ID # G48

A Civil Society Approach to Policies of the Information Society

By

Dr. Shalini Venturelli

Professor, American University, Washington, DC

And

Philippe Quéau

Director, Information Society Division, UNESCO

 

 

ABSTRACT

Paper Prepared for the INET 2001 Conference, Stockholm, June 2001

 

This paper examines the potential role of civil society and NGO groups in shaping the policies and development of a more equitable Information Society which takes into account the "greater common good" in an era of globalization. It is suggested that promoting civil society participation in decision-making and development not only enlarges the sphere of voices but could dramatically accelerate the expansion of knowledge networks and information technology exploitation. The approach has the added advantage of highlighting the significance of an emerging "global civil society" as a necessary counter balance to the process of economic and technological globalization. It is suggested that questions of social access to information and the means of expression, which are prerequisites for civil society empowerment, have been largely addressed in conventional terms directed to either problems of technological diffusion or the role of the state. However, there is now a pressing need to broaden the parameters of consideration to incorporate civil society participation in shaping the underlying social structure of the Information Society. The paper assesses the dynamic potential of a civil society approach to policies for the Information Society, and explores a workable framework that can be applied both at the global level and in diverse local and regional contexts. A central strength of the model is its orientation toward resolving the "digital divide" or "information gap," which represents a clear symptom of a larger economic and societal divide between developing and industrialized nations.

The paper reassesses the concept of civil society at the national and global levels in the context of its relation to information and knowledge, to culturally diverse modes of social networks and self-organization, and to pluralistic forms of the public sphere that give rise to particular structures of civil society. This suggests an important set of core "information rights" without which the foundations of civil society, including its dynamic organizations and NGOs, could neither emerge nor be sustained. While civil society organizations are thought to thrive primarily in Western industrialized societies, at least in their standard recognizable form, the paper suggests that information networks in fact form the basis of associative and self-determinative systems in all cultures and human societies. This inextricable relation between information rights structures and civil society structures then serves as a basis for elaborating a framework whereby the integration of civil society organizations into the policymaking process accelerates social participation through magnification of the production, distribution and exploitation expression and ideas which are intrinsic to associative networks. By the same token, the framework would provide an effective means of addressing immeasurably valuable categories of information essential to democracy, civil society and human rights, such as stimulating generation of critical commentary, refinement and elaboration of ideas, and the complex processes of public opinion formation.

A civil society approach to the Information Society therefore points to a set of strategies and priorities that alter the conventional policy model and the boundaries of what is meant by "information" and "knowledge." A few examples of such priorities and strategies addressed in the paper, include:

