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AfriNIC board
by Alice Wanjira 29 Mar '06

29 Mar '06

Dear Colleagues, This year, two seats will be vacant on the AfriNIC board. They are: a) Seat 3: for the Southern African sub-region (Primary and alternate) Mandate: 2006 to 2009 b) Seat 4: The Eastern Africa sub-region (Primary and Alternate) Mandate: 2006 to 2009 Who can seat on the Board? ========================= Anybody resident in one of the above sub-regions. Nominees should have good experience/background in the Internet environment, be able to participate actively in all activities conferred to the BoT by the AfriNIC bylaws (Section 16) and, as the working language is English, candidates should have a minimum comprehension of the English language. How to nominate: ================ Nominations should be sent to board-nomination(a)afrinic.net using the template below. Self-nomination is allowed but it must be supported by at least two different people either from or outside the nominee's sub-region. ----------------------------- AfriNIC Board Nomination form ----------------------------- Nominated by (full Name): Nominee (Full Name): Organization (or affiliation): Physical address: e-mail address: Phone number: Fax number: Country and sub-region: Brief statement explaining the candidate's background and motivation (Not more than 500 words): ** You may want to add a picture (it will appear with your details online) ----------- The deadline for Candidacy/Nominations is Tuesday April 4th 2006 at 08:00 GMT Election process policies: http://www.afrinic.net/bot/afbot-elp200502.htm Kind regards. -

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Fwd: Internet Governance Forum "theme" proposal: global free expression
by Florence Etta 29 Mar '06

29 Mar '06

FYI FE -------------------------------------------------------- The new multistakeholder Internet Governance Forum will meet October 30-Nov. 2 in Athens Greece. Currently we are debating what "themes" or topics will be on the agenda. A group of NGOs, including Internet Governance Project, Article 19, and Reporters Sans Frontiers are trying to get the following theme on the agenda: THEME PROPOSAL: Internet content filtering and free expression a. The proposed theme Are the Internet filtering and censorship practices of states compatible with Article XIX of the UN Declaration on Human Rights? Is it possible to develop a protocol to guide private Internet service providers and hosting companies toward ethical interactions with the governments of countries that heavily regulate and censor content? How can countries with different notions of legal and illegal content reconcile these differences in a way that maximizes the freedom and value of the Internet and makes it possible for Internet service providers to operate in a more secure and stable legal environment? b. Why it is important Access to information and free communication is at the heart of the Internet's value. Conflicts over content controls have created a number of tensions, e.g., between multinational Internet service companies such as Google, Yahoo, Cisco Systems, Microsoft and various national governments. Content regulation, filtering and censorship are issues that do not fall within the scope of any existing international body, but cut across many of them; e.g., UNESCO, ICANN, ITU and WIPO. c. How it is in conformity with the Tunis Agenda Paragraph 42 of the Tunis Agenda reaffirms the UN's "commitment to the freedom to seek, receive, impart and use information, in particular, for the creation, accumulation and dissemination of knowledge." Paragraph 46 encourages "governments to reaffirm the right of individuals to access information according to the Geneva Declaration of Principles and other mutually agreed relevant international instruments, and to coordinate internationally as appropriate." Paragraph 60 expresses the recognition that "there are many cross-cutting international public policy issues that require attention and are not adequately addressed by the current mechanisms." d. How it fits within the mandate of the IGF as detailed in para 72; Paragraph 72(a) empowers the Forum to "discuss public policy issues related to key elements of Internet governance in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development of the Internet." 72(b) mandates it to "facilitate discourse between bodies dealing with different cross-cutting international public policies regarding the Internet and discuss issues that do not fall within the scope of any existing body." e. Who the main actors in the field are, who could be encouraged to participate in the thematic session There are no "main actors" in this area but a wide variety of actors, e.g., individual dissidents, national and multinational internet service providers, national governments, civil society advocacy groups, professional associations in the news media, content rating standards proponents, and international organizations. f. Why this issue should be addressed in the first annual meeting of the Forum rather than in subsequent ones Freedom of expression is fundamental to the Internet. To discuss the issue of Internet governance without raising this vital question would deprive the IGF of all credibility as well as a successful outcome to its work. Such a decision would moreover raise an outcry among freedom of expression organisations and would tarnish this forum's image from its very first meeting. --------------------------------- How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos. Get Yahoo! Photos

