ICT must be used in the goal of sustainable development. ICT has become a vital tool in the fight against world poverty. ICT provides developing nations with an unprecedented opportunity to meet vital development goals such as poverty reduction, basic health care, and education, far more effectively than before. Those nations that succeed in harnessing the potential of ICT can look forward to greatly expanding economic growth, dramatically improved human welfare and stronger forms of democratic governance. Citizen can utilize ICT to share pertinent information that may otherwise not be transferable. The blogs created in this course is a great start. Besides my own research, I have learned way more than I expected from my fellow classmates and their blogs. Even when the course is over, students should continue to build on their blogs and add additional information that would be publicly shared with anyone who has access to read it. If everyone played a small role using ICT, the world could look forward to a brighter future.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
MDGs and Global Issues
ICT can be used to raise awareness, for example, Nigeria is rich in oil but it is not being used efficiently to develop and sustain the country due to government corruption. Bill Clinton made a good point when he said if citizens of a county have a right to vote government leader in office, they also have the right to vote them out. Citizen may not be aware of what’s going on due to lack of media attention on the subject or lack commercial advertisements which would subsequently allow citizen to be knowledgeable as to some of the reasons why development is not being sustained and would encourage them to vote. I also believe that if systems were in place in each country, the developmental goals can be accomplished in a reasonable time frame. Imposing taxes on air flights, and having the tax used to aid in each sector of the developmental goals can also aid countries. Even if travelers do not fly to certain countries, if they fly into near by countries, the taxed funds should be used for the purpose of the development goals where most needed. With the use of advanced technology, each country could have a team of dedicated leaders to maintain these systems in aiding in the developmental goals.
Reference(s):
[1] http://www.ted.com/index.php/speakers/view/id/82
[2] http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Sustainable Development
Understanding Data
Understanding data is extremely important. It can affect how a person makes certain decisions. Data tell you when and how. Like the African girl in the video, she wanted to be in school so that she would be able to count change and would not be cheated when she goes to the market to purchase an item. As Hans Rosling pointed out it would be helpful if the world had access to a full database on the stats of the world’s development, but if a person does not understand the data, it would be meaningless.
Sustainable Development
I have read many definitions of sustainable development which all deal with the same aspects which are social, economic, and environment.
www.census.gov/ipc/www/wp96glos.html defines it as achieving economic and social development in ways that do no exhaust a country’s natural resources,
tpc-ptc.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/tpc-ptc.nsf/en/hb00422e.html defines it as achieving economic and social goals in ways that can be supported for the long term by conserving resources, protecting the environment, and ensuring human health and welfare and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_development defines it as social-ecological process characterized by the fulfillment of human needs while maintaining or increasing the quality of natural environment indefinitely.
In Han’s Rosling video<Hans Rosling>, he mentioned a very important analysis comparing the sustainable development of Asia and the US. He stated, while Asia’s economical progress was slow, their health stats increased and while the US economy progressed, their health stats were low. Also, it took the US 30 year to catch up to the health rate of Asia. I found this to be very interesting. It seems that both countries did not have a sustainable development because one aspect affected the other. Therefore, to me, sustainable development means improving and/or maintaining the economy, environment, and social well being without hindering each aspect.
Measuring Sustainable Development
It is clear that you need accurate data and stats to measure sustainable development. Overall it is a difficult task but as Hans Rosling optimistically states in his video “The seemingly impossible is possible”.
To move to sustainable development, decision-makers need information. They need information about where they are at the moment. . . information on developing trends and pressure points . . . information about the impacts or effects of interventions or policies put into place. They need feedback on which adjustments to make to speed up or slow down the effects of their interventions. They need information about milestones achieved or about failures that frustrate progress.
Indicators of Sustainable Development (ISD) Progress from Theory to Practice Copyright 1997 United Nations.
MDGs and Sustainable Development
Han’s Rosling made an good point in regards to Africa, people need to look back to where Africa was in the last century and consider where they are now. Proper measuring tools can indicate what has happened in the past and what needs to be done to ensure improvements for the future.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Globalization and Collaborative and Social Networking Technologies
Openness is a form of transparency describing ways companies network, share, and encourage external resources and not rely solely on their internal resources. Being open promotes trust from customers. For example, airline companies like Jet Blue and American Airlines always promote their airline fares and deals. While many of Jet Blue’s fare are higher than American Airline, they are open about it and typically promise customer enhanced quality services. In any case, by Jet Blue and American Airlines being honest and open about their services and prices, customers trust and loyalty are greatly enhanced.
