INTERNET LEADER DEFENDS COMING CHANGE IN URLs

(Reuters) - Companies and law enforcement agencies nervous about a huge expansion in Internet domains - adding to .com, .net and others - will have many ways to protect trademarks and identify website owners, the head of the organization that organizes the Internet said on Tuesday.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers begins accepting applications on Thursday for a hugely expanded number of Web domains. Verisign, which runs the .com registry, has estimated there will be up to 1,500 applications, which cost $185,000.

Many corporations view the proliferation of top level domains as a giant problem. Companies already hire lawyers to defend their trademarks online and most were forced to spend money recently to ensure trademarks were not on the sexually oriented .xxx domain when it was introduced.

Following complaints from the Federal Trade Commission and others that registries of website owners were sometimes poorly maintained, making it difficult to shut down scams, ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom pledged that the top executives of all new registrars would undergo criminal background checks.

But Beckstrom argued that privacy groups and others pushed back against calls for detailed registries of website owners, called the WHOIS database.

"WHOIS is a really tough problem," he said.

Warren Adelman, CEO of Go Daddy which sells website names, said he had supported the go-slow approach urged by law enforcement and some members of Congress.

"We strongly recommended that there be a small pilot program and then expand that as sort of a measured way," he said.

In general, those who work with ICANN closely say privately the organization does a fairly good job of the very tough task of organizing the Internet internationally. The main criticism is that it sometimes fails to explain the reasoning behind its decisions, making it look high-handed.

In response to companies' concerns about trademarks, Beckstrom said that, in early May, ICANN would publish who had applied for what top level domain and allow protests.

Trademark violators would be shut down quickly, he said in a presentation at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

Sixty-one domain registrars have been stripped of their registrations or not renewed since 2003 because of violations such as failing to maintain proper documentation of who ran websites, failure to pay fees, or other problems, says Stacy Burnette, director for contractual compliance at ICANN.

TO MARKET, TO MARKET

Beckstrom argued the expansion gave new opportunities for companies.

"Not everybody has the domain name they want today," he said.

He also argued the expansion would create a more international Internet by allowing top level domains in Chinese, Hindi and other languages that do not use the Latin alphabet.

Just in English, there could well be hundreds of applications for city names such as .Berlin or .Paris and many others for generic words such as .music or .food.

Theo Hnarakis, CEO of Melbourne IT Group which counts 3,500 companies among its clients, said about 100 of his clients were registering top level domains, some to prevent cybersquatting and others as a branding opportunity.

"We are seeing some companies with a sense that this is a wonderful marketing opportunity," he said. "Overstock applied for O.CO (following the last round of expansions). Why? Because ... the shorter the name, the more memorable it is."

If customers do not use search engines to find businesses but URLs instead, companies could save millions on paid click advertising, Hnarakis added.

(Reporting By Diane Bartz; editing by Andre Grenon)

TOP 10 ICT PREDICTIONS FOR ASIA-PACIFIC: IDC

 By Jack Loo, 30 November 2011 

    With the uncertain economic outlook for 2012, analyst house IDC expects companies in the region to take a cautious approach to ICT spending in the coming year.

"As consumers and workforces are becoming smarter, more affluent and demanding, companies will need to match their efforts with intelligent spending to avoid getting their fingers burnt in case another worldwide crisis hits," said Claus Mortensen, principal for emerging technology research, IDC Asia/Pacific.

Business leaders are likely to face difficult investment decisions; to maintain growth; organisations will be looking to leverage ICT in newer and more robust ways. And IDC expects ICT spending in the APEJ region to reach $US653 billion in 2012, which is a 10.4 per cent growth over 2011. The firm was quoting insights from its Predictions report for 2012.

The following 10 ICT predictions are what IDC believes will have the strongest impact on enterprise IT in the region:

1) The rise of what IDC terms as "Emerging Asian Enterprise"

Numbering some 2000 across the Asia-Pacific region except for Japan, these companies are not branches of MNCs, but "true-blue Asian companies," said Sandra Ng, GVP - ICT practice, IDC.

