PE NIcanion FOR |Pubished by Communication for Social Change Consortium, Ine puBusieR: Denise Gray-Felder [PRODUCTION EDITOR: Susan Mach oPy EDITORS: Denise Gray-Felder, Laurence Mach, Susan Mach sODK AND COVER DESIGN: Emerson Wajdowicz Studios / www. DesignEWS.com Laan OF CONGRESS CONTROL NUMBER: 2006901681 Copyright © 2008 by Communication for Social Change Consortium, Ino [Al ights reserved, Compilation, Introduction, Foreword, Note from Publisher, Table of Contents and all ginal text copyright by CFSC Consortium, Ine No part ofthis book may be reproduced, stored in a retteval system or transmitted tn any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, otovopying, recording oF thence, except as may be expresaly permitted by the applicable copyright statutes or in witing by the Pubisher ofthis anthology. Manufactured in the United States of America For information on the Communication for Social Change Consortium visit our website communicationforsocialchange.org or write: 14 South Orange Avenue, Suite 2F ‘South Orange, New Jersey 07079 United States Phone: 1-973. Fax: 1-9) 1118 2-8087 ISBN: 0-970957-9-4nication rights in recarious and get- and Washington nse of the United ed terrorist threat s at both national ws claiming to de- y include curtating nication rights and 22. Little public de- y of these, rushed of fear, intolerance jons. n Copyright and merging in the cur- sn a new light and, nces for the future. nese two key social fais that these two on—conyright and { more coring into nsion between the int where one is d- ecfcally, the depth. jme, backed up by stries, their govern- nt procedures, has expansion is not only nomic and develop nger of undermining ‘system of represen 1, I we are to serve uniies and to build is the restoration of tly confronted each jc sphere were slowly carving out their domain, bull onthe struggles of peo- jlernationally and a deep desire for freedom of expres- sion and social equity, and were given a major boost inthe wake of the Second World War. Copyright has continually buit outwards from its intial core concern ‘ith protecting authors and publishers of Books, has boadenedin scope to new media even including soft vare) and extended to claim neighbouring rights and er longer monopoly periods. At this point, copyright {nd the power of industry is such that itis eating not nly nto the potential future public domain in general, butinto that especially sensitive and important area of the public sphere and information rights. ft another way, @ central requirement of the public sphere is that all people have equal and ready access ‘bimpartil information and analysis. This part of in fermation, partly in the public domain but also partly within the restricted sphere of copyright information, is tttcal tothe operation of a representative democracy ‘ndto social equity. However, copyright works in the cher direction, restricting information. What is now egpening is that, withthe increasing commercalisa- fon of the media and the weakening of regulation in the public interest, more and more information that ‘scrtcal to grease the wheels of the public sphere ‘s copyrighted. And the copyright industries are not sou to maximise the value to be obtained from their fghtsto this information. This, in turn, means that ac- ¢23sto information is more and more determined by ho can afford it; and the nature of the information ‘sel is transformed to maximise the value and the fs to the producers. Tick Sen nd Brae Gana Wants Be Fe pat eons lth nmin Soi poe, wich mmge by Late na on ranavasin pyaastin See s Py it of EXCERPT FROM: COMMUNICATION, NETWORKS AND SOCIAL CHANGE {Keys for the Creative Incorporation of Information and Communication’ Fechnologies Into Social Movements From Flagsin the Wind to Multiform Networks ‘The road that social movements have traveled from the 1970s to date could be reread as a paradoxical process that has come to reunite in new ways the ispersed fragments blown apart by the globalization process. An encounter takes place among different organizations, apparently unrelated, but ones which deep down, at the level of what is essential, discover common motives to gat together, in unions more com- pilex, rich and plural than the ones the organized bat- talons of the Forcist period were able to generate. In this time of transition, it is important to pay attention tosigns suggesting he bith ofnew solidarity and com- munication networks, Manue! Castel uses avery sug) gestive formulation to refer to this transition: He speaks of he transition from flagsin the wind to mutitorm net- works, The visual power of this expression allows Us to ‘focus on the information technology-social movement binomial from a metaphorical point of vew: ltis this decentralized and subtle character of the social change network that makes it so dificult to perceive and identify the new identity projects that are on the way. Since our historical vision is 50 used to organized battalions, flags in the wind and sactal change proclamations that fol low a script, we fee! lost when we face the subtle penetration