Peering refers to a group of people collaborating openly to drive innovative and growth in their choice of interest(s). Currently, in my database course through blackboard, the professor requires student to complete and present a term project and a final project. Professor posted term papers and final projects examples from her previous course and she always requires that we post our individual papers and project on blackboard for everyone’s viewing pleasure. While some Professors may believe this give student the competitive advantage, the Professor believe it will enhance future projects and papers and create innovative ideas.
Sharing refers to ability to access another persons resources and/or innovations. Sharing involves open collaboration of shared intellectual properties. A major issue with sharing information is avoiding copyright infringements and not breaking the copyright law. An example of sharing is the Clinical Skills Online(CSO) project, which was developed by the Educational Technology Unit in London. CSO provides online videos demonstrating core clinical skills common to a variety of medical and health-baded courses in Higher Education. The videos are available for free to anyone to use for educational, personal, and non commercial purposes. Licensed under Creative Commons, a non for profit organization devoted to expanding the amount of creative work available for others to legally build upon and share, CSO is relatively important for those who cannot access such information and education otherwise.
I believe acting globally means bridging the gaps between nations for the purpose of providing economic growth and enabling global interdependence. I have seen such acts when I book a flight or hotel and I call the service centers and the person I am speaking to is located in another country. Companies that are based in the US may have outsourced sectors of their business in other countries. Both counties are benefiting from one other is some way, shape, or form. I believe these four collaborative technologies address some of the global issues and is an excellent initiative towards the global issues but we can build on these technologies and come up with more creative ways to ensure that such global issues can be sustained or even eradicated.
Reference:
[1] Tapscptt, D., & Williams, A. D. (2006). Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. New York: Penguin Group.
Role of ICT in Building Sustainable Development
Information Communication Technology (ICT) can very well accelerate and promote sustainable development. With adequate systems and reliable partner to manage these systems, ICT can make a major impact on sustainable development and the growth of many countries. Many leaders are recognizing the benefits of ICT.
In Lebanon, the knowledge networks project is an effort to introduce technological tools to women in rural Lebanon through the establishment of access points, or call centers equipped with computer and technology. A unique training system development by the Center for Research and Training of Development-Action (CRTDA) aims to ensure the sustainability of the project. Abou-Habib, executive director of the CRTDA states that “ICT is a powerful tool, used well; it can be an economic option; a vehicle for learning; a force multiplier and a way to move virtually beyond restrictions”.
In the Ugu region of South Africa, ICT has been identified as an important part government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (ASGISA). They believe that ICT provides the means for economic growth and development which can also facilitate the sharing of this growth. Public Enterprise Minister Alec Erwin is pushing for affordable broadband access to be accessible to all South Africans and not only the privileged so they everyone can participate in the growth of the country. He states “This growth, if not shared by all South Africans, is meaningless”. The development of ICT sectors in the Ugu will also impact on the agriculture and tourism, which are currently the key industries for growth and development in the Ugu region.
Reference(s):
[1] Crile, Suzan. “Knowledge Networks project uses ICT to empower Women” Lebabon – Daily News. November 11, 2007
<http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=86695>
[2] Masango, David. “South Africa: ICT Key for Economic Growth, Development” BuaNews (Tshwane) October 23, 2007
<http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=86695>
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP)
"There is great diversity among our group, but we know that we will be more effective when we work together. We do not endeavour to reach absolute agreement on detailed policy, but we want to pressure governments to eradicate poverty, dramatically lessen inequality, and achieve the Millennium Development Goals."[2]
The demands:
• Public accountability, just governance and the fulfillment of human rights
• Trade justice
• A major increase in the quantity and quality of aid and financing for development
• Debt cancellation
• Gender equality
The campaign demands that gender equality be recognized as a central issue for poverty eradication. The campaign further demands that upholding the rights of children, youth, women and other excluded groups, as well as ensuring their equal participation, be recognised as fundamental to the achievement of these goals.
• Over 1 billion people live on less than $1 a day with nearly half the world’s population (2.8 billion) living on less than $2 a day.
