Thanks to Daryl D'Monte, former editor, for sending this to the India-EJ mailing list for environmental journalists. Of course, one is not particularly enamoured by the term 'developing countries' (it suggests that these countries are actually catching up... the gap is widening and things get worse with every devaluation of Southern currencies; it also implies that we all have to aspire to be like the North, but is that the desirable or sustainable goal?). Maybe the unnecessarily-critiqued and deliberately-misunderstood term of Third World (the left-out like the Tiers Etat) is more apt. Anyway, some of the points below are interesting. -FN
PS: Copyright-versus-copyleft too could be a crucial debate, if the bulk of the planet is to get access to the information they so badly need! To liken those copying books illegally with men who attacked ships for loot in high seas and killed innocents centuries ago means skewing the debate with our terms ('piracy'). ---------- Forwarded message ---------- ONLINE PUBLISHING COULD REVOLUTIONIZE INFORMATION PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Online newspapers, publications and books... are the developing countries in a position to get anything out of the digital revolution? Will the drop in production and distribution costs afforded by the new technology allow them to catch up with the developed-country firms that are monopolizing the market? The E-commerce and Development Report 2002, released today by UNCTAD, surveys current trends and suggests future strategies. On the plus side, digital publishing technology offers fresh opportunities for developing countries, many of which produce little in the way of artistic and literary output due to lack of resources. New technology could transform the situation. Online publishing gives small businesses the opportunity to establish a presence in a market dominated by the developed-country giants of the culture industry. By lowering production costs and cutting out middlemen, it generates new markets and enables authors who would not otherwise be well known to expand their readerships. A Jamaican company, Overdrive, has set up a virtual publishing centre allowing over 200 publishers to produce and distribute their books electronically. In press and university publishing, a quick glance at websites listing online libraries and media shows that even the poorest -- the least developed -- countries have been won over to electronic distribution, which radically alters relations between publishers, the media and consumers. And although the volume and quality of content, the level of sophistication and the functions available through search tools vary considerably from one newspaper to the next, an online presence now appears essential. For the time being, the important thing is to "stake out a claim" and respond to growing user demand, as it is far from certain whether online newspapers will prove profitable. Growing awareness of the potential of online publishing is driving a number of new initiatives, both national and international. They range from the promotion of African publications in the United States to the establishment of a digital scientific library in Brazil, which is now a beacon for the whole of Latin America. UNCTAD believes that developing-country governments should make more use of this form of distributing information, encourage educational institutions to provide education online and support libraries financially so that they can computerize their publications and enable the entire world to benefit. On the down side, the same inequalities to be found in the publishing world between developed and developing countries are reflected in online publishing. Then there are technical and practical obstacles, such as the paucity and high cost of Internet connections and the lack of training among potential users. Since the new technology allows virtually anything to be copied to perfection, copyright is threatened by digital piracy. Such piracy is becoming exorbitantly expensive, both for the developed countries that produce most intellectual property and for developing countries as well. Commercial losses in the United States in 2001 due to book piracy are estimated by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) at over $650 million. Profits from the "informal" book industry in Peru are higher than those from publishing. The international agreements governing intellectual property rights were extended in 1995 and 1996 to encompass digital technology. In order to comply with them, developing countries have to pass legislation and find the means to enforce it. But they have a lot to gain from the process, as developing and protecting their creations is very much in their interest. Thanks to copyright, publishing in the United States was a $4 billion industry in 2001. In Brazil, one of the world's largest markets for intellectual property, 70% of pirated music is locally produced - representing a loss of over $300 million in 2001, according to the IIPA. The country passed suitable legislation that same year. Copyright issues aside, online publishing could become a formidable vehicle for development, not just allowing businesses to stake out positions in markets formerly closed to them but also providing wider access to information, especially for academia and research, while at the same time promoting the country. Now all that remains is to make the political decision makers aware of what is at stake. Darryl D'Monte Chairperson, Forum of Environmental Journalists of India (FEJI) President, International Federation of Environmental Journalists (IFEJ) 29-B Carter Road, Bandra West, Mumbai 400 050, India Tel: 91-22-2642-7088 Fax: c/o: 91-22-2645-8870 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: www.ifej.org ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>