analyst quotes paragraphs 9-12)

By Laura MacInnis

GENEVA, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) ramped up its fight to have its Office Open XML document format made into an international standard on Monday as delegates from 37 countries met to reconsider the proposal.

Their meeting hosted by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in Geneva is meant to help broker consensus after a preliminary vote on the standard failed six months ago.

There will be no ballot during the week-long talks, but the 87 national standards bodies who previously voted will have until March 29 to adjust their positions, giving the world's largest software maker another shot at the two-thirds majority it needs for approval.

"The ISO/IEC members who voted on the draft in September will have 30 days to change their votes if they wish," said Roger Frost, a spokesman for the Geneva-based agency.

Microsoft won only 53 percent support in September.

Standardisation of Open XML, which is the default file-saving format in Microsoft Office 2007, would allow other companies to build products using the file format and simplify file exchange between different software suites.

Opponents of the proposed ISO/IEC standard DIS 29500 argue there is no need for a rival to the widely used Open Document Format (ODF) that is already an international standard.

They say that the Microsoft product's 6,000 pages of code, compared with ODF's 860 pages, make it artificially complicated and untranslatable. The productivity software suite OpenOffice uses ODF, which is supported by International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research). (IBM) and Sun Microsystems Inc. (JAVA.O: Quote, Profile, Research).

"Microsoft could easily provide full support for ODF," said Rishab Ghosh, senior researcher at the United Nations University in Maastricht.

Ghosh said Microsoft's drive for a competing standard was part of its broader strategy to encourage consumers to use only Microsoft products, as has been alleged in anti-trust cases in Europe and elsewhere.

"Because their software is used by so many people, you don't switch to anyone else's software because you are worried that your files are going to be lost," he told Reuters by telephone.

"If you can save by default in ODF using a Microsoft product, that means your documents will be easily readable by users of a competing software. And when your documents are easily readable by others, maybe you can consider switching to a different software," he said.

Microsoft says multiple standards are normal in software and other industries, that competition makes for better products, and that its format has higher specifications and is more useful than ODF.

The company has collaborated with Novell (NOVL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) to develop a tool to translate Open XML documents into ODF and vice versa, though critics believe the tool cannot provide a complete translation due to the complexity of the Microsoft product.

XML, short for Extensible Markup Language, is a standard for describing data in a way that allows it to be shared across various systems and applications. Microsoft has handed over control of Open XML to the standards-making body Ecma, which would make it available even in the event of its demise.

Delegates submitted about 4,200 suggested modifications to the Microsoft documents in the lead-up to last year's ballot. Those have been whittled down to 1,100 comments for consideration during this week's meeting, the ISO said. (Editing by Jonathan Lynn and Jason Neely)

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world

I Facebook, Therefore I Am (comments much appreciated!)

2008-02-26T06:26:00.001-08:00

I Facebook, Therefore I Am

By E.K.Bensah II

There are many happy people swimming in the information society here in Ghana who are totally oblivious to the phenomenon that is Facebook. There are many satisfied with doing the occasional searches in Google; checking their electronic mail, and surfing the Internet on anything and everything. That you can go to any internet café around town that has a working connection and access such-things might not only underscore the 24/7 access that we so (unwittingly) crave and want, but remind us that the virtual world can serve as a substitute for what many call the "global village."

Whatever you might think about this village, if ever we wanted to de-bunk the platitude of living in one, the mere muttering of "Facebook" would disgrace us.

Facebook is a social networking site that has become a phenomenon almost overnight. I say "almost", because though it was set up in February 2004, it would be 2005, and only in 2007 before many people I know using Facebook would be heightened to the sensitivity of what the service offers, and add me as "a friend" to join the network. That the term "social networking" existed before Facebook suggests that they were not the pioneers of the service.

In fact, it would be MySpace—now owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch's New Times Corporation -- that would be launched in 1999 to blaze the trail for what we have now come to know as social networking sites. Suffice-to-say, however, Facebook has blazed the trail in terms of user-friendliness and easy registration. Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia reports that there are 64 million active users.

An Unearthly Experience

If we forget about the numbers for a second and think about the experience it offers, it is fair to say that there are no surprises why Facebook is as successful as it is. For a service that was started by Harvard students, and meant to be US-centric, it has risen so exponentially it's no longer funny—to become a keen competitor to MySpace that started it all before Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg came down from Harvard to rain on MySpace's parade.

I first started using it around June 2007, because I was invited by "friends", who turned out to be classmates from secondary school. It has taken a while for those from primary school to begin getting in touch. I can tell you that the speed with which I added "friends"—both classmates and otherwise was truly an unearthly experience, for being able to read their profile and find out what they were up to did really feel like you were in some "global village".

One cannot under-estimate the voyeuristic power of being privy to the lives of people you went to school with several years ago. That you can follow their marriages and the trials and tribulations of their lives all make for an experience that you can only put down to as being one of the benefits of being connected 24/7. Especially so, when one day, you wake up to see that you can even edit your Facebook profile by way of your mobile phone!

Priviledged glimpses

It meant that you could let those checking your profile (which is difficult, in fact to tell, unless they write on your "wall") know what you were doing hour-by-hour or minute-by-minute if you wanted. For a nano-second, you felt that the world was, as F.Scott Fitzgerald's character Nick Carroway describes the "Great Gatsby" in the eponymous novel, "at a uniform attention forever." Uniform because everyone was speaking Facebook – a language those connected could understand. It didn't require manuals or constant emailing to the manufacturers; everything was self-evident. The fact that any change on your profile meant that Facebook would send you an email was telling, because it meant that you could go about your business and still follow up on who was sending you a message.

These priviledged glimpses into the life of one's friends has elicited short-winded elations only the information society can produce. More seriously, it has given vent to what many feel is a significant loss of time. Small wonder, therefore, that a 23-yr-old Catholic student has given it up for Lent. The Independent Catholic News reports that Ellie Harrison sometimes logs onto the site even before she has breakfast! Determined to go on a "Facebook Fast", the MA Russian studies student has publicly declared what a lot of Facebook users would probably be in denial over—their addiction to the site.

Facebook Groupies

In another kind of digital exuberance, which can only go to underscore the time-loss associated with the site, I started joining all kind of Facebook groups—just because I could. The Facebook neophyte that I was in June 2007 believed that it was important to join and continuously connect with others. Still, I was also a key part of some of the groups: one particular Ghanaian Facebooker created a group to Stop the Sale of the Agricultural Development Bank; I joined, but realised I was unable to participate as much as I had wanted to, resigning myself to merely forwarding useful articles on the proposed sale to the group.

Then one day, it all changed.

Work got seriously intense for a couple of weeks, and by the time I actually logged into my profile, I was more-than-inundated by friends sending me "free drinks"; throwing virtual sheep at me; tickling me artificially; smiling at me virtually and whatnot that I opted for a break. My secret, though, was not to tell anyone. In between the messages and the sheep came a degree of self-regulation. At the time of writing, I have some 50-odd requests to join something or other I have not yet honoured, and a friend has just invited me to an event across the other side of the world I cannot possibly participate!

Facebook Fantasies, Digital Elations

We all are cognisant of the pitfalls inherent in a 24/7 information society, yet because we cannot escape it, we strike a fine balance—for that is as much as you can do. It's when you read about a Facebooker mobilising Colombians to stage a mass demonstration for revolutionary Marxist army forces using Facebook that you begin to wonder about the possibilities these social networking sites truly can offer. Or the fact that pedagogical/academic debates are being started around the privacy – or lack thereof – of Facebook and its ability to offer comprehensive deleting of data, and what that means for innovation and ideas on the internet that you think that Facebook could be onto something big.

And something big it has been onto for a while. Its dalliance with Microsoft has been no secret. In October 2007, Microsoft invested a vertiginous $240million in Facebook. Microsoft has been instrumental in providing significant revenue for Facebook's advertising, just because it has been selling the Facebook's internet ads. The most important development through this dalliance is that Microsoft has been able to acquire a 1.6 per cent stake of the popular social networking site, now valued at $15bn.

Even though the Microsoft-Yahoo! saga might have bitten the dust after two weeks, possibilities are real for mergers, especially because of keen competition offered by MySpace, which, in my view, is to Facebook what Yahoo! is to Google.

The Future is Facebook

The online terrain is well and truly ripe for adventure – and you can bet your bottom dollar that Facebook is going to be in the thick of it. Last two weeks, it launched a Spanish version of its site, prompting reminisces of Yahoo!'s multilingual platform. The significance ought not be under-estimated, because one can very well imagine that with Facebook in the working six languages of the UN some day, we will not just be speaking its language, we will well and truly be thinking it.

ENDs

Bank of Ghana, Cedi Re-Denomination Wins UN Award

2008-02-20T08:21:00.001-08:00

from: http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200802200696.html

Bank of Ghana, Cedi Re-Denomination Wins UN Award

Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra)

NEWS
20 February 2008
Posted to the web 20 February 2008

By Stephen Odoi-Larbi

The Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Cedi Re-denomination websites have jointly won the 2007 World Summit Awards Special Mention from the Continent of Africa for the best in e-content and creativity in the e-Government category. This is the first time that Ghana has participated in the competition since the WSA started in 2003 as an initiative from Austria in the framework of the United Nations' World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

Following a selection of winners, an international conference was organized in Venice, Italy during which the winners from all over the world presented their awarded projects and shared their visions on the topic of "ICT & Creativity". At the 2007 conference, Mr. Derrick-Hope Gidzi, Chief Executive Officer and George Kofi Hagan, Chief Technology Officer of Con-Imedia, designers of the Bank of Ghana and Ghana Cedi Re-denomination websites, received the award for WSA Special Mention for the best in e-government in Africa and made a presentation on the Bank of Ghana/Ghana Cedi Re-denomination websites. Dignitaries present were delighted and full of praise for the outstanding technologies implemented, which has helped to empower government, citizens and the financial sector with the tools needed to access and capture information for everyday use.

