[vnforum] [Fwd: [GKD] Re: Global Knowledge and Information Needs]
Tran Dinh Hoanh
[ Viet Search Engine on VietGATE http://www.vietgate.net ]
[vnforum] - Mesg from Tran Dinh Hoanh <hoa...@erols.com>
Dear All,
FYI.
Hoanh
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [GKD] Re: Global Knowledge and Information Needs
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 09:05:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: Shirley Skorbiansky <sskorb...@worldbank.org>
Reply-To: g...@phoenix.edc.org
To: g...@phoenix.edc.org
Dear GKD Members,
I am Shirley Skorbiansky, M.Phil in Library and Information Science and
currently working at the World Bank. I worked for more than 10 years in
national and regional information projects in the Latin America region.
I am reading with interest and enthusiasm the discussion on Global
Knowledge and Information Needs. Allow me to provide some history on the
national and international information policies.
Some years ago, I studied for my Masters the policies of the transborder
data flow (TDF). In the 80's the information issues were focused on how
to
reconcile the free flow of information with the right to protect a
national
cultural and social identity from the blandishments of other ideologies
or
of commercial interests. Also, the Third World community debated the
information imbalance between the North and the South, which may force
developing countries into dependence and argued that the current global
information system perpetuates political, cultural and economic
colonialism.
Although the mechanism for impeding the TDF has been subdued, the
problems
of today's world are different with the advent of the Internet era. The
formidable and urgent challenge before national governments and the
development community is to bridge the digital divide and connect the
remainder of the world's population whose livelihood can be enhanced
through information and communication technologies. To build a portal
for
and with the development community can be one of the remedies, but the
portal should be just a means to achieve major benefits such as:
* Providing rural communities with convenient on-line access to
government
services (which improves the sense of belonging and identity, both of
which
discourage migration to urban centers);
* Providing access to the Internet, especially through community access
points --cybercafés, public libraries, community centers --in urban,
suburban and rural areas.
* Taking advantage of the tremendous potential for improving education
as
it has been proven through distance learning and training programs;
* Improving delivery of basic services such as health care
(telemedicine)
and food supply (aid programs);
* Diffusing best practices and lessons learned --through the Indigenous
Knowledge program and/or the exchange of information on
locally/regionally
appropriate solutions to empower communities which results in a more
autonomous community;
* Generating employment though micro-enterprise projects and e-commerce,
and programs to provide fair access to marginalised groups, retraining
and
reskilling programs.
The GDG can provide leadership not by telling the development community
and
the real actors --the people--how to do it, but helping them to find
their
way. There is a real challenge ahead and it is very easy to fall into
the
temptation of trying to adjust to a common framework without considering
the local flavor. This is one of the risks of the globalization.
Finally, the GDG requires, in order to be effective, to ensure adequacy
of
telecommunications infrastructure to assure connectivity of access for
remote areas. This means that it should work in information and
telecommunications policies and should encourage the use of the Internet
as
a vehicle of social and human developments by including applications for
non-literate communities, content development and human-computer
interfaces.
I like the concept of individual international organization and
national,
local and grass-roots institutions which will unite in a global
initiative
to bring greater coherence and synergy. It is not an easy task to build
consensus, but it could be the right time to start the formidable task
of
narrowing the information gap.
Shirley Skorbiansky
Board Resource Center
sskorb...@worldbank.org
http://www.worldbank.org
faxmail: 202-614-0622
------------
***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership***
The discussion on the Global Development Gateway has been sponsored
by the World Bank. To post a message, send it to: <g...@mail.edc.org>
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to:
<majo...@mail.edc.org>. In the 1st line of the message type:
subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd
Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at:
<http://www.globalknowledge.org>
---------------------------
VNForum Archive at
http://tin.le.org/archive/
To SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE to vnforum, send email to majo...@saigon.com
with one of the following text lines:
subscribe vnforum
or
unsubscribe vnforum
in the BODY of your message.