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.
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