Other side of the divide:
Latin-American and Caribbean Perspectives on
the WSIS
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"[1]).
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 Germ�n Rodr�guez L.
Coordinator of the Editorial Committee
[1] Elaborated by an asociation of
institutions of defense of the information in Africa.� First
published January 2003, Windhoek. � MISA 2003.