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RE: [Africasource2-l] AfrISPA launches a paradigm shift to stimulateInternet growth through CONTENT
by Settimi, Stephen(GH/PRH/PEC) 27 Mar '06

27 Mar '06

Eric -Thank you for sharing this piece from the Digital Africa Summit. The position paper somewhat echoes the slogan of the past that "content is King". I believe it remains King, but regrettable the court has been filled with tommyrot and jesters. The need for more African content is especially important for African and non-Northern domains. Content relevancy is the key. An interesting counter-point to the value of content is a compelling paper by Andrew Odlyzko who argues that the real value in the Internet is found not in content -although ipso facto that is all the Internet can carry, but in peer-to-peer communications and knowledge sharing evidenced by the explosive use of file sharing, blogs, SMS, etc. An interesting read: http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_2/odlyzko/ Stephen Settimi Sr. Fellow, Knowledge Management USAID -----Original Message----- From: africasource2-l-bounces(a)lists.tacticaltech.org [mailto:africasource2-l-bounces@lists.tacticaltech.org] On Behalf Of Eric Osiakwan Sent: Friday, March 24, 2006 4:21 AM To: discuss(a)afrispa.org; AfriNIC Discuss; afnog(a)afnog.org Cc: africasource2-l(a)lists.tacticaltech.org; kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke; En-ISPA_Team(a)afrispa.org; tier(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu; committee(a)afrispa.org; fibre-for-africa(a)lists.apc.org; afix(a)afrispa.org; idlelo2(a)fossfa.net Subject: [Africasource2-l] AfrISPA launches a paradigm shift to stimulateInternet growth through CONTENT On Thursday 23rd of March 2006 at the keynote session of the Digital Africa Summit in Arebella Sheraton Grand Hotel, Cape Town, the African Internet Service Providers Association (AfrISPA @ www.afrispa.org) launched their first position paper in a series which is focused on strategies for increased Internet growth. "A call for a paradigm shift to stimulate Internet growth through content" is the first position paper which argues that based on research finding, most African are interested in the value they get out of connecting to the Internet and not just for the sake of having access. Primarily their interest is driven by the value of content that they locate which is relevant to their lives and business. According to Mr. Muriuki Mureithi of Summit Strategies who authored the report on behalf of AfrISPA, it was intriguing to realize that even in the semi-rural areas the interest of most small medium enterprises who could afford the Internet was content; they asked the question "would I find relevant material on the Internet which would aid the growth of my business?". For them it was not just enough to use the Internet to communicate but they also wanted to see how it fits into their business processes for growth. Further the position of the lack of African content on the Internet was expressed by some of the constituents interviewed in the study. Launching the report, Mr. William Stucke, Chairman of AfrISPA expressed AfrISPA's interest in identifying other mechanism for stimulating Internet growth on the continent hence the series of position papers being undertaken with support from the Catalysing Access to ICTs in Africa Programme (CATIA @ www.catia.ws) He outlined the ten point recommendations of the study and emphasised the one that asks AfrISPA members and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Africa to give a free webpage or weblog (blog) to all their clients as well as develop simple web publishing tools to help them publish their content. The main objective of this position paper it to make the case for Africans to move from being consumers to producers of content that is relevant to their livelihoods and business. The culture of generating, process and publishing content in Africa is so lacking that if we don't take a strategic step to deal with it, all the Internet pipes that are being built would lack the relevant content for our socio-economic development. Earlier, Mr. Eric M.K Osiakwan secretary of AfrISPA announced in his presentation that Africa now has fifteen Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) and twelve ISP Associations (ISPAs) however current efforts with other regional institutions would result in the establishment of ten more ISPAs and IXPs in 2006 with a projection of that to double in 2007. He emphasised that the growth of these exchanges is based on content and vice versa so the establishment of IXPs and the culture of developing and publishing content must go hand in hand. A copy of the study can be downloaded @ http://www.afrispa.org/PositionPapers/content.pdf NB: Apologise for crossposting. -- Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://afrispa.skybuilders.com/users/Eric/blog.html Slang: "Tomorrow Now" -- _______________________________________________ Africasource2-l mailing list Africasource2-l(a)lists.tacticaltech.org http://lists.tacticaltech.org/mailman/listinfo/africasource2-l

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Fwd: Fw: vacancy-Consultancy
by Florence Etta 27 Mar '06

27 Mar '06

FYI and sorry for cross posting! Cheers, FE --------------------------------- To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre.

