AFRICOMM 2011

Endorsed by the European Alliance for Innovation (EAI) Technically co-sponsored by: Fraunhofer FOKUS, SUZA, FBK, Create-NET

MOTIVATION Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have proved to offer immense potential to development. However, designing, developing, and deploying infrastructures and solutions that are affordable and efficient when only limited resources are available is a very challenging task. This presents a setback for developing countries against reaping the benefits that ICTs offers. AFRICOMM makers in ICT to discuss issues and trends, recent research, innovation advances and on-the-field experiences related to e-Infrastructure, e-Governance, e-Business, and enabling policy and regulations with a deep focus on developing countries.

AFRICOMM invites submission of unpublished and quality research papers with novel contributions. All submitted contributions will undergo a double-blind peer review. Accepted papers will be presented at the conference and published by Springer's LNICST series. AFRICOMM 2011, the third conference of the series, is organized in two research tracks, namely a track in communication infrastructure and a track on e-services, policy and regulatory issues. In addition, AFRICOMM 2011 is calling for workshop proposals on more specific topics of relevance to developing countries. The workshops will take place in conjunction with the conference.

TRACK 1: COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This track is dedicated to communication and network technologies that are of specific relevance to developing countries. The track provides a platform where key R&D findings and new directions in this field, challenges and obstacles, business models, and success stories will be discussed and reviewed. This track is calling for research papers on topics that include, but are not limited to:
 * Design and analysis of protocols and architectures for developing countries
 * Existing and emerging wireless broadband access technologies, such as WiMAX, LTE, etc.
 * Innovations in femtocells, picocells and relay network technologies
 * Cognitive radio and advanced spectrum management methods
 * Self-managed deployment, operation, and maintenance of IT infrastructures
 * Affordable mobile technologies
 * Energy-aware ICT infrastructure, e.g., energy aware systems and networking
 * ICT infrastructures based on alternative energies
 * Network and IT security issues in developing countries
 * Overlay networks (such as p2p, bitTorrent, etc) in developing countries
 * ICT infrastructures for critical environmental conditions
 * Testbeds and reference implementation for exploring and validating infrastructure requirements and usage
 * Critical information infrastructure protection (CIIP)
 * Geographic Information systems and applications

TRACK 2: ELECTRONIC SERVICE, ICT POLICY, AND REGULATORY ISSUES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This track provides an opportunity to share and compare experiences, perspectives, issues, and opportunities related to the use of web-based and mobile services to foster development. The track also provides a venue to disseminate findings, experiences, and recommendations on how policy and regulatory issues impact on development. This track is calling for research papers on topics that include, but are not limited to:
 * Experiences and applications in areas such as: e-health, e-learning, e-agriculture, e-government, and e-participation
 * ICT for development
 * Mobile-based services and applications
 * Mobile computing for next generation phones
 * Emergency and disaster management
 * Open source and open source models for e-services
 * Participatory design and living labs
 * E-services for environmental sustainability
 * Change management, interoperability, and standards
 * ICT policy and regulations

PUBLISHING

Accepted papers will be published in the AfriComm Conference Proceedings and by Springer-Verlag in the Lecture Notes of ICST (LNICST). The proceedings will be available both in book form and via the SpringerLink digital library, and will be submitted for inclusion in leading indexing services, including DBLP, Google Scholar, ISI Proceedings, EI, CrossRef and Zentralblatt Math, as well as ICST's own EU Digital Library (EUDL, http://eudl.eu).

SUBMISSIONS

The page limit for research papers is ten pages (Track 1 or 2) and two-pages for posters and demos. All contributions should be formatted according to the LNICST Conference Publishing Services formatting instructions, including figures and references. Workshop proposals should constitute of not more than two pages detailing the objectives of the workshop and its relevance to developing countries, and names and contacts of the workshop organizing chairs. All submissions must be in English. Please visit the conference website for detailed submission instructions: http://www.africommconference.org. One author of each accepted contribution will be required to register and present the work at the conference.