• From 1990 to 2002, in sub-Saharan Africa, although the poverty rate declined marginally, the number of people living in extreme poverty increased by 140 million.
• More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day... 300 million are children. Of these 300 million children, only eight percent are victims of famine or other emergency situations. More than 90 percent are suffering long-term malnourishment and micro nutrient deficiency.
• Every 3.6 seconds another person dies of starvation and the large majority are children under the age of 5.
• An estimated 824 million people in the developing world were affected by chronic hunger in 2003.
• In the early 1990s, the number of hungry people in Eastern Asia declined, but again it is on the rise.
• Every hour more than 1,200 children die away from the glare of media attention. This is equivalent to three tsunamis a month, every month. The overwhelming majority can be traced to a single pathology : poverty.
• In 2001–03, FAO estimates there were still 854 million undernourished people worldwide: 820 million in the developing countries, 25 million in the transition countries and 9 million in the industrialized countries.
• Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday.
Reference(s):
[1]http://www.whiteband.org/about-gcap/what-is-gcap
[2]GCAP - Wikipedia
[3]http://www.whiteband.org/resources/issues/did-you-know
Saturday, December 1, 2007
December 1st - World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people, with an estimated 38.6 million people living with HIV, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 3.1 million (between 2.8 and 3.6 million) lives in 2005, of which more than half a million (570,000) were children.
The concept of a World AIDS Day initiated at the 1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention. Since then, it has been taken up by governments, international organizations and charities around the world.
1988 - Communication
1989 - Youth
1990 - Woman and AIDS
1991 - Sharing the Challenge
1992 - Community Commitment
1993 - Act
1994 - AIDS and the Family
1995 - Shared Rights, Shared Responsibilities
1996 - One World. One Hope
1997 - Children Living in a World with AIDS
1998 - Force for Change: World AIDS Campaign With Young People
1999 - Listen, Learn, Live: World AIDS Campaign with Children & Young People
2000 - AIDS: Men Make a Difference
2001 - I care. Do you?
2002 - Stigma and Discrimination
2003 - Stigma and Discrimination
2004 - Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS
2005 - Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise
2006 - Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise - Accountability
2007 - Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise - Leadership
A 67 m long "condom" on the Obelisk of Buenos Aires, Argentina, part of an awareness campaign for the 2005 World AIDS Day
-Everyday HIV/AIDS kills 6,000 people and another 8,200 people are infected with this deadly virus.
-TB is the leading AIDS-related killer and in some parts of Africa, 75 percent of people with HIV also have TB.
-In 2005, more than 2 million children aged 14 years or younger were living with HIV.
-By 2005, nearly half of the 39 million people living with HIV were women.
-UNICEF predicts that the number of children who have lost one or both parents due to AIDS will rise to 15.7 million by 2010.
-By the end of 2005, 12million children across sub-Saharan Africa had been orphaned by AIDS.
-Globally, as of 2005, an estimated 15.2 million children under 18 have lost one or both parents to AIDS; about 80 per cent of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa.
-In South Africa, the country with the largest number of orphans due to AIDS, more than 7.1 million children under 14 living in poverty were benefiting from a government child support grant by April 2006.
-In 2005, a total of US$ 8.3 billion was estimated to be available for AIDS funding; this figure is estimated to rise to US$ 8.9 billion in 2006 and US$ 10 billion in 2007. But it falls short of what is needed -- US$ 14.9 billion in 2006, US$ 18.1 billion in 2007 and US$ 22.1 billion in 2008.
-The number of people receiving antiretroviral treatment in low and middle income countries has tripled since the end of 2001.
-The number of children orphaned by AIDS has risen, from one million in 1990 to 15 million today; by 2010, the number could exceed 25 million.
-Every minute that passes another child under 15 dies of an AIDS-related illness and another four young people aged 15–24 become infected with HIV. (Children, the missing face of AIDS - UNAIDS- UNICEF- 2005).
-Each day, 1,800 children become infected with HIV, the vast majority of whom are newborns.
-Through the expanded provision of antiretroviral treatment an estimated two million life years were gained since 2002 in low- and middle-income countries.
Reference(s):
[1]http://www.kdkfactory.com/abcofhiv.htm
[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_AIDS_Day
[3]http://www.whiteband.org/resources/issues/did-you-know
