Author
DeBalie.nl
From Info-Development to Info-Politics
Incommunicado 05 is a two-day working conference that will attempt to offer a critical survey of the current state of 'info-development', most recently known by its catchy acronym 'ICT4D'. {LIVE internet streams}
Not too long ago, most computer networks and ICT expertise were located in the North, and info-development seemed to be a rather technical matter of knowledge and technology transfer from North to South. While still popular, the assumption of a 'digital divide' that follows this familiar cartography of development has turned out to be too simple. Instead, a more complex map of actors, networked in a global info-politics, is emerging.
Different actors continue to promote different - and competing - visions of 'info-development'. New info-economies like Brazil, China, and India form south-south alliances that challenge our sense of what 'development' is all about. New grassroots efforts are calling into question the entire regime of intellectual property rights (IPR) and access restrictions on which commercial info-development is based. Commons- or open-source-oriented organizations across the world are more likely to receive support from southern than from northern states, and these coalitions are already challenging northern states on their self-serving commitment to IPR and their dominance of key info-political organizations.
Actors no longer follow the simple schema of state, market, or civil society, but engage in cross-sectoral alliances. Following the crisis of older top-down approaches to development, corporations and aid donors are increasingly bypassing states and international agencies to work directly with smaller non-governmental actors. While national and international development agencies now have to defend their activity against their neo-liberal critics, info-NGOs participating in public-private partnerships and info-capitalist ventures suddenly find themselves in the midst of a heated controversy over their new role as junior partner of states and corporations.
Long considered a marginal policy field dominated by technology experts, info-development is embroiled in a full-fledged info-politics, negotiated in terms of corporate accountability, state transformation, and the role of an international civil society in the creation of a new world information order. Emerging from the 'incommunicado' internet forum, the work conference will start mapping some of the faultlines of such a politics, and it will do so by engaging people from different info-political backgrounds in a collaborative exploration of concepts and strategies.
WEDNESDAY JUNE 15
Opening Night
20.00-22.30 Main Hall
THURSDAY JUNE 16
Plenary Lecture 1: Introduction and Overview
10.00-11.00 Main Hall
Workshop A1: NGOs in Info-Development
11.30-13.00 Main Hall
14.00-16.00 Open Sessions
Main Hall:
14.00-15.00 Solomon Benjamin (urban researcher, CASUM-m, Bangalore
India): case study on ICT and real estate in Bangalore (including film)
15.00-15.30 Francois Laureys (IICD) in conversation with Sylvestre Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso)
15.30-16.00 Sally Burch (ALAI, Ecuador): Social movements, communication and ICTs
Plenary Session 2: After Aid: Info-Development after 9/11
16.30-18.00 Main hall
FRIDAY JUNE 17
Plenary 3: ICT4D and the Critique of Development
10.00-12.00 Main Hall
Workshop C1: ICT corporations at the UN
13.00-15.00 Main hall
Workshop D1: New Info-Politics of Rights
15.30-17.00 Main Hall
Plenary 4: Closing Session
17.30 – 18.30 Main hall
LIVE audio & video from the Main Hall of De Balie, Amsterdam.
All times are C.E.T. Central European Time (6 hours before NewYork timezone for example)
Realvideo http://live.nu/1.ram (narrowband + broadband)
Mp3 audio http://live.nu/balie-lo.m3u (narrowband 24kbps mono)
More information:
Location
{LIVE STREAMS}