Antivirus Poll…

Women In ICT: Are We Moving Forward?

Are there opportunities for women in the Information & Communications Technology (ICT) industry? Or is the ICT profession a male affair? ICTs are indispensable tools used by all to deal with the limitations of time, cost & distance? In addition, many are using ICTs to solve problems & create new opportunities.

We live in the age where quality access to information & knowledge is key to survival & performance. Individuals, organizations & governments all need to use ICT to be faster, more cost effective & efficient. ICT is the infrastructure of the knowledge economy.

However, there are various challenges associated with ICTs. Inconsistencies in the exploitation & deployment of ICTs are a major concern – the digital divide. For example, what has been the impact of women in ICT? In many societies, women are still unable to realize their potentials. Goal 3 of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) is to “provide gender equality & empower women.” What’s the role of ICT in the economic & social empowerment of women? Obviously, there’s a direct relationship between the empowerment of women & reduction of poverty. Because of its unique benefits, ICT has been recognized as a tool for empowering men & women. But is this notion grounded in reality? Is ICT hurting or helping women?

Digital Gender Divide?

How empowered are women to make their contributions in society? Women play a vital role in society so can we really create wealth & provide opportunites through ICT if women are digitally excluded? Can women really be empowered without quality access to information? Already, these information & knowledge gaps exist in the emerging knowledge society & the majority of women – rural & urban – don’t appear to be on the right side of the divide.

Let’s face it, ICT is nothing without access. To get the benefits of ICT, you must have access. Availability or physical access isn’t enough. Access – ability to utilize, ability to work, learn, interact & create with the information & resources provided. Fewer women are accessing & using computers & the Internet compared to men. The United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, September 2005 publication, “Women 2000 & beyond”, confirms that “Women are a minority of users in almost all developed & developing countries.

ICT for all?

ICT is the key resource of the information society. Without real access to technology, there’s a limit to how & what women can contribute. Access needs to improve – availability & quality. More women, especially in the rural & informal sector, need to use ICT to get things done in their lives & work. The cellphone is a start but ICT goes beyond receiving & making calls. Women must be active ICT participants – users, professionals, creators, producers & entreprenuers. To make a difference, women must engage in productive ICT & ICT-driven activities – usage & production.

ICT isn’t just for ICT professionals. The knowledge revolution demands knowledge professionals, knowledge workers – ICT savvy individuals in virtually all sectors. There’s nothing wrong with ICT consumption if used to enhance efficiency & effectiveness. Or if it gives you advantage in terms of creative options. If we don’t want to go the way of the dinosaur, we all need to use these knowledge tools to get ahead. You can’t solve tomorrow’s problems using yesterday’s tools.

Consume or contribute?

In different fields & professions – commerce, law, medicine, agriculture, accountancy, sports, entertainment, media etc – women can use ICT to enable growth, create wealth, increase productivity & create new opportunities.

Because ICT is so critical to the knowledge economy, you simply can’t function at your best if you don’t understand, adopt & grasp ICT. Are you a driver in the knowledge system? Then you should use ICT to drive your career & business up & your cost & challenges down.

However, while the usage of ICT is important, it’s not just about consumption. The issue isn’t consume or contribute – it’s consume, contribute & create. Any nation that wants to be taken seriously in the global world must have highly skilled human capital that develops, creates & supports technology products & services.

Women in the ICT industry.

How many women are building careers in this interesting & exciting field? Make no mistake, there are women making great strides in ICT. Indeed, we must acknowledge & commend the efforts of women who are contributing immensly in ICT but the issue isn’t that there are no women making a difference in ICT, rather, are there women in sufficient numbers to make a difference? What propotion of women compared to men are active participants in the technology sector? And which areas do they predominate? Where are the majority of women in the ICT value chain? What do women do where they are? Are women in ICT realizing their potentials? Do women in ICT benefit fully from the career & entreprenurial opportunities in ICT?

Of particular interest are specialist areas which include software development, database, web development, network infrastructure, technical support, telecom engineering etc & these areas tend to be well-respected, very creative & rewarding with excellent opportunities for growth.

In this respect, what page are the ICT firms on? Even in organizations with heavy information needs that invest heavily in ICT such as government agencies, banks & oil companies, how many women work as ICT specialists & in what proportion compared to men, in such organizations?

The situation in most ICT & ICT-driven firms is that fewer women work as ICT professionals in the specialist areas mentioned. There are also fewer women at the top, i.e. top-level management positions within the ICT sector as Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Information Officers (CIOs), IT Directors or IT Managers. More women need to be in positions where they can influence ICT management & policy.

