Digital Divide / Digital Literacy / ICT4D Initiatives in the Developing World or Globally in 2002

This is a list of initiatives that were related to bridging the digital divide or to building digital literacy, either in the developing world or globally, in 2002. Most (all?) are long defunct. But the work of these early initiatives regarding ICT4D deserves to be remembered, as do the lessons learned regarding building knowledge and empowerment.

The URLs are listed here so that they are easy to cut and paste into archive.org, so that you can see what these sites looked like on or before 2002.

Africa Connection - www.africaconnection.org

Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) - www.apdip.net

Association for Progressive Communications - www.apc.org

British Council – www.britishcouncil.org/index.htm

Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) - www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/INDEX- E.HTM

Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Acacia Programme - www.idrc.ca/acacia

CISCO Networking Academy Program – www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/edu/academy/

Department for International Development (DFID) UK - www.dfid.gov.uk

Digital Partners – www.digitaldivide.org/home.html

DOT force 'Digital Opportunity Task Force - www.dotforce.org

Hewlett-Packard World e-inclusion program - www.hp.com/e-inclusion

International Institute for Communication and Development - www.iicd.org

International Labour Organization (ILO) - www.ilo.org/

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) - www.itu.int/ti; www.itu.int/ITU-D- TREG

Markle Foundation - www.markle.org/index.stm

Netaid.org - www.netaid.org (you can read a history of NetAid and the UN's online volunteering service here)

OneWorld - www.oneworld.net/campaigns/digitaldivide/index.html

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – www.oecd.org

The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) - www.globalknowledge.org; gkaims.globalknowledge.org

UN Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) – www.unesco.org/webworld/index.shtml

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – www.sdnp.undp.org/it4dev/

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa - Bridging the Information Gap in Africa www.uneca.org/programmes_home.htm

United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS) http://www.unites.org (you can also see the archived version of the United Nations Technology Service (UNITeS) web site here)

USAID Leland Initiative - www.usaid.gov/regions/afr/leland

World Bank Development Gateway - www.development.gateway.org

World Bank Global Development Learning Network - www.worldbank.org/gdln/

World Bank infoDev - www.infodev.org

World Intellectual Property Organization - ecommerce.wipo.int/index-eng.htm

On a related note:

Early History of Nonprofits & the Internet
The Internet has been about people and organizations networking with each other, sharing ideas and comments, and collaborating online. It has always been interactive and dynamic. And there were many nonprofit organizations who "got" it early -- earlier than many for-profit companies. So I've attempted to set the record straight: I've prepared a web page that talks about the early history of nonprofits and the Internet. It focuses on 1995 and previous years. It talks a little about what nonprofits were using the cyberspace for as well at that time and lists the names of key people and organizations who helped get nonprofit organizations using the Internet in substantial numbers in 1995 and before. Edits and additions are welcomed.

Also see:

The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook

available for purchase as a paperback & an ebook

from Energize, Inc.
Completely revised and updated, & includes lots more advice about microvolunteering!
Published January 2014.

United Nations ICT4D Initiatives

Various United Nations offices have launched initiatives to promote the use of computers, feature phones, smart phones and various networked devices in development and humanitarian activities, to promote digital literacy and equitable access to the "information society," and to bridge the digital divide. This web page is my effort to track UN Tech4Good / ICT4D programs, from the oldest through 2016. My goal is to primarily to help researchers, as well as to remind current UN initiatives that much work regarding ICT4D has been done by various UN employees, consultants and volunteers for more than 15 years (and perhaps longer?).

Tech Volunteer Groups / ICT4D Volunteers
A listing of organizations and groups that promoted and placed tech volunteers - both defunct initiatives and current ones.
San Francisco Women of the Web (SFWOW): A History
In the 1990s, various associations sprung up all over the USA to support women using the Internet as a primary part of their work - or who wanted to. These associations created safe, supportive, content-rich, fun spaces, both online and in real spaces, for women to talk about their tech and online-related work, to ask questions, and to learn from each other. One of the best well-known at the time, San Francisco Women of the Web, chose 25 women in 1998, in 1999, in 2000 and in 2001, recognizing them with their Women of the Web award. To help highlight some of the many women who played important roles in the 1990s Internet - which I consider the "early days" - as well as some truly pioneering tech projects that laid the groundwork for the success of so many initiatives today, I have reproduced this list of Top25 Women on the Web on my own site.
Short-term Assignments for Tech Volunteers
There are a variety of ways for mission-based organizations to involve volunteers to help with short-term projects relating to computers and the Internet, and short-term assignments are what are sought after most by potential "tech" volunteers. But there is a disconnect: most organizations have trouble identifying such short-term projects. This is a list of short-term projects for "tech" volunteers -- assignments that might takes days, weeks or just a couple of months to complete.
One(-ish) Day "Tech" Activities for Volunteers
Volunteers are getting together for intense, one-day events, or events of just a few days, to build web pages, to write code, to edit Wikipedia pages, and more. These are gatherings of onsite volunteers, where everyone is in one location, together, to do an online-related project in one day, or a few days. It's a form of episodic volunteering, because volunteers don't have to make an ongoing commitment - they can come to the event, contribute their services, and then leave and never volunteer again. Because computers are involved, these events are sometimes called hackathons, even if coding isn't involved. This page provides advice on how to put together a one-day event, or just-a-few-days-of activity, for a group of tech volunteers onsite, working together, for a nonprofit, non-governmental organization (NGO), community-focused government program, school or other mission-based organization - or association of such.
Early History of Nonprofits & the Internet
The Internet has been about people and organizations networking with each other, sharing ideas and comments, and collaborating online. It has always been interactive and dynamic. And there were many nonprofit organizations who "got" it early -- earlier than many for-profit companies. So I've attempted to set the record straight: I've prepared a web page that talks about the early history of nonprofits and the Internet. It focuses on 1995 and previous years. It talks a little about what nonprofits were using the cyberspace for as well at that time and lists the names of key people and organizations who helped get nonprofit organizations using the Internet in substantial numbers in 1995 and before. Edits and additions are welcomed.
Volunteering Abroad (especially for Westerners)
An in-depth look at the different kinds of volunteering abroad, with extensive information on what a person would need to do and study to become a viable candidate for long-term volunteering gigs where the volunteer does NOT have to pay his or her own travel and accommodations, such as the PeaceCorps or UNV.
Incorporating virtual volunteering into a corporate employee volunteer program (a resource for businesses / for-profit companies)
Virtual volunteering - volunteers providing service via a computer, smart phone, tablet or other networked advice - presents a great opportunity for companies to expand their employee philanthropic offerings. Through virtual volunteering, some employees will choose to help organizations online that they are already helping onsite. Other employees who are unable to volunteer onsite at a nonprofit or school will choose to volunteer online because of the convenience.
Women's Access to Public Internet Access, a resource I developed through research & experience to support the development of women-only Internet centers/technology centers/etc., or women-only hours at such public Internet access points, in developing and transitional countries.
Lessons from onlinevolunteering.org
Some key learnings from directing the UN's Online Volunteering service from February 2001 to February 2005, including support materials for those using the service to host online volunteers.