Global Information Society Watch 2008 Report

Global Information Society Watch 2008 Report (GISWatch) aims to make a critical contribution to building a people-centred information society. Its purpose is to stimulate a collaborative approach to policy advocacy, and to create a common platform where disparate experiences can be shared, and progress - or lack of progress – assessed. Ultimately, it hopes to impact on policy development processes in countries, regions, and at a global level.

From the Preface: "This year’s thematic focus for Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) is “access to infrastructure”. The Geneva Plan of Action that emerged from the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) declared information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure an “essential foundation for the Information Society” and identified it as one of six main action lines. In spite of this attention, it is beginning to be considered of less importance by some development funders and practitioners, including civil society and communication and information activists.

GISWatch is both a publication and a process. While producing an annual report which is published in print and online, it also aims to build networking and advocacy capacity among civil society organisations who work for a just and inclusive information society. The number of participating organisations is growing: 38 country reports are published here - 16 more than in our previous edition - analysing the status of access in countries as diverse as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mexico, Switzerland, and Kazakhstan. Besides thematic reports dealing with key issues affecting access, such as net neutrality, open standards, spectrum management, trends in technology and access to content, for the first time GISWatch includes regional overviews for North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, the countries of the former Soviet Union, South-East Asia, and the Pacific."