Young but experienced Cambodian NGO joins APC

analia — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:58:09 -0300

MONTREAL (FD for APCNews) -

APC welcomes its new Cambodian member, Open Institute. “We see ourselves as facilitators,” explained Chim Manavy, executive director of the start-up NGO. “We facilitate communication, knowledge-sharing and gender equity through the strategic use of ICT and of the Khmer language”. What this means on the ground, is easy to understand when one takes a look at the track record of OI’s colleagues.

Internet powerhouse, Korea? Shame on its internet policies!

analia — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:58:30 -0300

SEOUL (Jinbonet for Jinbonet) -

The OECD ministerial meeting on “the Future of the Internet Economy” is being held in Seoul, Korea from June 17th to 18th. The Korean government seems to use this meeting as an opportunity to show off its advances of the Internet technology. However, no one would call a nation a ‘leading country of the Internet’ solely on its strong information technology base and IT industries. We hope this meeting would be a chance for the Korean government to recognize and feel embarrassed for its information and communication policies, including Internet policies, which violate many human-rights and is lagging behind. Read Jinbonent, APC member in Korea, press release.

apc.au celebrates Document Freedom Day

frederic — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:19:35 -0300

MELBOURNE (Grant McHerron for apc.au) -

APC member apc.au releases ten years of essays, lectures, reports and articles dealing with information communication technologies for cultural development to celebrate Document Freedom Day 2008

Alternative ICT trainers find their VOICE in Dhaka

frederic — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:27:48 -0300

DHAKA (Ahmed Swapan Mahmud for APCNews) -

A two-day training was held by VOICE on March 18th and 19th 2008 in Dhaka on information and communication technologies (ICTs). Online media and communication such as blogs and digital photography were expored. The creation, editing, optimisation and transferral of media for the web were of prime interest to the participants from non-profit organisations.

Information in Khmer about women's issues becomes available on the internet

webmaster — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 01:00:00 -0200

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (KONG Sidaroth) -

The Open Institute – a Cambodian NGO – launched a Khmer language web portal on October 24 2007. It will give non-profits, the government, and other organisations working on women’s issues in Cambodia easy access to legislation and latest developments related to women’s issues.

In Himalayan Nepal: Where language can propel FOSS

webmaster — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 01:00:00 -0300

GOA, INDIA (Frederick Noronha for APCNews) -

NepaLinux, an initiative to create a localised GNU/Linux distribution in the Nepali language, has been chosen as a joint-winner of the first APC Chris Nicol FOSS Prize, by an international jury. APC-member BytesForAll co-founder and journalist Frederick “FN” Noronha interviews NepaLinux’s Bal Krishna Bal, who explains the project’s relevance to FOSS local language computing solutions in Nepal, the challenges their project faced, why he carries on confidently, and his vision of the future.

It is not just a question of bread vs. radios: Community radio in India

webmaster — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:00:00 -0300

GOA, INDIA (Frederick Noronha) -

Other voices: The struggle for community radio in India, by two University of Hyderabad scholars, has just been published by Sage. BytesForAll’s Frederick Noronha interviews the authors of the book: Vinod Pavarala, Professor of Communication and Dean of the Sarojini Naidu School of Communication, University of Hyderabad, and Dr Kanchan K Malik, a lecturer at the university.

Cambodia: KhmerOS to have a social impact

frederic — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:28:46 -0300

PHNOM PENH (Javier Sola for Open Institute) -

The goal of the KhmerOS project is to produce the basic computer technology necessary for Cambodia to enter the age of technology. The requirements for this technology are clear: It must be in Khmer (Cambodian) language, sustainable, and well adapted to the socio-economic situation of the country. Cambodia not being a profitable market for software companies, the only option left to undertake this effort is to base it on free and open source software (FOSS), which allows translation, adaptation and free distribution of the software.

From the Philippines, a digital arts contest with social dimension

webmaster — Wed, 23 May 2007 01:00:00 -0300

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (Frederick Noronha for APCNews) -

WebSining is the Filipino name for a web-art contest, and this is what has been keeping the Manila-based Foundation for Media Alternatives busy of late. With its goal of encouraging artistic innovations in the intersection of art and technology, Websining this year introduced a new category: software art.