Wednesday, April 29, 2009

BPN 1343 FTMH - Europe’s fiber users doing it for themselves

Markets which currently enjoy the highest fiber deployment in Europe are characterised by a wide range of non-telco activity, including the direct involvement of construction companies, utilities, municipal governments and real estate investors. In many respects these efforts and initiatives have shown the rest of Europe than FttH can be developed without direct State involvement, and indeed without the involvement of incumbent telcos.

The range of initiatives is an important signal to the industry that the high cost of FttH deployment (which is nevertheless being brought down year by year through technological innovation) is no barrier to network construction.

If the mantra ‘give the customer what he wants’ is sound business practice, then the leading fiber nations have also shown that customers are willing to undertake much of the mechanical (engineering) effort themselves, rather than wait for years for their local provider to undertake the work. This truly demonstrates that fiber networks can be built inexpensively from the ground up. For operators, the involvement of customers digging their own trenches to their homes is obvious – without undertaking these costs themselves they nevertheless can take advantage of being the ‘first in’ provider.

In Sweden, The Netherlands and Norway it has become normal practice for customers in rural areas to dig their own trenches. In Norway’s Stavanger muni-fiber project up to 80% of residents have dug their own trenches to fast-track the local private energy company and telecom provider Lyse Tele to lay out fiber. The company now serves more than 130,000 customers in 280 communities, and claims a take-up rate of more than 60%.

Nor are trenches hundreds of yards long, requiring the homeowner to rent digging machinery for the weekend: Lyse Tele installs fiber directly to a customer’s front yard and provides guidance (the required depth, insulation etc) on how to extend the cable to the house. Lyse Tele also benefits the customer by providing a discount on the service installation. By these pragmatic means, about 80% of customers choose to dig their own trenches. The company has also found that customers who have become involved in their own installation (thus adopting some of its value personally) stick with Lyse Telecom thereafter: customer churn is a remarkably low 0.2%. Lyse Tele has by these means grown from being a local energy provider to a true pan-Nordic operator, as well as a beacon to others in how fibre networks can be cost-effectively delivered to customers.

(A self-help project called Fiber to the Farm is operational now in the East of the Netherlands JB)

This sumnmary is an overview of separate country reports by Paul Budde Communications Pty

Blog Posting Number 1343

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Non-commercial announcement Heidelberg Innovation Forum

This is an invitation to the eighth Heidelberg Innovation Forum - Europe's innovative convention for the commercialisation and financing of IT research projects. Since 2005 transfer business has been successfully realised in spin-offs, licensing business and public-private R&D-partnerships. Apply now and find business partners at the Heidelberg Innovation Forum for
-Start-up financing
-R&D collaboration
-Licensing

Until 1 June 2009, R&D results close to market and business ideas focussing on Visual Computing, Simulation & Digital Media can be submitted. Examples for fields of research and application:
-Computergraphics
-Computer Vision
-Pattern Recognition/Visual Learning
-Visual Sensor Technology
-Modelling & Computational Geometry
-Simulation
-Rendering
-Virtual/Augmented Reality
-Visualization/Interactive Visual Analysis
-Human-Computer-Interaction
-Digital Media
-Games, Animation, 3D
-Applications for eHealth & Life Sciences

You can find more information on the event at http://heidelberg-innovationforum.com. You can submit proposals until 1 June 2009. The reply form is available at http://tinyurl.com/hdi-replyform

The Heidelberg Innovation Forum, taking place on 20 October 2009, is organised by MFG Baden-Württemberg mbH in collaboration with the European Media Laboratory, established by SAP co-founder Dr h c Klaus Tschira.

Each proposal selected will receive 10 minutes to present the idea in front of investors and decision makers. During the breaks after each panel there will be the opportunity to "Meet the Panellists" and engage in transfer business.

Top industry representatives and researchers are expected to attend. The venues will be the tradition-steeped Studio at Villa Bosch close to Heidelberg Castle and Palais Prinz Carl in Heidelberg's old town.

Contact: i.A. Christof Lechner, Project Manager Innovation Competence
MFG Baden-Württemberg mbH
Innovationsagentur des Landes für Informationstechnologie und Medien /
Public Innovation Agency for Information Technology and Media

Breitscheidstrasse 4, D-70174 Stuttgart
Tel. / Phone +49(0)711-90715-352, Fax +49(0)711-90715-350
mailto:lechner@mfg.de
www.mfg-innovation.de; www.mfg-innovation.com; www.doit-online.de

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

BPN 1342 WSYA winners' list

Young People act on United Nations Millennium Goals using Internet Contents
From online music and TV communities to interactive gaming platforms to e-learning applications and HIV/AIDS resources, the World Summit Youth Award (WSYA) presents young people who use Internet and Mobiles to get Action on United Nations Millennium Development goals.

Over 600 projects were evaluated in a three-round judging process by an international jury of 20 experts in the fields of youth engagement, new media and social entrepreneurship.

The Winners are:

Category 1: FIGHT HUNGER, POVERTY & DISEASE!
- "Lil' MDGs: Kids making Changes" by Dylan Mahalingam (USA)
- "Remote Patient Monitoring System" by Tanwani Ajay Kumar (Pakistan)
- "Mobile Doctor" by Andreas Jakl (Austria)

Category 2: EDUCATION FOR ALL!
- "Everything on HIV and AIDS in Iran" by Morteza Moshir Sinaei (Iran)
- "Alternatives: Findin New Possibilities for Youth" by Sanjeev Raj Neupane (Nepal)
- "Voices of Africa for Sustainable Development" by Crystal Kigoni (Kenya)

Category 3: POWER 2 WOMEN!
- "Dokhtiran: e-Magazine on Women's Rights" by Gholamzadeh Hamid Reza (Iran)
- "The Sisters 4 Peace Network" by Sejal Hathi (USA)
- "Empower Women and Meet Millennium Challenges" by George Onyango (Kenya)

Category 4: CREATE YOUR CULTURE!
- "Roots & Routes TV" by Aileen Wessely (Germany)
- "Savvy Chavvy" by Christy McAleese (Great Britain)
- "The Extraordinaries" by Jacob Colker (USA)

Category 5: GO GREEN!
- "Sewer Tourism" by Andrew Mutua (Kenya)
- "Greenlighted" by Vladimir Dubovskiy (USA)
- "Guardian of Eden" by Ricardo Quirante Martinez (Netherlands)

Blog Postingh Number: 1342

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Sunday, April 26, 2009

BPN 1341 2009 WSA Gala – Travel Advisory to June Monterrey Events

After the excitement of the 2009 Grand Jury in India, serious clouds are showing up on the Monterrey, Mexico, horizon, the venue of the 2009 WSA Gala. The Swinbe Flu is spreading from Mexico. The WSA HQ has published an advisory and says: events will go ahead as planned

Swine Flu occurrence
As of April 25, the Swine Flu is not a pandemic, but has occurred in seven areas in Mexico and US (incl. New York). There is a risk that the influenza might spread due to a novel genetic combination which makes the virus transferable from human to humans.

No Swine Flu occurrence in Monterrey and region: The State of Noevo Leon and the City of Monterrey are not among the places where the swine flu virus has occurred.

Caution

All WSA events participants are advised to get a normal innoculation for Influenza and the AH1N1 virus. The standard vaccine against influenza of the above mentioned strain is: Agrippal from Novartis

See among others:
http://emc.medicines.org.uk/medicine/9506/PIL/Agrippal
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100004813.html

In case of Illness
Doctors and health authorities state that the virus responds well to the Neuraminidase-Blocker which is commercially available from ROCHE under the brand name Tamiflu/Oseltamivir.

