Eldis aggregation tool

12 February 2004

[c3net] EGovernance in Developing Countries: Enhancing Public Value of Information Supplied. Dear Colleagues,

Thought this short article on "Increasing 'Public Value' of Information through Electronic Governance Models will be of interest to this group. We explain why
Governments becoming online" does not always mean Good Governance. Instead Good Governance occurs when Electronic Governance is able to enhance the "Public Value" of information supplied.

For other resources related to the article below, go to the Digital Governance Initiative website at http://www.digitalgovernance.org or send a blank email to:
digitalgovernance-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Best,

Vikas Nath
Founder, DigitalGovernance.org and KnowNet.org Initiative
Email: knownet@knownetweaver.org or v.nath-alumni@lse.ac.uk
Homepage: http://www.vikasnath.org

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Increasing "Public Value" of Information through Electronic
Governance Models.
Vikas Nath

There is no dispute that "Electronic Governance" is gradually
entering the domain of public administration concepts and strategies
in developing countries... By ICT_Messages@community.eldis.org. [Community@Eldis: ICT for Development messages]
11:48:27 AM

Knowledge Bank evaluation criticises “reluctance to consider alternatives”. An official review has echoed many external criticisms of the World Bank's knowledge roles, but has buried some of the most important feedback from officials and researchers in the South. A recent study by the World Bank's Operations Evaluation Department found significant problems with the Bank's self-appointed role as guardian and dissseminator of the world's development knowledge, but produced only extremely bureaucratic conclusions which do not match the degree or nature of the concerns expressed by outside critics. [Bretton Woods Project]
11:47:39 AM

Extractives report tables harsh criticism, many suggestions. In mid-January the report of the Extractive Industries Review was tabled, containing many strong criticisms of the Bank's record in the oil, gas and mining sector and a series of detailed recommendations. [Bretton Woods Project]
11:47:01 AM

KM World: Personal Toolkit: Three thousand communities of practice.

KM World: Personal Toolkit: Three thousand communities of practice

A case for personal KM: "Today there are many different definitions of personal knowledge management. But for me, the accusation that personal knowledge management is somehow antisocial or discounts the importance of collaborative learning and innovation is entirely inappropriate. The whole point is that collaborative work requires more of the individual—not less. And we are ill-equipped to handle those obligations and responsibilities."

[elearningpost]
11:46:21 AM

Images of Africa, in Translations. Daniele Mezzana has an excellent blog focused on the images of Africa found in the media. He's a sociologist, based in Rome, who's written extensively about these issues, often on behalf of African Societies, an e-magazine focused on "the invisible... [BlogAfrica News and Discussion]
11:45:19 AM

elearn Magazine: Predictions for 2004.

elearn Magazine: Predictions for 2004

Instructional design will become learning design, bringing innovation and creativity to online courses much like the best teachers do in the classroom. Online courses will provide layers of information to encourage exploration, use rewards, surprises, and humor to increase engagement and enjoyment, and support peer learning so that students learn together as well as from each other. -- Lisa Neal

[elearningpost]
11:42:52 AM

Learning Circuits: We Learning: Social Software and E-Learning.

Learning Circuits: We Learning: Social Software and E-Learning

"This article takes a look at software tools that are still in the future for e-learning adoption, such as stage two collaboration technology (known as open source), social networking software, proximity tools, and virtual worlds. But can these tools really spread to the education sphere? We point to some examples of this happening already and postulate some others. Indeed, although many of these tools are being developed and adopted by members of younger generations, a few good visionaries—of any age—are needed to find more innovative and effective uses for e-learning."

[elearningpost]
11:42:20 AM

BBCi: Connector.

BBCi: Connector

"By using web pages as meeting points, Connector allows you to find and talk to people who have similar interests to you!"
This looks like a site-bound version of ThirdVoice.

