Proposed Strategies for Information Society in the South

FINQUELIEVICH SUSANA

Information Society for the South: Vision or Hallucination?

Instituto del Tercer Mundo, ITEM

Lugar: Montevideo; Año: 2005; p. 71 - 90

The mandate of the United Nations (UN)[1] promoting the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)[2] encourages governments to implement multistakeholder consultation mechanisms (governments, private sector and civil society)[3] in each country to define the corresponding national strategies towards the Information Society. Similarly, UN resolutions on this issue call international and regional institutions to actively participate in the whole process[4]. Undoubtedly, as it was stated by civil society representatives at the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Conference, held in Rio de Janeiro[5] in June 2005, it is a process that has opened the possibility to innovate and experience with multistakeholder participation schemes. Upon this mandate, a series of questions are raised in Southern countries: How is the building of an inclusive Information Society to be developed by the different social actors in Southern countries, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean? What elements apart from connectivity should be focusing the efforts of governments, the private sector and civil society? What sources of financing to ensure access and production of technological goods and services should be encouraged? What are the conditions required to assure that multistakeholder participation in building the Information Society becomes a reality and not just a nice rhetoric? And essentially, what proposals could be made on these topics in order to contribute to the process of building the Information Society that will follow the WSIS? This paper, based on research carried out by the author and other researchers regarding different aspects of the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)[6], is placed within the process of collective reflection and debate in the context of the WSIS. It includes five items: the first one is based on the strategies for building the Information (or Knowledge) Society in LAC countries. It briefly describes the political and economic emphasis placed by governments on connectivity and its progress throughout the last decade. The second item focuses on the strategies of the different social actors in terms of connectivity, including governments, companies and also the organized civil society. Several examples are given by way of illustration. The next item maintains that the fundamental role of governments is not so much to provide Internet access but rather, on the one hand, to promote partnerships with other social actors for connectivity purposes, and on the other hand, to essentially focus on the Knowledge Society for Development, that is to say, on the national production of Science, Technology and Innovation (S+T+i), as well as on the articulation between S+T+i and the production of goods and services in the Knowledge Society which may contribute to the economic and social development of citizens. For this purpose, different financing strategies for building the Knowledge Society are briefly described. Reference is also made to the importance of resorting to the promotion of a technology-based production of goods and services in Southern countries rather than to technology transfer from developed countries. Finally, the fourth item focuses on the proposal of innovative policies and strategies for Southern countries, including diverse areas: agreements between nations and blocs of countries, universal telecommunication services, connectivity, production in Science, Technology and Innovation (S+T+i), and production of goods and services in the Knowledge Society. [1] http://www.un.org/ [2] http://www.itu.int/wsis/ [3] http://www.itu.int/wsis/basic/multistakeholders.html [4] http://www.itu.int/wsis/basic/background.html [5] http://www.redistic.org/docs/ENSI-RIO20051.pdf [6] This paper is based on the following research coordinated by the author: TIC y reducción de la Pobreza en América Latina y el Caribe (IDRC, 2002); TIC y Desarrollo local en el Área Metropolitana Norte de Buenos Aires (Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, 2003-2006); La sociedad civil en la economía del conocimiento: TICs y desarrollo socio-económico, Instituto de Investigaciones Gino Germani, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, 2004; Las Cooperativas Comunitarias de Telecomunicaciones en Argentina, 2005; and Las Redes Electrónicas como Organización Social, CONICET, 2003 – 2005; Susana Finquelievich and Alejandro Prince: El (involuntario) rol social de los cibercafés en Argentina (2005).