Knowledge Society

A changing world.

We live in a Changing World with increased internal and external competition running after available resources and opportunities at local, regional and global levels. It is up to us to make the world change for better, not worse, by making sure our local and regional issues are addressed by the changes, are generating the changes and are being part of the changes.

The Information Society Open School is a collaborative learning environment on issues relevant to human development and information and communication technologies.

Modeled after the open source model, all training materials and courses are free of charge, can be downloaded, copied, distributed, modified and enhanced by anyone. Community members can contribute back to the material with their enhancements.

Furthermore, local stakeholders are welcome and encouraged to download courses material and prepare their own real life workshops and even charge for them if they like.

Given enabling environments for social entrepreneurship, both individuals and institutions will have similar incentives (beyond their social motivation) to innovate, explore, pursue and develop solutions, goods and services for their local communities and global markets.

As many of you know have already figured out from my poor grammar and spelling, my native language is Spanish since I am from the Dominican Republic.

Furthermore, almost all of my practical work and initiatives are in Spanish and target a Spanish-speaking audience (www.educar.org, www.bibliotecasvirtuales.com, www.civila.com, www.ciudadesvirtuales.com, etc.)

Until 2004, almost all of my research and papers were in Spanish, as I was residing in the Dominican Republic and my work as a consultant was related to Latin American initiatives.

Last week my work of the last eight months for United Nations Economic Commission of Latin America and the Caribbean doing a Public ICT and Information Society assessment of the Caribbean region was presented in a regional Policy Makers Seminar at Barbados.

It has been a shock to read a note published in a local Barbados newspaper highlighting only negative parts of the extensive 12 page Public ICT Profile I put together for Barbados.

That elusive digital state we call “Information Society” can be perceived as a collective environment where individuals, organizations and communities are empowered by the availability of information, access to it and the means to share, analyze and generate knowledge from this information. Such a state would enhance the options and opportunities available to individuals, promote an innovation and creative environment and enable the generation of wealth based on knowledge, skills, open competition and increased capacity and efficiency.

But to get there we need to build a framework that supports this new society and builds a bridge to it from our conventional society; a framework that tends to the needs and relationships of all the members of society and brings them on board.

A few days ago when I blogged on "Blogging and War: Can Technology change Social Processes?", I chose not to address the issue of ethics involved in journalism and the unbiased report of happenings from the field.

The issue has turned up a lot earlier than what I expected with the recent scandal involving the distribution by Reuters to the global media of doctored photos from a freelance photographer.

A thousand years after its publication, the UK government hopes to cash in on one of its earliest and oldest surviving public records. The Domesday Book, published in 1086 is considered the foundation of the UK's National Archives.

Its text and images are now on-line, catalogued and indexed, fully searchable by anyone from anywhere around the world for free. Should you want a printed copy of the 1,000 year old document that describes the county where you were born or the village where you spend your honeymoon, a mere 3.5 pounds will do.

Cultural and historical knowledge is promoted, awareness on the value of National Archives is achieved and revenue for sustainability is generated.

All through open content, free access to information and charging for value added services.

How is CODE3 different from a Conventional Development Process?

CODE3 differs from a conventional development in that we are taking the traditional approach…

• From discrete to continuous.
• From intermediated to direct.
• From top-down / bottom-up to horizontal.
• From anonymous contribution to value recognition.
• From unknown decision process to documented and trackable evolution.
• From partial (individual) observation to complete (social) monitoring.
• From making up profiles to real users needs and preferences.
• From standardization to customization.