1. eGY-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 EGU 2009, Vienna, 21 April 2009

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

3. 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/AfricaHigherEducation/Online.html

4. 孫子兵法孫子兵法

5. Dawn of the machine-readable Web

6. Integrative science - integrated data

7. 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 Courtesy: Mark Parsons

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

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

10. 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), …. eGY-Africa raise awareness (problems and benefits) strengthen cooperation influence policy + decisions. Goal: better Internet access for African scientists and educators Use the voice of the scientific community at the institutional, national, and international levels (advocacy) IUGG

11. eGY-Africa Program Organisational infrastructure (lever off eGY and IHY) National groups (use existing networks) Website, newsletter, conference presentations, articles (to share information and raise awareness) Measure Internet performance (PinGER 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 (eSDDC), IAP, ICTP, INASP, IST-Africa, UN-ECA, GIRAF, …

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