Artificial Intelligence for Development Document No: AID/newsletter/number 7 Last Modified and by whom: 20/1/93 kk Distributed on: 20/1/92 Artificial Intelligence for Development Newsletter Number 7 January 1993 Contents Cheerioh! News from around the world New Literature Jobs Conferences Groups, bulletin boards and mailing lists Contact Personnel Cheerioh! Apologies as usual for a for anything that's out of date. Please check the deadlines, if there are any, for jobs and conferences with the employer/organiser. Apologies also for the mailinglist failures of the past few issues. If you want copies of newsletters prior to this one (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6) mail me. I am sending this one in ordinary ascii format to those of you with email. If you want a LaTeX copy, please email me for it. This is the last AI development newsletter I will be producing for the forseeable future. If anyone else would like to take over the newsletter and organising the group please contact me through any of the usual channels. kk@uk.ac.ed.aisb News from Around the World Public access medical informatics software Renato M.E. Sabbatini SABBATINI@BR.UNICAMP.CCVAX writes: The Center for Biomedical Informatics of the State University of Campinas, Brazil, announces the availability of a new public-access directory containing files for distribution via anonymous FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to all Internet remote sites. Its domain is MEDICAL APPLICATIONS OF INFORMATICS and contains documents in ASCII format, as well public-domain software. As of October 1992, the directory contains ca. 40 programs. To access this directory, your local system must have the FTP program. Execute this program by entering the following line: FTP CCSUN.UNICAMP.BR or FTP 143.106.1.5 (the numeric address is better) When you the prompt FTP appears, enter: USER ANONYMOUS and when prompted for your password, enter your e-mail address. Having gained access to the system (it's UNIX-based), use cd pub/medicine Read the README and 00-INDEX.TXT files first, in order to acknowledge yourself with the norms and contents of this directory. Attention: This directory continuously receives additional files. You will receive an e-mail message whenever this happens, but only if you ask us to do so. We gladly accept contributions to the public-domain directory. Please address all requests for submissions (uploadings) to the directory-owner below. It is our intention to foster educational and practical uses of computers in Medicine and Health Sciences by providing free access to software resources and documentation, to the international community. More AI in Medicine results from Brazil Renato M.E. Sabbatini SABBATINI@BR.UNICAMP.CCVAX writes: A group of physicians, nurses and medical informatics specialists at the Medical School of State University of Campinas, Brazil, are using artificial neural networks to predict death risk for critical patients in ICU's. The neural network was trained with physiological, clinical and pathological data (30 variables, such as worst pCO2, coma level, arterial pressure, etc.) based on a sample of more than 300 patients, whose outcome was known. The paper will be presented at the MEDINFO'92 workshop on `Applications of Connectionist System in Biomedicine', September 8, 1992, in Geneva, Switzerland. Preprints are available from R.M.E. Sabbatini. OUTCOME PREDICTION FOR CRITICAL PATIENTS UNDER INTENSIVE CARE, USING BACKPROPAGATION NEURAL NETWORKS P. Felipe Jr., R.M.E. Sabbatini, P.M. Carvalho- Jknior, R.E. Beseggio, and R.G.G. Terzi Center for Biomedical Informatics, State University of Campinas, Campinas SP 13081-970 Brazil Several scores have been designed to estimate death probability for patients admitted to Intensive Care Units, such as the APACHE and MPM systems, which are based on regression analysis. In the present work, we have studied the potential of a model of artificial neural network, the three-layer perceptron with backpropagation learning rule, to perform this task. Training and testing data were derived from a Brazilian database which was previously used for calculating APACHE scores. All networks were able to reach convergence with a small global prediction error. Maximum percentages of 75 and 99.6 sensitivity and specificity were 60 We conclude that the neural network approach has worked well for outcome prognosis in a highly `noisy' dataset, with a similar, if slightly lower performance than APACHE II, but with the advantage of deriving its parameters from a regional dataset instead from an universal model. Cross-Cultural database Roberto Evaristo (EVARISTO @ UMNSOM.BITNET): writes How many times have you considered getting involved in cross- cultural research in information systems but had difficulties finding an appropriate partner with similar interests? We