ICT Makes the Difference in the Akatsi Community

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200701291780.html

 

ICT Makes the Difference in the Akatsi Community

Public Agenda (Accra)
NEWS
January 29, 2007
Posted to the web January 29, 2007

By Isabella Gyau Orhin and Ama Achiaa Amankwaah
Accra

The use of telecommunication in Akatsi, a community in the Akatsi district south of the Volta Region has improved tremendously over the past six years.

According to a German researcher Mr. Marcus Koll who did a study in the area, mobile phones are now a common household tool in Akatsi.

The study has therefore called for a rural perspective in national Information Communication Technology development strategies.

The theme of the research by Mr. Koll a Ph.D. Student, from the University of Bonn, Germany was "The use of telephony in the Akatsi District Today."

It was a follow up to a study done in 1999 in Akatsi by another German Researcher Dr. Romeo Bertolini, with The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in Germany.

In 1999 when the first study was undertaken, technology usage in communication was low and comprised of mainly communication centres with the famous one being Westphalia Communication centre.

Today Westphalia has been turned into a bar and a shop where one can buy clothing and have a beer.

The 1999, study showed that about 52 percent of the inhabitants of Akatsi did not use any form of modern technology in communication but today only 12 percent of respondents say they do not communicate via modern technology.

Mobile phone usage is about 85 percent in Akatsi, a Population of 93,483 inhabitants according to 2002 figures. It covers an area of 1000 square kilometers with about 75 percent of the population of the district engaged in agriculture.

Mr. Koll said there are about 20 public telephone booths available in Akatsi Town now outpacing communication centres which were in vogue during the first study.

More than nine percent of the households reported that they have their own landline installed in their homes making them less dependent on communication centres.

Mr. Koll said there are three mobile phone service providers consisting of Areeba, One-Touch and Tigo. Areeba has 75 percent of the clientele followed by One touch with 20 percent while Tigo has five percent of the clientele in Akatsi. Mr. Koll said none of the 362 households sampled in Akatsi-Town, Agbedrafor and Gefia said they use Kasapa.

There is one internet Café in Akatsi Town according to the study, the next closest cafes are in Aflao and Sogakope. The Akatsi café has five computers in use with one dial-up connection.

The proprietor complained that one-third of the time, he is out of business in th past 12 months, due to power cuts, slow dial-up connection and line failures among others.

The study discovered that the main obstacle to internet use in the area is lack of computer skills. Also around 40 percent of the users complained that internet usage in the town is expensive. Users pay 12, 000 cedis per hour of browsing compared to between 6,000 and 8,000 cedis in Accra.

Only 16 percent of respondents said they do not experience any problems with the use of their phones. According to the study the introduction of retail telephony popularly known as "Space to Space" has made telephone services available on a broader scale. "Even if problems are reported, all in all, the quality of services increased," Koll said.

Dr. Amos Anyimadu of the Technology Assessment Project said the problems of inequity in phone usage sometimes stem from lack of electricity to charge mobile phone batteries in certain remote parts of the country.

He said there are technologies in other countries where battery charging does not require electricity but such technologies are not yet in the country.

The Marketing Manager for Kasapa Mr. Clement Asante said the study has brought to the fore that there many areas in Ghana that should be reached with affordable communication services.

"In spite of the fact that a lot of people have cell phones today, they cannot make phone calls as often as they should," he said adding, "This is a challenge Kasapa is ready to meet."

 

Google Loses Copyright Case Involving Belgian Newspapers

How Belgian newspapers fought to get Google to stop (free) archiving of Belgian newspapers’ pay-per-view contents …(unprecedented)?

 

From: http://www.courant.com/business/hc-google0214.artfeb14,0,3973571.story?coll=hc-headlines-business

 

Google Loses Copyright Case Involving Belgian Newspapers

February 14, 2007
By AOIFE WHITE, Associated Press

 

