Ogan attends WSIS 2005 summit

Published: November 21, 2005

But freedom of information, civil society and other watchdog groups complained of censorship and harassment while attending the summit, with some staging protests and hunger strikes within the WSIS compound in Tunis. Others, such as the International Federation of Libraries Association, issued rebukes that outlined the "abuses on intellectual freedom in the country."

Journalism professor Chris Ogan, who attended the three day conference in November as part of a six-member School of Informatics delegation, saw both the splashy presentations from countries with dubious reputations for human rights and the indications of potential for democratic and social change through technology.

"If this is about process inching along in right direction, it was a good summit," said Ogan, who also is a professor in the School of Informatics and whose research interests include worldwide uses of new technologies and gender equity issues in the communications professions. "There was a great deal of talk about gender equity and work in developing countries, about programs such as micro-loans and information technology bringing about real change in a variety of places."

But there also were reports of censorship within the WSIS conference area, of Reporters Without Borders officials being refused entry into Tunis, of one journalist stabbed. Ogan said some attendees staged a hunger strike to protest free speech violations, but many feared repercussions if they participated. Participants' badges were embedded with chips to track where they were at all times, though at least one wrapped his in aluminum foil to interrupt the signal, Ogan said.

"The compound was guarded by the U.N. and by the Tunisians," she said. "Some groups were not allowed to meet. We didn't always know what was going on."

The second of a two-part U.N. project initiated in 2003, the summit aimed to find ways to use new and emerging technology to improve the lot of all countries. It also sought to bridge the digital divide, or gap between people and nations who have access to electronic forms of information and those who do not. Participants included 20,000 people in business, government, academia and civil society groups who represented 174 countries.

Ogan attended plenary sessions and presentations by many of the groups and countries, finding some to praise and some to question. Some countries with little technology structure had the splashiest presentations; some with dubious civil or intellectual rights policies touted their information freedoms.

She also learned more about the Mission 2007 project in India, which hopes to provide computer access through kiosks in even the most remote villages; the $100 laptop for every student in developing countries; and the Acacia program from Canada to bring information and communication technologies (ICTs) to Africa.

That's not to say the projects don't have many issues to hammer out, such as the "how" and "how much" questions yet to be answered.

"But some say for summits, the process is more important than outcome," she said. "For me, it was important to have all these groups in one place."

Ogan brought back literature and CDs outlining projects, much of which may be of use in the spring semester J614 class, "Communication and National Development."

"The class itself has changed over the years as we've moved from 'mass media' to information, to ideas about how media and ICTs are used for social change," she said. "Privatization in developing countries is significant, and ICTs have to step up and play role to get the message out to people in these countries, to allow the people to have control over the messages."

For more, check out

--IU Home Pages

-- an article from Information Week

--Common Dreams News Center

--The WSIS Web site

Photo of European Union kiosk by Chris Ogan