have implemented a database with the objective of bringing together researchers with interest in cross-cultural research in the IS field. We hope that this will be an added incentive for getting more people involved in cross-cultural research. This database, although including people with research interests in developing countries, includes people that are interested in developed countries as well. There are currently about 105 people listed in the database. An e-mail list is being implemented to provide a forum for all interested researchers to express their ideas or simply exchange information on any topic of interest to the community. All those who sign-up for the database will (a) be included in this e-mail list and (b) be sent a complete electronic listing of the database, including all other members' research interests and addresses. If you are interested, please send the following information to Roberto Evaristo (at the e-mail address EVARISTO @ UMNSOM.BITNET): Name, Mailing Address, E-mail address, Research Interests, and a list of countries (or areas of the world) that you are particularly interested in for getting involved in cross-cultural research. OBSERVATION: Please also mention if you have limitations in file sizes to be received over e-mail, because the full database listing is about 2000 lines long (and still growing). AI in Iran anoosh@com.mips writes: Informatic Society of Iran - Artificial Intelligence Specialist Interest Group An Initial Proposal This is an initial assessment of interest for formulating a proposal directed to the Informatic Society of Iran (ISI) with the aim of setting up a SIG covering the area of Artificial Intelligence and its related fields. The intended outcome is a collection of ideas and visions on what could the SIG do, what problems it might encounter and how those problems could be handled. For those who are not familiar with the ISI there is a brief introduction to the Society in the appendix below. Why AI-SIG? - There is currently no AI society or sub-society active in Iran, therefore no duplication of activity/effort will be done. - There are formal courses on AI being taught in universities (e.g. MSc in AI) and there are increasing number of research papers authored by Iranians appearing in international conferences and journals: therefore there is a suitable ground to work on. (I do not honestly know why there has not been an AI-SIG established by now.) - AI-SIG can offer an international forum for the Iranian AI community through, for example, publishing a periodical, holding seminars (regional), participating in the organisation of conferences. Also it could become the technological point of contact in the field of AI in Iran (i.e. for collaboration with other AI groups or individuals). Essentially; `a means to receive, gather and disseminate technology'. - The list of benefits that such AI-SIG could offer, both at individual level and national level, could be much longer. The list of implementational activities could also be enriched and that is what I hope we will achieve through your replies. ISI (see the appendix) already enjoys a well established administrative and technical support structure evolved over its 14 years of activity. Further, it has the benefit of having contacts in the industry and academia. As part of its activity spectrum, ISI is interested in setting up SIGs, and I know of at least one such SIG in ISI (C programming). ISI is the obvious choice if one believes that one strong society can be more productive than few small ones. I feel that some of the key issues to touch on include: - how to make it successful amongst Iranians abroad, - how could Iranians abroad contribute to its success, - the desired relationship between the SIG and its parent society, - the nature and content of the activities that the AI-SIG could undertake (periodical, seminars, etc.) - the issues of language (Farsi vs. others) and geographical dispersion, - costs: (A word on the potential cost of membership: Current membership fee of ISI is 25 USDollars (15 Pounds Sterling) payable abroad, or, 5000 Rials payable in Iran. So I would imagine that ISI and its AI-SIG membership would cost about 30 USDollars per annum.) - in order to assess the potential of the SIG, it would be a great help if you could indicate whether you would be willing to take on membership of an AI-SIG, take on an active role (e.g. by contributing to a periodical and/or regional seminars), and also what could the SIG offer to make it a more attractive forum to its members. * Please MAKE COPIES AND PASS ON to any Iranian whom you might feel could be interested in the topic. * Your IDEAS, COMMENTS AND THOUGHTS will be most gratefully appreciated. - I can be contacted by: Email: amir@case.co.uk, Tel: (+44) (923) 258292 (work), (+44) (71) 2213119 (home) Address: Amir