of the changes of the symbols pro- ‘cessed through mutiform networks, outside the headquarters of power. It is in these back al: leys of society, whether in alternative electronic networks or popular networks of community VOLUME @ Information Society & Communication Rights 1008 6,resistance, where | have perceived the embryos ‘of a new society, carved in the fields of history by the power of identity (Castells, 1998: 402), From the experiences that emerged in the back alleys, of informational and global capitalism we have seen how new ways of appropriation of information tech: ology by social movements arise. The recent dates ‘of 1994, 1999 and 2001 are significant moments for 339 relationships, In 1994, the Forum 50 aos bastan (50 Years Are Enough) takes place and helps re-focus the global resistance movement that since 1988 has been bringing together different movements opposed to the policies of supra-state institutions such as the In ternational Monetary Fund and the World Bank. BBS. {Bulletin Board System) is used to organize and de- velop this Forum: The incipient seeds of the Internet, Which provided technological help to organizations trying to denounce the logic of these powerful institu tions.! In that same year, on January 1, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (Ejérito Zapatista de Liber- _acién Nacional, EZLN) gains control of the main towns close to the Lacandona forest, in the Southern state Of Chiapas (Mexico). Some have spoken of the Zap: atista movement as the frst informational quer ‘movement that uses weapons to make themselves heard, and that understands that in the new world ‘order information can be much more powerful than Dullets.* Francisco Sierra points to this as well when he ingicates that communication was conceived by the EZLN as a poltical instrument. InNovemiber 1999, in Seattle (U.S.), when the capital: ist globalization process was orchestrating the stag: ing of what it seemed would be an inevitable aditional ‘twist in the liberalization of markets, a movernent of social movements emerged vis-8-vis public opinion 41010 Communicaion for Social Change Anthology: Histor that made a scream echo throughout the word: We human beings are not merchandise, Sheltered by ths movement, the Indymedia Web sites born, managed by independent journalists who have faith in giving Vice to the citizenship to build its discourses about reality rom other points of view, different and dive gent from those broadcast by the media, in January 2001... an alternative to this forum Wott Economic Forum in Davos) is convened in the Bri ian city of Porto Alegre, bringing together social move- ‘ments and those sectors among civic society wich favor the construction of another possible worl, d- ferent from that generated by the globaltarian project. Inthe World Social Forums fin 2001, 2002 and 2008}: ‘communication networks linked to social movements from across the world get together, mainly om dou bie origins; on the one hand, groups that have been protagonists of the birth and development of com- ‘munication for development in Latin America, defned by Manuel Chaparro as a “special” G-8". On the other hand, communication projects linked to movements of resistance and transformation of the neoliberal Globalization get together in Porto Alegre, ‘The Emergence of the Network Model ‘After the dark 80s—the period of ferocious apple tion of neoliberal polcies—in the threshold ofthe 21" Century @ muticuitural social movement has revived Under the motto “another worlds possible.” The new solidaty and communication networks are organza tional formulas that reunite important attributes, which ‘must be reflected upon: They posses ahigh deg ot flexbolity, horizontalty, interconnection capacty, ard ‘closeness between ther members.* Mansel gro eo commit most et ‘te artean ae commited oth mea omenghout the world: We se, Sheltered by this te isborn, managed have falth in giving ts discourses about diferent and diver- 2 media, 10 this forum [World rvened in the Brazil- agether social move | chic society which possible world, dif- giobaiitarian project. 01, 2002 and 2003}, 0 social movernents, er, mainly from dou- ups that have been velopment of com tin America, defined 1" G-8*. On the other nked to movernents of the neoliberal 0 Alegre. rkModel f ferocious applica threshold of the 21% wement has revived. s possible." The new Works are organiza- ant attributes, which 988 ahigh degree of ection capacity, and opal ofthe Foro lg ot ea sae tenia Ansa nec w roma even, ae Mad (ed) (99) La on 0 Ta (001: 1 Flexbilty because this is an organization being con- structed over time and in this construction process, ‘always open and constant, the network stretches or shrinks according to the needs of the environment, the sacial actors involved, or strategic alternatives, Undoubtedly, this is an essential quality for an ever- ‘changing social context 1» Horizontality between the members of a network, which results in diferent nodes having the same par- ticipation level, the same capacity for decision mak- ing, These are