The World Summit Awards (WSA) is the world's premier contest for excellence in e-content and creativity. They honour producers of interactive multimedia and innovative ICT applications and are the only awards supported by a Public Private Partnership between professional organisations, industry, governments and UN organisations.

The winners were selected following an evaluation by the World Summit Award Grand Jury 2007, which consisted of eminent multimedia and e-Content experts from 32 countries. A total of 24,000 products were presented for consideration. The Jury evaluated 650 entries which were nominated from 160 UN countries to the Global WSA. The Jury selected the five most outstanding products in each of the eight WSA Categories as winners.

The categories for the awards are: e-Culture e-Government e-Health e-Learning e-Business e-Entertainment e-Science e-Inclusion

WSA identifies high-quality e-Content products and promotes the most outstanding achievements worldwide in collaboration with the UN Secretary-General's Global Alliance for ICT and Development, UNESCO and UNIDO. It is a global not-for-profit activity governed by a Board of world-leading multimedia experts and supported by an office at the International Center for New Media in Salzburg, Austria.

"The contest increases the market awareness for excellence in e-Content, ingenious ideas and novel solutions, thus assisting in the market-making of high-quality multimedia products. And for some producers of excellence it is the breakthrough they needed to make it both locally and internationally" says Professor Peter A. Bruck, Chairman of the WSA Board of Directors.

The participation of the Bank of Ghana/Ghana Cedi Re-denomination websites in the competition was initiated by Ms. Dorothy Gordon, the Director-General of the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, who is an Eminent Expert for the WSA for Ghana and the African Spokesperson for the WSA, following a national contest in which the Bank of Ghana/Ghana Cedi Websites was adjudged the national best in e-government and creativity.

It would be recalled that the Bank of Ghana developed a website on the re-denomination exercise which was launched in April 2007. The Cedi Re-denomination website, which had a link from a re-designed Bank of Ghana website, had the various features including currency converters for converting the cedi to the Ghana Cedi and vice versa and also converting the cedi or Ghana Cedi to foreign currencies and vice versa. Another feature that was very widely patronized by the general public was the text messaging system on Areeba (now MTN), One Touch and Tigo which enabled the public to request for conversions.

The Bank of Ghana website was re-designed for better interactivity and accessibility by the general public.

The Information Society and Threats Thereof

2007-12-04T01:09:00.001-08:00

The Information Society and Threats Thereof

By E.K.Bensah II

To the Guardian newspaper, it is "Discgate". To the rest of us, it is the loss of data of 25 million people—which included the name and date of every child; along with parent's national insurance numbers and bank details— by the UK's HM Revenue early last week, which is a serious wake-up call to aficionados of the information society who have come to believe that moving to an increasingly IT-related world is the way forward.

That the data was not encrypted and that a junior clerk is alleged to have botched his work brings into sharp relief two things: the need to fine-tune measures to protect important data, and a sensitisation of staff working with IT to the pitfalls inherent in the information society. Let's face it, sacking the clerk was to be expected, but it certainly does not bring back that data of 25 million people! What it does do, in my view, is remind us about the potential perils and pitfalls inherent in an information society.

The so-called Information Society, understandably, may represent yet another nebulous concept coined by the perceived behemoth of the UN. What it is, in effect, in my view, is a global society, where ICT tools--not just computers, but mobile phones; radios and whatnot –- serve as critical roles in our "development" --irrespective of where you may be.

This means, for example, that it is a society where mobile internet is a reality; where there is an always-on internet (broadband); where it is not just accessible, but relatively affordable for all; where Internet cafes are within the environs of major cities, hang-outs, and even the country-side, where life is that much quieter; and where blogging facilitates an openness unparalleled in the facilitation of the work of the fourth estate.

Given that Ghanaians are wont to over-do things, I believe in the same manner should Ghanaians pause to reflect over their role and responsibility in an ever-evolving information society.

Whether we like it or not, the information society is here to stay –and that necessarily is not a bad thing. It means that our access to information is increased and, better still, that access is to a plethora of information. To the degree that it makes or mars us is what we must grapple with, for the rapid explosion of mobile phones – both in urban and rural areas – while a positive development, calls for important safeguards of our privacy.

Already, we have become accustomed to going everywhere with a mobile phone—when we don't take it, most of us feel something is missing—and as we increasingly move towards a more sophisticated information society, where WAP-enabled mobile phones, PDAs, and smartphones become cheaper—and the norm, it behooves us to further pause and question not just the impact of such changes on our lives, work, and families, but how exposed it leaves us to attack by miscreants who can—and will—exploit our 24/7 access to our phones.

Without adequate regulation, we will see an information society running amuck, and where with our already-jammed and over-subscribed phone networks, personal information we input over our wap-enabled phones to access the Internet becomes cross-linked with other user's data.

A few months ago, I accessed my Yahoo mail through my mobile phone, only to see someone else's username, password, and email. I refreshed the page, but the person's username and password was all I saw. Rather naively, I selected "sign in", knowing that no-one else had been using my mobile –let alone access my Yahoo account online. In I went—to see that person's emails. I had to reset my phone before I was able to access my own account again. I failed to report it to my provider, believing it to be a one-off thing. What if it wasn't?

This, in my view, calls into question a need for, say, wap-enabled firewalls to prevent any personal data on our mobile phone getting out there. That one can even write a text message, and send it as an email, not only reflects how mobile phones have enhanced our convenience, but how we ought to be more responsible in how we comport ourselves online. We must all by now be familiar with the 419 emails, yet time and again, we hear stories of people having fallen foul of it. It's all about their choice and their responsibility—or lack thereof.

Mind your data

An attempt at a rules-based information society is one of the reasons why the first-ever Internet Governance Forum took place in Greece from 30 October to 2 November 2006. It might have gone unreported in mainstream media, but it certainly was an impactful event in the sense that it set the tone for how the information society could begin to be crafted and regulated.
In the UK, they have gone one concrete step further.

Recent data from the UK's data privacy watchdog – the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) – indicates that 4.5 million web users aged between 14 and 21 years of age are cavalier in the way they give up information on the Internet, especially when visiting social networking sites, such as the very-popular Facebook, or Rupert Murdoch-owned MySpace.

Even search engines, such as Google, are receiving complaints that information associated with web searches made under an individual's name brings up expressions that these individuals made in their youth but, which could be detrimental to their career. To this end, the ICO has recently issued new guidance for young people using the Internet that they have made available on a website: http://www.ico.gov.uk/youngpeople.

Furthermore, in the light of the monumental blunder at HM Revenue and Customs, the British government has agreed to conduct what it calls "data security spot checks" across government departments, which is to be spearheaded by the Information Commissioner's Office; furthermore, data breaches of the magnitude of this loss will be made a criminal offence.

According to silicom.com, a UK-based site on IT that informs the business world on enhancing its work through technology, the Information Commissioner Richard Thomas who welcomed these new powers said in a statement that by making this data breach a criminal offence, it would "serve as a strong deterrent and would send a very strong signal that it is completely unacceptable to be cavalier with people's information."

Much closer to home, from West African Examination Council (WAEC) results to National Service placements online, Ghanaian data is already computerized and automatically made part of the information society, with attendant qualms over what happens with the data, notwithstanding.

With the imminent introduction of the National Identification Authority and its consequent issuance of ID cards for Ghanaians, the possibility of exposure and loss of our personal details will be more real than it is now where it is hidden among a maelstrom of papers at, say, the passport office.

Our reliance on ICT and its tools may be inevitable, but might we remember to complement it with traditional methods, which are deemed more reliable—lest we end up with a Ghanaian version of "Discgate"!

Emily Nyarko, of Ghana's TV3 // GHAJICT wins Award

2007-11-28T03:01:00.001-08:00

Many thanks to Rubly Amable of GHAJICT for passing this information on !

CONGRATS!! Emily (First Prize in the Multimedia/ Web media category )

from: http://www.globalknowledge.org/gkps_portal/newsmaster.cfm?&menuid=2&action=view&retrieveid=459

GKP Picks GK3 Media Fellows

Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) announces the selection of 16 Media Fellows to attend the GKP Event on the Future, Third Global Knowledge Conference. The GK3 Media Fellowship programme received an overwhelming response, drawing 53 applicants from 27 countries.

Selected fellows hail from all regions around the world - North and South America, East and South Asia, Oceania, Middle East and North Africa and Africa. They will participate in a one-and-a-half day media programme prior to the GK3 Conference. These pre-conference activities will enable them to nework and share knowledge and experiences with their fellow journalists as well as with local Malaysian media who will join some of the planned activities.

GKP congratulates the following successful Media Fellows and looks forward to welcoming them to GK3 in Kuala Lumpur:

Africa

1. Segun ORUAME, from Nigeria

2. Bamuturaki MUSINGUZI, from Uganda, winner of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) - GKP Media Awards 2007 First Prize in the Print category with ""Taking ICT to rural communities"

3. Chabi Godefroy MACAIRE, from Benin, winner of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) - GKP Media Awards 2007 First Prize in the Radio category with "La gouvernance locale tisse sa toile"

4. Bayero AGABI, from Nigeria, winner of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) - GKP Media Awards 2007 First Prize in the TV Video category with "Why the phones are not bridging the divide"

5. Emily NYARKO, from Ghana, winner of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) - GKP Media Awards 2007 First Prize in the Multimedia/ Web media category with "Developing ICT enabled education - the future for Ghana"

Global ICTs: The Silent Development Revolution

2007-11-27T08:25:00.001-08:00

(as appeared in last Sunday's edition of Sunday World: http://www.sundayworldonline.com):

Global ICTs—The Silent Development Revolution

By E.K.Bensah II

When the American poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron wrote the poem "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", he perhaps got it right with regard to the development of ICTs in the context of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS).

