Wednesday, June 22, 2011

BPN 1573 Privacy is like a pile of waste

If you wanted to plan it, it would not be possible. But sometimes sheer accidents happen. This was also the case with the book De transparante maatschappij/The transparent society presented last Monday in the pressroom of the Dutch parliament in The Hague.

Last year The Dutch research organisation TNO, the Platform for information society ECP-EPN and the government program  Digi proficiency & Digi awareness sat together with the publisher Hans Sleurink of media-Update professional information publications sat together to develop the yearbook for 2011. The yearbook always has a theme and for 2011 the theme privacy was chosen. On June 20, 2011 the eight edition of the Yearbook ICT and society with 22 contributions from 22 Belgian and Dutch ICT and privacy experts was presented

Euro MP Sophie in ’t Veld (left) receives the first copy of the book from Tini Hooymans, Board member of  TNO ( foto © Media-Update/Koos Boertjens)
The presentation of the book took place one day before parliamentary debate on privacy with subjects as cookies, data protection, filters, and net neutrality. So the presentation was in the middle of the political storm. Dutch publishers for example cry foul about the new law requiring checks on every cookie.

 

As the political privacy debate in The Hague is held in the framework of the review of the European Directive on the protection of personal data, Ms Sophie in 't Veld had been invited to accept the first copy of the book. Doing so she pleaded for international agreements to protect citizens against the harmful consequences of collecting digital data: "international standards have more effect than national laws". She also preferred that users can choose which data can be published and which not: Ï rather see an opt-in than an opt-out. Users have the right to know what happens with their data".


The book presentation also had a public debate. In the room were more than 120 people, many of whom are studying or dealing with privacy. many privacy subjects passed the review, indicating that the subject is hard to grasp and bring down to reality. Jeroen Terstegge, chairperson of the privacy committee of the Dutch employers association VNO-NCW, offered the concept of a protocol for international privacy similar to the Kyoto protocol, which was a United Nations  attempt to unite countries in their efforts to attack the climate change. The link to the Kyoto protocol was clear for many people: "The real problem of the Electronic Patient Dossier, which is being proposed in the Netherlands, is not the collection of medical data, but the context of the data". But the reactions to the proposal solicited various ideas. One participant offered that that mega polluters will not stick to the protocol.  Others wondered whether there will be unity, while there are various opinions about privacy. And someone else suggested: "The more data you have the greater the chaos, but more privacy", which led Mr Bas van Tol of the Police Rotterdam-Rijnmond to the statement: "The police have so many data, but the question is what you can do with them ".


The statement that companies learn faster from their mistakes than government pointed to a communication problem. The introduction of a public chip card for transport has  by the government has shown the inability of proper communication. On the other hand the company for route planning Tom Tom was quick to end the use of their anonymous traffic data by the police. Another example was Google, which was quick to end the collection of traffic data from wi-fi networks in their Streetview project. One of the researchers present put down the statement that privacy should be based on a reciprocal attitude; make clear to the users what happens to their data.

Publication details:
Title: De transparante samenleving, Jaarboek ICT en samenleving 2011
Language: Dutch
Editors: Valerie Frissen, Linda Kool en Marc van Lieshout
Volume: 272 pages
Price: € 29,50
ISBN 97890787 30088
An information flyer in the Dutch language can de downloaded from here.


BPN 1573

Sunday, June 05, 2011

BPN 1572 World Summit Award Winners 2011 Category 8

Category 8: e-Inclusion & Participation

1040 Help for children, Lithuania
8003 Epooq, Finland
8012 News and learning with sign language, Hungary
8049 Mexico in Community, Mexico
8050 Erada, Egypt

Help for Children, Lithuania, State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service Under
The Ministry of Social Security and Labour
Description: Helpline for children started its activities from the 14th of September in 2009. Professional Consultants receives calls from children, teens and even adults, who are worried about child rights protection or knows about child violence or abuse cases, wants to help them. Helpline for children working hours are from 11 a.m. till 7 p.m. Consequently it was important to make an opportunity to write us, in case if ends our working hours or there is no possibility to call us. Besides some of children or teens afraid to talk by phone and is better for them to write a letter about all their troubles. That is why webpage was necessary. Also important thing is that this webpage is designed for the better and quicker help to children and teens, who got into trouble or knows about the child who needs help. It is like a short reminder how child can help himself and who else can help him. This page even could be like as prevention.