decentralized structures articulated on the principle of equality. Horizontaity is at the service of the participation of the organization's members, who do not need permission from a management board to exercise this right, f= Interconnection is in the network's origin and growth process. The network is strengthened in the process of incorporating new members, enhancing already existing relationships and making then more, ‘complex, establishing a great net. The network's logic leads to searching for the interconnections of every- thing with everything: the global and the local, ecol- ay with politics and economy, etc. f= Closeness is another important element of com- ‘munication and solidarity networks. Networking is not only a more efficient form of organization; together with its functional dimension—undeniable and neces ‘szxy—there is another dimension no less important the relational and vital dimension. Networks are the ‘way in which we visualize our “map of relationships"; networks channel our belonging to different groups, ur identity, our existence. Tne relational approach invites us to overcome ex cessively mechanistic views of social organizations, ‘fom which we could reach the point of designing Inear action processes conceived in a lab with a rule and a set-square, as if such plans would work in the same way in the real world. Social processes of com= ‘munication and social transformation are not lke train, stations that we pass through regularly and on time 1s planned; realty is always surprising; what is real resists classification; fe struggles to lve. Ths is why Irantzu Larrafiaga will say that networks, besides be- ing useful to exchange data and information, are use- {ul to circulate affection, encouragement, soldarily Networks work to remind their members that they are rot alone in the world, that there are people in the ‘worl just lke them. The new organizational model with its networks implies a true alternative to Fordist organizational models. When a social organization considers the incorporation of e-mail, the Internet, the design of its Web site, etc., many times only the instrument, the technological dimension, is perceived. However, ‘long the way, in the process of incorporation, the communicational question might arise: How does this tool work to improve communication within the orga- rization, rendering I more flexible? To what extent do ‘new information technologies facilitate the enhance- ‘ment of the creation of solidarity networks inthe local ‘and global environment? Specific Elements of Communication Gener- ated in Social Movements Moving on to a more concrete level, we mention some features that allow us toidentily elements specific and characteristic of communicational processes set in ‘motion by social movements: 1, THE DENOUNCEMENT OF EXCLUSION AND ‘SOCIAL INEQUALITY PROCESSES GENERATED BY CAPITALIST GLOBALIZATION, AND OF THE WAY IN WHICH THIS SOCIAL SYSTEM TURNS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION INTO ‘YET ANOTHER MERCHANDISE, In the era of access, the capitalst system intends to render all human actions fully commercial ts objec tive is to tun the world into a grand casino where ‘everything can be bought and sold. As pointed ‘out by Herbert Schiller in Aviso para Navegantes, expectations generated by the emergence of new advances in communication technologies have been frustrated by their focus on serving economic, interests. Unmasking the advertising wrapping that surrounds new information technologies is of vital \YOLUNEE @ information Socity & Communication Fights 911Importance, as is overcoming the seductive dis: course attached to them, and discovering their real potential in local and global spheres, Issues regarding information and communication should be posed, as indicated by Sally Burch, as a basic need for civic society. In order to really partic pate in public matters that affect us al, we need to be duly informed and have the abilly to express diferent points of view vis-a-vis reality through the media, This racical questioning of the capitalist system and its excluding and mercantile logic of Ife on earth is at the center of the communication discourse de- veloped by social movements, There is a necessary correlation between communication and soc between communication technologies and social context; the communication perspective of soclal novements is framed in a wider project that ques tions the capitalist system, On a positive note, and paraphrasing Paulo Frere, these networks teach one to read the media as part of a more encompassing process of teaching one to read the world, in order to transform it, Media education, the use of communi: cation networks, the appropriation of technology, do ‘not have meaning if they are not set within the con- text of a social change process. Their communica: tion programmes arise precisely in connection with this more encompassing process of social transfor- mation. The process itself raises the question of how to. communicate and how to build networks. 