Building ‘Knowledge Commons’ with ICTs to

fight against social exclusion and eradicate

poverty

Christoforos Pavlakis
chrispavlakis8@hotmail.com
 The Basic Question?

Is it perhaps possible, with this proposal, to shape the cognition

& perceptions of research students and policy makers of:

1. The United Nations as, amongst many other things, a ‚Knowledge

Commons‘?

2. Civil Society as an Arena of Committed & Cooperative Individuals

to achieve discerned goals, given the paradigm challenges of present
day society, and use ICTs to foster the implimentation of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) & reduce „capabilities deprivation?“

3. Commons & Capability Concepts as Human Rights Concepts

within a ‚Knowledge Society‘ to continue to endeavour to achieve,
through the use of ICTs, the MDGs, which are also a benchmark
of social development?
Questions & Answers
 ‚Commons‘ Concept

1. Enclosure of & lack of Access to ‚The Commons‘ of Natural Subtractive ‚Common Pool Resources‘ (water,
forest, fisheries and wildlife) through ‚Commodification of Property (Real Estate) & of Resources

2. (Public) Knowledge Commons of Non-Subtractive ‘Common Pool Resources’ (scholarly information,

digital media, and the internet, which was conceived by Berners Lee, from the outset, as a public resource
or commons)

3. ‚Creative Commons‘

4. ‚Commons Concept‘ as Metaphor for Basic Human Rights

5. World Bank as ‚Knowledge Bank‘(Wolfensohn, 1995) The Global Development Learning Network (2000)
and The Development Gateway

6. United Nations System with 56 Electronically accessible Libraries, 250 websites and cyberschoolbus as a
‚Knowledge Commons‘

7. Common-Building Initiatives of Civil Society

 Civil Society Definition

“Civil society refers to the set of institutions, organisations

and behaviour situated between the state, the business
world, and the family. Specifically this includes voluntary
and non-profit organisations of many different kinds,
philanthropic institutions, social and political movements,
other forms of social participation and engagement and
the values and cultural patterns associated with them.”
(London School of Economics, 2001)
 Civil Society as Societal Space

Civil Society is: „the arena, outside the family, the

government, and the market, where people associate
(cooperate) to advance their interests.“ (Carmen Melena
& Volkhart Finn Heinrich, 2007)
 Paradigm Changes & Bifurcation Points in Society

Challenges or Facilitators of MDGs?

1. Climate Change

2. Demographic Change

3. The Urbanisation of Society

4. Foreign Aid (International Charity) / Global Social Justice Approach

5. Relationship of Governments & International Organisations to Civil Society

6. The Global Information Society & ‚Digital Divide‘

Demographic Change
 Foreign Aid / Global Social Justice

A further paradigm shift deals with governments’ policy towards so called ‘foreign
aid’. In general there seems to be a definitive and definable shift taking place, from a
foreign aid paradigm, based on charity, to a new spirit of co-operation based on
solidarity, social justice and partnership.

As Home (2004) notes “The recent move from the language of charity to the
language of justice in international politics raises a stronger ethical duty on the part of
governments to deliver social justice to their citizens. The language of charity appeals to
the individuals’ sense of moral duty, whereas the language of justice draws on a
collective ethics that forms the essence of our societies.”

Many countries in the so called ‘developing world’ would prefer access to the
common markets of the ‘developed world’ rather than being the recipients of foreign aid
and wish instead to ‘trade’ their way out of poverty through access to world markets, with
the reduction of tariffs and trade barriers and be accepted in the International Trade
Commons.
 Partnership of Civil Society & International Organisations

• Olson (United Nations, 2005) states, “The United Nations takes the notion of
partnership with civil society very seriously.[…] This has evolved greatly
over the years into a two-way partnership with civil society, […] making civil
society a major contributing factor to the international debates, as well as
helping to increase the understanding of governments and the United
Nations system. This has been a tremendous advance.”
K. Annan stated at the United Nations Millennium Form (2000): “Today, I am asking you
NGOs to be both leaders and partners: where necessary, to lead and inspire
Governments to live up to your ideals; where appropriate, to work with Governments to
achieve their goals.[…] By working through consensus rather than confrontation, you will
be involved more closely.”

The European Union states in its 7th Research Framework Programme (cf.
www.cordis.europa.eu/fp7 ‘Science in Society’ 2006): “The ‘Programme should
contribute to looking at civil society not as a constraint but as a driver and locus for
innovation and therefore an active player in building a democratic knowledge society.”

