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A workshop on "Nationwide
Internet Access & Online Applications" will be held on May
22-25, 2004, at LGED Bhaban, headquarters of the Local
Government Engineering Department, in Dhaka. The workshop
was initiated by the Alexandria Research Institute (ARI) and
is sponsored by the US National Science Foundation, the
United Nations Development Program, BRAC University, Grameen
Cyber Society, and JOBS, a USAID- Bangladesh Bangladesh
funded project. The working sessions of the workshop will be
held on May 23 and 24.
 During
the Opening Ceremony on 22 May, Barrister Md. Aminul Haque,
Minister for Post and Telecommunications, will address the
workshop as the Chief Guest.
The objective of the workshop
will be to address the important issue of how to provide
sustainable and affordable Internet access to the population
of Bangladesh and other developing countries at a large
scale. Participants will also explore alternative options of
how to bring the Internet to the people and provide better
Internet access even in remote parts of the country. They
will also identify barriers to improved Internet access and
find ways to overcome these barriers. It is expected that
the workshop will create opportunities for new applications
for example in the field of broadband data services.
Bringing together experts from
Bangladesh, Canada, India, Nepal, Singapore, Thailand and
the United States, the workshop will help identify the
necessary building blocks involved with integrated solutions
to make the Internet an effective tool at the local level.
“This workshop is designed to
offer a platform for discussions among various stakeholders
in a country where the availability of sustainable and
affordable last-mile Internet access solutions can
contribute significantly to her development,” said Professor
Saifur Rahman, workshop chair and ARI director while
commenting on the workshop. “It is expected that such
discussions will lead to the synergistic development of
projects
on
distributed Internet access to be used for online
applications,” he said.
Further
information about the workshop can be found on the ARI
homepage at
http://www.ari.vt.edu/internet/index.htm |
