Information Society Watch

Seán Ó Siochrú, Social Science Research Council

This analysis maps the role of research in international communications policy, from the neo-liberal agenda taking shape in the 1970s to the role of civil society actors in addressing issues of pro-development ICT policy at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). It focuses on how civil society research has contributed to issues of financing ICTs for Development. The paper highlights the history of the agenda of privatisation and liberalisation leading up to WSIS and how research related to these imperatives simply furthered the status quo through its lack of engagement. It also highlights some of the research that emerged around WSIS that sought to introduce a new paradigm based on alternative financing mechanisms, community-ownership, and public goods. These researches were drawn from the ideas of IT for Change and associates, including CRIS Campaign, APC, Bread For All, ITeM, all of whom served as the core group of an Informal Coalition on Financing ICT for Development.

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