Before 2005, WSIS had assumed an unclear UN process that had little practical connection to development. Now, it is virtually impossible to talk about the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) without talking about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

When world leaders met at the UN in 2000 to draw up the MDGs, one of the goals was to achieve universal primary education. Given that education is, in essence, a passport to one's future and opening up of possibilities for any child, UNESCO has led the way of hosting seminars on Knowledge Societies in the Context of WSIS. For UNESCO, its vision of knowledge societies is based on four principles: freedom of expression; quality education for all; universal access to information and knowledge; and respect for cultural and linguistic diversity. UNESCO is far from the only UN agency involved in the WSIS process, but its role as one of the pre-cursors of the WSIS is moot.

Despite the critical involvement of UN agencies, such as FAO and UNDP at WSIS, it is clear for many observers that the Second Phase of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) that took place from 16-18 November in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, was disappointing. It certainly was for civil society organizations (CSOs) who, after an alleged stabbing of a French journalist, were denied by the Tunisian authorities to hold a Citizens Summit on WSIS. For others, however, one of the more concrete things, to have emerged from the whole summit was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-sponsored One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), going for one hundred dollars.

The brainchild of the Professor Nicholas Negroponte of MIT, the lime-green laptop is made of rubber, so that when it closes, it will be sealed to protect it from environments, such as harsh environment in northern Kenya. It can be powered by a retractable crank that can be used to generate 10 minutes of power for every one minute of cranking up the machine.

Negroponte's team turned down Apple's offer to use its operating system, opting instead for a slimmer version that uses a 500MHZ processor and open source software under Linux. It is equipped with a 1GB flash RAM instead of a hard drive, a word processor, email application, and programming system.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called it "an impressive technical achievement", adding that "it holds the promise of major advances in economic and social development."

Pressed on why laptops in place of "proper" development, MIT argued that laptops are tools to think with. More specifically, their relatively affordable price of hundred dollars is coupled with how they can be used for work and play, drawing, writing, and mathematics.

In October this year, Uruguay bought 100,000 of the machines for schoolchildren aged six to 12, with a view to procuring a further 300,000 for every school-going child in the country by 2009.

Here in Ghana, Finance and Economic Minister Baah-Wiredu announced in the annual reading of the budget that the laptops in question will be introduced to Ghana from next year.

For many observers of the WSIS process, the laptops have constituted not only something concrete coming out of WSIS, but something that can be used to facilitate development. In the long run, WSIS has highlighted the importance of using ICTS to facilitate development, and so rural areas being able to afford to use such ICT tools is moot in getting closer to the Millenium Development Goals of halving poverty by 2015.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has piloted studies, for example, where the use of ICT tools, such as mobile phones, has helped farmers in Senegal to obtain prices of goods.

Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary General of ITU and of the WSIS Summit, said that "the WSIS was not an end but a beginning." What the Tunis phase did was remind one about the much-talked-about Digital Divide; how to govern the internet, and how to use ICTS for development. Whilst the Digital divide—as evidenced by the chasm between those who have ready and steady access to computers and, by extension, the Internet – very much exists even within countries (such as the rate of using the internet cafes in Accra as compared to the rate in the Northern region, which is three or four times the cost), the use of ICTs for development, for example, is being facilitated by non-governmental agencies like the Accra-based GINKS, which aim to " provide information and Knowledge sharing that will facilitate capacity building for ICTs Products and services"

Other developments are also taking place. One notable one is that of a story in the Ghanaian Times of 1 April 2006, in which it was reported that Accra Girl's Secondary School has become the "first school in Africa to have an electronic learning (e-learning) center to facilitate the adoption of [ICTS] into its academic programmes." The issue of internet governance, however, is a murkier—and more technical affair that merits as much consideration and study as those issues that pre-dominate international development.

Internet Governance, concrete outcomes

The issue of internet governance has assumed similar dimensions characteristic of the North-South divide in, say, the international trading system. If at the WTO, it is the so-called QUAD (comprising Canada, the US, UK, and Japan) that have a major say surrounding the decisions made on the multilateral trading system, so it is that when it comes to the internet, the US is right at the heart of controlling how domain names, for example, are assigned.

A communiqué produced by the European Commission in late April 2006 has argued that this system of control by the US is slowly changing—and that is also thanks to the Tunis Agenda on the Information Society that came out of the WSIS Summit last November.

In the Agenda, paragraph 63, for the first time, recognises that "Countries should not be involved in decisions regarding another country's country-code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD). Their legitimate interests, as expressed and defined by each country, in diverse ways, regarding decisions affecting their ccTLDs, need to be respected, upheld and addressed via a flexible and improved framework and mechanisms ".

Put simply, this means that unlike before when countries needed the approval of the US Commerce Department before changing, say, ghanasundayworld.com to ghanasundayworld.gh, countries, exercising their sovereign right, can now go ahead and change it—ensuring that the existing non-profit ICANN (Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers) oversees the change through regional registries, such as AfriNic, which helps, as its website maintains, to " provide professional and efficient distribution of Internet number resources to the African Internet community, to support Internet technology usage and development across the continent and strengthen self Internet governance in Africa by encouraging a participative policy development" .

Even the decision to create "ghanasundayworld.gh", before Tunis, would have meant seeking assent from the US! What this old way of doing things would have meant is that if Ghana were considered not strategic enough a country, the US Department of Commerce cold turn down that domain name.

Some of these technical issues were discussed at the first-ever forum on Internet governance, which the Greek government played host to in October 2006. This year, the second Internet Governance Forum was held in Brazil, where the issues of content regulation; the duty of states to protect freedom of expression online, including the protection of children online; a set of global public policy principles—including, inter alia, an Internet Bill of Rights were discussed.

The future of WSIS

At the UN level, monitoring what WSIS will do to the access to information is a key concern. Malaysia's Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Jamaludin Jarjis, said last year that "access to information should now be regarded as a utility and basic human right." He adds that conventional development means were no longer adequate in today's economic climate, where knowledge capital was the new currency and the new, raw material."

The UN, at a Geneva meeting, in July 2006, maintained the world body should continue to play a leading role in expanding information and communication technologies to promote development. The World Summit requested that a UN group on the Information Society ought to coordinate the work of the UN system.

It bears reminding that although the WSIS process seems rather nebulous to many in the sense that linking ICTs to development seems rather tenuous, in the long run, what remains clear is that as long as the Internet and ICTS are with us, so, too, will WSIS. It is a process that remains critical to the MDGs, and like most revolutions, its legacy for posterity can only be for the betterment of society.

Emmanuel.K.Bensah is Ag. President of Ghanaian Association of Journalists in ICT (GHAJICT) ( http://ghajict.blogspot.com)

Internet control by U.S. promises to be hot topic at U.N. forum

2007-11-13T07:14:00.001-08:00

from: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2004007171&zsection_id=2003905675&slug=internet11&date=20071111

Internet control by U.S. promises to be hot topic at U.N. forum

By Jack Chang
McClatchy Newspapers

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — When hundreds of technology experts from around the world gather here this week to hammer out the future of the Internet, the hottest issue won't be spam, phishing or any of the other phenomena that bedevil users everywhere.

Instead, ending U.S. control over what's become a global network will be at the top of the agenda for many of the more than 2,000 participants expected at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum, which begins Monday.

With the Internet now dominating nearly every aspect of modern life, U.S. control of the medium has become a sensitive topic worldwide. In nations that try to control what people can see and hear, the Internet often is the only source of uncensored news and opinion.

U.S. officials say that keeping Internet functions under their control has protected that free flow of information.

Issue of control

Yet to many foreign-government officials and technology gurus, the United States has too much control over a tool that's used by more than 1.4 billion people worldwide. Brazil, China and other countries have proposed transferring oversight to an international body.

"The Internet has become an everyday instrument of particular importance for the entire world, yet it's still under the control of one country," said Rogerio Santanna, Brazil's secretary of logistics and information technology.

Others worry, however, that transferring the administration of the Internet to the United Nations or another international body would make it vulnerable to censorship, especially by powerful countries such as China.

The most dramatic example of Internet censorship happened recently in Myanmar, when the ruling military junta cut Internet connections to stop dissident blogs and other sites that had distributed information about government repression during September's crushed pro-democracy protests.

China is routinely criticized for its censorship policies and its use of information gleaned from Internet providers to crack down on dissidents.

Even Brazil has inspired Internet privacy debates by demanding that U.S. technology giant Google hand over information about users who are suspected of posting child pornography and other offensive material on its social-networking site Orkut.

"Should the U.N. gain control of the Internet," the conservative U.S. research center the Heritage Foundation wrote on its Web site, "it would give meddlesome governments the opportunity to censor and regulate the medium until its usefulness as a vehicle for freedom of expression and international competition is crippled."

Debate for years

Such debates have dominated technology circles for years and are the spark for this week's meeting, the second of five such global forums organized by the United Nations.

The Brazil forum will feature panels on other key issues such as blocking online child pornography, expanding Internet access in less developed countries and an array of technical matters.

Yet the fight over U.S. control promises to take center stage.

The forum, which was organized partly as a response to international debate about the issue, can't make binding decisions, but it can lay the foundation for policy changes.

At the heart of the controversy is a nonprofit company based in Marina del Rey, Calif., called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which the U.S. government has contracted to help it manage key Internet functions.

Those include regulating Web sites with popular domain names such as .com and .org and creating new top-level domain names. Critics say the arrangement makes internationally popular Web sites subject to U.S. policy on everything from user privacy to obscenity.

Through ICANN, the United States also assigns Internet protocol addresses, which identify computers, routers and other electronic devices worldwide.

Best for users?