In these organisations, CIOs are looking at new ways to compete more effectively and shorten the time to market for their IT investments. Possible areas of investments include mobility, cloud, analytics and social media. Hungry for growth, these companies are all about speed in terms of time to market, Ng added, and their internal technology processes need to be wired to support fast-paced growth.

Another characteristic is that their IT demands can change or increase, even after deals have been signed with the vendor or service provider. "The vendor can have massive pre-sales work done up, but the customer might then decide to make changes to the project scope," Ng pointed out.

2) The Singular appeal

The complexity of the Asia/Pacific market has led to a need and appreciation of "singular" offerings and players where a single portfolio can generate a successful and sustainable business model for the vendor/provider.

One example is China-based BesTV, an IP-TV provider who is focused solely on offering family entertainment programmes. Its success has led to many TV stations wanting to approach the company as a case study subject.

3) Orchestrating the Cloud

Cloud service providers will be providing integrated management of disparate cloud services, or cloud orchestration in 2012 and beyond.

In 2011, IDC estimates that 80 per cent of new enterprise application development will be for the public cloud, and by 2015, 20 per cent of enterprise application spending will be cloud-sourced. As a result, cloud service buyers will have to manage a much larger number of services and vendors, adding another level of management difficulty.

4) The arrival of the Chief Data Scientist

With the emergence of "Big Data", the most useful insights will come though the high-end analytics that can be performed on the increasing volumes, velocity and variety of data organisations are generating.

This means that there will be requirements for new analyst skill sets, and the Chief Data Scientist will emerge in 2012 as a job title to help organisations define their "Big Data" strategies.

5) Automation in the Cloud

With uncertain economic conditions, the ability to quickly provision IT capabilities and resources will become a key differentiator for CIOs, according to IDC.

As the next wave of workloads move into the cloud, IDC believes it will become increasingly important to standardise and automate IT processes and that automation will be a key focus point for CIOs in 2012.

6) Innovation scouts from telcos

IDC believes that in 2012, forward-looking telcos will form dedicated innovation scout teams to find new and unique applications and content to their customers, as a key differentiator factor in the competitive telecommunications industry.

7) Virtualisation to deal with unpredictable systems

Instead of relying on redundancy, organisatons are expected to bank on virtualisation to allow them to build a margin of error into their IT platforms that permits failure. This concept is likely to become the preferred approach when deploying larger virtualised x86 environments within the next few years.

8) Companies look towards customer-centric IT

Due to the uncertain economic outlook, IDC expects "customer-centricity" to be on the top of the agenda for companies in Asia/Pacific in 2012, together with a focus on technologies that help companies increase customer focus, customer engagement, and increase their knowledge of those customers who contribute the most to their business.

9) New workspace architectures built around mobility, Cloud and data services

Consumerisation has created new demands on the work environment and IDC expects organisations to use desktop refreshes, green field deployments and remote/small site operations as opportunities to pilot new mobile services and solutions in 2012.

10) The middleclass smartphone

IDC expects the market to see the introduction of sub-US$100 smartphones in 2012, which will in turn create big opportunities for service providers in emerging Asia. IDC also believes consumers in these markets will soon demonstrate the same addictive nature to mobile applications as seen in mature markets.

BRILLIANCE ICT

TRACKING ICT USE IN EDUCATION ACROSS AFRICA

Submitted by Michael Trucano on Fri, 10/02/2009 

The announcement from the World Bank earlier this week about a new $215 million Central Africa Backbone Program that will bring low cost, high speed Internet to the region is the latest in a series of good news about improving connectivity across the continent, and between Africa and the rest of the world.   Kenya is just one of many East African countries which can expect a decrease in costs and improvement in quality in the not too distant future as a result of the recent landing of the Seacom  and Teams cables, and two projects which the World Bank supports, the Regional Connectivity Infrastructure Project (RCIP) and (through the IFC), the EASSy cable.
What does, or might, all of this improved connectivity mean for students and teachers in Africa? How can we keep track of all of the related changes happening throughout the continent?

