[Reader-list] New discussion forum- Information Society: Voices from the South

[Kanti Kumar]

Dear All,

We invite you to join the newly launched discussion list on 'Information Society: Voices from the South'. Digital Opportunity Channel <http://www.digitalopportunity.org> of OneWorld South Asia is launching this email- and Web-based discussion forum in partnership with Bytes for All  <http://www.bytesforall.org>, a South Asian voluntary network.

Even as the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process continues with the organization of Preparatory Committee Meetings (PrepComs) and other regional consultation meetings, many of the Information Society proponents, specially community builders or networkers in the South, seem to be little aware of these developments and have a distant or little involvement in the processes. 

Our attempt is to bridge this gap, to ensure that even as an individual or as a grassroots organization, your voice is also heard. Though the present dynamics of Information Society are being held within the realms of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) practices that are entirely a domain of the North, we believe the South too has a significant role to play and valuable experiences to share. 

This platform, “Information Society: Voices from the South”, is based on a realization of these facts, and is therefore run from the South, by Southern organizations. It is open to anyone (even from the North) who is interested on ICTs and Information Society issues in the developing countries.

WHAT DO WE WANT TO ACHIEVE?

We aim to:

§	Help stakeholders from the South exchange ideas and debate issues about the emerging information society and the WSIS. 
§	Provide them with a platform to take their voices to policymakers in order to influence national, regional and global strategies.

In real terms, this would mean that, 

§	It would be a time-bound, topic-based, objective-oriented discussion channel.
§	Each month we would select a topic and that topic would be critically analyzed, would be featured with examples and best practices, would be discussed with challenges and opportunities and would be highlighted with policy implications, preconditions, successes and failures.  
§	All the discussions will be streamlined in a summary report each month and would be presented to concerned authorities and at various events where information society agendas are being discussed, so that these can influence national, regional and global strategies.

WHAT WILL WE DISCUSS?

There is a tentative theme line for the discussions. We would attempt to deal with several broad topics such as issues of access, gender and of rights and freedom in the context of the information society. Among the questions the forum is expected to debate are:

1.	How does information society relate to development and poverty alleviation?
2.	How can indigenous knowledge and local content be represented and preserved?
3.	Why is it important to provide access to information to women?
4.	Should access be free in all cases? What about sustainability of access-related projects?
5.	Why and how diversity of opinions, cultures, languages and perspectives need to be addressed on information society agendas?

IS THERE ANY SCHEDLUE? 

The discussions - which are likely to continue until December 2003 - will be broken into time-bound thematic modules. To begin with, we will focus on the following three themes:

- Knowledge societies
- Access/barriers
- Gender issues

Future themes for discussion will be announced subsequently in the forum.

HOW TO JOIN?

Joining this discussion list is very easy! Just send a blank email to: join-IS at dgroups.org

On successful sign-up, you will receive an email asking you to confirm your subscription. Please follow the instructions in the email to activate your subscription. This is a security measure to prevent you from being signed up by someone else.

Once you activate your subscription, you will start receiving mails posted to the discussion list. You can fully participate in the list through emails itself, or through the forum site at <http://www.dgroups.org/groups/IS/index.cfm> 

WHERE TO CONTACT?

The discussion list is being moderated by Partha Pratim Sarker, Editor, Bytes for All. 

If you face any subscription problem, please contact Partha at  <mailto:partha at bytesforall.org> or Kanti Kumar, Editor, Digital Opportunity Channel at <mailto:kanti.kumar at oneworld.net>.

For more information about the forum, visit <http://www.dgroups.org/groups/IS/index.cfm> 

We look forward to your active participation in this discussion list.

ABOUT BytesforAll
Bytes for All <http://www.bytesforall.org> is a voluntary online network from South Asia and tries to portray people-oriented alternative ICT practices in the region.

ABOUT Digital Opportunity Channel
Digital Opportunity Channel is a joint endeavor of OneWorld  <http://www.oneworld.net> and the Digital Divide Network <http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org> and is dedicated to ICT for development issues. 

Kanti Kumar
Editor, Digital Opportunity Channel

Partha Pratim Sarker
Editor, Bytes for All