Spider Newsletter #36

Note from Director November 2012

This newsletter focuses on openness in ICT4D, thus paying tribute to the open protocols (TCP/IP) that the Internet builds upon. Openness has evolved into a standard that a growing number of ICT4D actors adhere to, from policy makers to technical developers. At Spider, we strive for openness in our operations and we also encourage openness in the ICT4D efforts of our many partners.

We are currently supporting the development of open courseware for an online Master’s programme in ICT4D at Stockholm University. It is the only open program of its kind globally, designed for students from around the world. The programme will run as of academic year 2013/2014. Application deadline for Non-EU/EEA students is January 15, and April 15 for students from EU/EEA/Switzerland. Apply at universityadmissions.se.

We are also developing open educational resources, as exemplified by “Change the world with a click - Four sessions on how social media can make a difference”, a short series of seminars by David Isaksson, CEO of Global Reporting and Spider board member. This material was produced for the ICT4D course for Swedish CSOs that we recently carried out, in partnership with Sida. Since we started our monthly Spider ICT4D Seminars in 2011, we have also shared video recordings from these seminars on Vimeo. And we plan to produce online video documentaries about our projects in the coming year.

When it comes to our projects, Open Development Cambodia – Promoting Transparency through Open Data carried out by East West Management Institute in Cambodia is an initiative that makes publicly available legal and geographical information on land conversion. The data is compiled from various sources, both from government and private sector, in this way providing the most complete set of information available. The project Open access: knowledge sharing and sustainable scholarly communication in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda by Electronic Information for Libraries (IIFL) will combine awareness raising, policy work and practical training to promote, support and establish Open Access journals and repositories at institutions of higher learning throughout East Africa.

These are some of our initiatives in openness in ICT4D. We look forward to exploring this area further in 2013.

As the year is drawing to a close, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our partners and collaborators for helping us achieve our goals. We also wish you happy holidays and a prosperous new year.

Paula Uimonen, Director
Associate Professor

OK Festival

By David Isaksson

“Everyone” talks about Open Data and Open Development, but are the changes for real, or is this just a new set of buzzwords that will fall into oblivion in a few years from now?

“Information Wants To Be Free. Information also wants to be expensive. ...That tension will not go away.” The iconic phrase is attributed to Stewart Brand who, in the late 1960s, founded the Whole Earth Catalogue and argued that technology could be liberating rather than oppressing (I’m quoting this from the No. 1 place for free and collaborative knowledge: Wikipedia).

Spider at the Nordic Africa Days

By Caroline Wamala

The Nordic Africa Days (NAD) is an annual conference organized by the Nordic Africa Institute http://www.nai.uu.se/ . This year’s event was hosted by the University of Iceland in Reykjavík on October 18-19, 2012. The occasion brought together Nordic and international researchers working in Africa in various fields. Spider organised a panel on the use of ICT-for-Development (ICT4D) efforts in East Africa at this event. This provided an opportunity for Spider project officers to offer scientific analyses on lessons-learned from past and on-going ICT4D initiatives supported by Spider.

By Ulf Larsson

In order to assist Swedish Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to understand how ICT can be integrated in their activities, Sida appointed Spider to hold a three part course in ICT4D in September and October. The course centered on Spider’s three thematic areas of ICT4D: Democracy, Health and Education, with the two crosscutting topics of Gender and Monitoring & Evaluation. Eleven participants from eight organizations participated in the first part of the course (1.5 days) at Sida Partnership forum in Härnösand. Two expert speakers delivered lectures on the three thematic areas, mixing experiences and lessons learned from projects as well as theoretical underpinnings.

Open Up Event

By Magda Berhe Johnson

In November 2010, Spider began mapping relevant actors in East Africa to collaborate with and support their work in democracy. This resulted in a network amongst our project partners called ICT for Democracy in East Africa, and has recently been replicated in Cambodia, within the same theme. Spider’s work in good governance and digital democratic activism is gaining recognition. Spider received an invitation from the Department for International Development (DFID) and Omidyar Network to participate in the Open Up event held on November 13, in London. The conference was on technology, transparency and open government and gathered practitioners and academicians in the field from all over the world.

Master's Programme in ICT4D

DSV/SU has developed an online ICT4D Master’s programme with Spider granting the financial contribution for the implementation and research associated with the development of this program. The program will be available online for students to enter, starting September 2013. Our objective has been to deliver a two-year, 120 ECTS credits, flexible and online Master’s programme in ICT4D.