CAHUIDE TIC

Este blog se continua en otro lugar...

2007-10-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

Este blog ha sido puesto fuera de producción y se ha continuado a partir de enero del 2007 en:

http://onairosjs.wordpress.com/
http://interred.wordpress.com/
http://pioneros.comunica.org/

Los espero ...

TIC para el desarrollo: Pre-publican reglamento del FITEL

2007-02-16T11:11:00.000-08:00

TIC para el desarrollo: Pre-publican reglamento del FITEL

Peru: Der andere Weg ins Internet

2006-11-26T07:27:00.001-08:00

Uwe Afemann Universität Osnabrück (Dezember 1998)

Peru ist ein Land mit ca. 25 Millionen Einwohnern. Das Bruttosozialprodukt pro Einwohner beträgt in diesem Andenstaat nur 3.939 Dollar und ca. die Hälfte aller Menschen lebt dort unterhalb der Armutsgrenze. Nicht zuletzt deshalb ging es wohl seinen eigenen Weg, um sich ans Internet anzuschließen.

Erste Versuche sich zu vernetzen begannen bereits 1985 mit finanzieller Unterstützung durch die IBM. Doch das Projekt PERNET scheiterte kläglich. Über eine Vernetzung einiger weniger Universitätsverwaltungen ohne großen Informationsgewinn kam PERNET nicht hinaus. Auch ein zweiter Versuch, diesmal angeführt durch die Nichtregierungsorganisation DESCO, war aufgrund fehlender finanzieller Mittel nicht zu realisieren. Doch Ende 1991 gelang endlich, was bis dahin nicht für möglich gehalten wurde. Mehrere Nichtregierungsorganisationen, auch diesmal unter Beteiligung von DESCO, starteten, ausgerüstet mit einem 386er-PC und einer Anschubfinanzierung von 3000 Dollar durch das Entwicklungsprogramm der Vereinten Nationen, einen E-Mail Dienst, um sich an das weltweite Datennetz anzuschließen. Für täglich zehn Minuten verband sich das RPC, das peruanische Wissenschaftsnetz, telefonisch mit dem Bundesstaat Oregon in den USA, um elektronische Post zu empfangen und abzuschicken. Drei Jahre später wurden dann zwei Satellitenstrecken geschaltet. Eine davon ging nach Homestead in Florida ins Netz des amerikanischen Telefonanbieters Sprint und die andere nach Philadelphia ins Netz von MCI, geschaltet. Seit diesem Zeitpunkt ist Peru vollständig ans Internet angeschlossen.

Wer oder was aber ist das RCP? Was ist das besondere an dieser Organisation?

Das RCP, Red Científica Peruana, ist ein selbstverwalteter Zusammenschluß von Nichtregierungsorganisationen und einigen Einzelpersonen. RCP wurde gegründet, um das Andenland aus seiner Isolation heraus auch an den Möglichkeiten des weltweiten Datenaustausches teilhaben zu lassen. Ziel ist nicht die Erwirtschaftung von Gewinnen, sondern das Anbieten von Internetanschlüssen zu Selbstkostenpreisen für Bildungseinrichtungen, Wirtschaftsunternehmen, Regierungs- und Nichtregierungsorganisationen. Hierdurch soll die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung des Landes gefördert werden, und den Menschen sollen mehr Informationsmöglichkeiten zu finanzierbaren Preisen geboten werden. José Soriano, Mitbegründer des RCP, erklärte das Anliegen von RCP in einem Interview mit der US-amerikanischen Zeitschrift Newsweek im Januar 1995 folgendermaßen: "Heute werden die Netze von Eliten genutzt. Nur wer bereits Informationen besitzt, bekommt mehr."

Was ist aus den Wünschen und Hoffnungen geworden?

Gegenwärtig gibt es drei große Internetanbieter in Peru. Das RCP mit einem Marktanteil von 76 % Ende 1997 ist der größte davon. Die Telefónica Peruana, eine Tochter der spanischen Telecom, welche 1993 die staatliche peruanische Telefongesellschaft übernahm, ist mit Infovia und UNIRED vertreten. Der dritte große Anbieter ist IBM mit Global Link. Daneben gibt es über 50 weitere Internetanbieter im ganzen Land.

Nach Angaben der Internationalen Telecommuncation Union aus Genf nutzten 31.000 Peruaner im Oktober 1997 das Internet. Gegenwärtig dürften es wohl eher 80.000 Nutzer sein. Gemessen an der Einwohnerzahl von 25 Millionen ist dies recht bescheiden, nicht einmal ein halbes Prozent. In Deutschland sind es immerhin 7,3 % der Bevölkerung, die im Internet surfen.

Woran liegt es, daß so wenige Perauner das Internet nutzen?

Das liegt zum einem an der schlechten wirtschaftlichen Lage und den geringen Einkommensverhältinissen. Obwohl nach offiziellen Angaben die Arbeitslosigkeit bei nur knapp 9 % liegt, haben doch nur ca. 15 % aller Peruaner eine feste Anstellung. Der gesetzlich festgelegte Mindestlohn liegt bei 368 Soles, umgerechnet ca. 120 Dollar. Doch nur wenige verdienen mehr. Ende 1998 verdienten 39 % aller Arbeiter weniger als zum Überleben notwendig ist, und kaum einer ist sozial abgesichert. In Lima, der Hauptstadt Perus, gilt derjenige als arm, der weniger als 1.741 Soles monatlich zur Verfügung hat.

Um einen Internetanschluß nutzen zu können, braucht man als erstes einen PC. Anfang 1997 gab es in Peru nur 465.000 Personalcomputer. Neben dem PC braucht man elektrischen Strom. Nur 44 % aller peruanischen Wohnungen besitzen diese Voraussetzung. Im ländlichen Bereichen beträgt die Elektrizitätsrate gar nur 12 %. Und selbst dort, wo versucht wird, dies zu ändern, stößt es nicht immer auf die erhoffte Gegenliebe. Als sich eine Schülergruppe aus Osnabrück im Sommer 1998 zu einem Besuch ihrer Partnerschule in Puno aufhielt, erfuhr sie von den Protesten der Bauern in dieser Region. Die Bauern konnten mit dem elektrischen Stroms nichts anfangen: Sie besitzen einfach nicht genügend Geld, um die Stromrechnungen zu bezahlen.

Und letztendlich benötigt man einen Telefonanschluß. Obwohl gegenwärtig 88 % des Telefonnetzes digitalisiert sind, beträgt die Telefondichte landesweit nur 6,8 Anschlüsse pro 100 Einwohner. In Deutschland sind es fast 60 Anschlüsse. Doch auch das ist nur die halbe Wahrheit. Im Departement Ayacucho, wo die peruanische Guerilla "Leuchtender Pfad" entstand, gibt es nur 1,47 Telefonanschlüsse pro 100 Einwohner und in Apurimac nur 0,40 oder in Huancavelica, im peruanischen Hochland, sogar nur 0,27.

Und ein Telefonanschluß ist teuer. 1992, ein Jahr vor der Privatisierung der peruanischen Telefongesellschaft, mußte ein Peruaner 1.500 Dollar Anschlußgebühren bezahlen. Mittlerweile ist diese Gebühr auf 177 Dollar gesunken. Das ist aber immer noch zu viel für die meisten Peruaner.

Ein monatlicher Internetanschluß kostet beim RCP gegenwärtig 40 Dollar, ein Drittel eines Mindestlohnes. Unter diesen Bedingungen war es nur folgerichtig, daß das selbstverwaltete, ohne staatliche Gelder operierende RCP daranging, sogenannte "cabinas públicas", vergleichbar unseren Cybercafés, einzurichten. Hierbei handelt es sich um einen Raum mit öffentlichen Internetzugang mit 20 bis 40 PCs, der gegen eine monatliche Gebühr von 15 Dollar genutzt werden kann. In dieser Gebühr sind drei Stunden Nutzung enthalten. Jede weitere Stunde kostet 5 Soles. Z. Zt. gibt es 52 solcher "cabinas públicas", vorwiegend in den vornehmen Bezirken Limas wie Miraflores, San Isidro, Surco oder San Borja. Außerhalb der Hauptstadt existieren solche öffentlichen Internetzugänge fast nur in den Universitäten der größeren Städte wie Arequipa und Cusco.

Wer nutzt das Internet?

Hauptnutzer des Internets sind einmal Nichtregierungsorganisationen, wie z. B. die Menschenrechtsorganisation APRODEH, das sozialwissenschaftliche Institut DESCO oder die Frauenorganisation "Flora Tristan". Weitere Nutzer sind Bildungseinrichtungen, wie die Universitäten. Perus älteste Universität San Marcos kam im Mai 1996 zum 445. Jahrestag ihrer Gründung ans Netz. Staatliche und private Schulen werden seit März 1996 aufgrund des Programms RENACE ans Internet angeschlossen, und seit Juli 1997 existiert die Schulnetz-Initiative Telemática. Damit ein Schüler von zu Hause aus auf das Internet zugreifen kann, muß er monatlich 3,5 Dollar zahlen. Kein Wunder, daß die ersten Schulen, die dieses Angebot nutzten, aus den reichen Bezirken Chacarilla, San Isidro und Surco kamen.

Unternehmen, darunter die wichtigsten Banken, u. a. die Banco de Credito, Banco Wiese, Banco Sudamericano und Banco de la Nación, die Gruppe Gloria und die Lebensmittelriesen Nicolini und Nestle nutzen ebenfalls das Internet. Der peruanische Unternehmerverband Confiep schloß sich im Juli 1995 mit Geldern der Interamerikanischen Entwicklungsbank ans Netz, um mit den USA E-Mail austauschen zu können.

Im November 1993 schloß die peruanische Regierung mit dem Entwicklungsprogramm der Vereinten Nationen einen Vertrag zur Förderung eines Programms für Information und Kommunikation. Seit diesem Zeitpunkt sind auch die meisten Regierungseinrichtungen im Netz. Ein erster WWW-Server wurde damals im Justizministerium eingerichtet. Leider hat dies aber nicht zu einer Verbesserung des Justizsystems geführt. Zuletzt wurde Peru Anfang Dezember 1998 vom Interamerikanischen Menschenrechtsgerichtshof aus Costa Rica wegen seiner gravierenden Mängel im Rechtssystem gerügt.

Seit Ende 1995 sind auch zahlreiche peruanische Zeitungen und Zeitschriften im Internet, so die linksoppositionelle "La República", die konservative Zeitung "El Comercio" oder die regierungsfreundliche Tageszeitung "Expreso" sowie die Zeitschrift "Caretas".

Doch wer liest diese Zeitungen im Internet? "La República" hat 80 % ihrer Zugriffe aus den USA, "Caretas" immerhin noch zu 44 %. Im April 1997 kamen nur ca. 2,82 % aller Zugriffe auf peruanische WEB-Seiten aus Peru. Ende 1996 betrug der innerperuanische Anteil noch 35 %. So verwundert es nicht, daß das RCP einen Spiegel-Server in Houston/Texas, einrichtete. Die Zugriffe der Inlandsperuaner kommen zu 85 % aus den wohlhabenden Vierteln der Hauptstadt Limas. So wie im Internet insgesamt sind auch die meisten Nutzer in Peru gut ausgebildet. 75 % von ihnen besitzen eine abgeschlossene Universitätsausbildung und weitere 12 % sind Studenten. Das Durchschnittsalter lag 1996 bei 28 Jahren.

Doch nicht nur die weiße Oberschicht Perus nutzt das Internet. Seit Oktober 1996 besitzt die Ashaninka-Gemeinde der ca. 100.000 Einwohner umfassenden Amazonasindianer einen E-Mail-Anschluß, und seit Juni 1997 kann man auch deren Internetseite besuchen. Hier findet sich eine Selbstdarstellung dieser Indianergruppe sowie einige Märchen in einheimischer und spanischer Sprache.

Zur Weihnachtszeit 1996 wurde die Weltöffentlichkeit durch die Besetzung der japanischen Botschafterresidenz in Lima auf Peru aufmerksam. Damals konnten wir die Vorgänge auch im Internet verfolgen. Sowohl die Guerillaorganisation MRTA als auch der peruanische Staat verbreiteten über das Internet ihre Sicht der Dinge. Neben der kubanisch ausgerichteten Guerilla des MRTA ist auch die weitaus größere Gruppe der Leuchtende Pfad im Internet vertreten.

Per Internet war es vor allem den Auslandsperuanern möglich - ca. eine Million leben allein in den USA - über die politischen Vorgänge in ihrem Heimatland zu diskutieren. Hierzu bedienten sie sich einer Diskussionsliste (peru@cs.sfu.edu) , die von Kalifornien aus verwaltet wurde. Nachdem der peruanische Geheimdienst die Liste kontrolliert hatte, wichen die Mitglieder auf eine neue Liste (tumi@kern.com) aus. Doch auch diese wird nach Berichten in der newsgroup soc.culture.peru vom Dezember 1998 mittlerweile vom peruanischen Geheimdienst SIN überwacht.

Lateinamerikas Weg auf dem Datenhighway ins dritte Jahrtausend: Der Run auf das virtuelle Eldorado

2006-11-26T07:25:00.000-08:00

Lateinamerikas Weg auf dem Datenhighway ins dritte Jahrtausend: Der Run auf das virtuelle Eldorado

Der Autor des folgenden Artikels, Dr. Joachim Gartz, ist Lateinamerikahistoriker an der Universität zu Köln und Autor des deutschsprachigen Internet-Führers zu dieser Region: ,Lateinamerika Online: Theorie und Praxis effizienter Internet Recherchen im virtuellen Eldorado".

Ähnlich wie vor 500 Jahren der Mythos vom Eldorado die Phantasie der Konquistadoren beflügelte, die sich in Scharen auf die Suche nach dem sagenumwobenen Land machten, dessen König der Legende nach jeden Morgen in Gold badete, drängen heute im Zeitalter der digitalen Revolution zunehmend die Anbieter von Online Diensten auf den noch in hohem Maße unerschlossenen virtuellen Markt Lateinamerikas.

Bereits seit mehreren Jahren spricht man infolge des globalen Siegeszuges des World Wide Web auch von einem Internet-Boom in Lateinamerika. So zeigen die Statistiken der Internet Society (ISOC) beispielsweise, dass Lateinamerika im Jahr 1994 hinsichtlich der ,Internet Connectivity", d.h. der Zahl der registrierten Internetanbieter bzw. der geschätzten Internetbenutzer, die am schnellsten wachsende Weltregion gewesen ist. Der Grad der Vernetzung stieg dort im dritten Quartal 1994 um 36 Prozent, wobei in einzelnen Ländern noch wesentlich höhere Werte erreicht wurden (Argentinien 419%, Peru 171%, Venezuela 65%, Mexiko 48%).

Mit Statistiken lässt sich allerdings vieles beweisen. Trotz eines Vorsprungs gegenüber Afrika und dem Nahen Osten beträgt der Anteil Lateinamerikas an Internet-Nutzern insgesamt nur sehr geringe 1, 2% (Europa ca. 16%).

Dennoch stellt das virtuelle Eldorado mehr als einen modernen Mythos dar. Laut einer Studie der Laredo Group im Auftrag des New Yorker Online Dienstes Star Media Network bietet der spanisch- und portugiesischsprachige Internet-Markt mit derzeit 20 Millionen geschätzten Nutzern ein beachtliches Potential.

5,7 Millionen dieser Nutzer leben in Lateinamerika selbst, womit diese Internet Community an zweiter Stelle nach der englischen und vor der deutsch-, französisch- oder japanischsprachigen Gruppe von Nutzern des digitalen Datenhighways liegt. Den Prognosen von Wirtschaftsanalytikern zufolge soll sich die Menge von spanisch-/portugiesischsprachigen Internet-Nutzern im Laufe des kommenden Jahres sogar verdoppeln.

Aus diesem Grunde findet derzeit ein mit großem finanziellen Aufwand geführter Run auf die grenzenlosen virtuellen Märkte Lateinamerikas statt, was sich u.a. daran zeigt, dass die großen Web Portale wie Yahoo, Altavista etc. zunehmend spezielle Web-Seiten für ,hispano-hablantes" anbieten.

Der Online-Krieg um Lateinamerika wird jedoch weniger zwischen internationalen Konkurrenten geführt, sondern schon jetzt dominiert der ,Koloss im Norden" - die USA - den Cyberspace in ihrem Hinterhof. (In den USA liegt mittlerweile der Umsatz des Handels via Internet mit 301 Mrd. US Dollar auf etwa dem gleichen Niveau wie dem der US Automobilindustrie.)

Trotz aller Internet-Euphorie in Bezug auf Lateinamerika auf Seiten der Investoren bleibt jedoch festzustellen, dass die Benutzung von Online-Diensten in dieser Region einen Luxus darstellt, den sich nur eine, im Vergleich zur Gesamtbevölkerung sehr kleine, Informations-Elite leisten kann. Man muss sich nur vergegenwärtigen, dass sowohl gemessen in absoluten Zahlen als auch am jeweiligen Lohnniveau, die Kosten für Computer, Internet- und Telefongebühren in Lateinamerika wesentlich höher sind als in den Industrieländern.

Ein positiver Aspekt der gegenwärtigen Situation der Informations- und Kommunikationsinfrastrukturen in Lateinamerika besteht darin, dass obwohl die gnadenlose Kommerzialisierung des Netzes langfristig auch in dieser Region nicht aufzuhalten sein wird, das Internetangebot bisher noch stark durch wissenschaftliche, politische und kulturelle Anbieter und entsprechende Inhalte geprägt ist.

Ein typisches Beispiel für den Versuch, das Internet in Lateinamerika nicht als Instrument der wirtschaftlichen Ausbeutung, sondern als Informationsangebot für möglichst breite Bevölkerungsschichten zugänglich zu machen, stellt das peruanische Wissenschaftsnetz, RCP - Red Científica Peruana , dar. (http://ekeko.rcp.net.pe/)

Das RCP ist ein von seinen ca. 60.000 Benutzern - ursprünglich primär Akademikern, Geschäftsleuten und Persönlichkeiten aus dem öffentlichen Leben - finanziertes, nicht profitorientiertes Konsortium, das 1991 gegründet wurde und dem mittlerweile über 3000 Mitgliedsorganisationen angehören. Sein Direktor, Jose Soriano, hat es als ein autonomes Netzwerk bezeichnet, das nach dem Prinzip des Internets aufgebaut ist, ,a network of national networks that belongs to no one and everyone."

Aufgrund der mangelnden landeseigenen Telekommunikationsinfrastrukturen entwickelte sich das ursprünglich - ähnlich wie das gesamte Internet in seiner Frühphase - akademische Netzwerk zum erfolgreichen Internetprovider durch das 1993 begonnene Projekt der Cabinas Públicas . Es handelt sich dabei um öffentliche Internetzugänge mit jeweils ca. 20 PCs sowie einem Schulungszentrum, in dem das notwendige Know How auch an Menschen, die nicht zur Informationselite gehören, kostenlos vermittelt wird. Für ein sehr geringes Entgelt kann jedermann Mitglied in den selbstverwalteten Cabinas werden, wodurch sich auch für ärmere Bevölkerungsschichten die Möglichkeit eröffnet, mit einer persönlichen Email-Adresse ausgestattet den riesigen Informationspool des Internet zu nutzen. Es bleibt anzumerken, dass sich das jüngst auch von El Salvador übernommene Modell der Cabinas Públicas selbst trägt und sogar Profite für weitere Investitionen abwirft.

Während Lateinamerika insgesamt trotz hoher Wachstumsraten auf dem Internet-Sektor Gefahr läuft, mit der Entwicklung in den Industrieländern nicht mehr Schritt halten zu können (vgl. UNESCO : World Information Report (1997-1998), Paris 1997) stellt sich dieses Problem auf Kuba in besonderer Weise. Einerseits herrscht auf der Antilleninsel eine sehr ungünstige Ausgangssituation aufgrund des Mangels an modernen Hardware-Komponenten, der vor allem durch das nach wie vor geltende US-Embargo bedingt ist, und erschwerend hinzu kommt die Tatsache, dass der Internet-Zugriff von der Regierung streng kontrolliert wird und somit der Mehrheit der Bevölkerung verwehrt bleibt.

Im sozialistischen Inselstaat befinden sich die Funktionäre in dem Dilemma, dass sich ,das Streben nach Modernisierung und technischem Fortschritt mit dem Bedürfnis nach Kontrolle beißt" (Bert Hoffmann). Dem Wunsch, das Internet als kollektives Bildungsmedium zu nutzen und sich durch e-commerce neue Märkte zu erschliessen, steht die Angst vor der Verbreitung oppositioneller Ansichten über das World Wide Web gegenüber. Ebenso besteht eine Diskrepanz zwischen der mangelhaften Ausstattung mit zeitgemäßem Computerequipment im öffentlichen Bereich und dem relativ aufwendig gestalteten Internetauftreten der kubanischen Regierung.

Die offizielle Regierungsmeinung wird über das nationale Cubaweb (www.cubaweb.cu) verbreitet und das sowohl im Print erhältliche wie auch als Online-Ableger präsente Regierungsorgan Granma, benannt nach dem Namen des Schiffes, mit dem Fidel Castro 1953 mit einer Gruppe von Revolutionären aus dem mexikanischen Exil nach Kuba zurückkehrte, der 1959 erfolgreich der Herrschaft des Diktators Batista ein Ende machte und seitdem als dienstältester Regierungschef der Welt das politische Schicksal Kubas bestimmt.

Die täglich aktualisierte Online-Ausgabe der Granma Internacional wird komplett in sechs verschiedenen Sprachen angeboten, neben der spanischen existiert eine englische, deutsche, französische, portugiesische und italienische Version! (http://www.granma.cu)

Demgegenüber steht das ebenfalls mehrsprachig präsente nicht profitorientierte und regierungsunabhängige Cubanet mit Sitz in Florida, welches es sich zur Aufgabe gemacht hat, ungefärbt über die soziale, politische und kulturelle Wirklichkeit Kubas im Word Wide Web zu berichten (http://www.cubanet.org/) - so stehen sich die ideologischen Fronten auch im Internet gegenüber.

Der Weg ins virtuelle Eldorado ist noch weit. Doch viele haben sich bereits auf den Weg zur ,Conquista" der dynamischen Telekommunikations-Märkte Lateinamerikas gemacht...
Joachim Gartz

The Internet, development, and democratization

2006-11-26T07:24:00.000-08:00

Latin America On-line: The Internet, development, and democratization
Human Organization
Washington
Winter 1998

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Authors: Margaret Everett

Volume: 57

Issue: 4

Start Page: 385

ISSN: 00187259

Copyright Society of Applied Anthropology Winter 1998

Full Text:

Increasingly, aid agencies are turning to information technology as a key
to promoting development and political reform. Internet proponents view
information as critical to solving such problems of environmental destruction,
disease, and authoritarianism. While the Internet poses intriguing possibilities
for enhancing economic competitiveness and political pluralism, it is also
creating new forms of exclusion and may lead to the neglect of other basic
development issues. Moreover, the proponents of the Internet expansion
in the Americas risk exacerbating rather than diminishing the dependency
and uneven growth of previous development schemes. This article explores
the current state of the Internet in Latin America and identifies some
of the contradictions which are apparent in the discussion and use of this
new technology in the region.

Key words: Internet, development, democracy; Latin America

The idea that information is the key to renewed economic growth, as well
as new forms of political participation and community has become ubiquitous
in American popular culture. Recent advertising campaigns, for example,
stress the anonymity and freedom of expression provided by the Internet.'
In contrast to previous Orwellian visions of the homogenizing and controlling
tendencies of technology, some now argue that technology can contribute
to the creation of "hybrid cultures" and to "autonomous social expression"
(Escobar 1995:410). Such claims exemplify what William Birdsall (1996)
calls the "ideology of information technology" - the assumption that information
and communication are the key not only to development and economic growth,
but to new forms of democracy and freedom. A wide array of disparate groups
are promoting the expansion of the Internet in Latin America. Businesses
argue that the Internet is crucial to achieving competitiveness in global
markets, governments tout the new technology as the road to modernization
and national development, and activists argue that the Internet allows
social movements to transcend borders and resist global political and economic
forces.

Latin America is one of the fastest areas of growth for the Internet in
the world. The number of "servers," or host computers, in Latin America
now tops 45,000 (Cura 1996:46). Another sign of growth: the computer market
in Latin America grew by twenty-one percent in 1995 (Cura 1996:48). Brazil
has one of the most extensive Internet infrastructures in the region, and
boasts satellite access from the Amazon. In Brazil, the Internet market
grew a staggering 2,333 percent between January 1995 and January 1996 (Belejack
1996:14). Commercial sites in Brazil grew 1,073% between January 1996 and
October 1996 (Marinho 1997). All Spanish-speaking countries and Brazil
now have Internet connections, and 19961997 figures indicate that the number
of hosts computers doubles every 12-15 months in the region (Molloy 1998).

Internet enthusiasm is infectious, and even skeptics of the euphoria are
dazzled by the capabilities of the "information super-highway." An April
1998 search of the Web using the keyword "Colombia," for example, yielded
over 85,000 sites with information on travel, business, politics, and current
events. Bogota's major newspapers, El Espectador and El Tempo, now have
Web sites where people around the world can get the day's top stories and
access the papers' on-line archives. Anyone who can connect to the World
Wide Web can check the current world price of coffee, and even access the
entire Bogota phone book. Through the homepage of the Red Cientifica Peruana
(RCP), Web surfers can access a wide variety of information related to
Peru, much of it available in English, Spanish, and Quechua. We can also
read Subcomandante Marcos's e-mail communiques from Chiapas, following
the romantic life of a rebel in the jungle through his manifestos, prose,
and poetry. A growing number of Web sites, posted in both Latin America
and the United States, provide an overwhelming amount of information about
cultural, political, and economic life in the region.

What will this new information technology, the "voyage into the permanently
ephemeral" as Michael Benedikt (1991) calls the cyberspace era, mean for
Latin America? How will it alter relations between North and South? What
will it really mean, after all the enthusiasm and promises of progress
and equality, for democracy and development in Latin America? As we begin
to explore these issues, it is just as important to avoid a romantic view
of technology as destroying the "culturally authentic," as to avoid the
equally romantic notion that technology inevitably and uniformly leads
to progress. In the remainder of this article, I will delineate a number
of the issues raised by the Internet for development and democratization
in Latin America. These are issues of some urgency since Latin American
governments, as well as multinational agencies and NGOs, are currently
making policy decisions of critical importance for the decades to come.

Francisco Sagasti's notion of a "global fractured order" is a useful starting
point for a critical assessment of the implications of the Internet for
Latin America. The current age, according to Sagasti, is characterized
by

an order that is global but not integrated; an order that puts most of
the world's people in contact with one another, but simultaneously maintains
deep fissures between different groups of countries and between peoples
within countries; an order that segregates a large portion of the world's
population and prevents it from sharing the benefits provided by scientific
advances and technological progress (1995:592).