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Fwd: Your message to kictanet awaits moderator approval
by Florence Etta 25 Mar '06

25 Mar '06

FYI Gatekeeping = Feedom of expression? FE kictanet-bounces(a)kictanet.or.ke wrote: Subject: Your message to kictanet awaits moderator approval From: kictanet-bounces(a)kictanet.or.ke Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2006 08:24:59 +0300 To: feanywhere(a)yahoo.co.uk Your mail to 'kictanet' with the subject Fwd: Internet Governance Forum "theme" proposal: global free expression Is being held until the list moderator can review it for approval. The reason it is being held: Too many recipients to the message Either the message will get posted to the list, or you will receive notification of the moderator's decision. If you would like to cancel this posting, please visit the following URL: http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/confirm/kictanet/8c305314158b4244807efc80ba1b… --------------------------------- Yahoo! Messenger NEW - crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail

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AfrISPA launches a paradigm shift to stimulate Internet growth through CONTENT
by Eric Osiakwan 24 Mar '06

24 Mar '06

On Thursday 23rd of March 2006 at the keynote session of the Digital Africa Summit in Arebella Sheraton Grand Hotel, Cape Town, the African Internet Service Providers Association (AfrISPA @ www.afrispa.org) launched their first position paper in a series which is focused on strategies for increased Internet growth. A call for a paradigm shift to stimulate Internet growth through content is the first position paper which argues that based on research finding, most African are interested in the value they get out of connecting to the Internet and not just for the sake of having access. Primarily their interest is driven by the value of content that they locate which is relevant to their lives and business. According to Mr. Muriuki Mureithi of Summit Strategies who authored the report on behalf of AfrISPA, it was intriguing to realize that even in the semi-rural areas the interest of most small medium enterprises who could afford the Internet was content; they asked the question would I find relevant material on the Internet which would aid the growth of my business?. For them it was not just enough to use the Internet to communicate but they also wanted to see how it fits into their business processes for growth. Further the position of the lack of African content on the Internet was expressed by some of the constituents interviewed in the study. Launching the report, Mr. William Stucke, Chairman of AfrISPA expressed AfrISPAs interest in identifying other mechanism for stimulating Internet growth on the continent hence the series of position papers being undertaken with support from the Catalysing Access to ICTs in Africa Programme (CATIA @ www.catia.ws) He outlined the ten point recommendations of the study and emphasised the one that asks AfrISPA members and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Africa to give a free webpage or weblog (blog) to all their clients as well as develop simple web publishing tools to help them publish their content. The main objective of this position paper it to make the case for Africans to move from being consumers to producers of content that is relevant to their livelihoods and business. The culture of generating, process and publishing content in Africa is so lacking that if we dont take a strategic step to deal with it, all the Internet pipes that are being built would lack the relevant content for our socio-economic development. Earlier, Mr. Eric M.K Osiakwan secretary of AfrISPA announced in his presentation that Africa now has fifteen Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) and twelve ISP Associations (ISPAs) however current efforts with other regional institutions would result in the establishment of ten more ISPAs and IXPs in 2006 with a projection of that to double in 2007. He emphasised that the growth of these exchanges is based on content and vice versa so the establishment of IXPs and the culture of developing and publishing content must go hand in hand. A copy of the study can be downloaded @ http://www.afrispa.org/PositionPapers/content.pdf NB: Apologise for crossposting. -- Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://afrispa.skybuilders.com/users/Eric/blog.html Slang: "Tomorrow Now" --

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ICT Sessional paper
by Muriuki Mureithi 23 Mar '06