U.S. government officials also argue that keeping the Internet under centralized control is best for users.

But for many critics of the ICANN system, the main problem is the organization's perceived lack of transparency. They say ICANN shuts out the public when it makes key decisions, such as when it nominates board members, and lacks accountability to the Internet users it serves.

"We feel there would be a very healthy check and balances if there was something independent of the United States and ICANN to oversee the system," said Syracuse University professor Milton Mueller, who's part of the academic policy group the Internet Governance Project.

"As long as the United States holds on to its control, there will always be questions about the system's transparency."

For Santanna, however, the need for change has been clear in the dispute with Google, which could make news while the U.N. forum is under way.

Google has said it can't meet Brazil's demands for user information because its servers are in the United States and are subject to U.S. privacy laws.

After months of dispute, both sides will meet this week in an attempt to reach agreement.

Santanna said the long dispute could have been avoided if there'd been an international body that, in addition to managing the system's technical functions, could resolve such cross-border controversies.

ICT Policy research on the web

2007-10-31T09:57:00.000-07:00

From: http://www.ictpolicyreport.com/

ICT POLICY REPORT: INTERNATIONAL

A Weekly Report for Executives on International ICT Policies, Negotiations,
Regulations, Standardization, Judicial News and Trade Laws

Welcome

ICT POLICY REPORT: International is a weekly report for executives on regulation, spectrum, policy, standards, judicial news and trade laws affecting information and communication technology (ICT).

Technology advances are merging ICT, public policy and regulation at an unprecedented rate. Global convergence of technology is rewriting the rules.

We cover IP (Internet protocol) networks, intellectual property, communications, broadcast, telecom, NGN, convergence, judicial news and trade laws with a focus on the intersection of regulation, standards and policy at the international level.

ICT POLICY REPORT: International is for business executives, lawyers, policy-makers, regulators, standards-makers and government agencies. It's for consultants and governments working on communications policy and businesses in the global market.

ICT POLICY REPORT: International is a 4-page fee-based publication delivered weekly by email, fax and postal mail subscription.

International public policy, standardization, regulation, judicial and trade rules.

Reminder to join the FACEBOOK Ghajict group

2007-10-31T06:05:00.001-07:00

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=3308555646

GHAJICT Executive Member Says "Form Ghana ICT Watch Group"

2007-10-24T03:44:00.000-07:00

From: http://abissathfeatures-mawu.blogspot.com/2007/10/form-ghana-ict-watch-group.html

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

FORM GHANA ICT WATCH GROUP

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath [Executive member of GHAJICT-Ed]

Wisdom of African ancestors is reflected in this proverb which warns: “If you rear a baby snake, it will grow up and bite you to death.”

In October last year, I wrote an article titled: “African ICT Gurus, where are you?” As matter of fact, my only motive for writing that article was to throw some kind of challenge to ICT experts on our beloved continent to stimulate them to come together to use their expertise to help combat poverty in Africa through ICT.

I cited some countries, especially India to illustrate my vision. My visualization of combined efforts of Africa ICT gurus could transform poverty stricken souls of th continent into robust feeding hands of the globe. Unfortunately it appeared I could not translate my thoughts into words properly so there was some sort of mistaken conception.

Undoubtedly, my readers know by now that I am not an IT expert myself and I never pretended to be one. I am a humble ordinary journalist only interested in the subject matter of information technology. So, in the said article (see Daily Graphic of Friday 30th October 2004) I innocently picked out Bill Gates of America as my global ICT role model and praised him to the blue heaven. The reason was that, for what I read about him on the Internet, he was someone whose formal education never went beyond first year university. Yet, his foresight, vision, ingenuity and creativity had made him one of the richest human beings through ICT on this planet (of understanding). I thought Ghanaian JSS dropouts must know this fact.

In fact I had observed in that article that if Bill Gates had been a Ghanaian or an African, he would have been referred to as a “DROPOUT”. Funny enough, one of the people who reacted to my article stated that “Bill Gates is not even an ICT expert”. That was a typical demonstration of the other side of African mentality. We almost always apply our ingenuity in a rather negative direction. That is why instead of our so-called “witches” and “wizards” engaging in inventions like some Black Americans, who are reported to have achieved in the past, they use their “thing” to destroy souls.

As you know, at the very moment Ghana was basking in global glory for having successfully hosted a World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in first week of February in Accra, news flashed across the globe that our beloved country has been banned from Internet Shopping because some people who have good knowledge of ICT have been applying their skills for fraudulent and negative purposes in their selfish interest without any consideration of the consequences to mother Ghana.

The objective of this piece is to attempt to put across some layman’s suggestions for the consideration of the experts. In the first place, it is reassuring that the Government of Ghana is not sleeping over the issue at stake at all. Investigations have proved that since the news about the ban became public a week ago or so, the national security agencies have put their strategies into high gear to arrest the situation. It does not speak well of Ghana at all that such negative news from Africa should emanate from our mother land.

While the security personnel are doing their own thing, it is suggested that ordinary citizens who make use of ICT, particularly Internet users should come up with some ideas or views or suggestions as to how the nation can combat cyber crimes in the way Ghana police are dealing with armed robbery with dispatch. God bless them! Ghanaian ICT gurus and other stakeholders of the industry must not sit on the fence at all. If they are not part of the problem then they must be part of the solution. ICT experts must be the first to identify the crooks among them and flush them out before the entire industry is taken to the dogs.

My layman’s suggestion is that all ICT gurus in Ghana, no matter their fields of specialty, that is, whether they are in networking, web designing , software development or hardware technicians, they must come together to form a body solely devoted to combating cyber crimes in the country. This body may be known and called Ghana ICT Watch-Dog Committee or simply Ghana ICT Watch Group. The main function of the Group will be the monitoring of ICT activities in the country, especially cyber café operators.

When the Committee is formed, it may elect its own officers and adopt the most suitable mode of operations. Right now most cyber cafes are supposed to be located only in cities, especially in Accra and Kumasi and perhaps the other regional capitals.

As Government is making tremendous efforts to extend and expand ICT facilities to all the districts and every nook and cranny of the nation, we should not be myopic in our approach. ICT gurus should indulge in strategic thinking for the next 20 years and beyond of ICT in Ghana. If only a few dubious characters in some corners in Accra or Kumasi can cause this havoc to the technological image of Ghana now, then one can imagine what will happen if cyber cafes spread like the Video Theatres in the country.

Ghanaian ICT gurus must not wait until Ghana is entirely banished from the web before engaging in blame games. They must take note of this African proverb which says that: “If you see a stick approaching your eye, you don’t wait for the eye to be pricked before you break the stick.” This is my layman’s view. Any concerned citizen with any idea should e-mail it to me and I will put it across. abissath3@yahoo.co.uk

INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM TO MEET IN RIO DE JANEIRO

2007-10-23T09:59:00.000-07:00

From:

CENTRO DE INFORMAÇÃO UNITED NATIONS

DAS NAÇÕES UNIDAS INFORMATION CENTRE

INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM TO MEET IN RIO DE JANEIRO

FROM 12 TO 15 NOVEMBER

UNITED NATIONS, 10 September 2007 – Representatives of government, the private sector, nongovernmental

organizations, the Internet community and the media will converge in Rio de Janeiro for the

second meeting of the Internet Governance Forum, to be held from 12 to 15 November.

The conference, to be held at Windsor Barra Hotel, will focus on the overall issue of “Internet Governance

for Development”. Five main themes will be addressed – access, diversity, openness, security and critical

Internet resources.

Some 2,000 participants from more than 100 countries are expected to attend. In addition to plenary

sessions, there will be open meetings and thematic workshops to discuss specific issues and share best

practices.

The Internet Governance Forum is not a decision-making body, but a space for dialogue for all those

involved to discuss Internet governance issues. There will be no negotiated outcome, but the meeting will

seek to create a dialogue among all participants on public policy issues relating to the Internet and create

new dynamics between participating institutions.

The first Forum meeting in Athens last November saw the creation of a number of “Dynamic Coalitions” of

participants from governments, the private sector and civil society to address issues such as open

standards, spam, access, freedom of expression, privacy, digital identity and a proposed “Internet Bill of

Rights”. The meeting in Rio de Janeiro will allow members of these coalitions to collaborate further on

common concerns.

Hadil da Rocha Vianna, Director for Scientific and Technological Affairs in Brazil’s Ministry of External

Relations, has been appointed co-chair of the Advisory Group for the Internet Governance Forum, which

will assist in preparing for the Rio de Janeiro meeting. The other co-chair is Nitin Desai, the United

Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Internet Governance.

The 47 members of the Advisory Group, who serve in their personal capacity, come from government, the

private sector and civil society, including the academic and technical communities, representing all

regions (see list of members at http://www.intgovforum.org/ADG_members.htm).

A round of open consultations held in Geneva in May showed broad support for keeping the four themes

discussed in Athens – access, diversity, openness and security – and for adding the theme of critical

Internet resources. Participants agreed that the Rio de Janeiro Forum should retain the overall theme of

“Internet Governance for Development”.

The main themes to be discussed cover the gamut of the functioning of the Internet. The theme of access

includes infrastructure, connectivity and the role of government and the private sector to improve access

by all. Issues of diversity and openness cover promoting local content, cultural diversity and the number

of languages used on the Internet.

Security means among other things cyber-security, the safety of the Internet and the fight against

cybercrime. “Critical Internet resources” covers issues relating to infrastructure and the management of

key Internet resources, including administration of the domain name system and Internet protocol (IP)

addresses, administration of the root server system, technical standards, peering and interconnection,

and telecommunications infrastructure.

The Forum will hold its 2008 session in India and its 2009 session in Egypt.

Journalists interested in attending the Forum should register at http://intgovforum.org/register/index.php

For further information, please visit http://www.intgovforum.org and http://www.igfbrazil2007.br.