S. Tabandeh, Research Department, Dowty Communications Ltd. Caxton Way, Watford, Herts. WD1 8XH, England Appendix: Few words on ISI: ISI is a non-profit-distributing and independent society (no affiliation to the government, universities or companies) purely devoted to promoting computer science and its related topics in Iran. It has been active since 1357 (1978). Its executive body is elected bi-annually. All active members work on voluntary basis. ISI has just under one thousand members from universities and companies in Iran and abroad (the figure is a guesstimate). Apart from the class of `student membership', members should hold at least a BSc. ISI activities include, but not limited to, publishing `Computer Report (ISI-CR)' (a bi-monthly magazine), holding monthly seminars, organising conferences (the latest was on `Computers in Education'), organising educational and awareness courses, compiling a Computer Dictionary (English-Farsi), maintaining a library, etc. ISI activities are fundamentally based on its members' initiatives and endurance. Its financial accounts are published annually. The latest was in CR Vol.13, No.4 (Nov. 1991), indicating that the main sources of income are subscription dues and members' donations. New Literature Reprinted without permission from the AI in Medicine mailinglist. Source for this information was humphrey@gov.nih.nlm (Susanne M Humphrey). University Microfilms Order Number ADG92-34334. SCHOENHOFF, DORIS MARIE. THE BAREFOOT EXPERT: THE INTERFACE OF COMPUTERIZED KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS AND INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS. Washington University Ph.D. 1992, 228 pages. DAI V53(07), SecB, pp3607. Computer Science. Education, Bilingual and Multicultural. Artificial Intelligence. Computerized expert systems, implementations of Artificial Intelligence, are unique from earlier forms of technology because they seek to externalize man's reasoning ability and to breed, not simple store, knowledge outside of the human mind. This knowledge-based technology, which purports to symbolically encode knowledge and expertise, can never be completely extricated from the language, culture, and context in which it is designed and implemented. To be humanly meaningful in Third World environments, expert systems must incorporate indigenous knowledge and indigenous reasoning about knowledge. Imprecise, unsystematic local knowledge will be pitted against Western prejudices that `real' knowledge, `technical' knowledge is formalized, logical, verifiable, externalized, and impersonal. Knowledge, however, can never be completely articulated or formalized. Expert systems can only encapsulate what experts say about their knowledge. While respect for the local knowledge and wisdom is critical, it is also important not to idealize or romanticize it. Traditional systems may, in fact, be improved by incorporating certain elements of Western knowledge and science. The decision to implement knowledge-based systems places ethical demands and risks upon those in power within Third World nations and upon those from the industrialized nations that trade with and for that power. These knowledge-based systems can potentially be useful tools in developing the critical consciousness of local community leaders because the design process forces individuals to think about their knowledge and not just act upon it. While they are potential tools, expert systems are also a potential threat to personal and social identity. Whether in a traditional society or in a modern society, our identity and role are largely determined by what we know. To convince someone that most of their knowledge is useless or even wrong is to proffer death not development. Western experts must be open to the possibility of their own ignorance and not let their self-perceived expertise preclude local participation and decision. If we do not seek the empowerment of the local communities, then our own technological knowledge, including our attempts to recreate ourselves in silicon and symbols, diminishes us and puts wisdom and global peace further from our reach. Jobs Costa Rica Program Officer, Costa Rica. Acceso, a non-profit service organization based in Costa Rica, provides communication services, information, training and technical assistance to NGOs in Central America. The program officer will be responsible for contributing to the design, start- up, and consolidation of an electronic network for communications and information exchange between NGOs in the region; recruitment and orientation of new organizations on the network; coordinating the organizations that will contribute specific information products to the network; working closely with the network steering committee; training new users; assisting with the development of training materials; and participating