01-02-2005 (Paris) Multimedia Training Kit (MMTK) Now in French
French language units have been added for the first time to the Multimedia Training Kit (MMTK), a comprehensive suite of open-access, interactive, learning modules covering organizational, management, content production and issue-based training, for community multimedia centres (CMCs), community radio stations and telecentres.
31-01-2005 (Paris) UNESCO Calls for Release of French Journalist Florence Aubenas and Iraqi Translator Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura today made an urgent plea for the release of French newspaper reporter Florence Aubenas and her Iraqi translator Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi who have been missing in Iraq since January 5. He also deplored the lack of security for media workers in the country.
31-01-2005 (Paris) UNESCO Team Completes Media Needs Assessment Mission to Tsunami-hit Banda Aceh
A UNESCO team has completed a mission to assess the media situation in the Indonesian province Banda Aceh, following the natural disasters that hit the area on 26 December 2004. International Media Support (IMS), a Denmark-based media NGO, also participated in the mission that took place from 19 to 27 January 2005.
28-01-2005 (Paris) UNESCO/Club of Rome Conference on ICT for Capacity-Building in May in Paris
UNESCO and the Club of Rome are co-organizing a three-day ”World Conference on Harnessing the Potential of ICT for Capacity Building” from 11 to 13 May at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France. The event is one of UNESCO’s thematic meetings in preparation for the second meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society (Tunis, Tunisia, 16-18 November 2005).
28-01-2005 (Paris) Director-General Condemns Murder of Haitian Radio Journalist Abdias Jean
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura has condemned the murder of Haitian radio reporter Abdias Jean allegedly killed by police in the Village de Dieu sector of the capital Port-au-Prince on January 14.
27-01-2005 (Paris) Se Buscan ! 100 Project Proposals for Local Content Production in Latin America
UNESCO received 100 proposals from Latin American institutions and initiatives as a response to the Organization’s call for “good ideas and best practices in local content production and distribution in Latin America”, launched in November 2004.
26-01-2005 (New Delhi) fem’LINKpacific’s Mobile Community Radio Initiative is Back in Fiji
This Sunday, January 30th, the fem’TALK 89.2FM team will be back on air from 9am to bring listeners in Fiji’s capital Suva who tune in to the “suitcase radio” stories from the recent mobile broadcasts in Navua and Lautoka.
25-01-2005 (New Delhi) UNESCO Workshop on Audiovisual Digital Archiving for Asian Public Service Broadcasters
Television networks use dozens of tapes for their daily broadcasts. Archivists or video librarians are tasked to store and file these video materials for in-house production use. Increasing access of their material to the public is not their main purpose. So why then push the issue of increasing access and digital archiving to broadcast groups who have little time and resources?
24-01-2005 (New Delhi) Community Radio Broadcasters Gathered in the Philippines
"Radio cannot be replaced as the main media tool for development," said Florangel Rosario Braid in her opening address at a National Convention on Community Radio held in the Philippines between January 17 and 23. Ms Braid is reputed journalist, communication scholar and the Chair of the Communication Committee of the UNESCO National Commission for the Philippines.
21-01-2005 (Paris) 5,600 Copies of UNESCO’s CDS/ISIS Distributed During Last 12 Months
During the last twelve months, UNESCO has distributed upon request more than 5,600 copies of its information storage and retrieval software CDS/ISIS. Most of the requests for the software, that is available in version 1.5 for Windows, were received online.
20-01-2005 (Vienna) Austrian Experts to Discuss Long-term Preservation in the Digital Era
UNESCO’s “Charter on the Preservation of the Digital Heritage” will be at the center of the discussions at a meeting on long-term preservation in the digital era that the Austrian Commission for UNESCO and the National Library of Austria organize on 9 March 2005 in Vienna.
19-01-2005 (New Delhi) femTALK in Fiji. The Experience Continues
When femLINKpacific first interviewed Sashi Kiran for the pilot community video “Not Just Sweet Talk”, she shared a vision for taking micro enterprise projects beyond the production stage; she had a vision for product design, quality control and marketing; she felt women’s micro enterprise initiatives if given the appropriate assistance bloom and grow to macro enterprise. Have her policy objectives changed since?
18-01-2005 (Paris) VSAT at CMC Puts Benin Community in Touch with World
Banikoara Community Multimedia Centre (CMC) in Benin has provided many essential services to the large but isolated local community in this cotton-growing region since 2002, but until recently, it was hampered by poor Internet connectivity.
17-01-2005 (Paris) Public Service Broadcasting in India
Would a Communication Commission similar to the US Federal Communications Commission provide an appropriate regulatory regime for India’s media? Abhilaksh Likhi’s new WebWorld “Point of View” entitled “Public Television in the United States of America: Evolution, Institutions, Issues and Relevance to India” tries to provide elements for an answer.
