September 2008 - KICTANet

Proposed ICANN Bylaws Revision Open For Comment
by alice＠apc.org 24 Sep '08

24 Sep '08

Proposed Bylaws Revision Open For Comment 23 September 2008 Today ICANN is opening a public comment period on a proposed bylaw revision [PDF, 21K] from the ICANN Nominating Committee. The proposed revision would update the diversity requirements for selecting ICANN Board members to include domicile with country of citizenship. Over the past several years, the Nominating Committee has expressed concern that being required to count more than one country of citizenship for diversity purposes often makes it difficult to select the best candidates for the Board seats that the Nominating Committee is mandated to fill. In carrying out its responsibilities to fill Seats 1 through 8, the Nominating Committee shall seek to ensure that the ICANN Board is composed of members who in the aggregate display diversity in geography, culture, skills, experience, and perspective, by applying the criteria set forth in Bylaws. The Nominating Committee also noted that some of the candidates have often lived in a country for many years, and thereby better represent the interests of that country than any country of which the candidates may be citizens. In the proposal, domicile, not just citizenship, is to be considered in the diversity calculation. The Nominating Committee members unanimously agreed that the proposed Bylaws revisions would alleviate the concerns. During the 28 August 2008 meeting of the ICANN Board of Directors, the Board passed the following resolution: Whereas, the Nominating Committee has expressed concern that, pursuant to the Bylaws mandated diversity requirements that no more than five Board members be citizens of any one geographic region, the Nominating Committee is required to count all countries of citizenship for each candidate. Whereas, the Nominating Committee has noted that the requirement to count all countries of citizenship has caused some selection difficulties each year over the past several years. Whereas, the Nominating Committee has also expressed concern that the calculation is presently limited to citizenship given that many people have lived for long periods of time in, and represent the interests of, countries in which they may not be citizens. Whereas, making a diversity calculation pursuant to the ICANN Bylaws as it relates to Board member selection for seats 1 through 14 should be consistent. It is hereby resolved (2008.08.28.03) that the following proposed revisions to Article VI, Sections 2.2 and 2.3, shall be posted for public comment in accordance with ICANN's normal process for proposed Bylaw revisions. Comments on the proposed bylaw revision may be submitted to nomcom-bylaw-revision(a)icann.org will be considered until 23 October 2008 23:59 UTC. Comments may be viewed at http://forum.icann.org/lists/nomcom-bylaw-revision/.

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FW: LINK CENTRE: REMINDER: MM(ICTPR) 2009 - Applications now open
by Edith Adera 23 Sep '08

23 Sep '08

FYI _____ From: link-info-bounces(a)lists.wits.ac.za [mailto:link-info-bounces@lists.wits.ac.za] On Behalf Of Charley Lewis Sent: 23 September 2008 13:01 To: link-info(a)lists.wits.ac.za Cc: Sue-Ellen Donough Subject: LINK CENTRE: REMINDER: MM(ICTPR) 2009 - Applications now open With Heritage Day upon us, the end of the year is just around the corner, and the closing date for MM(ICTPR) applications is equally not far off. What are your plans for 2009? Will you be studying further to grow your skills, enrich your capacity and increase your pay cheque? Look no further than the LINK Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand. Applications are now open for the 2009 intake into Africa's only residential Master's level degree with a dedicated focus on policy and regulation in the ICT sector. See the attached brochure for further information. The sooner you get your application in, the sooner you will receive your notification of acceptance (subject to you meeting the required criteria), and the sooner your future in 2009 will be assured. Please also pass this information on to those of your colleagues and associates who may be planning on further study in 2009. For more information please contact Sue-Ellen Donough on +27 11 717-3698. Charley Lewis Senior Lecturer, LINK Centre URL: http://link.wits.ac.za Mwalimu House, School of Public & Development Management, University of the Witwatersrand 2 St David's Place, Parktown, 2193, SOUTH AFRICA ==> Master of Management in ICT Policy & Regulation: <blocked::http://link.wits.ac.za/training/training4.html> http://link.wits.ac.za/training/training4.html ==> Certificate in Telecomms Policy, Regulation & Management: http://link.wits.ac.za/training/tc1.html This communication is intended for the addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the original message. You may not copy or disseminate this communication without the permission of the University. Only authorized signatories are competent to enter into agreements on behalf of the University and recipients are thus advised that the content of this message may not be legally binding on the University and may contain the personal views and opinions of the author, which are not necessarily the views and opinions of The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All agreements between the University and outsiders are subject to South African Law unless the University agrees in writing to the contrary.

