just a reminder, there are only two more months left until the ictd deadline... The 3rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD2009) will be held 17-19 April 2009 at Carnegie-Mellon's state-of-the-art campus in Doha, Qatar (http://www.ictd2009.org). This conference will act as a focal point for new scholarship in the field of ICT and international development. Confirmed speakers include a keynote by William H. Gates, Chairman of Microsoft Corporation. We invite submission of papers for ICTD2009, the third of an ongoing series of conferences, which follows successful events at Berkeley in May 2006 (http://sims.berkeley.edu/ictd2006), and Bangalore in December 2007 (http://research.microsoft.com/workshops/ictd2007). IMPORTANT DATES September 22, 2008 Submissions due January 15, 2009 Final decisions sent out to authors February 20, 2009 Camera-ready papers due April 17-19, 2009 Conference CONFERENCE FOCUS The goal of the ICTD conference is to provide a forum for academic researchers and scholarly practitioners working with ICT applied to development. The conference will be scientifically rigorous and multi-disciplinary—papers reporting high-quality original research are solicited. Submitted papers will be subjected to double-blind peer review, and full proceedings will be published at the time of the conference. The conference will bring together researchers and reflective practitioners in both the social and technical sciences, with anticipated representation from anthropology, sociology, economics, political science, computer science, electrical engineering, industrial design, and the like, in addition to domain specialists in various development fields such as healthcare, agriculture, enterprise, education, governance, etc. For the purposes of this conference, the term "ICT" will comprise computing devices (e.g. PCs, PDAs, sensor networks), and technologies for voice and data connectivity such as mobile telephony, the Internet, and related technologies. Application domains include, but are not restricted to, education, agriculture, enterprise, healthcare, poverty alleviation, general communication, and governance. Papers considering novel design, new technology, project assessment, policy, impact, content, social issues around ICT for development and so forth will be considered. Well-presented negative results from which generalizable conclusions can be drawn are also sought. CONFERENCE SUBMISSIONS AND PUBLICATION Only original, unpublished papers in English will be considered, through double-blind review. Word-length limit: 8000 words (this is a maximum, not a target!). Submissions must be through the website (http://www.ictd2009.org), and authors should follow IEEE style/formatting, detailed online. Authors will be required to sign a copyright release for the proceedings. Papers from the previous conference are now available on IEEE Xplore (IEEE's digital library), e.g.: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/servlet/opac?punumber=4085497. We also plan to develop some papers for an ITID journal special issue; selected papers from previous conferences were published in special issues of ITID; e.g. see: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/itid/4/1 For the latest information, please see the conference website at http://www.ictd2009.org. Please address e-mail correspondence to ictd2009@gmail.com. VENUE Qatar is a rapidly growing economy in the region and the world which has set its targets of moving beyond a hydrocarbon economy into becoming a regional and global leader in knowledge and information. Qatar is a modern, stable nation with a vibrant international population, and hosted the Asian Games in 2007. Education City brings leading educational and research institutions to Qatar, including Cornell, Georgetown, Texas A&M, and Carnegie Mellon, offering degree programs in Computer Science, Business Administration, and Information Systems. This provides an ideal venue for hosting ICTD2009, in a geographic location close to major population centers around the world, easily accessible by direct flights. NEW FOR ICTD2009 ICTD2009 will feature an enhanced review process with the opportunity for a brief rebuttal by authors. Details on this process will be given closer to the submission deadline. ICTD2009 will also have a separate call for panels and workshops, and an opportunity to demonstrate ICTD applications. Please refer to the conference website for details.