IPID News: April (1) 2009

From IPID

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Dear IPID Members, enjoy this latest issue of IPID News! If you have any ICT4D-related news, please send an e-mail to gudrun.wicander@kau.se

Contents

NEWS

*News from IPID*

  • Research workshop at Örebro University June 8-9, 2009

For those of you struggling with a research paper, a project proposal or a thesis… this is where you want to be! What we offer you is two days of support and discussions in a friendly and creative atmosphere. We will read, listen and discuss during the days and have fun (BBQ at Annika´s place!) in the evening. The workshop will be a forum where postgraduates can present their ongoing work and get feedback from their peers. The workshop is designed to provide an informal environment where postgraduates can share their research findings and ideas in a non-judgemental way. By attending the workshop postgraduates can improve their understanding of the most significant current research issues and share research ideas and practices in the field of ICT4D. The purpose is also to further strengthen the existing network between researchers within ICT4D. The workshop is open to all postgraduate students with interests in the area of ICT4D (who are IPID-members!). Further requirements are that you will have to send in a draft or finished paper/thesis/research proposal that you want to discuss and that you are willing to read somebody else’s work in advance. Every one participating will have to make a short presentation of their ongoing work, but focus will be on the discussions. In order to stimulate these discussions all papers will be distributed in advance and each paper will have a main discussant.

To register your interest in the workshop, please send an e-mail to Annika Andersson mailto:annika.andersson@oru.se by the latest May 1st. To permit feedback from the selected discussants we will also need your paper no later than May 15th. To maintain the intimacy and richness necessary for this type of event, the number of participants is limited to 15. First come, first served. There is no registration or attendance fee.

More information can be found at: IPID research workshop

*News from UN*

  • The UN/Vodafone Foundation Partnership has published a mHealth for

Development report, which is available at:

http://www.bjhcim.co.uk/documents/mHealth_for_Development.pdf

http://www.unfoundation.org/global-issues/technology/mhealth-report.html

http://www.unfoundation.org/global-issues/technology/mhealth-alliance.html

*News from IFIP WG 9.4

*News from UniPID

(Finnish Universities' Partnership for International Development)

  • The UniPID Newsletter for February-March 2009 is now availabe on the UniPID website (www.jyu.fi/unipid/en) or can be accessed through the following link:

https://www.jyu.fi/hallinto/unipid/en/news/February-March%202009.pdf

*News from SPIDER

(Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions)

* News from TIER

(Technology and Infrastructure for Emerging Regions)

  • A new start-up called Rhomobile has come out with a GPL licensed software tool called Rhodes. Rhomobile claims that applications written using the Rhodes development framework for HTML or Ruby can be run natively on iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Android smartphones.

http://www.rhomobile.com/

* News from IICD

(The International Institute for Communication and Development)

  • View the latest news from IICD at: www.iicd.org

JOURNALS

  • EJIS is making a selection of diverse articles available for download. It’s an interesting sampler and its free. The articles can be retrieved at

http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ejis/free_articles.html

  • Glocal Times - the communication for development web magazine (ISSN 1654-7985), is now online. Read it at www.glocaltimes.k3.mah.se

CALL FOR ARTICLES

  • International Journal on Mobile Computing and Multimedia Communications

(IJMCMC) http://www.igi-pub.com/journals/details.asp?id=7684

  • The Journal of Global Information Technology Management (JGITM)

Special Issue on Information & Communications Technologies Issues in Greater China Region 2-page proposal by authors (optional): May 30, 2009 Tentative Publication Date: April 2010 Possible contributions: Digital divide in rural and urban areas

  • Learning Technology Newsletter

Special issue on mobile learning http://lttf.ieee.org/learn_tech/ Deadline for submission: April 17, 2009. Learning Technology Newsletter aims at publishing and disseminating current research about new and emerging learning technologies as well as their design, usage, application, and evaluation in different contexts of technology enhanced learning. This issue will focus on mobile learning, especially its usage in extreme situations.

BOOKS

  • ICT4D: Information and Communication Technology for Development

Paperback (ISBN-13: 9780521712361)

ICT4D provides an authoritative and accessible account of the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in contemporary development practice. It combines theory with practical guidance – including both a conceptual framework for understanding the rapid development of ICT4D, and practitioners’ overviews of the use of ICTs in enterprise, health, governance, education and rural development. Boxed case studies provide detailed examples of issues and initiatives from a wide variety of countries and organisations. ICTs are becoming increasingly significant in making a difference and improving the impacts of development practice. However, ICT4D projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America have not always been as effective as their proponents had hoped. This book explores both the successes and the challenges facing such initiatives, and provides clear recommendations for how they can be developed in more sustainable ways for the benefit of poor people and marginalised communities. ICT4D is essential reading for anyone involved in planning, designing or implementing ICT4D initiatives. The publisher’s links is http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521712361

  • Mobile Phones: The New Talking Drums of Everyday Africa.