See among others:

http://www.tamiflu.com
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100004852.html

Further information
The World Summit Award Office closely monitors the situation and directs participants for any further inquiries re: swine flu outbreak to:
1. WHO information can be found at:
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_04_24/en/index.html
2. European Center for disease Control:
http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/files/pdf/Health_topics/TA_Swine_influenza_US-090424_1900hrs.pdf
3. The WSA events will go ahead as planned and carefully so.

Blog Posting Number: 1341

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Thursday, April 23, 2009

BPN 1340 - 2009 WSA Grand Jury - Winners' list

Today the Board of Directors of the World Summit Award and the convenors of the World Summit Award, among which the Austrian government have confirmed the winners and have offcially announced them.

e-Business & Commerce

Title: AvaGuide
Affiliation: InteliWISE S.A.
Country: PoCountry
URL: www.inteliwise.com
Platform: broadband/online

Title: ngpay
Affiliation: JiGrahak Mobility Solutions Pvt. Ltd
Country: India
URL: http://www.ngpay.com
Platform: broadband/online

Title: Remediation Check
Affiliation: sicht-bar
Country: Austria
URL: http://www.sicht-bar.at
Platform: broadband/online

Title: AWEB China http://www.aweb.com.cn/ broadband/online
Affiliation: Beijing aweb Digital Science & Technology Co., Ltd.
Country: China
URL: awebinfo@126.com
Platform: broadband/online

Title: Karma currency
Affiliation: Spin Communications
Country: Australia
URL: www.karmacurrency.com.au
Platform: broadband/online

e-Learning & Education

Title: CELL - Centre for ExperientiaL Learning
Affiliation: QBGROUP spa
Country: Italy
URL: http://www.qbgroup.it
Platform: kiosk/installation

Title: Human and Nature. ICT-based integrated course of natural sciences for classes 5, 6
Affiliation: SPC, UAB
Country: Lithuania
URL: http://www.sviesa.lt
Platform: broadband/online

Title: Our Space
Affiliation: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Country: New Zealand
URL: http://ourspace.tepapa.com
Platform: cross media

Title: E-DysGate
Affiliation: E-Learning concepts Rietsch KEG
Country: Austria
URL: http://www.elearningconcepts.at
Platform: broadband/online

Title: Lingorilla
Affiliation: Lingua-TV GmbH
Country: Germany
URL: http://www.lingorilla.com
Platform: broadband/online

e-Inclusion and Participation

Title: ICT for Illiteracy Eradication (ICT for IE)
Affiliation: Egypt ICT Trust Fund
Country: Egypt
URL: http://www.ictfund.org.eg
Platform: CD-ROM

Title: TradeNet (Esoko)
Affiliation: BusyLab
Country: Ghana
URL: http://www.michaelocansey.com
Platform: cross media

Title: Voices of Africa
Affiliation: Voices of Africa Media Foundation
Country: Netherlands
URL: http://www.voicesofafrica.com
Platform: broadband/online

Title: Homeless Nation
Affiliation: Homeless Street Archive
Country: Canada
URL: http://www.eyesteelfilm.com
Platform: broadband/online

Title: Impaired Aid
Affiliation: Jinasena Properties Limited
Country: Sri Lanka
URL: -
Platform: DVD, CDROM

e-Government & Institutions

Title:
E.V.A. - Enhanced Vehicle Automation
Affiliation:
Arma dei Carabinieri
Country: Italy
URL: http://www.carabinieri.it
Platform:
mobile contents

Title:
National Broadband Map
Affiliation: State Services Commission
Country:
New Zealand
URL: http://www.ssc.govt.nz
Platform:
broadband/online

Title:
Royal Court Affairs - Mobile Recruitment
Affiliation:
Royal Court Affairs (RCA)
Country: Oman
URL: http://www.rca.gov.om
Platform: mobile contents

Title:
Government Information Center(GIC)
Affiliation:
ICT Agency of Sri Lanka(ICTA)
Country:
Sri Lanka
URL: http://www.icta.lk
Platform: broadband/online

Title: Integrated Court System (ICS)
Affiliation: Sarawak Information Systems Sdn. Bhd.
Country: Malaysia
URL: http://www.sains.com.my
Platform:
broadband/online

e-Culture & Heritage

Title:
Twelve Canoes
Affiliation: Wanted Digital
Country: Australia
URL: http://cora.spear@wanteddigital.com.au
Platform: broadband/online

Title: iPod Tours
Affiliation: iPod Tours
Country: Mexico
URL: http://www.ipodtours.com.mx
Platform: mobile contents

Title: Congoblog
Affiliation: Congo Blog
Country: Republic of the Congo
URL: http://www.congoblog.net
Platform: broadband/online

Title: A Journey into Time Immemorial
Affiliation: Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Country: Canada
URL: http://www.sfu.museum
Platform: broadband/online

Title: Mark of 'Uru'
Affiliation: Mayhem Productions
Country: Nigeria
URL: http://www.mayhemproductions.org
Platform: broadband/online

e-Health & Environment

Title: The BioMAP project (Monitoring and Assessing of Biodiversity of Egypt)
Affiliation: Nature Conservation Sector - EEAA
Country: Egypt
URL: http://www.zone.biomapegypt.org/hiaa
Platform: broadband/online

Title: Mamaherb
Affiliation: Mamaherb.com
Country: Israel
URL: http://www.mamaherb.com
Platform: broadband/online

Title: MPedigree
Affiliation: mPedigree
Country: Ghana
URL: http://mpedigree.org
Platform: broadband/online

Title: Catalonia Shared Medical Record
Affiliation: Department of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia
Country: Spain
URL: http://www.gencat.cat
Platform: broadband/online

Title: Tree People
Affiliation: Lowe Sydney
Country: Australia
URL: http://www.lowesydney.com
Platform: broadband/online

e-Entertainment & Games

Title: Casebook
Affiliation: Areograph Limited
Country: New Zealand
URL: http://areograph.com
Platform: broadband/online

Title: IQ Training & Testing
Affiliation: Dominativ
Country: Croatia
URL: http://www.dominativ.hr
Platform: offline/DVD, CDROM or video materials

Title: Street Dance School - the Center
Affiliation: Future Media Ltd.
Country: Bulgaria
URL: http://www.fmediastudio.com
Platform: broadband/online

Title: My Machine
Affiliation: Intercommunale Leiedal (Intermunicipal Body)
Country: Belgium
URL: http://www.leiedal.be
Platform: broadband/online

Title: Wreck a Movie
Affiliation: Star Wreck Studios Ltd
Country: Finland
URL: http://www.wreckamovie.com
Platform: broadband/online

e-Science & Technology

Title: Videolectures.Net
Affiliation: Jozef Stefan Institute
Country: Slovenia
URL: http://ct3.ijs.si
Platform: broadband/online

Title: Water World
Affiliation: vogel audiovision
Country: Austria
URL: http://www.vogel-av.at
Platform: cross media

Title: Genomics Digital Lab
Affiliation: Spongelab Interactive
Country: Canada
URL: http://www.spongelab.com
Platform: broadband/online

Title: Newstin
Affiliation: Newstin a.s.
Country: Czech Republic
URL: http://corp.newstin.com
Platform: broadband/online

Title: Fossil Web
Affiliation: Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy
Country: China
URL: http://www.nigpas.ac.cn/qt/qtcy/2004929131714.html
Platform: broadband/online

Blog Posting Number: 1340

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Thursday, April 16, 2009

BPN 1339 FTMH - The vote for fiber is yes

The meeting of the owners’ association was disappointing. There was no representative of AlmeerNet. In one or another way I had misinterpreted the point on the agenda. No representative to answer my four questions.

So the members of the owners’ association were asked to vote in favour of a motion, whereby AlmeerNet can link every apartment to the mainline. Voting for this motion was easy. It does not cost anyone a dime; besides the apartment is easier to sell with a link to glass fiber than without. The motion was passed with a large majority. Next step in the project will be the linking.