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Google Inc. lost a copyright lawsuit Tuesday to Belgian newspapers that had demanded it remove headlines and links to articles posted on its news site without their permission. The ruling, if it stands on appeal, could set a precedent for how Web search engines link to copyrighted material in the tumultuous arena of online news, according to the Belgian copyright group that launched the case. ADVERTISEMENT     SPONORED LINKS Google said it would appeal, arguing that its Google News service was "entirely legal" and that the Belgian ruling did not set any precedent. The Brussels Court of First Instance ruled that Mountain View, Calif.-based Google could not rely on exemptions, such as asserting "fair use," because it says it reviews press articles when it displays headlines, a few lines of text, photos and links to the original page. "Google is reproducing and publishing works protected by copyright," it said. "Google cannot call on any exceptions set out by law relating to copyright or similar rights." It decided in favor of Copiepresse, a copyright protection group representing 17 mostly French-language newspapers that complained the search engine's "cached" links offered free access to archived articles that the papers usually sell. Copiepresse said the ruling was based on EU law and could trigger similar cases against Google in other nations, saying it had been in touch with copyright groups in Norway, Austria and Italy. But Google said the judgment - which confirms an initial ruling in September - would not necessarily carry influence in other areas. "This ruling does not mean that everywhere else or every other judge in any other country would rule the same, even in Belgium," said Yoram Elkaim, legal counsel for Google News. U.S.-based technology lawyer Jonathan Band said the ruling was neither final - as it can be appealed in Belgium - nor did it bear much weight because legal precedent is not as important in Continental European law. Google said the court still had not settled the debate about what the ruling covered, arguing that it only applied to Google News Belgium and google.be. "In our view, we have complied with the ruling fully since September," Elkaim said. If the court agrees, Google would not have to pay retroactive daily fines of more than $32,000 for each day that Google did not comply - far lower than an earlier judgment that threatened $1.3 million a day. But Copiepresse lawyer Bernard Magrez said Google was still not complying fully with the ruling - saying it covered google.com and other versions. If the court agrees, fines could run as high as $4.3 million. Copiepresse is still negotiating similar copyright issues with Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft's MSN. The group's secretary general, Margaret Boribon, said all companies that republish copyrighted works need to seek permission and pay compensation. "Content made available by editors is quality content that is very expensive to produce, and which has value ... and that value should be recognized," she said. Elkaim, however, ruled out paying to display content - Copiepresse's key demand - but said Google was willing to discuss terms with the Belgian newspapers. "It shouldn't preclude us from continuing to collaborate with news publishers who generally ... do want their content to be searchable so that more people can find their content on their website," he said. "The vast majority of publishers are happy to be included in Google News, and actually we receive more complaints from publishers that are not included." In the future, the court said it would be up to copyright owners to get in touch with Google to complain if the site was posting content that belonged to them. Google would then have 24 hours to withdraw the content or face a daily fine of $1,295.

 

"Commmunication Centres" need protection

From: http://www.myzongo.com/Communication-centres-need.html

 

“Commmunication Centres” need protection

 

An Information Technology and Telecom Research Expert has asked the government to come up with policies, regulations and guidelines that would protect communication centres against the onslaught of wireless telecommunication services, popularly called "space-to-space", spreading across the country.

Dr Amos Anyimado, Director of the Africa Next Knowledge Brokerage and Interaction (ANKBI), the technology assessment wing of Ghana Telecom University College, said unlike the wireless service, communication centres also served as development centres in the rural communities.

He made the call at a video conference, where a German Ph D student from Bonn University Mr. Marcus Koll, presented preliminary results of a study he carried out in the Akatsi District in the Volta Region.

In his study, Mr. Koll found that communication centres were completely out of business in the district and in their place there were several "space-to-space" services, which offered only telephone calls usually from mobile phone handsets.

He found that all the communication centres in the District had been turned into either stores that sold textiles or drinking bars. Dr Anyimado noted that the phenomenon of "space-to-space" denied rural communities several other services communication centres offered.

He said communication centres, offered secretarial services, provided telephone directories for people to easily access phone numbers, had televisions for people waiting to make calls but the "space-to-space" service did not offer such services. "Most of the ’space-to-space’ operators move around with their tables and bicycles," he said.

Dr Anyimado said he was also concerned about the introduction of wireless technology with its attendant General Packet Radio System (GPRS) to the seeming neglect of the V-SAT technology in which most of the district assemblies had invested huge funds. He said the V-SAT technology, on which the fixed line system ran, cost not less than 15,000 dollars to install and at least 1,000 dollars monthly in operation cost.

"That is why the government must intervene and protect the interest of the communication centres to ensure maximum benefit from the V-SAT technology."

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a platform designed to offer access to data networks. GPRS is a new wireless communication system that allows a Highway Telematics System to deliver real-time traffic data without the inconvenience of a permanent infrastructure of ducts and cables.

Data are routed using secured channels from the field stations to a private network via the mobile network supplier. Dr Anyimado said the university was working hand-in-hand with Ghana Telecom and Kasapa Telecom to host the Jubilee Mobile Ghana Conference next month.

He expressed the hope that all the other players in the industry, Areeba (MTN), Tigo and Westel would come on board to give the conference a holistic industrial character.

"We also expect the World Bank Country Office to make some funding available to make the conference a success," he said.

 

The Meeting is Taking Place...

...even without a quorum:-( Ruby is here with me at the A&C SHopping mall. It's just gone 7.02pm, and we are pressing one. Fred says he'll be here soon. This is for accountability purposes...so you know what has transpired. We shall press on, and communicate results accordingly.