Sweat, Stress or Value?

The reality is that most women working in such organizations contribute but tend to predominate in non-technical areas such as customer service, business development, marketing etc & in the technical areas, they work mainly in the routine jobs (lower tech value) working as telephone data entry & desktop publishing operators.

Women in ICT are contributing but the reality is that the majority of women working in ICT aren’t involved in the creative & growth areas of ICT. The work many women do in ICT may be stressful & sweaty resulting in physical & mental burnout but how critical or creative is such work compared to other opportunities in the sector? Typically, what are the prospects? For growth? How challenging are such opportunities? As noted earlier, there are much fewer women compared to men in the areas of control & decision making in ICT.

Yona Fares Maro,

I.T. Specialist & Digital Security Consultant,

Dar Es Salaam,

Tanzania.

Wanted: Computer hackers to help government…

WASHINGTON – Wanted: Computer hackers.

Federal authorities aren’t looking to prosecute them, but to pay them to secure the nation’s networks.

General Dynamics Information Technology put out an ad last month on behalf of the Homeland Security Department seeking someone who could “think like the bad guy.” Applicants, it said, must understand hackers’ tools and tactics and be able to analyze Internet traffic and identify vulnerabilities in the federal systems.

In the Pentagon’s budget request submitted last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon will increase the number of cyberexperts it can train each year from 80 to 250 by 2011.

With warnings that the U.S. is ill-prepared for a cyberattack, the White House conducted a 60-day study of how the government can better manage and use technology to protect everything from the electrical grid and stock markets to tax data, airline flight systems, and nuclear launch codes.

President Barack Obama appointed a former Bush administration aide, Melissa Hathaway, to head the effort, and her report was delivered Friday, the White House said.

While the country had detailed plans for floods, fires or errant planes drifting into protected airspace, there is no similar response etched out for a major computer attack.

David Powner, director of technology issues for the Government Accountability Office, told Congress last month that the U.S. has no recovery plan for a digital disaster.

“We’re clearly not as prepared as we should be,” he said.

Administration officials says the U.S. has not kept pace with technological innovations needed to protect its computer networks against emerging threats from hackers, criminals or other nations looking for national security secrets.

U.S. computer networks, including those at the Pentagon and other federal agencies, are under persistent attack, ranging from nuisance hacking to more nefarious assaults, possibly from other nations, such as China. Industry leaders told Congress during a recent hearing that law enforcement and other protections are too outdated to fend off threats from criminals, terrorists and unfriendly foreign nations.

Just last week, a former government official revealed that spies had hacked into the U.S. electric grid and left behind computer programs that would let them disrupt service. The intrusions were discovered after electric companies gave the government permission to audit their systems, said the ex-official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Cyberthreats are also included as a key potential national security risk outlined in a classified report put together by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Pentagon officials say they spent more than $100 million in the last six months responding to and repairing damage from cyberattacks and other computer network problems.

Nadia Short, vice president at General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, said the job posting for ethical hackers fills a critical need for the government.

The analysts keep constant watch on the government networks as part of a program called Einstein that was initiated by the Bush administration under the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team.

Short said the $60 million, four-year contract with US-CERT uses the ethical hackers to analyze threats to the government’s computer systems and develop ways to reduce vulnerabilities.

Faced with such cyberchallenges, Obama ordered the 60-day review to examine how federal agencies manage and protect their massive amounts of data and what the government’s role should be in guarding the vast networks that control the country’s vital utilities and infrastructure.

Over the past two months, Hathaway met with hundreds of industry leaders, Capitol Hill staff and other experts, seeking guidance on what the federal government’s role should be in protecting information networks against an attack. She sought recommendations on how officials should define and report cyberincidents and attacks; how the government should structure its cyberoversight; and how the nation can increase security without stifling innovation.

A task force of technology giants, including representatives from General Dynamics, IBM, Lockheed Martin and Hewlett-Packard Co. urged the administration to establish a White House-level official to lead cyberefforts and to develop ways to share information on problems more quickly with the private sector.

The administration has struggled with the basics, such as who should control the nation’s cyberspace programs. There appears to be some agreement now that the White House should coordinate the overall effort, rejecting suggestions that the National Security Agency take it on – a plan that triggered protests on Capitol Hill and from civil liberties groups worried about giving such control to spy agencies.

Source: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/apr/19/191330/wanted-computer-hackers-help-government/news-breaking/

Q & A: White African…

Erik Hersman, author of White African...

Erik Hersman (also known as Hash) is one of the co-founders of Ushahidi & the founder of Afrigadget.

