Appendix 5_____________

INFORMATION IN NIT '94

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

NIT (New Information Technology) '94: 7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Planning the Global Information Infrastructure Agenda

Ching-chih Chen
Chief Conference Organizer
Ramada Hotel - Old Town
Alexandria, VA
November 18-20, 1994

WHY ON PLANNING THE GLOBAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Since 1987, six nonprofit international conferences were organized by Ching-chih Chen, Professor & Associate Dean, Graduate School of Library and Infor-mation Science, Simmons College, Boston. They were offered in different parts of the world -- Bangkok (1987), Singapore (1989), Guadalajara, Mexico (1990), Budapest (1991), Hong Kong (1992), and Puerto Rico (1993). Each attracted between 175 to 375 participants from over 15 countries, a majority of which were concentrated in countries from the geographical region of the conference loca-tion. All six conferences were extremely successful -- most of the participants have uniformly praised the series of conferences to be timely, of high quality, and relevant to addressing some of the most urgent needs of developing countries in the use of new information technology.

Given the recent dynamic global developments in communications and in transmitting and sharing digital information across national borders, it seems timely to review what this series of conferences has been able to achieve and to plan for future NIT programs that are more focused and relevant to the future global information infrastructure agenda. With this background, NIT '94 (the 7th in the series) is scheduled to be a reflective, organizational, and planning meeting with the following objectives:

• To review what the past six NIT conferences have been able to achieve

• To identify the urgent needed areas from various points of views as reflected by the invited participants' background and current activities. Participants include those:

- Experts dealing with new information technology (NIT) problems and issues

- Representative leaders from developing countries

- Current and potential funders of international activities in library and information-related areas, particularly those related to the use of NIT

- Representatives from national and international library and information associations

- Representatives from governmental agencies with international NIT activities

- Past local conference organizers of NIT conferences

• To explore the current trends and practices related to the use of NIT for global information sharing

• To strive for a consensus agenda through intensive interactions and discus-sions among participants

• To modify and expand the existing agenda areas -- such as education and training related to NIT in libraries and information centers, global communi-cations and networking, and establishment of a coalition for global cultural/ heritage information resource sharing

In order to accomplish these objectives, NIT '94 will be a small and intensive roundtable meeting with invited participants. Although some planning papers with focused topics will be prepared, each invited participant will be asked to prepare his/her own contribution in advance of the meeting so that more produc-tive information sharing can take place at the conference. The content and focus of each participant will differ substantially depending on his/her own background and situation (see the enclosed for some helpful suggestions).

Further information on NIT '94 can be obtained from:

Letters can be addressed to the following:

Dr. Ching-chih Chen
Professor & Associate Dean
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Simmons College or NIT '94
300 The Fenway 1400 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02115, USA West Newton, MA 02165, USA
Internet address: CCHEN@VMSVAX.SIMMONS.EDU
Phone: 617-521-2804 (o), 617-527-3431 (h)
Fax: 617-527-0421 (h), 617-521-3192 (o)

SUGGESTIONS FOR PARTICIPANT'S
PRE-CONFERENCE PREPARATION

PARTICIPANTS FROM DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

• In your view, what kind of global information infrastructure (GII) is needed? How to establish that?
• What are the possible funding source(s) to support GII development?
• In your areas of expertise/interest (such as education/training related to NIT, distance education, telecommunications, digital information sharing, etc.), what are the three most significant and identifiable trends?
• How are these trends related to the needs of developing countries?
• In light of the current information and communications environment, in your view what are the top three most urgent agenda items for developing countries? PARTICIPANTS FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRY/REGION • In your view, what kind of GII is needed in order to enable your country to be part of this GII? How to establish that?
• If you have received funding support for any effective information-related activities, please elaborate on that in relation to the GII activities.
• In your country and/or region, what are the three most significant and identi-fiable trends in the use of NIT in libraries and information centers?
• In your country and/or region, aside from the financial difficulties, what are the three most identifiable difficulties in library and information related activities?
• In light of the current information and communications environment, in your view what are the top three most urgent agenda items? PARTICIPANTS FROM PROFESSIONAL AND NATIONAL POLICY ORGANIZATIONS • In your view, what kind of GII is needed? How to establish that?
• What are the possible funding source(s) to support GII development?
• In your view, what are the three most significant and identifiable trends re-lated to the use NIT in libraries and information centers?
• How are these trends related to your program activities in developing coun-tries?
• In light of the current information and communications environment, what is your Program's top three most urgent agenda items? PARTICIPANTS FROM INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS • In your view, what kind of GII is needed? How to establish that?
• What are the current and potential funding source(s) to support GII develop-ment?
• In your view, what are the three most significant and identifiable trends rela-ted to the use of NIT in libraries and and information centers?
• How are these trends related to the needs of developing countries?
• In light of the current information and communications environment, what are your association's top three most urgent agenda items? PARTICIPANTS FROM US FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES/ORGANIZATIONS • In your view, what kind of GII is needed? How to establish that?
• What are your agency's/organization's current funding source(s) to support GII development?
• In your areas of interest/program, what are the three most significant and identifiable trends related to the use of NIT in libraries and information centers?
• How are these trends related to the needs of developing countries?
• In light of the current information and communications environment, what are your agency's and/or organization's top three most urgent agenda items? PAST NIT LOCAL CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS • In your view, what kind of GII is needed? How to establish that?
• What are the current and potential funding source(s) to support GII develop-ment?
• Since the NIT conference held in your country/region, are there any noticeable effects? What kind of feedback have you received from the past conference participants?
• In your areas of interest/program, what are the three most significant and identifiable trends related to the use of NIT in libraries and information centers?
• How are these trends related to the needs of developing countries?
• In light of the current information and communications environment, what are your top three most urgent agenda items?