Peter Armstrong, Chris Addison, Subbiah Arunachalam, Peter Ballantyne, Hugo Besemer, Diane Cabell, Pete Cranston, James Jeynes,

2001

Published in March, 2002, this 119-page report details efforts to respond to the G8 Dotforce mandate to bridge the digital divide by launching a "national and international effort to support local content and applications creation". The International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) chaired a group exploring existing initiatives on local content; this report is Part I of the document. This section makes the point that one size does not fit all when it comes to the development of local content; different initiatives and approaches need to be explored.

Parts II and III of the document reflect the results of OneWorld International's chairing of a group that proposed means of scaling this work up across the developing world. The proposal focused on the development of an Open Knowledge Network (OKN) to promote the creation and exchange of local content as widely as possible across the South. Five key principles of OKN, including connection to the internet without going online (at a local public telecentre, where one may search in one's own language for relevant information by connecting to the local PC or intranet), are discussed. A description of how OKN was developed and tested in the field early in 2002 is included. A full presentation of the different aspects of OKN, including key aspects of technology, intellectual property rights, and business sustainability appears in Part III. In addition to a proposal for how OKN could be implemented over the next six years, there are several detailed appendices.

Click here to download a copy of the document in Microsoft Word format.

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