| 06/02/2008 | to | 08/02/2008 |
[6-8 February 2008] The Regional Dialogue on the Information Society for Latin America and the Caribbean (DIRSI) is organising a session for the Second Ministerial Conference on the Information Society, which is meeting El Salvador. DIRSI member, Roxana Barrantes, of the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP) is the contact person for this activity.
A key priority for Regional Dialogue on the Information Society (DIRSI) is to promote research among young academics interested in the regulatory challenges posed by the development of the Information Society and knowledge among the poor and marginalised in countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Each year DIRSI holds a research grant competition directed toward young researchers (under 30 years of age) for the execution of projects that fall within the range of topics addressed by the DIRSI research agenda.
Deadline for proposals: 2 November 2007.
Go to DIRSI website for further information in English or in Spanish.
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LIRNE’s partner in Latin America & the Caribbean has published its first book, DIGITAL POVERTY: Latin American and Caribbean Perspectives. The book examines the problem of inadequate access to information and communication technology (ICT) and the need to develop appropriate pro-poor ICT policies within the Latin American and Caribbean context. The authors show how market reforms have failed to ensure that the benefits of the Information Society have spread across the many social and economic divides that characterize the region.
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An article in the June 2007 issue of the Indian-based international magazine i4d discusses DIRSI’s survey on mobile use by poor urban populations in eight countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Mobile Opportunities: Bottom of the pyramid mobile access by LIRNE. NET coordinator Amy Mahan is one of two articles by LIRNE.NET members in the issue. The other, by RIA! researchers Christoph Stork, Steve Esselaar and Ali Ndiwalana looks at mobile banking in Africa, arguing that a “paradigm shift needs to occur in order to determine how the poor might be profitably brought into the banking sector.”
DIRSI, a member of the LIRNE network, is looking for researchers to undertake country case studies Paraguay, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia or Guatemala using the Telecom Regulatory Environment (TRE) Assessment methodology. Using interviews and a questionnaire administered to a statistically significant cross-section of industry stakeholders and experts, the TRE assessment traverses five dimensions of regulatory risk for both the fixed and mobile sectors.
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