Information does not always ensure progress, and integration does not ensure
equality. The latter point was argued by dependency theorists of the 1960s
and exemplified by many of the development debacles of the 1970s aimed
at "integration."2 Sometimes "integration" simply ties people to new forms
of oppression and dependency. While many agree that information technology
is leading to new forms of dependency, there is less agreement about what
to do about it. Ultimately, Sagasti and others argue that aggressive development
of technological infrastructure, training, and research in developing countries
is the only way to combat technological dependence. Yet even as the Internet
grows quickly throughout Latin America, we can see several limitations
to its broad use and accessibility. This is especially true for those who
have been traditionally excluded from other forms of democratic participation
and the benefits of economic growth. The very people that advocates argue
will benefit from the Internet -- those who live in rural areas and smaller
cities outside the capitals, participate in, social movements, or receive
assistance through development programs - are the most marginal to this
process of social change. With the rapid commercialization of the Internet,
occurring at an accelerating pace in Latin America, we can expect that
this new technology will exacerbate the conditions of marginality and dependency
for much of the population.

The Internet Expansion in Latin America

The enthusiasm for information technology and the Internet in particular
has resulted in a rapid growth in computer sales and Internet connectivity
in Latin America. Networks providing connections to the Internet are in
place and under construction in Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Peru,Argentina,
Brazil, and elsewhere. Many Latin Americans are singing the praises of
the Internet as the key to the future and as a marker of modernity. The
Red Cientifica Peruana (RCP) tells potential subscribers that, "The information
explosion, globalization and constant change are today the keys to success
for any professional" (1996a:1). With similar enthusiasm, Hispanic magazine
emphasizes the Internet's ability to create "virtual communities," explaining
that, "It can build communities, not of brick, mortar, and concrete, but
of bits, bytes, and electrons" (Gonzalez 1996:26).

The RCP is one of the most successful networks in Latin America, providing
access to the Internet and the World Wide Web to individuals and organizations
throughout Peru. Founded in 1991, the RCP funds its operations with foreign
grants and subscribers fees. In August 1995, the RCP had approximately
9,000 users and by December 1996 it reported 60,000 individual users (La
Industria, 30 August 1995; Belejack 1996). The RCP cites a common development
theme in its mission statement: national development and integration. The
network will help connect the provinces to the capital, and Peru to the
world, thus aiding to break the country from its traditional political
and economic centralization. A clear attraction of the Internet in Latin
America is as a symbol of modernization and progress. The Peruvian press
coverage of the RCP has been overwhelmingly positive, touting the network
as a development milestone. One journal even suggests that Lima's street
vendors will be able to showcase their products to the world using the
new technology (Medio de Cambio, September 1995). Such claims seem especially
exaggerated given the limited access to the Internet in Latin America (see
below)especially given all the other constraints of capital and licensing
needed to start an export business which would still exclude street vendors
from such an endeavor.3

Another important goal of promoting the Internet in Latin America is that
of self-representation. As the Director of the RCP states, the service
hopes "to be a window through which the world can look into Peru rather
than the reverse" (Soriano 1996:4). The home page of the RCP is a sophisticated
example of such self-representation. At center screen, an ancient gold
mask blinks its blue eyes at the viewer, while a banner flashes the latest
headlines (which, in the last year have included the rescue of the hostages
from the Japanese embassy and the devastation wrought by El Nino). The
home page also contains links to other sites with information on tourism,
government, education, and business in Peru.

At stake is the ability of Latin Americans and Latin American nations to
represent themselves to the world, rather than being defined primarily
by foreign governments, agencies, and media. Much of this representation
amounts to cybertourism, such as the RCP's photo and music archive. Such
sites do little to address the social problems of Latin America or the
concerns of many Latin Americans about their image abroad. There are examples
of sites that include less superficial efforts at selfrepresentation. One
posting, for example, criticized the United States for the recent "decertification"
of Colombia, a move which disqualified the country from many forms of foreign
aid (LatinoNet 1996). In this case the net allowed Colombians (though it
is unclear who exactly is responsible for the site) to present their perspective
on international relations without intermediaries.' Latinos in the United
States appear to be turning to the Internet for similar purposes of self-representation.
In a report on Hispanics and the Intemet, Hispanic magazine said of the
new medium,

It can be a way for Latinos to reach out, a media tool to tell the world
about ourselves the way we see ourselves. At the same time, we could leave
behind the intermediaries, such as mainstream newspapers and Hollywood,
which some believe have distorted our image (Gonzalez 1996:30).

This is a powerful argument, but the issue of who gets to represent such
groups as "Latinos" and "Colombians" is still one of class, power, and
access to technology. While the Internet may make self-representation possible
for a small elite, it has also made it more difficult for other voices
to be heard.

Another intriguing example of the use of the Web as a tool for self-identification
and advocacy is the Ashininka tribe's homepage (Comunidad Indigena Ashaninka
1998). This Peruvian Amazon group worked with the RCP to create a site
which includes information on the culture as well as discussions of contemporary
problems and threats facing the community, including land disputes with
colonos and the loss of their native language. Ironically, the site is
in Spanish only and is undoubtedly inaccessible to the majority of the
community. It does provide a powerful forum for the Ashaninka (again, the
question of who is representing them remains open) to voice their concerns
and demands.

Another important aspect of the Internet expansion throughout Latin America
is the connection that many in development and planning circles are making
between information technology and "sustainable development." The clearest
example of this thus far is the Sustainable Development Network Program,
coordinated and funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
following the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The SDNP facilitates
the distribution and exchange of scientific information on the environment
throughout the world, allowing for greater access to discussion and debate
about issues of sustainable development. The program provides seed money
and equipment to developing countries, sometimes creating the first Internet
link in the country. In the program's 1996 on-line brochure, the UNDP claimed
a variety of early successes:

Already the results are remarkable and the creation of a "culture of information"
is beginning to emerge in more developing nations. For example, the SDNP
has positively impacted land-use planning in Bolivia; educated lobbyists
and government officials making environmental policy in Nicaragua; facilitated
the creation of the African Internet Forum, a consortium of development
partners whose goal is to provide Internet access to the continent; and
saved lives in Pakistan by locating supplies of rare blood types needed
for transfusions (UNDP 1996:2).

Stemming from the emphasis on global cooperation and sharing of scientific
data at the Rio Earth Summit, the SDNP operates on the conviction that
access to information will facilitate greater local participation in planning
and development and lead to more effective and sustainable resource management.
The Colombian "node" of the project, a committee made up of representatives
from government and nongovernmental agencies, echoes this theme in its
own project proposal:

It is evident that inequalities exist in the availability, quality, coherence
and accessibility of information between the so-called developed world
and the developing or underdeveloped worlds...This situation has become
a real threat to the ability of countries to make informed and objective
decisions about the environment. (SDNP Colombia 1996:2).

Many Internet proponents use appeals to "integration" and "sustainable
development" in order to justify the expansion of the Internet. The suggestion
that local peoples will have more say over decisions that affect their
environment is particularly misleading considering the limits of accessibility
which will be elaborated below. The suggestion that the Internet will primarily
benefit environmental protection and promote stewardship is also misleading.
There is no guarantee that widespread distribution of information will
lead to more equitable and responsible resource management. If agencies
lack clear policies about who will access the networks and how the information
is to be used, it could easily have the reverse effect. In examining the
role of information technology on environmental management, we have to
ask, Will information alone help save the environment? Or will it facilitate
new forms of exploitation? How will such information be used and who will
really have access to it? Once network connections are established throughout
the "developing world," how else will this technology be used and what
new forms of inequality and exclusion might arise? While the networks are
made up of NGOs and government agencies, will neighborhood committees,
rural villages, social movements, and native peoples be asked to participate
in the information exchange? These are questions that the UNDP has not
addressed.

Technologies of Inclusion or Exclusion?

Aside from the proliferation of for-profit and not-for-profit servers forming
within Latin America, "cybernauts" can now access America-On-Line and Compuserve
from several Latin American countries. There are also a number of collaborative
efforts to establish regional "backbones"' throughout Latin America, such
as the Consortium of Andean Networks, which would alleviate the reliance
on the United States to send communications within Latin America. For example,
a message from Colombia to Bolivia still needs to go through the United
States before reaching Bolivia. Newly privatized telecommunications companies
are installing the necessary dedicated phone lines and other technical
support, but most countries still lack the adequate bandwidth for high
speed communications. Despite these developments, access to the Internet
in Latin America remains extremely limited, and reflects existing class,
gender, and regional inequalities.

Perhaps one of the greatest barriers to accessibility is the simple fact
that it still can take up to a year to get a phone line installed in many
countries, meaning that the growth of information technology in the region
is bound to be slow. Some have suggested that Internet connections could
be facilitated in the Third World by circumventing the phone system and
turning to packet radio, which can connect users to a central computer
via short-wave radio. While it may be possible to connect a Yanomami Indian
or an African bushman to the net, however, it is still unlikely. And even
if it were feasible, to whom would they talk, in what language, and with
what equipment? One survey reports that 97 percent of Latin American municipalities
do not have Internet access (Red Nacional de Investigacion 1998).

Another obstacle to the installation of essential Internet infrastructure
is the reliance on foreign funding and technology. While networks such
at the RCP, RedCetcol (Colombia), and Bolivia's Sustainable Development
Network are on their way to self-sufficiency through subscribers' fees,
most networks cannot get off the ground without foreign funding and costly
imported equipment. Once up and running, the networks continue to rely
on connections to U.S. based networks such as the NSF "backbone." LANIC
(Latin American Network Information Center), which is the primary gateway
to library catalogs, databases, and other sources of information on Latin
America, is housed at the University of Texas. In July 1995, the ratio
of Web sites in Latin America to Web sites in North America was still 1
to 160 (Cura 1996:10).

The fact that there are now more Web sites outside of the U.S. than inside
suggests that this imbalance is beginning to change (Internet Society 1996:2).
While the Internet is available throughout Latin America, only a tiny minority
has access to it. A similar technology gap is already visible within the
United States, where, for instance, 52 percent of Latino students use computers
at school, while 62 percent of whites (non-Hispanic) students have access
to computers at school (Cura 1996:10).6 The Internet seems to be creating
a new class division between the "information poor" and the "information
rich:' As computer use grows throughout Latin America, the gap between
those who have access to new technology and those who do not is likely
to be much wider. Even the founders of the RCP acknowledge that in Lima,
Peru, only one household in three has a telephone, and only four percent
of households own a computer (Soriano 1996:3). Membership fees of US$40
and subscriber fees of US$20 per month are beyond the reach of most. The
RCP has installed public terminals (cabinas publicas) in Lima and Cuzco.
The RCP has made a commitment to provide service in smaller cities, such
as Trujillo which got public terminals in early 1998, but users still have
to pay access fees, and the terminals do little to bring the technology
closer to the provinces. Outside of the capital cities, the technology
lag is much greater. There have been some important attempts to bring free
Internet access to low-income areas. The Rede Cidadao, the first "freenet"
in Latin America, provides free Internet access in Recife, Brazil (Marinho
1997). Colnodo, a Colombian network of NGOs, began a program in 1998 with
funding from the Association for Progressive Communications to bring Internet
services and computer equipment to poor neighborhoods in Bogota (Colnodo
1998). Using existing popular organizations, the program provides training
in Windows 95, e-mail, and the Internet. These kinds of programs are encouraging,
yet it is difficult to imagine such small scale efforts (the Colnodo program
currently operates in only three barrios) keeping pace with the spread
of the Internet in middle and upper class areas. Moreover, the young, literate,
and more educated residents of these poor neighborhoods will undoubtedly
benefit disproportionately.

In Colombia, and other countries, where access to education is officially
universal but in practice often requires a political favor, schools in
low-income areas will not see computers any time soon. Meanwhile, students
at international schools, such as the Colegio Franklin D. Roosevelt, are
creating their own home pages and learning the benefits of global networking.
A similar gap exists between public and private universities, making upward
mobility through education even more difficult. In most countries, the
number of users is only in the thousands, though the total number of users
in Brazil has been estimated at a more impressive half-million (Marinho
1997).

Despite the impressive growth of the Internet throughout Latin America
and elsewhere in just a few short years, the reality remains that, "for
many people in the world most of Cyberia is a distant Siberia located well
above the global glass ceiling" (Hess 1996:224). Cyberspace operates within
pre-existing "social technologies of exclusion," and access to the net
will continue to be shaped by existing social structures (Hess 1995:224).
The access gap is further exacerbated by the fact that Latin American governments,
in an atmosphere of neoliberal reforms, lack policies aimed at democratizing
access to new technology (Soriano 1996:4). Pressure to commercialize the
Internet in Latin America, and the strength of telephone monopolies in
the region also threaten accessibility. The RCP charges that the national
phone company in Peru - Telefonica - is trying to put private networks
out of business and to monopolize the provision of Internet service. This
would, according to the RCP, raise fees and reduce accessibility in areas
with less potential for profit, namely areas other than the major cities.

One of the most significant barriers to Internet communication throughout
Latin America, as well as other regions, is the American origins and English-language
bias of much of the information technology. Out-of-date mail transport
programs that support only English characters are still a problem and many
systems cannot support multilingual communications, though the growing
use of Unicode offers solutions to some of these problems (see McKenna
1997). Most of the software needed to access the Web, and much of the software
available via the Web, are available only in English (Chaudiron and Cloutier
1996; Bourbonnais and Yergeau 1996). Finally, new technology terms originate
in English, forcing clumsy translations into other languages and such phenomena
as "Cyberspanglish." All of these factors place limits on multilingual
communication via the Internet and favor English speaking and bilingual
users over non-English speakers.

Cyberspanglish is a particularly significant consequence of the English
language origins of the net. It is a clear indication that the growth of
the Internet in Latin America takes place within the context of dependence
on foreign technology. It is also another factor limiting the possibilities
for broad accessibility. For example, English verbs are conjugated into
Spanish without significantly changing the spelling or pronunciation of
the root. Examples include, linkear (to link); cliquear (to click the mouse
- "clique aqui para mks links"); emailear (to e-mail); postear (to post).'
Some view this phenomenon as a creative adaptation to "English speaking
machines." For example, Yolanda Rivas argues that,

Latino users on-line unconsciously have revolted against their language's
old rules and traditions and have created a communal identity for the Information
Age. Thus, Cyberspanglish is not only a sign of the evolution of a language,
but of its people -- those who are bound through computer networks and
who create their own set of codes to communicate efficiently about the
new technology (Rivas 1996:50).

While this ability to creatively adapt to new circumstances should not
be overlooked, Cyberspanglish is also an indication of the growth of new
forms of dependence and exclusion. Cyberspanglish has become a status symbol
of an Internet savvy minority while most Spanish speakers are left out
of the Englishdominant "information revolution."s Despite hopes of bringing
the technology to the streets of Lima and the remote corners of the Amazon,
the actual users of the Internet in Latin America are urban, educated,
young, and male.9

Development and the Internet

Proponents of information technology as a tool for economic growth and
integration encourage developing countries, in particular, to pursue information
technology as a way to "leap frog obstacles to development" and compete
in a global economy. Nagy Hanna, for example, warns of a situation of "information
poverty" in both the public and private sectors in developing countries
and cautions that the technological change is likely to lead to increased
polarization among the industrializing world (1991:45,46). According to
Hanna, the answer is to "develop public policies and infrastructure," with
the assistance of aid agencies such as the World Bank, to try to narrow
this technology gap (1991:45). Advocates of the Internet in Latin America
echo this sentiment. For example, Soriano of the RCP argues that a national
network will facilitate "national integration" and help Peru overcome the
political centralization that has prevented broad participation in development
policies (1996:2). Others argue that computer-mediated communication can
help incorporate more meaningful "feedback and citizen participation in
development activities" (Fervoy et al.1996:1).

Even those who believe that technological changes exacerbate global inequalities
seem to agree that aggressive growth of technological infrastructure in
developing countries is the best way to confront the problem. The current
situation, these authors argue, is untenable. The overwhelming majority
of research and development is done in Europe, the United States, and Japan
(Smith 1993:188). As a result, "developing countries" are dependent on
foreign countries and firms for technological innovations, and must import
expensive machines and pay high licensing fees. According to Smith, this
perpetuates global inequalities, and also ensures that new technology will
suit the needs of the wealthy and powerful (1993:189). In order to break
free of this dependence on foreign technological expertise and development
resources, Smith argues that Third World countries need to focus on endogenous
research and development in order to create possibilities for more autonomous
technological change. Similarly, Castells and Laserna (1989) advocate technological
modernization and social reform to counteract the "new dependency" created
by technological change. Escobar (1995:416) finds such solutions unsatisfactory
because, "it amounts to the continuation of the post-World-War-II policies
of 'development' which have had for the most part deleterious effects on
the economies and cultures of the Third World."

Sagasti's answer to "the fractured global order" is "sustainable human
development." Sustainable human development, according to Sagasti, would
ensure "equal access to development opportunities," including technology
(1995:605). Despite acknowledging the deep divisions in the global economy
marked by technological inequality and dependence, Sagasti argues that
science and technology must be central to a vision of sustainable human
development. "In the last analysis," he argues, "without science and technology
there can be no belief in and commitment to the future, no means for dealing
with the multiple fractures of the emerging global order" (1995:607). In
order to make crucial development decisions, to raise productivity, to
compete at the international level, and to achieve greater human development,
all countries must strive for scientific and technological competence.

Sagasti's strategy leaves many unsettling questions. He himself points
to many of the inequalities that will likely be exacerbated by the spread
of information technology and other technologies. Sagasti advocates the
mobilization of science and technology to confront the growing inequalities
between nations, between the worlds richest and poorest, and between men
and women. Yet those gaps are already growing, as only a small minority
are able to take advantages of new technologies. Sagasti reports that "women
comprise two-thirds of the world's illiterate population" and yet he does
not explain how technology can narrow this gap (1995:597). Technology alone
cannot solve such problems, and indeed without the existence of other strategies
it will likely exacerbate them. Without widespread literacy programs, women's
education, greater economic opportunities for women, and policies to make
technology accessible and relevant to women, how can information technology
do anything but increase this gap?

A more positive view of the role of information technology in development
will not be possible without also confronting the growing commercialization
of the Internet, and the shift away from its origins in research and education.
Networks such as the Red Tecnologica Nacional in Mexico and the RCP in
Peru are too costly for the vast majority of Latin Americans, leaving commercial
interests and organizations as the primary consumers of information. How
can the Internet foster greater participation in development when most
citizens do not own a phone much less a computer?

Democracy: Empowerment and `Virtual Resistance'?

The claims by Internet proponents that information technology is rapidly
creating new forms of democracy has special relevance in Latin America,
especially considering the current period of democratization and decentralization.
Will the Internet allow for broader participation in political and developmental
processes? Will opposition parties, indigenous groups and social movements
share information that cannot be controlled by governments or by a few
media organizations? Will a new form of struggle, "virtual resistance,"
emerge that can link the causes of oppressed people across vast regions?
Can the transformative potential of the Internet be realized through progressive
public policy decisions?

The use of the Internet as a tool for resistance has created a troubling
paradox: The Internet affords the possibility to circumvent traditional
media and government censorship, to organize across borders, and to voice
political opposition in anonymity. Yet for the victims of repression to
benefit from this technology, they must typically rely on outsiders (in
other countries or in capital cities) who have access to computers in order
to make their resistance heard. This paradox results in romanticization
on the part of the well-meaning intermediaries who post letters of protest
or rebel communiques. It also indicates a lack of meaningful interaction
between oppressed groups and their allies in technology. This can be demonstrated
by looking at a few examples of the possibilities and limitations for "virtual
resistance" in Latin America.

We can already see indications of the Internet's potential to change the
nature of political participation in Latin America. Those with access to
the Web, for example, no longer have to rely on a few news sources, often
dominated by traditional parties, for information. Opposition parties are
taking advantage of the Web to voice their agendas, and the new medium
may help them circumvent the exclusions that traditional parties have previously
been able to maintain. Indigenous groups have also used electronic mail
and Web sites to voice their concerns about environmental degradation and
multinational corporations.

A letter from leaders of the Huaorani Indians in Ecuador to the CEO of
the Maxis Energy Corporation is one intriguing example. An environmental
group, Ecological Enterprises, posted the letter on its gopher and urged
people to write to the company to voice their support for the Indians'
rights. The letter itself stated: "We do not want foreign companies to
build roads, nor to damage the ecology-ecocultural [sic]...We are writing
this letter to you and also to the world. Our position will not change,
no one can represent us, nor speak in the name of the Huaoranis without
authorization" (Huamani Coba and Nihua 1992). Thus, the Internet can be
a powerful tool which can bring global attention to local disputes, and
pressure corporations to acknowledge native land claims. In this case,
the letter campaign suggests that the Huaoranis chose to circumvent the
Ecuadoran government, perhaps because they believed the government would
support the corporation. On the other hand, this example raises a number
of complex questions: Did the Huaoranis intend for their letter to end
up on the Internet? Who translated the letter? Are people with access to
the Internet presuming to speak for others? If the Huaoranis cannot participate
in the electronic exchanges regarding their land claims, their movement
could easily become coopted or dominated by foreigners, however well-intentioned,
and this is something that the Huaoranis themselves explicitly state that
they do not want.

Supporters of the U'wa people of Colombia, whose land and environment has
been threatened by oil exploration by Occidental and Shell oil companies,
have created dozens of Websites to denounce the policies of both the Colombian
government and the multinationals. The U'wa gained national attention and
the assistance of environmental organizations around the world, when their
leaders threatened to commit suicide in protest over the proposed drilling.
None of the Websites were created by the U'wa or their leaders, though
many of them reproduce statements released by U'wa leaders. It is a powerful
example of the power of the Internet as a tool for resistance, even for
a small and previously little-known community in the face of massively
powerful corporations, even if the struggle is being carried out by outsiders
in the name of the U'wa (see, for examples, Rainforest Action Network 1998;
U'wa InfoCenter 1997). Probably the most impressive use of the Internet
for creating networks of resistance and support is Abya Yala Net, a project
that supports information sharing among indigenous peoples throughout the
Americas.

The Internet, to the extent that it is accessible to such groups, also
affords the possibilities to connect with other indigenous groups, from
Tierra del Fuego to the Yukon, and present a united front on issues of
broad concern to native peoples, such as land rights and political autonomy.
Social movements can build broad support, lobby governments, and raise
funds via the Internet, as well as share strategies and information with
other activists. NGO's have been particularly successful in networking
across borders, aided by such organizations as the Association for Progressive
Communication and the Website NGO Caf6. While disparaging the growing commercialization
of the Internet, one activist argues that "the Internet is a prime space
for civil society's organizations to build social strategies and practices"
(Afonso 1997). BECCNET, a network which links NGOs on both sides of the
Mexican-American border, is one example of such networking efforts. Other
transnational efforts include NativeWeb, with sources on indigenous peoples
throughout the Americas. The critical question here, as Escobar notes,
is "Will most social groups in the Third World be in a position even to
know about the possibilities afforded by the new technologies?" (1994:220).
In Latin America, visions of laptops and packet radios in the Amazon notwithstanding,
the answer is still no.'o

There is considerable evidence that the Web has become a tool for resistance
to state domination, racism, and other forms of discrimination. Scholars
in the U.S., for example, have identified activists who use the Internet
to "defend and empower minority groups" and to denounce racism (Beckles
1996). The most widely recognized example of such "virtual resistance"
in Latin America is the host of newsgroups and Web sites dedicated to the
Chiapas rebellion in southern Mexico. Chiapas rebels have a wide network
of "virtual supporters" who exchange information on the conflict, circulate
Subcomandante Marcos's communiques, and lobby the Mexican government to
respond to the rebel demands.

The use of computer communication via the Internet has been especially
important to the Zapatistas, activists argue, given the limited mass media
coverage of the conflict (Cleaver 1996:1). Subscribers to the Mexpaz and
Chiapas95 newsgroups receive regular bulletins on the movement and supporters
from around the world can mobilize letter, phone and fax campaigns and
respond quickly to new developments. A Dominican priest in Mexico posts
Mexpaz, while activists at the University of Texas post Chiapas95. Updates
on the situation in Chiapas can also be found on PeaceNet through the Institute
for Global Communications. These and other on-line groups organized quickly
after the 1994 rebellion and continue to provide a wealth of information
on the movement. There are also a number of Italian Websites in support
of the Chiapas rebels.nI

Without dismissing the genuine possibilities for anonymous or "hidden"
resistance, I argue that much of the "virtual resistance" on the net is
highly romanticized and has very little direct connection to the actual
victims of repression and inequality.'2 Internet supporters of the Chiapas
rebels, for example, paint an equally romantic picture of themselves (as
free-wheeling hackers fighting to liberate cyberspace from corporate and
government domination) as they do of the Zapatistas (as simple peasants
forced into a heroic struggle for land and dignity):

[J]ust as the campesinos of Morelia under the leadership of Zapata cut
barbed wire to liberate the land in 1910, electronic hackers have chopped
down electronic barriers and liberated information, creating a pirate underground
of free activity constantly slipping beyond corporate and state control.
So, too, have the colonists of cyberspace defended their own spaces against
monopolization in other ways, including public campaigns both legal and
political against big business and state control (Cleaver 1996:3).

Cleaver also cites the importance of the Internet for forging international
coalitions against NAFTA. The importance of this new form of struggle is
that it has created "a new organizational form - a multiplicity of rhizomatically
linked autonomous groups -- connecting all kinds of struggles throughout
North America that have previously been disconnected and separate" (Cleaver
1994:2). The ability to participate fully in these "cyber-struggles," however,
still relies on access to technology. Given the inequality of such access,
as discussed above, these electronic struggles often result in the presumption
of speaking for others.

The romanticization of the EZLN's struggle via the Internet is most notable
with the "Zapnet" Web site ("The Net of Autonomy and Liberation").'2 The
site, created by students and faculty at the University of Texas, triumphantly
announces that, "The revolution will be digitized!" and "Cyberwar is coming!"'3
One wonders how, when, and if the people of Chiapas will have the opportunity
to participate in this "electronic struggle."

The UT activists clearly associate the relative anonymity of the Internet
(i.e., by calling the site a "Temporary Autonomous Zone" for exchanging
information and strategies) with the masked identity of the EZLN rebels.
Even if the people of Chiapas could view this flashy Website or participate
in the various newsgroups and on-line forums dedicated to the movement,
they could hardly be imagined to play an equal role in the "cyberwar,"
given the language barriers, the technology gap, and the dependence on
foreign networks. Through the Internet, U.S. supporters imagine the armed
rebels of Chiapas draped, "in the `bandera nacional' and the legacy of
Emiliano Zapata." Lacking an equal and truly interactive communication,
however, these "virtual warriors" have merely managed to reproduce the
familiar stereotypes and exoticized images of the Mexican bandido, and
then projected that image onto themselves as "cyber rebels."

The possibilities of autonomous expression and resistance are real and
should be nurtured, but claims of limitless freedom are premature. To be
sure, the contribution that Internet users have made to the Chiapas movement,
primarily by confounding the Mexican government's attempts to control information
on the conflict, are significant. Yet, commercial and military interests
continue to dominate the development of information technology, and in
Latin America as elsewhere, the Internet is likely to be disproportionately
beneficial to those who will have access to it: young, educated urban dwellers,
large corporations, governments, private organizations, and universities.'4
It is dangerous to assume that the relative anonymity afforded by the Internet
is limitless, or that subaltern groups will be the primary beneficiaries
of this "autonomous" medium. New technologies also afford governments and
militaries new powers of surveillance. There is every reason to believe
that new forms of control will evolve along with new possibilities for
autonomous communication. The possibilities for surveillance and control
are especially great in countries where telecommunications are under the
exclusive control of the government or private monopolies. In Guatemala,
where the military has played a large role in the state-run telephone company,
even privatization has not quelled fears that phone lines are tapped (Belejack
1996:16-17).