in the administration and institutional development of Acceso. Essential Requirements: A personal commitment to the regionUs social and economic development, bilingual (English/Spanish), minimum of 4 years professional experience with NGOs, university degree, familiarity with computers and word processing programs, ability to write clearly and analytically. Preferred Requirements: Central American origin or experience, experience with electronic communication, applied experience in management of development organizations, experience in training and knowledge of training programs and methods. Remuneration: Competitive salary and benefits commensurate with experience. Please submit: Resume, an original essay in Spanish (maximum two typed pages) on the topic 'Factores Criticos para el Trabajo de Organizaciones Privadas de Desarrollo en los Annos Noventa,' and the names and phone numbers of three professional references. Send application to: Acceso, P.O. Box 025216-34, Miami, FL 33102- 5216, or by e-mail to acceso@nicarao.apc.org. Application deadline: January 15, 1993. Nigeria das@castle.ed.ac.uk (D Stewart) writes: Eclipse compuing need someone to work on a contract in Nigeria. This would involve looking after a BP computing (unix ?) system in Nigeria. This would initially be for one year (could be two). UKL 40,000 tax free, banked in the UK. All expenses paid plus flights home. 10 weeks on 2 weeks off. If at all interested then please contact:- Colin Garrod, Eclipse Computing, Unit 17, Thistle Business Park North, Ayr Rd, Cumnock, Ayrshire, SCOTLAND, KA18 1EQ, Phone: 0290 20987 Fax: 0290 20233 Vietnam fair@iss.nus.sg (Kim Michael Fairchild) writes: I have been asked by SCITEC/LOTUS in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to post this message. They are interested in hosting lecturers at this leading computer technology institute. If you have a desire to see Vietnam, this is a marvelous opportunity. I have lectured there myself several times. Basically, in exchange for lecturing, they will arrange your visas, hotels, cars, drivers, guides, and trips out of Saigon. They are interested in most computer technology, in particular multimedia, and technologies that are emerging. If you would like more information, write to me at fair@iss.nus.sg or fax directly to Vietnam at 84.8.30059, Attention: Director Hiep. I will be going myself on Jan 20th (with my mom who will guest lecture at some English classes) and if you wish, I can bring hard-copy of any messages you might have. Latin America (Location Boston) ccrazy@athena.mit.edu (Ellen Kranzer) writes: Position Open: Project Officer for Electronic Communications Organization: Latin American Scholarship Program of American Universities (LASPAU). Responsibilities: Cooperates with LASPAU staff to ensure that Fulbright scholars are connected to BITNET and the Internet at their host universities. Develops an electronic network of Fulbright scholars in the United States and Fulbright alumni in Latin America. On behalf of and in cooperation with Latin American and Caribbean universities -- with the assistance of consultants to LASPAU -- develops and oversees plans to provide `value added services' to increase electronic-mail message volume and the number of users in Latin American and Caribbean academic and research institutions. Maintains electronic mail lists for other projects. Reports to Program Director. Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in a related discipline. Two to three years of experience with electronic-communications technology and communications Fluency in Spanish is required. Knowledge of Latin American higher education systems a plus. Hiring Salary: US dollars 26,400 - 33,800/year Send Resumes to: Joyce Lamensdorf, Personnel Officer, LASPAU, 25 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 The Latin American Scholarship Program of American Universities (LASPAU), affiliated with Harvard University, is a nonprofit organization which assists in the development of universities and other public and private institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. LASPAU administers approximately 1,000 scholarships per year for Latin American and Caribbean professionals to pursue graduate studies in the United States. The organization also offers specialized educational consulting services to institutions both inside and outside of the Americas. Conferences Social science research, technical systems and cooperative work: Workshop DATE: March 8-11, 1993 VENUE: French Research and Space Ministry, 1 rue Descartes, 75005 Paris, France HOSTED: The Delagation for Scientific and Technical Information of France's Research and Space Ministry, The British Council TOPICS: The number of people participating in the workshop will be limited in order to ensure optimal working conditions. Each participant will be