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"Partnerships and Participation in Telecommunications for Rural Development"
Conference at the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario Canada: Oct 26 & 27,
1998.

**Conference News Flash**  October 7, 1998  http://www.snowden.org

Item 1) On-line pre-conference
http://www.snowden.org/conference/forumintro1.cfm

The Online Pre-conference for the "Partnerships and Participation in
Telecommunications for Rural Development" Conference is underway with
participants from Timbucktu Mali to Toowoomba Australia.  Other participants
are coming in from Rockand Maine USA, Zanzibar, Cornell University USA,
Saskatchewan Canada, Germany, the UK, Sioux Lookout Canada, Nepal, Ireland,
Oxford County Canada, Finland, Malaysia, the Highlands of Scotland, Israel,
Queensland Australia, and of course Guelph Canada.

Good discussion threads include: sustainability of telecom for rural
development and rural telecentre activities/results, participation in
content development, video in development, local ownership & management, and
non-technical training issues.  Visit the website at
http://www.snowden.org/conference/forumintro1.cfm to participate and add
your ideas, experiences and lessons-learned.  Keep watching the site for
updates of papers and documents.

Item 2) Capacity building for telecom for rural development - First Nations
communities

Brian Beaton, of K-Net Services Northern Chiefs Council Sioux Lookout
http://www.knet.on.ca, and Lawrence Martin and Garnet Angeconeb of the
Wawatay Native Communications Society http://www.wawatay.on.ca will be
speaking at the Oct 26/27 conference about local capacity building for
telecom for rural development in small, remote First Nations communities in
Northwestern Ontario, Canada.  According to Brian, "There is no quick and
easy path to follow when the size of the community is small (anywhere from
100 people to 1000), accessible only by plane, and local resources
(financial and human) are limited and already strained. Linking employment
opportunities (actual jobs and wages) to the training is proving to be the
most "successful" method of supporting this development."

Item 3) Agricultural training, small group learning and digital audio on the
Internet

Hugh Maynard, Executive Director of the Quebec Farmers' Association
(http://infosys.agrenv.mcgill.ca/~qfa/assoc/), has been involved in
"communications at-a-distance" activities in Canada for two decades,
including the production of agri-educational television programs and
websites. He is currently directing a pilot project supported by the
Canadian Farm Management Business Council for the delivery of audio training
materials in digital format via the Internet in combination with small group
learning activities in rural communities.  Learn more about this innovative
project at the face-to-face conference on Oct. 26/27.

Item 4) Telecentres bringing phones to rural areas in Haiti

Joseph Georges of the TeleCommons Development Group
http://www.telecommons.com will be speaking at the Oct. 26/27 conference on
the future of rural telecommunications in Haiti. Joseph is involved
extensively with rural radio in Haiti and is also working on a project to
help improve community involvement in rural telecentres that are spreading
across Haiti via the efforts of Teleco Haiti and SR Telecom
(http://www.srtelecom.com).  We will also learn more about the importance of
access to rural telecommunication systems during natural disasters such as
the recent "Hurricane George" that has caused so much devastation in Haiti.

Item 5) Blending ICTs with traditional practice in Nigeria

Tunde Adegbola of TIWA Systems, Nigeria will be speaking at the Oct. 26/27
conference on "Infocommunes: Blending Modern Information and Communications
Technologies with Traditional Practice."  According to Tunde, if deliberate
steps are not taken, present trends in the applications of information and
communication technologies (ICTs) may inadvertently *widen* the gap between
rich and poor countries... Very creative approaches such as œ infocommunes ˆ
can help to overcome some of the impediments caused by the weak
infrastructural base of ICTs in the developing world.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.

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, International Telecommunication Union, International Development
Research Centre, Industry Canada, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada,
University of Guelph, 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: drichard@uoguelph.ca
Web: http://www.snowden.org