It brings closer the question, which company to choose. So far there were three parties involved: UPC, AlmeerNet and KPN.
UPC is the incumbent cable operator which has upgraded its cable network to fiber, but the optical cable ends in the headstations (Fiber to the Curb). The last mile consists of coax/copper cable. The UPC upgrade allows speeds of 25, 60 and 120Mbps with a Eurodocsis cable modem. For the 120Mbps connection UPC asks resp. 50,50, 60,50 and 80,50 euro a month, exclusive of telecom and radio and television..
AlmeerNet runs the open network. They do not deliver the services to the subscribers, but keep the network going technically. AlmeerNet is an initiatiive of the Almere Fiber Consortium, consisting of the municipality Almere, the housing corporations Goede Stede, Ymere, Alliance Flevoland and Reggefiber (51 pct majority by KPN).
KPN is a service provider to AlmeerNet. It will offer telephone, television and internet. Other services such as security will also be offered in the future. KPN offers three speed packages of 30, 50 and 60 Mbps download with 3,5 and 6 Mbps upload for the price of resp. 65, 80 and 110 euro, including free telecom traffic and resp. 50, 70 and 100 tv channels.

New is the announcement of Online as provider for AlmeerNet. Online is the latest platitudinous name for the former Orange broadband service; Online is part of the joint venture Orange and T-Mobile. So far Online has offered ADSL and cable services; now it has added fiber subscription. However the offer of Online is not known yet. Besides more service providers would be welcome, preferably with smaller TV channel offers (who can watch 100 channels a day; ridiculous).



Looking at the table there are two remarks. UPC makes an offer for fast internet, exclusive of a required basic TV package and optional telecom. KPN makes an offer for less fast internet, but inclusive of television and telecom. These are however the offers on internet. UPC and KPN have introduction offers. In Almere, UPC and KPN have now special offers. Both companies play with the television and telecom extras.

And there are more differences such as the speed. UPC offers 120Mbps, while KPN offers 60Mbps as maximum on AlmeerNet for our neighbourhood. This is strange, for I know for sure that a month ago KPN offered 100Mbps. There is still another difference in the speed. UPC offers internet from a headstation to more subscribers in the same area. AlmeerNet and her providers like KPN and Online offer a one-to-one connection to the subscriber. This means that the UPC speed will vary depending on the number of users, while the AlmeerNet speed will be stable.

Blog Posting Number: 1339

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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

BPN 1338 FTMH - Fiber in the ground; next step

During my stay abroad, the laying of fiber in the neighbourhood has continued. In the streets behind the apartment building where we are living, street by street was cabled, by opening up the pavements, laying the cable, branching it to the houses and filling the holes and reconstructing the pavements. But the cable has also been laid for the vintage boats in front of our apartment building, as most of them are used as house boats and people are living on them permanently; so with water, electricity and telephone, they now get fiber to the boat (FTTB). In the meantime also our apartment building has been passed. It is a kind of funny as they had to negotiate a corner with a head to end box of the cable operator UPC (see photograph). Now the circus of linking up to the homes and apartments starts as well as the signing up for subscriptions.

From our offices we can oversee the work in the street at backside of our apartment building. With military discipline, the fiber was laid, street by street.









Also the house boats will be provided with a fiber connection.









This is where fiber crosses the UPC headstation.








In our apartment building the linking up will start after tonight’s meeting of the owners’ association. In order to reach the highest floor, AlmeerNet needs the permission of the people living under the highest floor. As the linking up does not cost anything, it is likely that no one will object to the linking. But after that the battle for subscriptions between UPC and AlmeerNet will start. For the time being there will be a battle between UPC and KPN, as no other provider is yet available on AlmeerNet. The local press even speaks of a moratorium of one year for KPN, as they and Reggefiber, a joint venture with KPN, are financing the network.

Tonight the owners ‘association of our apartment building will meet for the annual meeting. A representative of AlmeerNet will be present. I am eager to hear how he answers questions like:
1. What is the difference between UPC net and AlmeerNet?
2. Is it true that KPN will have the sole right for one year to sign up subscriptions as there are no other providers, while in Amsterdam there are at least five providers.
3. What will be the costs of subscriptions as they have not been published officially and are different from town to town.
4. When will the AlmeerNet be available to new subscribers?
I think I can answer these questions now, but it will be interesting to see how the AlmeerNet representative handles the questions.

Blog Posting Number: 1338

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Saturday, April 11, 2009

BPN 1334 2009 WSA Grand Jury- Talking to Rudi

The iPhone is immense popular. I see people walking around with the device and using it for normal things like the weather, maps and of course for telephoning. I see them also use it for crazy applications like filling the screen with an image and sound of beer. It is a useless application, but something to talk about, when sitting at a bar. But for there are also applications which looked complicated in using all kind of devices.

One of those applications is the song finder. You keep your iPhone to a radio and let it listen to a song. In a short while it will recognise the tune and tell you, what song it is and who is the singer. Of course you are one tick away from ordering the song for storing in your iPhone.

While talking to my Mexican eminent expert, Rudi Laddaga Lopez, he told me that he with his company was developing an application on hieroglyphics. He told that the Maya temples contain hieroglyphics. I told him that I had never realised that. But the application already in the test phase takes a picture of a set of hieroglyphics and processes them into the Spanish language. Interesting, isn’t it. I will be in Mexico later this year, so Rudi should demonstrate the application to me at a Maya site. I immediately saw new applications. In fact as we were with an international group of eminent experts, I told the story to my dear Egyptian colleague Effat El Shooky (the lady next to Rudi), as they have hieroglyphics in the Egyptian temples, pyramids and monuments. It would be really a time shifter or century breaker. Click a photograph and a few seconds later you can read the text in English or Arabic. Of course, the application can also be used for handwritten manuscripts for example in Old Dutch. I guess that the application needs some more calibration. But text can be read by you or even read for you and translated to the current language.

Playing with the idea of the song finder, another idea came up. There is a great group of bird watchers. They observe birds in flight, but often stand still when they hear the sound of a bird. You need a good memory for bird sounds. But recording it on the iPhone and processing it against a sample bank of bird sounds, should deliver the name of the bird, a picture and extra information. Of course you can after validation send the place of observation to a central point for recording and mapping. And all this with an iPhone.

Blog Posting Number: 1334

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Friday, April 10, 2009

BPN 1333 Fourth screen presents new opportunities

India has the potential to take the lead in the mobile content industry, said WSA Chairman Prof. Peter A Bruck during the Grand Jury process in India. He observed, that the costs of using mobile communications are the lowest in India from all 150 countries surveyed by the International Telecommunications Union in Geneva. The skyrocketing use of mobile phones with 15 million handsets added just last January makes the mobile handsets the most common smart devices in history, says Bruck. There are already 4 times as many small screens around the world than TV sets. Mobile will be the fourth screen and present new opportunities for content distribution, certainly with the spread of smart phones.

To produce good contents and innovative applications is the challenge for the next ten years and India has the talent and skills as well as the freedom and creativity to make the most of this, adds Bruck.

Mr. R. Chandrasekhar, Special Secretary to the Department of IT (DIT), from the Union Government’s Ministry of Communication and IT, welcomed the 35 delegates from 35 countries to India and its still growing IT industry. The Grand Jury event and the Summit create most welcome networking opportunities for Indian actors in the content industry and the application development. India’s IT businesses are still growing, albeit at a reduced rate, and they need now the best of international connections to further grow, says Chandrasekhar. The DIT hosts the Summit in order to promote the different developments in the market.

