ICT4-D Topics/Themes

Some questions for Journalists to consider

Description of Activity

• Does it address access issues? If so how? What groups?
• How will it be implemented and how soon will one see the benefits?
• How many sectors does the policy address? What are these sectors?

Political considerations:

• What level of political will is there that is backing the policy?
• What indications are there for this?

Regulatory Framework:

• Is there a regulatory framework in place?
• How does it work and how effective is it?
• Does it promote access, investments, and competition?
• What are the legal and policy gaps?

Policy awareness:

• Are citizens are aware of the policy and what was the level of consultation?
• How was consultation carried out?

• ICT policy and strategies document (NICI) plan for the country
• Legal text voted by parliaments
• Institutional framework for ICT promotion created by government
• Creation of Ministry of ICT promotion
• Implementation of Telecommunication Regulation organization;
• All legal documents related to ICT promotion

Useful links

http://allafrica.com/stories/

200311050066.html

http://www.apdip.net/asian-forum

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia

/3235553.stm

• How will new information systems introduced make Government business more efficient?
• How will services be improved?
• Who are they beneficiaries and what are their views?
• Who are the people in the society that depend on government services? How will they be best served?

Readiness of country for e-Government:

• How has the Government prepared for this activity? Levels of strategic thinking and leadership
• Is there infrastructure in the country and within the government to support the data systems?
• Does the country have the requisite legal and institutional frameworks?
• What kind of human and technological capacity is there to support e-government initiatives in the country?

Readiness of citizens:

• Are citizens aware of the services being offered through an e-Government project?
• How is it helping them and how do they find the level of efficiency?
• What percentage of citizens have access to Internet/computers if services are online?
• Are there any alternatives for accessing services besides going online?

• Government Intranet
• Information access point for administration services delivery;
• Ministries E-strategies initiatives;
• Government website and success stories resource centers

Useful links :

http://www.sdnp.undp.org /perl/news/articles.pl? id=5766&do=gpage

http://firstmonday.org/issues

/issue8_11/blakemore/index.html

http://cdsea.org/CDSKnowledge

/cds2_activities/c2c/e-governance

/egov-forum.htm

• Does the level of telecom infrastructure allow for e-commerce activities?
• What is the role of the telecom sector in the country? To what extent are they providing the necessary infrastructure?
• What kind of reforms are taking place to create enabling an environment?
• What is the level of Internet access?
• What about the e-commerce infrastructure itself?
• Is the appropriate legal system in place?
• What is the market size and content?
• What is the pricing structure?
• What are the benefits for Africa: wired versus wireless?
• In the absence of an appropriate infrastructure what alternatives are there for introducing e-commerce?

the conduct of commerce in goods and services, with the assistance of telecommunications and telecommunications-based tools

• E-services initiatives

Useful links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com

http://www.asiafoundation.org

/ICT/reports.html

http://www.escwa.org.lb

/wsis/conference/documents

/ict.pdf

www.crito.uci.edu/GIT/

project3.asp

Alternatives such as m-commerce, for instance.

• How will infrastructure issues be addressed? With public funding?
• Is there a role for the private sector?

Rural connectivity:

• Is rural access a consideration?
• What kinds of plans (financing, build-up) exist for rural connectivity?
• How can rural connectivity be achieved?
• What would costs be like and can rural people afford the services?

Availability of bandwidth:

• What kind of bandwidth capacity do you have a given country to determine the speed of information/data transmission?
• How much does the country pay for bandwidth?
• Which groups have access?
• Availability of equipment
• How affordable are computers?

/download/216288/

Internet_prices_in_Africa.pdf

http://www.nilebasin.org

http://www.nextnetwireless.com

/press_100203.asp

/download/209879/DevelopNet

_Proposal.doc

• What kind of technological choices does a country have?
• What are the cost benefits?
• How do you measure its appropriateness for a country?
• How does it advance a country's interconnectivity and the interoperability of information systems?
• Is there a standardization policy for purchasing equipment for instance?
• How accessible and affordable is the technology?

• What are relevant initiatives to improve access to Health services by the community in the country?
• What are relevant ICTs applications to improve nutrition in the country?

• Telemedecine
• Health portal
• Nutrition portal
• Virtual link between health center
• E-learning in Health domain
• Radio communication network based on solar energy to link rural and urban areas

Useful links

http://www.cdisc.org/

http://www.eudravigilance.org

/meddra.htm

http://www.loinc.org/

http://www.hl7.org/

• Are there examples of projects that aim at empowering women via ICTs?
• How accessible and affordable are ICT expertise and opportunities for women in the country?
• How easy is access to ICT education by Women?
• Are ICTs being used by women entrepreneurs for e-commerce? What has been the impact?

