ICTD News for 03 April 2007

[ICTD Newsmaster <ictdnews@undp.org>]

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CONTENTS

E-BUSINESS
	Mini-blog is the talk of Silicon Valley

E-GOVERNANCE/E-GOVERNMENT
	Telecommunication Problems and Consumer Rights in India
	 Freedom Fight Against 'Freedom Champions'
	Ugandan Legislators to Use ICT for Good Governance
	US Congress finally considers aggressive e-voting overhaul

POVERTY ALLEVIATION
	Unraveling the Impact of Investments in ICT, Education and Health on Development: An Analysis of Archival Data of Five West African Countries




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E-BUSINESS
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---- Mini-blog is the talk of Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is abuzz over a new mini-blogging service for mobile phones that some predict will be a mass-market hit with the reach of a YouTube or MySpace. 
http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?id=9367&do=gpage




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E-GOVERNANCE/E-GOVERNMENT
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---- Telecommunication Problems and Consumer Rights in India
India is witnessing a gradual shift from e-governance to m-governance where telecom networks and mobiles are going to play a leading role. The next generation wireless network (4G) technology is going to change the scenario of m-governance revolution in India. At the same time certain ?Consumer Related Matters? are also bound to arise in future.
http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?id=9369&do=gpage



----  Freedom Fight Against 'Freedom Champions'
"I support al-Jazeera because al-Jazeera has done more to propagate democracy in the Middle East region than anybody else, certainly more than the American government has done," media specialist Hugh Miles told IPS. "It's strange to me that people refer to al- Jazeera as a 'terrorist network' because that couldn't be further from the truth." 
http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?id=9366&do=gpage



---- Ugandan Legislators to Use ICT for Good Governance
Members on the Parliamentary Information and Communication Technology committee are working on a new strategy to enable legislators use ICT . Under the new plan, members will be able to acquire skills to help them access relevant development information from the developed markets
http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?id=9368&do=gpage



---- US Congress finally considers aggressive e-voting overhaul
It bans the use of computerized voting machines that lack a voter-verified paper trail. It mandates that the paper records be the authoritative source in any recounts, and requires prominent notices reminding voters to double-check the paper record before leaving the polling place. It mandates automatic audits of at least three percent of all votes cast to detect discrepancies between the paper and electronic records. It bans voting machines that contain wireless networking hardware and prohibits connecting voting machines to the Internet.
http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?id=9365&do=gpage




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POVERTY ALLEVIATION
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---- Unraveling the Impact of Investments in ICT, Education and Health on Development: An Analysis of Archival Data of Five West African Countries
Under the auspices of international development agencies such as the United Nations (UN), and World Bank these nations have been constituting and implementing technology strategies that aim to bring ?digital opportunities? to all constituents?especially those who are impoverished and living in remote communities. These strategies have put new demands on national governments to invest both human and financial resources into the expansion of telecommunications infrastructure and the training of new users. Such investments, however, have received some scrutiny as some claim that developing nations should focus their limited financial resources on the improvement of education or healthcare.
http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?id=9370&do=gpage




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