Digital Empowerment Foundation Chairman Osama Manzar is organiser of the Summit together with the World Summit Award, which is the United Nations Flagship Initiative in the framework of the Tunis Summit Conferences. We have to lead by example and a mechanism, such as the World Summit Awards uses the mechanism of a global contest, to find best practices. With the India Summit conference and WSA Grand Jury, the most eminent experts in e-content from all continents have come to India to share their experience in areas such as e-government and e-learning, e-entertainment and e-health.

India has the technology available and the trained skills to take a lead in the e-content for the small, mobile screen, says WSA Chairman Bruck. The World Summit Award will offer a screening of entries and a benchmark for the development. The World Summit Award Grand Jury 2009 is being hosted by the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Govt. of India.

Blog Posting Number: 1333

Tags: mobile

Thursday, April 09, 2009

BPN 1332 2009 WSA Grand Jury - Goodbye India

The plane left Dehli in time and was on time in Vienna. After going through the ritual of checking in for a Schengen free traffic country, I boarded for Amsterdam. However there was a delay of roughly an hour because of fog in Amsterdam.

Left: 2003 Grand Jury Dubai; right: 2005 Grand Jury Bahrain







Left: 2007 Grand Jury Croatia; right: 2009 Grand Jury India






I had the time to think over the whole Grand Jury project. This was the fourth Grand Jury. Grand Juries were held in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) in 2003, Manama (Bahrain) in 2005, Brijuni (Croatia) in 2007 and New Delhi in (India) in 2009. Dubai was the venue for the first Grand Jury. The organisation in Dubai was perfect: hotel, transport, jury venue and facilities as well as the social agenda. In Manama the organisation was also perfect; there was even a trip to the GP circuit. Brijuni was a heavenly island; pityful, the jurors will keep a painful memory of it. New Dehli was a fast fix. After the 2009 Grand Jury in New Dehli, other countries have indicated that they would like to organise the 2011 Grand Jury. Of course, the event is still two years away and governments might change.

New Dehli was different in many a way. Up to the end of last year the 2009 Grand Jury was supposed to be held elsewhere; in fact our man on the ground Osama Manzar pick it up in a late stage and started to organise the Grand Jury. First Hyderabad was going to be the place, but three months before there was a switch to New Dehli. Yet it turned out to be perfectly organised. The hotel was okay, the Grand Jury venue was at the hotel compound and the computer facilities were okay, despite the breaks in electricity. Also the social agenda gave some idea about India. Altogether, the WSA Grand Juries have been lucky so far with their hosts. And in India we have been lucky to have Osama Manzar and his wife as organisers. Their contacts with government officials helped the organisation of this Grand Jury from departure to arrival at home again. It is clear that India is striving after leadership not only in hardware and software, but also in content. And they have a challenge ahead. As mobile is more common in India than internet, India can be the cradle of mobile content.

Overlooking the 2009 Grand Jury, India has been an exemplary host. Osama and his wife are the heroes, supported by the army of tutors. The WSA staff consisting of Anastasia, Emilia, Cecilia, Angelika, Karin and Pedrag had everything prepared minutely. Of course the corps of jurors was great.

Blog Posting Number: 1332

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Wednesday, April 08, 2009

BPN 1331 2009 WSA Grand Jury - Day 8

Last night the last presentations of the panels were made. There was also the final voting for the five winners per category. It was a long ceremony, followed by writing up the laudations of the five winners per category for the catalogue. For the last day only one more task was left, at least for the people that were still there; in the meantime some people had left already to catch their plane home. The departure is never a clean goodbye, just like the start is always in phases.

The last task consisted of three parts: the constituting of the Arab e-Content Awards, the jury distinctions and the final leg of the World Summit Youth Awards. The last one is a separate contest, putting the UN Millennium Development Goals into action. Out of 620 submissions, 280 projects were tested ready for evaluation. Having had the kick off for this years jury process, the exciting but challenging task of finding the most inspiring projects combining Internet Content with the UN MDGs, was to be completed in New Dehli. The WSYA winners will also be celebrated in Monterrey, Mexico, thanks to a grant of the Knight Foundation.

In the afternoon there was still a tour around the city. So far we had seen only the Hilton Hotel and the Qutb Minar. But this afternoon a small group was bussed to the three main touristic points of the Dehli: government city and the red fortress.











But there was still a surprise: Humayun’s Tomb. This tourist attraction was important as most of the jurors did not have a chance to go to the Tash Mahal (some lucky ones did and our Mexicon hostess Angeles even saw the world miracle at sunrise; how lucky she was and jealous I am). But Humayun’s Tomb is the next best. We arrived at the complex just in time to see the sunset on the beautifull marble dome; a few minutes later the dome was dull as can be seen on the video).




We were back in time to join the caravan for a party at an estate in the middle of Dehli. In the middle of this city there was an oasis of rest en green lawns; but we did not see too much of that as we arrived late. It is owned by a family of which the son is now one of the publishers of English newspapers. I had a chance to talk with him about newspapers. Was he feeling the churn of the subscriptions? No he said, not at all; in fact he was still experiencing growth. This is not surprising if you realise that India with a population of 1,2 billion people has a lot of illiteracy; but this illiteracy is slowly being combatted. So if one percent of the inhabitants are new readers, the publisher has real growth. This while in the western world, newspaper publishers only see a downturn of subscriptions and street sale. We had only a chance to be at the party for a little bit more than an hour as we had to depart for the airport.

The night of the nineth of april I was flying back to Amsterdam through Vienna. We had been warned of long queus at the airport, but that appeared not to be a problem. I was ready for 6,5 hour flight to Vienna with Austrian Airlines. I had promised myself to read the book Do Good Design by David B. Berman, one of the inspiring new jurors, but I fell asleep (and it was not because of the content of the book).

Blog Posting Number: 1331

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Tuesday, April 07, 2009

BPN 1330 2009 WSA Grand Jury – Day 7

The Grand Jury deliberations are getting to the final listing of the five winners in each category. Today we still have four categories to go. And if you think that this will an hour per category, well you are wrong. Discussions take longer with sharp observations. But the final list of winners in each category will be complete today. All the voting will be done, and all the votes will be recorded in the minutes to be submitted to the board of the World Summit Award and to the convenors of the competition, amongst others the Austrian government.

By now we have all the definitive statistics of the contest available.

a. 157 participating countries

b. Registrations per platform
Online 464
Offline 47
Mobile Contents 7
Games Platforms 4
Interactive TV 2
Cross Media 28
Kiosk / Installations 8
Total 560

c. Registrations per Category
e-Government & Institutions 79
e-Health & Environment 65
e-Learning & Education 85
e-Entertainment & Games 57
e-Culture & Heritage 72
e-Science & Technology 53
e-Business & Commerce 74
e-Inclusion & Participation 75
Total 560

d. 35 jury members from 35 countries

Blog Posting Number: 1330

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Monday, April 06, 2009

BPN 1329 2009 WSA Grand Jury – Day 6

Today the presentations of the eight nominee winners are presented. This is the finest part of the Grand Jury. Discussions about the products are held. Each panel of the eight panels makes a presentation with their nominee winners. And you can see the skills of the various jury members. Some presentations are matter of fact, but some have been embellished on a template and with pictures of the nominated sites. After every presentation there is time again for chatting with the jurors.

Shinta Dhanuwardoyo from Indonesia is the founder and CEO of Bubu.com. She acquired her Bachelor degree in Architecture form the University of Oregon and her MBA from Portland State University. As the Chief Execuitve Officer (CEO), with her artistic talents and business know how to spur business growth at Bubu Internet. Active in contributing to the IT industry in the country, she is now considered an “IT icon” and one of the successful women entrepreneurs in Indonesia. Bubu.com is a digital/interactive media company, which focuses its service in designing websites, intranet solutions, e-commerce, multimedia, Internet marketing, etc. The company is considered as the pioneer and the leading in the web development business in Indonesia. Bubu.com is representing major clients such as Telkom, Gudang Garam Surya 16, Kalbe Nutrition, Hutchinson Three, Total Indonesie and British Petroleum.