Epooq, Finland, Oppifi Oy
Description: The idea of Epooq is to create experimental way to relive past moments by recalling  and  telling  stories.  Epooq  has  three  special  features  to  enable  this: 
1.INSPIRATION The content of the service consists of 1) user stories, 2) historical events and 3) thematic memory keys that refer to phases of the life of user. Idea of these is to inspire user to recall past moments and reflect those experiences.
2. STORYTELLING BY USING OWN VOICE Epooq enables storytelling by using all ways of multimedia. User can write text, use images and record videos or audios, and mix these together. Video and audio are central functions. Stories have special character when they are told by real voice, with personal intonation and slang.
3. SHARING EXPERIENCES All content is private by default (to protect the privacy of user), but stories can be published publicly or with communities user feels important to him- or herself. An important part of publishing is an opportunity to see own story in the historical context. This has been enabled by using timeline as main UI. Epooq is still living its´ first phases. We are developing the service on the grounds of user feedback. There is still a lot of work to do, but based on the comments of the first customers and users, it is hitting to the right need.

News and learning with sign language, Hungary Hallatlan Foundation
URL: www.hallatlan.hu
Description: The content and services of the website http://www.hallatlan.hu/ aims to popularize  the  education,  dissemination  and  everyday  use  of  the  Hungarian  sign language.  The  innovative  display  of  the  categorized  content  is  viewable  through continuously repeating videos, providing opportunity to practice, mimic gestures (an important factor in effective communication in sign language) and contributes to the effective learning of the sign language. The categorized content helps easy searching and area-focused language learning. The content of the website, including the interpretation of the signs, its currently available in Hungarian English, German, Spanish. The project is not only an online sign language dictionary, but also with additional services (forum, chat, online quiz, news, crossword) an effective learning tool, source of information and community site. We produced a CD-ROM series, focusing on different target groups by specific appearance, content customized to each groups’ needs.

Mexico in Community, Mexico, IT Cooperation Center Iberoamericana AC
Description: Mexico en Comunidad is a project developed by the ITCC sponsored and in partnership with the Social Development Secretariat. It is a project aimed to support the poorest villages in Mexico with the support of ICT, focusing in two main streams: the Community  Creation  System  and  the  Support  Programs  Platform.  The Community Creation System provides a easy to use, no specialized tool to create an Internet web page of each community. In this page the local users can provide information about: products, services, touristic attractions and festivities; as well as specific information and stories, legends or traditional recipes. More than 300 communities all around the territory have been created using this system. The Support Programs Platform is intended to promote specific programs of Government and NGOs, making their rules more understandable and accessible for non IT liberated users. The programs are focused on Health, Education, Environment, Economic Development, Housing and Infrastructure. Up to date, they are provided contents from more than 15 different Federal Government agencies.

Erada, Egypt, Egypt ICT Trust Fund
Description: According to 2007 WHO statistics, approximately 11% of Egyptian population, around 9.4 million, suffer from some kind of disability/impairment. People with disabilities may be different but they have the same needs as everyone else. Given a helping hand, they can live independently and contribute to society. Accordingly the specialized portal Erada addresses PWD significant need related to the knowledge and information empowerment for people with disabilities (PWD) in order to ensure their full participation and inclusion at all levels of society. this Portal focuses on catering knowledge, needs, and concerns to PWD in all categories (hearing impairment, visual impairment, Physical impairment, mental retardation, autism, Learning Difficulties) and covers important topics such as terms of disabilities, laws & rights, early intervention, genetic diseases…etc. it also provides a web creation & Technical support services to guarantee sustainable knowledge networks of concerned communities.

