In Focus

Communication and Information Sector's In Focus service

UNESCO and Software

In the digital age, software is essential for knowledge management and sharing. UNESCO has therefore accumulated significant experience in facilitating the development of some key software tools for processing information. These software tools are distributed free-of-charge and the objective is to empower the users by giving them access to some key technology for development and knowledge sharing, that most of them otherwise could not afford. The development model is based upon international cooperation and the software tools are continuously enriched, modified and updated with the co-operation of a community of experts from different countries. The most popular UNESCO software tools are CDS/ISIS, Greenstone and IDAMS.

	CDS/ISIS CDS/ISIS provides facilities for storing documents electronically and for advanced information retrieval. CDS/ISIS is used worldwide for managing databases in libraries and information centres
	Greenstone Greenstone is a suite of software for building and publishing digital library collections. It provides a new innovative way of organizing and publishing information on the Internet or on CD-ROM.
	IDAMS IDAMS is a software for numerical information processing, i.e. data management, data mining and statistical analysis.
	Free Software Portal The UNESCO Free Software Portal gives access to documents and websites which are references for the Free Software/Open Source Technology movements.
	"FOSS solution for e-learning" (IIEP Forum) Outcomes of the "Free Open Source Software for E-learning" forum.
	UNESCO's Virtual Laboratory Toolkit This Toolkit should enable scientists in the developing countries to establish and participate in basic Virtual Laboratories.
	Special Multilingual browsers Development of a beta version of a web browser that supports creation and viewing of web pages in Burmese. The open-source Mozilla browser has been used for this development.
	EnRICH Fully customisable knowledge management software for communities to find their way around the mass of information and knowledge resources available on the Internet and to voice community issues and create relevant content of their own.
	UNESCO/IOC BeeBox BeeBox is an open source application for the development of Community portals.