EGU 2009 Vienna 21 April 2009 e GYAfrica

EGU 2009, Vienna, 21 April 2009 e. GY-Africa: addressing the digital divide for science in Africa Charles Barton, Australian National University Monique Petitdidier, CETP/CNRS, France Les Cottrell, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, USA Peter Fox, RPI, Troy, USA

Area Internet Users 2002 Population Tertiary Education http: //www. worldmapper. org/ The Scientific Divide

African Situation Access to the internet is so desirable to students, teachers, and scientists in Africa that they spend considerable time and money to get it. Many students surveyed, with no internet connection at their universities, resorted to private, fee-charging internet cafes to study and learn. Internet Café in Ghana www. arp. harvard. edu/Africa. Higher. Education/Online. html

Dawn of the machine-readable Web

Integrative science - integrated data

01 11 10 10 00 01 10 11 01 11 Courtesy: Mark Parsons

Earth & space science informatics responses GEOSS Architecture & Data Committee US National Geoinformatics System CEOS-WGISS Informatics Division One Geology ESSI CGI ESSI IUGG

From IGY to e. GY Data access Data discovery Data release Data preservation Data rescue Capacity building - reducing the Digital Divide Outreach & Education Virtual Observatories

e. GY-Africa Goal: better Internet access for African scientists and educators Use the voice of the scientific community at the institutional, national, and international levels (advocacy) • raise awareness (problems and benefits) • strengthen cooperation • influence policy + decisions. Executive: Alem Mebrahtu (Ethiopia), Victor Chukwume (Nigeria), Monique Petitdidier (France), Abebe Kibede (USA), Colin Reeves (Netherlands), Jean-Pierre Tchouanchoue (Cameroun), Victor Rochon (USA), Charles Barton (Australia), Les Cottrell (USA/UK), Arsène Kobea (Ivory Coast), Mohamed Gaye (Senegal), …. IUGG

e. GY-Africa Program • Organisational infrastructure (lever off e. GY and IHY) National groups (use existing networks) Website, newsletter, conference presentations, articles (to share information and raise awareness) Measure Internet performance (Pin. GER Project) Survey present status, problems, and benefits (Questionaire) Collate policy statements (naming and shaming) and case histories 2009 Workshop in Africa (jointly with others? ) • 2010 CODATA meeting in South Africa Work with related programs CODATA, UN-GAID (e. SDDC), IAP, ICTP, INASP, IST-Africa, UN-ECA, GIRAF, …

Interested in getting involved? Visit www. egy. org and go to e. GY-Africa Contact: alemmeb@yahoo. com victorchukwuma@yahoo. com charles. barton@anu. edu. au