The question remains whether segments of CS will accept a cooperative partnership or

opt to remain in advocacy and outside the ‘citadel’ of international partnerships
 DEFINING ICTs

United Nations Development Program (UNDP, 2001)

“ICTs are basically information-handling tools - a varied set of

goods, applications and services that are used to
produce, store, process, distribute and exchange information.

They include the "old" ICTs of radio, television and telephone,

and the "new" ICTs of computers, satellite and wireless
technology and the Internet.

These different tools are now able to work together, and

combine to form our "networked world" - a massive
infrastructure of interconnected telephone services,
standardized computing hardware, the Internet, radio
and television, which reaches into every corner of the globe.”

They aim to facilitate the ‚developing world‘ „leapfrog“

structural & historical weaknesses e.g. cellular phones as first
& only service in parts of e.g. Gabon, Ivory Coast, Rwanda,
Tanzania & Uganda
 ‚Digital Divide‘

[ ca. 30 Countries]

[ ca. 110 + ca. 50 LDC ]

International Telecommunication Union 2007

International Telecommunications Union 2007
 ‚Digital
Divide‘

International Telecommunication Union 2007

International Telecommunication Union 2007
International Telecommunication Union 2007
International Telecommunication Union 2007
International Telecommunication Union 2007
 Robin Mansell & Uta Wehn 1998

Source: Based on indices computed from ITU STARS Database (1996),

Elsevier(1996) and UNESCO (1995)
Knowledge Societies – Information Technology for
Sustainable Development (Mansell & Wehn)
Source: Based on indices computed from ITU STARS Database (1996),
Elsevier(1996) and UNESCO (1995)
 World Bank 2004

Knowledge Economy Index

The Global Information Technology Report 2003 -2004
World Bank, World Economic Forum, InfoDev & INSEAD
The Global Information Technology Report 2003 -2004
World Bank, World Economic Forum, InfoDev & INSEAD
 Sen, Mansell, Maier-Rabler „Capabilities Approach“

Internet as „electronic spaces where people can acquire new abilities that can assist them in
managing their daily lives“

„ freedom to achieve the leifestyles they want“

„capabilities to read and write are important, as are the capabilities for being well informed and
able to participate freely in society“

„cognitive capacities and abilities to discriminate between alternative choices“

„toolkits for producing and sharing information in the public“space of the Internet…. and
to make choices about social alternatives“ (New Media and the Power of Networks,
Robin Mansell, 2001)

. „these capabilities are acquired cognitive capacities and the ability to discriminate
between alternative choices. These capabilities are the foundations of the freedom which
allows individuals’ needs to be met; needs like remaining healthy and interacting with
others.“ (Amartya Sen, 1999)
 Information & Knowledge Societies

• Information is the transfer of organised data (Castells 1996) but knowledge always
includes a cultural, social and personal aspect, and often an economic and political
aspect as well.
• The UNESCO (2005) regards the InformationSociety as a fundament of the
Knowledge Society:
„Knowledge societies are about capabilities to identify, produce,
process,transform, disseminate and use information to build and apply knowledge
for human development. They require an empowering social vision that
encompasses plurality, inclusion, solidarity and participation. As emphasized by
UNESCO during the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society
(WSIS), the concept of knowledge societies is more all-embracing and more
conducive to empowerment than the concept of technology and
connectivity, which often dominates debates on the information society. Issues
of technology and connectivity emphasize infrastructures and governance of
the network planet. They are clearly crucial but should not be viewed as an end in
themselves. In other words, the global information society is meaningful only
if it favours the development of knowledge societies and sets itself the goal
of “tending towards human development based on human rights”.

Information gives us the power to decide. Knowledge is the capacity to act and the resulting wisdom creates the
capability to make the right decisions (Hofkirchner 2007) .
 The European Union & The knowledge society

A sustainable knowledge society is one which creates shares and uses knowledge for
the well-being of its citizens, who create and have unhindered access to its resources.

In 1945, F.A. Hayek wrote an article on: "The Use of Knowledge in Society" which dealt
with the importance of knowledge. (1 American Economic Review XXXV No 4,
September 1945 – pp 519-30.)

In 1957, Peter Drucker, who for many is perhaps the pioneer of the knowledge society,
wrote : "productive work in today's society and economy is work that applies vision and
concepts – work that is based on the mind rather than the hand.“

But today's knowledge society is something slightly different, something more specific. It
is the result of the economic and social transformation wrought by the introduction and
large scale diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) based on
microprocessors (computer chips). Knowledge and information have become the
foundation for the organisation and development of economic and social activity. ICTs
have made the knowledge society what it is because of their ability to codify information.
They enable knowledge to be processed or manipulated to meet a multitude of needs
and be transmitted instantly all over the world.

