Inside the digital society
David Souter writes a weekly column for APC, looking at different aspects of the information society, development and rights. David’s pieces take a fresh look at many of the issues that concern APC and its members, with the aim of provoking discussion and debate. Issues covered include internet governance and sustainable development, human rights and the environment, policy, practice and the use of ICTs by individuals and communities.
A third of the world’s Internet users, says UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children report, on Children in a Digital World, are younger than 18. How they use it shapes their attitudes, behaviour, opportunities, and therefore shapes their futures. That deserves more – and more sophisticated – attention from the Internet’s stakeholders than it gets.
This week's instalment looks at an important new source of evidence on access and use in developing countries.
This week’s post looks at UNESCO’s current consultation on indicators for ‘Internet universality’.
Sharp-eyed readers will have noticed that ‘Inside the Information Society’ took a break towards the end of last year. It’s back today, with a long list of themes up and ready for 2018.
This week’s blog looks at the impact of the Internet on politics.
Too much debate about the Information Society is binary. To advocates, anything digital looks good. Others are spooked by impacts that are uncontrolled and unbenign. If we’re serious, we need to be more nuanced. Some reflection on this where social media’s concerned this week; next week, the Internet’s impact on politics.
In a previous post, I looked at different ways to measure the internet. This week, we'll look into measuring the Information Society.
Last week I looked at the big picture on the digital economy, in the light of UNCTAD’s latest Information Economy Report. This week: some of the issues the digital economy raises for policymakers at a national and local level.
This week’s post is the first of two on the digital economy. UNCTAD – the UN Conference on Trade and Development – published its two-yearly Information Economy Report (IER) last week. It’s consistently one of the more interesting UN publications on the Information Society. Well worth a read.
Robots are talked of more and more these days. Like implants, they’ve moved from science fiction to present reality. Instead of fantasizing over them, we need to understand the role they’re playing in our lives and going to play in them in future.
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2020
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