Balancing Act NEWS UPDATE 56

COMING SOON: AFRICAN ICT INVESTMENT SPECIAL AND THE INTERNET IN SOMALIA
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Still pictures of African wildlife appear everywhere. There is a voracious
interest in wildlife in the developed world and animals are used in adverts
to exemplify product characteristics. This trade in images is now conducted
largely digitally over the internet. The "new economy" was supposed to
enable businesses to cut out "the middle man". For African wildlife
photographers things turned out to be a little more complex. Russell
Southwood uncovers a tale that has all the best ingredients of an internet
content story: financial pressures in a falling market, monopoly providers
and an oversupply of the key commodity.

If our correspondent is "off the mark" or you have factual amendments, mail
them to us and we will include them in subsequent News Updates. If you'd
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- > CORRECTIONS: Eagle-eyed Rob Lith of UUNet spotted an error in last
issue's On the Money section. Metropolis Transactive Holdings' claim to fame
is that it is owned by Primedia. It is not the owner of M-Web. A pure case
brain slippage on our part. Nina Chachu, Director of the Kumasi British
Council office wrote in to point out that the British Council web site for
Ghana can be viewed at: http://www.britishcouncil.org/ghana

URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT: IT & TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENTERPRISE OPPORTUNITIES IN
SOUTH AFRICA. A special presentation for computing and telecommunication
companies in Cambridge, UK by the Gauteng Economic Development Agency
(GEDA). 3pm Tuesday 24 April 2001 at New Hall, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge,
CB3 0DF, UK.Software growth in South Africa, which has consistently been
higher than the world average during the past two years, is expected to show
growth of at least 20 percent during the next three years. Over 90 percent
of the nation's IT industry is located in Gauteng (covering the Johannesburg
and Pretoria areas), where most multinational IT companies have a presence,
including several Silicon Valley businesses. Presenters: Dr Brian Armstrong,
Chief Analyst, South African Council for Scientific & Industrial Research.
Representing GEDA: Charles Jonker, CEO, Bev Pryde, Marketing &
Communications Executive. Please email Vanessa Peck on:
[email protected]

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INTERNET HITS AFRICAN WILDLIFE PIX SALES
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There are probably no more than 15-20 African wildlife photographers who
make a living from their work. The photographers bear the cost of shooting
the pictures. Their work is speculative: they sell what they can after
they've taken it. They rarely shoot to commission.

45-50% of the market for these pictures is in the USA, with largest part of
the remainder being sold in Europe and Japan. African wildlife images are
used in everything from holiday brochures to magazines and adverts. A
picture of a cheetah will be used to show that a product has speed. A
charging rhino might be used for its associations with power.

In the old pre-digital days, the photographers would supply their images to
a photo agency who would sell them to the eventual user, splitting the fee
50/50 with the photographer. The agency would take a wide range of pictures
from the photographer. Often the agency would be asked to "send over some
pictures" which meant they made an initial selection for their clients. The
introduction of digital images and the internet decisively changed the
"terms of trade" for the photographers.

Over the last five years several things have come together that have
radically changed how things are done. There has been a wave of portals
selling digital pictures. Some specialise in wildlife (http://www.agpix.com)
and have searchable databases which refer prospective buyers to
photographers; whilst others are more general. Sites such as
(http://www.workbookstock.com) offer a wide range of pre-edited premium
images, aimed at the high-end advertising market. For the buyer they cut out
the hassle of going through lots of images. Selling became easier when
actual physical images didn't have to be shifted around, stored and searched
physically. Because of the savings made, some agencies
(http://www.alamy.com) offer up to 90% of the fee to the photographers,
although alamy.com itself does not have a tight editing policy.

Those portals with tight editing policies sell less overall but are more
effective at selling their limited selection of pictures. They give 70% of
the fee to the photographer but take far fewer images. For those taking the
pictures the dilemma is clear. As photographer Steve Bloom sees it:"In a
market that's now over-supplied, the internet has made it possible to see
the world's top ten pictures of a particular subject. It's hard to sell if
you're not in that top ten. However, if one of those top ten images is
buried deep within a database and cannot be found quickly, it has no value.
Portals must learn to edit tightly and select only the best, and it is my
belief that those which offer fewer premium images are more likely to
survive than those which offer millions of weak images. The cost of
keywording and scanning images is very high, so only the best quality should
make it on-line"

But if these agencies represent the selling equivalent of sniper fire, it
was in the industry's version of artillery fire where the biggest changes
were wrought. The battle for the rights to reproduce images looked like the
lucrative high ground to the big money players. Getty scion Mark now
controls the rights to a staggering 35% of the world's images. And
gosh...another approximately 20% are controlled by Microsoft's Bill Gates
through Corbis. The background to this clash of the "big beasts" will be
given in greater detail in our On The Money column next week.