BPN 1572

Saturday, June 04, 2011

BPN 1571 World Summit Award Winners 2011 Category 7

Category 7: e-Business & Commerce

7002 Aeroscan, New Zealand
7027 Hootsuite, Canada
7050 Monaqasat, Lebanon
7006 Hammerkit, Finland
7058 Star, Ghana

Aeroscan, New Zealand, Areograph Limited
URL: www.areoscan.com
Description: Areoscan is a web based service that enables the user to create a 3D model of any area or object using digital photographs. In industries such as surveying, architecture, and design; Areoscan is proving a cost effective, flexible and time efficient solution for all sorts of jobs, ranging from complex land surveys, through to creative art projects. Whatever the need, Areoscan takes a real-life subject and automatically generates a 3D model in the same way a 3D laser scanner does, but without the need for specialized equipment. The 3D models can be downloaded in a variety of formats for manipulation by a range of computer aided design (CAD) programmes. There are a number of guides available online to assist the user to maximise their experience and get great results.

Hootsuite, Canada, HootSuite Media, Inc.
URL: http://hootsuite.com/about
Description:  HootSuite  is  a  web  and  mobile  social  media  dashboard  that  helps individuals and organizations spread messages, monitor conversations and track results across multiple networks including Twitter and Facebook. HootSuite helps organizations use the social web to launch marketing campaigns, identify and grow audience, and distribute targeted messages across multiple channels. Using HootSuite’s unique social media dashboard, teams can collaboratively schedule updates to Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Wordpress and other social networks via web, desktop or mobile platforms plus track campaign results and industry trends to rapidly adjust tactics. Launched in Dec.2008 by Invoke Media, HootSuite’s rapidly growing user base includes governments, artists  and  organizations  like  The  White  House,  Martha  Stewart  Media,  SXSW  and Zappos. Accolades include awards from Mashable’s Open Web, Canadian New Media, and Shorty Awards.

Monaqasat, Lebanon, NuServ Online Tender Services LLC
URL: www.monaqasat.com
Description: Launched in 2009, Monaqasat.com is an online state-of-the-art eTendering solution/platform that enables its users to work with their tenders in an easy, secure, cost and time efficient way. The platform greatly contributes to reducing administrative overheads and increasing productivity for its clients and Monaqasat has quickly grown to become the largest private provider of eTendering solutions in the United Arab Emirates, with the majority of large UAE construction companies now registered and over 600 active customers

Hammerkit, Finland, HammerKit Oy
URL: www.hammerkit.com
Description: HammerKit is a cloud-based web application development environment. Based on a unique component technology HammerKit enables web applications to be built in a modular and visual way. A consequence of the component approach is the ability for any application to be copied precisely with a single button click and used as the basis of another modifed application. HammerKit turns web projects into globally repeatable solutions. HammerKit differs from traditional coding-based environments. HammerKit allows you to design and build anything from a simple web site to a complex, data-driven application. With HammerKit you create applications in a real-time visual drag and drop interface where building web services is made easy through the use of functional elements and visual components. There is no command line coding to worry about. The real-time approach allows you to work collaboratively with your clients and your team. Everything you create with HammerKit is stored in the Cloud. HammerKit runs on Amazon AWS infrastructure and has been built to scale as required. There is nothing to download or install.

Star, Ghana, Multiplant Ltd.
URL: www.nsoromagps.com
Description: Nsoroma (http://www.mplantgh.com/nsoroma) is a company that provides a range of tracking and fleet management services in Ghana and the West African sub- region. It is a product of a relationship between 3dtracking (http://3dtracking.net) and Multiplant Ghana Ltd. A few enhancements include:
- Working with proprietary maps (or generating maps) of unmapped areas, and integrating solution into our database.
- Dispatch capabilities: Garmin satellite navigation units with Ghana maps can now be integrated into our tracking system. This permits two-way communication with drivers, automatic driver ID recognition and the use of an order management system for real-time adjustment to operational directives. For instance you can send  your  driver  an  instruction  with  a  location  which  will  be  clearly  and unambiguously displayed on the navigator map and will also be recorded in the database system. This can be made to work without house numbers.
- Solution to compute and automate reports based fuel consumption averages.
- Solution to allow drivers to invoice per mileage driven.
- Tampering alert solution to discourage dishonest drivers.
- Low cost, because of no monthly subscription payments, but highly effective solution for financial companies or individuals, who would not want to track their vehicles all the time; but, if need be, immobilize and retrieve their vehicle with ease.