• Info-web portal for women (development of gateway on special features on empowering women using ICT);
• Discussing list on women issues;
• Women telecenter

Useful links

http://www.worldbank.org /wbi/B-SPAN/sub_ict_rural.htm

http://www.owl.ru/english /content/

• What innovations or projects exist on using ICT in agriculture and rural development?
• How ICT can help farmers and rural development in agricultural techniques or in relevant information on farming methods and so on?

• Land portal and resource center
• Rural community radio linked to Internet resources

Useful links

http://www.revdept-01.kar.nic.in

/Bhoomi/Home.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2 /hi/south_asia/3235553.stm

http://lnweb18.worldbank.org /ESSD/ardext.nsf/26ByDocName/AKISResearchExtension

• How do ICT applications in Education help in training from primary to University or other vocational education systems?
• What is the education policy implemented that will gradually incorporate the use ICT to solve problems faced in schools?
• How is ICT applied in distance learning?
• How is ICT integrated in education and in an out-of-school context?
• How can ICT be used to enhance life-long learning?
• How is ICT helping to improve qualified ICT expertise and skills within the country?
• What is the ICT R&D policy in the country if it exists?

• Distance learning Initiative
• Learning platform for students and faculty
• Resources center for research and development
• Discussing lists within students on ICT4D
• Discussing lists within Universities and Academia institution on ICT4D

Useful links

http://www.asiaweek.com /asiaweek/features /mba/main2.html

http://authors.elsevier.com/http://www.publishingtrends.com /copy/03/0310/0310phoenix.htm

• Are there relevant initiatives where ICT is being used for the development of indigenous people and communities?

• Connectivity for rural community activities;
• African language on Internet;
• Image touch screen including local language initiatives;
• Community radio combined with Internet access initiatives
• Indigenous tribal culture virtual museum;
• Traditional knowledge

Useful links

http://www.oyate.com/

http://www.digitalopportunity.org

/article/view/70348/1/

http://www.uneca.org/aisi /IConnectAfrica/v1n5.htm/

• What are the available ICT applications to reduce poverty and empower the poor to help themselves ?

· Activities related to community development

Useful links

http://www.i4donline.net/issue/may03/kenneth.htm

http://www.cities-lyon.org/devecoAL

• What are the efforts within the country to promote the development of open source and free software?
• What policy is available in the future about the issue in the country?

• Legal text on open source software;
• Open source association;
• Training open source software in schools

Useful links

http://allafrica.com/stories /200311050590.html

http://www.silicon.com /software/os/print.htm? TYPE=story&AT=39116677- 39024651t-40000022c

• What are the types of public access initiatives within the country that provide useful web resources to the community?
• Where are they implemented?
• Do community telecenters, Internet kiosks, Internet cafes, mobile community access points exist in the country? How effective are they?

Useful links

http://news.com.com /2100-1028_3-5097379.html ?tag=nefd_top

http://www.nextnet wireless.com/press_100203.asp

• Are there initiatives to increase public awareness about the various applications of ICT in the economy and society, business and government? Examples at national, subregional and regional levels?

• Weekly news on ICT4D in radio or TV stations
• Media network for ICT promotion at country level
• Media network for ICT promotion at regional level

Useful links

http://www.nilebasin.org

http://www.dgroups.org/

http://www.developmentgateway.com /itsd

• What are the efforts in the country to build human and institutional capacity in utilizing ICT in the economy and society, business and government?

• ICT learning outside school environment;
• Government initiative to help public personal to have computer at home;
• Promotion of ICT training centers
• Streamlining ICT in national budget

·

• What is the difference between analog and digitalized radio systems?

• CD-Rom data exp of digitized data;
• Digitized radio station
• Old Radio station equipment

• What is Internet or network bandwidth?
• Bandwidth for a country?
• Bandwidth for all?
• How does bandwidth in major towns compare to available bandwidth in remote and rural areas ?
• How much text, sound and video bandwidth is consuming bandwidth?

• Make comparision with water pump of something else;
• Internal digital divide means the difference of bandwidth access between town and remote or rural area in the same country?
• Situation we can call inequality in the Bandwidth service delivery-

• Is it necessary for your radio station to have all the major equipment before having access to an e-mail address or a website?
• Do you need to have Internet subscribe from an Internet Service Provider?

• Subscribe to ISP for mailbox, access to the web, space for broadcasting or for WebPages or advertisement

• Broadcast possibilities (discussion lists, mailing list, professional broadcasting; streaming - live, web casting)

• Radio and video on Internet
• Technology option that allow to post audio and video files on the web.
• Radio and Video streaming
• Web casting
• Live Radio definition
• Live Video definition
• Streaming package
• Cable TV?