The annual Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) conference as well as the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS) civil society colloquium will be held from 22 -- 26 August in Cape Town.

These conferences will form part of the core activities planned for Information Society Week (ISW), an initiative of the Provincial Government of the Western Cape (Centre for e-Innovation), in partnership with the City of Cape Town, Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and the National Department of Communications.

With the theme "Building Partnerships for the Information Society", the activities aim to ensure that the pervasiveness of technology in our society does not breed further inequality but addresses issues such as community engagement, successful service delivery, e-government and governance and conflict resolution through the use of appropriate and affordable ICTs.

"ISW2005 will be the first in a series of annual events to show citizens what the Information Society, e-services and e-products are all about, and why it is important for the socioeconomic development of the Western Cape and be part of a socioeconomic transformation," says Dr Harold Wesso, head: center for e-innovation, provincial government Western Cape.

Professor Geoff Erwin, Dean business informatics, CPUT adds that: "Government, civil society, academics and individuals are all part of this new information society, linked to the knowledge economy. To become a global player and address our own internal challenges effectively, building an inclusive information society with multi-stakeholder partnerships between government, business and the academics, becomes quintessential."

Speakers at the conferences include:

* Prof Wiseman Nkhulu, former chairman of Nepad;

* Mr J Satyanarayana, a respected CEO, author and practitioner of e-Government in India;

* Andrew Pinder, former head of the UK e-Envoy Office; and

* Dr Michael Gurstein, founding chair of the Community Informatics research Network (CIRN).