BPN 1571

Friday, June 03, 2011

BPN 1570 World Summit Award Winners 2011 Category 6


Category 6: e-Science & Technology

4003   Renderfarm.fi – Making movies with a screensaver, Finland
6017   Peer Water Exchange, India 
6023   Discover Primary Science & Maths, Ireland
6034   PORDATA, Portugal
6046   Scienexx, Germany

Renderfarm.fi – Making movies with a screensaver, Finland, Laurea University of Applied Sciences
Description: Renderfarm.fi is the most accessible distributed rendering platform on the Internet. It is – and always will be - a completely free service that enables its users to render their animations or stills by using the computing power of volunteers from around the world. By using Renderfarm.fi, 3D artists and animators benefit from being able to use higher image quality and higher resolutions when rendering. Equally importantly, it enables its users to participate in the rendering of stills and animations, regardless of whether or not they themselves are able to or even interested in learning about 3D modelling and animation. The stills and animations created can then later become parts of a movie that the users have helped to create. Renderfarm.fi encourages everybody to take part in both the online community and the collaborative rendering. We advocate the use of open licensing (especially Creative Commons), open values and sharing of
resources over geographic borders.

Peer Water Exchange, India, Peer Water Exchange
Description: PWX is the water sector's marketplace to host and manage all global transactions and long-term activities to select, fund, manage, and track the impact of all projects efficiently, collaboratively, and transparently. One billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.7 billion people lack access to a toilet. To solve these mammoth global crises requires changes in the way the entire value chain operates. PWX brings together all stakeholders in the water sector: funders, service providers, project implementers and beneficiaries, gets them to adopt a new mindset, and collaborate to bring safe drinking water and hygienic, dignified sanitation to all. The only scalable, mapdriven, and transparent platform in water, PWX is also the first truly participatory decision-making system in the development sector where empowered applicants weigh in on funding decisions. PWX combines people, process, and technology to help make a sustainable dent in the global water crises.

Discover Primary Science & Maths, Ireland, Discover Science & Engineering
Description: The Discover Primary Science & Maths programme and its website are intended to be valuable resources for teachers and students in Irish primary schools. They help large numbers of children to understand that science and maths are about fun, discovery and adventure and are fundamentally relevant to our everyday lives. Whole-school, hands-on training sessions are provided for all teachers who wish to participate in the initiative. A range of resources are then supplied to participating classes. These include: • A pack of over 30 easy-to-follow science activities • Helpful hints for teachers • Explanations of the science behind each activity, and how it relates to the SESE (social, environmental and scientific education) curriculum Schools that take part and meet certain criteria are recognised with an Award of Science and Maths Excellence. Since the outset the web has played a fundamental role in delivering the Discover Primary Science & Maths programme.

PORDATA, Portugal, Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation
Description: PORDATA.pt is a free public service provided promoted by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation. This database includes thousands of official statistics from more than 50 official bodies. It started with a database for Portugal and more recently was completed with another for Europe (plus the USA and Japan, whenever possible). Data are displayed in an innovative and easy way, covering many subjects of interest (such as Population, Education, Health, Economy, Environment and Science & Technology), within a time frame of up to five decades. In a just few clicks, the information is displayed in tables or graphs (static and dynamic); indicators from different subjects can be added and cross-referenced in the same table and a variety of statistical operations can also be done. Complete and detailed metadata is also available

Scinexx, Germany, MMCD NEW MEDIA GmbH
Description: The name “scinexx” stands for “science” and “connection”, for the direct link between research and the public. As an internet magazine for popular science “scinexx” provides an extensive and up-to-date insight in the world of science discoveries and trends. Clear, understandable and competent, scinexx provides daily news as well as weekly in-depth dossiers that provide background information and look beyond current events or the boundaries of individual fields or subject areas. Each of the 500+ dossiers consists of a series of articles augmented by slide-shows, quizzes, interactive modules; image galleries as well as TV- and book-tips Current events are featured in the section “Earthview”: an interactive globe with clickable icons shows significant events on Earth in the last days. Events of greater impact are covered by special portals, where all information can be accessed at a glance.

