Introduction
The process generated around the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is an opportunity to present to the world the contributions that from Latin America and the Caribbean have been made in this respect.
Diverse actors of this region of the planet have worked and work today in how effective and efficiently using products based on the information and communication technologies (ICT) for the construction of a society that promotes the human development, sustained in the fairness and the integration of all the citizens. This work, for many, began long time ago and still go on. In doing so meaningful experiences have been accumulated.
This publication is a contribution of several institutions that work on topics related to the information society and its variants (communication, knowledge, wisdom, etc.) from Latin America and the Caribbean. They have decided to coordinate their efforts to publish a brochure that reflects the Latin American and Caribbean Perspectives on the World Summit on the Information Society.
We know that from Africa a similar project was developed and had good welcome in that continent and globally (“Our side of the Divide – African Perspectives on ICTs”). It is, without a doubt, an interesting example that stimulated us to show our side of the process.
The articles of the present publication are only a sample of what is been made in the region. They are a selection of important productions that we believe relevant to disclose as representative of the values shared by diverse actors who work in the field within Latin America and the Caribbean. From such values, we want to emphasize, in the first place, that we know and we do from our realities by our own development, without prejudices and complexes. The best experts on the South and its realities are in that same South. We welcome the good will support and solidarity but it has to be understood that we see ourselves like protagonists in the construction of that better future than we yearned for.
The second value is the cooperation between institutions from the South to fortify to us in our respective fields of action. This publication is the result of a collective effort made by diverse institutions of the region which have insisted on consolidating projects to conjugate their better capacities next to other institutions that are willing to accompany to them on this way.
The third value is the importance of the participation of the civil society in the conformation of the Information Society. For this reason we mainly gather articles generated from the civil society (academy, non-governmental organisms, among others institutions related to the representation of the civil society).
It is worth mentioning that this is the first pilot experience, informally structured as such, in the process of building the “Network on the Social Impact of the Information and Communication Technologies” (RedISTIC) (http://redistic.org). We are an organization who gathers institutions of the civil society and whose aim is to articulate initiatives of collaboration in order to get a real and effective influence in the public policies on ICT in the region.
We know that some key topics have been left out of this edition but the reason of that feature yields on the budget limitations and time constraints under which this project has been made. Even though we tried to include an wide panorama of the realities that we lived on.
The articles are organized in three sections. The first one gathers position papers on principles and values that govern the regional direction towards the information society. The second one reunites considerations on the process of the WSIS. The third section concentrates contributions on subjects and experiences originated in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In summary, we are facing a double challenge. On one side there is the one of documenting the process lived so far and by the other hand to create a reference to those who wishes to approach this subject and willing to know the particular perspective from this portion of the planet. We hope that the judgment of those who read this production favors us when doing the final balance.
Luis Germán Rodríguez L.
Coordinator of the Editorial Committee
Section One
Visions. Principles and values that govern the regional direction towards IS
- Working the Internet with a Social Vision (Comunidad Virtual Mistica)
- Knowledge-based international aid: Do we want it, do we need it? (Rosa-María Torres)
- A methodological proposal for measuring the transition to Knowledge Society in Latin American countries (Carlos Bianco, Gustavo Lugones, Fernando Peirano)
- The Digital Divide : the same division of resources? (Daniel Pimienta)
- ICT, Development, and Poverty Reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean (Susana Finquelievich)
- Ideas to rethink Connectivity in Rural Areas (Miguel Saravia)
- Civil Society Access to Direct Management of Communication Media (Gustavo Gómez)
Section Two
World Summit on the Information Society from LAC
- Declaration of somos@telecentros for World Summit on the Information Society (Comité Interino de somos@telecentros)
- World summit on the information society seen from the field: Do we enter the play or do we criticize from outside? (Daniel Pimienta)
- World Summit on the Information Society: Is the Outcome a Foregone Conclusion? (Paulo Lima)
- We Must Debate about the Right to Communication with Open Mindness (Marco Navas Alvear)
- Latin America gearing up for the World Summit on the Information Society (Valeria Betancourt)
Section Three
- The Information Society from LAC: Topics and experiences
- Thinking about knowledge society in Costa Rica (Kemly Camacho)
- Information Society in Haiti: mechanisms and conditions for technological empowerment (Gotson Pierre)
- The role of the civil society in info-inclusion processes (Paulo Lima, Graciela Baroni Selaimen)
- Communities and civil portals: ¿What for? (Rubén Araya Tagle)
- Indigenous people and the information society in Latin America and the Caribbean: A framework for action (Isabel Hernández, Silvia Calcagno)
- Bringing Up Citizens for the Information Society: The experience taken from the Communitarian Information Network Operators (Rodrigo Garrido, Manuel Morales, Alejandra Villarroel)
See also: “African Perspectives on Information and Communication Technologies“