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Consumer Affairs: Call Drops/Call Fails
by Eric Aligula 20 Sep '08

20 Sep '08

All: Over the last six months I have experienced a number of call fails/call drops on the Safaricom network. Or you call, the line goes through and there is no reception of voice from the person being called? I would like to know whether there are consumers out there on this list or elsewhere on the local networks who have experienced the same? What solutions have been proffered? Are there any financial implications related to these call fails or call drops? In other words, am I charged for a call fail or call drop? What remedies they may have applied and what recourse consumers would have in respect of the various providers? Kind regards Eric Aligula Magolo, PhD Senior Analyst Infrastructure and Economic Services Division Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) P.O. Box 56445, 00200 Nairobi, Kenya Telephone: +254-20-2719933/4 Fax: +254-20-2719951 E-mail: jairah(a)kippra.or.ke <mailto:jairah@kippra.or.ke> URL: www.kippra.org <http://www.kippra.org/> Proudly Kenyan "In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility..........I welcome it." John F. Kennedy "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke "Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory, nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt "Ex Africa semper aliquid novi"

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Review, identify gaps and enhance the quality of the Certificate of ICT (CICT) qualification
by Al Kags 20 Sep '08

20 Sep '08

The Kenya ICT Board and KASNEB have formed a partnership to review, identify gaps and enhance the quality of the Certificate of ICT (CICT) qualification that is managed by KASNEB and offered by various ICT institutions in Kenya. This collaboration will cover, among other areas:- - Working together towards enhancing quality ICT skills in the country - Marketing CICT to get industry buy in and endorsement at the same level as CPA. - Collaborate in conducting a baseline study/survey to determine the deficiency of ICT skills and type of skills required. - Collaborate to lobby for appropriate legal provisions for the establishment of an Institute for the CICT graduates, recognizing KASNEB as the examining and the certification body for ICT graduates. - Work to gain industry acceptance of CICT certification on same quality rating as CPA. The Kenya ICT Board wishes to convene an ICT Public Panel to develop industry and stake holder input into the review. We invite the participation of key sector players in the industry on a voluntary basis, as represented below:- - Industry players (IT products and services suppliers/manufactures including Developer Community, Skunkworks etc) - 5 representatives - Business Process Outsourcing and Call Centres - 2 representatives - Colleges representatives - 3 representatives - University representatives - 3 representatives - Student representatives – 5 - Related government ministry's representatives - 3 - Multinational Corporations - 2 TORs of the Panel. To review the state of ICT skills in Kenya with a view to identifying gaps and therefore make recommendations for addressing those gaps as seen in a global context. The Public Panel deliberations will be made out of a maximum of three meetings at the Kenya ICT Board Offices on Waiyaki way specifically on: - - Tuesday, September 9, 2008 at 10 am - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 10 am - Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 10 am The recommendations will be presented to KASNEB for the review of the Certification Curriculum, on September 26, 2008 at a venue to be communicated closer to the date. This initiative is guided by the Kenya ICT Board's Strategic Objectives, mainly: - To develop and promote competitive ICT Institutions in Kenya - To develop and promote competitive ICT industries in Kenya TO PARTICIPATE To participate, kindly contact the Public Panels team on publicpanels(a)ict.go.ke . Please attach a brief profile of yourself and the sector that you represent. The Board will then formally invite you to participate in the Panel. While the formal invitations will be issued entirely at the discretion of the board, the broad criteria for participation is as follows:- - Demonstrated experience and knowledge in the sub-sector - Expressed willingness to serve pro bono - Demonstrated general understanding of the educational offering in the sector. We also welcome via email to publicpanels(a)ict.go.ke written submission on this topic, representations and opinions from the sector towards this important exercise and they will also be collated with the report.

