Information Society Watch

December 4, 2007, mediaforfreedom.com

Uruguay has passed a Community Broadcasting Bill that recognises community broadcasting in its own right alongside state and private sectors and says television and radio frequencies should be more equitably distributed. A regulatory council of government, media, university and free expression representatives will collaborate to grant and renew frequencies and ensure that the government does not use frequency allocation to indirectly censor broadcasts.

December 26, 2007, The Hindu

This article examines the successes and failures of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) programme as mass production of the laptops has finally gotten underway and countries are beginning to place their orders. In one Peruvian village, 50 primary school children who received laptops 6 months ago are demonstrating the OLPC's potential.

January 4, 2008, The Economist

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program was conceived to providing computing power to a majority of the world's children in order to bridge the digital divide. Two years on, the article takes a step back and looks at the outcomes of the project as it has its first release.

October 29, 2007, BBC News Service

The government of Uruguay has placed the first official order for the so-called '$100 laptop' (also known as the XO laptop), purchasing an initial 100,000 units with the aim of providing a machine for every school child in the country by 2009. This is a great boost for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organisation, which has faced a number of challenges in the production and distribution process for the machines.

September 27, 2007, Tim Wu, Slate.com

In recent years, many US cities have promised the installation of free municipal wireless Internet access, but these projects have fallen flat and cities such as Chicago, Houston, and even San Francisco are now abandoning their plans. This article suggests that the collapse of these projects is due to the inability of city governance to recognise the limitations of market solutions and to conceive of the Internet as a form of public infrastructure that must be paid for.

August 2006, Dorothy Okello, Wougnet

This power point presentation focuses on open access initiatives as a means for building sustainable community-led ICT networks. There is a pressing need for ICT infrastructure in rural areas, however it is extremely difficult to find substantial investments in these areas due to lack of interest amongst service providers. Sustainable communication networks can be ensured by promoting an open access model, like, for instance allowing different telecommunications players to use a common national backbone.

September 6, 2007, CBS News

In what is surely a major setback to net neutrality proponents, the US Justice department has declared that Internet Service Providers have the right to differentiate between types of Internet traffic and thereby charge differential rates for accessing the Internet. The justice department ruling says that net neutrality is bad for competition and could hamper development of the Internet and prevent service providers from upgrading or expanding their networks.

Jul 30, 2007, Indrajit Basu, Government Technology

The paper analyses the ongoing debate regarding government and local authorities providing broadband access as a public service, which are in direct conflict wih private service providers. It presents the recent case of the Prague's Wireless Network service provided by the municipility which was challenged by those in the Wi-Fi business as being unfair competition. The European Commission has ruled in the municipality's favour and the growing consensus seems to point towards allowing broadband access as a public service which will contribute to the growth of the information society and bridge the digital divide.

October 17, 2006, Salman Ansari, Salman Ansari Technology Consultants

This report commissioned by the World Bank gives a description of telecentre activities from all around the world. Particular focus is placed on telecentres and telekiosks in the rural areas of Pakistan, and the key players involved in these interventions.

2003, A. Badshah, S. Khan and I. Garrido (eds), UN Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Task Force

This publication, commissioned by the UN ICT Task Force/UN Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Task Force, is a compilation of the various models of information kiosks being tested and deployed around the world, as well as insight from experts in this field about the different key components necessary for success.
Note: This resource is close to 9 MB

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