Edited by Mirjam de Bruijn, Francis Nyamnjoh and Inge Brinkman. Langaa Publishers / ASC, 2009. Available on amazon.com <http://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Phones-Talking-Everyday-Africa/dp/9956558 532/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237981472&sr=1-1> and ABC Books.

We cannot imagine life now without a mobile phone? is a frequent comment when Africans are asked about mobile phones. They have become part and parcel of the communication landscape in many urban and rural areas of Africa and the growth of mobile telephony is amazing: from 1 in 50 people being users in 2000 to 1 in 3 in 2008. Such growth is impressive but it does not even begin to tell us about the many ways in which mobile phones are being appropriated by Africans and how they are transforming or are being transformed by society in Africa. This volume ventures into such appropriation and mutual shaping. Rich in theoretical innovation and empirical substantiation, it brings together reflections on developments around the mobile phone by scholars of six African countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Sudan and Tanzania) who explore the economic, social and cultural contexts in which the mobile phone is being adopted, adapted and harnessed by mobile Africa.

Editors Mirjam de Bruijn is Professor in African Studies at Leiden University and a researcher at the African Studies Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands. Francis B. Nyamnjoh is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Inge Brinkman is an historian and literature scholar at the African Studies Centre in Leiden, the Netherlands.

Since 2008 the editors of this volume have been doing research on the relationship between society and ICT and mobile phones in Africa in a NWO/WOTRO-sponsored programme entitled 'Mobile Africa Revisited, A comparative study of the relations between new communication technologies and social spaces'. (www.ascleiden.nl/Research/ConnectionsAndTransformationsSubprogramme1.aspx <http://www.ascleiden.nl/Research/ConnectionsAndTransformationsSubprogr >amme1.aspx>)

  • Mobile Health Solutions for Biomedical Applications

http://www.amazon.com/Biomedical-Applications-Healthcare-Information-Informatics/dp/1605663328

  • Viral Spiral by David Bollier

www.viralspiral.cc www. bollier.org

  • Free Culture by Richard Lessig

www.free-culture.cc

  • Code Version 2 by Richard Lessig

www.lessig.org

  • Global Text Project

- Business Processes and Information Technology by Ulric J. Gelinas, Steve G. Sutton, and Jane Fedorowicz - Information Technology and the Networked Economy by Patrick McKeown - Information Technology for Management by Henry C. Lucas, Jr - Information Systems - The New Software Engineering by Sue Conger - Managing Global IT: Strategies and Challenges, 2007 publication by Ivy League Publishing, co-edited by Prashant Palvia, Shailendra Palvia, and Albert L. Harris, 600 pages, isbn 0-9648382-4-9 http://globaltext.org/books

  • China's Information and Communications Technology Revolution: Social Changes and State Responses

Edited by Xiaoling Zhang and Yongnian Zheng has just been published by Routledge. Includes "Dancing Thumbs: Mobile Telephony in Contemporary China" which explores social and cultural implications of mobile telephony in China. http://www.routledge.com/books/Chinas-Information-and-Communications-Technology-Revolution-isbn9780415462303

  • Innovating for and by users

Edited by Jo Pierson, Enid Mante-Meijer, Eugene Loos and Bartolomeo Sapio EU Publications Office - COST298 - ISBN 978-92-898-0047-1 The book looks at socio-technological transitions and shifting roles of users in the design and innovation of broadband technologies and digital media. The different chapters aim to shed more light on the design of and use of ICTs. In this way we hope to contribute to the empowerment of people in their relationship(s) new media and - through this - to increase the quality of social life. For more information on this book, please visit: http://smit.vub.ac.be/ifbu

CONFERENCES

  • Computing at the Margins symposium

Date: 6 – 7 May 2009 Place: Georgia Tech Information: www.computing-margins.org

  • Conference on Information Technology and Economic Development (CITED2009)

Date: 30 July – 1 August 2009 Place: Calabar (the Canaan City), Nigeria Submission of papers: 30 April 2009 Information: http://www.uws.ac.uk/cited2009

