[WSIS CS-Plenary] Information Society for the South Project - ITfC and ITeM

[Parminder]

Friends, 

You are requested to join us at the presentation of the ‘Information 
Society for the South (ISS) Project’ at Room Mehdia today, Thursday 17th from 
10:45 to 12:45

We will like to have your views on the project – and you are requested to join 
the above presentation. 

Regards 

Parminder 
IT for Change

**********************************************************

Information Society for the South Project 

By
IT for Change, Bangalore, India
and 
Instituto del Tercer Mundo, Montevideo, Uruguay
 

Presentation of the ‘Information Society for the South (ISS) Project’ at Room 
Mehdia (or Mahdia, depending on where you look) today, Thursday 17th from 
10:45 to 12:45

We will like to have your views on the project – and you are requested to join 
the above presentation  


About the ISS Project

Whose Information Society (IS) is it?
It is irrefutable that the technological advances that have been sweeping 
through the world in the last few years have enormous potential for making 
fundamental changes to our world. Harnessing such possibilities for the 
benefit of the disadvantaged, however, calls for conscious design. 
Unfortunately, the IS has been conceptualized and articulated by dominant 
forces in terms that have furthered their interests, rather than serve the 
excluded. 

The refusal of the developed world to engage constructively in global public 
policy spaces to realize the IS opportunity for development has been very 
evident at WSIS.

The most pressing development need of the South today 
What we need today is to re-interpret IS developments in terms that suit the 
interests of the disadvantaged, to create an IS that works for the South. A 
new theory of the IS that would focus on the practical without losing sight of 
the political has to be developed. The 'Information Society for the South' 
project proposes to address this need.

Developing IS research and advocacy capacities in the South
Research and advocacy capacities in the South are inadequate, especially in 
relation to the fast changing contexts of the emerging IS. This allows 
dominant interests to present a conception of the IS that suits them and to 
attempt co-opting the developing world into it. 
________________________________________

The ISS Project plans to develop the research and advocacy capacities in the 
South with regard to IS issues. These capacities will help various development 
actors tackle the political aspects of the IS, as well as serve the 
implementation needs of ICTD activity in all sectors of development. 

Components of the ISS Project
•	Research
•	Advocacy
•	Capacity building
•	Information Society Watch
 
All these components will develop close connections with ICTD projects in the 
South, especially those that demonstrate important possibilities for new 
paradigms of development.


Focus Areas of the ISS Project

•	Political economy of the IS

•	New 'open' paradigms in the IS for alternate visions of development

•	Pro-development ICTD policy - differentiating ICT for social 
development from ICT for economic growth

•	Redefining the relationship between the citizen and the state in the 
IS 

•	Changing role of public, private and community sectors in the IS

•	WSIS follow up - both the official process and civil society processes
 
**********************************************************
>From ICTD to ‘Information Society for the South’

With the failures of the dominant ICTD paradigms increasingly evident, the 
time is now ripe to provide alternatives to both theory and practice. Even 
with limited successes of ICTD till date, there is an increasing acceptance in 
the development community that ICTs do have significant potential in most 
areas of development. As viable ICTD concepts and models are presented through 
the ISS Project, they will contribute to developing the understanding and 
capacity of development actors on IS possibilities. This will have a strong 
impact on the development situation in the South.

The concept of ICTD has come to be associated more with an IT applications-
based, quick fix approach to development, without a blue-print for systemic 
change. However, an IS that meets the development needs of the South, will 
require a more systemic approach with accent on institutional and structural 
changes.

The concept of ‘IS for the South’ captures systemic issues of institutional 
and societal changes better than the term ICTD.
**********************************************************

Information Society for the South is a joint program of IT for Change and ITeM 
(The Third World Institute).

IT for Change (www.ITforChange.net) is an NGO based in Bangalore, India that 
works in the area of new ICTs and social change.  

ITeM - Instituto del Tercer Mundo (www.item.org.uy) is a non-profit 
association, based in Montevideo, Uruguay that works on environment and 
development issues, promoting citizen involvement in global decision-making 
processes. 

Contact Parminder Jeet Singh (Parminder at ITforChange.net) or Pablo Accuosto 
(accuosto at item.org.uy) for more details about the project.
 

Parminder

www.ITforChange.net
IT for Change
Bridging Developmental Realities and Technological Possibilities


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