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Advanced FOSS E-Learning portal
by Gakuru Alex 19 Sep '08

19 Sep '08

"Open Source & More IT for African Business" - release of advanced e-learning courses on Information Technology InWEnt/it@ab releases a series of advanced e-learning courses on Information Technology (IT)- "Open Source & More IT for African Business" focussing on the needs of business related IT consultancy in Africa. "Open Source & More IT for African Business" has been developed by it@ab, the Southern African Network on "Information Technology in African Business", a project of InWEnt - Capacity Building International, Germany, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). For more information on it@ab, please see: http://www.it-ab.org. Learning "Open Source & More IT for African Business" is a compilation of advanced e-learning courses covering six topics related to business & IT consultancy in an African context. The courses introduce relevant and adapted key concepts and applications such as 1. E-Business Applications & Architecture 2. IT Security 3. Open Source IT (including lessons on Ubuntu Linux Installation, Multimedia, Web Server, Groupware, Network Printing) 4. Web Publishing 5. E-Learning as well as 6. Zope & the Collaborative Learning Environment CLE2. The focus lies on "Free and Open Source Software" (FOSS) as a key technology to drive innovation, add local value and create sustainable and affordable ICT-solutions. The courses are organized as online modules for self-study and include lessons, tests and selected references. They provide an overview of and introduction to important concepts from intermediate to advanced level. This way, they address a wide range of potential users. These include both IT specialists and executive staff from IT businesses in Africa and beyond, technology-savvy development practitioners as well as power users of IT. The courses are available at: - http://cle2.it-inwent.net/LearningSpace/osam/ (CLE) or at - http://gc21.inwent.org/OpenSource (Global Campus 21, Login and password: "guest"). <http://ict-innovation.fossfa.net/blog/petra/open-source-more-it-african-bus…>

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Application Round Opens for ICANN Mexico City Meeting Fellowships
by alice 19 Sep '08

19 Sep '08

Application Round Opens for Mexico City Meeting Fellowships Program supports global representation at ICANN's International Public Meetings 18 September 2008 *MARINA DEL REY, Calif.*: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has launched its latest round of fellowship program applications for its 34th International Public Meeting to be held in Mexico City from 1-6 March 2009. "ICANN is a global organization and our work touches every country on the planet," said Theresa Swinehart , ICANN's Vice President, Global and Strategic Partnerships. “Our fellowship program ensures that as many countries as possible can take part in the ICANN meeting and in the variety of public forums that will be held.” An example of the diversity supported by the Fellowship program is the upcoming meeting in Cairo. At that meeting there will be 30 fellows from 25 countries, chosen from 89 applications received. There are 12 fellowship alumni, 11fellows are first-time attendees to an ICANN meeting and the remaining 7 have attended past meetings, but are first time fellows. Priority is given to applicants who are current residents of developing and least developed nations and interested in participating in ICANN and its supporting organizations, such as the Governmental Advisory Committee, the Country Code Names Supporting Organization, and the Generic Names Supporting Organization. The fellowship will assist in covering airfare, hotel and a stipend. Recipients will be expected to actively participate in and contribute to ICANN processes. As always, registration for ICANN's meetings is free for anyone wanting to attend. Applications for Mexico City will be accepted from now until 1200 PDT (UTC -7) on 27 October. More information, as well as a link to the application for a fellowship, is available online at: http://www.icann.org/en/fellowships/ <http://www.icann.org/en/fellowships> -30- *About ICANN: * ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's system of unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum and country codes like .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols that help computers reach each other over the Internet. Careful management of these resources is vital to the Internet's operation, so ICANN's global stakeholders meet regularly to develop policies that ensure the Internet's ongoing security and stability. ICANN is an internationally organized, public benefit non-profit company. For more information please visit: www.icann.org <http://www.icann.org/>. *Media Contacts: * Jason Keenan Media Adviser, ICANN (USA) Ph: +1 310 382 4004 E: jason.keenan(a)icann.org <mailto:jason.keenan@icann.org> International: Andrew Robertson Edelman (London) Ph: +44 7921 588 770 E: andrew.robertson(a)edelman.com <mailto:andrew.robertson@edelman.com> --- You are currently subscribed to aisi-l as: [alice(a)apc.org] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-aisi-l-84914M(a)lyris.bellanet.org

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ICT Legislation In Kenya: Mukimwo or Buffet?
by Brian Munyao Longwe 18 Sep '08

18 Sep '08

Hi all, We at a workshop in Mombasa to look at the "Mukimwo" that has been made in the form of the Communications Amendment Bill. What is "mukimwo" some of you might ask? Also known as "Kienyeji" - it is a mix of maize corn, potatoes, green leaves (mchicha?) and often a variety of other things including meat, tomatoes, bananas, onions, cabbage etc...the thoroughly mashed together. Well, this - in my view - is kind of what we are looking at here. A single bill which combines many different issues in an attempt to satisfy the deep hunger in the ICT sector with one meal. Well, some of us are of the opinion that it is better to have a buffet of ICT legislation. Separate, discrete laws that deal to the necessary depth with issues as diverse as cybercrime, computer misuse/fraud, electronic transactions, digital signatures, privacy and personal information etc. Without trying to mash them all together as the current draft does. So my question is, do you prefer Mukimwo or Buffet? Brian Sent from my iPhone