asked to provide `notes' summarizing his or her experience in building technical systems to support cooperative work, especailly on processes of collaboration across the divide. `Notes' are not `papers': the goal is to identify and critically analyze the obstacles that have to be overcome in order to build an academic working culture in the area. The `papers' will be requested after the workshop from a certain number of participants. The goal is to publish a book on `Social Science Research, Technical Systems and Cooperative Work' which will help lay the foundations of work in this growing area. DEADLINES: The Organization Committee select contributions to the workshop by Dec. 15. CORRESPONDENCE: People wanting to participate should send a one-page description of their professional activity indicating the questions they would like to address to : G. Bowker, Center for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, Mathematics Tower, University of Manchester, M13 9PL, UK email: g.c.bowker@manchester.ac.uk International Conference on Information Technology and People - ITAP'93 DATE: May 24-26, 1993 VENUE: Moscow, Russia HOSTED: International Centre for Scientific and Technical Information (Moscow), The Institute of Electrical Engineers (UK), British Computer Society (UK), Open University (UK), Human Factors Society, ACM SIG on Computers and Society, Journal `Information Technology and People' TOPICS: IT and changing society, Strategic implications of IT, The revolution in the mass-media, IT and quality of life, IT in the home, IT's impact on working life and skills, IT in retail distribution and banking, Health and safety conditions - implications of IT, IT and disabled people, Electronic social and culture information, Computer networks and human-to-human interaction, Barriers to communication, Social protocol and social machines, Future media and evaluation of forthcoming IT, Interactive experience, Creative/innovative lifestyles and IT, Intellectual property, Human and organizational factors in information technology, IT in education and training, IT and government, IT in manufacturing FORMAT FOR PAPERS: Submissions for papers and poster sessions are invited in the form of abstracts of about 500 words to be sent by email OR FAX to the conference secretaries. Each submission should state whether for paper or poster session, it should identify a topic area to which it is addressed, and any supporting facilities required. Submissions should include name(s) of authors, postal and email addresses, and a list of keywords. PROCEEDINGS: Authors of papers accepted are expected to send a 5000 word text by March 15th for publication in English in the Proceedings of the conference. LANGUAGE: English and Russian DEADLINES: 15th December 1992 CORRESPONDENCE: enir@ccic.icsti.msk.su or FAX No (7095)943-00-89, and m.allott@open.ac.uk or FAX No (44)998 653744). XIX Latin American Informatics Conference The XIX Latin American Informatics Conference will be held along with the 22nd Argentine Meeting of Informatics and Operational Research. DATE: 2nd - 6th of August, 1993 VENUE: Buenos Aires, Argentina TOPICS : Algorithms and Data Structures. Artificial Intelligence. Databases and Knowledge Bases. Networks and Distributed Systems. Non-Conventional Architectures. Software Engineering. Programming Paradigms. Connectionism and Neural Networks. Human-Computer Interfaces. Optimization and Simulation. Informatics in Education. Informatics and Government. FORMAT FOR PAPERS: Prospective authors should submit three copies of their work, of up to 20 A4 pages in lenght (21 x 29.7cm) double-spaced, with an abstract of no more than 200 words LANGUAGE: Spanish, Portuguese or English. DEADLINES: Papers by APRIL 1st, 1993. Notification of acceptance or rejection will be communicated by May 31st, 1993. CORRESPONDENCE: Papers should be sent to: Program Committee PANEL '93/22 JAIIO, SADIO Uruguay 252, 2do. piso D 1015 Buenos Aires, Argentina For additional information, contact: jaiio@sadio.edu.ar, fax +54-1-476-3950, telephone +54-1-40-5755. The 1993 East-West International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction DATE: 3-6 August, 1993 (tentative) VENUE: Moscow, Russia TOPICS: human factors and ergonomics, formal methods, modeling, and simulation, object-oriented languages and systems, knowledge-based and expert systems and interfaces, hypertext and hypermedia, networking and computer-mediated human communication, graphics and video, marketing and use of interactive systems, architectures for interactive systems, user testing practices, user interface standardization, both corporate and industrial, user interface tools and development environments FORMAT FOR PAPERS: For those intending to submit a paper, tutorial, poster, demonstration or video the notification should include the format, title and a brief outline (100 words) of the proposed submission. Proposals for a demonstration should include details of the equipment required. PC based demonstations will be especially appropriate. Those interested in attending but who do not intend to submit a presentation should include a brief statement summarising their interests (300 words). Submissions must include Name, Address, Telephone number, Fax number and e-mail address. For those in the West, all other materials must be sent in hardcopy to: Claus Unger, Praktische Informatik II, Fernuniversitat, Feithstr. 