ISSUE 5

Quote from Speech given by the Head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II at CHOGM on 12th November 1999

"We are already living in a world in which with the click of a mouse, distances disappear and oceans are crossed. Businesses in Britain now employ computer programmers in Bangalore. Students in South Africa can instantly access academic research in Australia. Families from across the Commonwealth can speak to each other every day. Globalisation is not only transforming our economies. It is changing every aspect of our lives. Opportunities and challenges will bring us closer together; from the benefits of world trade and investment to addressing problems of combating drugs, AIDS or environmental destruction."

Visit the CHOGM web site for full text at http://www.chogm99.org/.

Excerpt From an Original Interview Between Birgitte Jorgensen and the World Reknown Author and Thinker, Dr. Edward de Bono

Q  What is your attitude towards the latest technological gadgets? Do advances in computing and the Internet inspire you?

A  "Sometimes I use a typewriter and sometimes, on planes I write books on my Psion 5 palmtop. I never re-write or alter anything, so the advantage of a laptop is minimal. Technology as such is an opportunity, not a value. If you can communicate with thousands of people through the Internet, that does not mean you have anything to say."

Q  As the Internet is fluid, non-rigid and random, do you think that its widespread use as a common arena for both research and communication has any implications for promoting the development of lateral thinking? Will the natural development of lateral thinking be an unintended spin-off benefit for the emerging Net generation?

A  "On the contrary, the Net is a wonderful source of static information, not of thinking. The neural networks in the brain have a different architecture. I once designed a brain, on a computer, which had only five neurons, but was capable of 50 billion thoughts. That is made possible by a biological function which an engineer would throw out. The Net can give the dangerous illusion that being informed is the same as thinking. It is not."

Abstract from NetAid Web Site Following This Worldwide Event Held in October

World Wide Web Helps War on Poverty

"Wealth is the blanket we wear. Poverty is to have that blanket taken away." These simple yet powerful words come from an African activist in Botswana. But what's that blanket made of? Before 1990, it was woven with food, shelter, clinics, and schools. Now, if you're not on the Net, you're out in the cold.

The Net's the new frontier: the Wild West has become the World Wide Web. Research shows that if you're logged on, you're likely to be young, white, male, and making good money. Women, poor people, ethnic groups are likely to be excluded.

Why is access to the Net so important? Will it put food in the mouths of starving children, or raise a roof over a homeless family? When you have no clean water to drink or can't read and write, why do computers matter? Here is just one example of how the Internet works for poor people – taken from the NetAid web site www.netaid.org.

Creating jobs. In just one Egyptian town (Zagazig), 119,000 graduates are unemployed; young men and women are now getting trained at technology access community centres on new skills that will help find jobs. In Asia, students can start young, thanks to a program (APDIP) that's bringing the Net to schools in mobile units. All over the world, PEOPLink helps bridge the gap between traditional artisans and their ultimate consumers by training and equipping them to use digital cameras and the Internet to market their crafts and showcase their rich cultural heritage.

Through an innovative partnership with educational institutions across the world, Cisco Systems is preparing students for the demands and enormous opportunities of the information economy while creating a qualified talent pool for building and maintaining networks.

It is the aim of the NetAid partnership - backed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Cisco, and others - to make access to information a right rather than a privilege, and help win the war on poverty.

Informatics Policy Development in the Commonwealth –
A COMNET-IT Research and Publication Programme

The following text is part of a Press Release as issued at the Durban CHOGM.

"The Commonwealth Heads of Government, meeting in Auckland in 1995, endorsed the Commonwealth Network of Information Technology for Development (COMNET-IT) as the Commonwealth forum for good practice in Information Technology (IT) policy and application. Since then, and with the support of its sponsors, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Government of Malta, COMNET-IT has amongst other activities, held a number of policy workshops and developed materials in this area.

In the context of globalisation – and the strong relationship between this phenomenon and the proliferation of information technology – COMNET-IT is intent on heightening awareness, amongst Commonwealth leaders, of the crucial implications that information technology holds for development. Amongst other measures, it is launching, on the occasion of the Durban CHOGM, a series of publications on Informatics Policy Issues over the next two years with a view to engaging Commonwealth leaders and policy-makers in an informed forum on current thinking in this fast-moving area which is fraught with economic and social implications. The first publication of the series, entitled Information Technology and Globalisation: Implications for People-Centred Development marks the occasion. In his foreword, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku draws attention to the "impact of information and communication technologies on the process of globalisation and on their potential for people-centred development". A message from the Prime Minister of Malta, the Hon Dr Edward Fenech-Adami invites "the participation of Commonwealth leaders and policy-makers [in this forum]".

The launch of this initiative is therefore also an appeal to Commonwealth leaders to place Information Technology and Informatics Policy on the political agenda of nations and to support it with counterpart measures within the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation and as an area of functional co-operation."