Contacts:

In Rio de Janeiro,

Valeria Schilling at the United Nations Information Centre,

Tel. 21 2253 2211, valeria@unicrio.org.br.

In Geneva,

Rolando Gomez at the United Nations Information Service,

+41 (0)22 917 23 26, rgomez@unog.ch.

In New York, Edoardo Bellando at the United Nations Department of Public Information,

Tel. 1-212-963-8275, bellando@un.org.

Fwd: Centerpieces - An Online Glossary: Learn the Words of the Web

2007-10-17T10:32:00.001-07:00

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From: Poynter Institute <newsletters@poynter.org>
Date: 17 Oct 2007 18:01
Subject: Centerpieces - An Online Glossary: Learn the Words of the Web
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An Online Glossary: Learn the Words of the Web Add to your Internet vocabulary with a couple of words each week from the Orlando Sentinel staff.
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Is the concept of a "mashup" turning your brain to mush? Does the idea of "crowdsourcing" leave you feeling ... lonely?

A new feature of Poynter Online, WebSpeak, will help you get comfortable with the rapidly evolving lingo of online journalism.

Every few days, Staff Development Editor Dana Eagles and Online Producer Danny Sanchez of the Orlando Sentinel will explain one of those buzzwords you've been hearing, and the items will be compiled to form a growing glossary of online journalism. Before you know it, you'll be able to speak Web.

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Improving the quality of journalism using web 2.0 – a practical training workshop

2007-10-17T02:45:00.001-07:00

Improving the quality of journalism using web 2.0 – a practical training workshop
10th to 11th October 2007
Accra International Press Centre

1.Video Blogging Prince Deh
http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dhq5k5zf_10ghp7pr&fs=true
2. Wikis for the newsroom by Kwami Ahiabenu,II
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhq5k5zf_56c99vf3
3. POSTING VIDEO ON YOUR BLOG Emmanuel K Bensah II
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhq5k5zf_57gvwwqv
4. Writing, Editing and Publishing online made easy for journalists using blogs Emmanuel K Bensah II
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhq5k5zf_58gnwpp5
5. Introduction to ICT Journalism by Kwami Ahiabenu,II
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhq5k5zf_59gh4r2h
6. Blogs by Kwami Ahiabenu,II
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhq5k5zf_60c4ngsz
7. Podcasting by Kwami Ahiabenu,II
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhq5k5zf_61fkn9n9
8. Pictures
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ppbpix/
9. Press Release
10. speeches

Empowering Media With New Skills

2007-10-17T02:40:00.001-07:00

from: http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200710160686.html

Empowering Media With New Skills

Highway Africa News Agency (Grahamstown)

NEWS
16 October 2007
Posted to the web 16 October 2007

By Emily Nyarko

About 20 editors and senior journalists in Ghana have undergone training in web 2.0 publishing and distribution technique as part of the drive to equip journalists with ICT skills to improve the journalism profession in the country.

The journalists drawn from different media houses were taken through the various aspects of the social network tool Web 2.0 at a two-day workshop facilitated by the International Institute of Journalism (PENPLUSBYTES) in partnership with the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and the French Embassy.

Mrs. Francine Meyer, deputy head of the French mission at the French Embassy, expressed the commitment of her government to equip the Ghana International Press Centre with modern equipment to help journalists in the country to further develop their skills.

"The process of empowering the media with new skills is very important because the media play a crucial role in developing informed citizenry," she said. Over the years the French government had remained committed in the training of Ghanaian journalists especially in the area of ICTs. In 2005, journalists from selected media institutions were trained in on-line journalism and in 2006 another training programme was organized for a group of journalists out of which evolved a network known as the Ghana Association of Journalists in ICTs. The workshop organized on the theme; "Improving the quality of journalism using Web 2.0" was also organized on the premises that most journalists in the country lacked the requisite skills to apply basic ICTs in their work.

Major media institutions currently have ICT facilities but lack of knowledge in the basic uses has rendered the facilities idle with some journalists giving constant excuses that their offices lacked ICT equipment.

Mr. Ransford Tetteh, President of the GJA, welcomed the workshop and said it offered participants to learn more about the powerful tools of ICTs, including editing and publishing on-line.

He expressed the hope that the workshop would help spread the use of ICsT and make it an important feature and function of the Ghanaian media.

Mr. Frank Agyekum, Deputy Minister of Information and National Orientation (MINO) said it was important for the developing world to bridge the widening ICT gap between the developed and the developing world.

He however warned that whilst making efforts to learn and apply ICT tools such as web 2.0, journalists should guard against using web content posted by quacks who paraded as journalists.

Kwami Ahiabenu II, President of PENPLUSBYTES said there was a growing need for training journalists in ICTs for them to become more functional in the evolving information age.

Ghana : On-Line Journalism Workshop Opens AT Koforidua

2007-10-17T02:37:00.001-07:00

On 17/10/2007, International Institute for ICTJournalism (Penplusbytes) <info@penplusbytes.net> wrote:

Ghana : On-Line Journalism Workshop Opens AT Koforidua
A two- week workshop in on-line journalism for information officers of Information Services Department was opened yesterday at the Koforidua Polytechnic in the Eastern Region.

The workshop is being organised by the Ministry of Information and National Orientation (MINO) in collaboration with the UNDP. It brought together forty information officers from the ten regions of the country.

The opening ceremony was performed by the Chief Director of MINO Mr A.A. Ampong. In his speech he stressed on the importance of ICTs and the Internet in the managing, packaging and the dissemination of information.

He was of the view that if journalists in the country would incorporate ICT tools in their profession, it would go a long way to assist the timely dissemination of important information and hence curtail conflict that arises due to lack of information and misinformation.

He indicated that the training was a Train the - Trainer programme and since by 1st November 2007 new recruits will come into the system, participants will be expected to impart the skill and knowledge acquired to the new entrants.

Mr A.A Ampong therefore urged participants to take their training seriously.

In his welcome address, the co-ordinator of the programme, Mr Alphonse Doe Koblavie(Head of IT, ISD) observed that the information officers will work more effectively and efficiently if they upgrade their skills and knowledge in modern trends of mass communication using ICTs
visit our website at www.penplusbytes.net our blog is located at http://penplusbytes.blogspot.com/ --- --You are currently subscribed to penplusbytes as: webjournalist@twnafrica.org --To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-penplusbytes-445548X@dgroups.org Penplusbytes online list is hosted on Dgroups- a joint initiative of Bellanet, DFID, Hivos, ICA, IICD, OneWorld, UNAIDS

Towards inclusive knowledge societies

2007-10-12T11:26:00.001-07:00

from: http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=39551&URL_DO=DO_PRINTPAGE&URL_SECTION=201.html

Towards inclusive knowledge societies

2007 - number 8

Over the coming two years, UNESCO is committed to continue working for freedom of expression and press freedom and to promoting the use of the information and communication technologies to foster inclusive knowledge societies that empower individuals and communities.

"Contributing to the construction of inclusive knowledge societies through information and communication," is how UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information (ADG/CI), Abdul Waheed Khan encapsulates the objectives of his sector for the coming biennium.

This echoes objectives established by World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which UNESCO helped organize in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunis in 2005. UNESCO remains active in the WSIS process, destined to build people-centered information societies that are mindful of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and, of the basic human right of freedom of expression.

That strategy focuses on fostering free, independent and pluralistic communication and universal access to information. This is essential for the strengthening of participatory democracy and for the struggle against poverty, as communication and information play a central role in development. However, in many parts of the world, the media need to be reinforced so as to contribute to the international development drive, says Mr Khan.

Media development has long been at the centre of CI's work, notably through programmes such as the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) which, over the last 27 years, has raised some US$ 93 million for over 1,100 projects in 139 developing countries and countries in transition. IPDC is the only forum in the United Nations to discuss and promote free and independent media in developing countries and countries in transition.

The CI sector is also committed to continue serving as a watchdog for freedom of expression around the world, an area in which UNESCO plays a leading role, reminding Member States of their obligation to respect this fundamental human right enshrined in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and recognized by the WSIS.

Creating resources

"Creating the resources in Member States for them to develop free and independent media is our bread and butter," says Mr Khan, recalling that universal access to knowledge depends on adequate communication and information infrastructures.

"At stake is the empowerment of individuals and communities", says Mr Khan, who recalls that the link between empowerment and knowledge is becoming ever stronger. It is therefore not surprising that another major objective for CI, is to support UNESCO in working towards fulfilling the ambitious goals of the Education For All (EFA) drive adopted by the international community in Dakar in 2000. EFA concerns overall improvements in the provision of quality basic education and life skills to all and achieving gender parity in education by 2015.

The multiplier effect

Mr Khan explains that the information and communication technologies (ICTs) can have a "multiplier effect," contributing to the education of learners and the training of teachers. "Likewise, CI works to ensure that the multiplier effect of ICTs benefits UNESCO's promotion of cultural diversity and dissemination of scientific knowledge." Thus, argues Mr Khan, CI is the leader when it comes to cooperation between UNESCO's sectors.

In addition, the ADG recalls that ICTs not only help generate and disseminate knowledge but are also important for the preservation of knowledge. Programmes such as Memory of the World serve to preserve and disseminate the heritage of documentary material and archives. Thus, through ICTs, UNESCO's Communication and Information sector has become involved in the preservation of knowledge, including indigenous knowledge, and in cultural heritage.

The new technologies have operated a deep change in the flow of information and its sharing. Mr Khan strongly believes that UNESCO must play its role in bridging the knowledge gap to ensure that this multidirectional flow of information and knowledge does not pass by those who are less privileged. With programmes such as the Community Multimedia Centres, and a wide range of partners including some of the world's leading private sector companies and NGOs, as well as networks such as the new Power of Peace Network, Mr Khan is convinced that UNESCO can contribute to world peace and development.

