China Trys self-disciplinary approach in regulating Internet Cafes

After conducting over 19000 inspection in a little under 10 months , The Shanghai City authorities are realising the futility in this conventional policing approach.
Now in association with the operators of " Web Bar " s they are popularly reffered here in china They have a launched a Self -regulatory approach

Fang Zhiping, the association's vice secretary-general. of the Shanghai Internet Service Association is quoted in shanghai Daily
"We will conduct some self-disciplinary work and surveys on the Net cafe users' behavior to guide the public's Internet access service toward healthy growth,"

Hope this experiments proves a better approach.

USA gearing up for Cafe 2.0

Independent information architecture consultant Louis Rosenfeld at louisrosenfeld.com shares his concept of a ' Worker Friendly " cafe

The café I'd open would charge a fixed monthly "membership" rate (some number no greater than half what a local office would go for). In exchange it would provide some of the obvious shared business services, such as:

• Wireless internet access (already available in most cafés)
• Locked file cabinet drawers and other private storage space
• A conference room, equipped with a projection system, that could be reserved in advance, and catered (for an additional fee) by the café, naturally
• A copier
• Plenty of low cost incidental supplies, such as dry erase markers, paper clips, Post-it notes, and so on

Lois is adding to the trend called ' Going Bedouin "

Korean Game Industry facing a rough patch .

Steven Davis of Secureplay points out to rapid changes in the Internet Gamming industry. Most of the Internet Cafes in South Korea Online Gamming offers prime attraction. He points out a few issues " the Korean game industry is facing is its growing maturity. Now, games have become a standard part of the entertainment culture of the country. Players no longer stay with a game for 3 to 5 years, but flit between games and will stay with a game for only 18 months or less. This radically changes the economics of game development and operation. " add to it the newly introduced Game Rating Board of Korea that has been populated by more conservative individuals has not been kind enough to the more aggresive games.

Pakistan gets first internet cafe for blind

Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness (PFFB) has successfully launched a Internet Cafe for the blind,
Reports the Peninsula Qatar. The café involved the use of the JAWS software that provides voice output for every command given to the computer, enabling the blind to know what their fingers are doing. In the US it is considered a 20 year old technology

Read the whole story :

Islamabad gets first internet cafe for blind
Web posted at: 12/14/2006 4:47:14
Source ::: Internews

ISLAMABAD • Pakistan’s first-ever Internetcafé for the visually impaired has been inaugurated.

The project has been funded by the World Bank and the Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness (PFFB).

The WB granted Rs1.5m to the facility that promises to help bridge the technological gap between the blind and those blessed with the eyesight. The café would also link national and international blind communities.

IT Helpline Project Director Zahid Abdullah said the café involved the use of the JAWS software that provides voice output for every command given to the computer, enabling the blind to know what their fingers are doing.

Aqil Sajjad, the first visually impaired Pakistani pursuing his PhD at Harvard, introduced the software in Islamabad in 1999. The software was developed in the US 20 years ago.

The café is absolutely free and is equipped with the latest computers, scanner, printer and DSL connection for fast Internet browsing.

Officials said the facility would remain open from 4 pm to 7 pm Abdullah said the education and technology were two major levellers in the life of a visually impaired person. He hoped that students and professionals would make good use of the café.

Special Education Director General Sarfraz Ahmed asked the PFFB to submit proposals for the government to consider setting up more such facilities. He regretted that his directorate was established 38 years after Pakistan’s creation and the first policy for the disabled was formulated only in 2002.

Maqbool Ahmed, director of PFFB’s medical and research project, said 100 members of one family in Pakistan had been diagnosed as suffering from Retinitis Pigemento (RP), a genetically transmitted disease that causes progressive loss of vision.

Tell me Cost of access at Internet Cafes

Recently I got to talk ot a Internet Cafe operator form Mexico & Indonesia. I checked out with them what is rater for per hour of Internet Access in Internet Cafes, Suprisingly It was almost the same as charged in India ie approx equal to 0.45 US Dollar per hour !

There are some similar traits in these three countries

• All are part of developing economies
  
• Have high density population
• Most of the people depend heavily on shared Interent Access places & Interent cafes/ Telecentre remains a popular model
  
• Internet Cafe operators share the same dilemma, stiff competition due to cut throat pricing.
  

It will be interesting to know whats the state in other countries? So dear readers help me post the cost of access in your country in the comment box inthis format :

Example :
Prague, Czech Republic, USD 2.00
source : http://www.digitalgrabber.com/digital_lifestyle/the_strange_and_twisted_world_of_internet_cafes.html


I will compile it into a neat table . below

Lets hope it will throw up some interesting insights!

Kenya : Member of Parliament too depend on Internet Cafes

James Ratemo in The East African Standard, Nairobi Reports :

Can't find your Member of Parliament in his Continental House office? Try looking in the nearest city cyber-cafe.

Despite costing the National Assembly some Sh465 million - and boasting such necessities as an ultra-modern gym - MPs' offices in the building are not connected to the Internet.

"We cannot communicate with colleagues nor access the outside world," Gem MP, Mr Jakoyo Midiwo, yesterday told an Information and Communication Technology workshop for MPs. "Our alleged website is dead."

Midiwo and other MPs took the ICT secretary, Mr Juma Okech, to task over delays in providing them with Internet access.

Okech, however, assured them the Government was committed to a paperless public sector and urged the MPs to pass the ICT Bill, currently in the House.

The MPs were meeting to reflect on the role of Parliament in the information communication society. The two-day workshop is supported by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, through the e-Policy Resource Network, and the Government of Canada.

Copyright © 2006 The East African Standard.