Agenda for 2/2/07 mtg of GHAJICT

 

Pls note that this mail is being posted automatically on: http://ghajict.blogspot.com

 

Pls find below the agenda for the 2/2/07 mtg:

 

Agenda

1. Adoption of Minutes / Agenda
2. Membership dues
3. Fundraising opportunities (UNDP, etc)
4. registration of association
1. which bank?
2. Fees?
3. Possible date of launch?
5. Liasing with blogs on http://www.gjaict.blogspot.com/ [we need to appoint s.o to monitor this blog!]
6. GHAJICT intervention in Three ICT Bills Before A-G (http://businessweekafrica.com/three-ict-bills-before-a-g/#more-1027)?
7. AOB

 

Incidentally, pls bring along COPIES of the GHAJICT constitution, which you can find on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ghajict2006, as well as minutes from Listowell’s minutes last year, which I am copying FYI: (you can find original version on the group FILES section; this is an EDITTED version)

 

 

MINUTES FROM OUR MAIDEN OFF LINE MEETING HELD AT BUSYNET ON THE 22, SEPTEMBER 2006

 

On the 22ND September 2006, at about 7:30pm as
scheduled, we the members of the Ghana Association of
Journalist in ICT (ICT) had our maiden off line
meeting.

The purpose of the meeting was not only to ensure
our total commitment to the growth and the sustenance
of the association but also, to meet as team players
together with the executives.
Although the number of members that turn up
were not as we had expected, it was not bad at all for
a start. CHEERS.


MEMBERS ATTENDED.
The ff members registered their presence.
1, MR. EMMANUEL K.BENSAH--ACTING PRESIDENT.
2,MRS.RUBY N.AMABLE ACTING VICE PRESIDENT
3,MR.LISTOWELL FORDJOUR ACTING SECRETARY
4,MR.FRED YEBOAH SARPONG LIASON OFFICER
5,MRS.EMILY NYARKO EXECURTIVE MEMBER
6,MR. MAWUTODZI A. BISSAH.

AGENDA
The meeting was as usual opened with a prayer by
a member.
The draft constitution became the major issue
for discussion.

AMENDMENT OF DRAFT CONSTITUTION.

The president proposed that the blog name of
the association be changed from ghjict to ghajict to
reflect on our mission.

ARTICLE:ONE
The article one of the constitution which
talks about the name of the association was amended to
make the name reflect the values of the group. It is no
longer Ghana Journalist in ICT. We are now GHANA
ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALIST IN ICT.(GHAJICT)

 

ARTICLE:TWO
Advocacy was added to our duties and
responsibilities to enable the group to advocate for
certain things that will enhance the progress of ict
in the country, i.e. advocacy to ensure ict becomes part
of the curriculum of media training institution in the
country.

ARTICLE:THREE
The above article which talks about the
membership of the association on who qualifies to be a
member was redefined to ensure that members a
professionals media practitioners of variable
backgrounds.

OTHER MATTERS
The meeting agreed that 27th October will be
our next meeting date. The venue will be at MR.BIGGS in
circle. Time 6:30PM.
We in addition agreed that every last Friday
of the month is our meeting day.

The president moved the meeting to close due
time constraints.
BRETHREN IN THE ICT WORLD, HOPE TO SEE YOU IN
OUR NEXT MEETING.I REMAIN, ACTING SECRETARY. CHEERS

 

 

Hope to see you on Friday at 6pm sharp!!

Cheers,
Emmanuel

 

 

RE: [ghajict2006] voting, INFO RE: Venue/TIME

Morning all on this beautiful Monday morning!!!

 

Here’s the lowdown:

 

Date: 2/2/2007

Venue: busy internet

Time: 6pm

 

(this is being posted automatically on http://ghajict.blgospot.com)

 

---

Onetouch Brings Ogo, the First Mobile Data Service for the Masses to Ghana

From: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=ind_focus.story&STORY=/www/story/12-04-2006/0004484589&EDATE=MON+Dec+04+2006,+08:38+AM

 

 

Onetouch Brings Ogo, the First Mobile Data Service for the Masses to Ghana

 

    REDWOOD CITY, Calif. and ACCRA, Ghana, Dec. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

Onetouch, one of the leading mobile operators in Ghana, has announced today

that it plans to bring a revolutionary mobile data service for the masses

to Ghana. Based on the Ogo platform by IXI Mobile, Onetouch, will make the

Ogo device and associated services available in Ghana, mainly focusing on

young adults, with services such as mobile e-mail, mobile Instant

messaging, RSS, and Web Browsing.

