FW: Women's Information Technology Transfer (WITT) launch today a portal site to link women's organizations and feminist advocates for the internet in Eastern and Central Europe

[Katalin Fabian]

>
> ICTs in Eastern and Central Europe
> Witt-project.net: crossing feminism and ICT technology
>
> March 8 2005. Women's Information Technology Transfer (WITT)
> launch today a
> portal site to link women's organizations and feminist advocates
> for the
> internet in Eastern and Central Europe. www.witt-project.net is
> both a website,
> providing ICTs strategic information to all, and supporting, in
> a collective
> way, Central and Eastern European women in developing a web as
> an instrument in
> their social activism. WITT is committed to bringing women's
> actions, activities
> and struggles to the spotlight, promoting the use of free
> software as a way to
> highlight women's voices.
>
> WITT is one of the first organizations of its kind to train
> women's
> non-governmental organisations in Central and Eastern Europe to
> use Information
> Communication Technologies (ICTs) in their communication
> strategies. The WITT
> website has been developed for women to share their experiences
> with ICTs, to
> learn about training events provided by WITT and to develop
> expertise in
> advocacy on gender and ICT issues. Women can publish on the
> website in their own
> language (8 languages are available to be used as the site
> develops). During the
> annual WITT Trainers Exchange Event (TEE 2005), held in Ohrid,
> Macedonia from
> 12-15 February 2005, WITT trainers learned how to operate this
> collective
> website, learning how to write efficiently for the web and how
> to publish live
> using the GPL (General Public License) Publication software Spip
> (the site has
> been totally created by WITT members). Participants in WITT
> trainings will need
> only a few hours to be able to appropriate the technology for
> using the website
> effectively. This is a great strength both of the Spip system
> and the WITT
> philosophy that technology is a tool to be used, not feared.
>
> The Trainers Exchange Event, hosted by Akcija Zdruzhenska, a
> Macedonian
> organization of feminist trainers, was attended by 16 women from
> Bosnia and
> Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France,
> Moldova, Macedonia,
> the Netherlands, Poland and Serbia and Montenegro. All these
> trainers are active
> within the women's movement or social movements in the region,
> many in the area
> of ICTs. The purpose of these events is to build powerful
> partnerships between
> the trainers and for WITT to maintain a pool of women who will
> not only promote
> ICT use but also promote a feminist analysis of ICT use.
>
> WITT was initiated in 2002 by ENAWA - European North American
> Women Action as
> part of it's training program. It will become an independent
> entity early in
> 2005, with its seat in Croatia and Focal Points throughout the
> region. Focal
> Points are women working within organizations who represent WITT
> and organize
> local WITT trainings. http://www.witt-project.net
>
>
> To visit and learn more about WITT visit WITT or contact
> info at witt-project.net
> WITT and encourages thedistribution of this press release.
>
>
> Location: CEE/NIS Region
> Website: http://www.witt-project.net
>