E-Strategies and the World Summit on the Information Society

This10-page article by Willie Currie describes what he refers to as "e-strategies," (electronic strategies) having become an important policy instrument for information and communication technology (ICT) in relation to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). He further suggests that e-strategies have been validated by being part of the WSIS agenda.

The first phase of WSIS, held in December 2003, committed to building a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented information society. Part of the goal includes using information and communication technology (ICT) to promote the development goals of the Millennium Declaration. The Plan of Action is described as primarily focused on targets related to connecting ICT with villages, schools, clinics (etc), by 2015, thus mirroring the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Currie describes capacity building as important to e-strategies and ICTs. It is important that
people in villages, or nurses in clinics, know how to use ICTs and that local content and
applications are adopted to ensure that the Internet is meaningful to local conditions.

Currie points out that priorities in developing countries may emphasise basic telecoms and access
to the Internet while developed countries may be more concerned with privacy, broadband networks
and intellectual property rights.

According to Currie, before the 1990's, the sectors of broadcasting, telecommunications and IT were
distinct and each had their own policies, actors and institutions organised at a national level.
During the 1990s, the combination of technological convergence, digitalisation and globalisation began breaking down the distinctions between the content and forms of information.

Currie mentions a number of limiting aspects to e-strategies, for instance that they do not address
questions of values and rights adequately, and that the technical out weigh the social dynamics of
development. In spite of these imitations Currie argues that e-strategies have the potential to be
important policy instruments of ICT for development.