Perhaps GKD might be reminded of the Global Community Networking Congress
http://www.cnglobal2000.org/ which was held in Barcelona in October of 2000
with some 600 (mostly ICT practitioner) participants from 40 or so
countries and with a significantly large developing country contingent.
In the absence of any more comprehensive group, this is almost certainly the
largest Civil Society "organization", specifically devoted to community and
developmental applications of Information Technology, recognizing that most
of the 600 participants were in fact "delegates" from local community based
ICT groups.
A second congress will be held in Buenos Aires in December of 2001
http://www.globalcn2001.org and a third is planned for Montreal in 2002.
It should be noted that GCN, as with most of its constituent "members" is a
grass-roots organization which has developed in direct response to the
opportunities (and risks) of ICTs for enhancing, enabling and empowering
local communities and does not have an affiliation (or a sponsorship) with
any of the existing longer lived civil society organizations or with either
corporate or governmental authorities .
One of the challenges which was discussed in Barcelona and which will be
addressed even more intensively in BA will be how to link the GCN
"movement" with broader Civil Society initiatives and more particularly how
to ensure that the voice of the grassroots as represented by GCN can find a
means to be heard in such forums as GKD and the DotForce where, apart
from individual exceptions, these voices have largely been unrepresented.
regs,
Mike Gurstein
Michael Gurstein, Ph.D
Vancouver BC CANADA
(Visiting) Professor New Jersey Institute of Technology
Member Steering Committee -- GCN 2001-- http://www.globalcn2001.org
Member Organizing Committee -- GCN 2002
Board Member Telecommunities Canada http://www.tc.ca
Board Member British Columbia Community Networking Association
http://www.bccna.bc.ca
Board Member Vancouver Community Network http://www.vcn.bc.ca
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