When these two individuals started buying what seemed like everything that
moved, a hype-fuelled dot.com market was in vertical take-off mode. In a
world of virtual products, something like reproduction rights seemed to have
a positively solid feeling to it. If it worked in physical form, think how
much more profitably it would work in virtual form. All you needed was a
large enough market share.

However both companies are still losing money. In order to bring this
unfortunate set of circumstances under control, Getty Images has sought to
change the "terms of trade" in its favour. It is currently only giving
photographers 40% of fees made from online digital sales. Currently 450
photographers are individually employing the same lawyer to fight the
company on this and other aspects of its contract.

The last blow to the wildlife photographers has been over-supply. Too many
people are taking wildlife pictures. In addition the sale of royalty-free
CD-roms of digital images is undercutting the market for new, original
images. You only pay a relatively modest sum for an enormous number of
images. Worse still for the photographers, the images can be used over and
over again without repeat reproduction fees being paid. Justifying a one-off
fee for an original picture becomes much harder for budget-strapped
publications.

So what happens if an African wildlife photographer sets up his own website?
Steve Bloom did just that in 1996. He now gets over 1000 hits a day but the
majority are general interest users who are not commercial buyers. The site
(http://www.steve.bloom.com) allows users to search images by keywords,
subject or theme. Professional users can set up a "lightbox" to gather
together a range of images for comparison and selection. The site also sells
photographic prints, an annual calender and a book called In Praise of
Primates aimed at the non-professional buyer. Both professional and
non-professional purchases can be made using a shopping cart and a secure
server.

Although the site is very successful, he still has to buy space in the
catalogues put out by the image agencies that go out by post to the hundreds
and thousands of buyers and agencies worldwide. Whilst catalogues are not
primary selling tolls anymore, they are still necessary to direct buyers
towards the agencies' web sites.

Steve Bloom's web site was produced by Jonathan Caine of Eros. For further
details contact him on [email protected].

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NEWS ROUND-UP AND SNIPPETS
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* ANGOLA GETS FIRST PRIVATE CELLPHONE OPERATOR

The launch of the country's first private cellphone operator, Unitel, in
early April marks the end of the country's state telecoms monopoly. Portugal
Telecom and state energy group Sonangol each hold 25% of the shares in
Unitel, which has invested US$68m in the first phase of the project.
Initially, it will serve 50,000 people in Luanda and Benguela, but the firm
hopes to treble subscriber numbers within a year.
(source: Business Africa via DigAfrica)

* SA'S TELKOM TARGETS FRAUD

Telkom has joined forces with 11 other South African companies in an
initiative aimed at reducing financial losses suffered by businesses as a
result of fraudulent activity.Launched this week, the South African Fraud
Prevention Service (SAFPS) is a non-profit organisation that aims to
eradicate fraudulent financial transactions and applications for goods and
services by allowing member organisations to exchange details of suspected
fraud via a central database, which is accessible to SAFPS members only.

Each of SAFPS's founding members have shown their commitment to fighting
fraud in South Africa by paying a founding membership fee of R150,000. The
twelve companies involved are Telkom, Standard Bank, Nedcor, ABSA, First
National Bank, BOE, African Bank, Relyant Retail, Lewis, BMW Financial
Services, Edcon and Truworths.