The advent of radio and television (and cable and public access television
in particular) brought similar hopes of empowerment and broad social change.
Scholars caution that the Internet is not so different from previous communications,
and that with the growth of government regulation and business interests,
the Internet is likely to prove disappointing to those who envision cyberspace
as a boundless frontier. Stevenson (1996), for example, traces how amateur
radio, inexpensive and easily accessible, came to be dominated by commercial
interests and government regulation by the 1930s. Stevenson cautions that
the trend toward censorship and commercialization is already apparent in
information technology:

To say that the "Internet regards censorship as a hardware problem and
just works around it," an oft-repeated sentence over the past few months,
ignores the reality of the Scientology harassment and lawsuits, the investigation
of CompuServe by the FBI, and the general chilling effect of the Communications
Decency Act (1996:4).'5

In Latin America, where free speech has fewer protections, censorship is
likely to be an even larger issue. It is clear that the Internet will not
bring about broad participation and autonomous expression without other
reforms.

The Future of the Internet in Latin America

Policy makers in Latin America as well as those in development agencies
in the U.S. and elsewhere face a difficult dilemma: Should Latin American
countries pursue an aggressive approach to technological change, especially
in terms of information technology, in an effort to "catch up" and "keep
up" with technological developments elsewhere and to "leap frog" development
obstacles? The consensus seems to be that technological change is critical
to economic growth as well as democratization. Yet early evidence suggests
that such change is leading to the kind of "uneven development" which characterized
previous development efforts, from the Green Revolution to Import Substitution.
To accept uncritically the notion that the Internet is the next and only
frontier of development in Latin America would be to risk repeating previous
mistakes.

Based on the preliminary issues raised in this article, I argue that any
plan for technological change must proceed from a commitment to endogenous
research and development and broad accessibility. Research conducted in
Latin America will not only foster a sense of "technological self-esteem"
that many argue is lacking in the region (see Escobar 1994), but will also
lead to more appropriate applications that respond to local needs rather
than foreign models. Endogenous research will also promote the development
of bilingual and multilingual communications and resources that is so critical
to making the technology more broadly accessible. Access to the Internet
might be enhanced by free community networks and terminals in community
centers, schools, and churches.

While it is important to pursue the possible social benefits of technology
change, it is equally important to resist the notion that everything of
social value, cultural relevance, and economic utility can be channeled
through the Internet. While new technology may provide access to uncensored
information, this should not distract us from more significant indicators
of democracy and democratization, such as freedom of association, political
pluralism, judicial reforms, and the tolerance of social movements. As
others have argued, technology is not neutral: The Internet may allow for
uncensored exchanges (as in Zapnet's assertion that "information wants
to be free") but it may just as easily create new possibilities for surveillance
and sabotage (as in the CIA's current development of "information warfare").
The Internet is far from being the free and open exchange that the advertisers
and other enthusiasts claim. In terms of both content and accessibility
it reflects the same inequalities of race, class, gender, and the global
order which exist in the "real world."

Technology alone cannot transform social relations, cannot solve our problems
of environmental degradation, authoritarianism, and inequality. Indeed,
it seems just as likely of exacerbating them. The paradox of the Internet
is that it creates opportunities for global resistance to power at the
same time that it hastens economic and political globalization and exclusion.
A street vendor's life chances cannot be transformed by new technology
if she has no license to operate, no formal education, no telephone in
her home, few services in her neighborhood; the expansion of the Internet
in the `fractured global order' is making us more integrated, but it is
doing little to narrow existing inequalities.

[IMAGE TABLE] Captioned as: REFERENCES CITED

[IMAGE TABLE]

NOTES

'For example, Network MCI's recent TV ad exclaims that, "There are no races.
There are no genders. There is no age. There are no infirmities. There
are only minds. Utopia?" someone asks. "No, the Internet."

2The best examples of development schemes based on the ideology of integration
are the World Bank efforts at Integrated Rural Development and Integrated
Urban Development of the early 1970s.

3Adams (1996:4) argues that marketing via the Web will become increasingly
dominated by large companies because of the high cost of building and maintaining
effective Web sites.

`This points to one of the intriguing problems of the World Wide Web, especially
for those who wish to conduct a critical "Web-astext" reading. While the
Internet may allow for underprivileged groups to voice their resistance
in an autonomous, and therefore safer, form, it also allows people to publish
documents as "Colombians" or "Latinos," thereby claiming to speak for many
while they may only be voicing the perspective of a few. Many of the sites
linked by LatinoNet are unattributable to a specific source, and therefore
difficult to evaluate in terms of interests, class perspective, and so
on.

'A "backbone" is a high speed data highway that allows networks to connect
to other networks around the world.

6Similar evidence is provided by a study at the Tomas Rivera Center, cited
in the March 1996 issue of Hispanic magazine, which reported that, "Only
18 percent of middle-income Hispanics had computers compared with 27.4
percent of non-Hispanics" (p. 30).

'For a list of Internet terms in several languages, see World Wide Language
Institute 1996.

8The consequences for native languages are even more troubling. This was
recently demonstrated by the RCP's attempt to provide some of its on-line
information in Quechua. What resulted was a confusing

mix of Quechua, Spanish, and English vocabulary and syntax. For example,
one icon had the caption, "Clickta kaypi iit'iy Peru Home Pageman Kutinay
Kipah" ("Click here to return to Peru Home Page").

9Belejack (1996:15) cites a study of the RCP which found that the typical
RCP individual member is "male, university-educated, 20 years old and resides
in the high-income district of Lima."

10Many authors have stressed the importance of social movements as indicators
of broadening political participation and informal democracy.

"For a more complete list of Chiapas-related sites, see Cleaver's "Zapatistas
in Cyberspace" (1997).

2I am indebted to Rae Anne Lafrenz, a student in my Latin American Cultures
course (fall 1996), whose excellent paper on Zapnet alerted me to the Web
site.

'3This call to arms was inspired by a Rand Corporation article of the same
name (Arquilla and Ronfeldt 1993). "Age is another important factor in
the access gap. Again, this is already apparent in the Unites States, where,
"Six percent of Americans who are 18 to 29 years old access the World Wide
Web, compared to only one percent of those over 50" (Adams 1996:1). "EOn
censorship and the Internet, see also Adams 1996:6.

Margaret Everett is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Portland State
University. The author wishes to thank Ray Sadler, Shawn Smallman, and
the anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier drafts of the article.
The author also wishes to thank Marc Edelman and Gary Elbow for their insights
and suggestions on sources as this project began.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.
Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.

=============================== End of Document ================================
CONTACT INFORMATION:

Margaret Everett
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
Portland State University
Portland, OR 97207-0751
(503) 725-3319
everettm@pdx.edu

INFOCENTROS PARA EL DESARROLLO LOCAL

2006-11-26T07:23:00.001-08:00

TALLER:

INFOCENTROS PARA EL DESARROLLO LOCAL

13 de agosto de 1998

Hotel El Salvador, San Salvador, El Salvador

Presentación:

Los Infocentros Comunitarios, conocidos también como "Telecentros" o "Cabinas Públicas", han surgido durante los últimos años en muchos países en desarrollo como alternativa de acceso compartido a la comunicación y servicios de información, sobre todo en municipios y áreas rurales. En la práctica, demuestran cómo el acceso oportuno a información relevante para la actividad productiva y social puede reducir los costos de transacción, mejorar la competitividad, fortalecer las comunicaciones con el mundo externo, y elevar los niveles de educación y bienestar de la población local.

El Infocentro es un centro local de conectividad que proporciona acceso a servicios de información, diversos tipos de comunicaciones, educación y capacitación a distancia, insumos y mercados, fortalecimiento empresarial, etc. Los servicios más comunes que ofrece un telecentro son: teléfono, fax, correo electrónico, acceso al Internet y fotocopiado. También puede llegar a ofrecer capacitación, espacio para reuniones, videoconferencias, y la producción de contenidos de información para vender.

El Infocentro nace en base a una demanda identificada de información y servicios. Algunos ejemplos de necesidades locales son:

* mercados y proveedores nacionales e internacionales para productores locales
* capacitación puntual e información sobre técnicas de producción
* educación a distancia a todo nivel
* información médica, apoyo en diagnósticos y recetas médicas
* información sobre tecnologías apropiadas
* experiencias de gestión ambiental, administración local
* comunicación con emigrantes para fines personales y productivos

El taller del 13 de agosto pretende explorar la posibilidad de crear Infocentros en El Salvador en base a la demanda local y la expertise y experiencia de otros países similares.

Ponentes Invitados:

José Soriano, Red Científica Peruana

La Red Científica Peruana representa la experiencia más exitosa de América Latina en cuanto al uso de la conectividad para el desarrollo económico y social. Con centenares de "Cabinas Públicas Internet" en operación a través del territorio peruano, la RCP ha logrado convertir el Internet y la comunicación electrónica en herramientas de información accesibles a las mayorías. Las Cabinas RCP combinan la conectividad del Internet, teléfono, fax, correo electrónico, radio comunitaria y víperes con la producción de contenidos electrónicos relevantes para las necesidades de desarrollo de los peruanos. El Ing. Soriano transmitirá su experiencia como fundador y gerente de RCP.

Scott Robinson, Red de Información Rural de México

La Red de Información Rural, junto con el Sistema de Información Rural para el Desarrollo Sostenible, ha instalado una serie de infocentros en las comunidades rurales del sur del Distrito Federal y en el estado de Michoacán. El enfoque de los infocentros ha sido de proporcionar acceso a información oportuna y relevante a la población rural mexicana, y a la vez fomentar mayor transparencia gubernamental al promover la producción de estos contenidos por parte de todas las dependencias del Estado federal y local. El Dr. Robinson transmitirá su experiencia en la creación de alianzas locales, la capacitación de agricultores y la promoción de un papel activo por parte de las instancias de gobierno.

Programa:
Introducción: Conectándonos al Futuro y la Sociedad de Aprendizaje

Presentaciones Audiovisuales sobre Infocentros en Perú y México
Presentaciones breves sobre el aprendizaje en El Salvador
Preguntas y respuestas
Almuerzo

Problemáticas Específicas en la Construcción de Infocentros:

* Conectividad
* Contenidos
* Capacitación
* Sostenibilidad Económica

Mesas de Trabajo para profundizar en los distintos temas

Cierre

Dirigido a:

* Gobiernos locales; representantes de ministerios de gobierno; empresarios, productores y sus asociaciones; artistas; representaciones locales de ONGs nacionales e internacionales de desarrollo; estudiantes y maestros.
* Profesionales de la información, informática y telemática.
* Proveedores de equipo de computación y servicios de conectividad.
* Representantes a nivel nacional de gobierno, gremios de la empresa privada, ONGs nacionales e internacionales.

2006-11-26T07:20:00.000-08:00

Página 7 . Nº 18 - EDICION QUINCENAL 25 DE AGOSTO AL 7 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 1999.

Cabinas para navegar Internet, ¡como las telefónicas!

* La mayor operadora de Internet en Perú negocia una alianza con la italiana
* Telecom y un grupo de bancos, para expandirse por Latinoamérica con una inversión de $440 millones, dijo un ejecutivo.

Marco Aquino
“Podría formarse una alianza tripartita en la cual nosotros no perderíamos la gerencia”, señaló José Soriano, gerente general de la Red Científica Peruana (RCP), una firma emergente que tiene poco más de la mitad del mercado de correo electrónico de Perú.

Indicó que la alianza con la italiana Telecom y el consorcio de bancos europeos WorldTel está al “borde de una decisión” y se negocia la participación del grupo.

Precisó que Telecom planea invertir en la alianza estratégica unos $400 millones, en menos de dos años, para interconectar la región con fibra óptica e instalar “cabinas públicas” a escala nacional y latinoamericana.

Las cabinas permitirán “navegar por Internet” a menor precio a personas que no tienen en su casa una computadora debido a su alto costo en la región.

En Perú ya operan 250 “cabinas públicas”, cada una con 20 computadoras, donde se puede acceder a Internet hasta por $15 al mes frente a los $19 promedio que paga un usuario con ordenador en su casa.

“Del monto total, para cubrir Perú con fibra óptica Telecom invertiría $70 millones”, agregó Soriano.
Afirmó que WorldTel, por su parte, tiene planeado invertir $43 millones en unos 18 meses para expandir las “cabinas públicas” de correo electrónico por todo este país.

“Además WorldTel quiere exportar como negocio este modelo peruano a América Latina y al mundo”, indicó.

Aseguró que si se forma la alianza, la nueva compañía “seguramente tendrá que cotizar no sólo en el mercado local sino también en la bolsa de Nueva York”.

Soriano señaló que actualmente la red local ha exportado el modelo de cabinas públicas a El Salvador, donde el gobierno de ese país la ejecuta con una inversión de $12 millones.
“También tenemos pedidos de los gobiernos de Chile, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Honduras, la India y dos países africanos para ejecutar el proyecto de cabinas", dijo.

Indicó que el espíritu del proyecto tiene que ver con la realidad de Latinoamérica, con un escaso número de líneas telefónicas y computadoras frente a países desarrollados.

Por ejemplo, en Perú hay 1,9 millones de teléfonos instalados y apenas 450.000 computadoras para 25 millones de personas, mientras en Estados Unidos el 97 por ciento de su población tiene teléfono y el 43 por ciento una computadora en su casa, manifestó el ejecutivo.

Internet for everyone

2006-11-26T07:18:00.000-08:00

Yolanda Maloney

Full-text Paper

There are advantages and disadvantages to the Internet for everyone, and its impact on population in the Third World is uncertain. This paper compares the proliferation of Internet use in the United States and Chile. The nations in less developed countries could profit from access to the Internet, since users no longer need to be "techies" with interfaces like Mosaic, and now Netscape. However, there are also the considerations of elitist disparities and barriers to access (e.g. cost, language, demographics, geography, political opposition).

While there are 236 countries connected to international networks1 of one kind or another, the developing countries in Latin America are underrepresented. The wealthier ABC countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile - and Mexico have the most networks, but the numbers just don’t compare with the industrialized nations. Puerto Rico and Mexico are the only Spanish-speaking territory and country, respectively, that had initial connections in 1989, which is roughly about the same time that industrialized nations had theirs. Most of the Latin American countries have been connected to the Internet since 1990 (Uruguay connected its one network last year), many funded by the Organization of American States and U.S. National Science Foundation.2

As in the US, it was the military in Chile that brought together the technology to make networking possible. (Incidently, it was the US National Science Foundation and NASA that helped create the telecommunications backbone that now supports Internet connections. NASA was interested in sending data from its Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in northern Chile, which was also funded by the NSF and which is apparently the perfect site to study Magellanic Clouds. In 1987 NASA donated time on the networks supporting the observatory to a project linking three Santiago universities in Chile’s first network.)

Since going online, Chile has not experienced the growth that networked information has undergone in the United States. The academic science community was the first and still is the primary user group. Unlike the United States, private access is very rare. Until the middle of 1994 the public had yet to be convinced of the benefits of networked information and of the Internet in particular. In Chile there are roughly 1,100 users, and is increasing at about one hundred percent per year. According to Patricia Mamana, an executive from Red De Computadores S. A., an Internet consortium of three universities, as more information about Internet becomes available and more computer-trained people gain access to leadership positions in business, more people and more networks are expected to be connected to the Internet. It has been just since October 1994, when information about it started to appear in television and magazines, that people started to buy into the system, doubling the number of users in that short space of time. The Chilean public is just coming to understand that the Internet is not just a place to find games or to send messages to people residing abroad.

One of the reasons for Chile’s lagging behind the U.S. in the number of private users might be found in the fact the main Internet hosts are still at the universities.3 Although the universities are seen as the seat of knowledge and technology, General Pinochet did away with all the humanist disciplines, and allowed to remain only the hard sciences and those disciplines which would provide the country with expertise or products that could be sold abroad; today business and science still predominate. Perhaps having more of a mix between scientists and liberal arts people early on could have made a difference in drawing public interest to the Network. But oddly enough, even the agricultural researchers who were greatly encouraged to use the networks are barely using the Internet.

Stephen Ruth and Raul Gouet, in a 1993 article in the magazine Internet Research, compare the networking activity in Chile and the Czech Republic.4 The countries have similar data communications capacity, population, and GNP. However, the authors say that in a given year the Czech Republic will reach three times the traffic volume and user registration that Chile had. As of April of this year, Chile had 103 host computers connected and the Czechs 459. The article advances no theories as to why the Czechs have more network use than Chile. The two are comparable since both countries were emerging from brutal dictatorships when the networks became available, and both have populations of about 14 million with similar disciplines represented in their universities. What circumstances might account for this disparity? Is technology transfer different from the US to South America than from the US to Eastern Europe? Even more pertinent is the case of Argentina, which experienced a growth of over 400 percent going from 248 host computers to 1,287 in October of 1994. This can only partly be explained by the fact that the actual physical link, the Internet node, is located in Buenos Aires.

By today’s standards electronic communication via computer networks is a cost effective, efficient way to communicate with the world; easier information dissemination and exchange could help the developing countries in Latin America be not only consumers of information but producers as well. In the case of Chile all the basics are in place: the infrastructure and educated population, activity in telecommunications, and hardware and software savvy. Meanwhile, there are four Internet providers in Chile whose cost to the user varies: one charges $50 a month, with a limiting volume of ten megabytes, another charges $45 per month for a volume up to five megabytes.5 However, networking in developing countries runs up against multiple obstacles ranging from telecommunication costs and lack of adequate technical support to regulatory restrictions, political instability and public mistrust.

Although forty percent of the Internet is located outside of the United States, it is only the most developed countries, the industrialized countries, that have the most thorough and sophisticated access. Full Internet connection for a country is very expensive - without going into tedious detail , the basic connection needs a high-speed link running on a lease line or satellite link. Telecommunication costs can be four to eight times what it costs in the United States. For example, to connect on a dedicated, high-speed line in the U.S., it costs $2,000 per month, while in Peru the cost is $8,000 to $14,000 and Cuba’s cost is $16,000 because due to the US embargo, its signals have to go through Canada. The cost of the equipment can be up to$25,000 (for routers, servers, etc) and the cost of installation and training added to the cost of support and maintenance can become unsustainable.

However, the most basic levels of connection do not require expensive use of an Internet node; UUCP (Unix to Unix coPy) and FIDONET can be broadly installed since both are low cost technologies with effective capabilities for email and ftp (file transfer protocol). In fact, the so-called ABC countries: Argentina, Brazil and Chile, all have several each of BITNET, UUCP, and FIDONET sites as well as IP (Internet Protocol) Internet links.6

Training becomes even more important in Latin American countries when the language barrier is considered; not only is most of the information in English (the books in the Gutenberg project, the library catalogs), but also the Unix commands and the computer manuals are in English. There is a man in Peru who says that Latin America needs an indigenous network; he has a project to create an all-Spanish network bypassing the U.S.

Government controls vary in Latin American countries; in Peru, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, the government through the institutions of higher learning, have controlled what is on the Internet and in some cases laws have been passed to keep the Internet free from "undesirable content" - nothing so extreme as in Singapore, which keeps rigid control - but censorship of sorts and control of public access.

Latin Americans fear that the new technologies will be used as a tool of repression in the hands of the government, and in Chile as elsewhere, the fear has some basis in history For 17 years the Pinochet regime relentlessly persecuted journalists and other citizens who published news critical of the government. There is considerable precedent for people being harshly punished for open expression of opinion.

Another consideration that weighs heavily on the minds of Latin Americans and North Americans alike is access for profit versus a non-profit system; the fear is that big American companies like ITT or MCI will take over the Internet and will charge for access, and the business part of the Internet will grow and take over the research, academic, and non-profit side. The groups most concerned with this issue are the non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) who depend heavily on free access to the Internet to keep in contact with their people in the field and with other NG’s. Brazil and Chile each have more than 5,000 of these institutions connected by networks to institutes and universities such as GEONET, ENVIRONET, and PEACENET.

Chile is long, narrow and centralized. In spite of many efforts, decentralization has not been accomplished, but the geographical difficulties which made it impossible to lay cables from Tierra del Fuego to Valparaiso are obviated today by fiber optic technology with no less than three companies vying for the privilege of laying down submarine cables.

In Chile information is housed solely at the universities, which restricts access to the public. It is still very difficult to find information (especially if the patron does not belong to the elite) and to find current information is virtually impossible. Owners of small businesses in the chemical industry are still working with patents from 1916. The phenomenon of the new information technologies is now making current data available to the university elite, but the smaller enterprises and ordinary citizens are in real danger of becoming information-poor in top of their other handicaps.

Perhaps Chile would benefit by adopting another country’s system, for example France, which developed the highly successful public access Minitel and distributed it free to homes, stores, and post offices throughout France. Some features of the French Minitel system are the provision of inexpensive services, user-friendly screens, simplified hierarchies, and accessible sites. This is probably a pipe dream for Chile, because the country does not have the resources that an implementation of such a system would demand. Furthermore, the Chilean culture dislikes communication via machines. Unlike Americans who can do without talking to a human, Chileans - for all the frustrations of standing in lines - are reluctant to let go of the socially-enriching contact which would be lost in a machine.

The situation of public access in Latin America is best exemplified by Jose Soriano, who in 1994, connected the first computer network to the NSF backbone in his native country, Peru. Peru’s Internet services attracted 8,000 members and is among the fastest-growing Internet providers. The Peruvian success could be extended to the rest of Latin America by linking all of the Latin American countries via satellite on an all-Spanish network embedded in the culture, economy, and politics of Latin America and bypassing the United States. The chance for economic survival and the information revolution are going to be their databases.

NOTES

1. NASFNET Networks by Country. April 01, 1995. Available by http://www.nw.com/zone/www/top.html

2. The map shows the countries while the text shows connections: United States, Canada, and Germany were connected in 1988; NSFNET Networks by Country as of 01 April 1995. Available by http:www.nw.com

3. The map shows the position of the universities and the relative position of the two observatories: one American and one European. Presently in Chile there are three of these national networks connected to the Internet: CONICYT, REUNA and RDC S.A. CONICYT is the National Commission for Science and Technology; (governmental) it has about 80 networks and more than 500 clients covering 4,345 kilometers. It is CONICYT’s role to implement a national information network to support scientific and technological activity by establishing infrastructure for communication between researchers at the national and international level by expediting the access to available scientific information both in the country and abroad. In 1992, CONICYT agreed to be part of an association formed by 19 Chilean institutions of higher learning to cooperatively manage REUNA, which resulted in REUNA the national university network (Red Universitaria Nacional) being integrated into Internet through a high-speed channel. CONICYT’s programs and services have been available since 1993 through the server at REUNA. REUNA, helped at inception in 1987 by funding from the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), has paid since 1992 for satellite connections to SURAnet, one of the fastest on-ramp access to the Internet in South America and the only satellite that carries only data in Chile; the high-speed cable provides a speed of 516 kbps and it is expected that at the end of 1995 Chile will have a T-1 connection. The third network RED DE COMPUTADORES S.A. began in 1992 as a joint project by the University of Santiago, Catholic of Valparaiso and Catholic of Chile with the goal to establish a Chilean network; presently RDC S.A. covers the country’s capital, Santiago.

4. Stephan R. Ruth and Raul Gouet, Must Invisible College Be Invisible? An Approach to Examining Large Communities of Network Users. Internet Research (Spring 1993): 36-53.

Eric Arnum, Correlation of GNP/GDP to Number of Internet Hosts in July 1994.

5. In Chile there are 4 Internet providers:

* Chilenet (DCC U. de Chile)

* RDC: it offers access to individuals and enterprises

* REUNA: expanded phone lines providing service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

-added telephone support 7-11 M-F Sat 9-6 services chargeable to credit cards

-Charges: SLIP connection UF 2 plus IVA (one time charge) support UF 1,5 plus IVA

* Tasco: this server will offer the user an opportunity to interactively buy computer products. This provider offers:

-training

-connections through modems of 28,800 bps or 115,200 bps (compression)

-access to CD-ROMS so the user does not need to use servers abroad

6. Larry Landweber, International Connectivity Version 13 - February 15, 1995.

Bolivia has only UUCP and FIDONET; Columbia has less than five BITNET, Internet and less than five UUCP; Costa Rica has Internet and modest UUCP and FIDONET connections; Ecuador and Nicaragua have Internet connections and less that five UUCP sites; Mexico has more than five BITNET sites, IP Internet connections, less than five UUCP sites, and more than five FIDONET sites; Paraguay has less than five UUCP sites no IP Internet connectivity while Peru has Internet connections, more than five UUCP sites and less than five FIDONET sites; Puerto Rico has less than five BITNET sites but plenty of IP Internet connections and UUCP and FIDONET sites, Uruguay and Venezuela both have IP Internet access, more than five UUCP, and more than five FIDONET sites. Note that the U.S. has the full range of BITNET, IP Internet, UUCP, and FIDONET and ISO sites while Cuba has only UUCP sites; Nicaragua has less than five UUCP sites.

E-EDUCATION: SET TO BOOM

2006-11-26T07:16:00.002-08:00

Focus Session Report
Education and Awareness

E-EDUCATION: SET TO BOOM

"The next Internet dot coms are going to be in education. Get in the business, do it now. We started out as an ISP in 1991. Today, 52% of our income from community centres/internet access booths comes from education and training programmes."
Jose Soriano, RCP Peru

WHAT KIND OF EDUCATION, FOR WHOM?

GLOBALLY

Four types of training are needed to build e-trade competency:

* High End Training for ITspecialists. (Example: Software engineering)
* Mid and Low End Training for employees. (Example: Web-enabled services)
* E-literacy for the general public. (Example: cybercafes)
* E-management for senior managers in export-related business and government. (Example: conferences to shape strategic vision about how technology can be used to achieve key business goals)

LOCALLY

Communities have core competences that they must concentrate upon. This is the only thing that gives them a competitive edge in a knowledge-based world. (Without local content and training, there will be nothing to talk about internationally. The key is to exchange information between local networks.)

WHY RECONSIDER EDUCATION? A CHANGING WORLD

Today, rapid changes in society are being driven far more by technology than by anything else. More than 1 billion web pages exist, with 3 million more added each day. There are two different, though linked, phenomena: technological developments themselves, and the explosion of information and data available via the Internet.

Educational systems are unprepared for technology. We need to rethink what we teach (contents) and how we teach it (methodology) and create new paradigms.

For example, there is an explosion in demand for skilled technical workers. But rather than train people to be certified for specific products, train them to understand the underlying concepts at a deeper level. Do they learn about database concepts, or specific database packages like Oracle?

Change is happening so fast that we need to teach people how to think and how to learn, rather than concentrate on training that will become quickly outdated.

Information cannot be transferred in traditional channels anymore because there is no time to reflect on it. What we need to do instead is share knowledge through linked communities. We need to build networks and tap into them as we need them. Then complementary networks link between each other.

