[APCPress] Press: 10 new ICT policy sites launched in 10 countries worldwide

[Karen Higgs]

NO EMBARGO

PRESS RELEASE

JUNE 8 2004



ICT POLICY WORK AT GLOBAL LEVEL SPARKS LOCAL ACTION AND COLLABORATION, 
AS CIVIL SOCIETY POLICY WEBSITES ARE SET UP IN TEN NATIONS


JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA -- APC has spent the last two years 
advocating for civil society involvement in international ICT 
(information and communications technologies) policy-making processes. 
Now 10 APC members have created national ICT policy portal websites in 
their own countries in a joint initiative. The portals which are all 
uniquely adapted to address each country's particular situation all use 
free software that allows content-sharing in different languages and 
between multiple information databases hosted in different parts of the 
world.

The portals have been set up by APC members -organisations who work with 
ICTs for sustainable development, and social and environmental justice- 
locally in Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Democratic 
Republic of Congo*, Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, 
the UK and Uruguay.

Using APC's free software content management system -the APC ActionApps- 
APC built a sample portal based on an existing national policy portal 
from the UK. The model was then refined in online consultation with APC 
members around the world. Then each member received a copy and adapted 
it to their own local needs. Trouble-shooting happened online in an 
international workspace.

The shared resources, expertise, information, and the use of free and 
open source software allowed sites to be set up swiftly. Members sharing 
a common language, e.g. Latin American members working in Spanish, also 
helped each other by sharing translation.

"Being part of an international networking initiative was one of the 
crucial arguments for our decision to participate," Elina Racholova of 
BlueLink, Bulgaria, told APC. "The creative spirit of collaboration 
among the APC members enhances common efforts and makes our joint work 
significant worldwide." The APC ActionApps software allows information 
gathered on one portal -using ActionApps' unique cross-server pooling- 
to be fed to other sites and also to APC's central 'ICT Policy and 
Internet Rights' website.

"The methodology of developing a network of inter-linked sites based on 
common templates which can be easily adapted, modified and translated, 
has proved a very powerful one for spread-out community content 
development," said project coordinator, Karen Banks. "It has encouraged 
and inspired over-burdened groups to collaborate quickly and efficiently 
as the bulk of the site planning and production has been managed 
centrally. We hope we can use this methodology again and again because 
it allows activists to focus their energies on the advocacy and not on 
the tools".


How the new sites will be used

The sites will be used in a variety of ways. In Colombia, the national 
site will act as a facilitation and documentation point for discussion 
on three issues including ICT policy and community media. The expected 
result is the generation of three concrete public policy proposals to 
present to the government.

In Italy the new site provides a dynamic online home for a two-year old 
national platform which brings together diverse civil society actors 
involved in media and ICT.

In Mexico, little has been done nationwide to involve citizens in the 
policy debate, and much less in actual decision-making. "There's very 
little information available in the traditional media regarding Mexico's 
national ICT policy," said LaNeta site coordinator, Olinca Marino, who 
has been following regional ICT policy developments closely through her 
participation in the Latin American caucus at last year's World Summit 
on the Information Society. "In general citizens receive very little 
official information from the state, and we hope the new Mexican 
Information and Communication Policy Portal will act as an invitation to 
the government to pay attention to the general public's needs and not 
just to business' needs". LaNeta hopes that Mexican civil society 
organisations will use the site to keep themselves informed of ICT 
policies being planned nationally and also to improve the 
self-organisation of policy advocates.


How this initiative came about

Last year's United Nations' World Summit on the Information Society was 
a watershed in public participation in ICT policy as ICT policy made a 
shift from the world of obscure jargon and elites to a new context. ICT 
policy became social policy not technical policy. Through WSIS new 
voices - people living with disabilities, the education and research 
sectors, the free software movement, children's rights advocates, 
campaigners for the global information commons and more- were heard in 
the ICT policy arena for the first time.

"APC had campaigned actively regionally and globally during the first 
phase of the World Summit and we felt this change was a huge 
break-through and wanted to see how we could take it forward at national 
level. With some financial support provided by the Canadian 
International Development Agency we were able to provide seed funding 
for a small number of national ICT policy sites set up by our members - 
all of whom are 'social techies' in their own right," said APC executive 
director, Anriette Esterhuysen. "We are extremely pleased with the 
positive response which indicates that civil society organisations at 
national level are increasingly taking active responsibility for trying 
to influence the policy and regulatory environments that impact on their 
use of ICTs".

* The initiative participants confront radically different national 
contexts as was regrettably demonstrated by late news from the Congolese 
portal coordinators. APC was informed on June 7 that "Bukavu was 
re-taken by rebels last Thursday and there have been strong 
demonstrations all over the country after that.  The situation remains 
unclear at this time and we might not be in a position to organise 
[their part in the launch]". APC will post updates.


More information

New national policy sites: http://rights.apc.org/policy_sites_list.shtml
APC 'ICT Policy and Internet Rights' site: http://rights.apc.org
Whose information society? - An assessment of the value of the WSIS by 
APC's executive director
APC ActionApps: http//www.actionapps.org


About APC

APC is one of civil society's foremost proponents of the importance of 
involving citizens in information and communications technology (ICT) 
policy-making internationally. APC has consultative status to the United 
Nations agency ECOSOC and is a member of the UN ICT Task Force. We also 
have a world wide membership  and our value and uniqueness comes from 
the local perspectives and contact with grassroots organisations that we 
gain through contact with, and between, our members. Our network of 
members includes civil society organisations who work with ICTs for 
sustainable development, and social and environmental justice in five 
continents. As well as CIDA, APC thanks CTO, DFID, EED, Ford, Hivos, 
IDRC, and OSI for their support of our internet rights and ICT policy 
work. www.apc.org


Contact details

Karen Higgs
APC Communications Manager
Cassinoni 1085
11200 Montevideo
Uruguay
Tel: +598 2 400-6460 (-3 GMT)
Email: communications at apc.org