Simply put, when a member organisation identifies a suspected act of fraud,
a warning is placed on the SAFPS database. This warning does not suggest
that the relevant party has actually committed fraud, it simply means that
extra precautions should be taken to ensure the validity of the application
or transaction that has prompted the check. In this way, extra care will be
taken when checking personal details and credentials. SAFPS members are
required to keep names confidential and to ensure that none of the
information is misused in any way.
(source:Telkom)

* ECONET CONSORTIUM STILL IN THE RUNNING FOR TELKOM KENYA

A consortium led by Zimbabwe's Econet Wireless said on Thursday that it was
maintaining its a bid for a 49% stake in Telkom Kenya. The Mount Kenya
Communication consortium was the highest bidder for the stake when it was
first advertised last year but the government rejected their offer as too
low. he Mount Kenya Consortium says that it will not increase its US$305m
bid for a 49% stake in Telkom Kenya. The government is seeking up to US$350m
for the stake, because this was the estimate included in the 2000-01 budget.
(source: Boot http://www.boot.co.za/news/apr01/econet19.asp )

* SA'S BRAIN DRAIN WILL BE HALTED IF CRIME IS CUT

PricewaterhouseCoopers says delegates at the Technology, Communications and
Entertainment Summit held recently in Sandton, concluded that the most
important action needed to stop the IT brain drain was to reduce crime.
(source: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/monitor/2001/0104190818.asp )

* B2BAFRICA TAKES OVER CONTENT PRODUCTION FOR IAFRICA.COM

First there were iafrica's Communications and Technical Newsletters. Then
these were merged to produce the Commtech Newsletter. Now B2Bafrica
(http://www.b2bafrica.com), will be taking over the production of this
newsletter. B2Bafrica.com is offering free e-mail addresses, an HTML version
of the newsletter and site content personalisation.

* SIGN OF THE TIMES: ERICSSON CLOSES ERICA PROGRAMME FOR 2001

Following massive job cutbacks, Ericsson has also closed its global
corporate philanthropy initiative, the ERICA Programme. Those involved in
ERICA were promoting the availability of this year's prize (prizes
of US$100,000 U.S. each that would have been awarded to five nonprofits
worldwide) to nonprofits in Africa. Applications were due in by 5 June.
However Helen Simpson, the ERICA Programme Manager at Ericsson recently
wrote to applicants:"As a result of the current global economic environment
and recent restructuring at our company, we have made the very difficult
decision to put the 2001 ERICA Awards program on hold. We will no longer be
accepting applications for the awards, nor will we judge the applications
that have already been submitted".

"This decision does not affect our commitment to delivering the projects for
the ERICA 2000 winners. We recognize and appreciate the time and effort our
applicants put into their entries and hope that the ideas already inspired
by the ERICA program will one day become a reality. Ericsson continues to
believe in the power of using the Internet to make the world a better
place".

* TV-BASED INTERNET HITS SOUTH AFRICA

Television-based Internet has finally arrived in SA. It has been officially
launched as Sansui's Mentacom WebTV, which has been designed to allow
viewers to send and receive e-mail, surf the Web or to conduct banking
transactions - while watching television. An exclusive alliance with
Netactive will allow users to subscribe and receive full Internet access for
R85 a month. The contract ties the user into a 12-month subscription.
(source: http://www.digitalplanet.co.za/dp/news/red.asp?ID=11430 )

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ON THE MONEY
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* VALUE OF NIGERIAN MOBILE LICENCES QUESTIONED

At least one of Nigeria's four mobile licences carries a potential for
long-term negative returns, according to a new report by Pyramid Research.
Owing to a high licence fee of $285m and capital expenditure levels likely
to top $1bn, operators face an uphill battle in establishing profitable
ventures, even though total market revenue is estimated to rise to almost
$2bn by the end of 2005.

"This is a leader-only market," said Guy Zibi, Manager of Africa/Middle East
at Pyramid Research. "There simply will not be enough revenue to go around
over the next few years to support the cost base of all four proposed
licences in the Nigerian market""While we expect the market to grow rapidly,
we also anticipate that difficulties in establishing cellular networks and
the need to compensate for a deficient or non-existent supporting
infrastructure will complicate service offering over the initial years of
the ventures."

Analysing communications markets in four other African countries (Cameroon,
Cote-dIvoire, Ghana and Senegal), Pyramids report argues that West African
communications markets are still far from their saturation points, and
recommends that mobile carriers start focusing more on the fundamentals of
revenue generation, rather than market share at all costs.

"Carriers such as Cameroons CAMTEL and Nigerias NITEL are truly in a danger
zone, because they have to restructure their operations at the same time
they face stiff competition in some of their most lucrative markets," said
Zibi. "Should they fail to restructure rapidly and adequately, they may not
even be in business over the long term."In the internet market, the report
analyses the difficulties of the Internet in penetrating markets in the
region, and anticipates that models focused on public access centres and
fixed wireless broadband stand more chances of becoming successful in the
local environment.
(source: Pyramid Research via DigAfrica)

* ORACLE SA REALIGNMENT WITH UK DIVISION HERALDS INVESTMENT?

