In the following I want to lay out what hopefully may function as an initial program towards a “digital citizenship” -- a form of digitally enabled and enhanced citizenship for the Internet age; and one which takes as its basic assumption the Internet's transformational risks and opportunities. This is presented in the form of an election “platform” -- a set of principles and policies which gives citizens a choice as to directions they may wish to follow.
This list is as open ended as the Internet is open ended. Just as the horizon for enhancing the well-being of all global citizens through more efficient and effective communication and access to and use of information is continuously expanding, so is the need to ensure that the Internet is and continues to be a resource available, usable and of equitable benefit to all.
Is there a conspiracy to “kettle” the poor, the marginalized, the socially excluded in digital dead zones and use this to deny them access to social benefits?
This issue of The Journal of Community Informatics (JoCI) deals with research relationships between universities and university based ICT researchers and communities. These matters are, of course of central significance to Community Informatics since much of CI is, in one form or another, linked into this type of relationship.
But in looking at this array of attractive intellectual baubles I’m left with one nagging concern. Amidst all this media and networking and mobility what exactly will be the content of this “Twenty-first Century University as global learning network”? Where will the content come from, that will constitute the “learning” component of this learning network? How exactly will the promise implicit in this statement—“digital learning is increasingly recognized as an important part of development worldwide” be realized in fact, and by whom, and ultimately in whose interests?
Michael Geist, a frequent commentator on Canadian telecom and Information and Communication Technology related policy issues, has provided a list of issues he would like to see addressed in Canada`s upcoming national election. On looking at his list, especially in light of what I consider to be the major (policy and other) deficiencies in Canada`s […]
After leaving Long Lamai we traveled back to Miri and then caught another and different Twin Otter flight to Bario. I’d been in Bario a couple of years ago and knew more or less what to expect. The trip up was as spectacular as before and the airport was more or less the same. But […]
Clearly the people of Long Lamai are committed to the telecentre and committed to “development” in some form and fashion (on the face of it, the two commitments would appear from the current Long Lamai community perspective to in fact, be one and the same!). But precisely what that development might look like doesn’t seem […]
I’m not sure about all the details but an interesting brief global overview of the political economy of ICTs http://www.counterpunch.org/schiller12162009.html MBG The Communications Revolution It’s a Wired World By DAN SCHILLER Citigroup bank employed 25,000 software developers and spent an estimated $4.9bn on information and communication technologies – ICT — (exclusive of operating expenses) in 2008 […]
Gurstein's Community Informatics 
September 14, 2015
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