[elearningpost]
11:41:20 AM

Using Open Source Software. I don't want to appear obsessed with Open Source Software (actually I'm mostly Mac) but after writing the last item a newsletter just dropped into my mailbox from Dot Org Media, in which they provide a very useful evaluation of... [Designing for Civil Society]
11:40:34 AM

[bytesforall_readers] <nettime> Unpacking the Knowledge Economy - Anita Gurumurthy. ------------------------------

Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 12:04:45 -0800
From: Sasha Costanza-Chock <schock@riseup.net>;
Subject: <nettime> Unpacking the Knowledge Economy - Anita Gurumurthy

apologies for crossposts

Unpacking the Knowledge Economy ^Ö Whither Knowledge Society?
Anita Gurumurthy

The euphoria about India^Òs meteoric rise in global and national popular
imagination as a knowledge society and information superpower badly
needs a reality-check. Unpacking the phenomenon requires that we
reposition our inferences and projections for the knowledge economy or
the IT industry, relative to our recent economic history, and our
current development priorities. How do we understand the optimism in the
rhetoric that surrounds us about the knowledge economy, even as more
than a third of our population is illiterate, and the transfer of
knowledge is governed by the hierarchies of class, caste and gender?

The subservience of knowledge society to knowledge economy

The discourse of the IT revolution marks the over-valorization of the
information economy ^Ö the glorification of the IT industry - and a
trivialization of the critical benchmarks of knowledge society in
national development policy and practice. IT policies of most state
governments in India look at training youth to join the ITeS sector even
as they are unequivocally silent about the deployment of IT for
strengthening the quality of the formal educational system. Given that
industry projections point to the potential of ITeS to employ over a
million people by 2008, states like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat and
Maharashtra are giving emphasis to ^Óproducing English-speaking graduates
with the right domain and functional expertise.^Ô The Kerala government
is investing Rs 2 crore in ITeS human resource training initiatives.

The scramble for getting there, seems to completely obscure policy
attention to the opportunity cost of public expenditure in ^Óproducing an
English-speaking workforce^Ô... By ICT_Messages@community.eldis.org. [Community@Eldis: ICT for Development messages]
11:37:04 AM

(No Title) via Email Thu Feb 12 2004 01:36:57 GMT-0800 (PST). Hello all:

As someone who is coordinating a knowledge networking project for over 40
International Fund for Agricultural Development projects spread over 8
countries in the Asia/Pacific region, I would like to share my experience
on specifically two issues:

1. Who is the key communicating link in telling the world about the "gaps"
or needs that Ajit refers to and in making appropriate information
available to the remote, in a way unconnected, group of the farmer/poor? I
agree that in general the further away one is from the communities/grass
roots - the higher up you are in hierarchy and thus in a better position to
influence policy and design - the lesser idea you have about the needs of
these groups. I see it happening all the time in my project. This has a
serious impact on the motivation level of the project officials... ... By ICT_Messages@community.eldis.org. [Community@Eldis: ICT for Development messages]
11:35:34 AM

[bellanet-l] Major companies in the hardware industry are increasingly refering to development issues. Hello,

This might be of interest to readers of Bellanet-l:

Major companies in the hardware industry are increasingly referring to
development issues:
http://www.ethicalquote.org/charts/technologyhardware.html
This is a free database measuring the ethical performance of multinational
companies with a focus on developing countries and information feeding by
civil society organizations.

Thanks

Antoine Mach

Covalence SA Pl. des Augustins 7, CH-1205 GENEVA

Tel: +41 (0)22 800 08 55 ; Fax: +41 (0)22 800 08 56 info@covalence.ch ;
http://www.covalence.ch ; http://www.ethicalquote.org

11:34:37 AM

Managing the Complexity of Content Management. "Content management systems suck. Or so you would think from the strife heard from analysts and practitioners alike. And yet, many websites regularly publish vast amounts of information with superior control and ease compared to manually editing pages. So where's... [InfoDesign: Understanding by Design]
11:33:32 AM

Web Usability: A New International Standard. "ISO is developing a new standard for web usability. The new standard will be of interest to anyone who designs, evaluates or commissions web sites and it is likely to have a significant impact in improving the overall usability of... [InfoDesign: Understanding by Design]
11:33:03 AM

Accessible Web Typography: An introduction for web designers. "This short(ish) book contains all the important 'stuff' I ever wanted to know about creating accessible text on my own web pages; and now that I have figured it out myself, I am happy to pass it on." (Jim Byrne... [InfoDesign: Understanding by Design]
11:32:42 AM