Oracle SA is realigning its South African operations with its UK division.
The process could result in greater investment from Oracle.
(source: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/business/2001/0104201124.asp )

* MEDIA24 HEADS FOR LISTING IN NEXT THREE YEARS

The name change of Nasmedia to Media24 at the end of last year is the first
of several steps towards a proposed listing of the company within the next
three years, according to Media24 MD Salie de Swardt.
(source: http://www.boot.co.za/news/apr01/24media19.asp )

* NETACTIVE SELLS TELEFLORIST SA

JSE-listed managed internet service provider, NetActive, has sold the floral
relay service, Teleflorist SA back to its original owner, Dave Weir Smith,
for the amount it invested into the business of approximately R2 million in
cash.
(source: http://www.boot.co.za/news/apr01/netactive18.asp )

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AFRICA'S DIGERATI: MICHEL MAVROS, METISSACANA
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Metissacana was the first internet company to be launched in Senegal by its
founders Michel Mavros and Alex Sikorsky. It offered a full ISP service and
another first, opened a cyber cafe (Cafe d'Afrique de L'Ouest). It was also
first to offer internet radio with Sud FM in March 1997 and Radio Nostalgie
Dakar in December 1997. Since 1998 Metissaca has been a local Microsoft
solutions provider. In September 1998 it opened a second cyber cafe in
Saint-Louis and regional offices in Saint-Louis, Thies, Kaoloack,
Tambacounda, Zigunchor. During the Presidential elections of 2000,
Metissacana led (with Sud FM and Codesria) a series of debates between
candidates and the public. In July 2000 it continued to innovate by
producing a concert by satellite between Africa and Europe. It also produces
events like Simod, the Dakar Carnival and "la fete de l'internet".

> How many subscribers have you got now?

We have 1200 users who we provide all services for throughout Senegal. There
are 9000 e-mails address-only subscribers. At our cyber cafes, there
2000 users monthly in Dakar and 1000 monthly in St Louis.

> How many of these are company/corporate subscribers?

It's about half and half.

> What do they use your service for primarily? E-mail? Web?

E-mail is always the first thing people want to use. Otherwise usage levels
reflects our subscriber base.

> How many Senegalese web sites are there and what are the really
interesting
> ones (besides your own)?

You get to them mostly through our home page link called "les sites du
metissacana" (http://www.metissacana.sn)

> Are there big differences between the services offered by different
Internet
> Service Providers (ISPs)? What are these differences?

We aim to provide the best quality service because open 24/24 and 7/7 with a
phone hot line free services for our users.

> Has the growth in internet subscriptions slowed down? Why?

Yes because bandwith is very expensive and there's not enough of it. The
cost makes it difficult for the mass of people to be able to use it. The
lack of bandwidth restricts the hosting of web sites and services that might
interest more people. It's a vicious circle.

> What are the future plans for developing your company?

We plan to integrate financial partners who can help us resolve the
bandwith problem and upgrading our capacities. With this in place, a
long-term target of 100,000 users for Metissacana would easily be possible.
We would also look to upgrade rural connectivity with wireless and improve
our teleservices

Michel Mavros can be contacted on: [email protected]

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USEFUL WEB SITES AND DISCUSSION LISTS
____________________________________________________________________________

* FURTHER SITES TO VISIT ABOUT GHANA

Some good web sites for Ghana were missed out of last week's feature. The
following government sites may be of interest:

Parliament of Ghana
www.parliament.gh

Ghana Customs Excise & Preventive Service CEPS
www.cepsghana.org
REGIONAL GOVERNMENT
www.ashantiregion-ghana.com
GHANA INVESTMENT PROMOTION CENTRE
www.gipc.org.gh
GHANA NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON INTERNET CONNECTIVITY
http://www.gncic.org.gh/

There is a report on how NGOs are connecting to the internet:

"The State of the Internet for NGOs in Ghana"
http://www.intermundia.org/

For those interested in education:

PIE - PARTNERS IN INTERNET EDUCATION
http://members.nbci.com/pieghana/pieclc02.html

