Two hundred women representing almost as many women's information centres in Africa, Asia, North, Central and South America, the Middle East, Eastern and Western Europe and Australia and the Pacific will meet in Amsterdam, the Netherlands this August to plan the development of their profession. They will participate in the Know How Conference on the World of Women's Information, an initiative of the Amsterdam-based International Information Centre and Archives of the Women's Movement (IIAV), from August 22 - 26.

This is the first global post-Beijing conference on women's information. In Beijing, governments agreed to use women's information as an instrument for policy-making. Many governments are today deciding how to implement that decision. Without developing far-reaching alliances with the women's information centres that have been collecting this information and building international co-operation for many years, governments will fail to realise the goals set in Beijing. Many of the visitors to the Know How Conference represent local, national and international government agencies that understand the need for co-operation with grassroots movements. One such agency is UNESCO, which is developing close ties with women's information centres around the world in order to achieve it's own goals of providing governments in UN member countries with gender sensitive data.

Conference participants will work through a varied program of keynote speeches, presentations and workshops. All keynote speakers underline the mission of the Know How Conference: to develop and promote the accessibility and visibility of women's information services and activities in all areas of the world (see the schedule for names and subjects). All contributions to the workshops have been initiated by the participants themselves; the organizers have simply facilitated the process. Even the workshop co-ordinators, who have been corresponding with panelists and contributors from around the world since January 1998, represent the regional diversity of the participants.

Preceding the Know How Conference, on Saturday and Sunday, is the Indigenous Women's pre-conference. The 20 Indigenous women from all parts of the globe will meet to discuss special information needs of Indigenous women and will present the results of their pre-conference during a workshop at the Know How Conference on Tuesday August 25th. Two prominent Indigenous information specialists, Lori Pourier, Executive Director of the Indigenous Women's Network in North America and Victoria Corpuz-Tauli of the Asian Indigenous Women's Network will deliver keynote addresses on Tuesday morning.

Evolution of a Cliché
By way of these images I wanted to show that the so called 'Third World Nations' and in particular Africa - considered the most deprived continent by many- do not rest in the age where we communicate with drums from village to village. It is important to demonstrate the awakening of the popular conciousness in these nations. Even if this phenomenon affects only a limited group, this group must suffice in breaking and contradicting predominant stereotypes and clichés regarding the African continent.
Beyond simply the need to demonstrate that new modes and technologies of communication have not eluded the African people, the most important message to convey is that of the desire for cultural exchange: the idea of the budding spirit of transmission and receptivity. The cable present in each image represents the idea of the 'transmission cable' a symbol of cultural liaison An African woman is connected to others through a telecommunications cable. Only the wire and part of the woman's face are visible. The dark background is suggestive of limitless space. The stark clarity of the photo draws the observer into the world of women and communication technology. This is the first in a series of photographs in the exhibition 'Evolution d'un Cliché' by Angèle Etoundi Essamba.
African women everywhere are part of the stunning development of information communication technology. In her photographic exhibition 'Evolution d'un Cliché', Angèle Etoundi Essamba captures the creativity of these women. The exhibition is showing at the Royal Institute for the Tropics throughout the Know How Conference on the World of Women's Information, on August 24, 25 and 26 1998.
Photographer Angèle Etoundi Essamba was born in Cameroon and grew up in Paris. Now living in Amsterdam, she made these portraits for the Know How Conference on the World of Women's Information. The photographs are part of a larger exhibition that is in preparation. It will be available for booking later this year.
The Know How Conference
Information communication technology is one of the fields in which women's information specialists work. The Know How Conference on the World of Women's Information will bring together two hundred women representing women's information centres and networks in Africa, Asia, North, Central and South America, the Middle East, Eastern and Western Europe and Australia and the Pacific. The conference will take place from 22 - 26 August 1998 at the Royal Institute for the Tropics in Amsterdam. Conference participants will discuss ICT and other themes relating to the development of their profession. The conference is hosted by the Amsterdam-based IIAV, International Information Centre and Archives of the Women's Movement.
'Evolution d'un Cliché' was made possible by generous donations from Amsterdamse Fonds voor de Kunst, Mama Cash, NCDO, the IIAV and Stadsdeel Oost.
For more information on the exhibition or the conference, please contact: knowhow@iiav.nl, or phone +31-20-6650820. Please direct your call to the Press Desk.
Photo's are available for the press.

Amsterdam, 19 August 1998. How can an artist encapsulate the diversity of cultural backgrounds that form the international cooperation at the heart of a worldwide conference?

Nita Dales (Amsterdam) was commissioned by the organizers of the Know How Conference on the World of Women's Information, which will be held in Amsterdam from 22 - 26 August 1998, to create a 'document' that would welcome participants to the conference they, together with the organisers, had worked hard to build. The Know How Conference will bring 250 women's information specialists from 83 countries together to develop the visibility and accessibility of their work. The International Information Centre and Archives of the Women's Movement (IIAV) in Amsterdam is hosting the conference.

Dales chose envelopes and e-mail addresses to symbolise each person's participation in the process. She asked the organizers to collect all incoming envelopes and to supply her with a list of e-mail addresses. These are now part of the 3 metres x 14 metres cloth construction in the entrance hall to the IIAV. It is entitled Ode to the Participants and is on display this week at the IIAV in Amsterdam.

"The different materials used in envelopes, from cotton-lined brittle paper in India to the plastic packaging of express mail, and the diversity in postage and other stamps are expressions of differences in culture. E-mail hides these differences, but a puzzler will soon realise that the .sn at the end of an e-mail address stands for Senegal and .org usually signifies a North American organization. By bringing e-mail and envelopes together in this work, two generations of information streams are made visible," says Nita Dales, who was helped by her niece Melanie Dales in putting this 'document' together. "The speed, directness and uniformity of e-mail contrasts with the beauty and originality of the cultural forms of the letter. But clearly both forms are needed in international communications."

Dales also included returned mail in her Ode to the Participants, stamped with messages such as 'undeliverable due to political unrest'. "It is important to show that many of the colleagues were unable to participate. One participant from Congo cancelled at the last minute because there were no flights out of Kinshasa. One of the Algerian keynote speakers had to cancel due to escalations in the war. Documenting women's human rights is an important subject that will be discussed a the Know How Conference."

"Each envelope has it's own space. I used the round form thinking of the human eye, rings on the water that spread like information does, and women's breasts. From women's information services people can pull and where knowledge is shared and passed on to the next generation. The pattern painted onto the background of the cloth suggests circles larger than the cloth itself. The entire process of creating a conference can never be made visible in a single document. I wanted to show that the sum of the whole is more than equal to the sum of the individual parts."

Ode to the Participants, (Nita Dales, student HKU), IIAV, Obiplein 4, Amsterdam. August 22 - September 30,1998. (Monday - Friday)