2. THE IDENTIFICATION OF INFORMATION ‘TECHNOLOGIES AS “INFORMATIONAL CAPITAL” FOR SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS. It is important for social movements to acknow- edge that new information and communication technologies (NICTs) are not merely instruments to be used but, rather, logics and dynamics that must bbe appropriated This perspective neglects the fact that communica- tion is not so much a matter of media, but rather o ee mediation.’ The center of communicative process does not lie in technological instruments, but inthe social processes through which people relate to ICTs, a relationship in which identities and socie imaginaries are built. In other words, a criterion to discern and assess the suitablity of one or another technology, and ways of incorporating it, is to look at the social processes in which a social organization 's embedded, and analyze the communicative ways through which the people this organization caters to understand the world, communicate and express themselves. In this way, reflection about communi tion stops being merely instrun and becomes a matter of culture. This allows us to rediscover communication as an abilty to relate, to create bonds and construct meaning. In this sense, Hamelink’s contributions regarding the Acept of “informational capital allow us to move forward along paths that lead social movements to the appropriation and use of NICTs. ‘The concept of informational capital includes “the financial capabilty to pay for the use of electronic networks and information services, the technical ability to handle these networks’ infrastructures, the intelectual capacity to fiter and evaluate informe tion, as well as the active motivation to seek infor ‘mation and the ability to apply such information to social stuations."* Informational capital refers to spect technical and instrumental conditions. However, the novelty does ‘ot le there, but in the ways in which information received, selected and appropriated as knowledge useful to transform realty. This is how logic leading to the transformation of information into knowledge, that invites us to look into processes rather than products, and discover the organizational transfor: ‘mations that could maximize the use of information Seeimunicative processes nstruments, but in the hich people relate to n identities and social - words, a citerion to ity of one or another porating it, isto look at 1 social organization e communicative ways organization caters to nunicate and express: jon about communica smental, de cacharreo, ture, This allows us to an ability to relate, to waning, ributions regarding the ital" allow us to move d social movements to CTS. I capital includes “the r the use of electronic ervices, the technical i! infrastructures, the and evaluate informa- otivation to seek infor- ay such information to )speciic technical and yover, the novelty does in which information is opriated as knowledge isis how logic leading mation into knowledge, processes rather than organizational transfor- the use of information Gara es mobic, Goo Movin cl nar ALAL technologies—processes that turn information into knowledge, etc —become more interesting 3. DISCOVERING THAT LOGIC OF NETWORKING PRECEDES THE INTERNET AS AN INSTRUMENT. ‘This idea is central for technological appropriation by social movements. Organizations that already func- tioned based on the logic of the net have seen how the new communication took—the Internet—which became popular at the end of the 1990s, gives new dimension to the processes of change they were in- volved in, In other words, it is not enough to intro- duce a technology such as the Internet in order 10 network. Organizations that tend to concentrate and monopolize information and decision making have to not only introduce new communication tools, but also to modify organizational models that conceive infor- mation as an entity to be monopolized, instead of un- derstanding i as something that must be distributed and circulated. Social organizations that were flexible, horizontal and interconnected with other organizations ate the ones ‘making the most ofthe new media. In the varie field of social movements, there are a least three traditions with ideological principles directly connected to the lagios of the net: the libertarian, feminist and ecologist movements. In organizations that support a decen- tralzed and horizontal structure based on the social being’s freedom (anarchism); in those that expose the interconnection of everything with everything (ecolo- (sts; and in those that understand closeness, intu= iton and globality as constitutive elements of solidarity networks (feminists), we can find keys forthe incorpo: ration of NICT with models of network organization 4. SUPPORTING FREE SOFTWARE The creation and promotion of the use of free solt- ‘wate has been a genuine contribution of social move- ments and the hacker community, understood as an sthical, technological and affordable alternative to the projects of large commercial computer software companies (Mari Saez, 2003). Free software has greater ethical coherence with societal projects based on participation and soldar- ity in building a world community of computer pro- grammers who freely share their knowledge for the improvement of technological suppor... it meets, higher quaity and security standards; the danger of feared viruses virtually disappears. 