    "We recognized a significant need in the market which is not served by

any other offering today," said Mr. Philip Sowah, Chief Executive at

Onetouch. "Practically all mobile data services available in the market are

focused on the elite enterprise market, leaving the mass market completely

underserved. We believe the mass market wants mobile data access, and the

Ogo end to end solution is a wonderful solution for that market," said Mr.

Sowah.

    "Bringing a mass market mobile data product to the market was not only

about price. Usability and functionality were just as important," Mr. Sowah

continued. "We searched for an offering that would be affordable, without

compromising the rich experience expected by users who are accustomed to

the online experience of email, instant messaging, RSS, and other

applications."

    "The Ogo device, coupled with the hosted services we provide gives

innovative operators such as Onetouch the ability to bring mobile data to

the masses with ease, and at a price point that makes it a mass market

play," said Amit Haller, President and CEO of IXI Mobile, the maker of the

Ogo device and provider of the hosted services associated with it. "We

believe mobile data services geared towards the mass market is a huge,

completely untapped opportunity for the operators, which was the guiding

principle behind creating the Ogo end-to end solution that includes the Ogo

device and the hosted back end data services that eliminate the need for a

large infrastructure investment on the part of the carrier."

    Ogo devices deliver a true on-the-go mobile messaging experience with

their large screen, QWERTY keyboard, easy-to-use interface and clamshell

design. The offering in Ghana includes the following services: MSN Instant

Messaging, email, contact book, calendar, Web browser, GSM voice, and SMS.

    About Onetouch

    Onetouch, the mobile division of Ghana Telecom, is headquartered in

Accra, Ghana. Onetouch has enjoyed significant subscriber growth over the

last 12 months and has expanded its network coverage throughout most parts

of Ghana. Nationwide GPRS services have been launched on their network with

EDGE available in some areas. Onetouch continues to differentiate itself by

providing innovative products and value-added services to their customers.

    About IXI Mobile

    IXI Mobile, Inc. offers solutions that bring innovative, data-centric

mobile devices and services to the mass market. IXI Mobile's Ogo devices

are designed to improve the mobile user experience and increase mobile

voice and data usage. The company provides a turn-key solution to mobile

operators and Internet service providers worldwide to launch and support

Ogo products.

    IXI Mobile is headquartered in Redwood City, California, and has

research and development facilities in Israel and Romania. IXI Mobile also

maintains regional sales offices. For more information on IXI Mobile,

please visit http://www.ixi.com.

    On February 28, 2006, IXI Mobile and Israel Technology Acquisition

Corporation (ITAC) (OTCBB: ISLTU.OB, ISLT.OB, ISLTW.OB) entered into a

definitive agreement pursuant to which a wholly owned subsidiary of ITAC

would merge with and into IXI Mobile, with IXI Mobile surviving the merger

and becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of ITAC. Upon consummation of the

merger, ITAC will change its name to IXI Mobile, Inc. and IXI Mobile will

change its name to IXI Mobile (USA), Inc.

    About Ogo

    The Ogo family of devices delivers popular applications, including

email, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, voice and Web browsing on optimized,

easy-to-use handheld devices for a true on-the-go mobile messaging

experience. Ogo was launched in the United States by AT&T Wireless (now

Cingular Wireless), Switzerland by Swisscom Mobile, Turkey by e-kolay.net.,

Germany by 1&1, and Uruguay by ANCEL. More information on Ogo is available

at: http://www.ogo.com.

    CONTACT: Dror Liwer, 917.559.2104

 

Gannett retooling its news-gathering efforts

Gannett, the country's(USA) largest newspaper company, is making plans to roll out a nationwide initiative to gather and disseminate information across a multitude of media, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The McLean-based company has about 90 newspapers, including USA Today, the nation's largest daily paper. Like other newspaper companies, Gannett is losing readers and advertising revenue as folks turn to the Internet and other mediums to get their information.

Gannett executives are hoping to reverse that trend with their new initiative, dubbed the Information Center.

"The Information Center will let us gather the very local news and information that customers want, then distribute it when, where and how our customers seek it," Gannett Chairman, President and CEO Craig Dubow wrote in a letter to employees. Company officials provided the letter to Washington Business Journal.

Gannett executives say the Information Center concept transforms the process for providing news and information. The newsroom evolves into a place that's focused on gathering the information people want using words, images and video and then distributes it across multiple platforms from newspapers to Web sites to other non-print entities.

Gannett's newspaper division, which has conducted a series of pilot programs to create and test the Information Center concept, organized the center around seven key information-gathering areas: digital, public service, community conversation, local, custom content, data and multimedia.

"The Information Center, frankly, is the newsroom of the future," Dubow wrote. "It will fulfill today's needs for a more flexible, broader-based approach to the information gathering process."

