Declaration on ICT for Development

At the World Congress on ICT for Development held 10-12 September 2009 in Beijing, a declaration on ICT for development was created, which includes the following understandings and agreements:

1) Millennium Development Goal, for Remedying the Unbalancing Boat
2) Information Age, New Stage of Human Society
3) ICT, Effective Tool for Development in the New Age
4) Education, Key to the Use of ICT Tool
5) Responsibility for Governments and Citizens
6) Responsibility for International Organizations
7) Public Call

more detailed information: http://www.wcid-cic.org/home/view.php?id=137

Since some quite outdated concepts and views on sociocultural ICT practices are being deployed in this declaration, it certainly needs to consider current research projects and results e.g. from the fields of community informatics and media technology anthropology.

NishTV

NishTV and its founder Richard Ogima are using new and social media services to cover Aboriginal life in Canada and in particular in the region of Northern Ontario, the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. It broadcasts positive and inspiring messages about issues that concern Aboriginal people, e.g. homelessness in Vancouver in connection with the Olympics in 2010, or the challenge of losing weight. And NishTV reports from events and happenings in the Aboriginal communities, e.g. the 2009 Pow-Wow in Thunder Bay.

from http://www.nishtv.com/about-nishtv

NishTV is Northern Ontario’s hottest website that captures the heartbeat of the Anishinabek Community. We use video-media in a youthful, trendy and positive way to give the Native experience more zest and coolness. Our aim is to represent and give exposure to those cool people who never get recognized for the things they are doing or who need a little exposure because they are stepping out in the community with arts, leadership, business or other creative projects.
....

more at:
http://www.nishtv.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/nishtv?gl=CA&hl=en

The Indigenous Online Portal

The Indigenous Portal is a direct outcome of the World Summit on the Information Society where, amongst others, the potential and utilization of information and communication technologies for the world's indigenous peoples were discussed. It derives from an initiative of the International Indigenous ICT Task Force.

The portal blends services provided by social networking sites, such as myspace or facebook, with information and resources about indigenous peoples worldwide. After registration, users are offered a wide range of applications: from personal profiles to blogs and video uploading. In addition one can access information in form of articles, audio and video files dealing with different issues: from indigenous knowledge to health, education and politics. Using an online translation service, the English content of the portal can be translated - in rather poor quality - into other world languages, such as German, French or Chinese. But there is so far no translation service into an indigenous language.

If this portal is going to become the leading indigenous space in cyberspace remains to be seen.

More info about the portal:
http://www.indigenousportal.com
http://www.indigenousportal.com/ABOUT.html

Report on the CRASSH Workshop “Subversion, Conversion, Development"

Report
CRASSH Workshop “Subversion, Conversion, Development:
Public Interests in Technologies”
Cambridge, 24-26 April

prepared by Philipp Budka
(University of Vienna)

From the workshop’s abstract:
As part of the “New forms of knowledge for the 21st Century” research agenda at Cambridge University, the workshop will explore why designers and developers of new technologies should be interested in producing objects that users can modify, redeploy or redevelop. This exploration demands an examination of presuppositions that underpin the knowledge practices associated with the various productions of information communication technologies (ICT). A central question is that of diversity: diversity of use, of purpose, and of value(s). Does diversity matter, in the production and use of ICT, and if so, why?

The report on the workshop can be accessed as PDF document:
budka_CRASSHreport.pdf

Links:
http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/71/
http://vectors.usc.edu/thoughtmesh/publish/12.php

Computer(system)(probleme)

Als PC/Windows und Apple/MacOS User steht man manchmal vor schier unlösbaren Problemen. So habe ich einen Teil meiner ersten Woche hier in Toronto damit verbracht folgendes Problem zu lösen:

Um auch in Kanada meine E-Mails möglichst vollständig beisammen zu haben, nahm ich die persönliche Datei von Windows Outlook (.pst), die Postein- und Ausgang sowie sämtliche Ordner beinhaltet auf meiner externen Festplatte mit.

Nun weigerten sich aber sämtliche E-Mail Programme auf meinem Apple Powerbook, das ich nach Kanada mitgenommen hatte, diese Datei zu erkennen, geschweige denn zu importieren. Wie sich herausstellte ist das einzige Mac E-Mail Programm, das in der Lage ist eine solche pst-Datei zu importieren, die Mac-Version des Windows Programms Outlook 2001. Endlich gefunden und installiert stellte sich nach unzähligen Versuchen heraus, dass dieses Programm ausschließlich mit einem Microsoft Exchange Server funktioniert, der natürlich nicht kostenlos zu beziehen ist.

Bis jetzt habe ich es also nicht geschafft eine Lösung für dieses Problem zu finden. Ich arbeite jetzt mit einem IMAP E-Mail Account, der die E-Mails am Server lässt und ich diese dann auch auf meinen PC in Wien laden kann. Wahrscheinlich gibt es irgendeine einfache Lösung, die ich nicht in der Lage war zu finden. Auf jeden Fall habe ich wieder mal durch die Benutzung zweier unterschiedlicher Computersysteme eine Menge dazu gelernt...

Willkommen!

Nun bin ich also auch den Bloggern beigetreten und werde auf diese Weise mit allen Interessierten, Texte und Bilder teilen, die ich so produziere und nicht vergesse online zu stellen.

Kommentare und Anregungen sind natürlich erwünscht.

Informationen zu meinen beruflichen Tätigkeiten finden sich auf meiner Website: www.philbu.net