140, D-5800 Hagen, GERMANY PROCEEDINGS: A Proceedings of the conference will be published. LANGUAGE: English, translation provided when necessary. DEADLINES: Feb 15, 1993 Notification of intention to participate, March 15 Submissions, May 1 Notification of acceptance, June 1 Submission of camera-ready copy for the Proceedings CORRESPONDENCE: The notification of intention to participate should be e-mailed to: ew-submit.chi@xerox.com. Questions should be directed to: ew-info.chi@xerox.com. Intellectual Property Rights in Computer Software and their Impact on Developing Countries. DATE: Fri 20-21, Aug 1993 VENUE: Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore INDIA HOSTED: International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP WG9.4) and Computer Society of India (CSI) in cooperation with Institution of Engineers (IE) Indian Institute of Science (IISc) TOPICS: How well is the existing IPR regime in software currently working in developed and developing countries?, Do developing countries need alternative IPR regimes?, Comparative evaluation and impact on a country's economy of different patent regimes, Creation, classification and access to software patent databases, Current defensive techniques for avoiding IPR difficulties, Landmark legal case studies of IPR disputes and their resolution, Case studies of the workings of national patent offices in the area of software, Impact of Dunkel proposals in developed and developing countries, Nature and distribution of software patents and actual ownership, Perspectives of established software companies in developed countries wrt developing countries in the area of IPR, Licensing of technologies to developing countries, High cost of productivity software, Control of unauthorised duplication of software in developed and developing countries, Strategies and options for developing countries post-Dunkel, Impact of ``open systems'' like IBM PC for world economy, IPR in automatically generated code, Philosophical/equity issues in assigning IPR to ``common property resources'', Case studies of how IPR were articulated and enforced in new technologies in the past, Similarities and differences with IPR in other areas like biotechnology FORMAT FOR PAPERS: E-mail submission is strongly encouraged, esp. in Latex / Wordstar format. (All e-mail submissions will be acknowledged - please remail if there is no ack.) If e-mail facility is not available, authors should submit five copies of the manuscript in A4 size paper not exceeding 20 pages. PROCEEDINGS: Will be published by North Holland under an arrangement with IFIP. LANGUAGE: English DEADLINES: Full Paper May 1, 1993, Acceptance notice June 15, 1993, Final manuscript July 15, 1993 REGISTRATION: The registration fee is Rs. 600 / US dollars 100 which will cover lunches and teas. Participants from developing countries may apply for subsidy from the registration committee. ACCOMMODATION: Accommodation arrangements should be made directly by participants. It is expected that some housing will be made available in the Institute Guest House. Details will be made available later. CORRESPONDENCE: K. Gopinath, Asst. Prof. Computer Science and Automation (CSA), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore 560012 INDIA Telex: 0845-8349 IISc IN Fax: 091-0812-341683 e-mail: ipr@maitreyi.csa.iisc.ernet.in Support for attending IJCAI Alan Bundy (bundy@uk.ac.ed.aisb) writes: TRAVEL GRANTS FOR IJCAI-93 IJCAII has established a program to provide support for travel to and participation in IJCAI-93, the 13th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, which will take place in Chambery, France from 29 August to 3 September 1993. The amounts awarded will vary depending on location and on the number of persons applying. The intent is to help about 100 people. Priority will be given (1) to younger members of the AI community who are presenting papers or are on panels at the conference and who would not otherwise be able to attend because of limited travel funds and (2) to members of the AI community whose countries have currency problems and cannot provide support for attendance at IJCAI-93. To insure consideration, applications should be received by 1 May 1993. They should briefly identify the expected form of conference