23 Mar '06

Hi colleagues ICT is still high in the political agenda .Today at the official opening of parliament, the President mentioned telecommunications as one of the sectors that grew fast and contributed to high overall national growth. He restated the government commitment to the ICT sector and cited the government's approval of the National ICT Policy earlier in the year In the legislative agenda for this session of parliament, he said that the government will present - a Sessional paper on ICT - a ICT bill to repeal Kenya Communications Act of 1998 I did talk a number of MPs and senior officials in the ICT sector who were present and got away with following - there is concern that the well meaning initiative of the government may not be realised simply because of the speed of the parliament to enact laws. In the last year, only 7 bills were enacted against 25 presented for discussions. With this speed of delivery, it is worrying if Parliament can deliver the Sessional paper and the ICT bill before the elections. One thing that comes out in my discussions with some MPs is the need to fast track the Bill - National ICT policy was published by the Ministry of I &C and approved by the Cabinet. Parliament had no role. Sessional paper will be a more forceful national commitment because parliament will discuss it and approve it. Often Sessional papers are more long term and cross cutting. It is significant for the government to develop the Sessional paper to consolidate the gains of the national ICT policy - understandably the bill is in the AG 's office being drafted and barring heavy schedules in AG's office who have to republish the many bills that lapsed, the ICT bill will be out soon. Keep watch. Meanwhile use the draft bill published by the Ministry. Cheers Muriuki --------------------------------------- Summit Strategies Ltd - Strategic information for decision support in infocommunication business ICT Consultancy & Research in Eastern & Central African markets Contacts : Tel +254 (20) 3875824 , Cell + 254 (722) 520090, email: <mailto:mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke> mureithi(a)summitstrategies.co.ke

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Fwd: East Africa Technology Information Project Receives Association f or Computing Machinery Humanitarian Award
by Florence Etta 22 Mar '06

22 Mar '06

FYI Sorry for cross posting. FE --- Anthony.MUSUNJI(a)cec.eu.int wrote: > From: Anthony.MUSUNJI(a)cec.eu.int > To: "KIPlist" <kiplist-cl(a)lyris.idrc.ca> > Subject: East Africa Technology Information Project > Receives Association f > or Computing Machinery Humanitarian Award > Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 06:26:08 +0100 > > BM_253778East Africa Technology Information Project > Receives Association for > Computing Machinery Humanitarian Award > AScribe Newswire (03/16/06) > > ACM has named the project leaders of the Nakuru > Local Urban Observatory > (LUO) in Kenya as the winners of the 2005 Lawler > Award for Humanitarian > Contributions. Albrecht Ehrensperger of the Center > for Development and > Environment of the University of Berne, Switzerland, > and Solomon Mbuguah and > Ernest Siva of the Municipal Council of Nakuru will > receive the Eugene L. > Lawler Award for Humanitarian Contributions Within > Computer Science and > Informatics during the annual ACM Awards Banquet, > May 20, 2006, in San > Francisco. Through user-friendly software, the > Nakuru LUO project has > provided its Kenyan community with a spatial > information tool that is able > to store, retrieve, map, and analyze geographic > data. The community, which > has never had data on sanitation, water supply, and > other public facilities > before, is now able to use a global information > system (GIS) for town > planning initiatives. The geographical information > database, which can be > assessed at libraries, schools, and non-governmental > agencies, also serves > as a tool for obtaining local news and other > services. ACM introduced the > award, which includes a $5,000 prize, in 2000, and > it is given every two > years. For more information on the ACM Lawler Award > and this year's > recipients, visit > http://campus.acm.org/public/pressroom/press_releases/3_2006/lawler.cfm > <http://campus.acm.org/public/pressroom/press_releases/3_2006/lawler.cfm> > < > br> Click Here to View Full Article > <http://newswire.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20060316.141511&tim > e=16%2010%20PST&year=2006&public=0> > to the top > > > > > > Anthony Musunji > European Commission - Delegation Kenya > * +254-2-2713020 (pilot line) > * +254-2-2802013 (direct line) > * +254-2-2711954 (fax) > *anthony.musunji(a)cec.eu.int > * website: <http://www.delken.cec.eu.int/> > http://www.delken.cec.eu.int > P.O. Box 45119, 00100 - Nairobi, Kenya > Union Insurance House, Ragati Road > Upper Hill > > This email, and any files transmitted with it, is > confidential and intended > solely for the use of the individual or entity to > whom it is addressed. The > views expressed are purely those of the sender and > may not in any > circumstances be regarded as stating an official > position of the European > Commission. If you have received this email in error > please notify the > sender and delete the message. > > > > > > > > --- > Submitted by: Anthony.MUSUNJI(a)cec.eu.int 2006-03-21 > 00:35:06 EST5 > (Please reply to original submitter for private > communication) > --- > You are currently subscribed to kiplist-cl as: > [feanywhere(a)yahoo.co.uk] > To unsubscribe, forward this message to > leave-kiplist-cl-98821H(a)lyris.idrc.ca > ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Photos NEW, now offering a quality print service from just 8p a photo http://uk.photos.yahoo.com

