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CALL FOR PAPERS

 

5th IFIP World Information Technology Forum (WITFOR)

on

Sustainable Human Development

 

Vigyan Bhavan conference centre

New Delhi, 16-18 April 2012

 

Extended Deadline: 20 November 2011

 

About WITFOR

 

The World Information Technology Forum (WITFOR) was initiated by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) and is organized by IFIP every second year since 2003 in cooperation with the government of the host country and many other stakeholders. So far WITFOR was held in Lithuania, in 2003; in Botswana, in 2005; in Ethiopia in 2007; and in Vietnam in 2009. WITFOR brings together ICT Ministers, senior policy-makers, academics, NGOs and GOs, ICT experts and the private ICT sector. The last WITFOR in Hanoi, Vietnam, attracted 1500 delegates.

 

WITFOR investigates successful, sustainable ICT strategies in developing countries and examines different initiatives and projects on effective, context sensitive development and use of ICT applications. It is intended to:

  • Help put ICT-enabled development initiatives on the agenda of different organizations, governmental bodies, and groups currently involved in information and communications technologies.

  • Work with different groups to ensure that senior policy makers and political leaders are aware of the developmental potential of ICT and promote its diffusion and sustainable effective use.

  • Assist international organizations and donor agencies to include issues of the spread of ICTs and access to information into their loan and funding programmes and be more pro-active in using new technologies to reduce existing social tensions and conflicts.

  • Encourage scholars, analysts and researchers to put the issue of electronic equity higher on their research agendas.

  • Encourage industrialized nations, as individuals and groups, to listen to and learn from colleagues around the world about their unique concerns over access to technology.

  • Develop guidelines on these issues and advise governments, to formulate and follow the best strategy for the use of ICT in order to achieve global ICT-equity.

 

 

 

 

 

5th WITFOR, 2012

 

The next WITFOR, on Sustainable Human Development, will be hosted by the Indian Government in New Delhi, in April 2012. It will focus on the developmental potential and experience of ICT in the following themes:

  • Agriculture

  • Education / Human Resources

  • Health

  • E-governance.

It will accommodate also discussion on underlying social, ethical and legal issues regarding ICT and development, on infrastructural questions, economic opportunities and environmental issues.

The conference will include two types of sessions:

  • Panels and presentations of policies, initiatives and best practices. These sessions are invited by the thematic program committees in cooperation with the WITFOR Commissions. The WITFOR Commissions have been formed to look for and work on exemplary development projects on a number of themes. The work in the commissions is fully done by volunteers and participation in the work is open to all persons who are interested in the goals, approach and topics of WITFOR and who are willing to actively contribute.

  • Peer-reviewed papers on the themes of the conference as well as on a broad range of themes concerning ICT and development.

If you are interested in participating in the commissions of the IFIP, you should contact the chair / vice-chair(s) of the commission(s) of your interest and discuss the best way you can get involved. For contact details see annex.

 

You are invited to submit papers for the peer review process. Specifically, we welcome the following types of contributions:

  1. Analyses of specific areas of ICT policy and their socio-economic effects. Policy areas include:

    • Agriculture: bio-technology, nutrition, reach out to all people in rural areas

    • Education: quality of education, competency-based education, open educational resources, social networking and citizenship

    • Health: health services, knowledge management

    • E-governance: financial inclusion, skills training, e-democracy

    • Infrastructures: connectivity, broadband telecommunications

    • Economic Opportunities: creation of e-markets, competitive environment

    • Environment: environmental protection, sustainable use of natural resources

    • Social, Ethical and Legal issues: gender, privacy, surveillance, cybercrime, intellectual property rights, governance of the internet, digital inclusion.

  2. Assessment of specific cases of ICT policy initiatives, including:

  • Case studies of national, regional, and NGO ICT policies and their soci-economic effects

  • Sample projects, case studies, technical recommendations and experiences about the infrastructure needed for particular policy areas - understanding that infrastructure covers not only hardware, communication, stations and lines but also maintenance and training people for making feasible and operational the investments

  • International collaborative policies

  • Legal measures for dealing with undesirable effects

  • Mechanisms of coping with the complexity and dubious complexity of information

  1. Theoretical papers on the role of ICT for development and on policy action regarding ICT and socio-economic change. We are interested in papers examining why ICT enabled development requires policy by national and international institutions and necessitates the active involvement of the civil society.

 

Types of Submissions

We welcome contributions in the form of:

  • Research papers (5000-8000 words)

  • Case studies (3000-5000 words)

 

Important dates

Submission Deadline: 20 October 2011

Extended Deadline: 20 November 2011

Notification Deadline: 10 January 2012

Camera Ready Submissions: 1st March 2012

 

Papers should be submitted to:

https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=witfor2012

 

Publication of proceedings

WITFOR 2012 will produce an electronic multimedia output. This will include the peer reviewed papers in a traditional proceedings form (as an official IFIP publication with an ISBN number), and will be available from the IFIP web site and Digital Library.

 

Registration information

Registration in WITFOR events is free of charge. However, at least one author of each paper must register and participate in the conference. If the authors of a paper are not available to present it at the conference, the paper will not be included in the proceedings.

 

Programme Committee chairs:

Chrisanthi Avgerou, Professor of Information Systems, London School of Economics

Prof S.V. Raghavan, Scientific Secretary to the Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India.

 

Programme Committee:

Robert Argent, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , WITFOR Environment Commission chair

Swati Basu, , Adviser/ Scientist, Ministry of Earth Sciences, India

Shri S.K.Dey Biswas, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Jorn Braa, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , WITFOR Health Commission chair

Indira Mahalingam Carr, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Social aspects commission

Vineeta Dixit , This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Ministry of Communications &  IT, India
Hans A. Frederik, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , IFIP TC3 (education)

Dorothy Gordon, , WITFOR E-Government Commission chair

Dimitris Gritzalis, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , IFIP TC11 (security)

Asha Kanwar, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Vice-President of Commonwealth of Learning, Delhi, India

Anton Knierzinger, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , IFIP TC3 (education)

Giovanni Molina, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Vikas Nath, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Agriculture Commission chair

Paul Nleya, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Ana Pont Sanjuan , This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Infrastructures Commission chair

Mikko J Ruohonen, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , IFIP TC3 (education)

Sundeep Sahay, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , HISP-India

Alain Senteni, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , WITFOR Education Commission chair

Satish Jha, Siraj A. Shaikh This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Meera Singh, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Shri S.K.Dey Biswas, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

K Rama Subramaniam, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , IFIP TC11 (security)

T.Sundararaman, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , NHSRC (National Health System Resource Centre), Delhi, India

Shri Vishwajeet Ringe, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , NIC India, deputed in the Ministry of Health and Family welfare for IT implementations

Chris Westrup, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , IFIP WG9.4 Chair

 

 

 

 

Annex

 

 

Commissions

 

Agriculture

Mr. Vikas Nath

 

Education

Mr. Alain Senteni

 

E-Government

Ms. Dorothy Gordon

 

Health

Mr. Jorn Braa

 

Economic Opportunities

Mr. Satish Jha

 

Environment

Mr Robert Argent

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Infrastructure

Ms. Ana Pont Sanjuan