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<nettime> Steve Cisler: Report on II Global Congress of Citizen Networks |
(fwd. to nettime with the permission of the author. for those who wonder, steve cisler unsubscribed from nettime and other lists a while ago to have more time to write. geert). II Global Congress of Citizen Networks, Buenos Aires, Argentina. December 2001 Report copyright by Steve Cisler 2001 <cisler@pobox.com> This article may be served, stored, mailed, archived on non-commercial web sites, magazines, home pages, and mailing lists. In the current issue of Foreign Policy, (1) Lawrence Lessig argues that the Internet phenomenon is like a shooting star whose trajectory is now in rapid descent, not because of viruses and hackers or the demise of the dot.coms (what I now call "faith-based organizations"). What he calls the "innovation commons" is disappearing because of the corporate push for restrictive intellectual property laws. He quotes Machiavelli who wrote "Innovation makes enemies of all those who prospered under the old regime, and only lukewarm support is forthcoming from those who would prosper under the new." In one private forum the discussion is about the Internet being "enclosed" by these new initiatives. Those striving for an information commons where, to use Doug Schuler's phrase, civic intelligence can flourish, gathered in early December in Buenos Aires, Argentina.(2) More than 500 people came to the Second Global Congress of Citizen Networks to meet each other and to hear presentations on the ways that groups of citizens and non-profits are making use of the Internet and what is known as information and communication technology or ICT in development parlance. Many would include older media such as video and radio too. What are citizen networks? Internet technology projects that benefit people as citizens rather than as consumers; projects that help marginalized groups have more control over their existence and even give them a stronger sense of identity. Citizen networks are about inclusion and how the technology can be used for democratic goals and for economic development. Many of the sessions were about community networking efforts around the world. Community Networking has been used for at least ten years, but is still vague in many people's minds outside of the field, especially since the word "community" has been debased by stretching the meaning of the word to mean customers of an online service ("the AOL community") or all the nations that may share some point of view about trade or the environment ("the International community"). In Italy and the U.S. the term "civic networks" has been used. This bring us closer to understanding what we were meeting about: how groups of citizens and non-profit organizations were using network technologies(1) for personal, social, economic, and political change. Under this banner of citizen networks there were dozens of sessions and workshops that attracted people from Latin America (mainly Argentina), U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Australia, and a sprinkling of people from other parts of Europe, Africa, Asia, and New Zealand. A core group of people who attended the first conference in Spain in 2000 planned this one, and are also planning the future ones in Montreal, Canada (October 2002), and Queensland, Australia (September 2003). I flew out of Silicon Valley the day of the largest broadband failure in the continuing Internet and telecomms bubble deflation. The judge in a ferocious court battle allowed At Home to cease service to more than 800,000 cable modem customers around the United States. I consider this setback one more slowdown that will affect the deployment of better services in other urban as well as remote areas in the other countries. I arrived in Argentina as their own financial crisis reached a critical stage. Citizens, worried about the stability of the peso which was officially pegged to the U.S. dollar, withdrew 500 million dollars that Friday, and the day before the conference started, the Argentine government raided the pension fund and enacted strict measures to prevent the withdrawal of more than $1000 per month from personal bank accounts. Some of the Argentine conference organizers were wrapped up in the business of the forthcoming congress and did not have time to preserve the value of their savings. Some restaurants accepted credit cards; others stopped, and more businesses demanded cash. Argentina seemed to be following the same path as Enron in the U.S. Though there was turmoil in the city, the conference went rather smoothly. I was impressed by the attention paid last year at the first congress in Barcelona to the problems of translation. It was even better this year. Almost every workshop had regular translators who handled speed-of-light Spanish speakers, English speakers who were struggling with complex concepts or spoke haltingly, and conversations between many people speaking from the floor in one of several languages. Still, those with only one language gravitated to conversing only with people willing or able to speak that language. Some small number spoke all three of the main languages, and many Spanish-speakers were fluent in English and acted as a bridge for the Anglos who spoke little Spanish. In spite of the problems in the United States telecomm industry and the financial crisis in Argentina, the program reflected a rather hopeful and positive outlook on the future of these public access activities, advocacy, and speed of deployment. As Doug Schuler of Seattle, Washington said, "You would not be here if you were not optimistic." >From some of the Argentine presenters there were the expected speeches against globalization. They felt the currency policy, economic liberalization, and deregulation have not helped the country that much, and so globalization must be to blame. However, in a pre-recorded interview with Manual Castells in Spain, he said that globalization is part of our world, and we have to live with it. He sees community networks as a key element in building social institutions in a globalized world, and he was very positive about the growth of