  • International Workshop on Spoken Language Technology for Development

- from promise to practice Date: 11-12 September 2009 Place: The Abbey Hotel, Tintern, UK Submission of papers: 30th April 2009 Information: www.llsti.org/SLT4D-09

  • UK Systems Society International Conference 2009

Date: 1 - 2 September Place: St Anne's College, Oxford, UK Submission of papers: 30 April 2009 Information: www.ukss.org.uk

  • Thirtieth annual International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2009)

Date: 15 – 18 December 2009. Place: Phoenix, Arizona Submission of papers: 5 May 2009 Information: www.icis09.org

  • 19th Nordic Workshop on Interorganizational Research

Date: 12-14 August 2009 Place: Jönköping, Sweden Submission of papers: 14 April 2009 Information: http://www.jibs.se/nordic09

  • PACIS 2009 –

Pacific Asia Conference in Information Systems Doctoral Consortium Date: 8-10 July 2009. Place: Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, India Deadline for nominations: 15 April 2009. Information: http://www.isb.edu/citne/pacis2009/Doctoral.html

  • 6th International Conference on Mobile Technology, Applications and Systems

(ACM Mobility Conference 2009) Date: 2 - 4 September 2009 Place: Nice, France Submission of papers: 30 May 2009 Information: http://www.acmmobility2009.org/

  • 4th Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems - MCIS 2009

Conference Theme: Information Society Research, Education, Policy and Practice in the Mediterranean Region Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) Date: 25-27 September 2009 Place: Athens, Greece Submission of papers: 15 April 2009 Information: www.mcis2009.org

  • IADIS conference on ICT Society and Human Beings

Date: 21 – 23 June 2009 Place: Algarve, Portugal Submission of papers: 15 April 2009 Information: http://www.ict-conf.org

  • European and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems (EMCIS 2009) Annual Conference & Doctoral Consortium

Theme: 'Human, Organisational and Technical Issues and Supply Chain and Technology Management' Date: 13-14th July, 2009 - Conference: 14th July, 2009 - PhD Consortium Place: Izmir, Turkey Submission of papers: 7 May 2009 Information: http://www.emcis.org

  • 6th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management - ISCRAM2009

Date: 10-13 May 2009 Place: Gothenburg, Sweden Information: http://www.iscram.org

  • International Workshop on Technology for Education (T4E '09)

Date: 4-6 August 2009 Place: Bangalore, India Submission of papers: 7 May 2009 Information: http://www.iiitb.ac.in/t4e

  • ADHOCNOW 2009

The Eigth International Conference on Ad hoc Networks and Wireless Date: 16-19 September 2009 Place: Murcia, Spain Submission of papers: 12 April 2009 Information: http://libra.inf.um.es/~pedrom/adhocnow/

  • 7th Annual Conference on Information Science Technology and Management (CISTM 2009)

Date: 13 – 15 July 2009 Place: New Delhi, India. Submission of papers: 15 April 2009 Information: http://www.cistm.org

  • CENTRIC 2009: The Second International Conference on Advances in Human-oriented and Personalized Mechanisms, Technologies, and Services

Date: 20-25 September 2009 Place: Porto, Portugal Submission of papers: 20 April 2009 Information: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2009/CENTRIC09.html

OPEN POSITIONS

  • PhD student position at the University of Tampere Medical School, Department of International Health

We are seeking for a highly-motivated PhD student to join an international research consortium working on child malnutrition in Africa. The main research aim of the consortium is to develop and evaluate lipid-based nutrition supplement (LNS) formulations for prevention of malnutrition. Closing date for applications is April 24, 2009. For further information, please contact Ulla Ashorn (@uta.fi) or +358 40 7080354.

  • 44 PhD positions

44 PhD positions in Information Technology at Department of Electronics and Information at Politecnico di Milano Milano, Italy The Department of Electronics and Information is actively looking for applications from international students for the PhD program in Information Technology. The Department is striving to increase the number of students international students and of students from other universities in Italy, so as to strengthen our active international community. The Department is active in the international research community with international publications, participation in international bodies, and participation in international research projects. The competition for the admission to the XXV cycle of the Doctoral Programs has been published on the website http://pcsiwa12.rett.polimi.it/~phdweb/eng/ammissione_borse/fr_ammissione_borse.htm. Deadline for the applications April 30th, 2009. 44 positions are open in Information technology, 22 scholarships are available for students for the PhD program starting in January 2010, as well as a number of thematic scholarships for PhD thesis topics supported by industry. Accommodation grants are available for international students on a competitive basis.

