- The document summarizes the Mekong ICT Camp workshop held in Chiang Mai from June 7-12, 2010. - Over 67 participants from countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion attended sessions on topics like open data, information security, citizen journalism, ICT for agriculture, and more. - Key discussions included how to create information security policies for organizations, using SMS to provide agricultural information to farmers, and ensuring volunteer management and projects have long term sustainability.

1. Report
on
Mekong
ICT
2010,
Chiang
Mai
(7-­‐12
June)
(by: Borort Sort)
Mekong ICT Camp workshop + Bar Camp Chiang Mai
- 67 participants from different countries in the GMS (mostly from Cambodia, Laos, Myanma,
Thailand, and Vietnam)
- 20 facilitators & speakers from 9 countries
Attended Sessions & Topics
Day1:
Government 2.0 and Civil Information Society (by Laurence Millar, ex-Gov CIO for New
Zealand)
Laurence provided a keynote about the usefulness of open data and data sharing. He pointed out the
benefit of Government’s data that huge enough for sharing which could help to solve major global
issues. This referred to raw data which can be used for further processing.
“Share the sharing”, What, Why, and How
Open Data: data available in the right way.
The future of OAIs
Government should set their data free
Why should we free our data?
- Public access improve quality
- Marginal cost of distribution is minimal
- Increases economic and public value
www.gvg.net.nz
www.opengovdata.org
Slide: http://www.slideshare.net/laurence.millar/mekong-ict-june-2010
Security 2.0: Information Policy and Strategy for Organizations (by: Dmitri Vitaliev, security
expert)
Dmitri introduced about how to plan for security policy in an organization in order to prevent computer
system and data from any kinds of threats. There are three types of policy that an organization should
consider:
- Staff policy (Employment, Conduct)
- Office policy (Access, Safety)
- Operational policy (Mission, Communications, Information)
In addition the strategy involved in information security policy is specified as follow:
- Information Type -> Format -> Methods of Storage -> Access Determining
Group discussion: Create policy for a Mekong NGO (Staff Policy, Field Policy, Backup Policy,
Community Policy)
Citizen Journalism (News Reporting as Part of a Social Movement) (by: Sean Ang, SeaCam,
Malaysia)
Learning how to use TweetDesk (Free twitting desktop application) for twitting and find popular
interest topic by people from Twitter.

2. Panel Discussion: Public Policy Related to the Internet (Network, Neutrality, Piracy, and
Privacy) (by: Sunil Abraham, Center for Internet & Society, India).
This session was the discussion on the copyrights issue
Day2:
Agriculture Support with SMS (By Justin Lorenzon &Milina Chan)
Types of SMS Services:
- Push (Broadcast, e.g. bulletin..)
- Pull (Data query, e.g. expert consultation..)
What does a farmer want to know? -> Group Discussion: Design an agricultural SMS information
System. Find out possible services for which a farmer can use SMS to get access/request.
ICT for Volunteer Management: Mahiti (By: Sunil Abraham)
Brainstorming on Volunteer Challenges:
- Misrepresentation of organization
- Personal Agenda
- Too much management bandwidth
- Tension Between Staff & Volunteer
- Linguistic & Cultural Barrier
- Short/Intense/Motivation/Commitment/Accountability
Group Discussion: How to solve each of the above challenges
Panel Discussion:
OpenDream (Social & Business Strategy)
For their sustainability:
- Social benefit organization workload (90%)
- Business Sector workload (10%)
Slide: http://www.slideshare.net/keng/overview-of-opendream
Latest Project: collaborate with InSTEDD (http://instedd.org/) and Google.org on Mobile Disease
Surveillance Project
Public-Private Partnership: A Case of Mobile Disease Surveillance Project at Thailand Borders
(by: Channe Suay from InSTEDD and Patipat Susumpow from OpenDream)
InSTEDD and OpenDream jointly made a discussion about the benefit of PPP of their collaboration on
Mobile Disease Surveillance Project. They considered PPP as the win-win strategy that can ensure the
project’s sustainability. They also discussed about the criteria for creating partnership, corporate social
responsibility (CSR), as well as tangible and intangible benefit.
OpenDream partners with TELCO (DTAC) for SMS gateway services, while InSTEDD (Cambodia)
partners with Smart Mobile in Cambodia for Local SMS Gateway. This partnership allows them to
reduce the cost in using the SMS gateway services for their project.