   It is certainly true that low-income countries throughout the continent continue to face daunting challenges as they attempt to ensure that all children complete a full cycle of primary education by 2015, something which the so-called Fast Track Initiative is meant to help address.  But there is room for optimism too.
Many people see great potential for advances in information and communication technologies to help provide new tools and approaches to educational practices going forward, and indeed the 'potential' is undeniable.  Moving beyond the rhetoric, however, it is a challenge to keep track of what is actually happening.  As infoDev's Survey of ICT and Education in Africa said back in 2007, "ICT use in education is at a particularly dynamic stage in Africa, which means that there are new developments and announcements happening on a daily basis somewhere on the continent". infoDev's country-by-country surveys were meant to help document these developments, joining existing resources like Schoolnet Africa's African Education Knowledge Warehouse and the long-standing knowledge work of the Commonwealth of Learning and SAIDE. The annual e-Learning Africa conference (whose next offering will take place in Lusaka in May 2010) is just the most prominent example of the increasing regional academic and networking opportunities for policymakers and practitioners throught the continent to stay abreast of the latest developments.

   To these efforts we can add that of the pan-African Observatory on ICT use in education, an open knowledge-sharing resource for research on the pedagogical integration of ICT. This on-line information repository is supported by an IDRC-funded project with quite a long name, the "Panafrican Research Agenda on the Pedagogical Integration of ICT" (rather surprisingly for a donor-supported project, it carries no convenient acronym, so it often goes by the shortname "PanAf'). This project, coordinated by ROCARE/ERNWCA and the University of Montreal, working with universities in eleven countries, provides perhaps the best one-stop-shop on the web to monitor the news and many of the more prominent initiatives emerging across the continent.  Monitoring its regularly updated, blog-style front page (unfortunately there is no RSS feed available) is, together with strategic monitoring and searching of the AllAfrica.com news portal, a convenient way to stay in the loop on interesting debates, such as that which occured at the recent  recent items of note include proceedings from the Acacia Research & Learning Forum on the role of the private sector in all that is happening in this area. The growing interest in public-private partnerships to support action is undeniable, and the recent announcement that the government of Kenya is teaming up with USAID and a consortium of private sector partners on an ambitious joint project to "enable 21st-Century education in Kenya schools" is just one example of such activities. In different ways, groups like PanAf and gatherings like TED Africa and the recent African Maker Faire in Accra showcase a dynamism that is largely unreported by most of the global news media.
Where all this will lead, no one knows, but there is no denying that we are witnessing encouraging developments. For those interested in the potentially transformative value of the use of technology in education, there will be much to learn from the experiences of African educators and students in the coming years.

FOSTERING EU-LATIN AMERICA ICT POLICY DIALOGUE

   Organized by the FORESTA project funded under the EU’s 7Th Framework Programme to support R&D cooperation between Latin America and Europe in the field of ICT, the conference ‘Fostering EU-Latin America ICT Policy Dialogue’ will take place in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday and Tuesday 28 and 29 November 2011. The event will be an important forum for European and Latin-American research stakeholders to discuss strategies to intensify cooperation in Information and Communication Technologies. It bring together stakeholders from ICT research, industry and industry federations, decision-makers, European and Latin-American research and innovation funding agencies, as well as SMEs and large companies from each region interested in cooperation with Latin America and with Europe.

   ‘Fostering EU-Latin America ICT Policy Dialogue’ event will use panels and round tables to elicit the insights of invited experts and inputs from the audience in order to develop strategic recommendations in support of a reinforced EU-LA ICT cooperation. The recommendations will be streamlined into a Joint Declaration that will be presented to representatives of the European Commission, the European Parliament and Latin-American governments in the closing session of the event to be held at the European Parliament.

