Information Society Watch

2007, David Souter, The Association for Progressive Communications (APC)

This study conducted by The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) analyses developing country and civil society participation and influence in World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) by drawing on participants’ observations, questionnaires and interviews with individual participants, detailed interviews with forty key actors, case studies of experiences rooted in five developing countries. The study concludes that WSIS had only limited success and is not necessarily the best starting point for action on ICTs or ICTs for development. Organised by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a technical agency, rather than the UN, WSIS was dominated by the ICT sector, with limited participation of development practitioners. While focusing on developing country and civil society experiences in WSIS, the report provides a detailed overview of the summit as a whole – explaining its unconventional organisation, discussing the major issues addressed, identifying contentious issues, and outlining efforts to promote the summit’s objectives after its official close in 2005 ( Adapted from author).

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