01-09-2003 (Bangkok) UNESCO Cambodia Steps Up ICT Training for Teacher Trainers
Poor language skills and the lack of access to computers are two central challenges in the area of ICT training of teachers in Cambodia. To address these and other problems, the UNESCO Office in Phnom Penh has conducted extensive training of trainers workshops during the past months and now plans to train additional 400 teacher trainers in the use of ICT.
29-08-2003 (Kabul) Training Package for Afghan Educational Radio Television Staff
This week, UNESCO launched a 3-months training programme for the staff of ERTV, Afghanistan’s Educational Radio Television. Thanks to this programme, ERTV staff will gain professional knowledge and skills in key areas such as: TV and radio techniques, use of digital equipment (radio and television), programme production, English language and computer literacy.
28-08-2003 Elizabeth Longworth New Director of UNESCO's Information Society Division
Elizabeth Longworth, a cyberspace-law expert from New Zealand, has just taken office as Director of UNESCO's Information Society Division. Longworth succeeds Philippe Quéau, of France, who now heads the UNESCO Office in Moscow, Russian Federation.
27-08-2003 New Collections Proposed for UNESCO's Memory of the World Register
The International Advisory Committee of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme will examine proposals from 27 countries to inscribe 41 library and archive collections on the Memory of the World Register at a three day meeting in the Town Hall of the city of Gdansk, Poland that opens tomorrow.
26-08-2003 Publishers and Librarians Promote Freedom of Expression on the Internet
An international group of librarians and book and journal publishers re-asserted the importance of freedom of expression on the Internet for democracy and creativity, expressing its willingness to further promote and work towards ensuring respect of this fundamental human right in a digital era.
25-08-2003 African Universities Embark on ICT-based Publication of Doctoral Dissertations
The University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) and Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia) will be hosting a pilot project on the electronic production and publication of theses and dissertations. This is the essence of a contract recently signed between UNESCO and the University of the Witwatersrand.
22-08-2003 (Bangkok) Developing and Using Indicators of ICT Use in Education
As the use of ICT continue to expand in schools and universities in many countries, the UNESCO Bangkok Office has now published a Guidelines on " Developing and Using Indicators of ICT Use in Education", a short handbook on how to monitor the use and outcomes of ICTs and to demonstrate accountability to education stakeholders, funding sources and the public.
21-08-2003 Conference on Free Software Development and Usage in Peru
Some thousand free software experts gathered last week in Cusco, Peru, at the first Latin American and the Caribbean Conference on Free Software Development and Usage (LACFREE) that was organized by a Free Software Developers and Users Consortium, the UNESCO Offices in Lima and Montevideo and the Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática of Peru.
20-08-2003 Terrorist Attack on UN Headquarters in Baghdad
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, has condemned yesterday’s terrorist bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad as an outrage committed not only against the United Nations but also against the people of Iraq. He is deeply shocked by the tragic loss of life of UN Special Envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and at least 19 others and by the injuries suffered by a further 100 or more people.
19-08-2003 (Kingston) Caribbean Universities Project for Integrated Distance Education Takes Off
The development of quality distance education programmes is one of the main objectives of the Caribbean Universities Project for Integrated Distance Education (CUPIDE), which now takes off with the establishment of its implementation plan. CUPIDE is a joint project of the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Jamaica's Capital Kingston and UNESCO.
New Agencies Pivotal of Democracy, Poverty Alleviation and Citizens’ Empowerment
A UNESCO workshop on strategies for the diversification of news agencies in Southern African countries ended last Friday in Lusaka, Zambia, with the participants underlining the importance of news agencies and their work in the areas of in democracy, poverty alleviation strategies, HIV/Aids awareness creation and empowerment.
14-08-2003 (Paris) An Asian Training Workshop on Greenstone Digital Library Software
A UNESCO Asian regional training workshop on the Greenstone Digital Library Software (GSDL) was successfully conducted at the National Centre for Science Information (NCSI), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India during 6-8 August 2003. This is the first in a series of such international workshops planned and supported by UNESCO Communication and Information (CI) programme, to promote the development and sharing of digital library collections using the Greenstone package.
13-08-2003 UNESCO INFOYOUTH Café Opens In Kabul
UNESCO has now opened an INFOYOUTH Public Internet Café at the main library building in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan, on the eve of the International Day for Youth (12th August). The new Internet Café, which has twelve Compaq Pentium 4 computers and a networked HP laserjet printer, is also equipped with a Galaxy satellite Internet system.
12-08-2003 World Library and Information Congress Succeeds in Berlin
More than 4,500 participants from 133 countries attended the World Library and Information Congress, the 69th General Conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, which was held in Berlin from 1-9 August.
01-08-2003 UNESCO Supports Strategies for Diversification African News Agencies
UNESCO in cooperation with the Zambia News Agency and the country’s National Commission for UNESCO will from 11 to 15 August 2003 organise a workshop on "News Agencies Diversification Strategies" in Zambia's capital Lusaka for participants from Botswana; Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and the host Zambia.
