eGY-Africa NEWS No. 3 -------------------------------------------- ICSU ROA adopts eGY-Africa eGY-Africa Refence Documents How to accelerate your Internet Meetings PROFILE: GIRAF Geoscience Information in Africa -------------------------------------------- ICSU ROA adopts eGY-Africa -------------------------- At its recent meeting, the ICSU Regional Committee for Africa decided that the activities of eGY [Africa] will formally be included on the list of the activities of ICSU ROA. Moreover, the scientific objectives of eGY are very similar to those of ICSU ROA (e.g., four science plans, www.icsu-africa.org). ICSU ROA says they are very willing to play some key roles and go into solid partnership with eGY to work together, including organizing joint meetings. ROA staff member Dr Daniel Nyanganyura (d.nyanguyura@icsu-africa.org) is the contact person for eGY-Africa. eGY-Africa Reference Documents ------------------------------ We are accumulating reference material on the eGY-Africa section of the eGY website: http://www.egy.org/egyafrica.html. These are working documents that will updated regularly and can be used by all of us: - Power Point presentations - for information and a source of presentation material; acknowledge the author if you use someoneÕs slides. - Policy statements, declarations, and resolutions - for making an argument for better Internet connectivity - African conferences, past and future - for information. - Africa organizations and programs - for finding out who is doing what, and for identifying potential supporters and collaborators. - eGY-Africa People - a list of eGY-Africa organisers, participants and observers. This list is kept in www.egy.org>Resources>Working_Documents and is password protected. To get the password, email the newsletter editors. We are seeking volunteers to help maintain and expand these reference documents. Contact the editors if you are willing to help or can provide update information for any of the documents. How to accelerate your Internet ------------------------------- INASP (the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications -http://www.inasp.info/) has published a book called "How to accelerate your internet" that offers useful information on how to make the best use of intermittent and poor connectivity.ÊFurther information is available at http://bwmo.net/ Meetings -------- eGY-Africa participants have attended or are planning to attend the following meetings and conferences. 16-20 Mar 2009. GIRAF 2009 Workshop ÒGeoscience Information in AfricaÓ, Windhoek, Namibia. Contact: Colin Reeves ; Kristine Asch 24-25 Mar 2009. Euro-Africa ICT Forum, Brussels Download presentations: http://euroafrica-ict.org/events/forum_agenda Contact: Monique Petitdidier 6-8 May 2009. IST-Africa 2009 Conference & Exhibition, Kampala, Uganda. http://www.ist-africa.eu/Conference2009/ 18-19 May 2009. IYPE meeting of Science Implementation Team leaders and National Committee Chairs (Africa), Pretoria, South Africa. Contact: Tom Beer, President of IUGG. 11-13 Jun 2009. Recent Advances in Space Technology (RAST) Conference, Istanbul. Contact: Gilbert Rochon 13-17 Jul 2009. IEEE IGARSS meeting, Cape Town. Contact: Gilbert Rochon Electronic Journal Delivery Service (eJDS) ------------------------------------------ eJDS is a program to facilitate access to current scientific literature free of cost in the fields of Physics and Mathematics. Individual scientific articles are distributed via e-mail to scientists in institutions in Developing Countries who do not have access to sufficient bandwidth to download material from the Internet in a timely manner and/or cannot afford the connection. The service is provided by ICTP (the Abdus Salaam International Centre of Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy). You just need to: (i) Register to the service by sending an application form by fax or mail. You will then be informed by e-mail on how to proceed. (ii) Use the service: search scientific articles either using e-mail or using the web. Website: http://www.ejds.org/ ; Fax: (+39) 040 2240394 ; Email: ejds@ictp.it PROFILE: GIRAF - Geoscience Information in Africa ---------------------------------------------------- http://www.GIRAF2009.org Aim To build a pan-African geoscience information knowledge network for exchanging and sharing geoscience information knowledge and best practice;?to promote geoinformation initiatives in Africa and African participation in the international geoscience information community.??? Leadership and sponsors the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR); financed mainly by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ); supported by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) Commission for the nagement and Application of Geoscience Information (CGI). Collaborators Geological Survey of Namibia (GSN), British Geological Survey (BGS), and Natural Resources Canada Activities A preparatory workshop to identifying general problems and needs of African geological institutions was held in June 2006 in Maputo at the 21st Colloquium on African Geology (CAG21). The workshop was organized by the CGI, funded by the IUGS, and was attended by representatives of African geological surveys, universities, private companies, and non-governmental organisations. The GIRAF 2009 workshop was held in Windhoek, Namibia, 16-20 March 2009, attended by 26 African nations, 4 European countries, and representatives from UNESCO, ICSU, and IUGS-CGI (GIRAF2009@bgr.de). The aims of the workshop were - to bring together relevant African authorities, national experts and stakeholders in geoscience information;?? - to initiate the building of a pan-African geoscience information knowledge network to exchange and share geoscience information knowledge and best practice;?? - to integrate the authorities, national experts and experts across Africa into global geoinformation initiatives;?? - to develop a strategic plan for AfricaÕs future in geoscience information;?? - to make Africa a more active part of the international geoscience information community.?? Fifteen practical recommendations were endorsed for improving the way geoscience information could be managed and delivered in Africa Ð see the GIRAF Strategy and Agreement at www.giraf2009.org. Contact Dr. Kristine Asch, GIRAF2009@bgr.de or Kristine.Asch@bgr.de Chair, IUGS Commission for the Management and Application of Geoscience Information, Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Stilleweg 2, 30165 Hannover, Germany. Phone: +49-511-643-3324; Fax: +49-511-643-3782?; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To contribute to eGY-Africa News, subscribe, or unsubscribe, contact the editors: cebarton@gmail.com.au and alemmeb@googlemail.com Past newsletters can be downloaded from: http://www.egy.org/egyafrica.html We thank the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado for providing and maintaining the website and IUGG for supporting eGY-Africa. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CB and AM, 5 June 2009