For women only
Because of the importance of women's issues to population and development, an entire chapter of the State of the World Population 1995 devoted to the empowerment of women is now being made available electronically.
The UNAIDS/Intercountry Technical Collaboration Team, which is located in the United Nations Building at Bangkok, recently compiled a number of such documents in computerized form, making them accessible through e-mail.
The previously mentioned chapter in the State of the World Population report, which is published annually by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), contains sections on the empowerment concept, education, decision-making, involving men, working for change and discussion panels. It and a number of other publications on population and women's issues are available through e-mail.
Below are a number of document descriptions, each of which is followed by a file name given in parentheses to enable users to retrieve them. Readers will find instructions at the end of this article describing how to obtain the materials electronically.
To obtain a copy of this document, the reader would send an e-mail to the following address: ftpmail@inet.co.th with the following in the text of the message: open get /pub/sea-aids/plngo/plngo6.txt
Other files can be retrieved using the same general format for your message. For example: open get /pub/sea-aids/drawername/filename
Because these requests are answered automatically by computer, the reader must be very careful to copy the format of the message carefully (including the space after "get" and the slashes).
If you would like to receive further instructions for retrieving files in this way, send an e-mail to: majordomo@lists.inet.co.th with the following in the text of the message: get sea-aids retrev.idx
For a list of all the materials available in the archives send an e-mail to the same address with the following in the text of your message: get sea-aids listing.idx
Readers who would like to obtain further information or a free subscription to SEA-AIDS should send an e-mail request to tfran@mozart.inet.co.th
Viet Nam sets up steering committee for information technology
Viet Nam's National Centre for Population and Family Planning (NCPFP) recently established the Steering Committee for Information Technology.
Headed by Dr. Nguyen Luc, Vice-Chairman of NCPFP, the Committee will assist in implementing the Government's resolution entitled "Strategy for Information Technology Development until the Year 2000". Senior officials of NCPFP will constitute the Committee.
Among its tasks will be the establishment of a management information system for population and family planning, and modernization of the country's Information Technology Programme.
Asian Internet Fever
Pent-up demand in Asia for access to the Internet is straining the infrastructure in many countries and areas of the ESCAP region, according to an article in the August 1996 issue of Byte.
Written by Mark LaPedus, the article claims that about 80 per cent of Asia's Internet traffic is first routed to computer servers in the United States and then bounced back to the region.
It quotes Mr. Nicholas Lee, Chief of Pacific Internet, one of Singapore's largest Internet service providers, as saying: "In time, the use of the Internet will double or triple in Asia".
Asia's Internet end-user base could grow from around 2.1 million in 1995 to more than 6.5 million in 1997, according to a major supplier of Internet software. This is based on the estimated number of users in China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan Province of China), Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Thailand. Viet Nam may also be a major user because it is rapidly upgrading its infrastructure.
A major problem for some countries is language, because so many of the Internet resources are in English. But the potential is there based on the number of major multinationals investing in infrastructure development.
Information on population ageing and related issues available
A wealth of information on ageing is available through a new Internet site recently established by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).
Announced in the first issue of the Association's newsletter Global Aging Report, the address of the World Wide Web site is http://www.aarp.org
Among the information resources available at the Web site is information about Coalition '99 and activities that will be conducted worldwide to celebrate the International Year of Older Persons in 1999. The Web site also contains the United Nations Principles for Older Persons plus a collection of related declarations developed by Governments, voluntary organizations and senior groups around the world.
The newsletter contains information of interest to older persons about a number of countries in the ESCAP region: China, India, Japan and New Zealand.
For further information about the newsletter itself and the activities of AARP, readers may write to the editors at the following e-mail addresses: jkoster@capcon.net and jprather@aarp.net
Scholars examine impact of Internet on India
The Internet's ability to provide access to the latest information from around the world almost instantly and overcome problems related to a lack of library resources, among other benefits, is examined in a recent issue of the Asian Mass Communication Bulletin.
The authors of the article, Dr. Sandhya Rao and Dr. N. Chinna Natesan of Southwest Texas State University in the United States, argue that the Internet empowers individual users "more than any other medium has done so far".
They state that, although the Internet is being used for purposes such as national planning, scientific research, higher education and business, there are problems.
One of the main ones is that India still has an underdeveloped telecommunications infrastructure, with millions of people waiting to get a telephone. Another is a lack of funds as well as network security.
The article, entitled "Internet: Threat or Opportunity for India?", provides a useful profile of a number of networks in India.
For further information about the publisher of the Bulletin, the Asian Mass Communication Research and Information Centre (AMIC), readers may contact the Centre at 39 Newton Road, Republic of Singapore 307966, or send an e-mail request to: amicline@singnet.com.sg
Round table meeting on information to be held in Republic of Korea
The annual MacBride Round Table on Communication will be held at Seoul National University in Seoul, Republic of Korea, from 24 to 27 August.
For information on registration and fees, readers may contact the organizers at the following e-mail address: BROADCA@chollian. dacom.co.kr or write to Dr. Richard C. Vincent, 2560 Campus Road, Rm. 336, Department of Communication, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, United States.
Library holds training course on information retrieval
The members of Asia-Pacific POPIN have had a head start at various network training workshops in terms of learning how to use modern information technologies such as the Internet.
But others are catching up. In mid-June 1996, the Dag Hammarskjold Library at United Nations Headquarters in New York began conducting a special training course entitled "CyberSeek: A Basic Course in Internet Information Retrieval".
Internet access to Johns Hopkins University
As part of its mission to share information with people and organizations working in the fields of population and development, the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP) has created a number of Internet-based resources which may be useful to people working in the field.
One such resource recently made available is a data set from Uzbekistan. It comes with a background description of the data collection process and other information.
Translated from the Russian language into English, the transcripts attempt to identify client attitudes about contraceptive use and concerns about the structure and quality of the country's health care delivery system.
They are available for a nominal fee both in a computer file (WordPerfect 6.1 for Windows) and printed version. Readers wishing to obtain further information may write to JHU/CCP at the following e-mail address: ccp@charm.net
The JHU/CCP addresses on the Internet are as follows: http://www.charm.net/~ccp for the World Wide Web, and for the Gopher, gopher://jhuniverse. hcf.jhu.edu:10005/11/.ccp
Standards for data dissemination
Although the data do not deal with population, the standards for the dissemination of numerical data developed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may be of use to members of Asia-Pacific POPIN.
Known as the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), it will soon be available to the public on an IMF electronic bulletin board accessible through the Internet. Work is also under way to develop the General Data Dissemination Standard (GDDS), a companion to the SDDS, that provides a goal for improved statistics towards which the IMF will work cooperatively with its members.