To test the process, Gannett (NYSE: GCI) has implemented the Information Center on a full-scale pilot basis at three of its papers, and partially at other sites.

"What they found," Dubow wrote, "is remarkable: Breaking news on the Web and updating for the newspaper draws more people to both those media. Results include stronger newspapers, more popular Web sites and more opportunities to attract the customers advertisers want."

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2006/11/06/daily23.html

A View from Europe: EU Decries Roaming Charges, Industry Says "We're on it"

 

From: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6123742.stm

 

EU decries high mobile phone cost
The industry insists the legislation is not needed The European Commission says some mobile phone users are turning off their handsets when abroad because of "excessively high" roaming charges. Its call came after a survey conducted for the Commission found 70% of Europeans want it to act to reduce the cost of cross-border mobile calls. The commission first said in July that it intended to cap roaming charges. Europe's mobile phone networks insist legislation is not needed as they are already reducing their roaming prices. Four-times higher Reaffirming its intention to bring in caps, the Commission said its latest survey also found that calls to a mobile in another country within the EU could be as much as four times higher than a call within one nation. Commissioner Viviane Reding is leading the attack on roaming charges European Union Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding, who is leading the caps plan, said the current high prices were putting off people from using their phones while on holiday. "Excessively high prices restrict mobile usage while abroad," she said. "This hurts consumers, it hurts European industry and it hurts Europe." The legislation to cap roaming charges is currently being debated by the European Parliament, and the Commission says it wants the new law adopted before the 2007 summer season. However, mobile phone operators insist the legislation is not needed, and firms such as Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom have already announced plans to reduce their roaming charges. According to the Commission, the European roaming market is worth 8.5bn euros ($11bn; £5.7bn) a year, or 5.7% of the sector's revenues. The Commission estimates that its legislation will save European phone users 5bn euros a year.

 

The UN launches the Internet Governance Forum, in Athens

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/the-un-launches-the-inter_b_33498.html

 

The UN launches the Internet Governance Forum, in Athens (2 comments )

Last in Athens, the UN hosted it's first "Internet Governance Forum," or IGF for short. It is a model for global governance. It is also a work in process.

The differences between the IGF and previous UN bodies are significant and several. I will focus on the few that seem most important.

The IGF is formally a "multi-stakeholder" body. That means the actors include not only government officials, but also businesses, NGOs of various types, academics, journalists and individuals. This appears to be pretty fundamental to the way the IGF operates, including equal participation and access to panels, workshops and social events.

Formally, the IGF was organized under the UN by Kofi Annan. The small Geneva based secretariat is run by Markus Kummer, a career diplomat from Switzerland. There is also a "multi-stakeholder" advisory board, which serves one year terms, now headed by Nitin Desai, an Indian national who is the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Adviser for Internet Governance. So far the rules for the IGF are very minimalist.

In a typical UN body, much of the focus on the events are to shape high-level declarations, statements, resolutions and other decisions, that are approved either by consensus or through more formal voting. People coming to Athens were surprised or in some cases disappointed to see very little emphasis on this type of activity, at least in this first meeting. Instead, the IGF has created a space for governments, interest groups and individuals to work together in much more bottom-up and unsupervised way.

The primary opportunity for norm setting at the IGF appeared to be through the formation of something called "dynamic coalitions" -- a term that was unfamiliar to everyone I talked to. Apparently IGF deliberately avoided the term "working groups," because that would imply that the groups were speaking for the entire IGF. These dynamic coalitions, on the other hand, do not claim to represent the views of everyone - only their own membership, or the parties that endorse specific proposals.

The IGF secretariat decided to allow these dynamic coalitions to self organize in Athens, around topics that were relevant to the various panels and workshops. In Athens, several were formed, each with a different mission and style.

The IGF approach was not an accident. The IGF was created by a much more conventional UN effort, the "World Summit on the Information Society," WSIS, that was concluded in Tunis in 2005. There were deep divisions at the WSIS on several topics, including those related to free expression, censorship, human rights, intellectual property rights, free software, funding for needed capacity building and infrastructure development in the poorest countries, and many other issues, including perhaps the most contentious issue - the debate over who should control the Internet root servers and other key technical standards and resources.

The WSIS could not reach consensus on many of these topics, but there was recognition that the topics were important. The IGF was created to continue the conversations, but with the understanding it would not have broad powers to set "hard" global norms.

What the IGF could do has been the subject of discussion and debate, much of it below the radar screen of the press and the wider public.

The United States government, which now controls the Internet root server/domain name system, is anxious to prevent the IGF from having too much power. So too are many large companies, fearing the IGF could introduce new regulations of Internet activities, including those relating to consumer protection, privacy and regulation of content.

