14-03-2003 Promoting Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace
As the 32nd session of UNESCO's General Conference approaches, a revised version of the "Draft Recommendation on the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace", the adoption of which is on the Agenda of the biennial Conference of UNESCO's 188 Member States, has been prepared by UNESCO.
13-03-2003 UNESCO Produced Film "The Dilemma of Eya" Receives Awards
The Dilemma of Eya ("Le dilemme d’Eya'), a 26’ fiction film directed by Adjiké Assouma from Togo and produced by UNESCO, has just been awarded two special jury prizes (UEMOA and Plan International) at the Pan African Festival of Cinema and Television (FESPACO), whose 18th edition took place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from 22 February to 1 March.
13-03-2003 Professionals in Education, Science and Culture Meet in Lugano to Help Bridging Digital Divide
Some fifty experts from Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America and Europe will meet from 14 to 16 March in Lugano, Switzerland in order to propose to the World Summit on the Information Society concrete measures to provide tools and skills for an efficient use of ICTs to archivists, librarians, teachers, journalists and scientists in developing countries.
12-03-2003 Cooperation Framework for Digital Silk Roads Initiative Launched
Yesterday, UNESCO Director General Koïchiro Matsuura signed a Memorandum of Understanding between UNESCO and the National Institute of Informatics (NII) of Japan concerning cooperation in promoting the Digital Silk Roads initiative, a project based on digital restoration and exchanges of cultural heritage in the Silk Roads Region.
11-03-2003 UNESCO Hosts Meeting on Recycling IT Equipment
Donor organisations and potential recipients of computer donations will gather for an international meeting entitled "New Synergies for Recycling Information Technology Equipment" at UNESCO's Paris Headquarters on 14 and 15 March to discuss a global strategy for more efficient use of recycled IT equipment.
11-03-2003 Afghan Women's Radio on Air
The Voice of Afghan Women, Kabul’s first radio station managed by women, is now officially on the air. The station, which broadcasts on a frequency of 91.6 MHz FM with a power of 600 watts, is operated by the "Voice of Afghan Women in Global Media" (VAWGM) a national NGO. It was established with funding support from UNESCO.
10-03-2003 Moroccan News Agency Computerises
UNESCO has recently signed a contract with a Jordanian firm for the provision of news processing and archiving software to the Moroccan News Agency (MAP). UNESCO's International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) provided US$70,000 and the French Government, contributed US$100,000.
08-03-2003 Women Very Underrepresented in Southern Africa's Media
The southern African media give very little space to the views of women, and, when it comes to subjects such as politics, economy, sport or agriculture, their voice is virtually unheard. Women journalists are, however, given more exposure than men in reporting on subjects that have to do with the body, home and beauty.
07-03-2003 Afghan Women Get Own Radio Voice
Afghanistan’s first independent community FM radio station managed and operated by women is now on the air in Kabul with test transmissions. The Voice of Afghan Women, broadcasting on a frequency of 91.6 MHz with a power of 600 watts, commenced test programmes at 14:15hrs on Thursday 6th March, 2003.
07-03-2003 Films for Enhancing Dialogue between Cultures
Film proposals from Egypt and Mexico to be produced in the frame of the international project "Intensifying the dialogue between communities, cultures and civilizations" have recently been selected by UNESCO and the Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision (CILECT).
07-03-2003 Iraq Related Archives in UK
The UK based "Archives Hub" this month has selected a series of archives, which document Britain's connections with Iraq over the last 150 years. They range from Joseph Bonomi's 1856 archaeological lecture notes on Nineveh and Babylon to Davina Miller's archive of papers relating to the 1992-1996 Scott Inquiry into the export of defence equipment to Iraq by British firms.
06-03-2003 Pacific Islands Television Survey Released
UNESCO has just released the conclusions of a survey on the current status of television in the Pacific islands. The survey reveals that many small countries have made remarkable progress in increasing the volume of local programming being broadcast to local audiences. One channel in Tonga, for example, is broadcasting almost exclusively local production.
06-03-2003 (Paris) Israeli Journalist Amira Hass Awarded World Press Freedom Prize 2003
Israeli journalist Amira Hass who has spent the last decade living in and reporting on the Palestinian Territories for the Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz, was today awarded the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for 2003 by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura, on the recommendation of an international jury.
05-03-2003 Computerized Community Radio Operations in Remote Sri Lanka
Last weekend the President of Sri Lanka declared open the Uva Community Radio located in Badulla, one of the most underdeveloped districts in Sri Lanka. Uva community radio that was established by UNESCO with funding support from UNDP is utilising the most modern low cost digital production solutions for community broadcasting.
04-03-2003 (Paris) UNESCO Launches Project on Open Courseware for Higher Education
While the digital educational divide broadens, UNESCO and its partners launch a new project to ease access to open educational knowledge by least developed countries (LDCs). The project is a follow-up to an UNESCO expert forum on the impact of open courseware for higher education in developing countries hold in July 2002.
