Tim Hanson
writes:
Okay, I'm starting to get this organized.
On Oct. 16 - 18 in Seattle, a conference going by the name of
"Creating Digital Dividends" will be hosted by the World Resources
Institute. It is supposedly a conference on bridging the technology
gap between First and Third World countries. It is sponsored by 3Com,
Compaq, Ericsson, HP, iGeneration, Intel, Lucent, Microsoft, Motorola,
Nokia, Weyerhaeuser, Worldcom, and RealNetworks. Its media sponsor
will be Business Week. The event will take place at:
Bell Harbor International Conference Center 2211 Alaskan Way Seattle,
WA 98121
The Institute has not yet seen fit to include the only companies which
market products and services many in the Third World can actually
afford, the Linux companies. An article about the apparent exclusion
can be found at:
http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20001005S0013
An email has been sent to the World Resources Institute's media
representative asking about the exclusion:
Adlai J. Amor Director of Media Relations World Resources Institute 10
G St. NE, Washington, DC 20002 Tel: (202) 729 7736 Fax: (202) 729 7616
Email: aamor@wri.org
There is a sleepy WRI discussion group (requires registration) at:
http://www.digitaldividend.org/frame_disc_brd.html
I hope to get a response from him saying that their oversight has been
corrected, that members of the Linux community will be invited to the
conference after all. If that is not the case I would like to visibly
remind attendees that Linux is here to stay and can significantly help
in bridging the digital divide, without further enriching the
wealthiest executives in world history. Doing so would require a
supply of Linux CDs, stuffed penguins, and other paraphenalia, plus a
group of Linux advocates in Seattle to pass them out. It's too bad no
one has yet constructed a 50 foot high giant penguin hot air balloon,
because that would be ideal. Other needs:
I would like to know about a list which will be friendly to our
coordination needs. Bonus points if someone is willing to put up a web
site.
If anyone knows of friendly people in the media to cover an event such
as this, please let me know. There is little reason to put on a show
if no one in the general audience knows about it.
I am very low on experience at activism. Advice is always appreciated.