Portal of the Communication and Information Sector

UNESCO and WSIS – Towards Knowledge Societies

Memory of the world

Media under attack

Media matters

Author(s): By Roni Amelan (UNESCO) - Publication Date: 24-09-2007

Blogging: The Ghanaian journalist's experience

2007-10-08T05:07:00.001-07:00

from: http://www.haayo.org/Blogging-The-Ghanaian-journalist-s.html

Home page > ICT NEWS > Media

Blogging: The Ghanaian journalist's experience

There are few bloggers in Ghana, including some few committed journalists who are proud to flaunt their newly acquired competence in Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) publicly.

They comprise Emmanuel Bensah, a web journalist with the Third World Network, Isaac Tetteh of Radio Gold, Enoch Darfoh Frimpong of the Daily Graphic and Rayborn Bulley of Radio Ghana.
Mr Bensah is currently the acting President of the Ghana Association of Journalists in ICT who seizes every opportunity to promote blogging.

His blogs, which goes by the addresses: http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com and http://ekbensah.blogspot.com.
The first blog seeks to chronicle his trials and tribulations (perspectives, queries, worries) of living and working in Ghana, with a very critical and irreverent analysis of life in Ghana whilst the other looks at general issues affecting his life, but which cuts across EVERY INDIVIDUAL, with some slant that goes for someone who's come back to his home country after years, and is both reflecting and reminiscing about the trajectory of his life. He also has links and side issues on WSIS and ICTs in general and has five other blogs to his credit.

Mr Bensah is among just about 10 journalists in Ghana with knowledge about blogging.
Some veteran journalists have attributed the lack of interest in blogging to the fact that bloggers in certain countries have been arrested sanctioned or sacked from their work places for publishing articles deemed to be unethical or harmful for public consumption.
Such incidents abound in some Arab countries but experts dismiss it as too remote to take away the benefits and uses of blogging.

An executive of penplusbytes, an international institute for ICT journalism based in Ghana, Kwame Ahiabenu II, has blamed the lacklustre attitude of Ghanaian journalists to blogging on what he called practical challenges such as the lack of skills, access to ICT facilities and time constraint.

All the 10 regional capitals and some districts have Internet facilities, yet a number of journalists lack the basic skills to take advantage of the service.
A recent survey undertaken by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) with membership of more than 500 revealed that less than 20 per cent of Ghanaian journalists have ICT skills. The skill to blog is therefore a remote venture.
Steadfastly penplusbytes has carried on with its objective to create awareness on ICTs among journalists and had on several occasions published articles on blogs to educate journalists in Ghana and in the West African sub-region.

Despite these efforts, journalists in Ghana still find it difficult to create and manage blogs. Interestingly most of the journalists who go through training on blogging end up forgetting the processes involved. One of such training sessions was organised in April 2006 for 20 journalists.
Only three of the journalists who benefited from the training session including Mr Bensah are active bloggers.
The French Embassy in collaboration with the GJA also organised a workshop for journalists in 2005 but the tutorials for blogging was in French which made it difficult for the participants in the Anglophone West African country to grab the techniques.

In the face of the numerous challenges inhibiting the Ghanaian journalist from blogging, Ahiabenu believes there can be a way out.
He is of the view that journalists can seek dialogue with their workplace management to facilitate access for blogging.

Ahiabenu says the local Ghana Association of Journalists on ICT (GHAJICT) can collaborate with the umbrella association-the GJA, to design guidelines that would protect journalists from interferences that could occur when they seek to give their opinion through blogs.
Journalists in most countries already have certain privileges that protect them in the performance of their duties and to Ahiabenu Ghana could emulate the example. There is a test case of a group by the name 'media bloggers' who are seeking to be granted the same privileges and protection as journalists in the United States.

Ahiabenu says the benefits of blogging far outweigh the reasons for non-blogging.
According to a web definition, a blog in simple terms is a web site, where one can write on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, to enable visitors to read what is new for their comment through e-mail.
Since blogging was launched almost five years ago, it has helped to reshape the web, impacted on politics, shaken up journalism, and enabled millions of people to have a voice and connect with others.
Blogs are easy to create and have been identified as the convenient way to publish anything at all for a wider public through the Internet. In most cases, search engines give results on topics from blogs.

Journalists in Nigeria are reported to be far ahead in blogging within the West African sub-region even though Ghana is more advanced in the establishment of ICT infrastructure with teledensity penetration of both rural and urban communities reaching 25 per cent at the end of 2006.
Ghanaian journalists have been slow in catching up with the use of blogs and according to Ahiabenu the percentage of bloggers is at about one to two per cent.

Penplusbytes is inculcating the culture of blogging among Ghanaian journalists and to Ahiabenu journalists can allow the process to thrive by asking their editors to edit their stories in order to ensure that there are no excesses that would bring about sanctions from higher authorities.
In addition there should be guidelines on blogging and the engagement of managers to facilitate the acquisition of ICT facilities.

Author : Emily Nyarko

The most recent articles :

Blogging in West Africa

MEDIATIC PROJECT - CALL FOR ARTICLES n°2

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Contact IPAO : IPAO - 6 rue Calmette, BP 21132 Dakar, Senegal
Tel : (221) 849.16.66 | Fax : (221) 822.17.61 | Email : contact@haayo.org

UNCTAD Underscores Importance of Broadband...More on Telephony

2007-09-06T08:25:00.001-07:00

from: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hzkrBgUp9OBsz_vmg9JAUjXESX1g

China, India lead surge in mobile subscribers: report

1 day ago

GENEVA (AFP) — Asia's booming economic powerhouses of China and India are leading a fresh surge in mobile phone use with nearly 200 million new subscribers between them in the first quarter of 2007, the United Nations telecommunications agency said on Tuesday.

China added 87 million new subscribers in the period and India about 110 million, the International Telecommunications Union said in a report.

Some 61 percent of the world's mobile subscribers are in developing countries, with emerging economic powers China, India, Brazil and Russia at the forefront, the ITU said.

"Growth in the ICT (information and communication technology) sector has been nothing short of buoyant in the past year," the agency said.

By the end of 2006, there were a total of nearly 4 billion mobile and fixed line subscribers and over 1 billion internet users worldwide," it added in the report on progress towards "next generation" phone and computer networks.

It cautioned however that the world's least developed countries (LDCs) are lagging behind both in terms of mobile phone penetration and high-speed internet connections such as broadband.

Only 22 out of 50 LDCs offered broadband in 2006, and users in these countries often pay extortionate rates for relatively low-speed connections, the ITU said.

The UN's Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warned last November that broadband is becoming so vital for businesses that it can be seen as a new utility comparable to water and electricity.

The growing importance of high speed Internet access is "disturbing news" for the developing world where broadband access is scarce, because technology is exerting an ever greater influence on global business trends, UNCTAD warned.

UNCTAD's report showed that forty-eight out of 71 developing countries who submitted data on the subject said that broadband penetration rates were under 1.0 percent, and even China had a rate of only 2.9 percent.

FW: MTN Benin Fiasco--an example for Ghana?

2007-08-30T05:20:00.000-07:00

From: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/quickprint/print.asp?StoryID=176453

MTN Benin still off air

	By Leon Engelbrecht
	Posted: 17 August 2007

The stand-off between MTN and the Francophone West African country's telecommunications regulator will soon enter its sixth week.

Benin's Telecommunications Regulation Authority (TRA) suspended MTN and Atlantique Telecom's "Moov" service on 9 July, saying both companies had changed their names without its permission.

The regulator also said MTN and Atlantique needed new licences, with much higher licence fees required. MTN was asked to pay $620 million (R4.34 billion), a 620% increase from the $10 million under the original structure.

MTN and Atlantique – owned by Dubai-based Emirates Telecommunications – have so far refused to pay.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Benin's remaining two mobile providers have paid. They are Libercom, a subsidiary of state fixed-line company Benin Telecom, and Bell Benin, owned by local businessman Issa Salifou.

The wire service also reported the TRA has granted Nigeria's second-biggest operator, Globacom, a 10-year licence.

An equity analyst, who did not want to be named, says the big question is whether Globacom replaces or supplements the two suspended network operators.

The Reuters report suggests the former, saying Benin launched a tender for a new operator after suspending MTN and Moov. Globacom was selected from 10 tenders submitted and signed a contract with the government on Monday.

Fight it

The analyst says the significance in the Benin debacle lies in what MTN does now and how that is perceived by regulators in the other markets in which the multinational operates.

“In my personal opinion, MTN has every right to fight it,” the analyst says. However, what is key is what message this stand-off sends to other countries where MTN operates. “MTN has to treat this very carefully. It may be better to exit rather than capitulate,” the analyst says.

“Either way, the money is not material. In the bigger scheme of things Benin is a small market. What matters is how they come out and how they are perceived to have handled the stand-off.”

BMI-TechKnowledge senior analyst Richard Hurst says he is sure MTN is working hard to resolve the issue. “They must be locked in some negotiations,” he says.

“It would be in the regulator's best interest to resolve this as soon as possible,” Hurst adds.

Financial impact

MTN, whose Benin network was previously operated by Spacetel Benin under the Areeba brand, had 514 000 subscribers in Benin, in March. Atlantique Telecom's Moov network, previously part of the Telecel group, has around 450 000.

Benin is a small but significant market for MTN, analysts say.

However, MTN has so far not commented on how the dispute is impacting its revenue. The mobile operator's 2006 annual report indicates the Benin operation generated $41.2 million (R288.4 million) in revenue. It also shows MTN's average revenue per user in Benin is $21 (R147) per month.

Victor Tokpanou, legal adviser to president Thomas Boni Yayi, told state television on Monday there was still room for negotiations with the two suspended operators.

