Message-ID: <018e01bdfd38$57f65800$78e06883@steve.tdg.ca> Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 17:18:26 -0400 From: Don Richardson <mailto:drichard@UOGUELPH.CA> Subject: Telecom for Rural Development Conference Newsflash Oct.21/98 To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
"Partnerships and Participation in Telecommunications for Rural Development" Conference at the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario Canada: Oct 26 & 27, 1998. See note below for further information...**Conference News Flash** October 21, 1998 http://www.snowden.org
Today's items: Item 1) Dr. Heather Hudson to speak at conference Item 2) New conference sponsors Item 3) On-line Pre-conference - officially ends today but will continue... Item 4) CIDA, IDRC, CAP, and ITU collaborate to support post-conference Canadian study tour for Acacia & ITU participants
Item 1) Dr. Heather Hudson to speak at conference
We are very pleased to announce that Dr. Heather Hudson is confirmed as a speaker at the Oct. 26/27 conference. Dr. Hudson has planned and evaluated telecommunication projects in Alaska, northern Canada, and more than 30 developing countries in Asia and the Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. She has also consulted for telecommunications companies, state and federal government agencies, consumer and native organizations, foreign governments, and international organizations including the World Bank, the International Telecommunication Union, UNDP, UNESCO, USAID, CIDA, and the Commonwealth of Learning. She will be at the conference before she embarks on evaluation work with IDRC's Acacia Initiative in Africa.
Dr. Hudson is Telecommunications Program Director and a Professor of Telecommunications Policy and Management at the McLaren School of Business, University of San Francisco, and an Evaluation Consultant for IDRC's Acacia Initiative. She is author of the recent book, "Global Connections: The Changing World of International Telecommunications" (1998), as well as "Communication Satellites: Their Development and Impact" (1990), and "Rural America in the Information Age: Telecommunications Policy for Rural Development." Dr. Hudson has also published more than 50 articles and presented numerous conference papers and expert testimony on telecommunications applications and domestic and international policy issues such as universal service, information infrastructure, and telecommunications planning for socio-economic development.
Item 2) New conference sponsors
New conference sponsors include Nortel Networks of Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). We welcome these sponsors and their participation at the conference. John Desmond from Nortel Networks will be speaking at the conference about "Wireless Technology Alternatives for Rural Telephony." Anne Joselin, Community Technology Specialist with OMAFRA will be providing us with a report and her perspective on "Rural Telecon '98 - Grassroots Telecom Initiatives in the USA" from her participation in the recent US Rural Telecom conference in Aspen, Colorado, USA. For more information on Nortel Networks see: http://www.nortel.ca/ For more information on OMAFRA see: http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/english/rural/index.html For more information on Rural Telecon '98 see: http://ruraltelecon.org/
Item 3) On-line Pre-conference - officially ends today but will continue... http://www.snowden.org/conference/forumintro1.cfm
The On-line Pre-conference has generated valuable contributions "lessons-learned" and thoughts on sustainability and telecommunication for rural development project planning. The On-line conference officially ends today and we will be using the three weeks of postings to generate a summary to include in the conference proceedings that will be made available following the Oct. 26/27 conference.
Due to the success of the On-line conference we will keep the conference website open for future postings and will keep it running as long as interest continues. We want to thank everyone who took the time to participate thus far!!!
Item 4) CIDA, IDRC, CAP and ITU collaborate to support post-conference Canadian study tour for Acacia & ITU participants
Three international agencies and Industry Canada's Community Access Program (CAP) are collaborating to support a post-conference Canadian study tour for a group of international conference participants. Their support will enable conference participants from IDRC's Acacia Initiative in Africa and the International Telecommunication Union's "Multi-purpose Community Telecentre" projects in Africa, Latin America and Asia to visit a number of telecommunication for rural development initiatives in the Province of Ontario. These initiatives include the Barrie Area Native Advisory Circle's Community Access Program activities (http://banac.barrie.connex.net/), and libraries with "community access" facilities for public Internet access in rural Oxford County (http://www.ocl.net/index.shtml). Please note that this study tour is only available to participants registered with Acacia or ITU support.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ About the "Partnerships and Participation in Telecommunication for Rural Development Conference"
The two-day face-to-face conference on October 26 & 27, 1998 will take place on the beautiful campus of the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Guelph is a short 45 minute drive from Toronto with easy access to and from Toronto International Airport (Pearson Airport). The conference focuses on telecommunications for participatory rural development. It looks at how lessons-learned in Canada might be applied by people in other countries, and how lessons learned in other countries might be applied in Canada. The detailed conference agenda for the "Partnerships and Participation in Telecommunications for Rural Development" Conference is now on-line at http://www.snowden.org
There is still time to register for the conference! You may call (519) 824 4120 ext. 2353 to register by phone, or you can print, complete and fax your registration(s) from our website at http://www.snowden.org/conference/registerpaid.html The conference fee is $349 +GST for Canadian residents and $300 US for non-Canadians.
This conference is sponsored by: Don Snowden Program for Development Communication, Foundation for International Training, Bell Canada, SR Telecom, Nortel Networks, International Telecommunication Union, International Development Research Centre, Industry Canada, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, University of Guelph, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the TeleCommons Development Group.
Don Richardson Director Don Snowden Program for Development Communication University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 Tel: 519-824-4120 x 3811 Fax: 519-836-9941 Email: mailto:drichard@uoguelph.ca Web: http://www.snowden.org