IMPORTANT DATES


 * Submission Deadline: July 3, 2011
 * Notification Due: August 28, 2011
 * Final Version Due: September 25, 2011

STEERING COMMITTEE

Imrich Chlamtac (Chair), CREATE-NET, Italy

Salomao Julio Manhica, UTICT, Mozambique

Fausto Giunchiglia, University of Trento, Italy

Paolo Traverso, FBK, Italy

Alessandro Zorer, CREATE-NET, Italy

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Honorable Chair Radu Popescu-Zeletin, Fraunhofer FOKUS, Germany

General Chair

Karl Jonas,Fraunhofer FOKUS, Germany

TPC Chair

Idris A. Rai, Makerere University, Uganda

TPC Chair - Communication Infrastructures in Developing Countries

Roch Glitho, Concordia University, Canada

TPC Chair - Track on Electronic Service, ICT Policy, and Regulatory Issues for Developing Countries

Adolfo Villafiorita, FBK Center for Information Technology, Italy

Darelle Van Greunen, NMMU, South Africa

Sponsorship Chair

Alessandro Zorer, CREATE-NET, Italy

Local Chair

Omar Fakih Hamad, University of Dar-es-salam, Tanzania

Adnan Ali, State University of Zanzibar, Tanzania

Publicity Chairs

Eva Sittig and Wolf Konrad, Fraunhofer, Germany

Workshops and Demos Chair

Dirk Elias, Fraunhofer, Portugal

Posters and Panels Chair

Hans Schotten, University of Kaiserslautern, Germany

TECHNICAL PROGRAM COMMITTEE (TPC)

Hisham Abdelsalam, Cairo University, Egypt; Max Agueh, ECE Paris, France; Rui Aguiar, Instituto de Telecomunicacoes, Portugal; Abdelfettah Belghith, National School of Computer Sciences (ENSI), Tunisia; Dennis Bjiwaard, Inertia Technology, The Netherlands; Tony Bulega, Makerere University, Uganda; Patrick Chikumba, University of Malawi, The Polytechnic, Malawi; Andy Dearden, Sheffield Hallam University, UK; Kevin Doolin, Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland; Babakae Farshchian, SINTEF ICT, Norway; Dirk Elias, Fraunhofer Portugal Research Center, Portugal; George Ghinea, Brunel University, UK; Roch Glitho, Concordia University, Canada; Darelle Van Greunen, NMMU, South Africa; Omar Fakih Hamad, University of Dar-es-salam, Tanzania; Ayman Hassan, Orange, France; Janardhan Iyengar, Franklin and Marshal College, USA; Karl Jonas, Franhofer FOKUS, Germany; Mathew Kam, Carnegie Mellon University, USA; Joseph Kizza, University of Tennessee Chattanooga, USA; Santhi Kumaran, Kigali Institute of Science and Technology, Rwanda; Tayeb Lemlouma, Irisa, France; Jude Lubega, Makerere University, Uganda; Tshilidzi Marwala, University of Johannesburg, South Africa; Sougata Mekherjea, IBM Research, India; Edwards Mutafungwa, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland; Faiza Najjar, National School of Computer Sciences (ENSI), Tunisia; Manuel Urueda Pascual, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain; Idris A. Rai, Makerere University, Uganda; Andy Rice, Cambridge University, UK; Anthony J Rodriguez, University of Nairobi, Kenya; Leila Azouz Saidane, National School of Computer Sciences (ENSI), Tunisia; Julianne Sansa, Makerere University, Uganda; Hans D. Schotten, University of Kaiserslautern, Germany; Guy Tanonkou, ACSAL Luxembourg; Kentaro Tokoyama, University of California at Berkeley, USA; Bill Tucker, University of Western Cape, South Africa; Isabella Venter, University of Western Cape, South Africa; Adolfo Villafiorita, FBK Center for Information Technology, Italy; Komminist Weldemariam, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Trento, Italy.