back to archives

CONTENTS

1. Australian Group to Use Digital Dividend Clearinghouse for Experiment in Cross-Sector Collaboration

2. New "Resource Marketplace" Launched at www.digitaldividend.org

3. From the Digital Dividend Clearinghouse: Grupo Ebanistas (Central America) and Handy Vaid (India)

4. Make the Clearinghouse Work For You! My Bookmarks

1. Australian Group to Use Digital Dividend Clearinghouse for Experiment in Cross-Sector Collaboration

Internet industry leader Cisco Systems is working with a Cross Sector Working Group (CSWG) of more than 30 organizations from the corporate, community and government sectors to reduce digital exclusion in Australia. The CSWG is using the Digital Dividend Clearinghouse for a six-month experiment in fostering cross-sector collaboration using a Web-based platform. Participating organizations will use the Clearinghouse to exchange ideas, share lessons learned, and identify new project opportunities.

Some of the Australian initiatives already registered in the Clearinghouse include recycling second hand computers for disabled and disadvantaged people (Computer Loan Service and Green PC), establishing neighbourhood technology centers in low-income public housing, providing these people with access to both technology and training (WorkVentures Connect), and a Web site that facilitates learning for students from low-income families (Ignite Website).

To see the full range of CSWG-affiliated projects, just search the Clearinghouse under "Australia"

For more information on the Cisco Systems Digital Divide Cross Sector Working Group, click here

2. New "Resource Marketplace" Launched at www.digitaldividend.org

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new Resource Marketplace! At Digital Dividends, we receive many requests for help identifying sources of funding, free computers and software, Web development assistance, local content and other resources. Our hope is that the Resource Marketplace - in highlighting some of the most useful resources within and outside of the Clearinghouse - will help address these needs.

Located at http://www.digitaldividend.org/marketplace/marketplace.htm, the Resource Marketplace is a work-in-progress. We are very interested in your feedback on how we can make it more useful to the Clearinghouse community. If you know of resources that should be added to this list, or have suggestions for improving the overall usefulness of the Marketplace, please e-mail us

3. From the Digital Dividend Clearinghouse: Grupo Ebanistas (Central America) and Teledoc (India)

8 new projects have been added to the Clearinghouse since our last edition of the Digest. Among the highlights...

Grupo Ebanistas, Ltd. is using information technologies to enable the importing, exporting and marketing of museum-quality furniture directly from craftsmen in Central America. Their network of craftsmen and artisans use these technologies to receive current patterns and orders, working as directly as possible for each and every customer. Learn more

Teledoc: Traditional Health Services using Handhelds is a health initiative by the Jiva Institute that enables patients to receive advice and medication through the use of handheld PDAs. A field representative uses the PDA to collect the villagers' queries, which are then processed in a central database. The diagnosis and advice are then transferred back to the villager, also through the PDA. Learn more

*You can view and comment on these and other projects when you visit the Clearinghouse

4. Make the Clearinghouse Work For You! My Bookmarks

My Bookmarks allows registered users to create a personal library of project, idea and organization 'capsules' that are of interest. If you come across a capsule that is valuable to you, and that you may need to refer to often, you can 'bookmark' it. To access that capsule again, simply go to your personal Bookmarks page.

To begin using Bookmarks, just log in or register free of charge in the Clearinghouse