InWent Länderprofile mit neuem Auftritt

InWent (Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung) hat den Webauftritt der Länderprofile gänzlich neu gestaltet und nun verfügbar gemacht. Als verlässliche Quelle für Länderinformationen sehr empfehlenswert. Die Autoren entwickeln den Service laufend weiter und freuen sich über Feedback.

InWent LIPortal

"Beim LIPortal handelt es sich um eine öffentlich zugängliche Wissensressource mit dem Fokus auf länderspezifische Informationen mit entwicklungspolitischer Relevanz. Die Länderbeiträge bieten einen optimalen Einstieg in ein breites Themenspektrum.

Dieses Portal hat den Anspruch allen interessierten Usern eine vertrauenswürdige und verlässliche Wissensressource auf dem Gebiet der Länderinformation zu bieten. Das LIPortal mit seinen einführenden Texten steht dem Besucher als helfende Hand zur Seite. In jeweils fünf Kapiteln bietet es jedem Nutzer verständliche Texte, um sich nach seinen individuellen Bedürfnissen ein fundiertes, länderspezifisches Wissen anzueignen. Jeder Beitrag enthält eine Vielzahl von multimedialen Elementen und weiterführenden Verweisen. Die im Fließtext integrierten Links ermöglichen es dem Nutzer sich vertiefend mit bestimmten Themenbereichen auseinanderzusetzen.

Eine weitere wertvolle Komponente sind die Landesblogs. Dort können registrierte Nutzer Beiträge schreiben, um Ihr subjektives Erleben des jeweiligen Landes mit anderen zu teilen. Im Blog können Fragen gestellt, beantwortet und Beiträge kommentiert werden. Damit wird ein Austausch der User untereinander gefördert."

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DA-News

As announced recently, I started building sub-pipes to my "News-Imp" and am now happy to present first results. Below you'll find a gadget with weekly news on development assistance & -cooperation: "DA-News (beta)".

To get started, I combined strict searches for queries:

- "international+development+cooperation+assistance+foreign+aid"
- "development+cooperation+agency+assistance+aid"
- "Entwicklungszusammenarbeit"
- "Entwicklungshilfe"
- "Entwicklungspolitik"

Results are then filtered for unique titles and sorted by publishing date and language in descending order.
English language only; German language only; Both German and English language

DA-News (beta):
please allow scripts

view source; get as RSS

(updated Wed, Feb. 18th 2009)

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Don't be evil.

“Why ‘Google’?“ – That's a question I would expect from colleagues and friends. Not because they had anything against ‘the big G.’ nor me using it, but because they had always heard my own complaints about Google. Now what has led me to the point where I put aside old opinions and prejudices and chose to start blogging, mailing, reading and posting news with G.-related services?

For many years I regularly joined in when it came to stress concerns about “the G-phenomenon” – usually whispering the words “Big Brother” sooner or later. Believing that any kind of uncontrollable monopolism is potentially dangerous, I was sceptical about the company’s ‘illegitimate power’. Hence, speaking from the scientific point of view, there is no mutual accountability connecting users (not only customers) and company, which would appropriately correspond to the deep insight G. has into individual and possibly private concerns due to its ‘data-mining’ practices.

Google is not freeware: here the customer’s currency is individual attention and personal data.

That’s why I think it is important to ask about G. handling data with the necessary diligence and to demand maximum transparency. However, G. offers many services, useful tools and promising ideas only accompanied by privacy issues. Although there seems to be no way around G. nowadays, everybody still is free to decide against using it, to not actively give away private information or to simply chose from hundreds of different offers (of course users can not prevent G. from scanning the traces they leave surfing the internet).

For developing countries the prior question is more fundamental: “It’s the access, stupid!”

Being professionally involved in development cooperation projects (lately concerning media development) and well aware of today’s growing importance of public access to free information and the possibility to easily sort and filter it (which to me is fundamental to legitimately label internet “new media”) made me change my mind. This blog itself is one result of my reconsideration.
As always, it started with a concrete problem to be solved: to set up a barrier-free way (i.e. no editing or log-in required) of compiling data on delimited topics. Since I’ve also had some experience setting up a CMS (“Serendipity”) actually using css and php, I was very pleased with the fact, that the implementation of “Blogger” leaves it up to you to focus on content and/or design and offers fast and easy ways of compiling different kinds of content and sources without taking away too much project time by going into technical/programming details. Also, there is only one central log-in required to use all G.-services (if you only want to blog and don't need or want to implement i.e. g-mail or g-reader with full functionality, I recommend to check out "Wordpress").

It’s simple: in the digital century, easy access to and control of ICT are basic needs and G. provides just that.

To me it is a question of responsibly making use of the bare service in order to actually support the development of what could become new ways of vital civil society commitment. It is up to the users to be both trusting and reflecting.

Yet, it is Google’s responsibility to stay trustworthy.

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Development agencies and NGO around Bonn

I am putting together some links to agencies and NGO in and around Bonn, hometown of my alma mater and one of Germany's hotspots for development cooperation issues.

(Note: some data may only be available in German language)

Adheri-Hilfe Bonn e.V.

BENGO (Beratungsstelle für entwicklungspolitische NGO)

BMZ (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung)

CARE Deutschland

DED (Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst)

DIE (Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik)

Deutsche UNESCO-Kommission

Deutsche Welle Akademie

EED (Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst)

Germanwatch e.V.

GTZ Bonn Office (Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit)

inwent (Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung)

Don Bosco Jugend Dritte Welt e.V.

Justitia et Pax e.V.

LAZ e.V. (Lateinamerika Zentrum)

SID (Society for International Development)

SEF (Stiftung Entwicklung und Frieden)

SES (Senior Experten Service)

Tansfair e.V.

UN-Campus (via bonn.de)

Welthungerhilfe

VENRO (Verband entwicklungspolitischer NRO)

ZEF / ZEFConsult (Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung)

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Up next

To make use of the flexibility of my news-fetching Yahoo-Pipe, I will now start preparing several news-dossiers. First of all, I will focus on German and international development aid ("DA-News").

If you are interested in using the Pipe yourself, feel free to do so or
contact me to ask about the possibility of ordering your individual dossier.

(updated Tue, Feb. 17th 2009)