Another new lady in the Grand Jury was Beatriz Alonso Becerra from Cuba. Graduated in 1980 in Industrial Engineering; she took Graduate degree courses on Specialization in Automated Systems of Management and in Information Technologies, in Cuba and abroad. She is Master of Management Science since 1997. Ms Alonso has been working in the sector of Science since 1980 and has accumulated a wide professional experience in the field of ICTs. with 28 working years. She was Head of the Department of Systems Design at the Center of Automated Systems Design -CEDISAC (1984 at 1988) and later Director General of said institution (1988 at 1999); and since 1999 she has been Director General of Information Technologies and Advanced Telematic Services (CITMATEL) and member of the Council of Management of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment for many years. Beatriz has been member of Organizing Committees for National and International events associated to Information Technologies. She is a member of national commissions in ICT-related topics, such as the National Editorial Council. Ms Alonso represents Cuba in the Country Code Top Level Domain of Latin America (LACTLD). She has participated in and organized numerous events as well as national and international seminars and participated as a member of the Cuban delegation in the 1er and 2nd phases of the World Summit of the Information Society in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunisia in 2005. She has written and published more than 25 articles and manuals on topics related to Information and Communication Technologies. She leads The Program “Developing the Cuban Science Network”, a digital network of contents, products and services resulting from Science and Technological Innovation.

Today four categories were presented. Tomorrow the last four will be presented and final decisions taken.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

BPN 1328 2009 WSA Grand Jury - Day 5

Today nothing much happens. The traffic outside the hotel is noisy with hooting ansd whistling. Inside the hotel compound all jury members are busy with the selection of their nominee list and they take their time for that. In the breaks this leads to interesting discussions on developments in the interactive media.

It also gives a chance to get to know better the new jury members like Ehssan Riazi Esfehani, from Iran. He is an IT Consultant at Hamsafar.com. Ehssan Riazi Esfehani, born in 1982, is an IT consultant and eSolutions project manager working with governmental and private organizations in Iran and abroad in order to help develop better e-contents and e-solutions. He has helped in development of e-contents and narrowing the digital gap by writing in different IT and economical papers, having many media interviews, working closely with ICT reporters, speaking at conferences and writing on the web. Ehssan has been the co-founder of “e-solutions festival” (IranWSA.com) since 2004, the first contest on e-content and digital media in Iran which has also served as the national approved contest for WSA05 , WSA07 and WSA09. He is the current chairman of “e-solutions festival”. Ehssan has also organized the first WSA Road Show in Iran to help Iranian experts and solution developers get better understandings of the WSA key matters and get more familiar with the world's best in e-content. Ehssan encourages Iranian developers to promote their products and show them opportunities to have a bigger share in e-Activities in the world through.

From a different continent is Gbenga Sesan, from Nigeria. ‘Gbenga Sesan, an Ashoka Fellow, is the Executive Director of Paradigm Initiative Nigeria and he serves on the board of various organizations. Originally trained as an Electronic & Electrical Engineer at Obafemi Awolowo University, ‘Gbenga has completed Executive Education Management Training Programs at Lagos Business School, New York Group for Technology Transfer, Oxford University, Harvard University and Stanford University. His consulting experience includes assignments completed for numerous institutions, including Microsoft, Harvard University, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Res Publica, Computer Aid International, Heinrich Boll Foundation and the International Telecommunications Union. Beyond Nigeria, ‘Gbenga has consulted and made presentations in 25 countries. He is a member of the United Nations Committee of eLeaders on Youth and ICT and Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellow; and he was Nigeria's first Information Technology Youth Ambassador. He was the Vice Chair of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s African Technical Advisory Committee (ATAC), voluntary adviser to numerous youth-led nonprofit organisations and pioneer Program Manager of Lagos Digital Village. In 2006, he was appointed as the youngest member of the Nigerian Presidential Task Force on the Restructuring of the Nigerian Information Technology and Telecommunications Sectors. ‘Gbenga is also an author and regular feature on some of Nigeria’s popular television shows. A multiple award winner, ‘Gbenga has been profiled as one of the 35 Icons of ICT in Nigeria.

Blog Posting Number 1328

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Saturday, April 04, 2009

BPN 1327 2009 WSA Grand Jury – Day 4

After all the excitement of the trip to the tallest minaret in New Dehli and the first round, the eminent experts of the Grand Jury went into the second round. First they had to change from category. This is a typical ritual dance. Either you go one category forward or one backwards. Once this matter was settled, the eminent experts could start evaluating the 18 tot 20 entries of the shortlist. Their assignment now was to investigate the entries and compare them to each other, basically selecting 8 entries for the nominee list. The second round is quite different from the first round. In that first round jurors throw out the entries that they do not want to see anymore. In the second round the jurors look for the top quality in that category and nominate 8 entries for selection of the final 5 winners.

The WSA is different from the Webbys or the EPPYs, the electronic newspaper awards. In those competitions you have a winner and runners-up, who are forgotten after a year. In the WSA contest you have five winners which represent the world’s best. They will be shown around the world in the road shows and during summits.

For the WSA process a spreadsheet program is used, calculating the individual scores of the eminent experts. The aggregated scores of the jury panels show a list with technical scores, a strategic score and an accessibility score.

Technical Criteria
1. CONTENT: Quality and comprehensiveness of content
2. INTERFACE: Ease of use: functionality, navigation and orientation
3. INTERACTIVITY: Value added through interactivity and multimedia
4. DESIGN: Attractiveness of design (aesthetic value of graphics/audio)
5. TECHNICAL REALISATION: Quality of craftsmanship (technical realisation)

Strategic Criteria
S. Strategic Score Innovation and Creativity - Show case for the global development of the Information Society
A. Accessibility according to the W3C (http://www.w3.org)

During the luncheon break there was a WSA board meeting, mainly concerned with the Grand Gala to be held in Monterrey, Mexico. For the 2009 edition a winner of the 2007 edition, Indigo Brain Media, has taken it upon him in order to organise the Grand Gala. But as a representative of Indigo, Angeles, told the board, the event has grown into four related events: The 2009 WSA Summit, the UN Gaid meeting, the WSYA Award ceremony and the 2009 WSA Gala. So it will not just be a WSA party, but it will also be a UN meeting. And from the program it looks that some important dignitaries will be present such as the first lady of Egypt and the president of Mali as well as officials of the United Nations.

The networking dinner was very relaxed and was the right occasion to meet many of the old and new jurors to exchange idaes and get to each other better. On the photograph, you see eminent experts from New Zealand, Tunisia, Philippines and Egypt.

Blog Posting Number: 1327

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BPN 1326 2009 WSA Grand Jury - Day 3

Today the jury kept working on getting a shortlist of 18 to 20 entries. With some 80 entries you have roughly 5 minutes to have a look at the documentation and sites. Yet the first impression is often a first indication. But with the WSA database system the jury members can see where they are, how many entries they have dome, how many entries have been done by more jurors and they can look at their own ranking of the entries. By the afternoon, most of the jurors had made their shortlist.











Later in the afternoon we were treated to a trip to one of the city’s heritage site, Qutb Minar, and a guarded bazaar. According to Wikipedia, Qutb Minar is an area famous for its tall minaret and the complex around it. At 72.5 meters, the Qutb Minar is the tallest brick and stone minaret in the world with 800 inscriptions of the name of Allah. Construction commenced in 1193 under the orders of India's first Muslim ruler Qutb-ud-din Aibak, and the topmost storey of the minaret was completed in 1386 by Firuz Shah Tughluq. The Qutb Minar is notable for being one of the earliest and most prominent examples of Indo-Islamic architecture. It is surrounded by several other ancient and medieval structures and ruins, collectively known as Qutb complex. The complex is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.






























