friends
attached for your interest is a recent statement on universal
access to basic communication and information services from
the un's administrative coordinating committee - acc
robert pollard
information habitat - where information lives +
infohabitat@igc.apc.org
http://www.igc.apc.org/habitat
theory and practice of information ecology
home of the virtual light and colour cube
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ACC Statement on Universal Access to
Basic Communication and Information Services
1. The world is in the midst of a communication and information
revolution, complemented by an explosive growth in knowledge.
Information and knowledge have become a factor sui generis in
societal and economic development. As generic technologies,
information and communication technologies (ICT) permeate and cut
across all areas of economic, social, cultural and political
activity. In the process they affect all social institutions,
perceptions and thought processes. Globally the information and
communication sector is already expanding at twice the rate of
the world economy. Decreasing costs of increasingly powerful,
reliable hardware and software, as well as the fact that much
hardware has become a desktop item, will continue to drive the
use of information and communication technologies, facilitating
access by eves wider segments of society. But this tendency can
have profound benefits only if gains in physical access are
accompanied by capacities to exploit these technologies for
individual and societal development through production and
dissemination of appropriate content and applications.
2. The communication and information revolution opens up entirely
new vistas for the organizations of the United Nations system; it
will bring about a dramatic shift not only in the way our
organizations will operate in the future, deliver services and
products, but also collaborate and interact with each other and
other actors. Indeed, the multilateral system as a whole - and
specifically development cooperation - has reached a threshold
where our future orientations, strategies and activities have to
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Article-ID: 05_1997&636968
Score: 86
Subject: 02:People's Tribune (05-97) Online Edition