Media Information
Archived Press Releases
Organizations Join Internet Society's Fight Againt "Information Poverty"
Media Advisory Notes:
Journalists will be
admitted to the workshops for purposes of observing the courses.
Interviews can be
arranged with instructors and students, on-site and via e-mail, both before,
during (on-site), and after the workshops. E-mail interviews can also
be arranged with previous workshop graduates.
Background information
on sponsors follows the release.
Washington, D.C. – May 19, 1998 -- The Internet Society (ISOC) today announced that businesses, non-profit organizations, and academic institutions have joined in support of ISOC's 6th annual Network Technology Workshops, July 11-19, 1998. More than 200 professionals from around the world will be taught how to design, operate, maintain, and manage an Internet. "Information poverty is one of the more important and insidious obstacles to effective exploitation of the technologies that can fuel national economies," said George Sadowsky, vice president of the Internet Society, the organizer of the workshops. "Many countries can not adequately utilize technology because of a lack of existing human resources infrastructure. These workshops help develop core groups of expertise that will solve that problem."
For the first time ever, the Workshops will be presented in four different languages and held in two locations, simultaneously.
- Geneva, Switzerland (English and French)
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Spanish and Portuguese)
"ISOC has facilitated the participation of many Network Administrators from Latin America and the Caribbean, in previous INET workshops. The OAS Hemisphere Wide Network project (RedHUCyT) has actively supported Internet infrastructure and training in the region. We are very proud to support the first ISOC Workshop in Latin America," said Saul Hahn, Coordinator of RedHUCyT.
Approximately 900 previous graduates from more than 100 countries have performed a vital role in setting up Internet connections and networks in virtually every country that has connected to the Internet during the past five years. This year's workshops will teach a new cadre of networking professionals the technical and operational aspects of establishing and managing their national network infrastructure. The Workshops are being held in conjunction with INET'98, the eighth annual conference of the Internet Society, which begins July 21, 1998.
"The Network Training Workshop is one of the most important achievements of the Internet Society," said Mr. Jan van den Beld, Secretary General of ECMA. "ISOC is helping countries develop the expertise required to introduce or extend public internetworking, and ECMA is proud to support that effort." The Workshops focus on assisting countries that are in the process of developing or enhancing a national Internet. Workshop attendees are involved in establishing an Internet presence in their countries, in institutionalizing its operation, and in assisting the country's schools and universities, governmental agencies, local firms, and residents in learning about and exploiting the range of services available through the Net.
"Knowledge is the key to sustainable improvements in human well- being," said Dave Todd, Director of Public Affairs for Canada's International Development Research Centre. ISOC's Network Training Workshops provide the knowledge that enables people and their communities to develop the ability to identify and solve their own problems."
ISOC's Network Technology Workshops help develop a critical mass of professionals to support Internet-related activities within their country. Graduates are able to identify and share individual and institutional contacts as well as information sources to assist national Internet development. Through the workshops, they build professional relationships and increase the level of cooperation among existing projects and activities for establishing public data networks. Most importantly of all, graduates extend the knowledge base in their countries by teaching others what they have learned at the workshop.
"ISOC is bringing Internet technology to where it has not been," said international financier and philanthropist George Soros, Chairman of the Open Society Institute, a sponsor of the Conference. "It is protecting the freedom and openness of society through its workshops, as well as its INET conferences and its leadership in resolving Internet related policy issues. The Open Society Institute shares those goals and therefore helps fund these activities."
The Workshop is an intensive program of instruction composed of four concurrent instructional tracks. Students are selected largely on the basis of recommendations that anticipate the role they will play in institutionalizing the Internet's presence in their countries, and/or in assisting schools, governmental agencies, businesses, and residents to learn about and exploit Internet services. Participants engage in extensive hands-on training, setting up a prototype network using actual Internet facilities.
"Any plan to introduce or expand networking needs to address a multitude of issues," said Juergen Harms, President of the Board of the SWITCH Foundation. "The skills required to establish and operate an international network link and a national data network depend upon a mix of ability to deal with computer hardware and software, as well as data communications hardware and protocols." The hands-on experience gained by the participants will be invaluable to them.
"Building capacity and skills is not only key to enable developing countries to participate better in the global information society, it is also essential for creating local and more diverse content on the Internet," said Hans d'Orville, Director of UNDP's IT for Development Programme, which together with UNDP's Asia and Pacific Development Programme (APDIP) is among the sponsors. "UNDP sees the Internet Society as a trusted and effective intermediary in that area and we are happy to be, again, a partner in this year's conference."
Other workshop sponsors include Cisco Systems, O'Reilly Associates, and the University of Geneva.
