Management and Application of
Information and Communication
over Internet and SIDSnet
Prepared
by
Jayne Musumba
SIDSnet

For
Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and South China Seas (AIMS) Regional Preparatory Meeting for the Mauritius 2004 International Meeting
This document is available online at http://www.sidsnet.org/capeverde2003/workshop/ .

Practical usage of Internet and SIDSnet

    Search Engines

 Search engine is an interactive tool to help us locate information available in the Internet via World Wide Web.

Web-site examples

Google: http://www.google.com/
Yahoo: http://www.yahoo.com/
MSN: http://www.msn.com/
 Altavista: http://www.altavista.com/
AOL: http://www.aol.com/

Practice
We use Google.

Suppose we want to know:

  1.  GIS (Geographic Information Systems) on sea level rise in Indian Ocean region
             Example.   Search result.
  2. Information about marine conservation in Malta
         Example.   Search result.
  3. Who is Cesario Evora?
         Example.   Search result.
  4. Pearl trade / export / import in Maldives
          Example.   Search result.   
         Another example in Google's advanced search interface.   Search result.

 SIDSnet Search

We have a customized search interface, which has optimized islands-related issues. Through our search facility, you can search not only the SIDSnet site, but also all Internet.  http://www.sidsnet.org/ 

Our document datatbase is also searchable through separate interfaces, as well. These interfaces are:

Climate: http://www.sidsnet.org/cgi-cldoc/docsearchmat.cgi
Coastal and Marine: http://www.sidsnet.org/cgi-codoc/docsearchmat.cgi
Trade: http://www.sidsnet.org/cgi-s3doc/docsearchmat.cgi
Tourism: http://www.sidsnet.org/cgi-stdoc/docsearchmat.cgi
Biodiversity: http://www.sidsnet.org/cgi-bidoc/docsearchmat.cgi
Energy: http://www.sidsnet.org/cgi-endoc/docsearchmat.cgi
Others: http://www.sidsnet.org/cgi-otdoc/docsearchmat.cgi

 

    Meta-searchers

Meta-searchers enable us to search in multiple search engines at cost of flexibility each search engine has.

Web-site examples

MetaCrawler: http://www.metacrawler.com/
Web Crawler: http://www.webcrawler.com/
ProFusion: http://www.profusion.com/

Practice
Let's use MetaCrawler's advanced search interface.
Suppose we want to know:

1) Information about global warming and sea level rise.

    News over Internet

Web-site example

REUTERS: http://www.reuters.co.uk/  or  http://www.reuters.com/ 
( Reuters has excellent news video called 'RawVideo'. )
BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/
AFP: http://www.afp.fr/francais/home/ (in French)     http://www.afp.com/english/home/ (in English)
 ITR-TASS: http://www.itar-tass.ru/ (in Russia)     http://www.itar-tass.ru/english/ (in English)
Radiofranceinternationale (RFI) http://www.rfi.fr (in French) http://www.rfi.fr/fichiers/Langues/rfi_anglais_main.asp (in English) http://www.rfi.fr/fichiers/Langues/rfi_portugais_afrique_main.asp (Portuguese by Africa) http://www.rfi.fr/fichiers/Langues/rfi_portugais_bresil_main.asp (Portuguese in Brazil)
 CNN: http://www.cnn.com/
Others News Agencies: http://www.irna.ir/NewsAG/list.htm  .
Agence France Press (AFP): http://www.afp.com/english/home/ (in English) http://www.afp.com/francais/home/ (in French) http://www.afp.com/portugues/home/ (in Portuguese)

Personalized news selection

You can personalize / customize your news selection by registering for free news service and setting up your own preference in selection.

  1. My Yahoo!
    http://my.yahoo.com/p/d.html
  2. BBC Email Service:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/
  3. Yahoo! Alert
    http://alerts.yahoo.com/

SIDSnet Newswire
We have news distribution service in island-related themes:

Climate: http://www.sidsnet.org/latestarc/climate-newswire/
Coastal and Marine: http://www.sidsnet.org/latestarc/coastal-newswire/
Trade: http://www.sidsnet.org/latestarc/trade-newswire/
Tourism: http://www.sidsnet.org/latestarc/tourism-newswire/
Biodiversity: http://www.sidsnet.org/latestarc/biodiversity-newswire/
Energy: http://www.sidsnet.org/latestarc/energy-newswire/
Others: http://www.sidsnet.org/latestarc/other-newswire/

Example / Practice

Let's build My Yahoo! personalized news page.


Encyclopedia

 Web site examples for free encyclopedia online:

Encyclopedia.com: http://encyclopedia.com/
Microsoft Encarta Concise: http://encarta.msn.com/

Web site examples for commercial encyclopedia online:

Britannica Online: http://www.eb.com/
Microsoft Encarta Deluxe: http://encarta.msn.com/EncartaHome.asp
 
Online Library Search

Major universities and others have online library catalogs.  They are very helpful in doing academic researches.

