Friday, November 30, 2007

E-skills and Your Career Radio initiative

E-skills and Your Career, has just been introduced on radio by Jidaw (http://www.jidaw.com/). The focus is developing skills and careers for opportunities provided through Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). E-skills and Your Career is created to raise awareness of electronic skills (e-skills), new opportunities and new thinking to address real issues and solve problems in society - unemployment, education, business development and entrepreneurship. careeraware.com (http://www.careeraware.com/), the companion website contains all content broadcast on radio as well as related content and ideas and provides information for those unable to listen to the program due to reasons of location and or time.
VIEW FULL TEXT

Source: Content update - Culture and Development on the Development Gateway
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/culture/rc/ItemDetail.do~1121912?intcmp=700
Contributed by Ayo Adediran on 26 November, 2007

Monday, November 26, 2007

Breaking Down the Firewall

Internet censorship is the book burning of the modern age, denying as much as a third of the world's population access to news and information.

But a new brand of activists -- or "hacktivists" -- are using their computer expertise to help people stranded in Web-censored countries abroad (and corporate offices and military bases at home) jump the firewall. The key innovation, developed by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, is a software program called Psiphon. In the latest version (due out this winter), prospective users, or aid groups, contact the Citizen Lab to receive passwords and Web links. Once signed in, users are then patched directly into the Psiphon network of servers. A search bar pops up on their own screen, and they can surf the Web freely. All censors see is an unfamiliar IP address, which could be for anything from a bank transaction to an eBay sale.

According to Ronald Deibert, the lab's director, the biggest threat to the system is censors who might sign up for the service to learn Psiphon's IP addresses and block them. But the lab has developed a high-tech shell game to counter this measure. As soon as one address is blocked, Psiphon assigns it to another region and puts in a new one. When the next one gets discovered, Psiphon again swaps in a new one. The process can go on indefinitely, until the censors grow tired or the firewalls come down.

--Meryl Rothstein

Source: http://www.esquire.com/features/best-brightest-2007/sixideas1207

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Seventh Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

ENGLISH / ESPAÑOL

Dear friends,

Pre-registration for the Seventh Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is now open.

The Seventh Session will take place at United Nations Headquarters, in New York, from 21 April to 2 May 2008. The special theme will be "Climate change, bio-cultural diversity and livelihoods: the stewardship role of indigenous peoples and new challenges."

Pre-registration is open to indigenous peoples' organizations, academic institutions and NGOs with ECOSOC consultative status. Please visit the Seventh Session webpage, where you will find all online registration forms:
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/session_seventh.html

Best regards,

Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
indigenouspermanentforum@un.org

*************************************

Estimados amigos,

El proceso de pre-inscripción para el Séptimo período de sesiones del Foro Permanente para las Cuestiones Indígenas ya está abierto.

El Séptimo período de sesiones se llevará a cabo del 21 de abril al 2 de mayo de 2008 en la sede de las Naciones Unidas, en Nueva York y el tema especial será "El cambio climático, la diversidad biocultural y los medios de vida: la custodia por los pueblos indígenas y nuevos retos".

La pre-inscripción está abierta para las organizaciones de pueblos indígenas, las instituciones académicas y las ONGs con estatus consultivo ante el ECOSOC. Les invitamos a visitar la página web del séptimo período de sesiones, en donde podrá acceder a los formularios de pre-inscripción en línea: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/es/session_seventh.html

Saludos cordiales,

Secretaría del Foro Permanente para las Cuestiones Indígenas
indigenouspermanentforum@un.org