SOCIET(E) CONNECTS THE DOTS:The role of community networks inmaking the G8 dot.force relevant

to the majority of the world

Garth GrahamGlobal CN2000:first global congress on community networking

Thematic sessions track 1: global community issuesBarcelona, November 3, 2000

We are divided, not by access to anything digital,but by the absence of dialogue. Meaningful dialogue will be about values.

People with good intentions in supranational agenciesneed some help in countering a global agenda that is mostlyabout how to make the world safe for investors.

Access to community networking practices is essentialfor sustaining open conversations over conflicts of valuesin a global networked economy.

ICTs AND DEVELOPMENT

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

NATIONALRESPONSE

Exclusiveclosed

restrictive

Inclusiveopen

enabling

Partialreactive

disengaged

Completeproactiveengaged

“All we need is information to overcome the scourge of poverty.”

“Markets are conversations.”

“Rather than global consensus, competing blocs emerge based on shared culture and language.”

“Lagos is not catching up with us.Rather we are catching up

with Lagos.”

G8 OKINAWA CHARTER ON GLOBAL INFORMATION SOCIETY

July 22, 2000

WHO CAN ARGUE WITH:•Growth•Inclusion•Global access to affordable networks•Open structures•Innovation

?????

….ON THE OTHER HAND…. Whose needs get served? Those of...

•“Society” before its citizens?•“Human resources” before people?•Civil societies “responsive” to the market’s needs?

“The policies for the advancement of the Information Societymust be underpinned by the development of human resources capable of responding to the demands of the information age…”

“We will continue to pursue an effective partnership between government and civil societies responsive to the rapid pace oftechnological and market developments.”

Digital Opportunity Task.Force

The dot.force - a collaboration of the G8 Group of Nationals to mobilize the effortsof gov’ts, the private sector, foundations, and multilateral and international institutes to:

WIN the BATTLE of ideas

BRIDGE the digital divide

SEIZE the digital opportunity

PROMOTE the GII and

the Internet in developing countries

…the BAD GUYS are out there….

•Small groups of shiftless western eccentrics•Anti-globalist ranters•Wooly-minded one-worlders

“Avoid undue regulatory interventions that would hinder productive private-sector initiatives in creating an IT-friendly environment. We should ensure that IT-related rules and practices are responsive to evolutionary changes in economic transactions, while taking into account the principles of effective public-private sector partnership, transparency and technological neutrality. The rules must be predictable and inspire business and consumer confidence.”

Predictable rules for seizing digital opportunities are:•Promote competition in open ICT markets•Protect intellectual property rights•Improve efficiency of cross-border transit services•Facilitate cross-border e-commerce•Consistency in e-commerce taxation•No customs duties on electronic transmissions•Promote market driven standards on interoperability•Promote consumer trust re privacy, authentication•foster a crime-free and secure cyberspace.

“ICT sector reform and governance processes should involve the fullparticipation of a wide range of civil society agencies.

High Level Panel of Experts on ICT, New York, 17-20 April 2000

Stated UNDP Objectives:To work together to eradicate digital inequality...To bring everyone into the global economy...

“Assist in institution building by working with nontraditionalpolicymaking entities to make them more accountable and democraticas they remain efficient and goal oriented.”

Markle Foundation, Internet Governance Project: promotion of the public interest in nontraditional, international Internet governing bodies.

“Global e-society stands at a turning point. Action or inaction by national governments and industry leaders

will produce a very mixed set of outcomes. Some countries will make technology a driver for a new

national economy, leaping from an agrarian or industrial base into the knowledge economy. Others will fail to

take the necessary steps and will be left behind in the race for cyber markets.”

THE RACE FOR CYBER MARKETS

Risk E-Business: Seizing the Opportunity of Global E-Readiness.McConnell International LLC, August 2000. P.1.

“Helping developing countries address the challenges and opportunitiesof the networked economy is an important dimension of the developmentagenda. We are working closely with governments and the private sector to promote E-Readiness in the developing world. Methodologiesthat help us and client countries better understand what is a stake andwhat are the CRITICAL BOTTLENECKS are quite useful.”

• In Vietnam, the BOTTLENECK is that decision-makers know that they do not yet know whether or not ICT use is effective in sustainable development.

• In the World Bank, the BOTTLENECK is that they must engage with “civil society” to understand why their “clients” think that way, and they don’t yet know how to do that.

Finding Acceptable Political Costs: the source of innovation

GOVERNMENT VIEW:• It is wrong to assume that innovation proceeds by its own pace and cannot be accelerated by policy. Innovation responds strongly to price and policy signals.

• Final outcomes in balancing decisions about public or private route to innovation are far more influenced by how effectively policies are devised and implemented than by which routes are chosen.

BUSINESS VIEW:• But remember that, “Incrementalism is innovation’s worst enemy.” (Nicholas Negroponte). The key decisions related to the technological learning that results in innovation are made by the managers of enterprises, not governments.

E-GOVERNMENT / E-GOVERNANCESERVICES/POLITICS

• Active use of the Net in delivery of public services transforms citizen government relations. • Restructures services delivery based on functions, not departments.

• “Single Window” does not stop the re-integration of service providers/users.

• Like business, because of disintermediation, early starters have the advantage.

• There is no privacy. Transparent rule enforcement forces accountability improvement both ways.

• Skilled people migrate to where the benefits of e-government and the politics of e-governance are available.

• Politics rapidly leaps toward collaborative/cooperative modes.

Finding Acceptable Political Costs: new political economy

BANDWIDTH IS NOT A SCARCE RESOURCEor

JUST HOW DARK IS THAT FIBER?

Finding Acceptable Political Costs: who should own the Net?

If thenew economy is

global,

the new social contract

is global

THEM

Thought is property

representation

Gov’t/businesspartnerships to protectopen markets andinvestors’ rights

US

Universal access to processes that inform

learning and choiceis a basic need

Autonomy andconnection

“We can have a market economy but we

cannot have a market society.”George Soros

rational sensuous

WHOSEVALUES?

WHOSE BATTLE?

Principles formingcommunity online

Cyberspaceas property

Take the $ and run.Cooperate under all circumstances

Just run. Defectin the face of opposition

Destroyscommunity values

Marginalizes

community

A STRATEGY OFADVOCATING DIALOGUE:

To play an iterative non-zero sum game,

you have to be in the game

Real Readiness for the networked world…..

Seven Principles of Community Networking • Local is the other side of global

• The community, not the technology, is the network

• Community owned public access, with emphasis on inclusion

• Systems that inform choice increase equity and social justice

• I want your ideas to grow in my garden

• Always connect

• Open source governance

“So the heart of this new world economy needs that pulsing throb of humanity. We need to balance the imperative of investors who need a return on their investment with the developmental goals of a newvalue system that brings peace, that brings prosperity, that brings hope to the majority of humanity.”

Jay Naido. South African Minister for Posts,Telecommunications and Broadcasting, Ottawa OECD E-Commerce Meeting,October 9, 1998

We believe that what we have in common is the source of our strength,and that what sets us apart enriches all of us.

A STRATEGY OF DIALOGUE - OKAY. NOW WHAT?

•Participate in anything that helps autonomous community networks learn and share new practices about community development online.

•Defend the ability of any community network to link to and work with any other community network.

•Consult broadly before taking action that affects the health of community networking and the practices of community development online.

•Do NOT get co-opted into making “organization” an end in itself so that you can be said to “represent” community networks.

•Do organize around fostering particular problem spaces at the global level Then stand aside while the communities that emerge within them learn their way toward workable ideas.

•As a socio-economic impact question, keep asking yourself - is this IP?