Information Society Watch
A Southern Lens on the Information Society
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About Us
| Information Society Watch – A Southern Lens on the Information Society |
| Watching the Rapidly Changing Times |
As ICTs visibly impact and transform most institutions around us, the political nature of the information society discourse becomes very important to negotiate competing interests of different sections of the global society. It is important therefore to track how change is mediated through a dialogue between technical possibilities and social thought and praxis. The shifting reality and the enormous potential it brings for developing countries and for disadvantaged groups necessitates an information society discourse that builds on the contexts and interests of the South, specifically, those of disadvantaged groups. |
| Information Society Watch – A Watch with a Bias |
IT for Change believes that the dominant information society discourse has been North-centric, and does not take the development needs of the South into due consideration. Information Society Watch(IS-Watch) is an online space for an alternative discourse – one that is South-centric. It serves as a repository of resources on the information society, collected with a Southern bias – not determined so much by the geographic context, but reflecting a development vision driven by principles of social justice and equity. In this way, IS-Watch intends to serve as an information resource for policy-makers, civil society organisations, the media, researchers, educators, and all of us trying to understand the complexities of the emerging information age! |
IS-Watch will continuously explore new technical possibilities that promote values of collaboration and openness in knowledge generation and distribution, with an aim to establish itself as an important space for developing a South-centred information society. |
| About the Information Society for the South Project |
IS-Watch is a part of the ‘Information Society for the South’ (ISS) project of IT for Change. The ISS project interprets information society changes in light of the development needs of the South. It seeks to develop research and advocacy capacities in the South with regard to the information society discourse. Such capacities will enable various development actors to engage with the important political aspects of the information society, as well as serve the implementation needs of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD) activity in all sectors of development. |
The focus areas of ISS project are: |
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About IT for Change |
IT for Change (ITfC) is a non-profit organisation located in Bangalore, India. We believe that the ongoing ICT for development approaches seldom transcend the efficiency parameters, and fail to integrate fundamental ethical cornerstones of development, like social justice, equity and participation. We see an important role in engaging with the debates on ICT for development to effect changes in the current paradigm through a reinterpretation of the political underpinnings of the information society discourse. |