HOW? EDUCATION THROUGH EXPERIENCE; LEARN BY DOING

* Education systems need to move away from book-based provision of information.

Who has learned about Internet through a book? Most of us learned from each other and by working directly on the computer.

* On the job training

As Mr. Ricupero of UNCTAD said in the opening session of this Executive Forum, the IT revolution is the biggest one since the invention of the Gutenberg press. However, most education systems are still based on books... Perhaps we need to return to an earlier model, that of the Middle Ages, to encourage a greater emphasis upon apprenticeships and on-the-job training.

* Learning at your own pace, with your own style.

The Internet allows educators to train students in a tailor-made fashion, rather than with curricula in which everyone must move at the same pace, and with the same methods and styles.

* Alternative learning systems, community based systems.

The amount of available information is growing faster than can be digested. But we don't need to digest it all. We need to be selective, by tapping into networks to access knowledge and information as we need it, in a focused manner.

* Re-examine training policies in universities.

Some students in universities are studying IT related materials and have never seen satellite dishes, routers or computers. You need to touch it to understand it.

* Teachers need to be co-learners and facilitators, not masters.

We need to move away from formal channels of knowledge. In today's world, children are often teaching parents computer literacy skills.

* Build technological fluency.

And start young. Technological fluency can be learned like a language, naturally, with products that help children build computer literacy.

SOME RESOURCE ISSUES

Governments manage and run the education system. But governments do not have the resources to single-handedly invest in the changes we need. Education needs to open up to the private sector to get these changes. This means we need to re-examine things like:

* Role of educational institutes of major IT corporations
* Role of ISPs and community centres/Internet kiosks
* Sharing of costs of education between government and private sector.

Internet access in Uruguay

2006-11-26T07:16:00.001-08:00

Uruguayan APC Member takes on the telecomms Big Boys with Latin American flavoured Internet Strategy

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay -- Chasque, APC member in Uruguay, plans to open up Internet access in Uruguay by providing telecentres throughout the country’s interior; less lucrative territory which until now ignored by larger scale Internet access providers in Uruguay in favour of the lucrative capital, Montevideo.

With their new partners, the Red Científica Peruana, a commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP) from Peru, which maintains the ‘non-profit’ ideals of its origins despite capturing 50% of the Peruvian ISP market share through popularizing telecentres, Chasque is planning to take on the large telecommunications companies in Uruguay and build a uniquely Latin American Internet ISP marketing strategy at the same time.

For More Information

Interview with Magela Sigillito of Chasque, Jose Soriano of the Red Científica Peruana, Carlos Afonso (Brazil) and Roberto Bissio (ITeM) in Spanish: http://www.espectador.com/text/ent05172.htm

RESEARCH NETWORKS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES:

2006-11-26T07:15:00.000-08:00

Global_Net Principles

RESEARCH NETWORKS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES:

ANALYSIS, METHODOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES

AND GUIDELINES FOR STARTING

By Daniel Pimienta, REDALC Project Director, Union Latina, Santo-Domingo, e-mail: dpimient!pimienta!daniel@redid.org.do

TRIBUTES

The article presents the synthesis of a part of years of personal and team activities. Several people have participated directly or indirectly in the conceptualizing of the ideas produced by the REDALC Project. Jose Soriano, actual Manager of the Red Cientifica Peruana have more specifically contribute to the thematic expressed in this paper.

ABSTRACT

The paper presents a structured set of guidelines to help starting and operating research networks in developing countries. The proposed methodology is the result of a combination of studies and field experiences in Latin America since 1989 [REDALC Project]. The introduction identifies the key factors for the success of research network creation in developed countries. A comparison is made on the respective industrial and developing countries environments which calls for a different approach. A summary list of the activities linked to network building and operation is shown which demonstrates the bulk of activities is more in managerial tasks than in technical one's. A hierarchical approach for problem solving is described, from politic, to organizational, to financial and, last, technical types. The different levels are described and to each it is associated a set of guidelines. Finally, some success prone ingredients are presented.

KEY WORDS: Research networks, developing countries, Latin America and Caribbean, methodology, guidelines.

I INTRODUCTION

The traditional success story for network creation have proven the unbeatable superiority of the bottom-up approach for the network building process. The putting in place of an initial kernel of users have always been followed by the emergence of a nation-wide network. The mechanisms which allow the growth from this basis have usually been considered as an inherent part of the environment.

A slight detail, among others, makes the method not necessarily transportable from industrial countries, where it have demonstrated its validity, to the developing countries.

MONEY: FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN RESEARCH NETWORKS

If one analyzes the factors of the growth of the EARN/BITNET model, he will discover, from the bottom to the top, the presence of this efficient tool:

-the money invested by large computer manufacturers to offer the first years telecommunication costs and telematic equipments,

-the money invested by the governments to keep on paying part of the telecommunication infrastructure,

-the money collected from subscriptions by the research institutions,

-and maybe, tomorrow, more money by the last group to pay the bill of transport networks becoming less subsidized... Money was of course not enough. Some other factors were keys to the success.

DETERMINANT FACTORS IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

-the existence of good national telecommunication infrastructures,

-the high level of organization and management of the research institutions [mainly the universities],

-their capacity for negotiation in front of the computer industry,

-the existence of pioneers who were able to manage the idea, create the condition of the network emergence, make it happen and keep the effort ongoing.

All that process have created a wide consensus among networkers about the validity of the "pragmatic", "realistic", bottom-up approach against the "planned", "theoretical" top-down approach.

The network architects could have been more inclined, by their profession skills, towards the second approach. However, they were put in the situation of being always in advance compared to the standard authorities, thus encouraged to build on the path and maintained an "advance technology" type of attitude.

The only low rated points of the research networking emergence are the natural consequence of a technology driven situation:

-lack of standardization,

-low involvement of the end users,

-few global efforts for structuring the application level.

PROJECTING THE MODEL INTO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

It is not the point here to argue against the obvious validity of the historical approach. However, although we are part of the consensus on that very point, we do want to warn the reader about the illusion of projecting that truth, very specific to the industrial world, to a quite different environment: the developing countries.

On one hand, the lack of money may prevent the "growth mechanism" makes a start-up realization evolve naturally toward a national solution. On the other hand, beside money, and beside the time elapsed since the beginning of the application of the technology [should necessarily the new networks be built the same way as 10 years ago?], there are other good reasons why one should think differently in term of solutions. We will show them hereafter.

In counterpart, the experience of the emergence of research networks in developing countries should not leave indifferent the networkers of the first world: although they believe their concern is now on fat pipes and "applications" [in the OSI sense of the term], they may have to learn something, for their own future, from the experiences conducted in developing countries!

Indeed, the signals are clearly appearing of the coming of the time where research networks will evolve to a market driven growth pattern, and hence, situations where the managing power and the budget expenses will drastically switch from networking infrastructures toward end-users considerations [training, support, interfaces, user's applications]. This is why the experiences and considerations of the emergence of network in developing countries may be of special interest for the industrial countries. It may teach something about that key transformation which concern the whole world.

AN APPROPRIATE MODEL

This paper aims to identify a set of factors which argues, to a more balanced approach in developing countries: something which merge the best of the top-down and of the bottom-up approach, something which design is specifically based on the characteristics of this different environment.

And to keep "pragmatism" as a healthy premise to network activities, we present a methodological tool which is applicable in the field, and which have been successfully applied already in two concrete cases [Peru and Dominican Republic].

II BACKGROUND

The proposed methodology is the result of a set of in-depth studies conducted, since 1988, by the author, his team and his Latina y Caribe] is a project from Union Latina, a Governmental Organization aiming at the defense of Latin language and culture, looking for a steady, regional and comprehensive solution for research networks. The study was first conducted from Europe in 1988 and 1989. Then an EEC funding was obtained in 1990 to conduct a 2 years feasibility study in the field. In mid-1991, Unesco [PGI and CRESALC branches] joins the feasibility study to address more specifically the information network content aspects. ACAL [Academia de Ciencia de America Latina] participated in the Unesco studies. Some other related studies or activities are also conducted by the REDALC team of Union Latina: a research network impact study in French West Indies, the coordination of a "listserv" informing about regional networking activities [REDALC@FRMOP11.BITNET], the coordination of the development of a state of the art, PC-based, multi-lingual, network type independent, interface [MULBRI], and last, but not least, a central participation in the launch of two national networks so far [Peru and Dominican Republic].

All this process have made involved the concept of the Latin American network since 1988, from a simple EARN projection to the region, toward something more specific and appropriate to the economical and structural reality of the region [REDALC model].

The paper, which uses the spirit of the results collected by some of the studies, is directly derived from the diagnostics made in Latin America.

We tend to believe that a large part of the experience is applicable in other regions. Readers have to check if the conditions in other regions [Africa, Asia, Middle-East, Eastern Europe] are similar so that the methodology is applicable.

III INDUSTRIAL COUNTRIES VS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

3.1 FIGURES BACKGROUND

We gather hereafter a set of facts which we consider very significative in giving the readers a close idea of the figures involved in building research networks.

-EARN take-off was obtained between 1985 and 1987 thanks to an IBM grant for the support of international telecommunication costs, of an order of magnitude of 10 millions of US $. Note, on the way, this interesting economical fact: the research networks have allowed a large and indirect transfer of money from the computer private industry to the telecommunication national public operators!

-National networks require yearly operational budgets of the order of magnitude of the million of US $, where the main part is directed toward telecommunication cost. So far, telecommunication is the largely predominant part of the visible side of the [basically manpower and resources given free by universities] is spent in user support, hardware, programming services, local administration and national telecommunication. Yet, the largest part of the "real budget" is used to pay telecommunication cost [guess estimate between 60 and 70%]. However, the amount [and quality] of free-ware produced on behalf networking, is something worth noticing and if one could evaluate on a price basis we could be surprised by the economical importance.

-Brazil current network level [which serves less than 20% of the potential users] is strongly supported by the State of Sao Paulo which pays a yearly bill of few millions of US $.

-One of the first experiments of EARN in Africa was conducted in Ivory Coast. The level of investment for having few users gaining access was in few thousands of US $ [order of magnitude of 10,000 US$ investment per user].

-The ratio researcher population vs national population is, depending of the countries, measured in a figure between 1 and 10 for 1000 in the industrial world, let's say 10 times higher as the same figure in the developing countries.

-The Science and Technology population for France is around 200,000 persons. The same population for all Latin America and the Caribbean is also estimated at 200,000 [with much loose criterions].

-The monthly salary for a teacher in Latin America averages 150 US$.

-The salary for researchers in Latin America may in some case reach the industrial world pattern of few thousands of US $, but the bulk of the monthly salary distribution is in few hundred of US$.

-The building of the Porto Rico research network consumes a budget of the size of 20 Million of US $ [the result is a state of the art network, with multi-protocol support, full optical fiber at T1 speed between campuses, where terminals, with remote logon facility at fraction of second response time, are spread over the various campuses of several universities].

-Twenty millions of US $ is sufficient to build a Latin America proprietary regional backbone. The figure is obtained assuming a satellite transponder provided by the region as counterpart to an International Agency investment in terrestrial equipments and costs of technology transfer. The existence of such backbone will allow the decrease of the telecommunication operational yearly operational costs of an order of magnitude, says few hundreds of thousand US$.

Note: the fact the two figures are presented sequentially is not the result of a mere coincidence! That comparison says it all island of 4 millions habitants have built a state of the art research network for its 4000 research networks users [a 5,000 US$ investment per user]. With twenty millions the whole region could reach the level of basic services for its 200,000 potential users [100 US$ investment per user]. Of course, it would be unfair not to say that the first budget includes every thing from the terminal to the optical fiber, and that the second concentrates only in the backbone infrastructure and implementation costs. But anyway, it is important to identify that this is the amount of money required by the region to definitively solve the problem of generalized affordable research networking.

3.2 SOME OBVIOUS FACTS ABOUT THE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

Hereafter are gathered a set of facts which are an obvious part of the research environment of industrial countries but are hardly verified in the developing countries.

-The researchers are generally and naturally part of the Academic world, where they split harmoniously their activities between teaching and researching.

-The salary level of the researchers [several thousands of US$] allows them to be full time employees of their institutions with no much incentives for looking for more jobs.

-The large majority of the Academic institutions offers appropriate characteristics in term of budget, administrative and managing skills, computer and telecommunication skills to conduct a node creation and operation.

-The market size of the academic world for computer products justifies global national marketing investments from manufacturers of hundreds thousand of US $ yearly.

-The national packet switching networks have been developed independently of the research networks.

-The Public Administration Education and/or Science and Technology budgets are such that the support of telecommunication costs for networking is rather marginal.

If is feasible to check, one by one, if these facts are also verified in specific developing countries. Of course, the result varies depending on each country, but, in average, the large majority of these facts are not verified in most developing countries.

These obvious facts are the implicit building foundation of the research networks in the developed world. Would it be wise to use the same building model in an environment so different?

IV HOW TO GET THE MONEY FOR BUILDING AND OPERATING NETWORKS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES?

A full scale national network unit cost is on the size of the million US $. How can the required money be collected?

Directly from the using Institutions? The large majority of research centers cannot afford it, and it there is a general agreement on the need for networks to be democratically and openly accessed.

From Public Administration? Of course, the Governments should participate in financing such activities prone to contribute to the global development. But it is hopeless they can support it all: their budgets are narrow and they have to complete more urgent tasks in the Education and Research domains, like, for instance, improving the alphabetization rate and completing the creation of basic education infrastructures [one of the more urgent task being to increase teacher's salary].

Is there a hope to get strong enough contributions from the computer industry? Time have changed and the marginal benefits have become thinner for that market segment! And, anyway, the expectable return of investment does not justify "no free lunch gifts" of that level of magnitude for most developing countries.

Three alternatives remain:

1] Regional Integration. Substantial scale economies could be obtained by building regional transport infrastructures in a coordinated fashion. Furthermore, regional agreements must be obtained for the suppression of taxes on national and international telecommunications used for research networks. Last but not least, dedicating channels in a regional satellite is an appropriate way to offer a regional stable and independent solution.

A lot of money have been and is still expensed by EEC to pave the ground toward European integration in term of networking, primarily with the reinforcement of the normative politic and also with the financial in joint venture on specific advance technology domains. The motivations, both political and economical, are medium term oriented.

For developing regions, integration is an immediate financial urgency.

2] Trading with Telecommunication Operators. Most of the developing countries have very recent data network infrastructures or are on their way to build them, together with the value added services. The key importance of telecommunication infrastructures for the development have not to be demonstrated any more. Developing countries cannot afford what have been the rule in the industrial world: a rather Telecommunication entities. Furthermore, it is the interest of the Telecommunication marketers to use that tiny segment market which have a huge multiplicative factor on the whole market to help solving the chicken and egg problem which prevents the arising of the telematic market. Indeed, it appears to be more cost effective to invest in offering to the research sub-market than in commercial campaigning and advertising for the whole market...

There is a crucial area of common interests between the Telecommunication market players, the world of Science and Technology and finally the whole country development areas.

3] Multilateral Cooperation is probably the only financial way to trigger the process. The international Agencies may provide the funding to fulfill the basic regional infrastructure and act as reinforcing agent for the two first factors within regional programs framework.

Of course, one could still argues [ref 8] it is easy and cheap to build a network node, and, for the telecommunication costs, no problem: the end-user can pay a bill which is one order of magnitude cheaper than international communication by more traditional means [telephone, telex, fax]. One should also accept that this model would, without doubt, conduct to a "only-who-can-pay-research network" exclusive to the minority of third world rich universities. Is that the real credo of networking? Furthermore, is it fair to have the third world researchers pay the bill their homologous of the industrial world had subsidized?

V A PRIVATE HOT TUB VS A PUBLIC SWIMMING POOL: INTRODUCING THE TASK OF BUILDING A NETWORK

There is a common false idea resulting from the dogmatic believing toward the bottom-up magics: create a node with few users, connect it to another network and you will automatically get a network. The transformation from few users on a node toward a real national networking requires a lot of organization and engineering, and also, a lot of money!

Let's use the analogy of the hot tub and the swimming pool. You, of course, can get wet in both of them, but it is not very realistic to believe than you can offer a collective bathing service to a large community... in your personal hot tub! And if your plumber says there is no technical problem to do the transformation of your hot tub into a swimming pool, just tell him that the most delicate problem may no be the water delivery but some managing one's where he may be not skilled for, like, for instance:

-marketing the customers and their requirements in term of bathing,

-defining a billing pattern for the use of the swimming pool and

-offering swimming teachers and watching teams,

-organizing the administration and the accounting of the business,

-insuring the quality of the water, the security of the customers, and their privacy for changing clothes,

-defining a traffic pattern and hence deriving the algorithm for purification and recycling of the water,

-preparing to solve new customer requirements [towel, drinks, foods, music, sun bathing, etc.].

-and so on, and so on.

Finally, you realize that the amount of job and money necessary to transform your apartment in a public swimming pool may be such than you decide to consider professionally the problem...

This analogy does not mean to shower the intents of seeding networking by small realizations: they are necessary actions participating to the learning curve process. The point is to avoid the confusion between a 10 users mail system with a nation-wide solution!

A bad habit have been created of flagging the countries which got network access with no consideration of percentage of served users. This is a consequence of the weird solution-oriented accounting system: counting the nodes. Who really cares about the number of nodes? Product salesmen! What really matters is the number of users. The outstanding task of identifying the world accesses by country [ref 2] should evolve toward some level of user's penetration measurement. Why not distinguish at least, below 1%, below 10%, below 25%, and below and above 50%. The lack of user survey and maintained directories is not a good excuse no to do so: a best guess is better than nothing. The difference of accessing users and using users is probably more delicate, but statistical laws should apply.

The other point we want to make with the pool analogy is to struggle against the myth of the technical gurus. They are many steps to build a national research network, and the set up of the technical infrastructure, if important, is timely and money-wise predictable. Furthermore, the percentage of manpower required for a simple node connection and installation, compared with the whole task set, is rather marginal. Finally, the tasks involving organization and human relations, being much less deterministic, are more exposed to delays or failures.

Building a network have much more to do with the gathering of people under a common and structured organization scheme than installing hardwares and software!

VI WHAT IS A RESEARCH NETWORK?

A research network is a set of telematic services offered to a large user population. Beyond the setting of a network node connected to several users on one hand, and to other need be performed before the result should be qualified as such:

Briefly, superficially, and far from being exhaustive:

-Users base and needs identification [diagnostic, quantification, population growth pattern recognition, surveys, directories,...].

-Users federation within an associative structure [status, rules, partnerships...].

-Users awareness and diffusion strategy.

-Users training and permanent education.

-Users support [documentation, help desks, ...],

-Users and Service administration [profile management, security, confidentiality,...].

-Services Operation [connections and node supervision],

-Financial management [accounting and budget],

-Maintenance [prevention, detection, problem solving,...]

-Traffic Analysis and networks resource provisioning [telephone lines, X25 ports, international links, memory, modems,...].

Beyond the basic functions of e-mail, distribution lists, conferences, remote logon, file transfer, special attention must be paid, from the beginning, on the application level [directories, information networks, data bases].

Such a system is characterized by the quality of the service. The quality is a concept which summarize the global user perception of the services in regard with various system's components.

-System availability [in general for such networks, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week].

-System reliability [the confidence than the data does not get lost]

-Response times

-Maintenance [mean time between failure, mean time to solve a problem]

-Users interface quality [time to learn them, easiness in using them, functionality]

-Users support quality [mean time to resolve a user problem, confidence from the user to have his problem considered and fixed, clarity and efficiency of the documentation]

-quality of resource provisioning [if there is too much of them compared to the real traffic the bill is too high, if not enough it can seriously affect other quality factors as response time or availability]

-Migrability [ability to plan and conduct harmonious upgrades in answer to technology moves and traffic increase]

-System security

These quality concepts translate in complex engineering and managing requirements on the system, like for instance:

-benchmarking,

-system components duplication,

-remote maintenance procedures,

-queuing theory modeling for resource provisioning,

-telecommunication interfaces [protocols and hardware] strategy,

-least cost routing strategy,

-plan and control procedures.

Everything explained here-before is in fact generic of any computer based services offered to a large user population, and one should never forget that, as for any of such system, the fundamental objective is to serve the maximum of the potential users at an appropriate trade-off level between cost and quality.

Let's now be much more specific and show a set of rules, steps and statements which have been specially designed for the launching of networks in developing countries and experimented twice.

VII GUIDELINES FOR BUILDING A NETWORK IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

WARNING:

Learning to build and manage a network is obviously a never ended task. What we want to share hereafter is the level our team have reached based upon our studies and experiments. We know there is still a lot of work to do to improve the method and we urge the readers to share with us its reactions, critics and suggestion of improvements. Of course also, the presented rules may need to be adapted to particular circumstances or specific regional or national contexts.

7.1 INTRODUCTION

We are presenting three group of elements which together we name "methodological tool".

1] PROBLEM SOLVING PRIORITY SCHEME: A logical and hierarchical grouping of the type of problems, usable as a priority scheme tool.

2] STEPS: A chronological organization of the development, a task scheduling tool.

3] OTHER INGREDIENTS: An identification of the driving patterns and the appropriate ingredients which contribute to success.

7.2 PROBLEM SOLVING PRIORITY SCHEME

The problems should be treated with descending priorityfrom the top to the bottom of the pyramid presented hereafter.

I POLITICS
I
I O R G A N I Z A T I O N
I
I F I N A N C E
I
I T E C H N I C S
I

POLITICS: What Institutional model? What areas of the civil society participate to the project? In what terms and conditions? What type of relationship with the Public Administration, the Telecommunication Operator, other regional networks?

ORGANIZATION: What form of Institution? What model of development? What model of operation?

FINANCE: How to get the money? How to expense it?

TECHNICS: What network architecture and design? What implementation choices?

The hierarchical point is based on these sometimes forgotten evidences:

-It is not very satisfactory to get a perfect technical plan if there is no money to finance it. Hardly technical arguments help to get the money for a project!

-Having the money without the appropriate organization is a risk of wasting the money without getting the result done. Next time it is going to be tougher to get the same money!

-Having the technical solution, the money to buy it, and the right organization scheme, without the political will to get across the development is probably the most frustrating situation!

This pyramid does not necessarily imply a chronological order but it does imply a priority scheme for problem solving.

Next, we present a set of guidelines, deriving from the diagnostic made, and associated with each level of the pyramid.

7.2.1 POLITICS

-Associate and federate in the same project Institutions from all the areas which host researchers: Public Universities, Private Universities, Academic Research Centers, Public Administration Research Centers and Councils, Non Gubernatorial Organizations, International Agencies.

-Manage a good trade-off for the development process, maximizing the level of independence from each group and, and, at the same time, the level of participation.

-Involve directly in the development process active researchers [future end-users] and obtain, on the way, political support from their institutions on the project and on their representativeness.

These three objectives represent together the biggest challenge of the whole process.

-Use, as a constant guideline for decision making, the regional integration factor, first at the sub regional, second at the regional level.

-Look for International Agencies and/or bilateral cooperation support in a non exclusive fashion, and manage, with independence, the federation of such contributions.

-Participate to the promotion of the national data telecommunication sector [mainly X25 networks]. Integrate representatives of this sector in the process. In counterpart, negotiate the best level of support in term of tariffs for national X25 access and international links.

-Develop cooperative relationship with the industrial sector.

-Maintain, as a side-objective, the support to the Science and Technology domain. In countries where exist official and strong structure avoid to appear as a competitive structure. In that case, develop a full integration with the Official sector. An important niche of responsibility remains where the Science and Technology Council [or other Official Institution] is a driving force for networking [for instance where it provides the technical layers]: the constitution of a networking user group which can and should orient the decisions in the direction of the users general interest.

7.1.2.2 ORGANIZATION

-Get participation of the end-users in each step of the development.

-Get all the concerned Institutions at the same level in the final organization.

-Offer the same right and obligations to the Institutions coming afterward.

-Establish a consensual juridical form on non-profit making Association. For the statutes, use models from other countries and adapt them.

-Start with an informal and open step where the institutions are non officially represented by future and motivated end-users.

-Only start to formalize the juridical structure when there is a good level of consensus and a good level of participation.

-Consider user training as prioritary compared to technician training.

-Consider from the beginning the integration on the network of national information networks. Use the momentum to catalyze the building of new ones.

-Change from an "assembly" to a "committee" pattern when a sound coordination group is formed and the number of active participants is too large to maintain efficient decision making assemblies.

-Maintain global information and transparence of the coordination group activities.

-Consider the diffusion of the knowledge about networking the task of each one, and maintain openly accessible all the documents generated by the development process.

-Wehter there is a node installation phase with external support, or a Telecommunication company global offering, be organized to start technology transfer and introduce it as part of the agreement.

7.1.2.3 FINANCE

-Get International Agencies or bilateral cooperation support for the development and the education.

-Get the maximum support from National Telecommunication Operators, in particular in term of X25 access and international links.

-Try as much as possible to get your internatinal traffic flow via a neighbor country.

-Get time limited free offering for commercial Scientific Data Bases from the main vendors.

-Get national industries support for operational costs.

-Get hardware gifts from vendors.

-As a rule of the thumb, it is much preferable to formulate sponsor requirements than to receive non requested donations [we all know cases of offers of hardware where the additional costs in equipment is higher than the whole bill of purchasing a complete appropriate solution].

-Other rule which better respects freedom of selection and independence is to get donation in form of contracts with a symbolic fee.

-Establish sub-regional and regional agreements for the minimization of international connection costs.

-If exist regional training structures functioning, use them.

-Keep some level of auto-financing as a sane objective, and establish an Institution subscription fee.

7.1.2.4 TECHNICS

-Minimize the number of nodes. For countries where users count in few thousands try to manage a unique node model.

-Use UUCP as the more affordable entry solution. Introduce TCP-IP in the plan and stay open for OSI out-coming.

-If there is a reliable X25 network, enforce the usage to get to the node. If not, and if the telephone system is particularly on bad shape, consider a VSAT hub system as an alternative.

-At the user level, encourage the use of PC's as the natural way of accessing the node. Get the best free PC interface available.

7.1.3 STEPS

Four main steps are distinguished.

a] SENSITIZATION

START: Whenever somebody shows the interest of research networks to some part of the research community, being at a personal or institutional level.

END: When every potential user have reached the right level of awareness. That implies this step will overlap all the other one's for quite a while!

OBJECTIVE: Get the maximum potential user awareness.

KEY WORDS: Learning curve. Awareness.

TASKS: Operations of demonstration and promotion via different type of medias. Direct contacts with key people and Institutions.

CRITICAL PATH: Maintain the motivation of the first interested people if the process is slow. Trade-off between the will to satisfy the created expectatives and the awaiting of the critical mass.

COMMENTS: Depending of the level of maturation of the country the process may stay at this level from several months to few years. It should be taken advantage of this step to build a pattern of mutual understanding with the telecommunication operators. It should be obvious to show that most of the promotional operation beneficed to them, and it is recommended to ask for punctual sponsorship during the shows [free data network use for show for example] so that to create the natural habit.

b] CONCEPTION

START: When there is an homogeneous, representative and motivated group of end-users ready to meet toward generic objectives.

STOP: When the critical mass of participating users is such that have appeared a coordinating steering committee and the need for task division in other committees.