(A short bio can be found on his blog…)

The 411…: Can you tell us a little about yourself?

White African: I grew up in Kenya and Sudan as a son of missionaries, which as you might guess means that I’m a proud graduate of Rift Valley Academy in Kijabe. After school, I left for the US and got into web technology. I’ve been writing about both low- and high-tech in Africa at WhiteAfrican and AfriGadget for a number of years now.

The 411…: How did you get into blogging?

White African: It was really quite simple, I had been in the web space for a while and just decided that I wanted to try this blogging thing that people were talking about. My first blog posts had nothing to do with Africa or technology, I only found my comfort zone there after my first couple months.

The 411…: Why did you decide to start a blog?

White African: I think it was just trying something new. Since I had never kept a diary it wasn’t for that purpose, it was more about just sharing and thinking outloud.

The 411…: What was the name of your first blog?

White African: WhiteAfrican of course. It’s funny, I set that up as a tongue in cheek name for a blog, having no idea how popular it would become. I think it’s edginess catches some people off guard, but once they realize what it’s about, they jump right in.

The 411…: What blogging platform did you use to start with? What are you using now and why?

White African: WordPress. Always WordPress, and I don’t think I’ll change anytime soon. It’s the best tool out there, has a great community behind it and it’s free.

The 411…: What makes a good blog post?

White African: That depends on the type of blogger that you are. For me, the best blog posts are those that engages my readers and causes a dialogue to happen in the comments and on other blogs.

The 411…: What would you prioritize? Content? S.E.O.? Traffic? Readers?

White African: Content is king. Focus on content that matters to readers and everything else falls in line. It takes time though, give it a good 3 months to really get going. Blogging is a a long-term strategy for both people and businesses, you can’t expect to see returns until you’ve paid your dues.

The 411…: What’s the best thing a blogger can give to his readers?

White African: Consistency over time. There are so many flash-in-the-pan blogs. Some of them are great writers, but so many of them don’t make it past 1 year.

The 411…: List your three favorite blogs (the ones that you read the most).

White African: I don’t really have 3 favorites, but here’s a random sampling of the ones I follow:

• Chase Jarvis’ Blog – I’m into photography as an amateur, and always enjoy reading this one.
• The TED Blog – Always great content and links to the TED Talks.
• The Faust Chronicle – Up until recently when he quit…

The 411…: If someone was interested in blogging, what would be a few things you would suggest?

White African: Start by reading blogs. Get involved in the commenting and get a feel for how blogging is different. Find the community you’re going to be blogging with. Think of a good name. Only after you’ve done that should you start your blog.

Quickfire Round:

1) Your favorite browser?

~ Firefox.

2) Your favorite search engine?

~ Google.

3) Best thing about the Net?

~ Information availability.

4) Worst thing about the Net?

~ It’s slow as hell in Kenya.

5) What is your favorite instant messaging software?

~ Skype.

10 Reasons to do Blog Interviews…

Here are 10 reasons why you should think about doing blog interviews, too:

1) Mix things up. It is difficult to be a news beacon, constantly finding the latest of what’s going on before others. Even if you’re great at it, you have to sleep sometime. Someone else may have the inside scoop.

2) Create a real conversation. Some of the top diggers have done a good job of every post being a conversation in their weekly podcast, the Drill down. They make a point to have regular guests as well. Social Blend does a fine job of this as well.

3) Paid reviews seem cheap. It comes off as more believable to have an interview over a paid review any day.

4) Interviewing will get you links. You’ll get links from the interviewee at a minimum, potentially along with part of their audience as well.

5) Other people will get the idea and interview you. Since you will now serve as a forum for others to get noticed, people will want to interview or quote you as well.

6) Become an influencer. If you interview a software company, you should be on their list of private beta testers. This will allow you to get a head start in the next new new thing.

7) Bring in a new discipline of expertise. No matter what your blog focus is, you can bring in folks from all sorts of disciplines. Squareoak had a good example of this recently, considering that they write a social media blog and interviewed an economist.

Freeze writer’s block in its tracks. Can’t think of anything meaningful to blog about? A good back and forth interview will not only produce a sweet piece of content (the interview itself), but will also get you thinking about follow up questions and new post ideas.

9) Beef up your journalism skills. Show the world that you are more than a borderline crazy person / ranter with some solid journalism skills. Doing some background on the interviewee and verifying sources goes a long way, and shows that you know your stuff.

10) It helps you get new gigs. Regularly doing interviews brings such a fresh source of content that you will reach your blog goals more easily, be it RSS subscribers, consulting, or new blogging gigs.

Source: NowSourcing.