Online Book: Internet and Society in Latin America and The Caribbean

http://web.idrc.ca/en/ev-45776-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

Online Book: Internet and Society in Latin America and The Caribbean

Abstract: "The book is designed to foster discussion about the policies and
actions that must be promoted for building an Internet culture in Latin
America and the Caribbean, based on the principles of social and cultural
equity. It presents pioneering research designed to show from a qualitative
and ethnographic perspective, how new information and communication
technologies, as applied to the school system and to local governance
initiatives, merely reproduce traditional pedagogical approaches and the
dominant forms by which power is exercised at the local level. The analysis
aims to contribute to further thinking about the need to promote an Internet
culture based on the social application of a ³right to communication and
culture² and an ³Internet right,² seeking true citizen participation and
free access to knowledge, with due regard to personal and individual rights
such as those of privacy and intimacy." Edited by Marcelo Bonilla (FLACSO)
and Gilles Cliche (IDRC). Originally published in Spanish by FLACSO. English
edition published by Southbound and IDRC. 436 p, dated 2004. full digital
version available in zip file containing 16 PDF files.

The book:

http://web.idrc.ca/uploads/user-S/10791103153Internet_and_Society.zip


C 87-115 Chapter 3 Arredondo et

> 
> The Red Enlaces project:
> 
> objectives and basis assumptions
> 
> As a first step in explaining the concepts underlying the Red Enlaces, we
> shall provide a brief chronological review of the steps that have been
> involved in this process. The beginnings of the initiative can be traced back
> to 1992, when the Chilean Ministry of Education declared the need to build ³a
> National Educational Network linking all government-supported public and high
> schools in the country². This first stage included a pilot plan involving a
> dozen schools in the capital city, Santiago, which was later extended to the
> Ninth Region (the political and administrative division with the largest
> proportion of indigenous peoples), where a total of 100 schools were enlisted
> in this initial development stage. The testing phase ran until 1995, when a
> real growth plan of national scope began to take shape. By that year it was
> considered feasible to make ICT resources (equipment, software and Internet
> connections) available in all Chilean schools within the next five years.
> Consistent with this plan, an exponential increase in coverage can be seen
> from 1996 on as the programme became truly national in scope. By 1998,
> computers were already considered an integral part of the secondary school
> curriculum, with the status of a ³horizontal objective², i.e. it was
> recognized that the implications of working with ICTs extended to all aspects
> of the training imparted to students.
> 
> According to Education Ministry officials, these figures speak of outstanding
> success in transforming the education system through this initiative for mass
> access to ICTs.
> 
> Given these results, it can be argued that the effort to equip Chilean schools
> with computers, software, Internet access and peripherals has been broadly
> successful.7 Although there is still a noticeable imbalance in the
> availability
>