Cape Town, 19 Dec 2003
International research firm Gartner has criticised world leaders at the information summit in Geneva last week for missing an opportunity and failing to establish measurable achievable goals.
The World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) was held in the Swiss city from 10 to 12 December with the aim of establishing an Action Plan and a Draft Declaration of Principles. The main aim of the summit was to establish world harmony on Internet governance and how to include poor countries within the ICT industry.
Gartner says that while it views the Geneva summit as a major step toward a common vision of a means to bridge the digital divide, "regrettably, however, the action plan fails to establish measurable, achievable goals. Moreover, the delegates missed an opportunity to capitalize on early successes by incorporating technology in programs that are already funded."
The research firm says the plan offers many opportunities: The governments of developed countries can address their own internal technological inequalities; The governments of emerging countries can move beyond simply providing connectivity to enable local knowledge creation and preservation.
Other opportunities include providers of information technology products and services being able to work closely with governments - particularly using existing funding sources from the United Nations - to deliver proven social value, thereby enhancing their credibility with governments and the public and enlarging their markets.
But Gartner says serious obstacles remain as many of the governments that signed the agreement are highly authoritarian and it remains to be seen whether they will use technology to benefit their citizens or simply to retain power.
Moreover, the necessary infrastructure and availability will require enormous amounts of funding - and it will be difficult to ensure that funding will be used legitimately. For these reasons, Gartner believes the 2015 goal is probably over-ambitious.
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