(Euopean Commission Conference: Social & Human Capital in the Knowledge Society:
Policy Implications 2002)
The World Bank as a Knowledge Bank (Wolfensohn, 1996)
 World Bank

Knowledge Economy Index

• An economic and institutional regime that provides incentives for the efficient
creation, dissemination, and use of existing knowledge.

• An educated and skilled population that can create and use knowledge.

• An effective innovation system consisting of research centers, universities, think

tanks, and other organizations that can, not only tap into the growing stock of global
knowledge, assimilate and adapt it to local needs, but also create knowledge.

• A dynamic information infrastructure that can facilitate the effective dissemination

and processing of information.
 World Bank
Correlation between GDP & Knowledge Economy Index (KEI)
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 United Nations Cyber Schoolbus
as a ‚Commons‘ Project

The specific aims of the Cyberschoolbus are:

• To create an on-line global education community;

• To create educational action projects to show students that they have a

role in finding solutions to global problems;

• To give students a voice in global issues;

• To provide high-quality teaching resources to a wide range of educators

in a cost-effective manner.

http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/index.shtml
 8 MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGs)
18 Targets & 48 Indicators

[Bench Mark for Social Development]

[“Make Poverty History” All 8 Goals Interwoven & Deal with Poverty –
Poverty as “Capabilities Deprivation” (A. Sen) & Social Exclusion]

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

• Target 1. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose
income is less than $1 a day

• Target 2. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer
from hunger

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

• Target 3. Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will
be able to complete a full course of primary schooling
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and
empower women

• Target 4. Eliminate gender disparity in

primary and secondary education, preferably
by 2005, and in all levels of education no later
than 2015

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

• Target 5. Reduce by two-thirds, between

1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

• Target 6. Reduce by three-quarters, between

1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio
 Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

• Target 7. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
• Target 8. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria
and other major diseases

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

• Target 9. Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country

policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources
• Target 10. Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable
access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
• Target 11. Have achieved by 2020 a significant improvement in the lives of at
least 100 million slum dwellers
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Target 12. Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non discriminatory trading
and financial system (includes a commitment to good governance, development, and
poverty reduction? both nationally and internationally)

Target 13. Address the special needs of the Least Developed Countries (includes tariff-
and quota-free access for Least Developed Countries? exports, enhanced program of debt
relief for heavily indebted poor countries [HIPCs] and cancellation of official bilateral debt,
and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty
reduction)

Target 14. Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island
developing states (through the Program of Action for the Sustainable Development of
Small Island Developing States and 22nd General Assembly provisions)

Target 15. Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through
national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term
Target 16. In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for
decent and productive work for youth

Target 17. In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable

essential drugs in developing countries

Target 18. In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new
technologies, especially information and communications technology
 UN ICT TASK FORCE (2001)
Set Benchmarks for use of ICTs in Development and foster ‚Digital Opportunity‘
and put ICTs at the service of development

United Nations World Summits on the Information Society (WSIS)

Geneva 2003 & Tunis 2005

UNESCO prepared 11 Scientific Position Papers in preparation for WSIS

 The Role of Civil Society in achieving the MDGs with ICTs

“Making business and all actors of civil society part of the solution is not only the best
chance, it may also be the only chance the UN has to meet its Millennium goals.’
(Michael Doyle, UN Assistant Secretary-General)

„Civil society can play a tremendous role in achieving the MDGs, reducing
poverty and promoting sustainable development. They have the knowledge
and the expertise, they have the networks and they have the linkages to the
day-to-day problems of people. Governments should invite, encourage and
enable civil society organizations to take the formation and implementation of
many ICTs-related issues in their own hands. Only bottom-up approach will
lead to sustainable development.“

Najet Karaborni /Senior Interregional Adviser UNDESA - 20 A p r i l 2 0 0 5

Author NGO / Civil Society Survey Report on 78 Organisations
 Endeavours of Civil Society to Achieve MDGs with ICTs

Najet Karaborni /Senior Interregional Adviser UNDESA - 20 A p r i l 2 0 0 5

Author NGO / Civil Society Survey Report on 78 CSO Organisations
NGO Activities to promote Information Society for All
Areas of ‚Commons Building‘ Initiatives & Activities of CSOs to
Achieve MDGs
HealthNet (ICT) is used by 19,500 health care workers in more than 150 countries worldwide.

The development impact of HealthNet has been most prevalent in Africa, where the model has
contributed to increased rural and urban connectivity, capability building among the user
community, increased demand for IT services, and in some cases, commercially viable IT service
enterprises.