03-03-2003 Training Course for Editors of UNESCO's Ocean Portal
Fifteen specialists from nine countries in Latin America and the Caribbean were trained last week in Guayaquil, Ecuador, at the Instituto Oceanográfico de la Armada (INOCAR) to join the team of editors of an Ocean Portal that is presently being developed by the Oceanographic Data and Information Network for Latin America and the Caribbean (ODINCARSA).
03-03-2003 (Paris) Fire at Library of Alexandria
Yesterday, 2 March at 11:15 am a small fire occurred in an administration office in the Library of Alexandria. According to reports of the Library administration; the fire was contained in that office and no damage to the Library or its collection or its arts works in suite. 40 people were injured during the incident, press reports say.
28-02-2003 Martin E. Allard: UNESCO Loses an Electronics Pioneer
As delegates and secretariat brace for the coming session of UNESCO's International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC), the communication projects shall miss one of their pioneer experts, Martin E. Allard who died 8 January this year in Malindi, Kenya.
28-02-2003 Expansion of the Observatory on the Information Society
UNESCO’s Observatory on the Information Society is expanding its services and coverage to all regions of the world. Two new sites have been established to join the Spanish-language news service in existence since 2001.
28-02-2003 Path Towards Information Society for All Takes Shape. PrepCom-2 Concludes
The second meeting of the preparatory committee for the World Summit on the Information Society (PrepCom-2) concluded with two working documents for a draft declaration and action plan. The results from the second in a series of United Nations-backed preparatory conferences lays the groundwork for the first-ever global summit on information and communication technologies (ICTs). The World Summit on the Information Society will be held in Geneva 10-12 December 2003 and in Tunis 16-18 November 2005.
27-02-2003 UNESCO/EU Arab Women Journalists' Workshop on Advanced Desktop Publishing Techniques
Within the framework of the UNESCO/European Union Project: Promotion of Independent and Pluralistic Arab Media, UNESCO will organize from 16-21 March an Arab Women Journalists Workshop on Advanced Desk Top Publishing Techniques, at its Offices in Amman Jordan.
26-02-2003 Digital Opportunities for Africa: Community Multimedia Centres
UNESCO in collaboration with AMARC Africa is organizing a pan-African symposium on Community Multimedia Centres from 12-17 June 2003 in Dakar, Senegal. The aim of this meeting is to find out more about how community radio stations across Africa are using ICTs in order to forge a strategy for larger-scale CMC development in Africa
25-02-2003 Thessalonica Workshop on media education
An international workshop on media education will be organized in Thessalonica, Greece, from 19 to 23 March bringing together 18 researchers from different countries to establish a clear structure for the studies adapted to cultural and linguistic identity in the Mediterranean. The target group includes future teachers, currently undergoing initial training in specialized centres in the Mediterranean.
24-02-2003 Webcasting Workshop
A collaborative effort between the University of Guyana and the University of Technology, Jamaica has seen a number of media, educational and cultural practitioners benefitting from a workshop in the field of webcasting.
21-02-2003 International Mother Language Day
Today, UNESCO celebrates the fourth International Mother Language Day which is intended to promote linguistic diversity and awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions to create understanding, tolerance and dialogue.
21-02-2003 UNESCO and Multilingualism
In 1999 at its 30th General Conference, UNESCO launched the celebration of International Mother Language Day. Through this event the Organization seeks to emphasize the importance of linguistic diversity and to recognize and promote humanity’s myriad forms of linguistic expression
20-02-2003 Regional Virtual Universities Seminar for Latin American and Caribbean Universities
A seminar on distance education was held in Quito, Ecuador on 13 and 14 February 2003 as a joint venture involving UNESCO’s Regional Bureau for Communication and Information for Latin America and the Caribbean (ORCILAC), UNESCO’s International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC) and UNIVERSIA, an Iberian-American portal of Higher Education Institutions, sponsored by the Banco Santander, Spain.
19-02-2003 Dialogue between communities, cultures and civilizations
UNESCO has just finished studying the first batch of production proposals received for the International Project "Intensifying the dialogue between communities, cultures and civilizations", implemented in collaboration with CILECT.
18-02-2003 (Paris) CDS/ISIS Should Become Open Source Software Cuba Meeting Says
The development and distribution of UNESCO’s CDS-ISIS Software based on the free software/open-source model was discussed at the 10th Regional Seminar of Latin American and Caribbean CDS/ISIS distributors in Havana (Cuba) last week.
18-02-2003 Training Course on Information Systems and WINISIS
A two week training course on library and information systems and tools and the use of WINISIS in computerizing library collections starts today at the UNESCO Office in Bangkok.