participation; describe benefits that would result from attendance; specify current sources of research funding; and list travel support from other sources. A brief resume should be attached, and students should include a letter of recommendation from a faculty member. Awards from the grants will be issued after the conference following submission of receipts for expenses incurred and a brief report on participation in the conference. Although grants will be awarded in specified denominations, payment will be made on the basis of actual expenses. Three copies of the application should be sent to: Priscilla Rasmussen, IJCAI-93 Travel Grants Rutgers, the State University Laboratory for Computer Science Research Hill Center, Busch Campus New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA +1-908-932-2768 phone +1-908-932-0537 fax rasmussen@aramis.rutgers.edu IFIP WG 9.4, 1994 The impact of Informatics on Society: Key issue for Developing Countries DATE: February 21-23, 1994. VENUE: the International Conference Centre, Havana, Cuba HOSTED: Working Group 9.4 of the International Federation of Information Processing Societies, INSAC, The National Institute for Automated Systems and Computer Technics, (Electronics and Informatics Ministry), Cuba, National Electronic Front and National Informatics Committee, Non Governmental Organizations, and Havana University TOPICS: Social Implications, Strategies and Policies for Developing Countries, Impact of I. T. Applications, Improving Social Services, Increasing the Competitiveness of Business, Export of Services and Software PROCEEDINGS: Xerox copies of the full papers will be available at the conference. An edited proceedings will be produced after the conference. DEADLINES: Notice of intent to participate, as soon as possible. Submission of 2-3 page abstract, June 15, 1993. Notice of acceptance, September 1, 1993. Full papers due: December 1, 1993. CORRESPONDENCE: Submit papers and program queries to: Prof. Sam Lanfranco, Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC), York University (Room 240YL), 4700 Keele Street, North York, Ontario, Canada, M3J 1P3, phone: (416) 736-5237 (English or Spanish), fax: (416) 736-5737, email: lanfran@vm1.yorku.ca Volunteers to work with the Cuban Organizing Committee contact: Prof. Ruben A. Lopez Santana, INSAC, 5ta Ave No. 4602 entre 46 y 60 ,Playa, Habana 11300, La Habana, Cuba, Phone: + 53-7 -331191,222530-40,221463,222885, Fax: + 53-7-331233,332510,331191, Telex: 511258 and 511706 dric cu, E. Mail: insac Volunteers to work with the International Organizing Committee or Program Committee contact: Prof. Larry Press, California State University, Dominguez Hills, 10726 Esther Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90064, phone: (310) 475-6515, fax: (310) 516-3664 (fax), email: lpress@isi.edu Groups, Bulletin Boards and Mailing Lists Niblist Renato M.E. Sabbatini SABBATINI@BR.UNICAMP.CCVAX writes: The State University of Campinas announces the availability of NIBNews, an electronic newsletter dedicated to Medical Informatics. The Newsletter has the objetive of disseminating information about Brazilian and Latin-american activities, people, news, scientific events, publications, software, etc., in the area of computer applications in healthcare, medicine and biology. It is issued on a monthly basis to voluntary subscribers, only. Subscription is free. Past issues are available by FTP (issue 1 is dated June 1992). Periodically, NIBNews contains notices about new public-domain medical software added to the Internet FTP public directory CCSUN.UNICAMP.BR, maintained by the State University of Campinas. NIBNews is distributed automatically through LISTSERV@CCSUN.UNICAMP.BR, which is a Sun-based server located at the State University of Campinas, in Campinas, Brazil. To subscribe, send an one-line message to the listserver above, containing: SUBSCRIBE NIBNEWS Your Name NIBNews is also a moderated list, so you may submit contributions to it, addressing NIBNEWS@CCSUN.UNICAMP.BR In case you do not have access to Internet, send your request for subscription or submission directly to my email address. Southern Africa Net jim@sytex.com (Jim Arnold) writes: I would like to draw people's attention to a new network being set up under the auspices of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the World Food Program, called `SAFIRE' or Southern Africa Food Information Resources Exchange. This network is now being put into place, using FTSC (fidonet) technology, and links with MANGO Net and other existing African networks. For information, contact john.glazer@f183.n109.z1.fidonet.org I am sure he will be happy to respond to any queries. Gnet Laurence Press (LPRESS@ISI.EDU) writes: GNET: an Archive and Electronic Journal, Toward a Truly Global Network Computer-mediated communication networks are proliferating