For example:

Surgeons from Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda use HealthNet to consult on patient
treatments and learn new re-constructive surgery techniques;
In Zambia, healthcare workers who once traveled 700 kilometers each week to collect data for
clinical trials now use HealthNet to send this information via email;

Physicians in Ethiopia use HealthNet to schedule consultations, making it unnecessary for ill
patients to travel long distances with no guarantee of seeing a physician;

Health workers in Democratic Republic of Congo use HealthNet to report progress on treating
trypanosomiasis to public health organizations in the north of the country; and

In Gambia, malaria researchers use HealthNet to submit data to European medical schools for
clinical trials.

Many physicians in developing countries rely on HealthNet as their sole source of

information on the treatment of AIDS and tropical diseases, essential drugs, pediatrics and
public health promotion.
 ICTs for Education

The University of South Africa (UNISA)'s distance learning programs provide

education to over 120,000 students per annum, mostly from Africa and other
developing countries.
The distance education programs are less expensive (80 percent less) than those of
residential universities.

The programs allow students to obtain higher education at their own pace while they
work to support their families.

UNISA encourages gender equality by providing women with educational and

employment opportunities: 56 percent of UNISA students and 51 percent of staff are
women.

The organization provides professional employment opportunities within South Africa:

there are 3,000 staff members including academic, administration and support staff.
Micro Credit Initiatives

Grameen Bank
M.Yunis
 ICTs for Empowerment & Participation

SANGONet is an electronic information and communications network for

development and human rights workers in Southern Africa. It provides relevant
information to people working on development issues by allowing them to
communicate with each other on its web site (www.sn.apc.org/sangonet), and by
building capacity in electronic communications within non-governmental,
community-based, government and private sector organizations.

SANGONet's priorities include open government, ICT, education, health, economy,

labor, women, human rights and the environment. SANGONet is a member of the non-
profit Association for Progressive Communications (APC).

Illustrative Impact:
SANGONet empowers people and organizations to make decisions based on relevant
information.
NGOs and other organizations can communicate more efficiently and effectively using
email software and services provided by SANGONet.

NGOs, especially small to medium-sized organizations which face a lack of ICT

skills, are taking advantage of SANGONet's low cost support services and training
programs to improve their internal capabilities and operations.
 ICTs & The Environment

Global Forest Watch (GFW)

Global Forest Watch is an international network of more than 90 local forest groups
linked by the Internet. It aims to slow forest degradation around the world as well
as infuse transparency and accountability into the industry. The initiative was
started by the World Resources Institute in 1997 to give the general public a clearer
picture of the threats to the world's forests. GFW uses a combination of satellite
imagery, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), mapping software, the Internet
and on-the-ground observation to record forest coverage and condition, including
where and how forest product companies are cutting. GFW compares the activity to
forest leases to identify illegal cutting. These maps are posted on the Internet, naming
specific companies that fail to comply with environmental policies and agreements.

GFW is ensuring fair and objective scrutiny of the practices of forest product companies.
The group is already operating in 8 countries, and plans to cover 25 countries within a
few years. It has negotiated agreements with IKEA, Home Depot, Loews and other
major forest product retailers that constitute 40 percent of the North American market.
 www.civilsocietynetworks.org

(NGO Committee on the Family at the United Nations Office Vienna)

Interactive Internet Forum to facilitate these „capabilities“ by offering:

„toolkits for producing and sharing information in the public“space of the

Internet…. and to make choices about social alternatives“ (Mansell, 2001)

102 civil society organisations (one member organisation: the Confederation of

Family Organisations at the Euroean Union (COFACE) has 50 constituent
organisations of its own

Internet Forum members deal with MDGs issues such as:

• Education for Social Change
• Fostering Human Rights – Female Empowerment
• Water Supply Health Care (HIV/Aids)
• Micro Credit for poverty alleviation
• Participation in policy issues
• Usability & Mutual Shaping by Reccomendations for Forum Format
Questions & Answers
 The Basic Question?

Is it perhaps possible, with this proposed paper, to shape the cognition

& perceptions of research students and policy makers of:

1. The United Nations as, amongst many other things, a ‚Knowledge

Commons‘?

2. Civil Society as an Arena of Committed & Cooperative Individuals

to achieve discerned goals, given the paradigm challenges of present day
society, and use ICTs to foster the implimentation of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) & reduce „capabilities deprivation?“

3. Commons & Capability Concepts as Human Rights Concepts

within a ‚Knowledge Society‘ to continue to endeavour to achieve,
through the use of ICTs, the MDGs, which are also a benchmark
of social development?
Thank You