BPN 1570

Thursday, June 02, 2011

BPN 1569 World Summit Award Winners 2011 Category 5


Category 5: e-Culture & Heritage

3017   World of the Habsburgs, Austria
5002   Vaeggen/The Wall, Ireland
5027   Redress Remix, Canada
5035   The Nude Maja, Venezuela
5056   The Germans, Germany

World of the Habsburgs, Austria, Schloss Schoenbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H
Description: The World of the Habsburgs – a virtual exhibition in a multimedia presentation www.habsburger.net casts light with a critical slant and orientation on the current status of research on the history of the Habsburgs and their epoch. Besides the representatives of the dynasty, the virtual exhibition spotlights the political history and the general social developments of the era. The website draws a colourful picture of the world of the Habsburgs from the 13th until the early 20th century; it goes far beyond any hitherto attempted presentation forms, whether text or other media, for virtual historical exhibitions. It links the exhibits through topics and key issues, thus assembles storylines, objects and texts as in a real exhibition. In all, there are more than 500 chapter modules contained within about 100 key topics and about 1,400 images or exhibits. Despite the enormous archive of content, the website is neither a Wikipedia nor an encyclopaedia. It is a virtual exhibition with an innovative user interface that makes history exploration per mouse-click into a unique pleasure.

Vaeggen, New Zealand, Gibson Group Ltd
Description: Vaeggen (The WALL) is a massive but mobile interactive video installation on the streets of Copenhagen that allows citizens and visitors to explore in depth the cultural past, present, and future of the city and its diverse populations. Multi-touch and multi-user, the interface uses a strong graphical idiom understandable by all community groups and encourages them to not only explore the 14,000 cultural assets accumulated to date, but to also create new media assets that comment and incorporate the heritage collection, and to use the giant on-screen touch keyboards to email these assets around the world and insert them into their own social media networks. In the first half year of operations, the Wall has attracted more than 400,000 users, who viewed more than 2  million cultural media assets, sent more than 60,000 digital postcards, and uploaded 2,500 new contributions of their own. Already the idea is being taken up by other cities in Scandinavia and attracting interest around the globe.

Redress Remix, Canada, Stich Media
Description: Redress Remix is an award winning* project comprised of a 3 part documentary series and interactive living documentary. Redress Remix tackles one of the most controversial Canadian government decisions of our time: the official 2006 apology to the Chinese Canadian community for the Head Tax and Exclusion Act of 1923. The documentary film uses a unique approach that includes animation techniques, newly composed music and testimonial interviews, to reveal to audiences the events that shaped the Redress movement and led to the official Government apology and its influence on a new generation of Chinese Canadians. The interactive web project, developed in conjunction with the film, allows Canadians to contribute to the national dialogue on the issue through a ground-breaking ‘living documentary’ experience. Users are invited to explore 180º panoramas featuring subjects from the film who represent a certain theme related to the Redress movement. The panoramas offer information about the subject, the theme, and a thematic video featuring repurposed documentary footage. The user can then respond to what they have learned by turning on their webcam and becoming a part of the discussion.

The Nude Maja, Venezuela, La Maja Desnuda
Description: La Maja Desnuda (This is an independent production) has more than 22 years on the air and currently broadcasts on Venezuela, producing in this time more than 1144 programs presenting world poetry's most representative voices including Walt Whitman, Tranströmer, Adonis, Lagerkvist, Borges, Vallejo, Miguel Hernandez, Sophia de Mello, Eliot, Pasolini. Has a data base of more than 900 recorded poets reading their poetry. It recorded interviews with contemporary poets as well known as: Adonis (Lebanon). Fina Marruz Garcia (Cuba) Blanca Varela (Peru) Ledo Ivo (Brazil) Casimiro de Brito (Portugal) Nidaa Khoury (Lebanon) Ide Hintze (Austria) Luisa Castro (Spain). And our site: www.lamajadesnuda.com has been building a large data base with more than 900 audio voices of poets and maintains an updated site dedicated to poetry. 

The Germans, Germany, ZDF
Description: The website www.diedeutschen.zdf.de with its core element interactive 1200 Years of German History. It provides a new and unique approach to 1200 years of German History. History in 20 Minutes or several hours, each user can choose between a quick glance or a more intricate study. It combines uniquely different multi media elements such as implemented videos of the TV series, pictures, interactive maps, downloads and a glossary. It also has a state-of-the-art look and feel and a very straight forward, intuitively navigational structure. The complicated subject History is presented in a very easy-to-use and playful manner and even people generally less interested in the subject can explore German history without reading long text or boring timelines.