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Library http://library.mit.edu/
Harvard University Library  http://lib.harvard.edu/
Oxford University Library  http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/olis/
Cambridge University Library  http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/
                   

    Other Resources

Governmental / International Organization Resources
CIA World Fact Book Online: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
UN Database: http://www.un.org/databases/

Atlas and Map Service

National Geographic Map Machine: http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/

Online book search and book purchase

Online book stores are good information resources even if you don't intend to order books.
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

Online flight search and reservation

These are good resources to find your flights before you call your travel agents.

Travelocity: http://www.travelocity.com/
Expedia: http://www.expedia.com/

Financial Information        

  1. Yahoo! Finance - Currency Conversion: http://finance.yahoo.com/m3?u
  2. PACIFIC Exchange Rate Service: http://pacific.commerce.ubc.ca/xr/
     ( Providing very detailed and various foreign currency excahnge information.)
  3. Financial Times business section: http://news.ft.com/business
 

Glossary for Internet Terminology
                    http://www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html



Using SIDSnet
Main Page:

http://www.sidsnet.org/

Theme Pages:

We have 7 theme pages, namely:
  • Biodiversity
  • Climate Change
  • Coastal & Marine
  • Energy
  • Tourism
  • Trade
  • Others
Each theme page has the following services:

  
Application of Internet / Tele-communication


Examples of Weather Radio service to rural areas

RANET ( Radio and Internet for the Communication of Hydro-Meteorological and Climate Related Information )
RANET Africa.
              http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/worldsummit/ranet.html  
                      http://www.cip.ogp.noaa.gov/
                      http://www.oar.noaa.gov/spotlite/archive/spot_ranet.html 
                      http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/worldsummit/pdfs/ranetenglish.pdf   (Brochure)

RANET Pacific: 
SIDSnet is working with other parties for possible introduction of Ranet to the Pacific. Once there is progress in this initiative, it will be announced in the SIDSnet website.

      Telemedicine Examples

Fiji School of Medicine has a telemedicine projects called Pacific Telepathology ( http://www.fsm.ac.fj/PWS/telepath.htm ).  It has been established since June 2003 with technical support from University of Basel, Switzerland. The service is designed for remote consultation, continuing medical education (CME), and health care research. The service enables health care professionals in the Pacific to access and exchange medical information using any  standard computer and internet connection. Areas with low speed connection can also participate through simple email as medium of sending and receiving information.

InfoMed is a cuban medical information gateway.   http://www.sld.cu/


     Distance education

          Examples:

University of Malta
Education: University of Malta, Course Leading to M.A. in Islands & Small States: The Islands and Small States Institute of the University of Malta is offering a course leading to Masters degree in Islands and Small States Studies [ MA(ISSS) ]. For more information: Professor Lino Briguglio, University of Malta, Islands and Small States Institute at the Foundation for International Studies, University Building, St. Paul Street, Valletta, VLT07, MaltaTel/Fax: (356) 2124-8218, 2125-2931 email: islands@um.edu.mt or lbri1@um.edu.mt, http://www.sidsnet.org/docshare/other/MA_ISSS_distance_tuition2.doc

University of Mauritius
J B Centre for Distance Learning: http://www.uom.ac.mu/DistanceEducation/CDL/centrehopmepage.htm
Courses offfered include Information Technology, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Mathematics, Organisation & Management, Communications Skills, etc.

National University of Singapore
The Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA) is a global partnership between Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU): http://web.mit.edu/sma/

University of the South Pacific Emalus Campus

http://www.centre.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/
http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/ 

The Global Distance Education Network (GDENet),  http://www.col.org/disted/ ,  is a knowledge guide to distance education designed to help distance education practitioners who are interested in using distance education for human development. The Network consists of six Internet sites located around the world.

The University of Phoenix in USA is one of the leading universities in the distance education. The university proveds formal degrees through its distance education courses.

          More Information:
The following website provide comprehensive information about distance education:
http://www.uwex.edu/disted/home.html

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) provides lists of links related to distance education:

eCommerce:

Good Pacific Examples:

Detailed eCommerce information from International Organizations:

UNCTAD: http://r0.unctad.org/ecommerce/
WTO: http://www.wto.org/wto/english/tratop_e/ecom_e/ecom_e.htm
EU: http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/ebusiness/ecommerce/index_en.htm
WIPO: http://ecommerce.wipo.int/


     WiFi (Wireless Fidelity):

WiFi stands for Wireless Fidelity. WiFi is a wireless technology like a cell phone. WiFi enabls computers to send and receive data to/from other computers indoors and outdoors, anywhere within the range of an access point. The access point acts as a hub for computers to communicate with each other. WiFi networks use radio technologies called IEEE 802.11b or 802.11a to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity. While the radius of each access point is normally no more than a fifty metres, it can be extended by using repeaters. The radius could be more than one kilometer if you use more powerful or directional external antennas.

Examples:


Example of Niue http://www.niue.nu/