WSIS Review

Key Statements from WSISOn including NGOs/multistakeholders in UN proceedings:

PrepCom chair http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/statements/docs/prepcom-opening/1.doc

President of Conference of NGOs (CONGO) http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/statements/docs/cs-congo/1.pdf

Vivendi http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/statements/docs/ps-vivendi/1.doc

World Bank http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/statements/docs/io-world-bank/1.doc

Civil Society Orgs in West Asia & Middle East/ IRAN http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/statements/docs/cs-ictrc/1.doc

International Federation of Journalists: http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/statements/docs/cs-ifj/1.doc

Review of Wilson’s Aims in IRDC

To develop the strategic restructuring framework

To explain interactions between structure & agency in the information revolution in developing countries through comparative analysis of 3 cases

Strategic Restructuring ModelQuestions @ technology diffusion involve multiple

factors: What is the main cause of global diffusion

patterns– economic structure, govt policies, or tech?

What mechanisms allow these technologies to diffuse?

Do diffusion dynamics bring greater equality or inequality?

Why do countries with similar structural and economic features have divergent patterns of ICT distribution? (p. 37)

Strategic Restructuring Model

Dependent variable: technology diffusion

Independent variables: Structures Institutions Politics Govt. Policies

Key Findings on ICT Diffusion

Remarkable similarities across countries

Individual ICT champions: major influence on ICTD

MNCs: modest influence on ICTD Structures & their links to institutions

play a determining role in ICTD Social networks determine technical

networks ICTD: a global process of sequential

local innovation and restructuring

Key Findings on ICT Diffusion(Cont.)

Effective access to ICTs is more difficult than formal access

International Computer Driving License ICTD requires leadership, policies, and $$ ICTs’ effects to date

On LDCs as a whole: limited On small cadres of national elites: very

significant LDCs vary widely in capacity to create an

indigenous culture of knowledge innovatio

Key Finding on SRS Framework

The strategic restructuring model is a robust characterization of the complex

causal processes of political, institutional, and policy changes that have occurred across the ICT sectors.

It works empirically as Wilson theorized it would

Castells’ concept of Informationalism Definition:

“a technological paradigm based on the augmentation of the human capacity of information processing and communication made possible by the revolutions in microelectronics, software, and genetic engineering”

Informationalism has become the material foundation of core-zone society

Generation of wealth Exercise of power Creation of cultural codes->now depend on ICT capacity

Sites of Change inthe Information Society Relationships of production Social class relationships

->Who are the producers now, and who appropriates the products of their labor?

Power relations Crisis of the nation-state as sovereign

entity Crisis of political democracy

Sites of Change (cont.)

Globalization of capital Multilateralization of power

institutions Decentralization of authority to

regional and local governments induce a new geometry of power,

and perhaps a new form of state: the “network state”

Sites of Change (cont.) “Cultural battles are the power battles

of the Information Age” Fought primarily in and by the media Power lies in networks of information

exchange & symbolic manipulation Network society: the new social

structure of the Info Age Networks of production, power & experience

which conduct a culture of virtuality in global flows that transcend time & space

Summing Up/Looking Ahead

Exam Foci

Theories Models Actors/relationships Issues/debates/tensions Trends/Trajectories

Looking Back (Pre-Midterm) Forces of globalization Types of globalization Rel’ts. between globalization, media

and development: WST, ECT, Rostow’s economic growth model

International actors (IGOs, NGOs, MNCs & TNMCs, etc.)

NWICO: Current concern?

Types of globalization

Type 1 Thick GlobalizationHi extensity, hi intensity, hi velocity, hi impact.Type 2 Diffused GlobalizationHi extensity, hi intensity, hi velocity, low

impactType 3 Expansive GlobalizationHi extensity, low intensity, low velocity, hi

impact.Type 4 Thin GlobalizationHi extensity, low intensity, low velocity, low

impact

Looking Back (Pre-Midterm cont.)

Globalization & ICT/Media industries Int’l news production Broadcast & Satellite TV industry Cable TV industry Music industry Advertising & Public relations industry

In view of all you’ve learned in this course…

Which type of globalization best characterizes the ICT/media industry worldwide today? Why?

Summing Up Post-Midterm Characteristics of global economics

Global communication governance/policy Key actors Policy issues

E.g. access, knowledge, privacy, IPR, the commons, etc.

Policy agendas: core zone vs. other zones; neoliberal vs. humanitarian

Summing Up Post-Midterm (cont.)