community/citizen networking in the 90's. He envisions a global civil society interacting and acting through networks. It was a good expression of what we seem to be about, a view that was not artic ulated all that clearly in the panels I attended before Castells spoke. Pieces of that vision were discussed, but not in the way he expressed it. TELELAC TELELAC is a project for Latin American and Caribbean telecenters that is organized by Chasquinet of Quito, Ecuador. The advisory group met all day to work on issues related to existing and new programs as well as the participation in the Citizens Network Congress. Scott Robinson and Michel Menou had an all-day program on Tuesday where people from all over the region and other parts of the world could share problems, experiences, and needs relating to telecenters/community technology centers. The advisory group was also discussing the way for the informal organization "somos@telecentros" (we are @ telecenters) (3) could become a legal entity, registered in Brazil, with a more general goal of spreading the organization's reach to include national and regional telecenter/technology center organizations from all over the world. There are eight national groups in the LA/C region and about that many in the rest of the world at the end of 2001. All Day Workshop The all day workshop on telecenters was held in a room holding 70 people at the Intercontinental. Attendance ranged from 30 to 50 during the day. Most of the people were Spanish-speaking from Argentina, and those who only spoke English had informal translation. Karin Delgadillo of Chasquinet gave a presentation about the development of telecenter networks between 1999 and 2003, looking back from the imagined future, and this started off the session. In Argentina there are strains, competition, and gaps in understanding between the government community technology centers and other telecenters. I cannot explain the basis of this crisis, but it was evident at the meeting. I gave a talk about the Kellogg Managing Information with Rural America project (MIRA) where some of the more than one hundred citizen groups tried to establish community technology centers but had mixed results. The project allotted a great deal of money for groups to meet, to set up citizens groups for training on community organizing, project management, and finally to plan modest ICT projects. This was a foundation project that really did put people ahead of the technology component and let the local groups choose what would suit them best of all. Those that planned technology centers underestimated the complexity of the projects, willingness of volunteers to staff such centers, and a number of the centers closed up quickly. Those that allied themselves with public libraries, schools, and existing community organizations to provide public access fared much better. There were other reports from Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and almost half the time was set aside for open discussion. This was extremely valuable because many of those attending had never met with colleagues to share ideas and problems. During the regular conference there was no time set aside for general discussion by the group during plenary lectures, but some of the sessions were organized to encourage just that. I found the one on community networks and cooperatives to be a good mix of short presentations, discussion and the proposal to have projects organize using coop principles and to use the new .coop domain which is administered by the International Cooperative Association. The man in charge, Byron Henderson, helped organize Saskatoon Freenet in Canada in the early 1990's. Publications Although there was no designated area for handouts and publications, attendees left a variety of pamphlets, newsletters, and advertisements for services and publications. IDRC in Canada supported the publication of two new works: "Social movements on the net" by Leon, Burch, and Tamayo of the Latin Ameican Information Agency and a collection of essays in Spanish, "Internet y Sociedad en América Latina y el Caribe: Investigaciones para sustentar el dialogo."Valerie Peugeot of Vecam edited a French collection of essays (not yet in English) called "Human networks, electronic networks." Peter Benjamin of the University of Wits in South Africa brought a brochure--"Damn the digital divide"-- with short pieces on programs and BINGOs undertaking ICT projects in Southern Africa. A Sampling of Sessions There were plenary sessions on social access to ICT (information and communication technology); community networks and globalization, multiculturalism, a session on Latin American developments, and the "S" word: sustainability. In addition there were many workshops on community networks intersecting with issues relating to women, kids, education, cities, telecenters, rights, open source, academic research, human rights, and local culture. A mixed media session stressed the importance of media production, television and radio. Dirk Koning of the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Community Media Center talked about the suite of programs they offer: public access television, a wireless network to allow a mobile van to bring a rack of digital camcorders and Apple laptops and be connected by a high speed link back to the center. Others reminded us not to overlook radio which is reaching billions more people than computer networks are (or will, even in the most optimistic diffusion scenarios for the Internet). Indigenous issues A plenary session on "multiculturalism and identity" included a talk by Robyn Kamira, a Maori woman who used volunteers from the audience to explain the shifting relationship between the Maori people and the Crown. She showed that the ideal of multiculturalism is not that beneficial for everyone. After the arrival of white settlers, there were just two groups, roughly equal. As with many other indigenous groups around the world, the Maroi lost much of their land, their health, and their language. Because of a multiculturalism policy, the Maori are just one of many groups vying for benefits and representation in a country that is becoming more ethnically