Pro-Ideal and Pro-Ideal Plus partners will also actively participate at the event

BEYOND COMPUTER LITERACY

COURTING CHANGES By ASSOC PROF FONG SOON FOOK In today’s learning environment, teachers must be equipped with ICT knowledge and move from being passive users to active contributors.    In today’s ICT-enabled learning ecology, conventional training programmes to produce technically competent teachers are no longer adequate. To learn and work effectively in an increasingly information-rich environment, students and teachers must use ICT effectively. The necessity for this skill has already been proposed, rationalised and justified many times over in expert journals globally. Teachers are learning to use the computer more effectively to enhance their teaching skills. Malaysian students have been trained and empowered to achieve important ICT skills so that learning will be self-directed, self-paced and self-accessed. Teachers are responsible for establishing the classroom environment and preparing the learning opportunities that facilitate students’ use of technology to learn, communicate and develop knowledge. But how well are they equipped to provide their students with these skills and opportunities?    Conventionally, ICT competencies refers to the sets of basic knowledge and skills that are exhibited by a user in a digital era. Hence, various agencies within the Education Ministry have conducted training courses to equip teachers with ICT knowledge and skills. Concurrently, teachers have also been trained at the school, district or state level, and some have learnt ICT skills on their own as part of their on-the-job-responsibilities. Through these training programmes, the Ministry envisages that all teachers will move forward from being “computer literate” to actual users of supporting software developed by various agencies, and even capable of planning and designing effective constructive environments for students. The question now is: what is the impact of these training initiatives among teachers? Are our main stakeholders – the students – achieving expected outcomes? Are the training models used adequate to meet today’s demands? We propose that conventional training models be reviewed and transformed in alignment with research findings and current global demands for new learning environments. To be equipped with technical ICT skills and knowledge is the key to effective implementation of ICT in teaching and learning, but are these sufficient to address the current ecology of ICT-enabled learning? We surmise that training standards are as much about knowledge of curriculum and pedagogy, reflecting a shift in emphasis away from ICT as content to ICT as a tool.   A national ICT Competency Standard may serve as a reference point for development of ICT training programmes. This standard can ensure that all the trainings are of high quality and are relevant to the specific needs of teachers and students. The following categories of ICT competencies and performance indicators should be considered as benchmarks for all ICT Training Programmes for Malaysian teachers: ·Knowledge and Skills in basic ICT tools, including productivity applications software, web browsers and learning management system. ·Planning and Designing Rich-Learning Environments to support student-centred learning among students of diverse needs, including the use of collaboration and communication tools to support problem-based learning for a community of learners (COL). ·Pedagogical strategies to develop innovative ways to encourage students’ critical and creative thinking skills, including preparation of tools, rules and roles for students in a community of learners. ·Application of ICT-enabled Assessment and Evaluation to maximise learning through self-assessments of problem-solving, communication, collaboration, creative & communication skills. ·ICT-enabled Continuing Lifelong Professional Learning, Practice and Productivity for Just-in-time learning, including active participation in knowledge communities, sustaining own lifelong development and contributing to other COL. ·Ethics and moral values surrounding the educational use of computers and software applications. We advocate the establishment of a Malaysian ICT competency benchmark that will govern and direct the realisation of a transformed cohort of teachers who could contribute to higher quality education ­— and in turn produce a higher quality competitive workforce for the wellbeing and advancement of our economic and social development.    One of the core skills surrounding this aforementioned issue is an ability that is directly related to the rapid expansion of the World Wide Web (WWW). It requires teachers and students with superior competencies in using ICT to sieve through and choose relevant information that is available on the vast sum of human knowledge that is represented and available on the Web. The WWW had long ago reached singularity where information is infinite. Where Web 1.0 was about information storage, we are now in Web 2.0 where collaboration and global projects are the norm (think Facebook) and fast heading into Web 3.0, where individual IQs will no longer matter. What will instead matter will be collective intelligences, which bring together the collective IQs of teams of global citizens to work on decision making processes that has at its base a collective IQ amounting to millions of points.    Is Malaysia ready for this? Are our teachers and students geared for this radical shift in thought processes and approaches to learning and problem solving? What innovation is taking place in our schools and ministry that will create opportunities for exploring and developing new, unheard of skills that will soon become essential to not just the levelling up of our talents, but to sheer survival in new marketplaces? Where is Malaysia in the blossoming of new areas of studies in the fields of NBIC (Nano, Bio, Info and Cogno) technologies? In a world where these new areas of studies are being presented at primary and sometimes preschool levels, where does Malaysia stand in the complete overhaul and transformation of its curriculum? Learning the new rules, new roles and new ways of a learning environment that go hand-in-hand with ICT integration requires that teachers have opportunities to participate in an extended process of professional development. Teachers need time to acquire technology skills and develop new teaching strategies for integrating ICT into the classroom. At present, except for occasional in-service programmes, teachers often have no time built into the school day for their own professional development. In conclusion, it is important to ensure that all students have the opportunity to use ICT for student-centred projects. This is so that participation is enabled in complex, authentic tasks within a collaborative context and development of higher-order thinking skills will be developed and achieved. ICT that is used for deeper learning and that support a challenging curriculum will result in improved teaching and learning, increased student motivation and higher levels of student achievement.    Although there has been a strong push to have teachers trained and to supply educational software and hardware into the hands of teachers, many obstacles to implementation still exist. Equipment may not be placed in easily accessible locations. Hardware and software often pose problems for teachers in the classroom, and just-in-time technical support is unavailable. Teachers may lack the time and the motivation to learn ICT skills. School administrators and the ministry must persevere to find time for teacher professional development especially with regards to the upgrading of ICT competencies for the realisation of the new learning landscape. Assoc Prof Fong is attached to the School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Through this fortnightly column and through the revolutionary ENGAGE Programme – Education for Sustainable Global Futures – USM has started, he and his colleagues hope to help transform the landscapes of Malaysian schooling and higher education systems. He can be contacted through  theva@usm.my.