14-01-2005 (New Delhi) femTALK from the Field
Women residing at the ALTA Resettlement Area in Vakabalea, Navua, in Fiji continue to rebuild their lives, not only as re-settled communities, many having moved to Navua district as a result of the non renewal of land leases at their family farms, but also as a result of the flash floods of April 2004.
13-01-2005 (Paris) Director-General condemns assassination of Colombian radio journalist Julio Palacios
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura today condemned the assassination of Colombian radio journalist Julio Palacios who was shot dead as he was heading to the Lemas radio station, where he hosted a news programme, in Cucuta in the northeast of Colombia on Tuesday.
13-01-2005 (Paris) UNESCO to Hold Conference on Free Expression in Cyberspace
UNESCO is hosting an international conference in Paris next month on "Freedom of Expression in Cyberspace," which will provide a forum for discussing whether universal free expression standards should be applied to the Internet and how free expression can be protected while respecting individual privacy, national laws and cultural differences.
12-01-2005 (Paris) Mali CMC Makes N’ko Newspaper’s Circulation Soar
Before the community multimedia centre (CMC) opened in Koutiala, Mali’s second largest industrial town, the only local paper in the N’ko alphabet was painstakingly written out by hand. Just 20 copies of each issue of the Bambara-language “Sindjiya” were made.
Symposium on UNESCO’s History - Call for expressions of interest
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the adoption of UNESCO’s Constitution, (16th November 1945), UNESCO is organizing an international symposium in Paris, in November 2005, in cooperation with the Institute for Political Sciences in Paris, the University Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris I) and the Centre for History and Economics at Cambridge University (United Kingdom).
11-01-2005 (Paris) National Informatics Centre (India), Open Knowledge Network and UNESCO Join Forces to Develop New Community Software Tool
The National Informatics Centre (NIC) in Delhi, the Open Knowledge Network (OKN) and UNESCO announce a partnership to develop a new software tool – to be called Open eNRICH - for the creation and exchange of locally relevant knowledge within and between communities in developing countries.
10-01-2005 (New Delhi) Fiji Women Community Radio Initiative Takes Suitcase Radio to the Field
Another exciting initiative is about to take place with femLINKpacific (Media Initiatives for Women), a women’s media NGO which in 2004 launched femTALK 89.2FM, its mobile women’s community radio project. This month, the femLINKpacific volunteer team takes to the road with their “radio in a suitcase” in Fiji.
07-01-2005 (Paris) IIEP Internet Discussion Forum on Free and Open Source Software for e-Learning
Discussion on free and open source software (FOSS) for e-learning continues on the on-line forum that UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) launched in June 2004. Topics presently on the agenda include the development of an e-learning course on FOSS and the creation of a training programme for students in developing countries.
06-01-2005 (Paris) UNESCO Appeal for $ 600,000 Immediate Assistance to Restore Radio Broadcasting in Aceh, Indonesia
Programmes and projects relating to emergency relief and post disaster response in the aftermath of the Tsunami in Indonesia will have major difficulties if there are no effective communication channels available to disseminate information. UNESCO therefore launches an a appeal for $ 600,000 for immediate assistance to restore radio broadcasting in Aceh, Indonesia.
06-01-2005 (Paris) Sri Lankan CMCs Become Information Lifelines in Tsunami Aftermath
The Matara Community Multimedia Centre, in the heart of Sri Lanka’s disaster zone, is broadcasting over 250 missing persons messages a day on its station, the Southern Regional Station of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, while its telecentre has been mobilised by those handling the crisis.
05-01-2005 (New Delhi) UNESCO Starts Assessing Situation of Archives and Libraries in Asia Disaster Region
As part of its assistance to Tsunami struck Asia, UNESCO is assessing the situation of libraries, archives and other information institutions in the region including a several day mission to Sri Lanka, where UNESCO’s Susanne Ornager, based in the Organization’s New Delhi Office, will start talks at the National Library in Colombo tomorrow.
05-01-2005 (Paris) UNESCO Continues Support to Free and Independent Media in the Western Balkans
Five new UNESCO projects supporting the development of free and independent media and freedom of expression in Former Yugoslavia recently started in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo, Croatia, and Slovenia as part of a comprehensive post-conflict media programme.
04-01-2005 (Paris) International Appeal for the Preservation of the World Audiovisual Heritage
“The world audiovisual heritage that bears witness to the people's cultural identity is under immediate threat. 200 million hours of audio and video records are endangered, particularly in the developing countries” says the International Federation of Television Archives inviting for on-line signatures to its “Call from Paris”.
03-01-2005 (Paris) Sri Lankan Libraries Call for Assistance
“A large number of school libraries, community libraries, children libraries, public libraries, libraries belonging to religious institutions… have either been completely destroyed or severely affected” says W. A. Abeysinghe, Chairman of the Sri Lankan National Library and Documentation Boards (NLDSB) in an appeal for help published by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) today.
