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As of March 2007 the National Center for Information Technology (NCIT) has been registered as an authorized center for Pearson VUE testing. Pearson VUE is the leader in the field of testing and has 4000 testing centers in more than 145 countries. NCIT offers the option to all who want it to take the tests and receive international certification from such Information Technology companies as Cisco Systems, Microsoft, and IBM. The opening of this center is significant, in that it will help train a new generation of Kyrgyzstani high-tech workers; by enabling job-seekers to gain international certification, the center will increase their employability. The full article is available in Russian at http://www.itday.com.kg/news/3194.

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has issued a decree to turn the State Television and Radio Company into a public television and radio company in response to a demand from the opposition, Interfax reported on March 26. (Interfax, March 26)

President of Tajikistan has issued a decree that bans students to bring mobile phones to school (elementary-high). Previously, in a number of his speeches, the president condemned certain behaviors that are inappropriate in a poor country such as Tajikistan. The ban for students also includes coming to school on the personal cars, and having big celebrations of social events in the public schools, birthdays and proms. Source: Interfax 03/27/2007

"Information technologies" is a textbook in Uzbek for students at technical universities and colleges. It consists of twelve chapters that cover three main fields of information technologies: information systems, computer networks and data structures. The first part presents the concepts of information technologies and information systems, their components, and the role of information systems in organizations and in decision support. The second part is devoted to computer networks and reveals the basics of networking technologies, types of networks, the seven layers of the OSI model, and Internet technologies. The third part introduces programming with data structures: linear, non-linear structures, and algorithms on sorting and searching. This textbook's publication is significant, because there is a dearth of technical information in the native languages of Central Asia, and this book helps remedy that deficit. More information on the textbook is available at the following URL: http://www.undp.uz/publications/publication.php?id=66.

Katy Pearce, a graduate student in Communications at UC Santa Barbara, speaks about her experiences in the Former Soviet regions of Central Asia and the Caucasus with respect to technology and Internet usage. Katy discusses her work with both the School Connectivity Programs in Armenia and Azerbaijan, funded by the U.S. State Department to build telecom infrastructure; provide Internet access to secondary schools; and train school communities, as well as regional grass-roots blogging and podcasting projects. Katy also discusses future research opportunities. Originally recorded as part of UC Santa Barbara's Center for Information Technology and Society's 2006 Fall Quarter lecture series on November 17, 2006, this video can be accessed at the following URL: http://cits.blip.tv/file/107707/.

In anticipation of International Women's Day on March 8th the Second Women's Internet festival is being held in Uzbekistan (Feb.1-March 31). The goal of the festival is to demonstrate the application of computer and Internet usage to a wide audience of women of Uzbekistan. By participating in the festival, women learn how to use computers and the Internet for educational, professional, health, and daily life purposes. Anticipated outcomes include the creation of Web resources in local languages by women and media coverage of opportunities for women in the IT sphere. Infocom

Infocom has published an article about a new wave of interesting personal blogs, which have opened up in the uz domain. Blogs today are frequently considered to be influential in the development or promotion of such spheres as services, business or politics. This may increasingly be attributed to the Western segment of the Internet, and not to the Russian-speaking part, and even less so to the uz zone. Nevertheless, the emergence of blogs in the uz domain brings new features to the blogosphere. Here are some examples: "Corners of the world in currency patterns" at moneytravelguide.blogspot.com is a blog about "amazing places, animals, people you may find on current and old money in any country". Happy.uz is a site about happiness. Katie.uz is for people interested in fashion and clothing. Fairy Land at skazka.uz provides audio recordings of children's fairy tales. Infocom 02-16-2007

Since Feb. 22, Uzbek citizens can pay for communal services online. This new service includes the monthly tax payment for communal living services: electricity, gas, cold and hot water, heating, telephone, and garbage pickup. All the payment can be made at www.pay.uz. The Web site claims to process the payments in 24 hours and send the receipt for received payment to the taxpayer's e-mail account or mailing address. This service is aimed to diversify the means of payment for the communal services. The payment traditionally can be made in two ways: at the official district or city communal services department or to the department employees who gather the payments by regularly visiting houses and apartments. Infocom 02-11-2007

Two Internet cafes have opened in Ashgabat, turkmenistan.ru reported on February 16. Fifteen more such cafes will soon appear in the capital, with more to come in other parts of Turkmenistan. Greater access to the Internet featured among President Berdymukhammedov's campaign promises in the February 11 presidential election. Despite the apparent easing of restrictions on the Internet, Deutsche Welle reported on February 19, citing an unidentified source in Turkmenistan's National Security Ministry, that Chinese specialists will assist the Turkmen security services in controlling the Internet to ensure that Turkmen citizens cannot access pornography, opposition Web sites, and media critical of Turkmen authorities. Source: RFE/RL Newsline

The updated law on media in Uzbekistan has expanded the term "media" to include "Web sites in publicly available telecommunication networks". With this definition the law includes almost all Web sites that in some way can act as media sources. But local Internet experts say that this update in the definition could create potential difficulties in the functioning of certain types of Web sites, including blogs, newsfeeds, portals, electronic journals, and forums. Updates to the law again confuse Internet-based media sources with traditional media. The law states that the "production of Internet-based media" is "a single/separate issue". Does this include the first page of a Web site, which is being updated everyday? Does it count as a separate issue if only a part of the Web site is being updated? Critics complain that the terms used in the law, such as "distribution" and "content", are difficult to apply to Web sites and that overall, the particularities of Internet-based media are not considered. Therefore, this law puts Internet-based media into a situation in which considering the particularities of Internet-based media, it is impossible to fulfill all the obligations and regulations for successful registration and functioning of Web sites as Internet media resources. Also Article 2 of the law states that this law refers not only to all the locally created and resident Web sites in the republic of Uzbekistan, but also to all the foreign media sources that distribute their content on the territory of this country. That means that if a foreign media organization distributes its content on the territory of Uzbekistan its actions fall under the regulation of this law. In this context the definition of the word "distribution" remains uncertain. Source: Infocom. http://ru.infocom.uz/more.php?id=2122_0_1_80_M