OBJECTIVE: Form a user group. Get consensus inside the user group on the main objectives of the whole process.

KEY WORDS: Group meeting. Motivation. Participation. Dynamic. Federation.

TASKS: Large group meeting to get agreement in basic principles. Global diagnostic and strategy for the various components [networking efforts, telecommunication, computers, research].

CRITICAL PATH: The managing of group dynamic phenomenon in term of struggle for power, leadership or hidden interests.

COMMENTS: A well rhythmed action plan is necessary to maintain the necessary momentum. The process consist to progressively transform the unstructured levels of intention of the participating users into organized and articulated committees which very concrete objectives. Note that the nature of the proces is as much important as the results, in the sense it builds the user group dynamics.

c] DEVELOPMENT

START: When the previous one stopped, meaning sub-groups meet toward specific and coordinated objectives.

STOP: When both the User Association and the network service are launched.

OBJECTIVE: Form the user Association and the network service.

KEY WORDS: Committees. Action.

TASKS: Get a coordinated action plan. Get done all the elements for the association [statutes, logo, signatures, etc]. Prepare technical solution functioning.

CRITICAL PATHS: Maintain the participation while changing to a more hierarchical form of organization. Maintain the active transparency pattern from the steering committee to the whole group. Obtain Institutional support on a user group. Obtain the right mixture of people skills and institutions in the steering committee. Distribute the sensitization process to avoid bottleneck and negative effects on development schedules.

COMMENT: This is a no joke step! There is a lot of thing to do and the point of no return after take-off is reached. The group have to go from a spectator to an actor pattern. This is very selective: during this step are going to appear the key people able to incorporate the first board of direction of the association.

d] INITIAL USE

START: When the network service is ready.

STOP: When the number of active users cross the line of 10% of the potential base and a stable operating budget is in function.

OBJECTIVE: Check of the basic elements of the model and adjust parameters.

KEY WORDS: Benchmark. User training and support. Tuning parameters.

TASKS: Formalize the pending agreements. Execute systematic user training plans. Get offices. Get a workable accounting scheme. Get a systematic diffusion scheme. Get a growth plan. Enroll employees.

CRITICAL PATH: Maintain the group motivation meanwhile they are not yet provided network accesses. Link the user training and the access providing. Create new habits for user support and avoid the telephone bottleneck. Organize systematic access distribution.

e] STABLE USE

START: When the network service is stabilized and the user growth reach a steady pattern..

STOP: Hopefully never...

OBJECTIVE: Maintain quality of the network services and serve additional user requirements.

TASKS: All the tasks involved in network operation.

CRITICAL PATH: The user satisfaction.

7.4 DRIVING PATTERNS AND OTHER INGREDIENTS

The key to the success is to maintain the cohesion and the dynamics of the group of participating people thru all the steps. Some ingredients have been identified as essential for that purpose.

A] A right trade-off between leadership and participation.

The experience have shown the need for leadership to conduct the process. The leader should be an experimented networker with an orientation toward the end-user [rather than towards technics]. It is better than the leader, who will concentrate on making happen the convergence of efforts from people of areas with different objective and interest, be clearly identified as above or aside these sectorial interests. It may be easiest to obtain from a person from an International Agency [it helps too if there is a real belonging pattern to the country] but that should not be necessary. It is required a lot of communicating enthusiasm, a good negotiating skill, and the ability to make the other participates.

Developing people participation without economic incentives is not an easy task. The success elements are the ability to make people feel they are participating to a nation-wide priority action and a permanent attitude of active transparency. The last is a very heavy objective to maintain without the use of a network! If it has to be done again, we should have opened a BBS, at the conception step, to kill two birds with one stone: provide permanent open information and start the telematic learning curve.

It is of the outmost importance to leave always the door open to other people involvement. Since all the participants offer their times on a benevolent basis, the experience shows than the level of involvement of individuals varies during the different steps of the process, the key point being that there is always a critical mass present.

B] A right trade-off between people and Institutions.

Although people are, by definition, key in the process of building a user group, institutions are the necessary foundation of the targeted result. The key people are those who manage together the end-user and the institutional points of view. They have the capability to get official representation from their Institutions when required. It should be payed attention not to leave out a complete sector because of the lack of motivated people. Finally, the success indicator is the ability to obtain Institution official support on a user based methodology. In the case of the Dominican network, the 25 Rectors, Directors or Manager of the Institutions founding the Association were asked to express formally their compromise both on the Statutes of the Association and on the name of their representative: 20 of them formally agreed upon.

C] A federative attitude implemented in the acts.

It is key to obtain, as far as possible, the identification and implication of all the persons who have an history of trying to build networks in the country and to make all the current intents join a national coordinated effort.

Experience have shown in the Latin America region a natural tendency for multiplication of national solutions and, as a consequence, some level of tensions derived from centralist attitudes.

The difference between centralistic attitude and federative is fundamental but very tricky to determine from the outside. The centralist wants to promote his/her solution as the unique solution and tends to act in order to make the competitive one's disappear. The federative wants to conglomerate the various potential solutions in a pattern of commonality, where the originality of each contribution is preserved as far as possible.

Since it is useless and endless to enter in polemics about who is really who, it is strongly recommended to maintain a coherent attitude in the action plan:

-negotiation with competitive action to try to federate efforts, -if the negotiation succeeds, do integrate [vs assimilate] the originality of the federate actions [and, of course, the people],

-if the negotiation does not succeed, maintain in the facts a cooperative and transparent attitude with competitive actions.

One should never forget that the real goal is to give access to the maximum number of satisfied users. Every solution which concourse to this objective should be treated with respect and cooperation. The competitive pattern, if sometimes difficult to understand in countries lacking resources, does provide some advantages, and at the end, the answer belongs to the users.

Each solution will eventually be measured in term of the satisfied user bases and not in term of national or international political alliances.

D] An efficient participation of national networkers residing in foreign countries having network access.

Use must be made of national researcher residing in foreign countries to support the effort, in particular for the initial use step. It is logical than new users get a bit tense on using a new communication tool. The best way to start the learning curve is the use of national cultural distribution lists involving nationals living abroad. The use will provide a natural and progressive learning mechanism and create opportunities for direct contacts. It is strongly recommended to maintain from the beginning user directories and to publish them.

VII CONCLUSION

This article will hopefully get obsolete in a few years time-frame when all the countries will have gain consistent user's base accessing research networks. Once this is done other challenges await the networkers to make their users satisfied: like, for instance, keep on with the technology, develop applications, maintain directories, provide good training and user support.

========================================================================

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. "The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems Worldwide", J.S. Quaterman, Bedford, Digital Press, 1990.

2. "International Connectivity", L. Landweber, Internet Society News, Vol 1, Nx2, pp49-52, Spring 1992.

3. "Latin American and Caribbean, networking perspectives", D. Pimienta, Internet Society News, Vol.1, Nx1, page 8, Winter 1992.

4. "E-Mail for Developing Countries- What they never tell you about it", I. Chukwudozie Ezigbalike, Shem J. Ochuodho, presented at AITEC South Conference, Harare, Nov 1991.

5- Various papers related to research networks in "Calidad, Tecnologia y Globalizacion en la Educacion Superior Latinoamericana", UNESCO/ CRESALC, July 1992.

5.1- "Preface", G. Lopez Ospina

5.2- "Dimension tecnologica de la calidad en la educacion superior", J. F. Silvio,

5.3- "Un nuevo modelo de acceso al conocimiento", M. Cartier

5.4- "EMEREC, la comunicacion audio-scripto-visual y la telemediatica", J. Cloutier

5.5- "Calidad y tecnologia informatica en la educacion superior latinoamericana", M. Casas Armengol

5.6- "Impacto de la informatica en la educacion superior de America Latina y el Caribe", H. Castillo-Bescanza

5.7- "Integrar la comunidad academica latinoamericana: un desafio para las redes telematicas", D. Pimienta

5.8- "Nuevas tecnologias e integracion academica en America Central: experiencia de la red universitaria centroamericana de informacion cientifica (REDCSUCA), E. Richards

5.9- "La red CUNET y la integracion academica en el Caribe", R. Loran Santos, R. Perez Colon

5.10- "Uso de redes electronicas y cooperacion hemisferica en la educacion superior", S. Lanfranco

5.11- "Hacia una Universidad Global Electronica Latinoamericana", T. Utsumi

5.12- "Un modelo conceptual para el analisis del mercado potencial de servicios telematicos", P. Liendo

6- "Guidelines for a computer network interconnection of the African Countries", Unesco, IIP Program document.

7- "Special edition on information and research networks", Carta Informativa NTC/NCT, Vol VI, Nx 14, Lima, IPAL (Instituto para America Latina

8. "The South American Scientific Network: an attainable, low cost, high yield reality", S. Ruth, F. Utreras, R. P. Brescia. Interciencia, Vol.15, Nx5, Sep-Oct 1990.

9- "Main Science and Technology Indicators", OECD Publication, 1992.

10- "Statistical Yearbook", UNESCO, 1992.

11- "Encuesta para el Diagnostico de la situacion de la investigacion en America Latina y el Caribe", Academia de Ciencia de America Latina, ACAL, 1991.

12- "Vision Cuantitativa de la Eduacion Superior en America Latina y el Caribe", UNESCO/CRESALC, April 1991.

13- "Telecommunications and Economic Development", R. J. Saunders and al., Washington, World Bank.

PROBLEMAS CON TELEFONICA: 14 Sep 1996 22:01:25 ARG

2006-11-25T15:31:00.001-08:00

notired: PROBLEMAS CON TELEFONICA (fwd)
Administrador del nodo (mailto:postmast@DESIGN.FADU.UBA.AR)
Sat, 14 Sep 1996 22:01:25 ARG

* Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
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Message-ID: <323b5565.design@design.fadu.uba.ar>
Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 22:01:25 ARG
From: Administrador del nodo
Subject: notired: PROBLEMAS CON TELEFONICA (fwd)
To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L

> > ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ

> > RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA INTERNET DEL PERU

> > ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ

> >

> > Estimados Usuarios:

> >

> > Desde hace 15 dias estamos sufriendo GRAVES problemas con

> > nuestras lineas telefonicas contratadas con Telefonica del

> > Peru, empresa bajo control de Telefonica de Espanha.

> >

> > Todas nuestras lineas - de manera aleatoria - o no responden

> > o atienden con musica, o se escuchan una especie de pulsos

> > que evidentemente impiden a los modems acceder a la red.

> >

> > Estos hechos han sido reportados tanto a Telefonica del

> > Peru como al Organismo Supervisor de Inversion Privada

> > en Telecomunicaciones, OSIPTEL, y se han establecido

> > pruebas sobre las mismas.

> >

> > Coincidentemente mediante resolucion expedida la semana

> > pasada OSIPTEL penalizo - por primera vez - a Telefonica

> > del Peru con 35 UIT ( Unidades Tributarias ). La sancion

> > corresponde a la controvercia iniciada por la Red Cientifica

> > Peruana sobre competencia desleal y es tipificada como

> > muy grave.

> >

> > Es a partir de ese momento que nuevamente estamos experimentando

> > todo tipo de problemas en los servicios prestados por

> > Telefonica del Peru.

> >

> > Como saben la semana pasada habilitamos 28 nuevas Lineas

> > telefonicas adicionales. Con esta nueva incorporacion

> > existen 201 lineas de las cuales 41 son de la empresa

> > Tele 2000 las que operan normalmente. Por ello recomendamos

> > comunicarse al 954-3727 .ESTAS LINEAS SON NORMALES Y NO

> > SUJETAS A LA MODALIDAD - EL QUE LLAMA PAGA - como de

> > manera maliciosa se ha hecho correr el rumor.

> >

> > Estamos trabajando - llamando a los telefonos de reparaciones

> > que no contestan - y a dirigentes de Telefonica del Peru y

> > de OSIPTEL para tratar de que se garantice el derecho de los

> > peruanos a tener una red nacional y competir en condiciones

> > de igualdad y sin el abuso de las practicas ilegales que se

> > estan utilizando para impedir una leal competencia.

> > --

> > un abrazo,

> > js

> > _______________________________________________________________________

> > PERULLAQTAMANTA LLAPANYACHANAQPA LLIKAN - RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA

> > Jose Soriano - Coordinador General - e-mail : mailto:js@rcp.net.pe

> > Av. Larco 770 - Miraflores - Lima 18 - Peru

> > Telefono: (511) 241 5689, (511) 954 4799 Fax (511) 241 1320

> > _______________________________________________________________________

> > La Libertad, Sancho,

> > es uno de los mas preciosos dones

> > que a los hombres dieron los Cielos;

> > con ella no pueden igualarse los tesoros

> > que encierra la tierra, ni el mar encubre;

> > por la Libertad, asi como por la Honra,

> > se puede y se debe aventurar la vida"

> > (Don Quijote II:58)

***** Fin del mensaje reenviado *****

La nueva alfombra mágica

2006-11-25T15:23:00.000-08:00

La nueva alfombra mágica

Raúl Trejo Delarbre

Capítulo II
Nuevas realidades.
Un perfil del poliédrico ciberespacio
Crecientes conexiones en América Latina

Las redes no son ajenas a ningún país. Técnicamente es posible conectarse con ellas desde cualquier sitio en el que hayan teléfono, computadora y módem. Su desarrollo acompaña al de los equipos de cómputo.

Al tercer trimestre de 1994, la Internet Society, una organización que estudia, discute y promueve la expansión de la red de redes, estimaba que, en el mundo, había más de 3 millones 800 mil computadoras conectadas, en un crecimiento que había sido de 21% en comparación con el del trimestre anterior.87 Seguramente se trata de computadoras que a su vez tienen varias terminales, es decir, el dato no se refiere a equipos personales.

El explosivo crecimiento de la red de redes significó más computadoras enlazadas y, desde luego, mayor circulación de mensajes. En enero de 1988 había un tráfico de 85 millones de paquetes de datos cada mes. Para enero de 1995, ya eran ¡60 mil millones! de esos paquetes, en un solo mes.88

Se estima que, en América Latina, el mercado para equipos de cómputo crecería, entre 1994 y 1997, a un ritmo de 20% anual, de acuerdo con un estudio de la International Data Corp.89 No tenemos datos completos del crecimiento en el uso de servicios en red, pero no dudamos que esté aumentando, o lo haga muy pronto, con un ritmo similar.

La revista América Economía ha proporcionado la siguiente evaluación sobre la presencia de Internet en Latinoamérica.

Número de conexiones Internet

1 julio 94

1 oct. 94

Crecimiento %

Argentina

248

1 287

419%

Perú

42

114

171

Venezuela

399

657

65

Uruguay

101

153

51

México

5 164

7 641

48

Costa Rica

544

745

37

A. Latina y Caribe

16 619

22 535

36

Fuente: "¿Quién para a Internet?" en América Economía, no. 91, Nueva York, enero de 1995, pág. 28.

En el trimestre de 1994 descrito en el cuadro anterior es evidente el crecimiento que han tenido las conexiones cibernéticas en Argentina y otros países del Cono Sur. Llama la atención el rezago registrado para México, que solamente habría experimentado un desarrollo de 48%, poco en comparación con otros. Sin embargo, hay que tomar en cuenta que debido a su cercanía con Estados Unidos, a las expectativas que suscitó el advenimiento del Tratado de Libre Comercio y a la presencia, desde tiempo atrás, de numerosas empresas estadounidenses, en México el auge de las redes electrónicas ocurrió antes que en otros países latinoamericanos. Como puede verse en el mismo cuadro, la capacidad instalada que había al comienzo del periodo allí descrito ya era mayor en México que en cualquier otro país de la región. Lo que sí ocurrió después fue que la depresión financiera, junto con las dificultades políticas, experimentadas en México entre 1994 y 1995, significaron un descenso en el ritmo de desarrollo de las comunicaciones electrónicas. La devaluación del peso, en diciembre de 1994, implicó la cancelación o al menos posposición de numerosos proyectos que dependen de insumos de importación, como es el caso de las computadoras y del software para comunicaciones, salvo pocas excepciones. Además, la ausencia de una política de explícito impulso al sector informático, como se comenta más adelante, en el caso mexicano ha significado retrasos adicionales.

Junto con las recesiones, reestructuraciones o retrocesos en las economías latinoamericanas, la adquisición de equipos de cómputo ha crecido de manera constante. Por ejemplo, México, a pesar de ser considerado como la décimo tercera economía más grande del mundo, se había convertido --al menos antes de las vicisitudes financieras de 1994-1995-- en el sexto o séptimo mercado de computadoras, de acuerdo con una información periodística especializada.90 De toda la capacidad instalada en materia de computadoras a nivel mundial, México ha contado con 0.85%, una cantidad muy pequeña comparada con 48.6% que tiene Estados Unidos, 6.9% que corresponde a Japón y 4.2% de Francia.91 México, en el séptimo sitio en cuanto a presencia en la capacidad de cómputo, es el país latinoamericano en la posición más alta. Le sigue Brasil, con 0.59%. Sin embargo, en una evaluación del nivel de infraestructura en telecomunicaciones (medido en una escala del 1 al 10) Chile recibía 8.5 puntos, Brasil 5.96, España 5.74, Venezuela 4.7, Argentina 4.66, Colombia 4.38 y México, solamente 4.35 puntos. La tabla es encabezada por Estados Unidos, con una puntuación de 9.21.92

Ese rezago en el desarrollo de las telecomunicaciones, que contrasta con la adquisición de hardware, se confirma en el escaso crecimiento de las conexiones a las redes electrónicas, que ha sido lento, desigual y en ocasiones incluso estancado, en América Latina.

A comienzos de 1995 se estimaba que de solamente 0.3% de las conexiones a Internet en todo el mundo se encontraban en esta región. Una nueva evaluación, a fines de ese año, señalaba que de 6.6 millones de anfitriones en la Internet, apenas 28 mil 500, en números redondos, se encontraba en América Central, del Sur y el Caribe, en tanto que México tenía casi 8 mil 500. Es decir, en total, menos de 0.6%. Norteamérica (Estados Unidos, Canadá y, en esa evaluación, México inclusive) tenía un total de 4 millones 500 mil de esos hosts (solamente EU 4 millones 177 mil), en tanto que Europa occidental, poco más de un millón 530 mil (España, específicamente, contaba con 40 mil, en ese recuento).93

En contraste, el mercado latinoamericano de hardware y software representaba entre 2 y 3% del mercado mundial.94 Es decir, en América Latina el ritmo de conexiones a la red de redes es mucho menor al de la adquisición de equipos de cómputo. Tenemos máquinas incluso en abundancia en comparación con otras regiones, pero no contamos con capacidad para hacerlas comunicarse entre sí ni con las que hay en otros países.

Son pocas las naciones latinoamericanas que han emprendido una política específica para un deliberado desarrollo de las redes de comunicación electrónica. Lo más frecuente es que algunas universidades, especialmente las de carácter público y por ello con subsidio gubernamental, sean las que desarrollen los accesos de cada país en la Internet, pero más bien de manera aislada, o desordenada. Paulatinamente, otras instituciones se van incorporando al mundo del ciberespacio, pero sin una política de carácter nacional.

En Perú, desde 1990 funciona la Red Científica Peruana/Perú-Internet, que menos de un lustro después ya tenía 8 mil suscriptores y era considerada como una de las redes, en el mundo, de crecimiento más acelerado. Su fundador, José Soriano, ha explicado las posibilidades de expansión, incluso más allá de usuarios académicos, de la siguiente manera: "Creemos que la región va a desarrollarse si podemos extender una red de empresas pequeñas, medianas y de gran tamaño, a todo el mundo que comprenda que --más que nunca-- la información es poder. En otro nivel, consideramos que la información es una póliza de seguros para la democracia. Mientras más información tenga la población en general, más fácil será su elección. Actualmente sólo las élites tienen acceso a las redes --sólo personas que tienen la información pueden ganar más--. El objetivo de la red se diseminará en todo Perú y luego trabajará mediante un acuerdo regional que hemos creado con otras naciones andinas".95

La red peruana trabaja en colaboración con proyectos en Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia y otros países del Area Andina, para contratar conjuntamente servicios de satélite. Los costos llegan a ser mayores que en las naciones industrializadas. "Por ejemplo --dice Soriano-- conectarse en Estados Unidos en una línea exclusiva de alta velocidad cuesta aproximadamente 2 mil dólares por mes. En Perú se tiene que pagar entre 8 mil y 14 mil dólares. Políticas de ese tipo, frenan nuestro desarrollo tecnológico".96

___________________________
Notas

87"¿Quién para a Internet? en América Economía, No. 91, N. Y., enero de 1995, p 28.
88"The Internet's explosive growth", cuadro en PC Magazine, N.Y., 16 de mayo de 1995.
89>Holly Hubbard, "Latin American distribution channel borders en change...", Computer Reseller News, 16 de mayo de 1994.
90Paul Carroll, "Onto the highway: foreign competition spurs Mexico to move...", The Wall Street Journal, N.Y., 5 de julio de 1994.
91Les siguen, del cuarto al sexto lugar, Canadá con 2.95%, España con 1.66% y Corea con 0.87%. Datos del World Competitive Report, recogidos por Rossana Fuentes Beraín en la investigación "Construyen la 'autopista informativa" en Reforma, México, 30 de noviembre de 1994.
92Ibidem.
93"Internet Hosts by Country", estudio de la Internet Society de julio de 1995, "bajado" de la página de esa institución en la WWW.
94Adolfo Casari, "Internet", en América Economía, No. 95, mayo de 1995.
95David Schrieberg, "El tercer mundo ganará al usar la información en red", artículo de Newsweek, January 16 1995, reproducido en Excélsior, 16 de enero de 1995.
96Ibidem.

Analisis Telefonica - 7 May 1996

2006-11-25T15:21:00.000-08:00

Analisis Telefonica
Jose Soriano, js@cahuide.rcp.net.pe (Jose Soriano)
Tue, 7 May 1996

Se esta hablando mucho acerca de la situacion de "competencia" entre la RCP-IP y el proyecto de Telefonica del Peru llamado INFOVIAS. Con mucha buena voluntad mucha gente esta tratando de ver cuales son las posibilidades de nuestra institucion frente a una corporacion muy grande que cuenta con ventajas monopolicas para los servicios basicos, servicio de carrier nacional e internacional.

Sin intentar fijar una posicion oficial, tratando mas bien de reflexionar de acuerdo a mi experiencia profesional y personal, creo que es necesario tener mucho cuidado al hacerlo y es una gran responsabilidad que no hay que tomar a la ligera.

Tambien que es necesario un cierto desprendimiento para pensar en los demas tratando de no exasperarse, no perder la calma, escogiendo bien las palabras para no generar inutiles flames.

En un analisis personal de cual es la situacion con respecto a los proveedores "Internet" en America Latina comparados con el Peru, creo que se debe tener en cuenta datos concretos y no percepciones:

Las redes de mayor crecimiento en America Latina, que son a su vez las de mayor crecimiento a nivel mundial, son en el trimestre noviembre, diciembre y enero, los siguientes:

1. Brasil 2,330 %
2. Mexico 110 %
4. Chile 202 %
3. Argentina 310 %
4. RCP-IP 375 %

Es cierto que no es suficiente, pero dadas las condiciones es un esfuerzo respetable. Los paises de la region que siguen han tenido un crecimiento que no alcanza al 150 %.

Si hacemos un analisis cruzado de esta data proporcionada por The Matrix y elaborada por John Quarterman,(http://www.mids.org),podremos ver que en Brasil la Rede Nacionale de Pesquisa, le pertenece al CNPQ, Centro Nacional de Pesquisa (equivalente al Concytec en el Peru), ha percibido para su constitucion y funcionamiento varios millones de dolares y es totalmente subvencionada por el estado (inicialmente por los estados de Rio y Sao Paulo) y espectacularmente dirigida por Eduardo Takahashi, quien ha obtenido por parte del Gobierno un decreto ley que la proteje ante la disputa con Embratel (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones) mediante el cual por tres anos las empresas de telefonia no pueden prestar servicio Internet. Progresivamente la Rede Nacionale de Pesquisa pasara a ser una entidad privada. Con una masiva inversion de empresas, el Estado ha creado numerosos accesos a su red nacional y ha permitido convertirse en ISP a redes como ALTERNEX.

La Comision Nacional de Desarrollo Internet creada en Brazil y Ecuador es un avance sumamente importante. Hace un poco mas de tres meses que venimos proponiendo una institucion similar en el Peru que incluya la participacion de Telefonica y OSIPTEL.

Tanto en Mexico como en Chile el crecimiento se da en un marco de total desregulacion de las telecomunicaciones, muy especialmente en Chile donde los precios bajan a niveles de costo para luego establecerse en el promedio internacional.

La desregulacion ha permitido que existan en Chile mas de 16 proveedores Internet, el mas importante de ellos REUNA, perteneciente a un consorcio de universidades y al Conicyt, ha sido subvencionada inicialmente con dos millones de dolares con una participacion economica posterior muy fuerte por parte de las universidades que conforman el consorcio, y actualmente ha adquirido un modelo de gestion casi comercial y completamente autonoma excelentemente dirigida por Florencio Utreras.

Las otras redes, algunas pertenecientes a las empresas prestadoras de servicio telefonico en el caso de Chile la red paralela iniciada por la Universidad Catolica (comprada posteriormente por una compania telefonica), todas tienen sus salidas internacionales directas a los Estados Unidos, lo cual lleva a una contradiccion que en el Peru no deseariamos repetir: 2 chilenos de 2 redes distintas para comunicarse entre si o ver sus respectivos Webs lo hacen a traves del backbone norteamericano. Esta situacion aumenta los costos de comunicacion internacional y por ende, el del usuario final.

En el caso mexicano, historicamente las dos redes mas importantes fueron las de la UNAM y la del Instituto Tecnologico de Monterey. Inicialmente subvencionadas por el equivalente al Concytec y las propias casas de estudios. La llegada de la desregulacion en telecomunicaciones ha permitido a estas dos entidades y otras nuevas armar consorcios, joint ventures y prestar servicio al publico en general. Los precios para los usuarios finales son similares o superiores a los que uno puede encontrar en los Estados Unidos.

En el caso argentino, existe un monopolio de la prestacion de servicios tanto telefonicos como del servicio Internet por parte de las concesionarias de telefonia basica Telecom de Francia, Stet de Italia y Telefonica de Espana quienes son duenas de la empresa Telintar y la empresa Startel. Han constituido un backbone TCP/IP nacional. Y por todos los medios que incluyen loby, marketing y economico, han logrado expulsar del mercado a las redes previamente existentes y convertirlas en sus "clientes". Hoy redes como la de la Universidad de Buenos Aires - UBA o la del Secretaria de Ciencia y Tecnologia - SECYT que cuentan con miles de usuarios, no pueden prestar servicios a terceros y deben pagar mensualmente US$ 6,000 mas trafico por una linea dedicada de 64K local, sin posibilidad de distribuirla, lo que lleva hasta hace poco a US$ 45,000 mensuales.

En el caso de la red peruana, se trata de una red de redes nacional "no subvencionada"por el Estado, totalmente independiente que en el lapso de 4 anhos ha logrado un crecimiento mayor que el logrado por otras redes pre-existentes y que cuentan con mayores recursos econo- micos y apoyo del Estado, en paises de similar tamanho y desarrollo economico.