The Internet Society (ISOC) <http://www.isoc.org> is a non- profit, non-governmental, international organization providing leadership in the management of Internet related technical, commercial, standards, educational, and policy development issues. Its mission is to assure the beneficial, open evolution of the global Internet and related internetworking technologies. ISOC's membership represents a veritable who's who of the Internet community, with more than 100 key Internet-oriented enterprises and 6,000 individual members worldwide.
INET'98, the Internet summit conference to be held in Geneva, Switzerland, is the crossroads at which the world's leaders and pioneers of cyberspace meet, share information, address significant issues, and shape the future of the Internet. INET'98 will include presentations of more than 100 peer reviewed papers and case histories, plenary sessions, panels and a wide range of seminars on key Internet issues. About 2,000 information technology professionals, business executives, educators and government officials from over 100 nations are expected to attend.
More details on the Network Training Workshops can be found on the Net at <http://www.isoc.org/inet98/net.shtml>
Background on sponsors of ISOC's Network Training Workshops:
ECMA is an international, Europe-based industry association founded in 1961 and dedicated to the standardization of information and communication technology (ICT) systems. Its aims are to develop Standards and Technical Reports, in co- operation with the appropriate National, European and International organizations, in order to facilitate and standardize the use of ICT systems; to encourage the correct use of Standards by influencing the environment in which they are applied; and to promulgate the various Standards that it produces. All ECMA Standards and Technical Reports are available, free of charge, to anyone asking (they are also available on the web). <http://www.ecma.ch/>
The Hemisphere Wide Network, RedHUCyT, is a project of the Office of Science and Technology at the Organization of American States (OAS). Its main objective is to connect the institutions of OAS member countries to the Internet, by helping local initiatives for either the inception or expansion of networks in their countries. The project provides communications equipment, technical support, and sponsors workshops and seminars in the region to prepare projects and train network managers. RedHUCyT supported the connection to Internet, for the first time, of many member countries, including Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and Peru among others, and has provided assistance and equipment to most of the member countries. The project was explicitly recognized in the Plan of Action that emerged from the Summit of the Americas held in Miami in 1994 and, also, during the Meeting of Ministers responsible for Science and Technology of the Hemisphere, held in Cartagena, Colombia, on March 1996. http://www.redhucyt.oas.org/
The International Development Research Centre is a public corporation created by the Canadian government to help communities in the developing world find sustainable and equitable development solutions to social, economic, and environmental problems. IDRC is pledged to the generation and use of knowledge in ways that alleviate poverty and improve people's lives. IDRC connects people, institutions, and ideas to ensure that the results of the research it supports and the knowledge that research generates, are shared equitably among all its partners. IDRC uses a multidisciplinary focus to find effective solutions to development challenges. <http://www.idrc.ca>
The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grant making foundation that seeks to promote the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and often controversial issues. Created and funded by George Soros, the Open Society Institute-New York is part of the Soros foundations network, which consists of autonomous nonprofit organizations operating in 31 countries throughout Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Central Eurasia, as well as in Southern Africa, Haiti, Guatemala, and the United States. Together with its Hungary-based sister organization, the Open Society Institute-Budapest, the Open Society Institute-New York assists the foundations and organizations in the network by providing administrative, financial, and technical support, as well as by establishing "network programs" that link different foundations within the network. <http://www.soros.org>
The SWITCH foundation was established in 1987 by the Swiss Confederation and the eight university cantons to promote modern methods of data transmission and to set up and run an academic and research network in Switzerland. SWITCH helped to prepare the path to a successful breakthrough of the Internet in Switzerland. The SWITCH head office is located in Zurich, and operates some 20 sites throughout Switzerland as well as the central SWITCH system at the ETH Zurich computer centre. All Swiss Universities and some R&D institutions are today connected via ATM virtual connections and leased lines to the SWITCHlan backbone network and therefore also to the Internet. SWITCHng (SWITCH next generation) will supply the technical prerequisites for Switzerland participate in the information society of the future. <http://www.switch.ch/> The United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) mission is to help countries build national capacity to achieve sustainable, human development, giving top priority to eliminating poverty and building equity. Through a unique network of 134 country offices, helps people in 174 countries and territories to help themselves, focusing on poverty elimination, environmental regeneration, job creation and the advancement of women. In 1997, UNDP launched a global IT for Development Programme in its Bureau for Development Policy and an Asia and Pacific Development Programme (ARDIP), which focus on awareness-raising, connectivity and access, capacity-building, content creation and the piloting of digital community centres and other applications. UNDP also manages (since 1992) the Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SNDP). For more information on UNDP's activities in these areas, see http://www.undp.org/undp/info21/index.htm
Contacts:
Martin Burack
Executive Director,
Internet Society
voice: +1 703 648 9888
Alan McCluskey
INET'98 Media Relations
Chair
voice: +41 32 763 03 44
mobile: +41 79 637 28 59
For more information about INET'98
