ICT Policy & Internet Rights section
Lots of great resources
Some interesting ones…
FAQ about Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships in ICTs for Development by Ada. James and Wanjkiri, Sept, 2007
catia_ms_guide_en.pdf
Whose Summit? Whose Information Society? Developing countries and civil society at the World Summit on the Information Society, David Souter, 2006
whose_summit_en.pdf
APC Women’s Networking Support Program
http://www.apcwomen.org/
Fibre for Africa
http://www.fibreforafrica.net/
Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child Program.
Here’s a review of the XO computer by Virginia Heffernan in The NY Times (Jan 26 2008).
The program is designed “to stimulate local grassroots initiatives designed to enhance and sustain over time the effectiveness of laptops as learning tools for children living in lesser-developed countries.” Fascinating. It’s been known as the “100$ computer” but it actually selling for $200 USD. And more:
The mission of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) movement is to ensure that all school-aged children in the developing world are able to engage effectively with their own personal laptop, networked to the world, so that they, their families and their communities can openly learn and learn about learning.
The OLPC Association focuses on designing, manufacturing, and distributing laptops to children in lesser developed countries, initially concentrating on those governments that have made commitments for the funding and program support required to ensure that all of their children own and can effectively use a laptop.
Full notice here:
pb2008-4.pdf
January 15, 2008
OTTAWA-GATINEAU — The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today introduced new policies to ensure that a diversity of voices is maintained in the Canadian broadcasting system.
“With these new policies, we have developed a clear approach to guide us in assessing future transactions in the broadcasting industry,” said Konrad von Finckenstein, Q.C., Chairman of the CRTC. “It is an approach that will preserve the plurality of editorial voices and the diversity of programming available to Canadians, both locally and nationally, while allowing for a strong and competitive industry.”
Further to its review, the Commission is satisfied that the broadcasting system currently provides Canadians with a range of news and information programming. For this reason, it reaffirmed its existing common ownership policies governing the number of conventional television and radio stations a person may control in the same market.
However, to maintain this plurality of editorial voices, the Commission is establishing a new policy restricting cross-media ownership. As a result, a person or entity will only be permitted to control two of the following types of media that serve the same market: a local radio station, a local television station or a local newspaper.
In addition, the Commission has conditionally approved the Journalistic Independence Code proposed by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC). In particular, the Commission directed the CBSC to include a minimum number of journalists on the panels that study complaints and to formalize the process used to select panel members. The principles set out in the Code will ensure a diversity of professional editorial voices and will eventually apply to all broadcasters who own a newspaper in the same market.
The trend toward greater consolidation in the broadcasting industry has raised concerns that a large ownership group could achieve a dominant position through acquisitions, which could bring about a reduction in the diversity of local, regional and national content. To address these concerns, the Commission has decided to…..<continue to read link above>
Some media coverage below
From COMS 225 Fall 07:
http://coms225.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/media-reform/#more-52
Media Action Canada
http://www.media-action-media.com/
CDN feminist media action group
Campaign for Democratic Media
http://democraticmedia.ca/front
Free Press
http://www.freepress.net/
World Association for Christian Communication – Resources
Media Development journal
Felicia R. Lee, The Rough-and-Tumble Online Universe Traversed by Young Cybernauts, New York Times, January 22 2008.
A baby-faced eighth grader, viciously bullied online, hangs himself. With a click of her mouse, a young woman with anorexia uses cyberspace to find tips on starving. A high school student, with a world of plot outlines available on the Internet, admits that he cannot recall ever actually reading a book.
If 21st-century parenthood is not scary enough, “Growing Up Online,” a documentary to be broadcast on the “Frontline” program on most PBS stations on Tuesday night, uses those real-life stories to ask an increasingly important question: What does it mean to be part of the first generation coming of age steeped in a virtual world seemingly outside parental control? The documentary touches on the much discussed fear of online sexual predators, as well as concerns about the ease of cut-and-paste plagiarism, using the Internet. It also examines how notions of privacy and the meaning of friendships change when a computer button can ferry your words and your images to strangers.
New Journal – International Journal of Internet Research Ethics
Issue 1.1 has some interesting articles. Notably, Erin Hvizda, Creating a Web of Attribution in the Feminist Blogosphere (feminist perspectives on CR) and Sara Grimes, Researching the Researchers: Market Researchers, Child Subjects and the Problem of “Informed” Consent.
Alternatives on Media Content, Journalism and Regulation: The Grassroots Discussion Panels at the 2007 ICA Conference, San Francisco. Edited by Seeta Pena Gangadharan, Benjamin De Cleen, and Nico Carpentier. PDF file.
In no particular order…
An excellent primer is Seán Ó Siochrú, Bruce Girard and Amy Mahan. (2002). Global Media Governance: A Beginner’s Guide. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission
http://www/crtc.gc.ca
Industry Canada/Industrie Canada
http://www.ic.gc.ca/ic_wp-pa.htm
Patrimoine Canada/Candian Heritage
http://www.pch.gc.ca/
Bureau de concurrence/Competition Bureau (Canada)
http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/epic/site/cb-bc.nsf/Intro
Federal Communication Commission (US)
http://www.fcc.gov/
International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
http://www.itu.int/home/
World Trade Organization
http://www.wto.org
World Intellectual Property Organization
http://www.wipo.org
ICANN- Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
http://www.icann.org
UNESCO
http://www.unesco.org
World Summit on the Information Society
and misc resources dating back to 2005 can be found here
see also Civil Society, Communication and Global Governance: Issues from the World Summit on the Information Society, Marc Raboy and Normand Landry.
OECD – Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
http://www.oecd.org
OFCOM – UK
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/
Privacy Commissioner of Canada
http://www.privcom.gc.ca/