    • Shifting from the narrowly defined "TeleCenters" based on the idea of scarcities in connectivity, to the concept of "PublicSpace Centers" where the associative and knowledge needs of each community can be met, including the particular information needs of the most disadvantaged and excluded social groups. Civil society organizations and NGOs should play a primary role in constructing standards, applications, regulations and policies for the development and management of such centers. The approach should foster the emergence of a worldwide movement on civil society building through knowledge development, while simultaneously anchoring the process in the sharing and constructing of diverse social models, cultural perspectives and the lessons of actual information empowerment initiatives.
    • "PublicSpace Centers" could provide a range of opportunities to strengthen the knowledge base of civil society. Among the possible knowledge functions such centers might serve are: multi-generational education, training, and literacy programs; forums for debate, public opinion formation and consensus building; access to key information content in the public domain; access to public services; access to capital, market data and exchange transactions; support structures for micro-enterprises; support and training for local content development and innovation; access to telecommunications and Internet technology; access to information, catalogs, data bases, freeware and open source software; support for knowledge participation by women and formation of women’s networks; information support for development of agriculture, crafts, industry, water, power, and other needs specific to the local economy; information support for sustaining the local environment.
    • Revising the notion of "universal access" to include a number of neglected factors, especially those essential to the foundations and vitality of civil society. These factors include, among others, standards that facilitate access to the means of producing and distributing ideas, and improving the opportunities to benefit from the exploitation of ideas. The accompanying concepts of free access to the "global public domain of information and knowledge" (or "global information commons") and the "public information utility" (which considers the Internet as a national and international "essential facility," implying some trans-regional and trans-national planning and capacity building efforts) will be elaborated as a focus for social and institutional support in the realization of universal access.
    • Adapting global standards for an appropriate balance between intellectual property rights holders and information users to local needs for rapid diffusion of ideas. By agreeing to establish a range within which modifications could be applied, the international community might significantly advance the rapid expansion of the Information Society worldwide. The parameters should allow, at the very least, flexibility with compulsory licensing, term of protection, "fair use" rights especially for educational and scientific research purposes, and promotion and protection of information in the public domain.
    • Promoting content innovation at the local and regional levels. "PublicSpace Centers" should play a central role in promoting content innovation by exploiting local ideas and creative expression as a new form of capital, by allowing sharing and exchange of existing ideas, and by providing the skills to translate indigenous ideas into concrete content models.
    • Rethinking the concept of "education" both in terms of the substance of the standard literacy model and in terms of institutional structure whereby schools could be transformed into knowledge and life-long learning centers, while "PublicSpace Centers" can serve a significant educational function for all sectors of society. The standard literacy model should be revised in order to incorporate indigenous knowledge and greater emphasis on creative and innovative skills.
    • Carefully balanced development of information networks that promote commercial exploitation of information technology but also substantively promote non-commercial exploitation. Reserving a large percentage of global communications networks for non-commercial expression by itself, the paper argues, comprises one of the most important international steps in advancing civil society applications of information, and in stimulating self-determination mechanisms for social networks in all regions and communities. The self-organization of civil society into "public service information consortia," based on both civil solidarity and market principles, is an important step toward achieving this balance.
    • Contributing to progressive building of a vast, world-wide, freely accessible on-line and off-line public "virtual library" of knowledge, considered as a global informational, educational and cultural heritage of mankind.
    • Preventing the formation of information bottlenecks erected by proprietary concentration of infrastructure and content. A number of mechanisms can be suggested to multiply information nodes and discourage content consolidation.
    • Promoting open standards and non-proprietary codes, especially in the broadband spectrum reserved for non-commercial exploitation. An open standards model is a fundamental precondition to civil society growth and evolution, and to the formation of associative networks. It is indispensable to the capacity building and autonomous development of disadvantaged peoples and communities.
    • Shifting the approach to content regulation from state power to alternative social mechanisms that do not obstruct the flow of information on global networks. Global dialog on content regulation should include the participation of civil society organizations and NGOs in order to promote least-restrictive alternative social mechanisms that respect local standards of culture, human dignity, and public welfare, This would obviate the need for state-wielded mechanisms such as criminal penalties, censorship, or other types of content controls that fall under state jurisdiction.
    • Basic to all of these goals is a strengthened participation of civil society in the governance of international information networks. Proposals will be developed in this context with a view to the World Summit on the Information Society to be organized in 2003.

The civil society model of the Information Society leads to a social horizon of broad participation, self-determination, knowledge empowerment, and the outward expansion of knowledge capital. It would lay the foundations for the creation and incubation of social institutions from the ground up, initiated by communities themselves, rather than from the top down initiated by arbitrary state power. This is especially important in many poor and developing countries where the state has been unable to create viable and effective institutional systems. Most important, the civil society approach to the Information Society would accelerate social participation in the construction of knowledge systems and of self-regulatory structures. In the long term, this demand-led model holds the potential for resolving the information gap that neither the state nor the market alone could satisfactorily resolve.

Finally, in a rapidly shrinking planet and in a fast-converging world, it is reaffirmed that the role of the emerging "global civil society," strengthened and awakened to itself by its very use of information technologies, will assist governments to initiate new ways of addressing global governance for the sake of the "general interest of mankind," to quote an expression of the philosopher Immanuel Kant.