NEW GENDER MAILING LIST, SOUTH ONLINE DISCUSSION

Two new online activities were set up for gender-related activities and Global South initiatives in relation to the upcoming WSIS.

The first is the creation of the new international mailing list called “Gender and ICT.” This was started for everybody interested in international gender and ICT developments, e.g. policy-makers, academics, women's organisations and software designers. Through this mailing list, announcements of workshops, conferences, new websites, job openings and the latest research results will be disseminated.

Individuals can subscribe by sending an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the following text: subscribe genderandict. Please make sure that there is no other text in the message and that the message is in plain text. To post a message to this list, send it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Messages on the list have to be approved by the moderator first. For problems, e-mail the moderator at .

This European-based mailing list will be the platform of the following European projects and organisations, who will disseminate information through the list:

Everyone is also invited to join the discussion list on "Information Society: Voices from the South." The Digital Opportunity Channel (http://www.digitalopportunity.org) of OneWorld South Asia is launching this e-mail-based discussion forum in partnership with Bytes for All (http://www.bytesforall.org), a South Asian voluntary network. Digital Opportunity Channel is a joint endeavour of OneWorld (http://www.oneworld.net) and the Digital Divide Network (http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org) and is dedicated to ICT for development issues. Bytes for All is a voluntary online network from South Asia and tries to portray people-oriented alternative ICT practices in the region.

Even as the WSIS process continues with the organisation of Preparatory Committee Meetings and other regional consultation meetings, many of the Information Society proponents, especially community builders or networkers in the South, seem to be little aware of these developments and have a distant or little involvement in the processes. Organisers of this endeavour would like to attempt to bridge this gap, to ensure that even as an individual or as a grassroots organisation, everyone’s voice is also heard. Though the present dynamics of Information Society are being held within the realms of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) practices that are entirely a domain of the North, they believe the South, too, has a significant role to play and valuable experiences to share.

This platform, "Information Society: Voices from the South", is based on a realisation of these facts, and is therefore run from the South, by Southern organisations. It is open to anyone (even from the North) who is interested on ICTs and Information Society issues in the developing countries.

The aims of this effort are to:

  • Help stakeholders from the South exchange ideas and debate issues about the emerging information society and the WSIS
  • Provide them with a platform to take their voices to policymakers in order to influence national, regional and global strategies

In real terms, this would mean that it would be a time-bound, topics-based, objective-oriented discussion channel. Each month, a topic would be selected and that topic would be critically analysed, featured with examples and best practices, discussed with challenges and opportunities, and highlighted with policy implications, preconditions, successes and failures.

All the discussions will be streamlined in a summary report each month and would be presented to concerned authorities and at various events where information society agendas are being discussed, so that these can influence national, regional and global strategies.

There is a tentative theme line for the discussions. There would be an attempt to deal with several broad topics such as issues of access, gender and of rights and freedom in the context of the information society. Among the questions the forum is expected to debate are:

  1. How does information society relate to development and poverty alleviation?
  2. How can indigenous knowledge and local content be represented and preserved?
  3. Why is it important to provide access to information to women?
  4. Should access be free in all cases? What about sustainability of access-related projects?
  5. Why and how diversity of opinions, cultures, languages and perspectives need to be addressed on information society agendas?

The discussions, which are likely to continue until December 2003, will be broken into time-bound thematic modules. To begin with, the following three themes will be given focus:

  • Knowledge societies
  • Access/barriers
  • Gender issues

Future themes for discussion will be announced subsequently in the forum.

To join this discussion list, please send a blank e-mail to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. On successful sign-up, individuals will receive an e-mail asking to confirm subscription. Please follow the instructions in the e-mail to activate the subscription. This is a security measure to prevent others from being signed up by someone else. Once the subscription is active, list members will start receiving mails posted to the discussion list, and can fully participate in the list through e-mails itself, or thought the forum site at http://www.dgroups.org/groups/IS/index.cfm.

The discussion list is being moderated by Partha Pratim Sarker, the editor of Bytes for All. List members who face any subscription problems are advised to please contact Partha at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Kanti Kumar, the editor of Digital Opportunity Channel at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Reports did not specify, however, when the date of launch will be, so advocates interested to join are requested to e-mail the moderators.