Hay que destacar tambien que la RCP-IP se creo en el peor momento de crisis institucional, economica y en medio de la violencia y las bombas.

Todas las redes Internet sean de America Latina o de paises con mayor desarrollo, inclusive los EEUU, tienen usuarios similares en cuanto a edad, sexo, composicion social, etc. Es cierto que en los paises desarrollados hay mas cantidad de maquinas anfitrionas (hosts).

La falta de capacidad de inversion propia (de RCP-IP), la falta de una politica nacional de promocion de estas tecnologias, la concentracion urbana de la infraestructura de telecomunicaciones, y diversas razones politicas exogenas han generado una alta concentracion de los servidores ( hosts) en Lima, y una alta concentracion de usuarios en barrios como Miraflores, San Isidro, la Molina, etc... (ver en el WWW estudio de impacto social de la RCP-IP).

Tambien es cierto que desde mayo de 1994 venimos bregando por la instalacion de servidores (hosts)departamentales que permitan la integracion de una verdadera red IP nacional con acceso local en los 23 departamentos del Peru. Por diferentes razones, fundamentalmente obstruccion de diferentes tipos, mala informacion, no han podido ser instalados hasta la fecha.

Se intento suplir la falta de capital con la promocion de consorcios regionales que realicen dicha inversion de manera autonoma y autosuficiente.

Estos consorcios ( 15 hasta la fecha) han visto obstaculizada e impedida su interconexion durante todo 1995 mediante rumores o por falta de conocimiento.Tambien han influido los altos precios solicitados por Telefonica y la mala fe de algunas personas que a sabiendas o por querer ayudar han favorecido intereses contrarios al desarrollo de las propias instituciones y el nacional.

El presidente de Telefonica del Peru, Sr. Rafael Hernandez, como otros funcionarios de dicha corporacion han manifestado en numerosas oportunidades que INFOVIA no es una red Internet. Que no permite el "acceso" a Internet sino que es un "intermediario", una red nacional TCP/IP --al igual que en la Argentina-- y que seran otros los que prestaran el servicio de "acceso" a Internet.

Esta red IP privada que permitira inicialmente el acceso telefonico cobrara una tarifa de US$ 2.00 la hora al usuario final. Nunca se ha explicitado si a esta tarifa hay que agregarle el costo del llamado local o es el costo del mismo.

Basicamente, permite el acceso a un servidor (tcp/IP) que mediante un software "Microsoft" permitira "loguearse" y mediante una interfase compuesta de iconos, el usuario podra "acceder" a servicios de valor agregado que pueden ser "acceso a Internet" o "bancos de datos locales sin acceso a Internet". La linea telefonica el software y el modem seran vendidos por Telefonica.

Quien quiera proveer de servicios de valor agregado a traves de INFOVIA debera contar con una conexion dedicada a la infraestructura de Telefonica del Peru (n x 64), tener un router(que debera ser alquilado o comprado a Telefonica) y una linea dedicada que tambien debera pagar a Telefonica del Peru.

Los colegas espanholes asistentes al Foro hablan maravillas del sistema en Espanha. No obstante ello por lo menos un proveedor de Servicios de Valor Agregado en Espanha, el consorcio formado por el Banco Santander y la Telecom de Inglaterra iniciaron un reclamo ante las autoridades espanholas por "competencia desleal" y no igualdad de precios. ( Fuente diario Clarin de Buenos Aires).

Los colegas espanholes asistentes al Foro nos indicaron que por un servicio basico para poner un servidor, el proveedor de servicios de valor agregado, debe pagar en Espana alrededor de US$ 10,000 por mes mas trafico por una conexion de 64 k.(Esta informacion no he podido confirmarla).

Segun lo explicitado por funcionarios de Telefonica si el llamado del usuario viene de provincias, el proveedor debera pagar a "INFOVIA" el costo de la llamada nacional. Lo que hace que en realidad se traslade el costo del usuario al prestador de servicio que debera de todas maneras trasladarlo a los precios.

Creo que es necesario aclarar la diferencia de "vision" con respecto a que es una red nacional.

Telefonica propone en la practica con el proyecto INFOVIA una red centralizada que le pertenece,una red TCP/IP, con un topologia de estrella donde el corazon de la misma se encuentra en Telefonica o en sus subsidiarias.

Esta red TCP/IP no es prestadora de "acceso a Internet", es en la practica una red Internet no conectada al backbone internacional. Tiene aspiraciones de ser UNICA via de acceso y esta tambien relacionada con la guerra comercial "Netscape" y Microsoft.

El "acceso" a Internet se hace a traves de quienes quieran comprarle este servicio a un proveedor autonomo en los Estados Unidos (UUNET, SURANET, MCI, etc.)o a Telefonica del Peru quien le compra el servicio a su vez a UUNET.

El proyecto Red Cientifica Peruana no propone el "acceso a Internet" sino que propone la construccion de una red de redes nacional Internet completamente autonoma que sea propiedad genuina de los usuarios de la misma. En este sentido, cada una de las instituciones propietarias de la red puede constituir dentro de su propio ambito una o varias redes, interconectarlas y eventualmente prestarle servicio a terceros.

El proyecto de la Red Cientifica Peruana consta de 5 etapas:

En la primera y segunda se procuro generar la "masa critica" de usuarios y el know how local que permitiria la constitucion de una red distribuida TCP/IP dentro de la mayor cantidad de instituciones posibles en todo el Peru. Tambien generar los fondos necesarios para lograr la conexion internacional de las redes Internet del Peru "con el esqueleto de comunicaciones internacional" pues inicialmente es solo una red UUCP conectada via llamada telefonica internacional.

Estos objetivos se completaron en febrero de 1994.

Para poder lograrlo, fue necesaria la "evangelizacion" y educacion tanto de los usuarios como de las instituciones para que ninguna de ellas tenga predominio o pueda "hacerse propietaria" del patrimonio colectivo.

Tambien para evitar la constitucion de "puertas traseras" que impidan el aprovechamiento de una economia de escala y por ende, el financiamiento en conjunto de la infraestructura y la conectividad nacional e internacional.

En la tercera etapa se plantea la construccion de un esqueleto de comunicaciones nacional con una topologia distribuida que aumente la masa critica de instituciones usuarias y que permita en una economia de escala, pagar los correspondientes costos de infraestructura y telecomunicaciones nacionales e internacionales de una manera consorciada sin que esto signifique para las instituciones una inversion de montos considerables.

Por el contrario, que con la simple cuota mensual sea posible constituir esta infraestructura nacional, aumentar el ancho de banda internacional y reducir los costos en concepto de cuota social constantemente hasta llevarlas a equivalentes internacionales.

Es en esta etapa que se generan los 15 primeros consorcios regionales que intentan conectarse entre si para constituir el esqueleto troncal de comunicaciones del Peru, tratando que las redes Internet peruanas constituidas en la asociacion Red Cientifica Peruana, de manera auto- suficiente, cuenten con por lo menos 2 salidas de conexion al esqueleto troncal de comunicaciones internacional.

Este objetivo se cumplio parcialmente a principios de 1996 al abrirse el segundo canal internacional( 256 k )a traves de MCI, siendo el primero a traves de Sprint tambien de ( 256 k) . Esta redundancia permite una gran fiabilidad en el servicio al estar en dos lugares del backbone internacional lo que da un mayor alcance al propagarse las rutas por dos vias y que en caso de caida de uno de los canales los usuarios solo noten cierta lentitud pero la conexion no sea interrumpida.

Se prevee la instalacion de dos a tres puntos conectados al backbone internacional NO INSTALADOS EN LIMA, uno en Arequipa y el otro en Chiclayo o Trujillo y todos interconectados a nivel nacional. (Proyecto backbone 1994 )

Las dificultades de falta de infraestructura nacional basica, fibra optica u otras tecnologias que permitan acceso de alta velocidad a provincias, o en el caso de existir como ocurrio hacia fines de ese anho, a los altos precios solicitados por la empresa Telefonica, impidieron que se cumplieran estos objetivos.

Tambien las universidades se vieron confundidas durante un ano de constantes reuniones con Telefonica del Peru en el proyecto de la Asamblea Nacional de Rectores y CONCYTEC. Este proyecto termino siendo presupuestado por Telefonica del Peru en US$ 11'000,000, donde se hizo evidente el deseo centralizador y un costo muy alto pues exigia a cada universidad 50.000 dolares para tener "acceso a Internet".

Esta etapa que no ha podido ser completada fue obstaculizada en nuestra opinion (aunque nos somos duenos de la verdad y puede tratarse solamente de "ignorancia") por la empresa prestadora de servicios telefonicos con la intension de posicionarse en el mercado y una vez lanzado el servicio IP (INFOVIA) privado con precios dumping, actualmente no le cobran nada a aquellos que quieran conectarse, sacarle la masa critica a nuestra asociacion para, de esta manera, constituir un monopolio de facto tambien en los servicios de valor agregado.

Esto no lo hacen por que sean malos. Lo hacen porque explicitamente - como nos lo han dicho en varias oportunidades - NO QUIEREN QUE SE CONSTRUYA UNA RED NACIONAL que no sea la de Telefonica.

El que no exista una red nacional independiente - segun ellos - les garantizaria que al acabar el periodo de monopolio en 1999, los proveedores de servicios de valor agregado, dificilmente puedan cambiarse de "carrier", aunque otra companhia ofrezca mejores precios. Esta estrategia de Telefonica - a mi entender equivocada - confunde el enemigo estrategico ( las grandes multinacionales de telecomunicaciones) y en lugar de crearse aliados nacionales que le garanticen fidelidad futura trata de sojusgarlos a una interfase unica, mediante un unico intermediario, que imposibilite una posterior eleccion.

No me es posible darles el contenido de todas las negociaciones pasadas y presente ni el tenor de algunos documentos intercambiados con esta empresa por razones de etica profesional.

Telefonica del Peru esta intentando hacer que el organismo regulador OSIPTEL, consideren a las redes Internet (TCP/IP) no como un servicio de valor agregado como es considerado en cualquier lugar del mundo. Como todos saben las redes IP pueden ser transportadas por cualquier tipo de soporte fisico ( radio, fibra, cobre, conmutada o no - telefonia, x25, Frame Relay, ISDN, etc).

Sostienen que se trata de una red de transporte equivalente al x25, Frame Relay. Aceptar esto equivale a que en el Peru una red IP se encuentre dentro de los servicios "reservados" por contrato y por la concesion otorgada a Telefonica del Peru en condiciones de unico prestador. En el mejor de los casos seria necesario solicitar una licencia de prestador de Servicios Finales (casi imposible de obtener por alguien que no sea Telefonica).

Tanto el equipo profesional como el Consejo Directivo de la RCP-IP, creen en la competencia cuando esta es leal y se hace garantizando un minimo de condiciones de igualdad.

Frente a esta situacion, la Red Cientifica Peruana desde hace 3 meses viene proponiendo a OSIPTEL como unica garantia para el cumplimiento de la ley peruana, y garantia de REAL COMPETENCIA para todos lo siguiente:

1. Constitucion de un "Esqueleto de Comunicaciones (backbone) Neutro" que no le pertenezca ni a la Red Cientifica Peruana ni a IBM ni a Telefonica del Peru. Mediante la aplicacion de tecnologia todos aquellos que quieran prestar servicios de valor agregado,tienen acceso garantizado a equipamiento controlable por todos y en conjunto se le le paga a Telefonica del Peru el uso de su infraestructura fisica.
2. Que se les permita a los operadores de servicios de telecomunicaciones de valor agregado el acceso irrestricto en igualdad de condiciones a la infraestructura de Telefonica del Peru a precios razonables cercanos a los precios internacionales.
3. Que el Estado Peruano garantice el cumplimiento de la ley de telecomunicaciones y los contratos firmados con la empresa prestadora de servicios obligandola a prestar los servicios solicitados de manera inmediata.
4. Establecer una Comision Nacional con participacion de Telefonica del Peru, de entidades del Gobierno, de ONG's, universidades, etc., para promover el desarrollo y la creacion de manera conjunta de una red nacional TCP/IP que responda a las necesidades de todos los peruanos.

Debemos destacar que OSIPTEL realiza sus mejores esfuerzos en este sentido. Pero tambien que esta haciendo un dificil camino de apren- dizaje tratando de acercar lo mas posible a la legislacion con la la nueva tecnologia. Como en todo aprendizaje - por mas rapido que este se realice - hay zonas grises que son muy bien aprovechadas por Telefonica que aprovecha su propia ignorancia de lo que es Inter- net. Como todos sabemos la ignorancia es audaz.

La quinta etapa preve la creacion de proveedores Internet independientes, quienes al igual que en los Estados Unidos, le compran a una red autonoma la capacidad de acceso al backbone nacional e internacional y su capacidad de administracion servicio de DNS, asesoria y otros.

Esta etapa que estaba prevista para el ano 1997 y ha sido adelantada , los ISP son subsidiarios de la red autonoma nacional, que opera un esqueleto nacional IP mediante un comite conformado por los consorcios departamentales tanto en sus aspectos politicos como tecnicos.

Para comprender esta situacion y saber de que estamos hablando, veamos que deber hacer un norteamericano o una empresa que desee ser ISP (Internet Service Provider):

1. Solicitar a una empresa prestadora de servicios carrier una conexion nacional hacia el punto de acceso de su preferencia, en lo posible lo mas cercano. Es decir, una linea punto a punto alquilada entre sus instalaciones y las de una red autonoma (UUNET, SURANET, MCI, SPRINT, etc.).
2. Firmar un contrato con dicha red autonoma. Los contratos por lo general van de US$ 1,800 a US$ 3,000 mensuales, variando de acuerdo a la cantidad de anos por la cual se firma el contrato (1,3 y 5 anhos).
3. Comprar el equipamiento y las lineas telefonicas necesarias para prestar el servicio a terceros (servidores, routers, comservers, modems, etc.).

Los precios en los Estados Unidos para convertirse en ISP son considerablemente mas bajos que los que uno puede obtener en el Peru. Por ejemplo, una T1 (compuesta por 24 canales de 64K) en los Estados Unidos cuesta entre US$ 1,500 y US$ 2,500 mensuales mas lineas telefonicas, y el equipamiento para los ISP's tienen enormes descuentos pues son proveedoras de trafico para los que llegan hasta un 35% en el Peru. Es necesario, ademas de los precios internacionales por el equipamiento, pagar un 25% de impuesto, un 10% de transporte y seguro y ademas es necesario traer el doble de equipo para garantizar su redundancia pues no se cuenta con servicio local que garantice su reemplazo dentro de las 48 horas.

Las telecomunicaciones hacen que un canal de 64K cueste en Lima US$ 380 mensuales mas I.G.V. y si se trata de un canal nacional, esto aumenta hasta US$ 3,700 mas I.G.V. aunque a veces este precio puede ser US$ 4,800 y hasta de US$ 5,800, dependiendo de la cara del cliente. Esto hay que pagarselo a Telefonica del Peru. Que seria el carrier nacional.

La Red Cientifica Peruana ademas de los nodos concentradores ha propuesto desde la semana pasada que los que deseen convertirse en ISP's en el Peru, ligados a la Red Cientifica Peruana solo necesitan una conexion local (64 x n) mas un pago mensual de entre US$ 1,800 y US$ 3,800 siendo la menor cantidad por 5 anos y la mayor por un ano.

Es decir, un ISP peruano con acceso al punto mas cercano al backbone nacional e internacional obtendria precios razonables para competir con proveedores internacionales (ISP).

Esto no implica que la Red Cientifica Peruana va a dejar de continuar su crecimiento en asociados tanto a nivel de redes como de usuarios individuales, procurando mantenerse como "reguladora" de la calidad de servicio y de los precios por su simple presencia. No olvidemos que por sus caracteristicas a mayor cantidad de usuarios menores precios por lo cual de seguir la tendencia actual se podrian reducir los precios de acceso individual a precios sin competencia internacional.

Simultaneamente para preservar la red nacional, la institucion esta globalizando (internacionalizando) sus servicios como manera de garantizar los ingresos y acrecentarlos para continuar su crecimiento y la reduccion de los precios con el dinero asi obtenido.

En tal sentido, hemos abierto nuestro primer servidor peruano (ekeko.rcp.net.pe) en Houston, Texas mediante un joint venture realizado con la empresa Americas Exchange. Y estamos prestando servicio en los EEUU. El dinero asi recuperado permitira mante- ner tarifas mas bajas, mas infraestructura y mejores servicios.

Dos de las mas grandes corporaciones de telecomunicaciones internacionales se han acercado a hacerle propuestas a la Red Cientifica Peruana para que esta en una estructura de "partnership", sin perder su autonomia, sus caracteristicas, los tipos de servicio que presta y sin comprometer la propiedad de la misma que se encuentra en manos de sus usuarios, pueda prestar servicios a nivel regional e internacional en espanol que incluya los Estados Unidos y contar con el soporte de un gigante.

Estas propuestas estan siendo estudiadas cuidadosamente en una negociacion que se lleva a cabo hora a hora.

Para concluir, creo que es necesario entender los terminos de los cuales estamos hablando y la complejidad de los mismos. Hubieramos deseado desde hace muchos anhos la comprension de las empresas de telefonia y dedicarnos a nuestro trabajo especifico. No tener que perder el tiempo en otros temas que no sean el dotar a la sociedad civil de una poderosa herramienta de desarrollo.

La situacion puede resumirse, la Red Cientifica Peruana es una red autonoma, la cuarta en crecimiento a nivel regional en las peores condiciones, sin haber contado nunca con el beneficio de la duda ,ni ninguna subvencion, sino con el esfuerzo genuino de toda una sociedad por dotarse de una red nacional. Como lo hemos comprobado con acciones no nos asustan los grandes desafios, no nos asusta ninguna competencia, no nos detenemos a mirar lo mucho que se ha hecho sino TODO LO MUCHO QUE FALTA POR HACER...

La internet al servicio de la sociedad civil peruana

2006-11-25T15:18:00.000-08:00

Forum de Comercio Internacional - No. 3/2000

«Independientemente de su nivel de ingresos, más personas han podido tener acceso a lo que hasta hace poco se consideraba como un símbolo de prestigio social. La RCP ha contribuido a fortalecer la sociedad civil.»

La Red Científica Peruana (RCP) es una organización sin fines de lucro creada en 1991 con el propósito de desarrollar la red de internet en el Perú. La RCP trabaja en cooperación con 43 instituciones asociadas. Como principal proveedor de servicios de internet en el Perú, imparte capacitación a más de 50.000 personas en el marco de cafés o cabinas públicas de internet, equipados cada uno con 20 computadoras personales. Basada en un modelo cooperativo, la RCP ha creado 680 cabinas públicas en todo el país, para ofrecer un acceso barato tanto en comunidades urbanas como rurales. La RCP ha captado cerca del 50% del mercado de la internet en el Perú, y su cifra de negocios en 1999 fue de US$ 6 millones.

Durante la reunión de intercambio de ideas sobre comercio electrónico (julio de 2000), Emmanuel Barreto, funcionario del CCI y experto en internet y servicios de cibercafés, entrevistó a José Soriano, Gerente General de la RCP.

P. ¿Qué significado tiene para usted la internet?

R. La red internet es un nuevo paradigma, sobre el cual hemos basado el 100% de nuestras actividades. Como empresa, la RCP se propuso colmar los déficit existentes en los campos de las telecomunicaciones y la información. Se trataba de utilizar las nuevas tecnologías para proporcionar acceso en zonas del país donde la población estaba más desatendida. Rápidamente, pasamos de la telefonía a la internet, que se convirtió en el elemento central de nuestra estrategia en las primeras fases de nuestro crecimiento.

P. ¿Cómo se ha servido de la internet la RCP?

R. Empezamos por examinar la situación social y económica del Perú. Comprendimos que no podíamos aplicar el modelo predominante de desarrollo de la internet y de la cultura propia de la red. En casi todos los países industrializados, la internet comenzó en las universidades; luego, se comercializó y extendió progresivamente al resto de la sociedad. En el Perú, la internet fue usada primero por intelectuales y personas acomodadas. La RCP aplicó un enfoque «desde la base», es decir, se concentró en el establecimiento de las cabinas públicas y los centros comunitarios de internet, con el fin de prestar servicios a la población en general e interesarla por estos medios.

En nuestro primer intento utilizamos líneas telefónicas alquiladas a las universidades; no se trataba de líneas conmutadas, debido a las deficiencias de la infraestructura de telecomunicaciones. Queríamos poder llegar a todos los peruanos, dentro y fuera del país, y la fórmula del alquiler era más adecuada para niveles bajos de precios e ingresos. No obstante, dadas las diversas limitaciones de este método, la RCP optó finalmente por utilizar líneas telefónicas conmutadas. Como el escaso número de teléfonos y computadoras era un obstáculo, tuvimos la idea de crear una red de cafés internet. En Perú se los conoce como «cabinas públicas», pues se basan en la idea de que el acceso a la internet debería ser posible desde instalaciones públicas, al igual que los servicios telefónicos. En 1993 se envió el primer mensaje electrónico a partir de una cabina instalada por la RCP.

De 1991 a 1995, la RCP experimentó un crecimiento de 2.096% en la prestación de servicios y de 300% en la cantidad de usuarios. Ese inesperado y formidable éxito intensificó la creatividad. La RCP extendió sus actividades a campos más comerciales. Manteniendo su condición de entidad sin fines de lucro, nuestra Asociación ha adoptado enfoques de gestión empresarial. La rentabilidad anual de la RCP ha fluctuado entre 21% y 23% durante los últimos diez años, y las utilidades se han reinvertido íntegramente en la Red. En particular, se constituyó una empresa, Infoductos y Telefónicas del Perú, de la que la RCP posee el 48%. Esta iniciativa nos ha permitido aumentar nuestras posibilidades de inversión, dentro de los límites que define la condición jurídica de organización no gubernamental.

También creamos los centros comunitarios de internet, con el objetivo de hacer entrar las empresas y los particulares en la nueva era de las tecnologías de la información. Estos centros, de vocación educativa, ayudan a las comunidades a aprender a servirse de la internet, así como de los equipos y los distintos programas informáticos. Sabíamos que sin esos conocimientos, nuestro pueblo y los empresarios no podrían sobrevivir en las nuevas condiciones mundiales.

P. ¿Cuáles han sido las tres mayores dificultades con que ha tropezado la estrategia de su organización?

R. En primer lugar, la falta de dominio de la internet y la necesidad de constituir una «masa crítica». Luego, el marco legislativo y reglamentario, y por último, la escasez de capital inicial.

P. ¿Cómo resolvió la RCP el problema principal, a saber, la carencia de conocimientos?

R. Aplicamos una estrategia doble, integrada, en los campos de la comunicación y de la información. Había que desarrollar tanto los canales de comunicación como el contenido de la información. La estrategia tenía por objetivo dos categorías de población: las personas acostumbradas a trabajar con contenidos de información y el público en general. La cuestión de crear una «masa crítica» se resolvió colaborando en una primera etapa con quienes tenían práctica en el manejo de información. Fue así como se capacitó a periodistas, bibliotecarios, expertos en medios múltiples y otros profesionales sobre la forma de sensibilizar a la opinión pública, es decir, al segundo grupo meta. Este trabajo de preparación del público despertó el interés de la gente por las nuevas tecnologías, y nuestras cabinas públicas pusieron a su disposición los medios técnicos necesarios.

La etapa siguiente fue la formación de competencias técnicas locales, en cuatro niveles:

* Oferta de una base técnica. Para impartir los conocimientos técnicos fue necesario organizar los centros comunitarios, adecuadamente equipados.
* Preparación de la información pertinente. En nuestros países, el acopio de informaciones no es una actividad sistemática, a la que se dé la importancia debida. Por lo tanto, hubo que crear conciencia sobre la necesidad de recopilar datos. Por ejemplo, en el sector de la pequeña empresa peruana, volcada hacia las comunidades locales, las novedades han circulado tradicionalmente de boca en boca. El uso de la internet para la promoción comercial u otras necesidades no es algo habitual. En el Brasil, en cambio, existe ya una cultura de la información relacionada con la internet; por ejemplo, los consumidores pueden navegar en la red para comparar precios de artículos de consumo.
* Adopción de los instrumentos adecuados, y traducción de textos al español. Correo electrónico, protocolos FTP y HTML, y otros programas (por ejemplo, de contabilidad), es decir, los instrumentos necesarios para construir interfaces. Además, la RCP tradujo al español todos los principales manuales de uso, que puso a disposición de los centros.
* Creación de aplicaciones empresariales, como comunidades y fachadas de tiendas virtuales. El primer año, dimos formación a 60.000 personas en todo el país.

Una vez que sistematizamos estos esfuerzos, nos abocamos a resolver los problemas técnicos que había en nuestro país. Las dificultades de organización cambiaron desde el momento en que comprendimos mejor la tecnología y la importancia de la información. Nuestra meta es lograr que las empresas ganen eficacia y competitividad utilizando medios informatizados. En fin de cuentas, independientemente del nivel de ingresos, más personas han podido tener acceso a lo que hasta hace poco se consideraba como un símbolo de prestigio social. La RCP ha contribuido a fortalecer la sociedad civil.

P. ¿Cómo superó la RCP los obstáculos relativos a la legislación y reglamentaciones?

R. Lograr un entendimiento en cuanto a la necesidad de dotarse de una legislación favorable a la creación de un entorno digital ha sido una empresa difícil. De hecho, las cuestiones legislativas y de reglamentación se plantean en todos los países. La solución ideal no existe. Con todo, un factor favorable es la aceptación universal de la internet.

P. ¿Qué hizo la RCP para compensar la escasez de capitales?

R. Reinvirtiendo los beneficios. El número de usuarios de las cabinas públicas y los centros comunitarios ha crecido geométricamente; hoy, tenemos 680 cabinas en todo el Perú. En ocho años, el valor de mercado de la RCP se elevó a US$ 30 millones. Este valor es utilizado como garantía por la sección comercial para captar recursos de microcrédito en los mercados internacionales. De varios países latinoamericanos y de otros continentes nos han consultado con miras a la instalación de la misma estructura. El modelo ha sido usado por el programa InfoDev del Banco Mundial, por la Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones y por el programa Acacia del Gobierno canadiense, que se concentra en el desarrollo de la internet en varios países de África.

José Soriano estudió sociología en Argentina, y obtuvo un doctorado en Ciencias Políticas de la Haute École d’Études Politiques de París. Antes de fundar la RCP, trabajó como redactor comentarista para diarios y radios en Argentina.

Emmanuel Barreto es Asesor Adjunto de Promoción Comercial del CCI, y trabaja para el Programa de Promoción del Comercio Sur-Sur.

INTERNETSANTE!

2006-11-25T15:02:00.001-08:00

INTERNETSANTE!

La red de redes experimenta un rápido crecimiento en Latinoamérica y el Caribe.

Internet es la revolución que está barriendo el globo con tal rapidez que las empresas están tratando desesperadamente de entender que es lo que ocurre y como aprovechar esta nueva oportunidad. No pocas organizaciones están explorando como dar un mejor uso a Internet, en particular a la WWW (World-Wide Web), para aplicaciones de negocios tales como mercadeo, relaciones publicas, soporte al cliente, ventas e intercambio electrónico de información. Internet tiene posibilidades ilimitadas, pero deja a las compañías con muchas más preguntas que respuestas.

