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Information Society: Voices from the
South
Summary of discussions on the
topic
'Freedom, rights, laws and ethics'
Prepared by Partha Pratim Sarker
Co-editor, Bytes for All
& Moderator, Information Society Discussion Forum
Time Frame: June 16 to July 31, 2003
Number of Subscribers (Until July 31): 372 members
Main theme line of
discussion
2. Freedom, rights, laws and ethics: How to address these issues for
Information Society in the South?
Sub-topics:
(2.A.) Community and Freedom
(2.B.) Development and
Self-Expression
(2.C.) Issue of Censorship and
Self-Censorship
(2.D.) Issue of Patent and
Copyright
(2.E.) Wi-fi, Internet and other
technology issues
(2.F.) Right to
Communicate
Sub-topic 2.B.
Development and Self-Expression
The debate was little bit directed to the thematic discussion of
development and self-expression but that too was completely interlinked
with the topic. All these gave some critical thinking on the topic.
Thomas Tichar describes the concept this way, 'development for me
means that people themselves are put into a position to realise that
they can change their own environment, and are taught to think
critically of it. This is why I would consider it less important to
improve a nation as a whole, rather than improve a community to being
more critical. Obviously the financial assistance is necessary, but
knowing how to use a computer is one thing, but knowing why you should
have a computer is another'.
According to Glory Mushinge of Media ICT Network for Development, in
Zambia, development is 'when a person,people,nation etc, move from one
lower level to another in the positive direction using a certain tool.
In this context the tool is information and if information is easily
accessible and abundant, a person is(or people are) able to know how to
tackle certain issues at hand and at the end of the day improve in a
certain area and development takes place'.
Pam McLean supports the view of Thomas Tichar and brought forward
her own experiences of Oke-Ogun Community Development (OOCD) Agenda
2000 +.
Ajit Maru thinks that development from the perspective of an
Information Society is empowering communities to use information to
learn to articulate their own visions for improving their quality of
life and negotiating with their stakeholders and partners for action in
achieving their vision. And associated with empowerment are issues of
policies, capacities and access to information and technologies that
enable its communication. He expressed that in early times, freedom to
information, change in the telegraph law, active promotion of
telecommunications for rural communities may have made some affects on
democratic evolution of India. For example, many commented that, the
railways in India brought the demise of the British Empire with Mahatma
Gandhi using it as a major tool in his actions, and television
(Introduced by Indira Gandhi) in 1980s brought the demise of "Congress
Culture".
Go to other sub-topics:
(2.A.) Community and Freedom
(2.C.) Issue of Censorship and
Self-Censorship
(2.D.) Issue of Patent and
Copyright
(2.E.) Wi-fi, Internet and other
technology issues
(2.F.) Right to
Communicate
Information Society:
Voices from the South is an online discussion forum run by Digital Opportunity
Channel in partnership with Bytes for All. The forum will run
until December 2003 and will discuss a number of broad themes related
to the emerging information society and the process of the World Summit
on the Information Society (WSIS).
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