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Subject:
From:
"Shneiderman, Ben" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Shneiderman, Ben
Date:
Wed, 17 Dec 2003 07:50:45 -0500
Content-Type:
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Dear CHI Colleagues,

  I thought some of you would be interested in last week's World Summit on the
Information Society (Dec 10-12, 2003, Geneva)
http://www.itu.int/wsis/

  My hope is that SIGCHI might become more active in such international forums.
I found their Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action
http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_single-en-1161.asp

to be interesting reading ... inclusive and general, yet still inspiring. The
topics include E-agriculture, E-science, E-environment, E-employment, E-health,
E-government, E-business, E-learning.

  I liked the Declaration: "our common desire and commitment to build a
people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where
everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge,
enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in
promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life,
premised on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and
respecting fully and upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

  The Declaration called for applications to be usable and "accessible to all,
affordable, adapted to local needs in languages and culture, and support
sustainable development."

  The Plan of Action describes infrastructure building, cyber-security,
education, research, etc.  It has many noble goals, including: "Nurture the
local capacity for the creation and distribution of software in local languages,
as well as content that is relevant to different segments of population,
including non-literate, persons with disabilities, disadvantaged and vulnerable
groups especially in developing countries and countries with economies in
transition."

  I wonder how we might instill some appreciation and interest in these goals
among our colleagues and our students?

Ben Shneiderman           [log in to unmask]
Dept of Computer Science  301-405-2680
Univ. of Maryland         301-405-6707 fax
College Park, MD 20742
Lab: www.cs.umd.edu/hcil  Bio: www.cs.umd.edu/~ben

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