Later on we went to a bazaar. Guards with single and double barrelled guns were walking around there. The shops mainly sell textile and especially shawls. You will have to feel them and you get the famous story that they do not want to sell. Besides textile there are some cultural items around, but the pleasure of it depends on your taste. Officially there is no haggling about the price, but they are going down, if you want to acquire one unit; they might go up if you want to get more than one unit, as some ladies noticed. Normally I do not buy anything at those markets. Given all the trips I make to Beijing, Hong Kong, Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait, Croatia, Cairo and Venice, I would have an eclectic collection at our apartment by now. Yet I could not resist the miniatures. I guess that they are produced and sold by the thousands, although the guy who sold it to me claimed that he was the artists, doing this kind of silk drawings and statue carving.

By late evening there were still some jury members evaluating their first round of entries. Others took time out after dinner to discuss matters, while some jurors went to bed to catch some sleep.

Blog Posting Number: 1326

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Friday, April 03, 2009

BPN 1325 2009 WSA Grand Jury - Day 2

Today we start the 2009 WSA Grand Jury process, a six day exercise, in earnest. But first the eminent jury members will have to get to know each other. Of course, they have seen each other yesterday, but in every edition new jurors are invited. It is not easy to put together a jury as a jury should be balanced according to countries and continents, gender and age as well as to technology and social involvement. This time new jurors have come from Cuba, Canada, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Indonesia, Nigeria and Bahrain. With the jurors of earlier editions it looks like a good bunch of people. They introduce themselves and later the ‘older’ jurors follow.

After the introduction of the jurors and staff, the jury process is introduced. Many jurors like the ones from the Webbys and the EPPY electronic newspaper awards never see each other. They are sitting at home or in their office and push the yes and no keys and that was the jury. The WSA jurors are brought together for a week and spend time discussing the entries. And they have a hefty task ahead, given the number of submissions: 545 entries from 150 countries.

In the first round they go through the submissions of their assigned categories and score the submissions. Main assignment in the first round is to establish what submissions they do not want to consider any longer. This comes down to turning down some 60 submissions per category and establishing a shortlist of some 18 to 20 entries for further consideration. After the second round only 8 entries are left to be fought over. From these 8 entries 5 winners will have to be chosen. Contrary to other contest the WSA has five winners without any runners up; no ranking. These 5 entries should represent the breath and richness of the category.

So in the afternoon the jury work starts in earnest. Some are sweating away over some 80 entries, others have only 53 entries. The work is only stopped for dinner, which is held in the garden. The food is a mix of Indian and western recipes. The lunch and dinner stops are of course the right occasion to get more in touch with each. But during these periods also meetings are held about the forthcoming gala in Mexico and the plans for a WSA content institute and the WSA archive.

Blog POsting Num,ber: 1325

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Thursday, April 02, 2009

BPN 1324 2009 WSA Grand Jury - Day 1

I am in India, at last. It was a hectic trip. The flight was supposed to consist of two legs: from Amsterdam to Vienna and from Vienna to Dehli Airport. Why I had to fly through Vienna is not clear to me, but the flight was arranged by a bureau. But as there was fog at Schiphol the flight to Vienna was cancelled and I had to get a transfer through Frankfurt. The time between the arrival and departure of the flight to India was short, but passengers for India were picked up by a special service and delivered on time at the airplane. (At last a service of an airline, Austrian Airline, that tries hard to get passengers at their destination on time, contrary to for example Czech Airlines). I arrived at 1h00 (local time) in Dehli and expected a long wait at the customs. But that turned out to work fine. But due the cancellation of my flight to Vienna, my luggage was not there. That took a heap of forms and stamps and I was sent off with a emergency sanitary set.

Once I was through the customs I met Anya, the Russian WSA jury member, and Esam, the new Iranian WSA grand jury member. Two people of the Indian government turned up to get us in a cab and drive us to the hotel in Gurgaon, Haryana on the south side of Dehli. By 3h00 I was finally in my hotel room and could take a short nap as we were supposed to be on the bus to the Intercontinental Hotel by 8h30.

It is the first time I am in India. Of course at night you do not see too much of Dehli, except some highways and a lot of multi-coloured trucks. But in the morning it was quite different.
An army of motor cycles had woken up as well as an army of cars and trucks, hooting and whistling along. Unbelievable, the way they drive; yet I saw only one light accident in all the 9 days.

On our way to the summit venue, I was sitting to someone who had been to the Tash Mahal in the days before. She had gone to Agara by taxi and has stayed overnight as she wanted to see the mausoleum by sunset. The marble and the special stones light up in a special way. After that she had returned to Dehli again by taxi on the bumpy road. For me, there is no time on this trip to go to the Tash Mahal. It is a pity, but you never know when you are back again in India.

In the Intercontinental Hotel, the summit 21st Century India through Digital Content was held. There were introductory presentations by Indian dignitaries (see photograph top left) and Dr Peter Bruck, the chairman of the World Summit Award (see photograph top right). After the introductions there were three rounds of brainstorming with summaries and recommendations to the government (see photograph below). I picked up a first impression about content in India. It is a country with 1,2 billion inhabitants; many of them are illiterate. Internet is not widespread, but mobile is. So mobile content is wanted badly. The days was closed by Mr. Jainder Singh, Secretary of the Department of Information Technology, Government of India.

Blog Posting Number: 1324

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BPN 1323 The Summit 21st Century India through Digital Content

AGENDA
21st Century India through Digital Content
DATE: April 2, 2009
VENUE: Hotel Intercontinental, Nehru Place, New Delhi

Inaugural & Power Session: 10.00 – 11.00 AM
The Inaugural Session would be highlighting the main theme of the Summit: ‘21st Century India through Digital Content’ and how the learning from global experts can make it to the next and also how ICT is changing the development paradigm of the country – a lesson for global experts.
• Introduction & Session Anchor/Moderator: Digital Empowerment Foundation
• Welcome Address by Mr SR Rao, Add Secretary, DIT, MoCIT
• Inaugural Address by Mr. Wajahat Habibullah, Chief Information Commissioner of India
• Keynote Address by Mr. R. Chandrasekhar, Special Secretary, DIT, MoCIT
• Summit Speech by Prof Peter A. Bruck, Chairman, World Summit Award, Austria

Session Summary & Key highlights by the Anchor/Moderator
…....................................................................................
TEA & NETWORING BREAK: 11.00 to 11.30 AM
…....................................................................................

Working Session I: 11:30 – 13:00
Digital Content in Business, Enterprise & Livelihoods
The focus of this session would be to discuss the role of digital content & services on various ICT tools and media platform. The idea is to bring forth international learning and put them into Indian perspective and vice versa. The special focus could be on ICT enabled sustainable
business models providing livelihood, entrepreneurship and growth. The session panelists will be divided into four sub-groups. Each sub-group will present their point-of-views, arguments and propositions forward. The role of the moderator in each sub-session is to allow the Panelists in each sub-group to place their arguments in articulate manner and with substance in given time frame. Its role shall be to bring out key essence of these deliberations and sum it up into 10 – 20 key recommendations and action points for consideration and implementation.

There will be a 30 minutes of discussions among the sub-group followed by 10 minutes of presentations by a representative of each of the sub-groups about their discussions and outcomes. The remaining session time will be utilized by the moderator/s to consolidate the session outcomes with key inputs from each
sub-group.