MTN had not responded to ITWeb's request for comment by the time of publication.

Social Networking Promiscuity??

2007-08-09T10:32:00.001-07:00

from: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article2017224.ece

The Times

July 3, 2007

Websites betrayed by unfaithful users

A survey has revealed the 'promiscuity' of many members of social networking sites and raised doubts over surging valuations

Rhys Blakely

Social networks are spawning a generation of internet tarts, research suggests: online consumers with little brand loyalty and no qualms about keeping several sites on the go at once.

Users of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are "chronically unfaithful", a survey by Parks Associates, the analysts, has found. Half of users regularly use more than one site, most of which are free. One in six actively uses three or more.

This phenomenon of "network promiscuity" extends across web commerce. Analysts say that it is symptomatic of a new consumer scepticism over traditional branding.

Robert Jones, of Wolff Olins, the brand consultants, says: "Grand operatic brands no longer work. Think of the ultimate model 'old brand' – the Marlboro man, a myth selling you an item that slowly killed you. It just doesn't work online. As people become better informed, brands become less about emotion and more about functionality."

User infidelity in the social networking sector, made up of about 300 competing sites, is challenging once-accepted dot-com maxims, such as the importance of first-mover advantage and the strengths implicit in scale.

It also raises doubts over the surging valuations being attached to the sector's "superbrands", amid evidence that they will be forced to evolve constantly to retain young users determined to play the field.

Akready, warning signs have emerged: the latest figures from Nielsen//NetRatings showed that MySpace, the market leader, recently lost users in Britain.

The dip coincided with the news that News Corporation, the MySpace owner, had held early talks with Yahoo! over a possible sale of the network that could have valued MySpace at more than $10 billion (£5 billion). News Corp is the parent company of The Times.

The number of British visitors to MySpace dipped to 6.5 million in May, from 6.8 million in April. The fall, which comes as Facebook, its rival, experiences a huge surge in visitors, was the first to hit MySpace since it signed a deal with Google last summer, under which the social network stands to reap about $900 million in advertising revenues. It was only the second dip since News Corp bought MySpace for $580 million two years ago.

MySpace has achieved the traffic targets underpinning its deal with Google with ease, but, according to Nielsen, over the past six months Facebook's audience in the UK has grown at 19 times the rate of MySpace's, surging 523 per cent to 3.2 million.

Alex Burmaster, a Nielsen analyst, said: "MySpace is, by far, still the most popular social network. However, if last month's growth rates were to remain consistent . . . Facebook would catch MySpace in September."

The pattern was repeated in the United States, MySpace's largest market, where traffic to the site fell to 56.6 million in May, from 57 million a month earlier.

MySpace has pointed out that traffic figures from different research firms differ, but admits that it will have to evolve new content and tools to remain relevant. It also takes issue with the idea that switching between free sites involves no cost to users.

"MySpace users invest huge amounts of time building up their profiles as part of our community. That means they are massively loyal," a spokesman said.

Yet the Nielsen figures confirm that network promiscuity is a factor, showing that 444,000 Britons visited all three of the leading rivals – MySpace, Facebook and Bebo – in May.

Even the biggest internet brands – of which Google is the leader – may not be immune to the digital generation's lack of loyalty, analysts say. The eight-year-old search engine was judged to be the fourteenth-biggest global brand last year by Interbrand, the consultants. It was the biggest riser in a top 50 of which half are more than 50 years old.

Rita Clifton, the chairman of Interbrand, said: "The internet has allowed a brand-building process that would have once taken decades to be achieved in a fraction of that. There is a downside, of course: what goes up quickly can descend just as fast."

The dangers are illustrated by the fate of Friendster. The social network accrued more than 20 million users after its launch in 2003. Late last year that figure had fallen to less than one million as users migrated to sites with better music and video tools.

There are also suggestions that, while the internet makes the world a smaller, "flatter" place, personal online services do not suit traditional global branding campaigns.

Mr Jones said: "McDonald's can have the same golden arches in every city, but social networking is a very personal thing and is susceptible to cultural differences. Using one of these sites does not bear comparison with eating a hamburger." Already, Google has been forced to change its brand in China to "Gu Ge". Despite the switch, the search engine trails local rivals by a huge margin.

Orkut, the social networking site run by Google, has gained about 50 million users, but despite its massive popularity in Brazil, it remains little known in America and Britain.

Mindful of the hurdles facing them, sites are already making moves aimed at winning and locking in users. MySpace, which has been criticised for failing to innovate, sought to reinvigorate its user base last week when it announced the launch of a new video-sharing service. MySpaceTV will compete with YouTube, owned by Google. Last month Facebook launched a new platform that allows outside developers to create free and paid-for online services that can offered to users.

Park Associates says that the mercurial behaviour of social net-workers could open opportunities for new sites and developers who build software that links different networks. User infidelity need not spell the end for social networking superbrands, it suggests.

John Barrett, who led the group's research, said: "MySpace is a growing ecosystem and one that, ironically, now extends beyond MySpace itself."

Social services

MySpace 6.5 million UK users, up 28 per cent in six months. Average time spent on site by user in a month: 96 minutes

Bebo 4 million UK users, up 49 per cent in six months. Average time by user in a month: 152 minutes

Facebook 3.2 million UK users, up 523 per cent in six months. Average time by user in a month: 143 minutes Source: Nielsen//NetRatings

be careful what u put online! Employers might be watching....unless it's all good!:-)

2007-08-09T03:56:00.001-07:00

from: http://management.silicon.com/careers/0,39024671,39166575,00.htm

Net reputations ruin job hopes

Blogging and social network bloopers can hurt your employability

Tags: internet

By Tim Ferguson

Published: Wednesday 28 March 2007

Show related
articles

Employers are increasingly checking out online personal information about candidates when making recruitment decisions.

Net reputations built up through online activities - such as blogging, posting videos to YouTube or using social networks such as FaceBook and MySpace – can have a significant effect when applying for a job, according to a report from business social network, Viadeo.

According to the research, one in five employers finds information about candidates on the internet and 59 per cent of those said it influences recruitment decisions.

A quarter of HR decision-makers said they had rejected candidates based on personal information found online.

But despite this, most people are unaware of the effect their 'net reputation' can have on their job prospects.

Cheat Sheets

♦ Web 2.0
♦ Mash-ups

Examples of online information that has been shown to create negative information include MySpace sites that reveal excessive drinking or disrespect for work.

One survey respondent said their company rejected a candidate based on activities that "did not fit ethically" into the organisation.

But information found online can also work positively when applying for a job, with 13 per cent of HR decision-makers having decided to recruit people in light of what they found.

Positive information could include achievements not already known, internet skills demonstrated through a website and extra skills not revealed by a corporate application form.

Peter Cunningham, Viadeo's UK country manager, said the results should be a wake-up call to anyone who has ever posted personal information online. "The rise of search engines such as Google means that potential employers are never more than a few clicks away from information about you," he added in a statement.

The research surveyed more than 2,000 consumers and more than 600 employers via an online interview.

Pictorial Account of GHAJICT Executive @ BusyInternet on Friday 27/7/2007

2007-07-31T05:11:00.000-07:00

So, a good meeting was had by all on Friday 27 July, 2007 @ BusyInternet. The following members of the GHAJICT Executive were present to pay dues towards the establishment of the Association of Ghanaian Journalists in ICT (GHAJICT).

Exhortations by the President to join the FACEBOOK Group of GHAJICT notwithstanding, the members pledged to do their best to join. Enoch Darfah Frimpong, and Isaac Tetteh are already members of the group, which you can visit here.

Each of the members paid a cool çGH15 (ç150,000) each, amounting to çGH60 (ç600,000).

From left to right: Fred Sarpong, PRO; Veronica Kwablah, Asst Treasurer; Mawutodzi Abissath, executive member

from left to right: Fred; Veronica; Emmanuel.K.Bensah II, Ag. President

E.K. poses with a chesire-cat grin

Fred--forever camera-shy!

Veronica, your smile is very becoming!

Mawutodzi--poseur!

Mawu contemplates, Veronica poses

Ghana blogger/GINKs United in Action! FYI!!

2007-07-25T04:15:00.001-07:00

from: http://joitskehulsebosch.blogspot.com/2007/07/bloggers-of-ghana-unite.html

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Some bloggers meet

Yesterday I went out with the GINKS secretariat to meet Emmanuel K. Bensah , one of the most fanatic bloggers in Ghana. I met Emmanuel through his blog. When we connected on facebook by mistake he had stated that we met in school, but actually the category 'met through their blogs' is missing...

It was very nice to exchange blog and vlog tips, and discuss the Ghanaian blogosphere which is too quiet according to Emmanuel. He is an author for the globalvoices for Ghana. This means that he reads about 15-20 blogs and when he thinks something is interesting for a global audience that doesn't know much about Ghana he forwards it to the editor, who then edits and puts it up the globalvoices site. This is a huge opportunity for bloggers to get known (this is how I found Emmanuel's blog) and to be crossposted to a wider audience. He told us globalvoices now has a feed into the Reuter's Africa site. On each country page there is a feed with blogposts, see the example for Ghana. We discussed ways of leveraging the GINKS vlog with ICT4D stories, a possible blogmentoring project and tried to start a Ghanaian vloggers group (so far with 3 members :). I forgot to ask whether the Ghanaian bloggers ever meet.

We had a good brainstorm about the developing of ICT uses in Ghana. Emmanuel was very enthousiastic about his GPRS phone which allows him to connect to the internet by mobile phone. It is not extremely expensive and you can set it to see what you used. When he's offline, he uses his onetouch pay-as-you-go subscription to check and reply to mails and even to go to facebook. I still have my video-ipod dream (in combination with videoblogs) . Mobile television is coming through ghana telecom/onetouch. So enough work for GINKS...

pls add your names to FACEBOOK!!