Que es Internet?

Internet, también conocida como el ciberespacio, la supercarretera de información, la red de redes, Infobahn, etc. es una vasta colección de redes interconectadas. Sus orígenes ocurrieron a fines de la década del 60. Cuatro computadoras en la costa oeste de los Estados Unidos fueron interconectados como parte del proyecto ARPAnet. Este proyecto estableció un sistema de comunicación totalmente descentralizado que ofrecía mayor seguridad ante el peligro de destrucción por efecto de una guerra nuclear. El diseño de ARPAnet, la base de Internet, mantenía un conjunto de computadoras interconectadas entre sí.

El funcionamiento del sistema se puede graficar como sigue:

Una primera computadora (A) manda un mensaje con destino a otra computadora (B). Este mensaje, que contiene la dirección de B, se divide en "paquetes" los cuales se envían previamente a una tercera computadora (C) la cual busca la mejor ruta disponible hacia B y envía el mensaje. Si la computadora C desaparece, A retiene el mensaje y trata de hacer el envío através de otras computadoras (D, E, etc.). De esta forma la información nunca se pierde y dispone de varias rutas para llegar a su destino.

En la actualidad Internet es una vasta coleccion de redes interconectadas. A la fecha Internet conecta más de 100 000 redes independientes.

Porqué es importante?

Es evidente que la cantidad de información a la que se puede acceder es enorme dependiendo de los recursos técnicos que se dispongan. Algunos puntos que resaltan la importancia de la red de redes son:

· Proporciona rápido acceso a recursos y servicios de información mundiales.

· Provee una red de fomento de la educación, investigacion, ciencia y tecnología.

· Permite una rápida comunicación con clientes, proveedores y empleados.

· Brinda informacion sobre las empresas, sus productos y sus servicios a clientes potenciales.

· Aumenta el alcance de las empresas. Puede convertirlas en entidades globales y operativas las 24 horas del día.

Internet en Latinoamérica y el Caribe

En toda Latinoamérica y el Caribe existen redes que proveen servicios de Internet. Dentro de estas redes se encuentran centros de investigación, organizaciones gubernamentales y no gubernamentales, redes científicas, redes universitarias y redes académicas.

Los siguientes hechos nos dan una idea del desarrollo de Internet en Latinoamérica y el Caribe en relación al resto del mundo:

· Internet duplicó su tamaño en 1994 y lo ha estado haciendo cada año desde 1988. Es el medio de comunicación que más rápido ha crecido. El libre flujo de la información ha hecho posible el crecimiento asombroso de la red de redes.

· Internet hace posible nuevas formas de economía activa. Más de 2.5 millones de personas en el mundo han adquirido productos y servicios através de la WWW.

· Cerca de 110 paises en el mundo tienen acceso directo a Internet. Si las redes de correo electrónico se toman en cuenta, entonces son 175 paises (Julio 1996) conectados a la red de redes. Todos los países de Latinoamérica y el Caribe (salvo Grenada, Saint Kitts y Nevis y San Vicente y las Granadinas) tienen por lo menos servicio de correo electrónico.

· Internet congrega cerca de 12 millones de servidores, aproximadamente el 70 por ciento se encuentra en los Estados Unidos. Latinoamérica y el Caribe representan el 1 por ciento con aproximadamente 106 000 servidores.

· Según el "Cyberatlas" de I/PRO, el crecimiento de servidores en español y portugués ha crecido a un ritmo de 40 a 45% en 6 meses (Enero-Junio 1996), mostrando un crecimiento similar al de los servidores en inglés (46%).

· En Octubre de 1995 había 100 000 usuarios de Internet en Latinoamérica y el Caribe.

La distribución geográfica de Internet en Latinoamérica y el Caribe según "Network Wizards" es como sigue:

De acuerdo a esta fuente, Brasil, México y Chile están a la vanguardia. Bajo la categoría de "Otros" se incluye a los países que poseen menos de 300 servidores.

La manera como surgieron estas redes es diversa. Por ejemplo, el caso de la Red Científica Peruana (RCP) es único, pues esta surgió como una entidad de carácter cooperativo no financiado por el gobierno. La RCP busca la expansión de su servicio a nivel nacional de manera autofinanciada.

Así mismo, el estado de desarrollo de las redes es distinto en cada país. Jose Soriano, miembro fundador de la Red Científica Peruana, afirma que las únicas redes Internet en América del Sur en pleno crecimiento son las del Peru y Chile. "En Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia y Ecuador están agonizantes. Y en el Perú no estamos libres de problemas", sostiene Soriano.

Qué se necesita para "surcar el Ciberespacio"

Varios niveles de comunicación electrónica están disponibles. Los requerimientos mínimos son una computadora, una línea telefónica, un módem, y el acceso a un servidor el cual debe estar conectado a otros servidores de Internet. La persona o entidad que desea suscribirse obtiene una cuenta en el servidor, lo cual generalmente supone el pago de una cuota fija por uso del servicio. En algunos casos existe un costo adicional por el tiempo utilizado en la conexión y posiblemente cargos extra por transferencia de mensajes desde el servidor hacia la computadora del usuario subscriptor.

Los servicios en Internet incluyen:

· Envío y recepción de correo electrónico (e-mail).

· Uso de los grupos de noticias, listas de interés o de discusión.

· Conexión remota con Telnet.

· Información sobre un usuario en particular mediante Finger.

· "Conversaciones" por teclado en IRC (Internet Relay Chat).

· Transferencia de archivos con FTP (File Transfer Protocol).

· Búsqueda de archivos através de Archie.

· Sistema de menús con Gopher.

· Creación de menús de índices de información con Verónica.

· Consultas a bases de datos indexadas con WAIS.

· WWW (World Wide Web).

Finalmente, una buena dosis de curiosidad y paciencia son requeridas al momento de navegar por Internet.

Correo electrónico (E-mail)

Es la aplicación ás popular. Su instalación y uso es relativamente sencillo. Los mensajes por correo electronico pueden ser enviados a todo el que se subscriba a una red. Puede ser usado para transmitir documentos de negocios. Un mensaje puede ser enviado a un gran número de direcciones electrónicas. Un ejemplo de esto son las listas de interés, las cuales permiten mantener una discusión en torno a uno o varios tópico entre un gran número de personas, estén donde estén, en cualquier parte del mundo donde haya acceso a Internet. El tiempo invertido en el envío de un mensaje depende de su complejidad. Por ejemplo, el envío de imágenes toma más tiempo que el envío de textos.

WWW

La World Wide Web,W-3, la Web o la "wa wa wa" (según el "CyberSpanglish dictionary" de Yolanda Rivas) fue originalmente diseñada como una herramienta para uso científico. En los últimos años ha evolucionado como un nuevo medio de publicación y publicidad. La Web es un concepto para conectar todos los servidores mediante enlace por texto, gráficos, audio, video, etc.

El principio básico es el uso del hipertexto el cual es el formato de presentaciòn de todo documento, o página web, localizado en un servidor. La página web obtenida de un servidor puede ser enlazada ("link") a otras páginas web simplemente apuntando y pulsando ("clicking") una palabra resaltada en el texto. El usuario en lugar de buscar textos individualmente, tiene acceso a una red de documentos enlazados. Cualquier documento de la Web puede ser enlazado a otro. Para leer una página web se requiere de lectores de WWW tales como Netscape, Mosaic o Lynx.

Aún cuando la Web fue originalmente avisorada como una biblioteca de referencia accesible desde una computadora personal, se está convirtiendo rápidamente en el prototipo de servicio de información y entretenimiento del futuro. La Web usualmente maneja mucho mayor cantidad de textos y gráficos que el correo electrónico, y la conexión a Internet tiene que mantenerse abierta mientras se usa. Esto puede resultar costoso si la conexión es por teléfono, pues localizar y obtener información puede tomar tiempo considerable.

Información sobre Identificación Automática en la WWW

Son numerosas las fuentes de información en idioma inglés sobre temas especiales de identificación automática y que se encuentran en la Web. Por ejemplo, la página web de la revista AutoID News (edición EEUU) enlaza cerca a 100 otras páginas web que tratan sobre la tecnología de captura de datos: http://www.AutoIDNews.com.

Al presente existen pocos espacios en español o portugués que traten de estos temas. A la fecha estos son los documentos que se encuentran en la Web:

· AIM Mexico posee una página web bien elaborada presentando a la institución y a sus miembros: http://www.web-strategies.com/~aim.

· Las "paginas amarillas electrónicas" de Chile traen información comercial de empresas en el área de identificación automática: http://www.chilnet.cl.

· La revista Automatic ID News edición latinoamérica presenta su página web: http://www.autoidnews.com/latina.htm.

· El autor de esta nota tiene una página web con enlaces e información sobre tópicos de identificación automática: http://www.ent.ohiou.edu/~amable/autoid.html. Esta está en permanente construcción.

Edgardo E. Amable. Julio 1996
amable@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu
URL: http://www.ent.ohiou.edu/~amable
Art�culo escrito para la revista AutoID News, edici�n Latinoam�rica.

Cyberculture Comes to the Americas - 1996.

2006-11-25T14:53:00.000-08:00

Cyberculture Comes to the Americas
by Barbara Belejack
PLANETA FORUM

This article was first published in 1996.

www.flickr.com
A photo on Flickr

PHOTO GALLERY: Globalize Yourself

Kunanqa rihsisunchisya Runa Simita, inkakunah rimayninta, Kay musuhanpi, Supercarretera de Informacion, Internetpa Kancharyninwan.

Even for those without a word of Quechua, the phrase Supercarretera de Informacion, Internetpa, is a dead give-away: "Let's learn Quechua, language of the Incas, the modern way, via the information highway through the light of the Internet."

The message appeared in a Lima newsweekly last July, directing readers to the web page of the Peruvian Scientific Network (RCP), a non-profit, user-financed consortium of individual, academic, non-governmental, business and public-sector members. It was founded in Lima in 1991 with one computer, three modems and 7,000 dollars in seed money from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). In 1994 the RCP connected to the backbone of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and now includes over 3,000 member-organizations and nearly 60,000 individual users. In the words of director Jose Soriano, it is an autonomous network that strictly applies the concept of the Internet - a network of national networks that belongs to no one and everyone.

On the telecommunications-fair circuit, where he is a frequent speaker, Soriano makes a passionate case for a regional Latin American backbone - the necessary infrastructure that would allow the Internet to be used to the fullest extent as a developmental tool. A Latin American backbone would decentralize the use of communications technology beyond the major cities, and lessen the region's dependence on satellite connection to the United States. He portrays the Internet as a latter-day version of Bolivar's dream and the last chance to reverse centuries of centralization in Peru that have concentrated economic development in Lima and isolated much of the countryside.

During the 1994 Miami Summit of the Americas, Internet connectivity was declared a priority for the region and the Organization of American States (OAS), the NSF and the UNDP have been responsible for much of the recent push for full connectivity. All countries in the hemisphere have at least simple e-mail connections and with few exceptions, most are connected to the Internet. (In September Cuba connected through Sprint in the United States.) By far the most networked nation in the region is Brazil, where the Internet has been featured on a TV Globo soap opera. According to Matrix Information and Data Systems in Austin, Texas, the opening up of the Internet market in Brazil has resulted in 2,333% growth between January 1995 and January 1996.

Although they may be just as confused about the role of print media in cyberspace as their counterparts north of the Rio Grande, most major publications in Latin America are on the Internet, and most have a special computer section or at least a computer columnist to chronicle the many wonders of cyberspace. And when an attorney with ties to the drug world was shot and killed in a Monterrey restaurant last spring, the newspaper El Norte obtained his computer diskettes and published dozens of incriminating letters on its web site. Soon after, the governor of the state of Nuevo Leon resigned and was charged with masterminding the attorney's murder.

22 May 2000

2006-11-25T14:52:00.000-08:00

Fwd: [Enredo] (no subject)

* To: sdnpca@sdnp.undp.org, azaelb@yahoo.com
* Subject: Fwd: [Enredo] (no subject)
* From: Vany Martinez
* Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 14:34:43 -0500
* Organization: SDNP
* Reply-To: vany@sdnp.org.pa

Hola a todos:

Una entrevista con Jose Soriano, el promotor de Internet en Peru, sobre cabinas
publicas en Uruguay y de como se inicio el Internet Peru.

http://www.espectador.com/text/ent05172.htm

Saludos
Vany

---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Subject: [Enredo] (no subject)
Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 16:09:05 -0300
From: Raul Echeberria

En esta direccion encuentran la transcripcion de la entrevista a Jose
Soriano que les comente el otro dia.

Realmente esta muy interesante.

http://www.espectador.com/text/ent05172.htm

Como siempre, Jose genera titulares.

Recent Articles on Latin American Networking - 1998

2006-11-25T14:48:00.000-08:00

Recent Articles on Latin American Networking

The articles linked here were downloaded from InfoLatinoamerica via Biblioline, http://www.nisc.com and Lexis Nexis Academic Universe, http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe

* The Americas Online --Matthew Yeomans, The Standard, http://www.thestandard.com
* THE HIGH COST OF FREE INTERNET ACCESS --Ian Katz, Business Week, January 24, 2000.
* COMMUNICATIONS-LATIN AMERICA: INTERNET CHEAPER, MORE ACCESSIBLE --Abraham Lama, Interpress Service, December 29, 1999.
* TECHNOLOGY: LATIN AMERICA NEXT FOR INTERNET REVOLUTION --Gumisai Mutume, Interpress Service, November 7, 1999.
* COMMUNICATIONS-LATAM: INTERNET GROWS BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS --Nefer Munoz, Interpress Service, October 7, 1999.
* Internet Fever. Latin Trade; 6(8):61+, August 1998.
* Uneven growth of Internet hosts. Market Latin America: 6(6):3, June 1998
* Internet increasingly informs, empowers ordinary Latin Americans. Miami Herald; April 13, 1998.
* LATIN AMERICA: THE FUTURE OF CYBERSPACE --Diego Cevallos, Interpress Service, April 17, 1996.

These articles are used here with permission of the authors; downloaded at various times from email and internet sites.

* Latin America Online: The Internet, development, and democratization. Margaret Everett, in Human Organization 57(4), Winter 1998. Text version posted here with author's permission.
* Cyberculture Comes to the Americas, by Barbara Belejack, Originally published in NACLA Report, December 1996.
* Linking Up Latin America, by Julio Ojeda-Zapata, St. Paul Pioneer Press, August 19, 1996.
* Mexico: Window on Technology and the Poor , by Gary Chapman, LA Times, October 28, 1996.

TITLE: Internet Fever.
TITLE, EXTENDED: Despite many obstacles for Internet access in Latin
America, about 7-10 mil people do have Internet access,
with estimates suggesting the total reaching 34 mil by the
end of the decade
SOURCE: Latin Trade; 6(8):61+, August 1998.
ISSN: 1087-0857
LANGUAGE: English
COMPANY: UNIVERSE ONLINE
KEY TERMS:
On-line service providers; Information services; Information industry;
Online data processing; Online services; Brazil; Latin America; South
& Central America; Market information; Industry forecasts; Market size;
Trends; Users
ABSTRACT:
Estimates are that 7-10 mil Latin Americans have Internet access, with the
number rising rapidly. Brazil accounts for almost half of the region's
Internet activity, home to over 500 Internet Service Providers (ISPs),
with the largest one, Universe OnLine, receiving 5.8 mil hits/day from
users. According to a survey by Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, the region is
coming online at twice the rate as the rest of the world and will number
34 mil people online by the end of the decade. The region faces many
obstacles to Internet access, including poor dial-up connections, lack of
local content, access favored towards the affluent, and many low income
residents who cannot afford either a computer or pay-per-minute phone
service. Most Latin Americans that are online use it for email and are not
willing to wait the possible 10-15 minutes for their computer to receive
an Internet page. Full text discusses Internet usage in Latin America in
more detail.
FULL TEXT:
It may he neither perfect nor widespread, but Latin Americans believe that
going online is the key to their future.

BY DOUGLASS STINSON

CHARLY ALBERTI IS BEST known as the drummer of Argentine rock band Soda
Stereo. But since the band's breakup last year, Alberti is on to a new
gig. His Web site, Cybrel Argentina, allows people to sample his music
over the Internet, take a hand in composing new songs or converse about
music in chatrooms.

Cybrel plays to a potentially much larger audience than Alberti's former
band could ever pack into a stadium. By several estimates, over 7 million
Latin Americans now access the Internet, some say the figure reaches 10
million, and the ranks are swelling at a mega pace. The heady combination
of a wealth of data a few clicks away over the World Wide Web and
communication made fast and easy via email have lured the region online,
with rich and poor alike seeing the Internet as the best way to break open
the traditional information bottleneck.

photo omitted

Brazil accounts for nearly half the region's electronic activity, with
more than 500 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offering access. The
largest of them, Universe OnLine, a joint venture owned by Brazil's Abril
and Folha media groups, receives 5.8 million hits a day from users, making
it one of the world's busiest non-English language sites. A survey by
Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, the Latin American arm of the British advertising
agency, shows the region's inhabitants coming online at twice the rate of
the rest of the world. Further, the company predicts that 34 million
people in the region will have entered the electronic arena by the end of
the decade.

Regardless of the challenges presented by poor dial-up connections and
access skewed toward the affluent, the idea of the information highway has
won over the hearts and minds of Latin America. "Internet brought a new
dimension to the information age," says Luiz Costa-curta, vice president
of Brazilian consulting firm IMVC, who now spends an hour a day online,
and makes four out of five contacts with clients via email. "It brings it
to life and makes sense even for those who do not like technology."

Fernando Espuelas would agree. He and a partner founded Star Media in 1996
as the first Internet content company focusing on Latin America. The lore
among his employees has it that Espuelas knew the region thirsted for what
the Internet had to offer from his experience showing off the World Wide
Web at shopping malls in his former job at AT&T. Espuelas marvelled that
people would wait more than two hours for a short hands-on demonstration.
As the story goes, one old man waited for hours, had his turn, and
immediately got back in line to do it again. Star Media now boasts 500,000
users a month and a host of advertisers paying to reach them. "People like
the lack of boundaries and the opportunities to meet people from across
the region," says Star Media's development head Tracy Leeds. "Latin
Americans are fantastic communicators. They love to talk. Getting our
audience to participate in chat rooms and on billboards has not been a
problem."

What has been a problem is the lack of fresh, compelling Web sites that
draw users back time and time again. Latin America is not by nature an
information culture, and that is evident on the Internet. Many Web sites
in the region are stale and boring, filled with information deemed too
useless to be valuable, and thus safe to post online, in many ways a
reflection of the prevailing by-rote education system. "The World Wide Web
business here is very immature, heavily oriented toward static pages,"
says Carlos Ausset, the head of Chilean computer-based training company
Comunicacion Interactiva. "Unfortunately, too many clients know too
little, and can't distinguish. They are sold a pretty Web page, but one
that really doesn't have much to it." Adds Star Media's Leeds, "We see
competitors making the same mistakes that were made in the early days in
the United States: static news, static sites."

One of the biggest obstacles to massive Internet aculturation is getting
the majority of the population online. While marketers say that the
Internet has become a major motivation in almost all consumer computer
purchases this year, few in the region can afford to buy a PC. "I get
really nervous when people say 'Internet in Latin America,'" says Carlos
Perry, head of Latin America research for U.S.-based Yankee Group. "A
large segment of the population will never have a PC."

Pay-per-minute phone service is another cost barrier. Such fees limit the
ability of many middle-income families that do own computers to stay
connected to the Internet through the phone system for any length of time.
Most multinationals and the region's largest companies use dedicated
connections, but other businesses are wary of widening access to
employees, too. "The pay-per-minute issue is especially big for companies
trying to control technology costs," says Annika Alford, Internet analyst
for U.S. researcher IDC. "There is no revamping of business structures to
incorporate the Internet; instead, they are trying to complement existing
activities and access is much more targeted."

graph omitted

There have been some unique solutions. Chile's CTC and Peruvian ISP Red
Cientifica Peruana offer Internet kiosks, open access terminals from which
computerless users can sign onto the Internet on a cost-per-use basis.
Also, a majority of traffic comes from terminals tied into corporate or
academic networks, most users' only option for reaching the Internet,
regardless of what they do once online.

But once they manage to hook up, Latin Americans are following similar
usage patterns to those set by users in the United States. After
connecting, email among friends and family is the first activity most
attempt, followed by adopting email into daily routines at work and home.
Later comes Websurfing and interactive pursuits such as participating in
chatrooms and other online activities. "Surfing is not nearly important in
Colombia as sending email," says Jason Aparicio, head of Internet services
at Colombian ISP Colomsat. "People are not prepared to wait 10 or 15
minutes while their computer receives a page from the Internet."

Even in areas with speedier connections, the lack of local content drives
many users into foreign territory in the quest for information. Argentine
TV host Alejandro Marley is not uncommon among Web surfers: "I start with
a Yahoo search for any entertainment guide and then I go to look at the
Billboard pages to see the world rankings, then I go to Entertainment
Weekly [a U.S. publication]. The Internet allows me to get the low-down,
the latest news and gossip about artists."

This is a niche that Star Media thinks it can exploit, even as it targets
the upper 20th percentile of households by income. The company reckons
that half these homes have computers, but of those, only 12% claim to be
proficient in English, the de facto language of the World Wide Web. While
major U.S. Web companies like Yahoo and Netscape are rushing to create
"portals" or gateways through which users cross to other Web sites, Star
Media wants to be the equivalent of a cul-de-sac. "We are the best of AOL
and Yahoo for the Latin American market. We have deep content, but we are
free on the Web," says Leeds. "There's really no reason to go anywhere
else."

That strategy is hardly kin to the freewheeling, open culture of the
Internet. Nonetheless, it may be the sort of culture in which Latin
Americans are more comfortable while they cut their online teeth. Shopping
over the Internet is another area in which buyers are showing caution.
Analysts point out that credit cards are relatively new in the region, let
alone electronic commerce. Pizza Pizza, a Colombian restaurant, found out
the hard way, receiving only three orders in a year of offering pizzas
online. "It became apparent to us that most people were using the net to
send email and find out information, but not to order things," says
manager Clara Sanin.

Sanin plans to refloat the scheme next year, and others think that such
barriers will be quick to fall. "The consumer market and small business
sales are ramping up very quickly," says Oscar Anzola, the Latin America
head of U.S. technology firm 3Com. "People are starting to buy into the
idea of buying online."

photo omitted

Red Cientifica director Jose Soriano has claimed that the Internet
revolution will not be complete until his country's Quechua-speaking
Indians can go online--in their native language--to transact for
information on topics that interest them, such as high-altitude potato
farming or prices of wool. Though that may be a long way off, Soriano
routinely receives overwhelming applause at conferences when he states his
goals.

Such is Latin America's enthusiasm for the electronic revolution and the
hopes for the region's emerging online presence. "There is a fever about
the Internet," says Luis Anavitarte, analyst at U.S. research firm
Dataquest. "Everyone is talking about it even if they don't know what it
is."

--With additional reporting by Steven Anderson in Santiago, Rupert Eden in
Buenos Aires, Carlos Neve in Sao Paulo and Adam Thomson in Bogosa.

Copyright 1998 Freedom Communications, Inc.
PUB. TYPE: Journal Article
PUB. COUNTRY: United States

from the Business & Industry (R) database (C) 1998 Responsive Database
Services, Inc.

END OF RECORD

=================================

TITLE: Uneven growth of Internet hosts.
TITLE, EXTENDED: The number of Internet hosts worldwide rose 70% from 1/96
to 1/97 and 1,230% from 1993 to 1996; number of hosts
totaled 12,688 in Argentina and 77,148 in Brazil
SOURCE: Market Latin America; 6(6):3, June 1998.
ISSN: 1066-7024
LANGUAGE: English
KEY TERMS:
On-line service providers; Information services; Information industry;
Online data processing; Online services; Brazil; Latin America; South
& Central America; World; Market information; Market size; Users
FULL TEXT:
Explosive growth of Internet use in Latin America has motivated financial
institutions and publications to put more information at the fingertips of
market researchers, but the evolution of hosts has been much faster in
some Latin American nations than others. While Peril and Brazil have
experienced dramatic increases in the number of hosts, Ecuador, Mexico,
and Venezuela have barely kept pace with the rest of the world.

Large numbers of Internet hosts are springing up throughout the region to
meet the increasing demand for on-line information. According to Network
Wizards at [http://www.nw.com/], the number of hosts worldwide increased
70 percent from January 1996 to January 1997, and a staggering 1,230
percent from 1993 to 1996. It is expected that decreasing computer prices
combined with improved service thanks to the breakup of telecommunications
monopolies will spur continued growth of Internet use.

As more Internet users gain access to more data, the need grows for
products and services which somehow separate useful information from that
which is not. Search engines identify numerous "relevant hosts" for almost
any keyword. Sorting through the pages and recovering information has
become a daunting task which is further complicated by hosts changing
their location on the Web or disappearing altogether without notice. Among
the most relevant sources of market-related information are the following.

* Brazil: Banco Central do Brasil presents the publication Boletim on its
Web site at [http://www.beb.gov.br/]. Boletim's extensive information on
the Brazilian financial system and economy can be downloaded to Excel or
Lotus worksheets.

* Venezuela: The financial newspaper, El Universal, at [http://
www.eluniversal.com/] offers free subscriptions and an engine to search
several months' worth of archived papers.

* Peru: Instituto National de Estadistica e Informatica, Peru's
statistical organization, has current information on the Peruvian economy
at [http://www.inei.gob.pe/].

* Mexico: The Informacion Economica section of Banco de Mexico's site at
[http://www.banxico.org.mx/] has a search engine for finding specific
data.

SOURCE: "Internet Growth in Latin America" (1997), Kimberly Kubali;
telephone +1 (212) 250-8379; e-mail [kimberly.kubali@btalexbrown.com].

INTERNET GROWING IN LATIN AMERICA

Growth of Internet use in Latin America is reflected in the
substantial number of Web site hosts now found in the region. The
following is a breakdown by nation for 1997.

Country Number of hosts

Argentina 12,688
Brazil 77,148
Chile 15,885
Colombia 9,054
Ecuador 590
Mexico 29,840
Peru 5,192
Venezuela 2,417
Rest of the world 16,146,000

SOURCES: Network Wizards at and CIA Handbook
(1997).

Copyright 1998 IBC USA Licensing, Inc
PUB. TYPE: Newsletter
PUB. COUNTRY: United States

from the Business & Industry (R) database (C) 1998 Responsive Database
Services, Inc.

END OF RECORD

=================================

TITLE: INTERNET INCREASINGLY INFORMS, EMPOWERS ORDINARY LATIN
AMERICANS.
TITLE, EXTENDED: Today, the Peruvian Scientific Network controls 75% of
Peru's Internet connections, with 70,000 subscribers and
500,000 hits to its Web site
SOURCE: Miami Herald [FL]; April 13, 1998.
ISSN: 0898-865X
LANGUAGE: English
KEY TERMS:
On-line service providers; Information services; Information industry;
Online data processing; Online services; Latin America; Peru; South &
Central America; Market information; Market share; Users
FULL TEXT:
By Gerardo Reyes

Apr. 13--As the hemisphere's leaders gather in Santiago to discuss the
halting pace of economic integration, a silent revolution is uniting
millions of Latin Americans at the speed of sound.

