[Telecentres] Robinson contribution

[Edmond Gaible]

Scott and all, 
Agreeing completely with the principle that grassroots participation is
­precisely- organic to telecentres, and that the grassroots can make a
(sadly) unique and needed contribution to WSIS....

But I¹m hung up on the focus on representation. The strength of this list,
it seems, is as a ³network of telecentre networks.² And one strength of ICTs
in this context is that they can replace representation with participation.

Can we devise a process and mechanism that goes beyond representation? Can
we reach out through our networks to achieve a rough consensus as to a
message (or a platform) that has been scanned and vetted by a few hundreds
or a few thousands of telecentre personnel working AT the grassroots in
countries throughout the world?

And if this can happen, I believe that it also makes sense (as Don has
suggested) for there to be a process that engages WSIS delegates in
responding directly.

Best, 

Ed Gaible

On 9/27/04 5:03 PM, "Scott Robinson" <ssr at laneta.apc.org> wrote:

> Telecentres list colleagues:
> 
> Given recent comments by Don, Florence, Arun and others before, plus
> the fact there is such a wealth of experience concerning the real work of
> Telecentres on this list, I suggest one of the main things that is lacking
> within WSIS is the voice of the grassroots with most of those participating
> speaking for other people's experiences rather than from their own.
> 
> Therefore, may I suggest that we adopt as a rule that our representation
> in WSIS II consist of those with direct and on-going experience of the real
> activity of Telecentres in a Development context (which could include both
> in LDC's and in Development contexts within Developed Countries.
> 
> We seem to have a wealth of such talent on this list and by choosing this
> route we can defuse some of the issues linked to "representation".
> 
> Scott Robinson
> Mexico DF
> Vinculart A.C.
> somos at telecentros www.tele-centros.org
>  <http://www.tele-centros.org/> www.uam-antropologia.info
>  <http://www.uam-antropologia.info/>
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> telecentres mailing list
> telecentres at wsis-cs.org
> http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/telecentres
> To unsubscribe, send a message to telecentres-request at wsis-cs.org with the
> word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
> 


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/telecentres/attachments/20040927/f578e000/attachment-0001.htm