5. Adoption of the key principles of popular commu nication inspired by Paulo Freire’ ideas Paulo Freire’ contrioutons inthe fietds of education and popular communication have been putinto practiceby a (great number of social organizations, especially in Latin ‘American contexts, Francisco Sierra has summarized the five main characteristics ofa popular edu-commnuni= cation mode! (Sierra Caballero, 2000: 222-228) 1. Popular education is transformative education, 2. Popular education is based on reflexive praxis, in ‘which action guides and orients the educational content, 3. The methodology of popular education must be radically democratic. 4, The action-reflection-action dynamic gives a pro- ‘cess-oriented character to learning, 5. Popular education is part of an integral educational process, which tries to overcome the fragmenta tion between theory and practice, education and work, education and politics. For social movements, conceiving communication {rom this perspective implies assuming a communi- cational state of mind and style more coherent with the objectives of social transformation. As Mario Kaplun indicated, there is @ close relationship be- tween communication, construction of the social fabric, and social transformation. Popular communi- cation Is necessarily transforming, not only in its ob- Jactives but also in the process itself, since it includes Participation and the prominence of popular sectors, in its development. It allows the articulation of the social fabric in solidarity networks that democratize democracy starting from its more basic levels—being VOLUME @ information Society & Communication Fights 1013. cs‘able to speakup—to the most complex ones, such as developing new practices to manage local power. ‘An idea characteristic of Freire's thinking states that the worldis nat; itis being. We lve in @ continuous pro- ‘cess of construction of the social order and, therefore, in the real and historical possibilty of setting social pro- ccasses of transformation and change in motion. Per: haps a crucial battle is at stake trom this perspective, that of orchestrating the machinery of "single thinking’ with the intention of preventing from the beginning any possibilty of imagining other possible worlds. Joao Padro Stécila, lader of The Landless Workers’ Movement (Brazi), claims that what gives strength to the people is not what they hold in their hands, but ‘what they have in theirheads. Starting from these fun- damentals, reflecting on communication processes in the framework of social movements implias renewing existing knowledge and approaches towards com- munication, technologies, organizational models, and altemative projects of society, so that crtical ‘and creative processes can be developed with the information technologies at hand, References Castel Mae (997 La ede format ‘lanes ater ine) Made ‘pen deradioy escape aoratn Sel Dipstactin Mario, itr Manuel (202Gb ‘loacacid, nav eral cambio scl en Sera Fy Qs, F (Goo) (200) Emami Pali dela Conia. cain Social Ediciones Sev rat le comanecoe rade democai en dts be a Seve dla lnrmacon eo Reva ic (Mada oo 20, Sica baler, Hancico (2000): nada lt Ter de Coma ‘actin cata Eitri MAD Sel DIGITAL GAP ORDIGITAL INCLUSION E 200 We have heard for years ofthe ‘dg tal gap,” without knowing, in an er pirical sense, what it referred to, suspecting all the hile that its widespread use was ust one more car paaign to fashion a legend to justify the marketing and ‘consumption of computer products and appiatons in “emerging markets."" And indeed, international a ganizations’ concern about the "gap" coincides wih ‘a dramatic expansion of the market for new infor tion and communications technologies (ICTs) in Latin America over the last ten years. The fact that ame lorty of the population in individual countries lacks Internet access equates to potential demand, and policymakers have fet pressure to address the isu of access, as well as the related issue of pri hardware and software. ST To date, however, the problem has not been ad dressed with any great degree of seriousness. Ac Ccompanying this process is a novel turn of magical thinking, by which a home computer becomes @ ticket for admission to the information society. What this implies forthe future of the democratic process, which has recently been undergoing an amorphous reconfiguration under the deceptive rubric of e-0oe ferment” and "e-governance,” is far rom clear at this point. The term “digital gap" is used to refer to the phenomenon of unequal access to ICTS, to peorie's Unequal capacity to use these technologies, to a ferences in how they actually use them curent, ‘and to the differing impacts of these iscrepan- cies on personal, family and community wellbeing, Curiously, one seldom hears of "aigitl inclusion” aad aga ee