APC Press release: Global Information Society Watch --
First report looks at ICT policy's impact
Discussion of how to "make the information revolution reality for all"
tend to assume that such an outcome is desirable. Whether that is
true depends on whether the revolution's outcome good or bad. As we
make plans to extend ICT to the rest of the world, the plan should
assure that we give them freedom-respecting ICT, using free/libre
software.
Most users of information technology use proprietary software, which
means, software that the users don't control. Most of this software
is controlled by large companies, and serves to impose their power
over the users. If this is what the "information revolution" means,
we should try to help people stay out of it.
The announcement does not hint at this issue; it takes "inclusion" as
the goal, and "exclusion" as bad. Does the report address the
question of how to ensure that the information revolution follows the
path to free software and freedom, rather than subjugating users to
companies such as Microsoft and Apple?
Dr Richard Stallman, President, Free Software Foundation
My personal congrats and well wishes on the occasion of the launch of the APC-ISW Global Information Society Watch Report. I have contributed to the Pakistan chapter of the report and am very pleased on the extent of information and knowledge shared in the overall publication. Well done team!
This report is an important effort at a critical time. While so much attention is being put on the effort to overcome the inequities in global information access it is important to make sure that the people who need this access are actually served by those efforts. It is also very important to know the extent to which the people affected have a voice in the policy making organizations. Participation of all stakeholders in policy processes is an important element of good global governance. In this sense, the report will also be good input to the IGF in its continuing work on a development agenda for Internet Governance and the special emphasis being placed on capacity building for all stakeholders.
Markus Kummer, Executive Coordinator - Internet Governance Forum Secretariat
Very heartiest congratulations for your new initiatives on Global Information Society Watch report.
We hope, NGOs/CSOs and other stakholders will get better information from this report.
By the way, we would like to open Bangladesh Information Siciety Watch.
With best regards from Bangladesh,
AHM Bazlur Rahman-S21BR
Chief Executive Officer
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication
&
Member, Strategy Council
UN-Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID)
There is a lack of ICT-oriented indexes which focus on inclusion and exclusion in ICT policy decisions. GISwatch is a serious attempt to bridge this gap.
GISwatch is making the crucial link between ICT figures and actual patterns of participation in ICT decision making.
Rikke Frank Jrgensen - Senior adviser at the Danish Institute for Human Rights
The report raises and places value on discussions on matters of national development in ICT policy and regulatory processes and issues. Rather than just statistics it provides an opportunity to share examples of the road traveled in policy making , which will hopefully reduce the need to follow an inappropriate path.
Alice Wanjira-Munyua - National Coordinator of the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet)
One of the characteristics of the 'Information Society" is the abundance of information. The key is finding ways to navigate, to sort the wheat from the chaff. And so it is with information about the Information Society. That is why the arrival of GIS Watch is so welcome. No other publication, to my knowledge, is dedicated to monitoring the ongoing evolution of the Information Society from the perspective of civil society, and particularly the growing movements for people's empowerment rooted in the global South.
Marc Raboy - Beaverbrook Chair in Ethics, Media and Communications at McGill University (Canada)
GIS Watch fills a major void in our collective knowledge base about the politics of the global information society. While international organizations and research institutions regularly churn out reports that are
packed with data about the diffusion of information and communication technologies and offer mainstream assessments of policy trends, they generally devote little attention to what all this means for the global
public interest. GIS Watch is different. The report gives center stage to public interest issues, and emphasizes in particular the perspectives of civil society actors and the concerns of the global South. It includes both provocative analytical essays and a series of illuminating case studies of policy developments in twenty two countries and five international institutions. Taken together, these materials connect the dots between national and global-level trends and give readers a "big picture" understanding of where we are heading and the risks and opportunities that entails. The Association for Progressive Communications and the Third World Institute are to be commended for performing an important public service, and I look forward to reading future editions of the report in the years to come.
Dr. William J. Drake - Director, Project on the Information Revolution and Global Governance/PSIO, Graduate Institute for International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland
APC Press release: Global Information Society Watch --
First report looks at ICT policy's impact
Discussion of how to "make the information revolution reality for all"
tend to assume that such an outcome is desirable. Whether that is
true depends on whether the revolution's outcome good or bad. As we
make plans to extend ICT to the rest of the world, the plan should
assure that we give them freedom-respecting ICT, using free/libre
software.
Most users of information technology use proprietary software, which
means, software that the users don't control. Most of this software
is controlled by large companies, and serves to impose their power
over the users. If this is what the "information revolution" means,
we should try to help people stay out of it.
The announcement does not hint at this issue; it takes "inclusion" as
the goal, and "exclusion" as bad. Does the report address the
question of how to ensure that the information revolution follows the
path to free software and freedom, rather than subjugating users to
companies such as Microsoft and Apple?
My personal congrats and well wishes on the occasion of the launch of the APC-ISW Global Information Society Watch Report. I have contributed to the Pakistan chapter of the report and am very pleased on the extent of information and knowledge shared in the overall publication. Well done team!
This report is an important effort at a critical time. While so much attention is being put on the effort to overcome the inequities in global information access it is important to make sure that the people who need this access are actually served by those efforts. It is also very important to know the extent to which the people affected have a voice in the policy making organizations. Participation of all stakeholders in policy processes is an important element of good global governance. In this sense, the report will also be good input to the IGF in its continuing work on a development agenda for Internet Governance and the special emphasis being placed on capacity building for all stakeholders.
Very heartiest congratulations for your new initiatives on Global Information Society Watch report.
We hope, NGOs/CSOs and other stakholders will get better information from this report.
By the way, we would like to open Bangladesh Information Siciety Watch.
With best regards from Bangladesh,
AHM Bazlur Rahman-S21BR
Chief Executive Officer
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication
&
Member, Strategy Council
UN-Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID)
House: 13/1, Road:2, Shaymoli, Dhaka-1207
Post Box: 5095, Dhaka 1205 Bangladesh
Phone: 88-02-9130750, 88-02-9138501
01711881647 Fax: 88-02-9138501-105
E-mail: ceo@bnnrc.net, bnnrc@bd.drik.net,
bnnrc@siriusbb.com www.bnnrc.net
There is a lack of ICT-oriented indexes which focus on inclusion and exclusion in ICT policy decisions. GISwatch is a serious attempt to bridge this gap.
GISwatch is making the crucial link between ICT figures and actual patterns of participation in ICT decision making.
The report raises and places value on discussions on matters of national development in ICT policy and regulatory processes and issues. Rather than just statistics it provides an opportunity to share examples of the road traveled in policy making , which will hopefully reduce the need to follow an inappropriate path.
One of the characteristics of the 'Information Society" is the abundance of information. The key is finding ways to navigate, to sort the wheat from the chaff. And so it is with information about the Information Society. That is why the arrival of GIS Watch is so welcome. No other publication, to my knowledge, is dedicated to monitoring the ongoing evolution of the Information Society from the perspective of civil society, and particularly the growing movements for people's empowerment rooted in the global South.