Detailed information about the PhD program in Information technology is given at the following pages http://pcsiwa.rett.polimi.it/~phdweb/eng/corsi/descrizioni/inginformaz.htm

  • Vienna PhD School of Informatics

The Vienna PhD School of Informatics Call for Austrian as well as international students is now open. All the details of the Call are available at http://www.informatik.tuwien.ac.at/phdschool. In brief, the Vienna University of Technology offers a three year programme following the five main research areas of the Faculty of Informatics: • Business Informatics • Computational Intelligence • Computer Engineering • Distributed and Parallel Systems • Media Informatics and Visual Computing

The Programme will admit a maximum number of 15 students for the academic year 2009/2010. Each year up to 15 students will be awarded a scholarship amounting to EUR 1.000 per month, to cover the cost of living. Scholarships for the Vienna PhD School of Informatics are available for Austrian as well as international students. For further details, please check the PhD School website: http://www.informatik.tuwien.ac.at/phdschool.

VOLUNTEERS

  • ICGSE 2009 Student Volunteers

This year, the International Conference on Global Software Engineering (www.icgse.org) will be hosted by the University of Limerick, Ireland. The University of Limerick is a young, energetic and enterprising University with a proud record of innovation in education and excellence in research and scholarship, situated on a superb riverside campus with the River Shannon as a unifying focal point. The organising committee is seeking a number of enthusiastic and motivated people to join the ICGSE 2009 Student Volunteer Team. The student volunteers will assist in the practical organisation and running of the conference. In exchange for their work, they will be rewarded by a number of benefits including:

Free participation in the conference, workshops and tutorials(subject to agreement with the workshop and tutorial organisers) A copy of the book of the proceedings published by IEEE A ticket to the welcome reception on July 13th A ticket to the barbeque on July 14th The volunteers will have to cover their own travel and accommodation costs. Accommodation is available in the Cappavilla student village on campus at a convenient rate and an informal mailing list will be created to allow all the volunteers to organise travel and accommodation together.

Limerick city is served by a number of low-cost carriers through Shannon International Airport. The volunteers will congregate at the main conference venue, the Computer Science and Information Systems (CSIS) building on the University of Limerick Campus on the evening of the Sunday, July 12th and will be engaged in conference activities until Thursday, July 16th. Joining the ICGSE 2009 student volunteer team will give students a great opportunity to attend a prestigious conference, meet fellow students and established researchers in the field of Global Software Engineering and gain academic experience!

Important Dates:

Postgraduates (Masters and PhD) students are encouraged to submit a 500 words statement briefly describing their current research, and explaining what benefit they would gain from attending ICGSE 2009, and mentioning any previous conference volunteering experience. The application should also contain the name and contatc details of your supervisor. Please email your application to Miriam O'Riordan April 30th 2009 - Deadline for Applications

COURSES

  • Distance course in ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development)

Informatics, Master, Second Level, 7.5 higher education credits Swedish Business School at Örebro University, Sweden

The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for socio-economic development is increasing in developing countries. The field ICT4D aims at improving people’s lives – e.g. increased freedom, economic growth and educational opportunities – through the use of ICT. This course is intended for students and professionals who would like to deepen their knowledge on ICTs opportunities to foster changes in the world’s developing regions. Swedish Business School at Örebro University starts a master course in ICT4D this fall. The course is entirely web-based and consists of presentations/lectures and other course materials that are accessed through a Learning Management System (Blackboard) which you will use in the course. This gives you the opportunity to communicate with teachers and fellow students. The course is highly flexible and no physical or synchronous meetings are required in order to allow students from all over the world to take the course. The course runs from week 36 (2009) to week 03 (2010) at quarter speed (25%). The course is delivered in English and grants the students 7,5 ECTS credits (corresponding to 5 week full time studies)

The course consists of three parts:

- Development theories: This part will give the students background knowledge in development theories - i.e. the student should be able to define and problematize the “D” in ICT4D.

- Technology: This part will give the student knowledge on, and the ability to compare and assess the appropriateness of, different Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) used for development – e.g. radio, television, cellular phones, computers and Internet.

- Application: This part will give the student knowledge on different application areas where ICTs are used in development – e.g. eHealth, eLearning, and eGovernment.

