L I R N E . N E T

The organizers of the 3rd IEEE/ ACM International Conference on ICT and Development, ICTD2009 Conference (17-19 April 2009 at the Carnegie-Mellon campus in Doha, Qatar), would like to spur reflective dialogue among researchers and between researchers and development practitioners. Therefore a small number of panels will be chosen to be added to the program.

Panel proposals are invited that will add to the emerging ICTD discipline by having multiple points-of-view reflect on issues that affect the practice of ICTD research and its relationship to development practice. Therefore key assessment criteria we will use to evaluate the panel proposals are:

1. Does it reflect on a novel or unresolved issue in the practice of ICTD research?
2. Does it reflect on a novel or unresolved issue in disseminating or scaling the results of ICTD research into general practice?
3. Does it introduce challenges in the practice of development that ICTD research has yet to address adequately?

Deadline for proposals: 2 November 2009.

Click here to go to the ICTD2009 conference website.
Click here for author instructions.

See also post on Richard Heek’s IEEE Computer article on ICT4D 2.0.

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The Research ICT Africa (RIA!) August 2008 Policy Brief is based on the preliminary analysis of the Individual and Household ICT Survey undertaken by the network.
The policy brief provides a snapshot of ICT development in Ghana, which has not been robust despite the country having been amongst the early reformers of the African ICT sector. In spite of improvements in certain sector segments, others such as household fixed line, internet access and public telephones, need policy support to catalyse their development.

Click here to download the RIA! Policy Brief (PDF format)

For further information about this report, contact:
Dr. Godfred Frempong <gkfrempong [at] stepri.csir.org.gh>

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Knud Erik Skouby and Reza Tadayoni of the Center for Communication, Media and Information Technologies (CMI), in cooperation with Hugo Jost of Ascom AG, have undertaken an independent assessment of mobile broadband coverage and capacity in Denmark. CMI designed the test and Ascom has undertaken the actual measurement to test coverage and different aspects of capacity. Four networks are included in the assessment: Sonofon, TDC, Telia and 3.

Click here to download the full report: Managerial Report Mobile Internet Benchmarking (PDF format).

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What kind of information should regulators routinely make available on their websites? Are national regulatory authority (NRA) websites a useful information point? Four new LIRNE studies provide feedback to regulators across different categories of information provision. Some NRAs already provide extensive information via their websites others from the same region offer only a bit of static of information. These regional assessments of national telecom regulatory authority websites seek to illuminate best practices for using NRA websites as vehicles to provide information about the sector to the full range of stakeholders.

The draft Working Papers are available via the links below.

Benchmarking Latin America NRA Websites by Hugo Carrión (DIRSI)
Estándares de comparación para los sitios web de los Entes Reguladores Nacionales de América Latina

Benchmarking Caribbean and North American National Regulatory Authority Websites by Opal Lawton

Benchmarking Asia Pacific National Telecom Regulatory Authority Websites by Lara Alawattegama and Chanuka Wattegama (LIRNEasia)

Benchmark Indicators for African National Regulatory Authority Websites, Monica Kerretts-Makau (Research ICT Africa!)

Please use our Contact Form to order a copy of the full final report with comparative appendices (available in August 2008).

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On 23 June in Ottawa, Canada, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Learning Initiatives on Reforms for Network Economies (LIRNE.NET) network held a meeting with researchers from the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Dialogue on the Information Society (DIRSI), LIRNEasia, the LINK Centre and Research ICT Africa (RIA!), Comunica, and from the LIRNE network in Europe - Center for Communication, Media and Information Technologies (CMI) at Aalborg University, and the Center for Information and Communication Technologies (CICT), at the Technical University of Denmark. The intention of this event, in addition to presenting research, was to have a conversation with the invited participants and amongst ourselves. The four sessions of this day-long event were constructed in such a way as to provide opportunity for dialogue and creative reflection on the work of the network, why we do what we do, how we engage ICT regulatory research effectively and ensure impact.

Continue to the rest of this entry for presentation downloads and meeting information.

Click here to see photos of this event.
Click here to read the LIRNEasia report on this event.

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LIRNE.NET researchers from around the world will be participating in the the International Telecommunications Society 17th Biennial Conference, Montreal, Canada (24-27 June). If you are planning to attend ITS, we invite you to come to meet researchers from LIRNEasia, Research ICT Africa (RIA!), the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Dialogue on the Information Society (DIRSI), from the European LIRNE centres, LIRNE.NET and Comunica. See next page for ITS sessions.

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The LIRNE Events and Links page has two new resources: competition authority resources and a calendar of upcoming events.

In recognition of the increasing the role of competition regulation in ICT sector, we are beginning to collect resources from national competition regulators. This information is presented in the same manner as our tables of national telecom regulators and links to their statistical resources and sector reports. The intrepid LIRNE assistant researcher, Alejandra Davidziuk, is tracking down all of these links and keeping them up-to-date.

Another new feature is the Google calendar of upcoming ICT regulation and policy related conference, workshops, seminars and courses. The calendar entries are colour coded and organised by region, and (by clicking on full details/mas detalles) include a full record of the event including links to the conference website and deadlines for important dates. The Google calendar also has other functionalities such as being able to export entries to your own calendar.

The downloadable .pdf version of the upcoming events is also maintained for people who prefer that format.

Please use our Contact page to suggest events that should be included on the calendar.

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