Information revolution in developing countries Challenges in ICT diffusion (ICTD) Challenges in studying ICTD Tenets of the SRS framework Contributions of the strategic restructuring

framework Dimensions of the global digital divide Key findings: Similarities and differences

between ICTD in developing countries Characteristics & significance of WSIS

Recent Trends Increasing integration of computer-

based media into traditional media sectors

Increasing intra- and inter-media sector mergers vertical integration

Increasing global reach of core-based ICT/media industries

Increasing liberalization of media policies around the world

Looking Ahead

Core zone: ~23 nations Semi-peripheral: ~50Peripheral: ~150 “economic losers in the info revolution” -Gher

Future Trends

ICT/Media industries increasingly foundational in core zone and across zones

Impacts & interactions of ICT/Media industries with other factors/forces of globalization and on other spheres of human life (Castells)

ICT/Media Industries Across Zones Media/ICT industries will continue to be a

concern for policymakers In view of 9/11/01, US govt will continue

to be more involved in international comm policymaking

Successful media industries (domestically & internationally) will continue to be vital to int’l trade

Some current core nations may slip into semi-peripheral zone if they can’t maintain their media/ICT industries (eg. CA, AU, NZ)

ICT/Media Industries Across Zones (cont.) Core-based media firms will continue

to seek opportunities in semi-peripheral nations

Semi-peripheral nations will be increasingly pressured to adopt Western/core media practices & norms

Further deregulation & privatization in semi-peripheral & peripheral zones

ICT/Media Industries Across Zones (cont.) Globalized ICT/Media industries have

become dispersed throughout core-zone nations and some semi-peripheral nations

-> charges of cultural imperialism are no longer directed to US alone

-> some semi-peripheral nations will take on characteristics of core-zone nations

A generational culture gap will continue to grow– fed by music, film, ads & Web

Impacts of ICT/Media trends on politics & governance Diminishing national sovereignty &

autonomy “post-sovereignty era” Increasing challenge to make and

enforce international ICT/media policies Increasing importance and authority for:

Intergovernmental organizations (eg. UN) Multinational organizations (ITU) Transnational regional organizations (e.g.

NAFTA, ASEAN)

Impacts of ICT/Media trends on cultural politics

US cultural products (e.g. music, film, tv programs) will continue to dominate

Resurgence of nationalism and localism

Search for mechanisms for protecting & reinforcing indigenous cultures/groups

Looking Ahead: ICTs in Core-zone Nations

Accelerating rate of innovation & change; unanticipated consequences

Computer-based technologies reshaping but not replacing media industries

“Massification” of advanced information services

Looking Ahead: ICTs in Core-zone Nations (cont.)

Development of an advanced electronic information network Further integration of traditional

media with born-digital media Integration of media with public

communications utilities New universal public utility

Looking Ahead: ICTs in Core-zone Nations (cont.) Expansion of personal electronic media as

the new mass media: Networks created by individuals & groups that

bypass commercial info & entertainment providers

Include cell phones, cassettes, personal fax machines, small-group satellite conferencing, IMODE (Japan)

Internet as electronic extension of traditional “small media”, e.g. CB radio, fax networks, special-interest newsletters & mags

Decentralized, interactive info resources End of the mass audience?

Looking Ahead: ICTs in Core-zone Nations (cont.)

Media transformations are altering core-zone societies: How we see ourselves individually &

collectively What we consider important Where we get info for daily decisions

& activities Social cohesion

3 Critical Questions (Gher)

1. Is humanity better off as a result of the international changes in the ICT/media industries and global communication?

2. Who are the winners & losers?3. What are the urgent concerns

that governments/NGOs/ICT industry leaders should address immediately?

Wilson’s Conclusions

“The sequential ICT innovations of contending elites around the world that create the information revolution can be best accelerated through national and international support to build up the emerging ICT networks and “netstitutions” that link government, private, and nonprofit institutions.” (p. 404)

“People everywhere understand there are trade-offs to be made and want to know enough about ICTs to make those judgments for themselves… (They) can truly widen their choices– if they are able to mobilize the vision, political will, and human capacities necessary to achieve greater freedom and the good life in our globalizing world.” (p. 405)

Castells’ Conclusion

“There is nothing that cannot be changed by conscious, purposive social action, provided with information, and supported by legitimacy.

If people are informed, active, and communicate throughout the world; (…)

If business assumes its social responsibility; If political actors react against cynicism, and

restore belief in democracy; If culture is reconstructed from experience; (…) If all this is made possible by our informed,

conscious, shared decision, while there is still time, maybe then, we may, at last, be able to live and let live, love and be loved.” (p. 360)