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Re: Fiber - Why not Over the land?
by Bill Woodcock 21 Mar '06

21 Mar '06

> I was chatting with a colleague of mine about the EASSy cable. And > he was asking, if our intention is to connect with the SAT3 cable at > S.Africa why cant we do it over the terrestial landscape. I am told > fiber laid side-by-side with Electricity cables can be installed in > record time with minimal costs... > Must we bury the fiber in the Ocean for it to work (;-). There are three ways, practically speaking, of doing it over land: you can bury it in conduit, you can wrap it around power lines, or you can put it through existing pipelines. Burying it in its own conduit achieves no great cost synergy, and provides no great protection. Wrapping it around existing high-voltage power lines is very fast, very cheap, gets the fiber up where people don't want to touch it, and is only medium-difficult to repair. But you typically don't have high-voltage power lines everywhere you want to run fiber. Pushing it through existing gas or oil or water pipelines provides good protection, is medium fast and cheap, but the pipelines are even rarer than power lines, and it's very difficult to add taps after the fact, and so on. In all cases, over-land is cheaper and less equipment-intensive than a real deep-water submarine fiber lay. Disadvantages to running over-land relative to submarine are that the fiber is much more likely to be damaged accidentally or through vandalism, and that it's much more difficult to achieve consensus among all of the (many many) parties across whose land it needs to run (particularly since the vast majority of them will receive no direct benefit from it, since it won't be exposed everywhere). -Bill

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Re: Fiber - Why not Over the land?
by John Walubengo 20 Mar '06

20 Mar '06

I was chatting with a colleague of mine about the EASSy cable. And he was asking, if our intention is to connect with the SAT3 cable at S.Africa why cant we do it over the terrestial landscape. I am told fiber laid side-by-side with Electricity cables can be installed in record time with minimal costs... Must we bury the fiber in the Ocean for it to work (;-). walu. >>> "waudo siganga" <emailsignet(a)mailcan.com> 02/23/06 09:16AM >>> My hunch is that this cables face problems from (particularly) shipping traffic and the river depths would be inadequate toprotect them. My memory of the geograpgy of the Nile is that it is not even navigable over long distances due to waterfalls, rapids, places where it "disappears' in marshes (Bar El Ghazal), etc) and so it would not even offer a consistent medium. The other thing is that international fibre optic cables have to follow a route where they maximize the tap off points. In the Case of Egypt to E.A. there would be less countries served along the way than going round the coastline... (not expert views but my hunch) Kind Regards Waudo On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 20:08:22 +0300, "Michuki Mwangi" <michuki(a)kenic.or.ke> said: > Excuse my ignorance on the logistics related to submarine fiber cable > installations;. However, am interested to know if considerations were > given to having a cable run on the River Nile all the way from Egypt/Red > Sea to Lake Victoria. If so what were the challenges encountered. > > In my opinion that would have served E.A pretty well if possible > > Regards, > > -- > Michuki Mwangi > KENIC > > --- > Submitted by: Michuki Mwangi <michuki(a)kenic.or.ke> 2006-02-22 12:17:06 > EST5 > (Please reply to original submitter for private communication) > --- > You are currently subscribed to kiplist-cl as: [emailsignet(a)mailcan.com] > To unsubscribe, forward this message to > %%email.unsub%% -- waudo siganga emailsignet(a)mailcan.com -- http://www.fastmail.fm - And now for something completely different* --- Submitted by: Waudo Siganga - (Int. address) <emailsignet(a)mailcan.com> 2006-02-23 01:24:25 EST5 (Please reply to original submitter for private communication) --- You are currently subscribed to kiplist-cl as: [jwalubengo(a)kcct.ac.ke] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-kiplist-cl-102682Q(a)lyris.idrc.ca

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