Ever heard of the Open Channel Video Slam? You say no? Here is the right answer. It boils down to 22 filmmakers locked up in a Melbourne bar for 33 hours to produce a ten minute film. The challenge? Use only Creative Commons material.

APCNews interviewed Nicholas P. Sullivan, author of ‘You Can Hear Me Now: How Microloans and Cell Phones are Connecting the World’s Poor to the Global Economy’, a book published in February 2007 by Jossey-Bass. Sullivan argues that ‘inclusive capitalism", combined with the ‘external combustion engine’ are better approaches to development than foreign aid. Do you agree?

Grant McHerron always has a joke and formidable technical skils to share. Or so it seemed when APCNews ran into APC.au’s technical director in Sydney, Australia, during the APC’s Asia-Pacific members meeting, held in mid-April 2007.

The South Korean parliament is discussing a dangerous revision of the "Protection of Communications Secrets Act". So what? It seems quite clear that the revision would legally enforce telecommunications companies and internet service providers (ISPs) to retain ‘communications data’. But do people agree with this? APC-member in South Korea, Jinbonet, thinks not. International civil society organisations think not. They endorsed a letter of protest that was sent to the South Korean parliament

Soon after the launch of the CreativeCommons.org licensing programme for India, to the west, neighbouring Pakistan is working to get the same moving too. During a two-day workshop in Lahore, Pakistan, entitled "Towards an Open Information Society in Pakistan", issues of copyrights, intellectual property rights (IPR) and alternate forms of IPR were heavily discussed.

Eleven years after the Indian Supreme Court directed New Delhi to "open up the airwaves", campaigners who battled long for this to happen gave a sigh of relief when India finally opened up its broadcasts to community radio in mid November 2006.

The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, section Asia Pacific, condemns the military takeover in the Fiji islands. Particularly, the APC partner organisation expresses its solidarity and support for "femLINKPACIFIC: Media Initiatives for Women", one of its members in the Fiji islands. Read the entire press release.

Over the past few years, a considerable number of discussions have been conducted on linguistic diversity in the online world. It has brought with it a controversy, in part due to the fact that the spread of the internet is frequently hailed as a cause for the loss of cultural diversity. At the recent Internet Governance Forum though, much attention was given to the protection of our linguistic diversity.

An Indo-Pakistan encounter, in war or cricket, leaves behind tonnes of bitterness and rivalry. But, in information and communication technology, the main regret facing techies from both sides of the troubled South Asian sub-continent, is why they can’t work more effectively together, to tackle the common problems their people face.