[Telecentres] Asia Source II: Call for Applications

[Sunil Abraham]

Dear Friends,

This is a call for applications for Asia Source II: Free and Open Source
Technologies for NGOs [Non Government Organisations] and SMEs [Small and
Medium Enterprises] from 22nd to 30th of January 2007 in Indonesia. The
organisers are International Open Source Network, Tactical Technology
Collective, InWEnt, ICT Watch and Aspiration Tech.
Supporters include Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development of Germany, Humanist Institute for Cooperation with
Developing Countries, Asia Pacific Development Information Network -
United Nations Development Network and International Development
Research Centre, Canada

Please see: http://www.iosn.net/regional/asiasource-2007 for more
details.

DATES
Asia Source II is an 8 day long event from 22nd to 30th of January 2007,
to be held in Sukabumi about 3 hours drive from Jakarta in Indonesia. If
you would like to participate, you will need to attend the entire event,
which means arriving in Jakarta on or before 21st of January and leaving
on or after 31 January 2007.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND
This is an event for experienced professionals actively working with the
NGO or SME sector in South Asia and South East Asia, with a history of
working with service and advocacy NGOs, educational organisations, NGO
resource centres, community centres, health information organisations,
SMEs and SME support agencies in South Asia and South East Asia. Like
previous source camps, there will be an equal proportion of technical
and non-technical people at the event as we are hope to introduce “those
who know technology” to “those who need technology”. Towards this end,
sessions will vary from the highly technical to completely
non-technical. To be eligible to attend, you will need to answer the
questions below, providing detailed information about projects you have
worked on. The application deadline is 30th of November. We are
interested in all kinds of NGO and SME technical experience, but areas
of particular focus will include the following:

      * TRACK ONE: Open Publishing and Broadcasting: Communication
        Strategies and Writing Effectively. Graphic Design, Web Tools
        [Content Management Systems, Blogs, Wikis] and Audio/Video
        Production and Streaming. Script Writing and Story Boarding.
        File Formats and Conversion Utilities. Shooting and Editing
        Methodologies. Who should attend: Campaigners, Content
        Developers, Web Masters, Activists, Fundraisers, Graphic
        Designers, Film Makers, Radio Professionals, New Media
        Practitioners and Archivists.
      * TRACK TWO: Alternative Hardware and Access: Refurbished
        Hardware, Thin Clients, Hardware Hacking, Wireless Solutions and
        Community Radio. Who should attend: Server Administrators,
        Network Administrators, Trainers, E-Riders, Rural Community
        Organisers, Relief Workers, Privacy Activists and ICT4D
        Professionals. 
      * TRACK THREE: FOSS Implementation and Migration: Moving an NGO or
        SME from proprietary software to FOSS. Participatory Design and
        Planning, Evaluating FOSS, End-User Training and Support
        Techniques, Dealing with Desktops, Proxy Server, Firewall, Mail
        Server and Groupware. Change management and migration
        strategies. Who should attend: Server Administrators, Network
        Administrators, Trainers, E-Riders, ICT4D Professionals and
        Software Developers
      * TRACK FOUR: Information Management: Mapping Information Sources
        and Requirements. Best practices for Creating Specifications,
        Information Architecture and User Interface Design. Web-based
        Databases, Geographical Information Systems, Customer
        Relationship Management, Application/Communication Security and
        Disaster Management Systems. Who should attend: Heads of
        Organisations, Senior Management, Campaigners, Activists,
        Fundraisers, Archivists, Community Organisers,
        Environmentalists, Relief Workers and Health Workers.

Demonstrating that you have worked on projects in one or more of the
above areas will make your application stronger. Proven training
experience and an outline of how you will share the acquired skills
after "Asia Source II" will also be an asset.

All participants at Asia Source II are required to be proficient desktop
users of computers, have been involved in at least one NGO or SME
project before and to have an existing awareness of the concept of Free
and Open Source Software.

Applications from women are highly encouraged by the event organisers.

FEES AND SUBSIDIES
Participants will arrange for their own travel to Jakarta. Once there,
transport to the venue from the airport in Jakarta will be provided. All
meals and accommodation during the meeting will be provided, for the
modest participation fee of 75 USD.

There are a limited number of participation fee subsidies available to
cover this 75 USD for those who are not able to raise the funds.
International travel subsidies are also available for participants who
would not otherwise be able to attend the meeting. Please apply as soon
as possible for subsidies as there availability is limited.