Many developing countries, such as Brazil, have pushed for a continued debate over how the Internet root will be controlled, and many national governments, academics, corporate entities and NGOs are pushing to raise other issues that are directly or indirectly related to the Internet.

The IGF was created with a mandate to explore these issues, but it starts without much top down authority. What it does provide, however, is space where like-minded parties can work together to create "soft" norms, or agreements between each other to take action. These efforts, through the so-called IGF "dynamic coalitions," are very open and bottom up. Because the IGF itself is not ready to begin making global policy, from the top, it has created a structure that does not block conversations and norm setting - from the bottom.

The consequences of this may be profound. At other global trade fora, such the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) or the World Trade Organization (WTO), decisions and agendas are fairly tightly controlled, and it is very difficult to move a proposal, because it requires either a super majority or a consensus of governments. At the IGF, on the other hand, the bottom up norm setting can get started whenever there is even a small conspiracy to do something.

We have participated in the creation of two such dynamic coalitions - one on open standards for software and information technologies, and the other on Access to Knowledge (A2K) and free expression. Dynamic coalitions have been formed on the control of Internet root servers, privacy, and other issues.

The memberships of the dynamic coalitions created in Athens are diverse - including governments, businesses, academics and NGOs. The French government will be hosting a meeting of the Privacy coalition in Paris. The coalitions on open standards hope to have face to face meetings in three cities, and develop best practices models for government procurement of software, between now and next year's IGF meeting, which will be held in Rio.

It is quite early to see how these efforts play out, but it is interesting. Can we think of global governance as a process that is open, even to NGO and individuals, and not coercive at the global level? For the Internet, this is perhaps the right way to start.

Faces of Internet Governance in Athens

Chengetai Masango from the IGF Secretariat

 

Georg Greve of the Free Software Foundation Europe

 

Manon Ress, CPTech

 

Michael Gallagher, former Bush Administration offical who wants to restrict IGF norm setting activities

 

Susy Stuble from Sun

 

Milton Mueller, co-organizer of dynamic coalition looking at control of root servers

 

Nitin Desai, represents Kofi Annan on Internet Governance

 

Robin Gross from IP Justice, pushed NGO agendas on access to knowledge and free expression

 

Thiru Balasubramaniam of CPTech helped organize dynamic coalition on open standards

 

Andrew McLaughlin of Google joined the dynamic coalition on Access to Knowledge (A2K)

 

 

FW: [penplusbytes] ICT Training workshop for Journalists ends

---

From: International Institute for ICT Journalism( penplusbytes) [mailto:info@penplusbytes.net]
Sent: samedi 4 novembre 2006 21:10
To: Penplusbytes
Subject: [penplusbytes] ICT Training workshop for Journalists ends

 

ICT Training workshop for Journalists ends


 The Vice President of the Ghana Journalists Association, GFA, Mr Affail Monney has stressed the need for media organizations in the country to provide their journalists with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to support them in increasing their efficiency and introduction to modernity into their operations.

He said with the changing times, it was about time that individual media organizations put in greater efforts at going ICT to be abreast with evolving events to be better placed to inform, entertain and educate the public on pertinent issues that will bring about positive change in their lives.

Mr Monney said this on Friday at the closing ceremony of a training workshop for a cross section of Journalists in Accra. About 50 selected Journalists from both the private and state media in three batches were trained under the project funded by the Japanese Funds-in Trust (JFIT) in collaboration with UNESCO's International programme for Development of Communication (IPDC) and support by Africa On-Line and the GJA.

The Vice President said it is encouraging news to the GJA that the participants have strengthened their capacity in ICT, improved on their capacity and understanding of internet use, the use of simple and complex search engines for research, the use of computer for page planning, layout and design as well as improving on their skills in digital age journalism and on-line journalism. Mr Monney said with the excellent ICT facilities, the Association intends to source for funds from its associate partners to undertake further training for it members, adding, We will adopt more flexible schedules at any future training to give more members, especially from the private press to have more friendly and conducive training programme.

He appealed to the participants to consolidate the knowledge acquired by regularly practicing on their computers so as not to get rusty or forget what they have learnt and in that way it would go a long way in broadening the media's horizon in ICT.

Mr Ebenezer K. Ogyiri, Programme Officer Culture and Communication of the Ghana National Commission for UNESCO advised the GJA to put a management team to run an ICT centre for the benefit of its members. He advised members of the Association to patronize the ICT centre at the International Press Centre and to make frequent use of the facilities to update their skills in reportage. The General Secretary of the GJA, Mr Bright Blewu explained to the GNA that the general objectives of the project under UNESCO's IPDC, was to strengthen the human resource capacity of journalists in ICT. The participants who received certificates appealed to the Japanese government and UNESCO to assist them procure either computers or lab-top computers to facilitate their knowledge in ICT. They expressed profound gratitude to the organizers, lecturers and sponsors for initiating such a laudable training programme for journalists and asked for more of such workshops to make Ghanaian journalists compete with their counterparts from the rest of the world and to improve on their job descriptions.