After the course the students should

- be able to understand and analyze theories and practices within ICT4D

- be able to analyze and critically reflect on different technologies used for development

- be able to understand and describe different applications of information- and communication technology (ICT) for development

Application deadline for the course is 14th of April 2009 Information on how to apply: https://www.studera.nu/studera/1608.html

Information about the course: Örebro University: http://glada.oru.se/studieinformation/VisaKursplan?kurskod=IK4016&termin=20092&sprak=en

Studera.nu: https://www.studera.nu/aw/freeTextSearchResult.do?period=HT+2009&freeText=20507&page=1&method=execute&origin=1&destination=1

If you have any questions about the course please contact Mathias Hatakka (mailto:mathias.hatakka@oru.se)

SUMMERSCHOOL

  • Summer School in conjunction with 22nd Bled eConference

Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Maribor ( http://www.fov.uni-mb.si/ ) organizes the Summer School in conjunction with 22nd Bled eConference: eEnablement: Facilitating an Open, Effective and Representative eSociety (http://BledConference.org).

The summer school will take place at the Faculty's location in Kranj from June 8 to June 19, 2009. The program covers various topics of innovative business operation and management, supported by modern ICT. Summer school has no fee and includes free participation at the international Bled eConference (http://BledConference.org)

Students are expected to cover travel and accommodation expenses. More information:

http://www.bledconference.org/2009/index.php/2009/2009/announcement/view/9

  • International School on Digital Transformation

Applications are now open for the first International School on Digital Transformation, to be held July 19-24, 2009, at the University of Porto in Porto, Portugal. The School is accepting applications from advanced students and recent graduates from around the world with an interest in how digital technologies are changing societies and the world as a whole. The International School on Digital Transformation will be an intensive six-day residential program, conducted in English and bringing together emerging and established scholars and professionals from around the world. During the week-long session, innovators in digital communications will serve as teachers and mentors, presenting their current projects and research and participating in discussions with advanced students and professionals beginning careers in the field. Presenters and students will be regarded as peers during the School. The student application, and more specific information for students, are available at this link.<http://colab.ic2.utexas.edu/dm/international-school/isdt-student-registration-page/ http://colab.ic2.utexas.edu/dm/international-school/

INTERNSHIP

  • Search Labs

Search Labs (http://research.microsoft.com/searchlabs) is a group within Microsoft Research, whose primary focus is on improving the quality of web search and developing search-driven applications. We plan to have a summer internship project on how to use mobile platform for enabling a marketplace amongst the economically disadvantaged (description below). We are also open to exploring the use of mobile platform for education or healthcare. Interested candidates should contact Krishnaram Kenthapadi (mailto:krishnaram.kenthapadi@microsoft.com) at the earliest. Marketplace for the Long Tail: Providing Goods and Services for the Economically Disadvantaged using Mobile Platform The goal of this project is to build a platform for the exchange of goods and services amongst the poor. Given the rapid growth and the large reduction in the cost of mobile phones and services, mobile phones can soon become economically feasible for the poor to afford and hence we would like our platform to be mobile-based. We would like to focus on goods and services that are produced as well as consumed by the poor as these represent a market segment that is underserved today. It is desirable for our platform to support self-help groups and new payment mechanisms. We would like to ground the project by validating our concepts and ideas through interactions with economically disadvantaged in the bay area. We would also explore collaborations with local universities such as Stanford and Berkeley and mobile-focused divisions in Microsoft such as TellMe.

OTHERS

  • OPCW - Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

For those of you that do ICT4D research related to chemistry this organisation funds travel grants for researchers including students in chemistry area in order to go to conferences. http://www.opcw.org/

  • Information on development organizations

For those who would like to have information on development organizations you can do so from DDO. The directory of development organizations, listing 53,750 development organizations, has been prepared to facilitate international cooperation and knowledge sharing in development work, both among civil society organizations, research institutions, governments and the private sector. Website for directory is: http://www.devdir.org/

  • Bill Gates' charitable foundation

Bill Gates' charitable foundation has pledged $12.5m (£8.6m) to help the world's poor access banking services. Working in conjunction with the mobile phone industry, the foundation aims to help provide a basic service that local banks are unable or unwilling to give. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7899396.stm

  • OLPC - One Laptop per Child association

The link to the OLPC Africa project: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPCorps_Africa#About_OLPCorps_Africa

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

If you have any ICT4D-related news, please send an e-mail to gudrun.wicander@kau.se

Best wishes, Gudrun Wicander IPID Coordinator

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