Open access
Global Information Society Watch 2012
GISWatch 2012 explores how the internet is being used to ensure transparency and accountability, the challenges that civil society activists face in fighting corruption, and when the internet fails as an enabler of a transparent and fair society.
Open source software an important political tool, says MayFirst/People Link
APCNews speaks to Jamie McClellan, director of member organisation May First/People Link about the political importance of using free and open sourse software.
Have you watched our videos on spectrum for development videos yet?
Together with CIESPAL and with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), APC has developed seven videos that explain what radio spectrum is and how it can affect our rights.
Uganda is a ripe state for open governance data
In the context of APC’s Action Research Network project, CIPESA developed a series of reports as a result of their research in open government data in Uganda, which shows the increasing demand for transparency and accountability through the use of ICT, as well as the existence of great expectations of the benefits that OGD could bring to the country.
Going online is the same as going out to a rally
Thirty people from six continents met at the APC “Dialogue on digital security and women’s human rights defenders” to discuss regional and global trends on digital security, freedom of expression and freedom of association, and their impact on women’s human rights defenders. Katerina Fialova and Sonia Randhawa interviewed two of the participants.
Open spectrum for development launches website
APC’s initiative “Open Spectrum for Development,” which analyses spectrum regulation in Africa, Asia and Latin America, has its own website to feature materials produced from the project.
Crest Factor Reduction of an OFDM/WiMAX Network
African countries lag behind the rest of the world in their use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). To reduce the digital divide quickly and cost-effectively, wireless networks are considered. WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a wireless broadband access technology that uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) which is a multicarrier modulation scheme. OFDM presents a problem of a high crest factor or Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR). To circumvent this problem either High Power Amplifiers (HPAs) with large dynamic range or PAPR reduction techniques are used. The former scheme increases cost of the system while the latter introduces redundancy or distortion. A novel PAPR reduction scheme is presented. It is a combination of the ideas of Tone Reservation and Selected Mapping. The advantage of this scheme is that it has a lower complexity. It is simulated for a WiMAX system.
Making government accountable to citizens in Uganda and the region
Lillian Nalwoga from the Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) coordinated research on open governance data in Uganda as part of APC’s Action Research Network project. “Citizens, academia, the private sector and civil society need to be more involved in the implementation of open governance,” says Nalwoga in an interview with APCNews.
Developing countries utilise cost-effective option to bridge access gap
APCNews interviewed Ermanno Pietrosemoli from EsLaRed and Russel Southwood from Balancing Act on some of the issues covered during a workshop organised by APC at the recent WSIS Forum in Geneva. Both agreed that workshops on TV white spaces sensitises stakeholders to deal with spectrum allocation from an important perspective that supersedes commercial interests.
WSIS Forum 2012: TV White Spaces on the agenda
From 14-18 May Geneva will be hosting the WSIS Forum 2012, where the Association for Progressive Communications has organised two thematic workshops on May 17th, one of them under the subject Television White Spaces.
