Thursday, April 26, 2007

Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 2007


IITF Special Event at the Sixth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Launching of the International Indigenous Internet Portal
Monday, 21 May

1:15 p.m.-2:45 p.m
Conference Room 9

Speakers:
Kenneth Deer
Roberto Mucaro Borrero
Teanau Tuiono
Malia Nobrega

Organizer:
International Indigenous ICT Task Force (IITF)
Co-sponsors: Incomindios, Switzerland; Na Koa Ikaika I ka Lahui, Hawaii

IITF Letter to President Joe Shirley, Navajo Nation

To:
Hon. President Joe Shirley,
Navajo Nation
c/o George Hardeen,
Communications Director
E-mail: pressoffice@opvp.org
Ofc: 928-871-7917

Cell: 928-309-8532

Dear Hon. President Shirley:

On behalf of the International Indigenous ICT Task Force (IITF), I am writing to thank you thank you for the information that your Communications Director has forwarded concerning your presentation on ICTs in New York. I am sorry that while you were in New York we could not meet to discuss potential follow-up to our partnership formed during the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, Tunisia.

If you recall you and your delegation worked together with the WSIS Indigenous Caucus and members of the International Indigenous Steering Committee present at the Tunis meeting. As per the results of the final report by the WSIS Indigenous Steering Committee we looked forward to supporting each others initiatives whenever possible.

With that in mind, and as I have already indicated to you in the previous communication that I sent to Mr. George Hardeen, indigenous peoples involved in the ICT issue have been keen to receive substantive follow-up on the Navajo Nation’s work in this area not only for your Nation but for other indigenous peoples. For example, we have been waiting to receive information about the ITU office, which is planned to be opened in Window Rock and how we as an indigenous follow-up initiative of the WSIS can be involved.

We would also like to bring your attention to one of the tasks the IITF was entrusted to begin work on, which was an international indigenous portal. We will be presenting the results of our work at the upcoming Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues this May. It is important for the IITF to be aware of how the Navajo Nation can support the call for an international indigenous portal and assist us in the realization of the current International Indigenous Portal Project.

Please inform us if any members of the Navajo Nation will be attending the Permanent Forum as we feel that would be an opportune time to meet and discuss these issues.

I thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Respectfully,

Roberto MĂșcaro Borrero
IITF Caribbean Focal Point
C/O UCTP PO BOX 4515 • NEW YORK, NY • 10163
PHONE: 212.604.4186

Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr., addresses international UN conference on information, communication, technology

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., has renewed the Navajo Nation's commitment and leadership to help bring information,communication and technology ­ (ICT) ­ to the indigenous people of the world.

Speaking before the 7th Infopoverty World Conference 2007 at the United Nations here Thursday and Friday, he said the Navajo Nation can assist to preserve languages, cultures and ways of life while providing access to education and economic development online.

President Shirley said that in 2005 when the UN learned that the Navajo Nation had created one of the largest wireless networks in the world through satellite technology, it asked if it could share that knowledge with the rest of the world.

He said that led to the Navajo Nation joining the International Telecommunications Union and the Observatory for Cultural and Audiovisual Communication, or OCCAM, and creating plans to open an international office for indigenous nations in Window Rock later this year.

He said all 110 Navajo Nation communities have wireless internet access, and every Navajo who wants an e-mail address can have one.

"There is not another Native American tribe or organization in the world that is coming close to taking the kind of leadership position that the Navajo Nation is," said Ernest Franklin, Executive director of the Navajo Nation Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, who attended with President Shirley.

