Beyond the Information Society

Enabling Communities to Create the World We Want

(A statement prepared for "Paving the Road to Tunis - WSIS II: The Views
of Canada's Civil Society on the Geneva Plan of Action and the Prospects
for Phase II," Winnipeg, May 13-15, 2005)

All around the world, communities are at the heart of social and
economic life. On-line and off-line, they are dynamic, creative,
adaptive and adoptive. We see communities as the social networks that
will, together, forge the "Learning Society" that national and
international governments seek to facilitate.

Each with their own context and form, communities share the following
characteristics:

1.Communities, whether of place, practice or interest, are central to a
  Learning Society.
2.Communities are dynamic and self-organizing. This is the basis of
  their formation and governance.
3.Effective communities are composed of individuals who choose to act in
  a common space and who share a sense of commitment and responsibility
  to others in that space.
4.Individuals in their communities are able to make effective use of
  information and communications technologies (ICTs) to inform their
  choices about what they produce, what they consume and what they do in
  relation to others. This requires more than passive "access" across a
  digital divide.
5.The internet is a global commons and a public good that is fundamental
  to the networked structure of a Learning Society.

* * * *

Policies and practices that enable the transition to a Learning Society
are currently being considered on the national and international stage.
But acting to realize the opportunities of community as it goes online
requires a vision of open systems of access, design, practice, and
policy debate. To ensure those policies and practices align with the
quality of community essential to that society, we recommend that:

national and international processes affirm the central role of the
individual in community as the key to world development. financial and
program responses to the "digital divide" at home and in Less Developed
Countries be designed to support community-based initiatives. changes to
internet governance not impede the development of the internet as a
commons. strategies for support of ICT use and development at home and
in Less Developed Countries ensure self-identification, openness,
inclusion and participation. those working to design, implement and
operate systems of ICT use take responsibility to ensure that the
characteristics of communities are respected and included in the
outcomes of their professional work and practices.
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This statement is presented by Telecommunities Canada. We are a group of
community networking advocates and participatory researchers who act to
understand and shape the uses of ICTs in our communities. We seek to
remind Canada's public policy debates that existing community networks
are experienced in the effective use of ICTs for community development.
Together with like-minded groups, our goal is to connect policy and
practice in ways that expand and improve the ability of communities to
design their own future.