The sites of the main Ghanaian ISPs are as follows:
AFRICA ONLINE
http://www.africaonline.com.gh
NETWORK COMPUTER SYSTEM-NCS
http://www.ghana.com
INTERNET GHANA
http://www.internetghana.com
IDN
http://www.idngh.com
AFRICA EXPRESS
http://www.africaexpress.com
AFRICANUS
http://www.africanus.net
WWWPLUS
http://www.wwwplus.com

The Internet Society of Ghana can be found at:
http://www.isoc.org.gh

The main Ghanaian newspaper and radio sites are:
GHANA MEDIA
http://www.ghanamedia.com/
GHANA NEWS AGENCY
http://www.gna.com.gh
GRAPHIC NEWSPAPER
http://www.graphic.com.gh
JOY FM
http://www.myjoyfm.com

The Ghanaian Stock Exchange can be found at:
www.gse.com.gh

Ghana's main e-commerce sites are:
http://www.novica.com
Network Computer System
http://www.ghanamall.com.gh
ghanaclassifieds
http://www.bestbuysghana.com
Netafrique.com
http://www.epesewa.com
eShop Africa
http://www.eshopafrica.com

Ghana's first search engine can found at:
www.ghanamoneyonline.com

The On the Line project can be searched at:
http://www.ontheline.org.uk/

* EASYMATHS SITE AIMS TO HELP TEACHERS

This is a free South African Mathematics Community Website for teachers,
parents and students with lessons, tests, exams, worksheets with
answers, study skills and much more. It is an initiative by the
Mathematics Web Association a newly formed non profit organisation
http://www.easymaths.org
(source: Prodder)

* GLOBAL SOFTWARE OUTSOURCING: ONLINE REPORT ON GOOD/BAD PRACTICE

A new online report on global software outsourcing is available at:
http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/idpm_dp.htm#devinf_wp

The report, based on long-term research on a number of outsourcing
relationships, develops a new model to explain good and bad practice in the
development of such relationships. It provides guidance on best practice
that will be of value to both practitioners and researchers.
(source: Dr Richard Heeks)

* RECORD KEEPING AND CRIME CONTROL IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

How are poor record keeping and bad financial management connected? Is the
one a symptom of the other? To what extent does accurate financial
information prevent corruption and fraud? An International Records
Management Trust study examined the link between record management and
financial accountability in sub-Saharan Africa. How do different record
keeping systems reflect government and donor agency strategies for
financial control and accountability? Are they related to success in
reducing economic crime? To receive this piece by email, send a message to
the following email
address:[email protected]

Leave the SUBJECT field BLANK, and copy the following text into the BODY of
the message:
GET http://www.id21.org/society/S8aat1g1.html
(Anne Thurston, International Records Management Trust via TAD Newsletter)

* MP3 SAMPLES OF HAITAN MUSIC

Music of The Haitian Masters Vol.1 Classical release Listen to and download
your free samples at htttp://www.culturalenlightenment.com/projects.html

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DIGITAL TOOLBOX
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* MATCHER WORM VIRUS STARTED IN SOUTH AFRICA?

The Matcher worm, the latest e-mail virus to have taken the world by storm,
appears to have originated in South Africa.
(source: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2001/0104201159.asp )

* PALM TO OFFER WIRELESS SERVICE IN SA

Handheld Computing SA has entered into a joint venture with RangeGate to
bring the Palm.Net wireless communication service to SA.
(source: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/computing/2001/0104180814.asp )

* PARTICIPATORY WEB DESIGN - A PEOPLE APPROACH

Those keen on producing African web content or any other web content for use
in developing countries are invited to check out a participatory web design
methodology - http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/research/isrg/papwec.htm. This
methodology - A People Approach to Produce Web Content (PAPWEC) and other
reports, are a result of a six months (May 2000 to October 2000) project
undertaken by the Internet Studies Research Group with support from the
International Institute for Communications and Development (IICD).

____________________________________________________________________________
EVENTS
____________________________________________________________________________

* E-TAIL- WHAT ARE SOUTH AFRICAN RETAILERS REALLY DOING ABOUT IT? (17 MAY)

The role of the internet in the South African marketing mix has become
increasingly important over the last decade and Retailers can no longer
afford to ignore this valuable business asset. DIMA, the Digital Interactive
Media Association, along with its associates, will be holding a conference
on retailing in the virtual space.