TO READ THE FULL STORY CLICK HERE

Audio: President Shirley

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Cluster of WSIS-related events, 14-25 May 2007, Geneva

A series follow-up and implementation meetings of the World Summit on the Information Society outcomes will take place in Geneva . Organized around the 10th session of the UN Commission for Science and Technology for Development (21-25 May) and the World Information Society Day ceremony (16 May 2007), the cluster will also include multi-stakeholder implementation facilitation meetings and various ICT-related meetings and consultations. Registration is available on-line. More information on the WSIS website and on the CONGO website.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Informal consultation between ITU and civil society, 18 May, Geneva

An informal consultation between the International Telecommunication Union and civil society on the participation of all relevant stakeholders in the ITU activities will take place on Friday 18 May,between 10:00 and 13:00, in Room K1/K2 (ITU). The meeting will takeplace in the context of the implementation of PP-06 Resolution 141,which calls for a study of the participation of relevant stakeholders in the activities of the Union related to WSIS.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

International Communications Foundation (ICF)

The International Communications Foundation was established in 1988 with a purpose to contribute to harmonious and fruitful development ofthe world by promoting international communications through studiesand grant making in a wide range of areas related to internationaltelecommunications. Their applications are invited through public announcement. Grant-making areas include: Research Grant, Grant forholding International Conferences, Grant for Social-Contribution andCultural Activities.

For more Information, see: www.icf.or.jp/english/index.html

World Radio Communication Conference


Wednesday, April 18, 2007

UNESCO shares training resources on the Web through the Open Training Platform

UNESCO invites development stakeholders to share training resources on the Web through the Open Training Platform: http://www.opentrainingplatform.com

It aims at making available training and capacity-building resources developed by a variety of stakeholders worldwide in a myriad subject, including literacy, computers, business, environment, community development and much more. The platform is at the service of:

- Any trainers and learners offered access to the free (and when possible) open capacity building resources they need

- All development stakeholders producing training materials, who can share theirs and use existing ones.

We therefore propose development stakeholders to support this collective effort to share capacity building resource for development. They can contribute by:

- Registering and up loading their training materials on the Open Training Platform, maximizing their use and impact and advertising the institution’s effort and commitment in a certain area

- Promoting the Open Training Platform, increasing the traffic and the use of it, bringing new contributors on board thus improving its usefulness and quality (using your network, newsletter or website for which ready-to-use web banners available from the Platform homepage
http://opentraining.unesco-ci.org/cgi-bin/page.cgi?&p=promote&d=1)

*****

Related News

Press release March 2007

“UNESCO invites development stakeholders to share training resources on the Web”

UNESCO launches an online platform http://www.opentrainingplatform.org to make available training and capacity-building resources developed by a variety of stakeholders worldwide in a myriad subject, including literacy, computers, business, environment, community development and much more.

The objective of this platform is to provide trainers and learners with the learning resources they need, and a space where they can share and use material. It therefore also to advocates open content in non formal education: most of the training programmes featured on the platform have open licenses, such as Creative Commons, which make them accessible to anyone to use for non-commercial purposes such as teaching and learning.

The platform has been designed to include material from any partners involved in development, notably UN agencies, governments and NGOs, especially those involved in the Open Education Resource movement. UNESCO invites any player to share their capacity building resources on this user-friendly platform.

The user-rated resources made available on the platform target the wide range specific needs: those of policy makers, development and educational specialists, teachers, trainers, and learners. Material is also organized to serve communities: civil servants, members of civil society, cultural actors, decision-makers, development and social workers, educators, environment specialists, farmers, health specialists, librarians, archivists and information specialists, media professionals, scientists, and trainers.

It reflects the conviction that there is much scope to increase the use of information and communication technologies in development, for both communities and individuals.”

For more information, please contact:
Armelle Arrou
Information Society Division
UNESCO
1 rue Miollis
F-75732 Paris Cedex 15
Tel: 33 1 45 68 42 08
Email Armelle

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Brazil Offers Internet Access to Native Tribes

Brazil's government has signed an agreement with the Forest People's Network to provide an Internet signal by satellite to 150 communities, including many reachable only by riverboat, allowing them to report illegal logging and ranching, request help and coordinate efforts to preserve the forest.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/033007T.shtml