Source:GNA

___________
The International Institute for ICT Journalism
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Report: Online News Widely Accepted as Credible

Report: Online News Widely Accepted as Credible By Howard I. Finberg Credibility. It is hard to define, hard to earn, and even harder to regain once it is lost.For decades, news organizations -- especially newspapers -- have struggled to understand why readers find the media less and less credible. Or why some news organizations, such as cable news networks, have a higher credibility rating than older and more established (and local) news outlets. It is a vexing problem. The task grew even more complicated eight years ago when the Internet offered the public a whole new, interactive way to obtain news and information. A question that may plague us for the next several decades is, "How do the issues of credibility and reliability play out in the online news environment?" Media consultant Martha Stone and I have been studying digital journalism credibility for the past year on behalf of the Online News Association. Our report, which was released Jan. 31, is based on more than 50 interviews with industry executives, dozens of case studies, several industry roundtables, and two research surveys. The ONA study, which was funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also outlines strategies that several sites have undertaken to be more open and more transparent with their readership. We found that the public has largely accepted digital news as an important source of credible news. Thirteen percent of the online public saying that Internet news is their most trusted source of news. However, the ONA survey also shows that most of the online public surveyed remains neutral on credibility issues surrounding online news. This lack of strong opinion is where the online news media may have its greatest opportunity. It is a chance to move those neutral views to positive ground. Or, conversely, there is the real danger that the public will be come critical of some practices and become as critical of online news as it is of newspapers. The acceptance of online news is good news for digital journalists. Although the older, traditional media has been losing the public's trust, online news seems to be enjoying a credibility honeymoon, according to a national survey of 1,000 online consumers and 1,500 media workers conducted for ONA. Rather than vilifying digital news, the online public has largely accepted it as an important source of credible news. Journalists surveyed expected the public to be much more negative about the credibility of digital news. They also expressed more concerns about professional quality than the online public. The survey also indicates there appears to be a division of opinion about the credibility of digital news between those who work for traditional media organizations -- newspapers, broadcasting -- and those who work for Web sites. And there is a difference of opinion about credibility between the media workers who took the survey and the online public. Some examples from the report: Media workers were more likely to have made up their minds about credibility and were more likely to be critical than the online public was. Among the rankings produced by the survey's media respondents, there were five sources (local TV news, local radio stations, other news Web sites, local TV Web sites and local radio Web sites) about which more than 25 percent - and as many as 40 percent - say the source is not credible. By comparison, no more than 12 percent of the public says any particular news source is not credible. When asked to agree or disagree with the statement: "Online news sites are my/consumers' most trusted sources for news," 13 percent of the online public agreed, 44 percent had no opinion, and 43 percent disagreed. Media respondents predicted that 79 percent of online readers would disagree with the statement. The report's executive summary puts the gap in perception between media and public this way: ". (the) survey's findings should prompt journalists and the public alike to confront a critical issue: Is there something the media perceives or knows about the ethics and practices of online news organizations or operations that the public does not know? Or are traditional media just being resistant to online news?" The report also examined the reasons consumers use news Web sites and the most important factors affecting story credibility. Some highlights include: When it comes to credibility, online readers are more concerned about accuracy than timeliness. In a list of 11 story characteristics affecting credibility, online readers rank "story is up to date" fifth, after accuracy, completeness, fairness and trusted source. Asked directly if the separation between advertising and editorial content matters to a news source's credibility, the public overwhelmingly (95.9 percent) says "Yes, it matters." But when ONA asked online readers to rank advertising-editorial independence as a variable affecting news credibility, it barely made the list (ninth of 11 attributes, ahead of audio/visual quality and entertainment value). About 40 percent of the online public are confident they can discriminate between advertising and editorial content, with another 30 percent expressing neutrality or a lack of opinion on the issue. That confidence is positively correlated with a reader's general trust of online news, which increases in time spent online and with the number of times a reader has visited a particular online news site. Familiarity breeds confidence. The issue of advertising and editorial separation has been a hot discussion topic among online and traditional journalists. The findings about the separation of advertising and editorial content should be reassuring to those site managers who are trying to find new ways of attracting revenue. However, it might be too early to relax about this finding, as poorly labeled content could have a negative affect in the long run. In addition to the results of its two surveys, the ONA's Digital Journalism Credibility Study presents a broader discussion of the professional experiences and insights. Among the topics covered are: Who is a journalist? This includes a discussion on journalistic training and experience. What kinds of challenges to credibility have downsizing, reorganization and retrenchment posed? What kinds of training or professional perspectives should media workers in online newsrooms be expected to have - practically and ideally? Technical issues have typically taken precedence over ethical concerns when it comes to newsroom training, but that may be changing in online newsrooms. How are online newsrooms working through the challenges presented by the pressures to produce revenue? The report sites specific ways in which various news organizations are dealing with sponsored content and presents an in-depth discussion of advertising policies and processes. How are online newsrooms handling the Web's two hallmark characteristics: immediacy and interactivity? While the push to get the story first remains very much a part of the online news industry culture, there's a clear recognition that getting it first is not as important as getting it right. Brand credibility is at stake. The issue of digital journalism credibility is broad and deep. The ONA study is a first look at many of the issues journalists -- print, broadcast, online -- will need to address if we are to take advantage of this new medium that allows almost instant publishing, unparalleled depth of content, and unique interactivity with readers. Just as developing online news medium continues to be an exciting challenge, so should the opportunity to secure and increase the medium's credibility with its readers. http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=3509