31-07-2003 Using ICTs to Preserve Silk Roads Heritage on Agenda of International Symposium
More than 200 researchers and scientists are expected to meet from 10 to 12 December 2003 in Nara, Japan's capital more than 1300 years ago, for the second international Digital Silk Roads Symposium organized within the framework of UNESCO's Digital Silk Roads initiative, a project based on digital restoration and exchanges of cultural heritage in the Silk Roads Region.
30-07-2003 Japan Hosts UNESCO Meeting of Experts on Iraqi Cultural Heritage
The third UNESCO meeting of international experts on the safeguarding of Iraqi cultural heritage will be held in Tokyo on August 1, organized jointly by UNESCO and the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan. Mainly focusing on the Baghdad Museum, the experts are also expected to consider broader measures to protect Iraqi cultural heritage.
29-07-2003 World Library and Information Congress To Open in Berlin This Week
Thousands of librarians from all over the world will meet from Friday on in Berlin, Germany, when the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) holds its 69th General Conference and Council. The theme of this year's Conference is " Access Point Library: Media - Information – Culture".
28-07-2003 (Almaty) e-Learning for Journalists Training in Central Asia
How to develop e-learning courses for journalists as an efficient alternative to traditional training courses, is the theme of a combined online and offline workshop for executives, senior trainers, learning technology managers, and teachers at the School of Mass Media Training at Kazakh State University in Almaty.
25-07-2003 (Paris) Winner of UNESCO Digital Arts Award 2003 Announced
Mwanya Chanda, a 25-year-old artist from Zambia, is the first winner of the UNESCO Digital Arts Award, which was this year launched under the theme "Digital Pluralism", promoting digital technology and artistic creativity to foster intercultural dialogue. Chanda was selected out of the 122 applications from 49 countries all over the world.
24-07-2003 Conference to Look at Role of Science in the Information Society as WSIS Approaches
What are the prospects that current developments in science and technology offer for the future of the Information Society? This is the theme of a major conference hosted by the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva from 8 to 9 December 2003 in the run-up to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
23-07-2003 UNESCO Announces Selection of TV Films for Open Frame Festival & Forum
Fifteen television films from 15 different countries were selected out of 211 submissions to the "Open Frame", the international festival and forum on public service broadcasting and cultural diversity that UNESCO and the Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT) organize in New Delhi, India, from 21 to 27 August 2003.
22-07-2003 Annan Appoints Special Adviser for WSIS
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appointed Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, as his Special Adviser for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which aims to bridge the digital divide between rich and poor.
22-07-2003 Public Service Broadcasting Essential for Democracy Says Amman Workshop
Public service broadcasting is an important element of society and of citizen's participation in the public life and sustainable democratic development said the participants of a three day UNESCO workshop on "Public Service Broadcasting and the Civil Society in the Arab Region", that ended last Thursday in Amman, Jordan.
21-07-2003 Argentina Joins Initiative to Monitor World Heritage by Satellites
Argentina is the first country to join the UNESCO/European Space Agency (ESA) Open Initiative, which aims to bring together international space agencies in order to assist developing countries in monitoring their World Heritage sites through satellite imaging. UNESCO and the European Space Agency launched this initiative last June.
21-07-2003 World Summit on the Information Society Intersessional Meeting, Paris 15-18 July 2003- Draft Declaration of Principles and Action Plan Refined
More than 750 participants from governments, the private sector, intergovernmental agencies, civil society and the media attended the Intersessional Meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society hosted by UNESCO 15-18 July in Paris. The objective of the meeting was to refine the draft Declaration of Principles and the Draft Plan of Action that are to be adopted at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which is being held under the patronage of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and hosted by the Governments of Switzerland (Geneva, December 10-12, 2003) and Tunis
18-07-2003 Towards Knowledge Societies. An Interview with Abdul Waheed Khan
In an interview published in the last issue of "A World of Science", the quarterly newsletter of UNESCO's Natural Sciences Sector, Abdul Waheed Khan, the Organization's Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information. explains how information and knowledge can contribute to development in a world where 80% of people still lack access to basic telecommunication tools.
17-07-2003 Iraqi Library Stamps
This project of the Middle East Librarians Association's Committee on Iraqi Libraries seeks to collect images of library stamps and other ownership marks used by various libraries and manuscript collections in Iraq and publish them on the Internet for use as a reference guide in helping to identify books, manuscripts and other materials that may have been illegally removed from Iraqi libraries.
17-07-2003 Nepalese Version of UNESCO Guide for Journalists Published
A Nepalese version of UNESCO's "Practical Guide for Journalists", produced with UNESCO's support, was launched at the Center for Human Rights and Democratic Studies (CEHURDES) in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu last Monday. The launching event was accompanied by a debate on reporting in conflict areas.
16-07-2003 WSIS Intersessional Meeting Continues Work at UNESCO Headquarters
The participants of the Intersessional Meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society that is presently being held at UNESCO's Headquarters (15 to 18 July) are continuing today their work of refining the drafts of the WSIS Declaration of Principles and of the Plan of Action. UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura yesterday addressed the opening session of the meeting presenting UNESCO's input to the Summit.