MINISTER WITNESSES SIGNING OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN JIA YU CHANNEL AND NANNING TV

Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Y.B. Datuk Seri Panglima Dr. Maximus Johnity Ongkili witnessed today the signing of an agreement between Jia Yu Channel (Astro 304) and Nanning TV (China) to formalise their fourth year of collaboration.    The agreement was signed by Jia Yu Channel’s CEO, Damien Leong, and Nanning TV’s Deputy Director, Yu Wei. The partnership between the two, which started in 2008, has involved the production of successful large-scale TV specials such as the “2010 Chinese New Year Special” and the “Jia Yu Chinese New Year Special”.   In conjunction with their fourth year of partnership, Jia Yu Channel and Nanning TV will launch another large scale event, the “Jia Yu Chinese New Year Special 2012”, which was held on Jan 7, 2012 at the Arena of Stars, Genting Highlands. The star-studded event,  attended by Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Maximus Ongkili and Health Minister Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai, featured celebrities such as Michael Wong, Sheila Majid, Eser Loo, ManHanD, Danny Wan, Amy Wang, Zhuang Xue Zhong and other local artistes.   This musical extravaganza will be premiered simultaneously in China, Malaysia and Thailand. It will also be aired to audiences in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Singapore, Japan, Australia and New Zealand through China’s Pay TV channel, Kylin TV.   The partnership will also see the two companies entering into a timebelt exchange programme, whereby each party will have a weekly, fifteen-minute segment to air programmes promoting their respective country’s culture, customs and tourism. The time belt exchange programme will give Malaysia and fellow ASEAN countries greater coverage and influence in China while providing Southeast Asian audiences an insight into the Nanning’s vibrant and distinctive culture.   Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Maximus said that the timebelt would provide Malaysia a platform to convey its messages including what it had to offer, to the rapid growing market in China.   One of the results of the cooperation between the two companies will be the featuring of “Borneo Head Hunters” as one of the official cultural exhibitions at the 2012 China-ASEAN Expo. “Borneo Head Hunters” is a joint animation production by Jia Yu Channel and a production company in Guangzhou, Daley Entertainment.   The city of Nanning has become the permanent venue of the China-ASEAN Expo which promotes trade, industrial and cultural exchanges between China and ASEAN countries. The ongoing partnership between Jia Yu Channel and Nanning TV serves to strengthen these ties and promote the regional advantages of the China–ASEAN free trade hub.