mixed. However, they have made gains in education, the criteria for group self-definition, and income from fishing rights. Their language revitalization program is one of the more successful (besides Catalan and Hebrew) and has inspired other indigenous groups to adapt their methods to local conditions. Eusebio Mino Castro gave a virtual tour of the telecenter project in rural Peru that served his people, the Ashininka. However, at the end of August it was destroyed by an arsonist, and the criminals have not been caught. Even the reason for the damage is unclear. Some thought it was Sendero Luminoso; others said it was done by people upset at the changes brought about by the Internet. Or it may be have jealousy over his successful project in this remote part of South America. Comments on the Conference I talked to various attendees who had both praises and criticisms for the conference. The organizers were generous in scholarships to keep the cost of registration very low (or free for many), and most of the hotel services (food, audio visual, translation devices) were quite good. However, there was a lack of information on the web site which had problems with design, passwords, and files not found. At present it does contain almost all of the papers and abstracts submitted to the conference. For some, the ideas and contacts opened up new worlds, but one person felt he learned nothing new in his field of interest (telecenters). It was hard to publicize ad hoc meetings during the conference. A group of us wanted to have a meeting to discuss wireless projects, but the floor manager consulted someone and said there would be no meetings publicized or allowed that were not on the schedule. Nevertheless, we went to a restaurant for lunch to talk about 802.11b networks and satellite access. Several people noted that the same people showed up on the program in session after session, and many of these were from the Secretariat. A wider selection of speakers would have been a good idea. It would be good to have had time for an organized open forum for discussion of issues that went beyond 15 minutes for Q&A - something more formal than a long coffee break where good discussions always take place. As in 2000, the conference did not have too many people who identified themselves from the business or corporate sector though there were papers on small enterprises and economic development. Without having them dominate the program next year, it would be good to invite some thoughtful people from technology companies to speak or at least attend the Montreal meeting. The "S" word...sustainability At the end of the Congress Susana Finquelievich, the driving force behind the whole affair, gave a sober assessment about the sustainability of community networks in Argentina. Some money can be raised under the banner of community networking, and some people will pay for services not offered in, for instance, a cybercafe. However, it may not be enough to keep a telecenter going. How long this period of aid and subsidies lasts depends on the environment, and not just the financial status of the center. As Michel Menou commented in another session, "there are not prefabricated models, no solutions that apply everywhere." Finquelievich said that a variety of innovations to allow different kinds of payment and participation needs to be used: paying with labor, incubation services for entrepreneurs, and the granting of course credit to university students as has been done in Costa Rica. Several of the organizers worked late into the night to try and summarize the findings or recommendations from the many panels (5) and workshops (17). These were read rapidly in Spanish by Silvia Senén González in the closing session. It was clear that a lot of ground was covered, and some of the points were contradictory. But who said citizens have to agree? At the time of this report I could find no online summary of the conclusions. The Future What happens next? Besides the annual meetings, there are some who want to establish ties with some very different sorts of global meetings: (1) the World Social Forum(5) in Porto Alegre, Brazil--a place that attracts thousands of activists, many of whom are opposed to the way that globalization promotes the spread of capitalism and (2) the 2003 ITU conference on the Information Society(6). The team guiding that conference includes UN division heads, Mike Moore of the World Trade Organization, and heads of many companies. Quite a different crowd from Porto Alegre. Many members of the secretariat decided to tackle the issue of governance. What sort of organization should be formed to accommodate groups with such different interests, and how would a diverse consortium be represented at other meetings. Can a single person represent such a diverse mix of citizens networks? Or will the principles that all agree are worth supporting be such a low common denominator that it will attract no attention because they are so non-controversial. Over the next few months a task force will try to work out a plan for a legal entity with international scope. A mailing list now on Yahoo Groups will be moved to a server outside of the U.S.A. Look for future postings about the next conference, proceedings from this one, and ways to take part in 2002. What I will look for in an international organization are services that benefit the grass roots practitioner, the ones who usually do not go to conferences but, if they find value or meaning in a new organization, will probably support it. URLs: (1) Lawrence Lessig, "The Internet Under Siege", Foreign Policy Nov/Dec 2001: <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_novdec_2001/lessig.html> (2) Congress web site (includes all of the papers and presentations in the original language): <http://www.globalcn2001.org/ing/index.html> (3) Somos@telecentros: <http://www.tele-centros.org> (4) Grand Rapids Community Media Center: <http://www.grcmc.org/> (5) World Social Forum: <http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/eng/index.asp> (6)ITU Conference on World Information Society: <http://www.itu.int/wsis/brochure.htm> # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net