As we have limited space and funds, we cannot accept all participant
applications and cannot reimburse the expenses for all of them. Between
the 5th and 20th of December we will personally inform each applicant by
email if we are able to invite him/her and in some cases reimburse
expenses.

Please send the completed application form in plain text format to
asiasource2 at apdip.net The deadline for sending your completed
application form is 30 November. Please refer below for the format of
the application form.

We will confirm receipt of the application immediately and will ask you
to check and reserve (if you do not have to make any advance payment)
your flight to Jakarta. 

BACKGROUND
In January 2005, we organised a Source event - an eight day technology
camp - called "Asia Source" for 60 participants from the voluntary
sector and 60 information technologists from 20 countries from South
Asia and South East Asia in partnership with Tactical Technology
Collective[TTC] and Mahiti, supported by Hivos, Open Society Institute.
This camp was one in a series of international camps on the use of free
and open source software being organised by TTC across the developing
world. See: http://www.tacticaltech.org/asiasource and
http://replication.tacticaltech.org

ORGANISERS
      * International Open Source Network, www.iosn.net, Thailand
      * Tactical Technology Collective, tacticaltech.org, Netherlands 
      * InWEnt - Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung gGmbH
        (Capacity Building International), www.inwent.org, Germany 
      * ICT Watch, www.ictwatch.com, Indonesia 
      * Aspiration Tech, www.aspirationtech.org USA

SUPPORTERS
      * Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of
        Germany (BMZ), www.bmz.de/en/ through InWEnt
      * Hivos - Humanistisch Instituut voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking
        (Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries),
        www.hivos.nl, Indonesia
      * Asia Pacific Development Information Network - United Nations
        Development Network, www.apdip.net Thailand 
      * IDRC – International Development Research Centre, www.idrc.ca
        Canada

APPLICATION FORM

Please answer the following questions. You do not need to write long
responses, but please provide us with enough information to understand
your skills and interests, and to have a sense of why you want to attend
Asia Source II and how you can contribute to the event.

Please provide answers to all the following questions.

1) Basic personal information: 
a. Name: 
b. Gender: 
c. Date of Birth:
d. Nationality: 
e. Country where you live and work now: 
f. Affiliation/organisation:
g. E-mail address: 
h. Telephone and emergency contact number(s): 
i. Anything else we should know about you (allergies, diet, medical
condition, special needs): 

2) What is your experience of working with NGOs and SMEs. What kinds of
projects and initiatives have you worked on?

3) Have you been involved with any technology projects for NGOs or SMEs?
If so please briefly explain them.

4) Where are you from, where do you live now, and what is your current
professional affiliation (organisation you work for, mission of the
organisation, position you have in the organisation, is your
organisation an SME or a NGO, etc.)?

5) Which track would you choose to be part of? Please select:
TRACK ONE: Open Publishing and Broadcasting
TRACK TWO: Alternative Hardware and Access
TRACK THREE: FOSS Implementation and Migration
TRACK FOUR: Information Management
      
6) How would you classify yourself, i.e. NGO, SME, women’s rights,
localisation, technical, software developer, hardware developer etc.?

7) Please describe your current technical expertise and ability.

8) Why are you interested in attending Asia Source II; what do you hope
to learn?

9) Asia Source II participants are encouraged to teach as well as to
learn. What tutorials, development sessions or discussions would you
like to lead (or help lead)?

10) Are you able/willing to share the acquired skills in your work
environment after "Asia Source II"? If yes, how and how many people do
you plan to reach?

11) Will you need to receive a participation fee subsidy in order to
attend Asia Source II? If so, please explain why.

12) Will you need to receive a travel subsidy in order to attend Asia
Source II? If so, please explain why and estimate how much (in US$) your
round-trip travel to Jakarta will cost.

 Applications that will omit any of the questions will not be reviewed.


               Last Day for Applications 25 November 2006

-- 
Sunil Abraham, sunil at mahiti.org http://www.mahiti.org
"Vijay Kiran" IInd Floor, 314/1, 7th Cross, Domlur 
Bangalore - 560 071 Karnataka, INDIA
Ph/Fax: +91 80 51150580. Mob: (91) 9342201521
UK: (44) 02000000259