Browsing All posts tagged under »Community Informatics Policy«

The Leap Manifesto Revised as Though Information Technology and the Internet Matter

April 25, 2016

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  The Leap Manifesto is an important document and one that is having significant impacts at the moment in certain political areas. The document as an attempt to link an environmentalist approach to a broader social and economic critique and a statement on ways forward, breaks new ground in the Canadian context and presents significant […]

Alternative “Best Practices” for the A4AI (to be renamed Alliance for an Accessible Internet)

March 26, 2016

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  My original blogpost examining the “Policy and Regulatory Best Practices” of the Alliance for an Affordable Internet (A4AI’s) has generated some considerable discussion including on the InternetPolicy elist sponsored by the Internet Society (ISOC).  In the course of that discussion a challenge was put forward by a member of that list to articulate an […]

A4AI: Who Could Oppose a More Affordable Internet? The Alliance for an Affordable Internet (A4AI) and the Neo-liberal Stealth Campaign to Control the Internet Throughout the Developing World and Make Big Bucks for the Private Sector While Doing So

March 20, 2016

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When we look even slightly below the surface of this initiative we see what appear to be motivations that are rather less selfless than is being presented. As is very clear from the “Best Practices” which those joining the initiative must sign on to, an underlying motivation would appear to be to impose on LDC's an ideological position for its Internet policy and regulation which conforms to and supports the fundamentalist free market anti-regulatory regime promoted by the USG and certain of its governmental and corporate allies .

From the Digital Divide to Digital Citizenship

November 9, 2015

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Thus "digital citizenship" is a newer and evolved form of citizenship and moreover one which is necessary to and appropriate in the digital age/the Information Society. This new form of citizenship has multiple aspects but for our purposes the two most salient elements are that with this new form of citizenship goes certain rights – at a minimum to be able to have access to and to effectively exercise citizenship rights in a digital age; and on the part of the State the obligation to ensure that the citizen is in a position to exercise their digital citizenship in an appropriate and effective way.

A Canadian Election Programme for Digital Citizenship and Social Equity

September 14, 2015

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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.

An Internet for the Common Good: Engagement, Empowerment and Justice for All

January 12, 2014

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A Community Informatics Declaration This document was prepared by a group of Community Informatics activists and endorsed by consensus of the Community Informatics community 21.12.13.  Effective use of the Internet will benefit everyone. Currently the benefits of the Internet are distributed unequally: some people gain power, wealth and influence from using the Internet while others […]

So What Do We Do Now? Living in a Post-Snowden World

January 1, 2014

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As the avalanche of Snowden revelations resumes after it’s brief organizational regrouping and holiday hiatus a few learnings and even more direct and pertinent questions are starting to emerge. Evgeny Morozov in an otherwise interesting piece in the Financial Times is surely incorrect in his bald statement that “Snowden now faces a growing wave of […]

Internet Justice: A Meme Whose Time Has Come

November 27, 2013

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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.

Beyond Access: Libraries Are the New Telecentres

November 16, 2013

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As those, who have been in and around community-based ICT/Internet access (community informatics) initiatives well know, the primary dilemma for these activities (e.g. Telecentres) is how to ensure sufficient sustainability, organizational stability and programmatic flexibility to allow for survival once the immediate round of funding which helped them launch, runs out.

If Multistakeholderism Had Prevailed in the Late 19th/Early 20th Century Would Women Have the Vote? (…Would We Still Have Slavery?

October 23, 2013

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"Rough consensus and running code" as the operational element of MSism would not have allowed for the long term and deeply political, contentious and conflictual processes that overcame child labour, created the public health measures that conquered typhus, allowed for the long term political (and radical) confrontations that gave women the vote, or ended slavery. Whether MSism can ensure an open, transparent, equitable, rule of law based and human rights protecting Internet for all is to my mind a very very open question and certainly something to be discussed rather than assumed.

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Michael Gurstein: What is Community Informatics (and Why Does It Matter)?
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