Moderators:
o Dr. Madanmohan Rao, AMCI, Singapore
o Dr. Subho Ray, President, IAMAI , India

1. ICT Enabled Enterprises : Bridging Demand-Supply Gap
This sub-session will focus on the factors driving ICT-enabled enterprises and
entrepreneurship. It will delve on the issues leading to incongruence in the demand-supply of ICT-enabled enterprises, content services and role of stakeholders in bringing a synthesis between the two.
o Ms. Anya Sverdlov, Managing Director, Actis Systems, Russian Federation
o Ms. Anthea Foyer, Training Programmes Manager, CFC's Media Lab, Canada
o Ms. Saloni Malhotra, CEO, DesiCrew Solutions Pvt. Ltd, IIT, Chennai
o Mr. Srikanth B Iyer, COO, Edurite Technologies, India
o Mr. Rahul Bedi, India Business Operations Manager, Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd
o Mr. Sunil Kapoor, Director Fortis Escorts Hospitals Jaipur & Kota, India
o Mr. R. Sreenivasan, Founder Director, Career Launcher, India
o Ms Gitanjli Sah, UN Soln Exchange, ICTD Community

2. Digital Technology & Supporting Role in Infrastructure Development
The focus of this sub-session shall be on scaling up and diversifying the infrastructure network for public service delivery and social-economic growth with supportive role of digital technology. It will focus around the challenge of bridging traditional infrastructure limitations with technology support in reaching out to the last mile.
o Mr. Gabriel Deek, President, Professional Computer Association (PCA), Lebanon
o Mr. Ehssan Riazi Esfehani, IT Consultant, Hamsafar.com, Iran
o Mr. Goh Chin Teck, Executive Director, VISIONEDGE Ventures Group, Singapore
o Mr. Ishteyaque Amjad, Director-Corporate Affairs, Cargill India Private Limited,
o Mr. Alok Bhargava - Executive Director, IL&FS India
o Mr. Satish Kaushal, IBM's Country Manager - Government & Education Sector (GSMB),
o Mr. Ramamurthy Sivakumar, Managing Director – Sales and Marketing, South Asia

3. Content Creation, Language Content, New Media Platforms and Content Services Delivery
This sub-session shall delve on the propelling factors leading to content creation for citizen needs and serving content services in local language. The focus will be on the core aspects of local language content and service delivery. Additional focus will be on content services delivery using new media platforms like websites, email marketing, online ads, Search Engines, Video On Demand , Wikis, Mobile and so on.
o Mr. Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative, Nigeria,
o Mr. Faouzi Zaghbib, General Manager, R2i, Tunisia,
o Ms. Shinta Dhanuwardoyo, CEO, PT Bubu Kreasi Perdana, Indonesia
o Prof. P.Krishna Reddy, Ph.D, IIIT Hyderabad, India
o Mr Subhash Rai, Editor, IndianOnlineJournalism.Org
o Mr. Piyush Bajpai, CEO ,Raftaar.com, New Delhi

4. Access, Affordability & Bandwidth for convergence enabled content flow
This session would focus on media convergence. Internet through cable, cell phones or satellite, Telephones, video conferencing through cable and computer – are some of the trends offering new frontiers in services delivery using digital content. However, there seems to be confronting challenges here in this marriage of computers, mass media and telecom. It is about accessibility and affordability of content services along with generating digital traffic through higher bandwidth to ferry content services.
o Ms. Maria Mercedes, Operations Director, Zaghi Ergocom, Guatemala
o Ms. Jan Bieringa, Director, BWX Productions, New Zealand
o Ms. Titi Akinsanmi, AfricaPractice.com
o Mr. Navin Aggarwal, Executive Director, KPMG, India
o Mr. Sandeep Bhargava. Head Corporate Affairs Sub Region-India, Nokia Siemens Networks
o Mr. Ibrahim Ahmed, Editor, Cyber Media Ltd, Gurgaon, India

…....................................................................................
LUNCH & NETWORING BREAK: 13.00 to 14.00 PM
…....................................................................................

Working Session II: 14:00 – 15:30
Digital Content in Education & Culture: Scaling up Social & Cultural Capital
The focus of this session would be on the essence of ICT deployment and content enablement to support education and learning processes for quality outcome. The focus shall be on preserving cultural resources and capital through effective deployment and creation of digital technology and content. The stress will be on the issues involved in preserving social and cultural capital vis-à-vis content generation and promotion. The session panelists will be divided into four sub-groups. Each sub-group will present their case, arguments and propositions forward. The role of the moderator in each sub-session is to allow the Panelists in each subgroup to place their arguments in articulate manner and with substance in stipulated time frame. Its role shall be to bring out key essence of these deliberations and sum it up into 10 – 20 key recommendations and action points for consideration and implementation.

Moderators:
o Ms. Ashish Garg, Asia Regional Coordinator, GeSCI
o Mr. Manas Chakrabarty, Learning by Design Foundation India

1. Digital Content in Education & Culture: The Policy Thrust
This sub-session will focus on the policy gaps in digital content parameters in education and culture. Despite India as one of the largest country to have ICT and digital content interventions, there is still the need to have focused policy attention in content generation, regulation, outreach, standardization and preservation in the area of education and culture and having national repositories with socio-cultural dynamics.
o Mr. N. Ravi Shanker, IAS, Joint Secretary & Group Coordinator, DIT, Govt. of India
o Mr. Garegin Chugaszyan, Executive Director, IT Foundation, Armenia
o Mr. Ananya Raihan, CEO, D. Net, Bangladesh
o Mr. Sajan Venniyoor, Prasar Bharati, BCI, India
o Ms. Mridula Chandra, Director, HSDRC, Jaipur
o Mr. Jak Boumans, Director, VOF ELECTRONIC MEDIA REPORTING, Netherlands
o Mr. Alejandro Fuentes, IndigoMedia, Mexico
o Ms. Moe Chiba, Program Specialist, UNESCO (TBC)

2. Scaling up Educational Indicators through Digital Media and Content
Is it possible to actually build up social and human capital by scaling up educational indicators in terms of meeting demand-supply of content needs, quality learning and teaching, and raising educational standards? This sub-session will focus on the role and limitations of digital media in meeting education content needs and service delivery. The question to be addressed is whether digital media tools / platforms can actually play a complimentary role in building up educational indicators.
o Mr. Shankar Venkateswaran, SustainAbility
o Mr. Andrew Gakiria, Coordinator, Kenya eLearning Centre, Kenya
o Mr. Alex Hung, Vice President, IPROA, China
o Mr. Amol Goje, Director, VIIT, Maharashtra, India
o Dr. Madan Mohan Rao, Research Director, AMIC, Singapore
o Ms. Josie Cacdac, Programs Director, Multimatics Indonesia, Philippines/Indonesia
o Mr. Samphe Lhalumgpa, Chief Education Officer, UNICEF (TBC)

3. Quality Content & Services in Education: Demand & Supply Issues
It is agreed that traditional learning can have value addition using digital technology and content solution applications. The consensus is learning and teaching can be streamlined and scaled up through assistive support from ICT. The concern on the other hand is two fold. One, to address gaps in demand supply of quality educational services and, two, how technology and content services can assist in bridging this gap? This sub session shall delve on these
critical areas with reasonable outcome.
o Mr. Rodolfo Laddaga, Co-Founder, iPod Tours, Mexico
o Mr. Ninad Vengurlekar, VP, ILFS - ETS
o Mr. Vijayaraghavan M. Chariar, Assistant Professor, IIT Delhi
o Mr. Anshul Sonak. Head - South Asia Education - Intel
o Ms. Manar Al-Hashash, General Manager, Dot Design, Kuwait
o Mr. Satya Narayanan R. Chairman, Career Launcher Group, India
o Mr. Ravi Gupta, Executive Director, CSDMS, NCR Delhi

4. Sustaining Cultural Communities through Digital Media & Convergence
Preserving cultural resources and rich heritage of communities is a global concern. There are reports of many communities already becoming almost extinct with their rich and unique living practices. Historical monuments, ancient citadels are just vanishing. Many languages and dialects already dying out. Can digital technology and digital media play a rescuing role in a sustainable manner? Can technology mediums revive and populate such rich practices and save them from becoming extinct? What key measures and interventions seems to be must here? This sub-session will highlight these aspects.
o Mr. Nawaf Mohammed Abdulrahman, Chief-IT, General Organization for Youth & Sport,
Bahrain
o Ms. Geeta Malhotra, Country Director, READ India, Gurgaon
o Mr. Alfredo Ronchi, Gerneral Secretary, MEDICI Framework, Italy
o Mr. Allen Bailochan Tuladhar. Chairperson, FIIT, Nepal
o Mr. SN Goswami, Managing Director, Media Lab Asia, New Delhi
o Ms. Nicole Bolomey, Program Specialist, UNESCO

…....................................................................................
TEA & NETWORING BREAK: 15.30 to 14.00 PM
…....................................................................................