3. Universal Assess Design & Web Accessibility
Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG), Priority 1 to 4
Slide: http://www.slideshare.net/poakpong/universal-access-design-web-accessibility-mekong-ict-
camp-2010
ICT for Education and Knowledge Commons (by: Sunil Abraham & Milina Chan)
Discussion on: Pro and Con of medium of Education
- Radio
- Web/Internet
- Television
- SMS
- Email
Example from participant of: Paper Tiger Television
Group Discussion: Combination of Educational Medium for (which could help):
- Disabilities
- Women studying from home
- Small children
- High education
- Vocational Training
Discussion about FOSS & Open Access:
Four Freedoms of FOSS:
- Get for free
- Can be used for any purposes
- Reverse engineering
- Sharing (for Free/Fee)
Open Access: Example of oaister.org (oaister.worldcat.org) using of OAI technologies.
Day 3:
Sahana Open Souce Disaster & Development Management System (by: Michael Howden)
- Introduction about Sahana (benefit, modules, technology, and community)
- Introduction about Google Summer code on Sahana
User-Oriented Design (by: InSTEDD team)
SMS Mobile Application (e.g of GeoChat)
Slide: http://www.slideshare.net/nditada/mkict-user-oriented-design
Day 4:
Managing Information Systems Project (by: Michael Howden, expert on Sahana, Open Source
Disaster & Development Management Software, ADPC)
“Never use technology for technology shake”
Implementing Information System
- PATICIPATION

4. Designing Information System
Specification: First thing to do before developing the system
Panel Discussion: Aspect of Openness (by: Michel Bauwens, P2P Foundation)
Concept of Openness
Looking for collaboration regarding open policy
Running a Cause Using Social Media (by: Milina Chan)
Benefit of Social Media such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, WordPress, LinkedIt, etc.. for
promoting social and community activities.
- Example of Obama election campaign using Social Media
- Success and Failure of using such Social Media
Security 2.0: Preparing for and Responding to Denial of Service Attacks (by: Dmitri Vitaliev)
DOS & DDOS attack, Strategies for prevention
Website Hacking (bootpage)
Day 5:
Making a Civil Society Organization Financially Sustainable (by: Sunil Abraham)
Fund Raising Strategies:
- DRM/CRM (civiCRM, sugarCRM)
- Friends & Family
- Elevator Pitch
- Annual Report for Public
- Newsletter
- Thank you note/Receipt
- Fund Raising Kit
How to write a Fund Raising proposal
Role play
Open Discussion with Michael Howden (expert on Sahana, Open Source Disaster & Development
Management Software) about User Participation in Information System Project
Asking why many projects failed because of lack of user participation, he provided some ideas for
brainstorming:
It is very import to keep involve with the users to see if they really want to use the system. Ask users:
Do you want to use the system?
- Yes
- No (Some say yes, because they do not want to say No)
Why don’t you use the system?
- Busy/No time
- Internet connection is slow
- Difficult to use

5. - Scared of Technology
- System has no benefit/Cannot see the benefit (until there is data)
- Don’t want to share
Are users the right users?
BarCamp Chiang Mai (June 12, 2010) – At Chiang Mai Art Center
I had a chance to present a topic: “Open Source Digital Library (DSpace)” to a group of more than 10
people. Most of them had not known about DSpace before. After a 30mn presentation of DSpace
introductory aspects, some of them were very interested in the benefit of this free and open source
software. They also wondered if they could have a place where they can access to all useful and
relevant documents which could help with their learning and research. I also introduced them a little bit
about kids-d project and referred them to the project website for them to learn more about us.