and growing rapidly, yet they are not truly global -- they are concentrated in affluent parts of North America, Western Europe, and parts of Asia. GNET is an archive/journal for documents pertaining to the effort to bring the net to lesser-developed nations and the poorer parts of developed nations. (Net access is better in many `third world' schools than in South-Central Los Angeles). GNET consists of two parts, an archive directory and a moderated discussion. Archived documents are available by anonymous ftp from the directory global at dhvx20.csudh.edu (155.135.1.1). To conserve bandwidth, the archive contains an abstract of each document, as well as the full document. (Those without ftp access can contact me for instructions on mail-based retrieval). In addition to the archive, there is a moderated GNET discussion list. The list is limited to discussion of the documents in the archive. It is hoped that document authors will follow this discussion, and update their documents accordingly. If this happens, the archive will become a dynamic journal. Monthly mailings will list new papers added to the archive. We wish broad participation, with papers from nuts-and-bolts to visionary. Suitable topics include, but are not restricted to: low-cost, appropriate-technology networks, satellite and terrestrial packet radio, communication protocols, connection options, host and user software, the current state of global networking, current applications, proposed applications, education in a networked world, education for a networked world, social implications of a global network, economic implications of a global network, politics and funding for a global network, political implications of a global network, free speech on the global network, environmental implications of a global network, directories and lists of people and resources To submit a document to the archive or subscribe to the moderated discussion list, send a message to gnet Africa-l To subscribe to africa-l,a listserv list dealing with Africa, send the following message: SUBSCRIBE AFRICA-L name name area of interest SET AFRICA-L REPRO to this address: LISTSERV@BRUFBP.BITNET Comnet-IT THE COMMONWEALTH NETWORK OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR DEVELOPMENT (COMNET-IT) COMNET-IT is a newly formed Commonwealth organisation working to build networks of people and institutions cooperating to harness Information Technology for development. It is intended that COMNET-IT will share the experiences, successes and failures, of Information Technology applications and of national policies; will identify key areas of research; and will assess training opportunities. COMNET-IT will make the maximum use of existing computer networks for information sharing within and between Commonwealth countries. COMNET-IT is an umbrella organisation within which a series of related Task Forces will be working in specific areas: The Technical Advice Task Force will be providing advice, support and encouragement to key people, particularly in developing countries, enabling them to take maximum advantage from existing networks. Contact: Dr. S. Ramani phone: +91-22-6200590 fax: +91-22-6210139 email: ramani@ncst.ernet.in ramani@shakti.ernet.in The Directory/Partnership Task Force will be enhancing the value and attractiveness of existing professional networks by providing directories and by developing and supporting communities of interest. Contact: Mr. J. Seymour phone: +44-71-405-8400 fax: +44-71-242-1845 email: j.seymour@noc.ulcc.ac.uk The Management Development Task Force will strengthen and develop the lines of communication between Commonwealth national and regional Management Development Institutions. Contact: Mr. P. Schmidt phone: +61-3-2151156 fax: +61-3-2151166 email: mez113d@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au The Research Task Force will share experiences of IT applications, and will develop individual and collaborative research proposals. Contact: Dr. S. Bhatnagar phone: +91-272-407241 fax: +91-272-467396 email: subhash@iimahd.ernet.in The Publications/Newsletter Task Force will facilitate the sharing of papers from personnel within the developing countries, supported by a system of active moderation. The Task Force will also be collaborating with IFIP Working Group 9.4 to produce a shared newsletter 'Information Technology in Developing Countries'. Contact: Dr. S. Bhatnagar phone: +91-272-407241 fax: +91-272-467396 email: subhash@iimahd.ernet.in The Caribbean Region Task Force is the first of an intended series of regional Task Forces concerned to identify and support local Networking Centres. Contact: R. Sanatan phone: +592-2-69281 fax: +592-2-67816 The COMNET-IT Secretariat will respond to general enquiries. Contact: Ms S. Qureshi phone: +44-71-839-3411 (x8322) fax: +44-71-930-0827 email: comsec@noc.ulcc.ac.uk