Hi Joel, David and all, The points raised certainly do 'hit the nail on the head' as far as identifying a need to ascertain the very diverse array of reasons that Telecentre's exist. As I understand the purpose of this forum (as distinct from the purpose of Telecentre's), we as a movement have been asked to provide input and support to the WSIS declaration and plan of action (please correct me if I am wrong about this).
If I may be so bold as to suggest a few preliminaries leading from recent discussions: 1/ In order for Telecentre input to be real and recognized as such it must be representative. The ICT arena has a great many individuals and interest groups seeking input into WSIS however this is not the forum for these groups. If the intent is for Telecentre's to provide input we must firstly define what a Telecentre is, so we ensure that input (at least on this forum and by any elected representatives) is coming from Telecentre's and based on the many years of experience enjoyed by the Telecentre movement. I believe this is one of the reasons we were formed as a group. 2/ Defining what Telecentre's may be used for is possibly unnecessary beyond the constraints of the WSIS declaration (we have already been advised that we cannot provide input into the declaration itself and are limited by what others have determined). I think the experience of this forum to date highlights how Telecentre's can serve any number of purposes; many extending well beyond the constraints of WSIS and ICT's - A true Telecentre is an entity of the community. Yet even this definition may not be pertinent to WSIS beyond our ability to deploy WSIS objectives. 3/ Quite early in the development of this forum someone asked words to the effect: "What exactly can WSIS offer the Telecentre movement and do we agree with the stated aims and objectives of WSIS?" - To me this is the foremost question underpinning our purpose on this forum. Telecentre's are what Telecentre's are and WSIS is not about to change this... Do we agree with the WSIS declaration? Are there areas we would seek to improve? Is WSIS itself truly representative? What is WSIS offering to the Telecentre movement in return for participation acknowledging we were not invited to participate in the preliminaries? Do we en-masse wish to participate in and support the objectives of WSIS, or do we wish to exert our influence to foster greater participatory input before agreeing to offer such support? I do not profess to have the answers to any of these questions... Rgds, Don _______________________________________________ telecentres mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/telecentres To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