Presented as a series of success stories, the conference will be of
particular interest to business people wishing either to engage the internet
as a retail channel for the first time, or to improve current models. In
keeping with the theme "The Internet: Path to profitability," the conference
will deal with issues such as the nature and history of on-line business,
successes to date, logistical and customer service challenges and how to
overcome them, including CRM strategy, procurement and affiliate programmes.

Says Garin Toren, Conference Chairman and marketing director of Digital
Mall: "This conference promises to be a great success. There has been a huge
demand from retailers to hear case studies on other projects in the e-tail
space. With all the negative news about the dot-coms closing down in the
USA, there has never been a better time to hear about our local success
stories, from the e-Tailer himself. What makes this conference unique is the
presentations by the companies themselves and not the suppliers."
Speakers at the conference will include: Lourens Botha - 'MegaShopper'
(McCarthy On-line), Jessica Knight - 'inthebag' (Woolworths), Joe van
Niekerk - 'My Life' (Electric Liberty), Yaron Assabi - 'Wordsworth'
(Digitalmall.com) and Hein Pretorius - Kalahari.net (Naspers).
The Internet: Path to profitability will be held on Thursday the 17th
of May at the Pharmaceutical Society, 52 Glenhove Rd. Houghton, South Africa
For reservations, contact Elaine Zinn: [email protected]
or complete the reservation form on the DIMA
website:

* USING THE INTERNET: TRAVELLING WORKSHOPS FOR UNIVERSITY LIBRARIANS

Although online access to the internet has recently been introduced in many
African universities, librarians in those universities often feel
inadequately trained in its use. The International Network for the
Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP), with funding from Danida,
is offering a programme of 'travelling' workshops on Internet use for staff
in nine university library systems in Africa. The objectives of the
programme are to:

*provide librarians with a knowledge of the wealth of information and
communication resources available on the Internet and with the skills to
effectively locate and use these resources;
*provide librarians with the knowledge and skills to train academic staff
and students to effectively use these resources;
*provide librarians with the knowledge and skills to use the Internet to
disseminate locally produced information;
*enhance the capacity of librarians to provide training in information and
communication technologies.

Using the Internet: Course Materials

The course materials (presentations, handouts and exercises) are available
to download as zip or stuffed archives containing Microsoft Word and
PowerPoint files.

For further details contact Carol Priestley at INASP
([email protected]).

____________________________________________________________________________
BACK NUMBERS: AFRICA'S INTERNET CONTENT PROVIDERS
____________________________________________________________________________

51. Cape Town Special: A creative city in the making?
http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act51.html

50. Africa Online vs M-Web - Continent-wide content providers slug it out
http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act50.html

39. Zimbabwe's MDC uses the web to fight the government
http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act39.html

37. Uganda's Life in Africa Foundation - Expanding the art of the
possible
http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act37.html

33. Africa's e-press for ICT professionals
http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act33.html

29. Kenya:Busting corruption using the internet
http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act29.html

19. WOZA: Building a content-rich site
http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act19.html

14. Speaking in Tongues? A Shona language web site
http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act14.html

8. The All-African portal - A new contender enters the field
http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act8.html

7. Sierre Leone's leading independent newspaper on the internet
http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act7.html

You can read and download these at http://www.balancingact-africa.com . If
you have difficulties accessing the web, mail us on
[email protected].

___________________________________________________________________________
PAID FOR ADS
___________________________________________________________________________

In response to an increasing number of enquiries from companies wanting to
advertise their products and services, we have drawn up a rate card for ads
in this section (or in other parts of News Update) and for banner ads on our
web site. To see a copy of our rate card, e-mail a request
([email protected])

EQUITABLE BUSINESS FREEWARE

Our compilation of business freeware is completed by Equitable. Along with
free business software you will also get government grant money
applications, 1 million wholsalers, and the best business start up ideas.
There is so much more! Take a look at http://www.succeedware.com

COUNTRY RESPRESENTATIVES WANTED

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) is an organization
that addresses the benefits and risks to society resulting from the use of
computers. CPSR have been in existence for the past 19 years and will be
celebrating the 20th Anniversary in 2001. CPSR work to influence decisions
regarding the development and use of computers because those decisions have
far-reaching consequences and reflect our basic values and priorities.
Country representatives wanted through Africa to help African countries
develop Social Responsiblity in Computing.For information about how to
become a representative and to become a member of CPSR, please send mail to
[email protected] and visit our Web page at http://www.cpsr.org