BPN 1569

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

BPN 1568 World Summit Award Winners 2011 category 4


Category 4: e-Entertainment & Games


4018   Mini-mundi: “tamagotchi” online game for the environment,Guatemala 
4027   Sumo,Ireland
4035   My name is Haas, Netherlands
4041   JoyTunes, Israel
4052   Limbo, Denmark

Mini-mundi: “tamagotchi” online game for the environment, Guatemala,
MilknCookies
Description: Mini-mundi is an online tamagotchi, a virtual planet to learn how to separate for recycling. Depending on how well is cared for with the 16 games available, it starts growing and becoming abundant in flora, fauna, natural resources and funny creatures. Mini-mundi was created in order to provide an entertained way to teach kids how to separate for recycling. The game begins giving the kid a a little baby world which he has to take care of through recycling tasks and playing games (there are 16 games through the platform). The game adapts its interface to the time of the day the kid plays and also displays the 4 different seasons through the year. As the kids play they receive different kinds of recognitions and can make albums with the different stages of their mini-mundi. On the other hand, this platform provides a tool for teachers to registers kids on their classrooms to promote the environmental conscience.

Sumo, Ireland, OmniMotion Technology Ltd.
Description: 'Playing with the Big Boys!' SUMO (www.sumo.ie / www.sumobattle.com) is an Online and Facebook casual and social game featuring unique, accurate, 3D motion control technology for any PC and MAC with a standard webcam. Use your body movement to guide your Sumo through Sumo School before taking on a host of enemies in survival quests and challenges. SUMO is also available from the AppStore for iPhone/iPad (ref: OmniMotion Sumo), and is among the first games in the world to use both intuitive, multi-touch controls, and next-generation 'bump-map' graphics, offering near-console standard visuals and a uniquely engaging playing experience. Finally, Sumo is available on Facebook as a browser-based Motion Control game with full community functionality to enjoy and share! Do you have the balls?

My name is Haas, Netherlands, Mijn naam is Haas
Description: My name is Haas is a transmedia concept for young children, age 3 to 7. Via different media angles children experience the rich world of Haas and his friends. The unique serious game is the core of the concept. Within the serious game children create an interactive story by simply drawing the world of character Haas and drawing solutions to problems. The game increases young children’s vocabulary, stimulates their story comprehension and challenges their problem solving skills, in an interactive animated setting. The world of Haas is designed to fit the target audience completely. The main character Haas, a hare, is the archetypal child. The combination of his lack of experience and his philosophical nature gives rise to his original twists of mind. Hereby he gets into conflict with the other characters, who are much more adult, which leads to comical situations. In addition to the online game there are CD-ROM’s, picture books and zigzag books with circular stories. Currently products are being used at home and in classrooms in the Netherlands.

JoyTunes, Israel, JoyTunes
Description: We are all familiar with the gap between the fantasy of playing a musical instrument and the frustration involved in learning how to play. JoyTunes bridges that gap and motivates kids to play through interactive computer games activated by real instruments. Our interactive games work with your very own instrument and a simple microphone so they are easy and natural to use. The first game, JoyTunes Recorder, is already exposing many children to the wonderful world of music, and this is just the beginning. JoyTunes-Recorder is a web-based music instruction game, activated by playing notes on a real recorder. The game has won several prestigious awards and is being supported by leading music educators from around the world. Through this innovative computer game, JoyTunes has set a goal of creating a fun and interactive doorway to the world of music.

Limbo, Denmark, Playdead
Description: Uncertain of his sister's fate, a boy enters LIMBO.
Description: Limbo is a puzzle platform video game [...]. The game is presented primarily in monochromatic black-and-white tones, using lighting, film grain effects and minimal ambient sounds to create an eerie atmosphere often associated with the horror genre. Journalists praised the dark presentation, describing the work as comparable to film noir and German Expressionism. Based on its aesthetics, reviewers classified Limbo as an example of "video game as art". Reason for Nomination: Magnificent, Unique, Poetic, Beautiful, Special, Intriguing. Simple and intuitive navigation. The sound is comfortable. Can’t be much Better!

BPN 1568