Copyright © 1995-2006 The Poynter Institute

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Westel to Operate Mobile Service?

 

Western Telesystems (WESTEL) Ghana Limited has been granted a licence by the National Communications Authority (NCA) to operate a mobile service.

This brings to five, the number of mobile telephony service providers in the country and the second state-owned company after Ghana Telecommunications Company (GhanaTelecom) to obtain a mobile service licence.   The acting Director-General of the NCA, Major John Tandoh (retd), on Tuesday, handed over the licence, which formally empowered the company to operate, to the acting Managing Director of WESTEL, Ms Ursula Owusu, at a brief signing ceremony in Accra.   WESTEL, which is already plagued with problems of meeting its targets, as far as, fixed line service is concerned, comes at a time the mobile sector has become more competitive. Presently, Scancom Ghana Limited, operators of Areeba, holds the lion share of the market with up to 52.4 per cent of the total number of subscribers of 3,798,096 as of the first quarter of the year.   It is followed by Millicom Ghana Limited's tiGO GSM mobile service with 770,154 subscribers, GhanaTelecom's Onetouch with 711,119 and Kasapa Telecom, operators of Kasapa mobile service with 136,823 subscribers.   The company, which is in competition with GhanaTelecom fixed line service, lags behind in the competition, with only a little over 2,816 subscribers, constituting about one per cent of the total market share of 348,397 subscribers nationwide.   But Ms Owusu, after receiving the licence, indicated that WESTEL was not deterred by the competition in the market because, "we have studied all that we need to launch ourselves into the market and capture a substantial part of the market share with all the innovative products we have under our sleeves". WESTEL obtained a licence to operate as the country's second fixed line service operator about seven years ago and has since not been able to meet its targets of rolling out up to 100,000 fixed lines to its subscribers over a period throughout the country.   In September 2005, 66.7 per cent stake in the company was sold to the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), which was then the minority shareholder in the business, by ACG Telesystems (Ghana) Limited, the then majority shareholder, following a multiparty discussion between the government of Ghana and all the stakeholders of the company. This makes GNPC, which is also owned by the state, the sole shareholder of WESTEL.   To recapitalise the ailing company as part of its privatisation process, GNPC subsequently invited bids from companies for the appointment of a Transaction Advisor to assist it select what has become a common palance as a "strategic investor" for the company.   According to Ms Owusu, the privatisation process was on-going and it was expected that the process would be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2007, after which the company would fully commence business to as she put it, "give the four a run for their money".   "The road to this day has not been easy and smooth and that alone challenges us to give Ghanaians what they deserve", she said optimistically.   Ms Owusu admitted that the company had faced a lot of challenges since the first day it was granted a licence to operate the fixed line service and noted that the new WESTEL was more than rejuvenated to roll-out more fixed line service, mobile service, as well as, high speed data services.   Asked about the source of funding for the company to undertake its ambitious roll-out programme, Ms Owusu said "we know what we are about but I will not tell you where the money is coming from".   She said the company was aware of the penalties should it fail, and stressed that competing with others, would had been motivate to deliver.   On the company's public payphones which were almost out of the system, she said it was a strategic decision by the management of the company to phase that service out because it was not profitable.   She said the company in its new focus was looking more into the future and was ready to put money where it would have return on investments.   Mr Tandoh congratulated the company for its fight to get the licence to operate as the fifth mobile phone service provider in the country.   He pledged the commitment of the NCA to ensure that WESTEL survived the competition

 

From: http://www.ghananewstoday.com/gnt_cn_detailb.cfm?tblNewsCatID=21&tblNewsID=2435