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Not Mukimwo after all
by Brian Munyao Longwe 18 Sep '08

18 Sep '08

Hi all, Seems I had my meals mixed up. We are actually discussing electronic transactions. Regards, Brian Sent from my iPhone

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IFIP Technical Committee on Human Computer Interaction
by waudo siganga 18 Sep '08

18 Sep '08

Dear Colleagues, Prof. Annelise Mark Pejtersen, the Chair of the IFIP Technical Committee on Human-Computer Interaction -TC.13 - ([1]http://csmobile.upe.ac.za/ifip/) has asked me to appoint a Kenyan for that Committee. Please visit the link if you are interested to learn more about that TC or [2]www.ifip.org to learn generally about IFIP and its other committees. The work will include one annual physical meeting with possibility of travel support. TC.13 is also responsible for the annual conference INTERACT, of which the next one will be held in Uppsala, Sweden in 2009. IFIP work will suit those with a Scientific/Academic/Research/Application bias. If you are interested please drop me a one-paragraph note indicating how you fit into the area of Human-Computer Interaction. Kind Regards, Waudo References 1. http://csmobile.upe.ac.za/ifip/ 2. http://www.ifip.org/ Life is but a series of decisions and consequences therefrom

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Fwd: [Physical] Vodacom Launches Three New Exciting "Speaking Phones" for Persons with Visual Impairment
by Judy Okite 18 Sep '08

18 Sep '08

FYI I think this is the coolest thing...its a high time we saw more initiatives like this! Media Release for Immediate Publication Nikki van der Westhuizen [mailto:nikkivdw@meropa.co.za] *Vodacom Launches Three New and Exciting "Talking Phones" for Persons with Special Needs, Especially those who are Blind or Partially Sighted* * * *18 September 2008* * * Vodacom has launched three new Vodacom Speaking Phones as part of its drive to make cellular communication accessible to people with specific needs, specifically customers who are blind or partially sighted. "Vodacom is proud to be the first operator in South Africa to increase accessibility to cellular communication products and services in line with our Specific Needs Initiative launched in 2004," says Dot Field, Chief Communications Officer, Vodacom Group. Text-to-speech software is loaded onto the Vodacom Speaking Phones that converts the information displayed on the cellphone screen to speech, including text messages and contacts. This software also enables the user to check other information, including battery life and signal strength. Speaking phones are available on Vodacom Contract-, Top Up- and Prepaid packages and are available at participating Vodacom approved outlets. "Vodacom Speaking Phone users will not pay extra for the text-to-speech software as Vodacom has subsidised this cost," says Field. The focus of the Specific Needs Initiative is accessibility: access to the company, access to information and access to Vodacom's products and services for all. Karen Smit, Senior Specialist for Specific Needs and Employment Equity at Vodacom Group and a disabled Vodacom employee herself, highlights the need for such products and services within the cellular industry, "We are proud to be the pioneers of this service in South Africa, and on the continent as a whole. At Vodacom, accessibility is always top of mind and as a disabled person I understand how important independence, accessibility and mobility is." Vodacom will continue to offer the "voice bill" service which allows visually impaired or blind customers access to their itemised billing electronically through reader software on their computers. For more information on Vodacom Speaking Phones, customers can contact Vodacom's dedicated Specific Needs Contact Centre, which aims to provide information and assistance on their products and services to customers with disabilities. The Specific Needs Contact Centre can be reached on 12580, free from a Vodacom cellphone, or on 082 12580 from any other phone (standard rates apply). Customers can also send an SMS to 12580 (free from a Vodacom cellphone) or email to 12580(a)vodacom.co.za. Information is available on the Vodacom website: www.vodacom.co.za, under the Specific Needs section. Ends Issued on behalf of: Dot Field Chief Communications Officer Vodacom Group ##### For Further Information, Please Contact: Nikki van der Westhuizen Meropa Communications +27 11 772 1029 * * __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 3450 (20080918) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com _______________________________________________ Physical mailing list Physical(a)napsa.org.za http://lists.napsa.org.za/mailman/listinfo/physical -- "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

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