Working Session III: 16:00 – 17:30
Policy Framework for Governance & Inclusive Development
The focus of this session would be on the policy parameters, policy compatibility in enabling a governance framework that caters to inclusive development through supporting role of technology and digital content. The session shall deliberate on the pros and cons of having an effective policy framework catering to governance and inclusive development needs using digital content and technology. The session panelists will be divided into four sub-groups. Each sub-group will present their case, arguments and propositions forward. The role of the moderator in each sub-session is to allow the Panelists in each sub-group to place their arguments in articulate manner and with substance in stipulated time frame. Its role shall be to bring out key essence of these deliberations and sum it up into 10 – 20 key recommendations and action points for consideration and implementation.

Moderators:
o Mr. Wajahat Habibullah, Chief Information Commissioner of India
o Mr. R. Chandrasekhar, Special Secretary, DIT, MoCIT, Govt. of India

1. Digital Content in e-Governance: Policy Focus
This sub-session will delve on these critical areas: The larger framework of e-Governance is incomplete without greater focus on the content and delivery. The issue of content gap is a huge concern. Public services delivery through digital technology mediums seeks high-end content generation, delivery and outreach with greater policy thrust on bandwidth, content flow, standardization, community enablement, catering to need based services, privacy and safety and content relevance. Of high relevance is content accessibility, affordability and accreditation.
o Mr. Ashis Sanyal, Sr Director, DIT, MoCIT, Govt. of India
o Ms. Dorothy Gordon, Director-General , Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT
o Mr. Rudi Vansnick, President, Internet Society, Belgium
o Mr. Lumko Mtimde, CEO, Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA), South Africa
o Mr. Amarendra Sinha, Secretary, Govt. of Uttarakhand, India
o Mr. Manish Bhardwaj, Director, Technical Education, Govt. of Gujarat
o Mr. Ajay Mishra, IAS, Principal Secretary, IT & C, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh
o Dr. Basheeramad Shadrach, Senior Programme Officer, IDRC, New Delhi

2. Time Bound Technology Infrastructure Development & Up-scaling Successful Pilots
This sub session will address key aspects of technology infrastructure and its essential linkage to development objectives. Maximum efforts have come from the government level to build key infrastructure pillars in ICT sector to streamline governance and service delivery system. The role of other players is equally significant. Nonetheless, there are cases of cost overruns in completing projects, long gestation period and cost assembling each day. The question is of timely completion of projects and timely outcome of projects implemented for relevancy of projects, objectives, and utilization. The concern is also expressive on the so many ICT and digital content pilots being experimented but not reaching the stage of scaling up which reflects loss of time, resources and human energy during the pilots. This sub session will
address these areas.
o Ms Chitranganie Mubarak, Programme Head, ICT Agency, Sri Lanka
o Mr. Christian Rupp, Spokesperson Federal Platform Digital Austria, BKA Austria
o Ms. Zawan Al-Sabti, Projects Specialist, Information Technology Authority (ITA), Oman
o Mr. Sanjay Jaju, IAS, CMD, INCAP, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, India
o Mr. Rajesh Aggarwal, IAS, Additional CEO, NIXI, New Delhi
o Ms. Sonal Mishra, IAS, Director, Gujarat Municipalities, Govt. of Gujarat
o Mr. Prakash Kumar, CISCO, India
o Mr. Naimur Rahman, Director, OWSA, India

3. Efforts on Inclusive Content Development through Mass Participation: Web 2.0 Technologies & Media
Digital Technology and content applications and inclusive growth and development must be at sync in each and every technology programmes having mass involvement. Not only technology and content must meet content needs within local social-cultural-economic ecosystem, but it must address the inclusive part of community catering to needs of special citizens and consumers be it the differently abled consumers, cultural minorities, women and others. And digital technology and new media with its new medium platforms and versions has enormous capacity to address these challenges. This sub-session will highlight these aspects of technology led inclusive development.
o Mr. Latif Ladid, President, IPv6 Forum, Luxembourg
o Mr. Nariman Hajiyev, Director, National E-Governance Network Initiative, Azerbaijan
o Ms. Beatriz Elvira Alonso Becerra, CEO, CITMATEL, Cuba
o Ms. Aruna Sundararajan, CEO, CSC project, IL&FS, India
o Dr. Prateep V. Philip, DIG, Tamil Nadu
o Dr. Govind, DIT, Govt. of India
o Mr. Joe Elamon, Decentralised Community, UN Soln Exchange, New Delhi
o Mr. Dipendra Minocha, DAISY Foundation
o Mr. Sunil Abraham, Director-Research, The Centre for Internet & Society, India

4. Sustainability of the Technology Driven Projects: Public Private Partnership Modalities
Government agencies cannot alone meet development needs. The fact is so far the government has taken the initiative in taking up major development programmes including ICT projects. This is the major trend in developing and third world countries. With changing times due to global and national economic dynamics it has become important that Public –Private partnerships takes the lead in fulfilling key growth needs including in ICTD domain.
There are instances when such partnerships have worked wonders. But the challenges are equally visible in lack of commitments of partners, role indecisiveness and so on. This subsession will deliberate on these key aspects of pros and cons of such a PPP model in digital technology and content domain.
o Mr. Shankar Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, DIT, Govt. of India
o Ms. Effat El Shooky, V.P. & Director of e-Learning/Knowledge Program, Regional
Information Technology and Software Engineering Center (RITSEC), Egypt
o Mr. Shashank Ojha, Senior e-Government Specialist, World Bank
o Mr. Garegin Chugaszyan, Executive Director, IT Foundation, Armenia
o Mr. Alok Kumar, Deputy Director, LBS NAA, Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India
o Mr. Sunil Kr. Barnwal, IG Prison & Additional Director – JAP-IT, Govt. of Jharkhand
o Mr. Vikas Kanungo, Director, Society for Promotion of e-Gov, India
o Mr. Rajen Varada, Resource Person, ICTD-UN Soln Exchange, India

17:30 – 18:30: Valedictory Session
The focus of this session is to consolidate the Summit outcomes. With formal Valedictory address followed by Summit findings, the session would summaries of each of the sessions. This session shall formally launch the India Digital Content Forum (IDCF), a public-private-CSO initiative to advocate, consult, deliberate and discuss issues around digital content, media, services and users.
Valedictory Address: Mr. Jainder Singh, Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Govt. of India
o Summit Recommendations & Action Plan;
o Launch of India Digital Content Forum (IDCF)

Conference Participants
• India national policy makers / Implementers
• State / Provincial policy makers / Implementers
• World Summit Award Expert team / delegates
• Academic Institutions / Academicians / Researchers
• Corporate / Private agencies / Representatives
• Civil Society bodies / representatives / experts
• Digital technology / Content innovators, designers, practitioners/ vendors
• Grassroots practitioners / promoters of digital technology and content models

Blog Posting Number: 1323

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