Information Society Division
Communication and Information Sector
Indrajit Banerjee, Director
Information Meeting for Permanent Delegations
UNESCO Headquarters, 7 September 2010
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Information Society Division – 35 C/5
Biennial sectoral priority 2
 Building capacities for universal access
to information and knowledge
Main Line of Action 3
 Fostering universal access to
information and knowledge and the
development of infostructures
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UNESCO OER Platform
What are Open Educational Resources (OERs):
 Learning especially eLearning resources and tools
 in open document format
 and released under an intellectual property licence allowing
free use and re-use
What is the UNESCO OER Platform:
 New, innovative web-based Platform
 Offering UNESCO products and adaptations as OER
 Allowing UNESCO stakeholders to freely find, compare, and
build and share their unique adaptations
 Supports offline editing and access by mobile phone
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Open Training Platform (OTP)
 Online directory of 3,400+ freely
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accessible e-learning courses
21 subject areas
9 UN partner agencies (ITU, UNEP, UNITAR, UNU, FAO,
WHO, ILO, UNV and UNESCO)
630+ training providers: GO, NGOs, private sector
1M+ visitors (since 2007); 4,800 portal members
2010-2011: renovated OTP handling multilingual interfaces and
learning resources to include all UNESCO material
www.opentrainingplatform.org
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Open Access (OA) to scientific information
 Focus on OA Journals and Repositories
 Developing countries universities, think tanks,
research institutions, Government policy units
 Undertake 2010 Global Map (online from 2011)
 Awareness and links to existing
global OA respositories
 Building capacities to create dynamic,
viable local OA repositories
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Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)
 UNESCO FOSS Portal
– http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_freesoft/
 Supported development of affordable quality software for
information processing (e.g. CDS/ISIS, IDAMS) as well as
FOSS projects, such as Greenstone, Koha, AtoM, mostly
through localization of software and manuals
 Promotion of development and use of Open Standards in IT
infrastructures and content (ODF)
2010-2011: renovated FOSS Portal focusing on UNESCO related
themes and priorities, such as ICT in Education, Accessibility,
Gender, Disaster prevention and recovery, and more.
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Memory of the World Programme
 Libraries, archives and, increasingly, museum documentary
collections are part of the Memory of the World Programme
 Strategic objectives are the preservation of all forms of
recorded documentary heritage to ensure permanent
access to the content.
 The Programme works with the major NGOs active in the
library, archives and museum fields to produce and
disseminate recommendations for the preservation of
heritage, including in the area of digital heritage, one of the
major concerns of the 21st century.
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Memory of the World Programme (2)
 International Register
– 193 items of global significance
Manuscript, Germany
Kelly Gang. Australia
Palestine refugee children
schools, UNRWA
 Jikji Memory of the World Prize
– Funded by Republic of Korea: Cheongju City
– $30,000 every two years
– Outstanding work in preservation by individuals or
institutions
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World Digital Library
 Objectives
– Promote international and intercultural understanding
and awareness
– Expand multilingual and culturally diverse content on the Internet
Provide resources to educators and contribute to scholarly research
Build knowledge and capacity in the developing world
 Statistics
– 89 partners from some 59 countries;
– Spanish (52%) the most widely used language (English only 24%).
– More than 10 million visitors since its official launch in April 2009
http://www.wdl.org
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Information for All Programme (IFAP)
 Established in 2001 to provide a platform for international policy
discussions and guidelines for action in the area of access to
information and knowledge.
 The 180th Executive Board confirmed its strong commitment to
the Information for All Programme and endorsed its Strategic
Plan for the period 2008-2013.
 Priorities
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Information for Development
Information Literacy
Information Preservation
Information Ethics
Information Accessibility
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IFAP - Key achievements
 IFAP has developed National Information Society Policy: A Template, a
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document designed to assist Member States in the formulation of national
information policy frameworks.
IFAP Information Society Observatory, accessible online. Created with the
financial support of IFAP and continuously updated with new, relevant
documents, events, books and experiences, annotations and links.
Implementation of several projects funded by the IFAP Special Fund for a total
of US$ 210,000
Creation of new National IFAP Committees (Poland, Ivory Coast, Chile, Nigeria
and Germany)
the organization of IFAP-related meetings and events:
– A sub-regional forum on Information for All, The Philippines
– Information Ethics and e-Government High Level Executive Seminar and
training workshop, South Africa
– The first Consultation Meeting of National Committees, Russia
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Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace
 Implementation of the normative instrument Recommendation
concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and
Universal Access to Cyberspace:
– supporting the development of a multilingual cyberspace
– offering possibilities for the preservation of endangered languages
– supporting pilot projects and the development of multilingual content
management tools and resources
– enhancing and strengthening policy formulation, information dissemination,
research and pilot projects in that field
– promoting wider and more equitable access to information networks and
services
– reaffirming the equitable balance between the interests of the rights-holders
and the public interest
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Social inclusion and education opportunities for
persons with disabilities through ICTs
 About 10% of the world’s population have some form of disability;
there are an estimated 150 million children in the world with disabilities,
about four-fifths of them in developing countries; millions more live with
disabled parents or relatives.
 WSIS Declaration of Principles: “In building the Information Society, we
shall pay particular attention to the special needs of marginalized and
vulnerable groups of society (…) We shall also recognize the special
needs of older persons and persons with disabilities.”
 Priority actions:
– Developing inclusive policies
– Developing an enabling environment and enhance social inclusion
– Addressing major challenges
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WSIS follow-up highlights
 WSIS Forum 2010 co-facilitated
– 5 days, 13 events
– 700 participants, 1,500 participating at a distance
 Inclusive Knowledge Societies concept advanced
– expert meeting (March 2010)
 Publications launched
– Fostering Information and Communication for
Development (2009)
– Towards Inclusive Knowledge Societies (2010)
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WSIS follow-up highlights (2)
 WSIS online platform animated
– Online debates and discussions on key topics for the
Forum (next Forum venue etc.)
 UNESCO now chairs UNGIS!
– UNGIS planned activities 2010-2011
 Internet Governance work enhanced
– IGF, Vilnius, September 2010
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