2007-07-18T10:20:00.001-07:00

have created the group on FACEBOOK.com. This is an exceptionally interactive social networking tool...

here's the link:

-- http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=3308555646

MINUTES OF GHAJICT MEETING on 29 June, 2007

2007-07-12T07:37:00.001-07:00

MINUTES OF GHAJICT MEETING on 29 June, 2007 at

BusyInternet, Ring Road

Present:

n Ruby Amable, Ag. VICE-PRESIDENT

n E.K.Bensah, Ag. PRESIDENT

n Fred Sarpong, Ag. PRO

Apologies:

· Mawutodzi Abissath, Executive member

· Emily Aggrey, asst Treasurer

· Veronica Kwablah, Treasurer

· Listowell Fordjour, Secretary

ISSUES

Follow-ups:

Emily on Finances
emmanuel on registration form on website
ruby on contact with parliamentary corps (for ict bills)
fred on list of invites, or pssibilities from list sent

status of meeting
outreach with ginks(.org)
aob

1. Follow-ups:

Emily on Finances

· Emily had earlier sent an eml explaining that only her and Ruby had paid. Mawu had promised money, but had not taken it yet

· Recommendation:

o Emmanuel will pay GHC30.00 (ç300,000) to cover two quarters July-ending

o Executive must provide deadlines on payment

o Ruby can pay GHC15.00 (ç150,000) by end of July

o Prospective amts:

§ Veronica – GHC15.00

§ Listowell – GHC15.00

§ Fred -- GHC15.00

§ Mawu --GHC15.00

TOTAL: GHC105.00 (ç1,050,000)

emmanuel on registration form on website

· only Enoch has signed the form through the GHAJICT blog. Even members of the executive are yet to do so!

ruby on contact with parliamentary corps (for ict bills)

· according to Fred and Ruby, there are some bills on e-governance that have not yet been laid before parliament

· Ruby can obtain copies of e-communications bill

· Suggestion to check National Communications Authority(NCA) website

· Catch about the e-comm's bill is that World Bank is sponsoring a number of them; as per usual, providing conditionalities

fred on list of invites, or possibilities from list sent

· Fred will take a look at the list again, and prune them

· Will invite (almost) all from ICT industry

status of meeting

· this is a pre-strategy meeting

· we STILL might need to have an online meeting

· we WILL assign roles and responsibilities to the LAUNCH for 20/25/27 ^th July

· we WILL memorialize registration, and assign a "digi-cammer" to take a picture

· recommendations:

o invite Radio Gold's Isaac Tetteh and Mutala Muntari

o send eml invite to Isaac

outreach with ginks(.org)

aob

add Isaac Tetteh to GHAJICT list-servc
GHAJICTERS should begin to think about submitting feature articles to Graphic
Emmanuel suggested articles in Sunday World paper, since they have a section on ICTs
Let's encourage and follow Mawu's example of having works published on ICTs
On registration:

i. Speak to executive

ii. Commit them to pay GHC15.00/GHC30.00 every month till month-ending

Re-think incumbent secretary's constraints on getting to meetings (he works in Tema!)
NEXT STEPS:

i. 6 July @ 6pm – online meeting

ii. 13 july – online

iii. 20 july—physical meeting

iv. 27^th july—come with commitments /…and money!

v. we launch association in august 2007!

Ends

Emmanuel.k.bensah

Agenda for 29 JUNE, 2007 mtg @ BUSY INTERNET

2007-06-27T03:53:00.001-07:00

Dear GHAJICTERs,

I daresay it has--yet again--been a long time since we conversed on this list. I am sure many of you are busy in your own work, and simultaneously keeping an eagle eye on developments on the AU Grand Debate...as well as ICT-related issues. Mawu wrote an article for the GRAPHIC, which was posted two days ago in the Graphic, I think; I see also that GoG has signed an MoU with Microsoft (yesterday's edition of the Graphic).

Either way, we're still pressing on, and here is the agenda for FRIDAY 29 JUNE.

VENUE: BusyInternet, Ring Road

TIME:6.15pm

AGENDA

I. Follow-ups:

a. Emily -- finances

b. EK--registration form on the website

c. Ruby--contact with parliamentary corps (for ICT bills)

d. Fred--list of invites (possibilities on the list he sent)

II Status of meeting:

a. pre-strategy

b. need to have an ONLINE mtg by latest 12 JULY

c. assign roles and responsibilities to the LAUNCH for 20th/25th/27th July
d. need to memorialise registration

i. assign "DIGIcammer"--Enoch/EK/Emily? anyone to take picture?

e. invite MUTALA / ISAAC Tetteh from Radio Gold?

III OUTREACH with GINKS(.org)

IV AOB

National fibre communication coming soon

2007-06-20T01:48:00.000-07:00

The Ministry of Communication has said it was developing a National Fibre Communication Backbone Infrastructure network to provide open access broadband connectivity nationwide.
The project, equivalent to an Information Telecommunication (IT) motorway will serve the remotest parts of Ghana, Professor Mike Oquaye, Minister of Communication, told a meet-the-press series in Accra.
He said the Chinese government had provided a concessionary loan of 30 million dollars for the first phase of the project, which was already under construction and expressed the hope that the Chinese would also support the second phase estimated at 70 million dollars.
Prof. Oquaye said incorporated in the backbone project was the e-government connectivity solution, which was to ensure that connectivity access to be delivered by the private sector would reach all corners of the country.
"The Ministry of Finance has supported our application for the Chinese Government to release funds in good time for this component," he said, adding that the project would open up the country to rapid local and foreign investment in ICT.
Prof. Oquaye said it was government's expectation that with the completion of the backbone projects, problems such as low accessibility to telephone facilities, especially in rural areas would be a thing of the past.
He was also optimistic that issues of poor quality of service by telecom operators, high bandwidth cost and poor and inadequate telecom infrastructure would all be solved when the fibre backbone project was completed.
Prof. Oquaye said whilst the backbone project was underway, the Ministry had also established the Ghana Investment Fund for Telecommunications (GIFTEL) to facilitate the extension of communication services through the provision of familiar facilities such as telecom tower service to underserved and areas that had not been served at all.
"It is estimated that by the end of the year a total of 44 common telecommunications facilities would have been provided by GIFTEL across the country.
"The Common usage of this infrastructure by Telecom Operators to serve the towns and their environs will reduce connectivity cost and correspondingly bring down cost of service provision to consumers in these hitherto underserved areas," he said.
Source: GNA

Ghana ICT Journalists (Association)

AJICT-GH Executive Member Appointed to ECOWAS Network of Science Journalists (ENSJ) steering committee

ECOWAS Science Journalists To Champion Africa’s Development Agenda

West Africa’s ICT industry faces major threat unless ...

Fwd: [penplusbytes] Ten things every journalist should know in 2009

Fwd: [From Tunis...to WSIS] When will the National Communications Authority stand up?

MTN Ghana denies tax evasion charges

Fwd: Ghana Telecom Majority Sale to Vodafone: Potential Threat to National Security of Ghana

Where did World Telecommunication Information Society Day go?

MINUTES OF GHAJICT MEETING on 27 March, 2008 at Busy Internet, Ring Road (Belated)

Fwd: UN'S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BODY TO FOCUS ON FOUR MAJOR CONCERNS

AGENDA for 27 March mtg @ Busy Internet

ARTICLE: "No country for Microsoft's Men"

ARTICLE: (Pod)Casting Aspersions on Ghana's Media

Microsoft fights to have its programme (Office Document) standardised!

UPDATE 1-Microsoft gets another shot at Open XML standard

I Facebook, Therefore I Am (comments much appreciated!)

Bank of Ghana, Cedi Re-Denomination Wins UN Award

The Information Society and Threats Thereof

Emily Nyarko, of Ghana's TV3 // GHAJICT wins Award

Global ICTs: The Silent Development Revolution

Internet control by U.S. promises to be hot topic at U.N. forum

ICT Policy research on the web

Welcome

Reminder to join the FACEBOOK Ghajict group

GHAJICT Executive Member Says "Form Ghana ICT Watch Group"

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

FORM GHANA ICT WATCH GROUP

INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM TO MEET IN RIO DE JANEIRO

Fwd: Centerpieces - An Online Glossary: Learn the Words of the Web

Improving the quality of journalism using web 2.0 – a practical training workshop

Empowering Media With New Skills

Ghana : On-Line Journalism Workshop Opens AT Koforidua

Towards inclusive knowledge societies

Towards inclusive knowledge societies

2007 - number 8

Over the coming two years, UNESCO is committed to continue working for freedom of expression and press freedom and to promoting the use of the information and communication technologies to foster inclusive knowledge societies that empower individuals and communities.

Creating resources

The multiplier effect

© UNESCO 1995-2007 - ID: 39551

Blogging: The Ghanaian journalist's experience

Blogging: The Ghanaian journalist's experience

The most recent articles :

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UNCTAD Underscores Importance of Broadband...More on Telephony

China, India lead surge in mobile subscribers: report

FW: MTN Benin Fiasco--an example for Ghana?

Social Networking Promiscuity??

Websites betrayed by unfaithful users

A survey has revealed the 'promiscuity' of many members of social networking sites and raised doubts over surging valuations

be careful what u put online! Employers might be watching....unless it's all good!:-)

Net reputations ruin job hopes

Pictorial Account of GHAJICT Executive @ BusyInternet on Friday 27/7/2007

Ghana blogger/GINKs United in Action! FYI!!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Some bloggers meet

pls add your names to FACEBOOK!!

MINUTES OF GHAJICT MEETING on 29 June, 2007

Agenda for 29 JUNE, 2007 mtg @ BUSY INTERNET

National fibre communication coming soon