It is the Internet revolution, a civilized union of common people,
educational institutions and nongovernment foundations that have made
Latin America the region where Internet use has grown fastest.

At this week's Summit of the Americas, ministers and presidents who read
regional proposals will find a good example of this effort of civilian
achievements, communications integration and exchange of health-related
information in Latin America: the Peruvian Scientific Network at http://
ekeko.rcp.net.pe

The network is a nonprofit, user-financed consortium of individual,
academic, nongovernmental, business and public-sector entities like
universities and private companies who built a virtual-reality city.

Founded in 1991 by a Peruvian reporter with a computer and three modems,
the network has become a busy center of information for Latin America.

Today, the Peruvian Scientific Network controls 75 percent of Peru's
Internet connections, with 70,000 subscribers and 500,000 hits to its Web
site.

Some services are offered by the network in Spanish, English and Quechua,
an Indian language still spoken in Peru:

In several Peruvian cities, the network has installed 27 public booths
where users who don't have a computer -- or can't afford Internet service -
- can access the network for $1 a day, e-mail service included.

In the past two years, entrepreneurs have made 1,100 transactions with
counterparts in 33 countries, according to network manager and founder
Jose Soriano.

Every time disaster strikes Latin America, the Peruvian Scientific Network
Web page becomes a meeting place for foundations and rescuers.

As in real cities, this virtual domain has an area that reflects the
frustrations of Latin Americas. In the Web cellar, a visitor will find a
flashing sign saying "In days, the monopoly will be over."

The countdown refers to the date when telecommunications industries in
Peru and other Latin American countries will be opened to competition.

"The Internet has been very costly in Latin America partly because of the
monopolies on telecommunications," Soriano said.

The network is in the midst of a legal battle with Telefonica del Peru,
which accuses it of providing services that are the exclusive domain of
Telefonica.

Copyright 1998 Miami Herald; provided by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business
News.
PUB. TYPE: Newspaper Article
PUB. COUNTRY: United States

from the Business & Industry (R) database (C) 1998 Responsive Database
Services, Inc.

END OF RECORD

=================================

Date: Wed Feb 17 11:43:24 EST 1993

2006-11-25T14:46:00.000-08:00

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed Feb 17 11:43:24 EST 1993
From: js@rcp.pe (Jose Soriano )
Subject: File 1--Reseau de Donnees Scientifique Peruvien: RCP

Bonjour, En ce moment, nous installons notre "link" international
par satellite de 64 kbps dans Panamsat. Aussi, nous sommes en
negociations avec la CEE pour etablir une connexion dediee vers
l'Europe.

=======================================================================
RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA
(Peruvian Scientific Network)
=======================================================================

INTRODUCTION

The market entry of minicomputers, adjusted to the needs and sizes
of the smallest research team, as well as the more recent spectacular
development of microcomputers have changed traditionally used research
work modes.

The abundance of ever quicker perishable information sources and
the increasing cost of the means to access them have evidenced the need
for interinstitutional cooperation and for the rationalization of
increasingly scarce resources, both in the national and international
environment.

Peruvian entities devoted to research and teaching, as well as
state and private universities, non governmental organizations, industry,
finance and commercial corporations are carrying on internal installation
of communication networks (LANS), sharing the use of these resources for
the purpose of more efficient results.

The above described development, begun some years ago, is still on
the run. The need to exploit expensive means (telecomunications with
major research centers, access to international databases, access to
focused resources) and the national and international reach of mutual
scientific and technological cooperation among teams of researchers
made the interconnection of these networks a must in both the national
and international scope. To achieve this, by late 1991 many national
organizations contributed to the establishment of RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA
(Peruvian Scientific Network).

Previous documents have described the history of this cooperative
national network and the services it renders its users. We will now
deal with its present technical structure and its growth plans for the
current two year period.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PERUVIAN SCIENTIFIC NETWORK

Organization
------------

RCP is a low cost national network that has achieved high
operational quality in short time, and so far links 132 institutions all
over the country. The main services it provides, described in further
detail are the following: electronic mail, access to distributed national
listservers, software installation, technician and user training.

It is organized as a non profit institution, and its body of members
includes one representative from each participant organization. The staff,
the Direction Committee and an Administrator are entitled by a General
Assembly, the highest authority in the association.

Under the coordination of the General Administrator reporting to the
Direction Committee, a small staff including engineersand trainees are in
charge of technical operation, node installation, administrator and user
training, as well as of permanent support to final users.

The Technical Committee, formed by representatives from member
organizations, is the consulting entity in charge of the national network
planning and development, as well as of the coordination of institutional
developments related to the national network's prospective architecture.

Financial resources
-------------------

As an autonomous cooperative institution, RCP counts on funds
provided by the its institutions in yearly contributions and monthly
payments, all of which sum up to form its operational budget. RCP also
aims at being granted donors' contributions and other kinds of physical
of financial collaboration from national and international cooperation
agencies.

Infrastructure
--------------

RCP is a dialup active node in the INTERNET organization, that
uses the store and forward system of NOVELL networks, Tokenring, DOS
PCs, VAX, SUN, DEC and other systems integrated in the national network,
running on UNIX operative system.

Its development is supported by the existing (or currently being
installed) national telecommunications infrastructure, both public and
private national and international telephone lines (CPT and ENTEL);
national x25 network (Perunet); special circuits or dedicated lines (CPT
and ENTEL); optic fiber network (RED DIGITAL ENTEL);cellular telephone
networks (CPT and Celular 2000). It is also supported by the transponder
in PANAMSAT I, belonging to the Ministry of Education as well as
different international carriers rendering service in Peru.

The main concentration node of the national network is accessed via
two lines within the commuted telephone line (RTC 19,200 kbps), a space
circuit x25 (Perunet 9,600 kbps) allowing for the simultaneous access of
16 users, a Netblazer router allowing for the (TCP/IP) network access
through a special circuit (dedicated line) or through a commuted
telephone line (RTC).

International communications are held several times per day through
international calls (IDD) generated by the m2xenix machine located in
Oregon, United States, where they enter the international backbone of
the National Science Foundation.

THE NATIONAL NETWORK (RCP)

General Information on the Project
----------------------------------

The organization and distribution of activities within the
national system and the scientific and technological cooperation call
for the constant exchange of information on the national, regional and
international scopes.

Electronic mail has allowed our researchers to get information
which not long ago was inaccessible by other means. It has also
contributed to the establishment of interinstitutional cooperation and
coordination links which were until now beyond imagination.

The current installation of referential data banks distributed all
over the network, accessible via electronic mail (listservers), the
establishment of thematic subnets (the health and the epidemiologic
alert networks), the operation of more than 20 interest groups
susbscribed in similar international lists all this generates a constant
increase in the dataflow through the country and also internationally.

The new needs lead us to the simultaneous development of a network
architecture to allow for means of communication in different scopes:
national (IP links), regional (IP links with our neighbors, especially
Andean ones, and through them with the rest of LAC) and international
(IP dedicated link with NSF).

National Architecture
---------------------

The dynamic development of this infrastructure is projected in two
non-exclusive stages, the development of which can be partially or
completely simultaneous.

The first stage is currently being developed in the location of
Lima, Peruvian's capital city, which gathers the majority of educational
and research institutions. It projects the interconnection of 10
concentrator nodes (by locations and / or interest areas), linked by
special circuits (64 or more kbit/s dedicated lines in the digital cable).
First preliminary tests projected for 1992-1993.

The second stage prioritizes the development of departmental nodes
that geographically concentrate the traffic and allow for a reduction in
the telecommunications costs of province located institutions. The
establishment of special circuits is also aimed at with the main RCP node,
located in Lima (x25 dedicated lines: 19,200 kbps, 64 kbit/s optic
fiber; or others: 9,200 kbps). First preliminary tests projected for
1993-1994.

RCP, based on its various national components, will enable the
interactive access of final users to the resources available in the
several institutions that form the network. Linkage of the same (IP) in
the local networks existing in each campus will imply an efficient
structure that will allow for their future evolution.

Provincial nodes located in the country borders can ensure low cost
link with neighbor countries, thus opening ways to enhance regional
cooperation and the exploitment of mutually shared resources. First
preliminary tests projected for 1993-1994.

The above mentioned link will clearly allow for an improvement of
research related communications and for a real development of regional
science and technology. It thus represents the communications means that
will be decisive in future industry, finance and trade.

This national and regional development is necessarily supported by
the establishment of a high quality linkage with the NSF international
backbone in the United States. For this purpose, we intend to establish
two 64 Kbit satellite channels, supported by the contract between Peru's
Ministry of Education and Alpha Lyracom, which provides PAS I and PAS II
(Panamsat) with a transponder. This does not exclude the possibility of
using international carriers (Sprint and MCI, available in the local
market).

All the described development is a part of the original RCP project,
elaborated in May, 1991 and later on improved through consecutive
proposals and documents published by RCP along 1991 and 1992.

Necessary Equipment for Project Implementation
----------------------------------------------

In order to implement the project in all its stages, the purchase
of equipment and the acquisition of national and international
telecommunications infrastructure is a must. This refers to both RCP
infrastructure and the concentrator nodes of national scope.

In most cases, RCP member institutions are financially able to
afford these needs on their own. For other cases, cooperative solutions
will be found, based on interinstitutional collaboration aiming at the
purchase of necessary equipment. In most cases, RCP's task focuses on
searching the best international prices for all the network member
institutions, on the reception and entry of the equipment; but also
consists essentially in providing orientation as for equipment
characteristics, aiming at a better individual and common use of it.

GENERAL OBJECTIVES

1. To provide the Peruvian academic community with better services in
national communications, such as a better link with the
international backbone of academic networks;

2. To develop a coherent national INTERNET network;

3. To increase inter-institutional cooperation in the national,
regional and international scope;

4. To reduce the national research system's communication costs, and to
allow for a future reduction of regional costs over the basis of
cooperation;

5. To start an IP regional backbone that links Peru, Ecuador, Colombia,
Bolivia, Chile; and, through the latter, Argentina, Uruguay and
Brazil.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

1. To provide RCP, the Peruvian National Network, with equipment
for the installation and implementation of a national IP network and
an international link;

2. To provide RCP, the Peruvian National Network, and the regional
networks with the equipment necessary to install and implement links
with neighbor countries' networks;

3. To provide RCP, the Peruvian National Network, with the resources
necessary to establish a lasting IP link with the international
backbone (one cost time, or for a reasonable period of time);

4. To train human resources on the national and regional levels for
using new equipments and technologies. National and regional level
training and divulgation of new technologies.

Jose Soriano
Peruvian Scientific Network Administrator
--
un abrazo
Jose
***********************************************************************
Jose Soriano - Red Cientifica Peruana - e-mail : js@rcp.pe
Av. del Ejercito 1870 - San Isidro - Lima - Peru
TE: ( 51 -14) 46 - 16 -95 / 36 89 89 anexo 527 / fax: 36 01 40
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Martinique in 1999

2006-11-25T14:42:00.000-08:00

Martinique in 1999 ?

*
To: "John Charles Broomfield" < jbroom@localhost >
*
From: "Jim Fleming" < JimFleming@localhost >
* Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 14:40:07 -0500
*
Cc: "Daniel Karrenberg" < Daniel.Karrenberg@localhost >
"Annie Renard" < Annie.Renard@localhost >
< tld-wg@localhost >
< ietf@localhost >
*
Reply-to: "Jim Fleming" < JimFleming@localhost >

John,

Maybe your group should host the next IETF meeting ?
This might help to show France that you are organized
and intend to try to protect your .MQ and .GP TLDs.

http://www.ietf.org/meetings/0mtg-sites.txt

@@@@ http://www.wwtld.org/lactld.txt

os@localhost (Argentina AR - Oscar Sznajder)
demi@localhost (Brazil BR - Demi Getschko)
ppoblete@localhost (Chile CL - Patricio Poblete)
hsin@localhost (Columbia CO - Hugo Sin Triana)
edgarn@localhost (Dominican Republic DO - Juan Edgar)
jmiranda@localhost (Ecuador EC - Juan Miranda)
ribarra@localhost (El Salvador SV - Rafael Ibarra)
jan.david@localhost (French Guiana GF - Jan David)
jbroom@localhost (Guadeloupe GP - John Broomfield)
furlan@localhost (Guatemala GT - Luis R. Furlan)
erlin@localhost (Honduras HN - Erlin Palma)
jbroom@localhost (Martinique MQ - John Broomfield)
orobles@localhost (Mexico MX - Oscar Robles Garay)
Sean@localhost (Montserrat MS - Sean Jackson)
ymena@localhost (Nicaragua NI - Yadira Mena)
js@localhost (Peru PE - Jose Soriano)
Sean@localhost (South Georgia and Sandwich Isl. GS - Sean
Jackson)
danielsah@localhost (Saint Lucia LC - Albert H. Daniels)
P.Hosein@localhost (Trinidad and Tobago TT - Patrick Hosein)
Sean@localhost (Turks and Ciacos Islands TC - Sean Jackson)
holz@localhost (Uruguay UY - Ida Holz)
oaguirre@localhost (Venezuela VE - Oswaldo E.Aguirre)
Sean@localhost (Virgin Islands [British] VG - Sean Jackson)
pdeblanc@localhost (Virgin Islands [U.S.] VI - Peter de Blanc)

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Jim Fleming
Unir Corporation - http://www.unir.com
End-2-End: VPC(Java)---C+@localhostIPv8>---C+@localhost(Java)VPC
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/130dftmail/unir.txt
http://www.ddj.com/index/author/idx10133.htm

Report from the Latin America E-Commerce Summit in Miami

2006-11-25T14:40:00.001-08:00

Latin America Will Be The World´s Fastest Growing Regional Internet Market

Madanmohan Rao 12.04.2000
Report from the Latin America E-Commerce Summit in Miami

download German Version

Low PC penetration, high access costs, low credit card usage and not enough locally relevant content or services - despite such thorny issues in the regional Internet market, over 500 delegates form across the Americas and parts of Europe gathered recently in Miami for the first Latin America E-Commerce Summit.

Hosted by New York-based research group Jupiter Communications, the conference focused on regional similarities and contrasts among the 26 million online speakers of Spanish and Portuguese across the globe.

Indeed, it is probably Latin America that offers one of the best case studies worldwide of how the Internet can simultaneously be a local, regional, transcontinental and multilingual medium for content and commerce.

"The objective conditions and people´s perceptions of the Net are changing throughout the region. Thousands of Internet companies are now being created, and the worldviews and lives of millions in the region are being transformed by the Net," said keynote speaker Fernando Espuelas, CEO of StarMedia, the leading media player in the Latin American Internet market.

Latin American growth in the Internet user base will far exceed that of other regions in the world, according to Jupiter Communications. The overall number of online users in the region is expected to shoot up dramatically to 67 million users in year 2005.

In 1999, Latin America had about 11 million users of the Internet, as compared to 48 million in the Asia-Pacific, 58 million in Western Europe, and 109 million in North America.

Access models

Some of the most outstanding innovations in the region are probably in the area of free ISPs, community access models, and e-commerce logistics systems.

Bradesco and Unibanco, the largest and third largest Brazilian banks respectively, are the first major regional players to launch free Internet access for their account holders.

Terra Networks, the recently-debuted Internet branch of Spanish telco Telefonica, is currently a leading ISP in many Latin American countries. Terra Networks has already launched its free ISP edition for Brazil, called Terra Livre. The leading media player StarMedia Network has also launched a free ISP throughout Latin America called GRATIS1.

One of the most powerful access innovations comes from Peru, where the Rede Cientifica Peruana (Peruvian Scientific Network - RCP) pioneered the concept of Internet community centres in the early 1990s.

"Internet access through leased lines and shared devices in community centres - not just individual dial-up access - holds the key for growing the Internet as a mass medium in emerging economies," said Jose Soriano, founder of RCP. RCP is exporting this model of affordable Internet access (now available for under 40 cents an hour in Peru) to Colombia, Argentina, El Salvador, and Brazil, said Sariano. "We are also working with World-Tel to extend this model to India," he added.

RCP plans to invest $40 million this year to grow the community centres in Peru and add services like VoIP (Voice over IP). Local access must be coupled with local transactional content to boost national e-commerce, Sariano said.

Portals and verticals

"Local content and local personalization are key to domestic growth of the Net. We do not believe in presenting a U.S.-centric or European version of the Net to Latin American users," said Adrian de Lop Freideberg, CEO of Mexican Internet media company Libertis.

Major portal players in the region include StarMedia, Universo Online, El Sitio, Yahoo and AOL, and a battle for early branding in the Latin Internet market is well under way.

Universo Online, a joint venture of Brazil´s largest newspaper and magazine groups, has now crossed 1.5 billion page views a quarter - reportedly making it the world´s most-visited non-English portal.

In addition to mass-market portals, verticals are also proliferating in the region focusing on finance (Patagon.com, ZonaFinanciera, LatinStocks), health (Salud.com, MedicoUno, Salutia.com), auctions (MercadoLibre, DeRemate.com, Lokau), e-tail (Submarino, LaLibreria, Fiera, Espanol.com), travel (Viajo), sports (Sortsya, Futebol Total), and children´s fare (Aprendiendo.com).

Dot-Com Bubble

Due to the huge amount of dot-com activity in the region and growing acceptance of Internet business models, upto 15 Latin American Internet companies are expected to go public on the U.S. NASDAQ exchange this year, and another 50 next year.

Cities like Miami in the U.S. are emerging as a major hub for e-commerce companies operating in Latin America; Miami also happens to be one of the most visited destination cities for shoppers and tourists from Latin America.

But consumer challenges lie in increasing overall awareness about the individual and societal benefits of Internet access, and providing them with locally relevant content and services that are key to their personal and professional lives.

"There are also lots of dumb U.S. investors chasing Latin Internet stocks, and there is a real concern that losses on their part may lead to a backlash against the overall Internet market here which will hurt us all," warned Argentinian Wenceslao Casares, CEO of online finance site Patagon.com.

[mailto] Madanmohan Rao is an Internet jornalist in India.

Lateinamerika ist der am schnellsten wachsende regionale Internetmarkt

2006-11-25T14:38:00.001-08:00

Lateinamerika ist der am schnellsten wachsende regionale Internetmarkt

Madanmohan Rao 12.04.2000
Bericht von der "Lateinamerikanischen E-Commerce-Konferenz" in Miami.

download English Version

Niedrige PC-Verbreitung, hohe Zugangskosten, geringe Kreditkartennutzung und nicht genügend lokal relevante Inhalte und Dienstleistungen sind einige der größten Probleme für den lateinamerikanischen Internetmarkt. Dennoch versammelten sich über 500 Delegierte aus den beiden Amerikas und Europa kürzlich in Miami für die erste "Lateinamerikanische E-Commerce-Konferenz".

Veranstaltet von der New Yorker Marktforschungsgruppe Jupiter Communications, konzentrierte sich die Veranstaltung auf lokale Ähnlichkeiten und Kontraste unter den 26 Millionen spanisch und portugiesisch sprechenden Internet-Teilnehmern.

Lateinamerika bietet sich wahrscheinlich weltweit als beste Fallstudie dafür an, wie das Internet zugleich ein lokales, regionales, transkontinentales und vielsprachiges Medium für Inhalte und Handel sein kann. "Die objektiven Verhältnisse ebenso wie die Wahrnehmung des Netzes durch viele Leute verändert sich in der gesamten Region. Tausende an Internetfirmen werden gerade geschaffen und die Weltwahrnehmung und Lebensrealität von Millionen verändert sich durch das Netz", sagte Eröffnungsreder Fernando Espuelas, CEO von StarMedia, einem führendem Unternehmen in lateinamerikanischen Internetmärkten.

Laut Jupiter Communications wird das Wachstum des Internet in Lateinamerika das in anderen Regionen bei weitem überschreiten. Die Gesamtzahl der Internetnutzer werde bis zum Jahr 2005 dramatisch ansteigen, auf die Zahl von 67 Millionen Nutzerinnen und Nutzern. 1999 gab es in Lateinamerika 11 Millionen User, verglichen mit 48 Millionen im asiatisch-pazifischen Raum, 58 Millionen in Westeuropa und 109 Millionen in Nordamerika.

Einige der herausragendsten Entwicklungen sind wahrscheinlich die Gratis-Provider, Zugangsmodelle für Gemeinden und Logistik-Systeme für E-Commerce. Bradesco und Unibanco, die größte und die drittgrößte Bank Brasiliens, sind die ersten lokalen Großbanken, die allen ihren Kontoinhabern Gratis-Internetzugang geben.

Terra Networks, Internetzweig des spanischen Telekommunikations-Unternehmens Telefonica und vor kurzem an die Börse gegangen, ist derzeit ein führender Internetprovider in mehreren lateinamerikanischen Ländern. Terra Networks hat nun seinen Gratis-ISP für Brasilien gestartet, der sich Terra Livre nennt. Auch StarMedia Network hat einen Gratis-ISP gestartet, der unter dem Namen GRATIS1 in ganz Lateinamerika präsent ist.

Gemeindenetzwerk

Eine der überzeugendsten Lösungen für alternative Zugangsmodelle kommt aus Peru, wo das "Rede Cientifica Peruana" (Peruanisches Wissenschaftsnetz - RCP) seit den frühen neunziger Jahren ein pionierhaftes Modell von Internet-Gemeindezentren betreibt. "Internetzugang über Standleitungen und gemeinsam genutzte Geräte in Gemeindezentren - im Gegensatz zu individuellen Einwahldiensten - ist der Schlüssel für ein Wachstum des Internet als Massenmedium in Entwicklungsländern", sagte Jose Soriano, Gründer von RCP.

RCP exportiert dieses Model des bezahlbaren Internetzugangs (derzeit für weniger als 40 Cents in Peru erhältlich) nach Kolumbien, Argentinien, El Salvador und Brasilien, sagte Soriano. "Wir arbeiten auch mit World-Tel, um das Modell nach Indien zu bringen", fügte er hinzu. RCP plant die Investition von 40 Millionen Dollar dieses Jahr in das Wachstum der Gemeindezentren in Peru und zusätzliche Dienste wie VoIP (Voice over IP). Lokaler Zugang sollte mit lokalem Inhalt und Transaktionen verbunden sein, um auch den E-Commerce anzukurbeln, sagte Soriano.

"Lokaler Inhalt und lokale Personalisierung sind der Schlüssel für das Inlandswachstum des Netzes. Wir glauben nicht an die Präsentation eines US- oder Euro-zentrischen Netzes für lateinamerikanische User", sagte auch Adrian de Lop Freideberg, CEO der mexikanischen Internetfirma Libertis.

Portale und "Verticals"

Große Portal-Anbieter in der Region - StarMedia, Universo Online, El Sitio, Yahoo und AOL - liefern sich bereits eine Schlacht für die frühe Etablierung ihrer Marke in Lateinamerika.

Universo Online, ein Gemeinschaftsunternehmen des größten brasilianischen Zeitungs- und Zeitschriftenverlags, hat nun bereits mehr als 1,5 Millliarden Page Views im Quartal und ist damit das größte nicht-englischsprachige Portal.

Neben den Portalen für den Massenmarkt wachsen auch die vertikalen Portale (Verticals) rasch: Finanzen (Patagon.com, ZonaFinanciera, LatinStocks), Gesundheit (Salud.com, MedicoUno, Salutia.com), Auktionen (MercadoLibre, DeRemate.com, Lokau), E-Handel (Submarino, LaLibreria, Fiera, Espanol.com), Reisen (Viajo), Sport (Sortsya, Futebol Total), und Kinder-Vergnügungsparks (Aprendiendo.com).

Börsen-Bubble

Auf Grund der großen Anzahl von Dot.Com-Aktivitäten in der Region und der wachsenden Akzeptanz von Internet-Business-Modellen werden demnächst an die 15 lateinamerikanischer Internetunternehmen an die amerikanische High-Tech-Börse NASDAQ gehen, mit weiteren 50 Unternehmen im nächsten Jahr.

Insbesondere Miami in den Vereinigten Staaten entwickelt sich zur Drehscheibe für E-Commerce-Firmen, die in Lateinamerika tätig sind. Miami ist zugleich bevorzugtes Reiseziel vieler lateinamerikanischer Einkäufer und Touristen.

Zu überwindende Barrieren bei den Konsumenten gibt es allerdings noch bei der Schaffung eines verbreiteten Bewusstseins für die individuellen und gesellschaftlichen Vorteile, die mit Internetzugang verbunden sind und mit dem Anbieten von lokal releventem Inhalt und Diensten, in denen die Leute einen Vorteil für ihr persönliches und professionelles Leben sehen.

"Es gibt eine Menge uninformierter US-Investoren, die hinter lateinamerikanischen Internet-Aktien her sind und es gibt echte Besorgnis darüber, dass Verluste auf ihrer Seite zu einem Rückschlag auf Internetmärkten führt, der uns allen schaden könnte", sagte der Argentinier Wenceslao Casares, CEO der Online-Finanz-Site Patagon.com.

Red Cientifica Peruana brings the Internet to 'everyone.'

2006-11-25T14:32:00.000-08:00

Cabina Fever - Red Cientifica Peruana - Brief Article
Latin Trade, June, 2000 by Sally Bowen

Red Cientifica Peruana brings the Internet to 'everyone.'

RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA (RCP), PERU'S MOST POPULAR INTERNET service provider, has come a long way since its beginnings as a nonprofit company. With a hefty infusion of foreign capital, the company is launching a joint venture aimed at making money across the Americas.

"It's a huge leap forward--and quite a scary one: says Jose Soriano, 52, Red Cientifica's founder and current CEO of Red Uno, the new venture established with New York-based investment fund Westsphere. "RCP has grown in nine years from a tiny, non-governmental organization-type set-up with one computer and three modems to a Internet service provider worth US$200 million."

Red Cientifica's growth--$6 million in revenues last year--stems from its pioneering use of public cabinas, or booths with computers that are rented for fees ranging from $1.50 an hour to $15 a month. Soriano believes cabinas represent 70% of Peru's current Internet use.

From its inception in 1991, RCP ran on a cooperative basis. All participants co-financed equipment and had equal rights. Within a year, the nonprofit group had nearly 100 partner institutions and 1,000 users. By 1996, those figures had spiraled more than tenfold.
Advertisement

Public rentals have become so popular an idea that scores of smaller companies, which Soriano calls salvajes, are copying the concept in Lima and in outlying provinces. The father of Peru's Internet, as Soriano is known, estimates there are now some 600 such companies throughout the country, of which 120 are operated by the RCP.

Hundreds of thousands of Peruvians without a home computer now surf the World Wide Web or check e-mail. It is a perfect solution for a nation where the per capita income is $2,000 and most of its 25 million inhabitants don't have a telephone.

"And it's cheaper than using the telephone," says Jaina de la Torre, a middle-aged housewife from the Lima suburb of San Isidro who uses cabinas to communicate by e-mail with a daughter living in Houston. "This is the third time I have been here today."

After years of continuous growth and innovation, RCP took the corporate plunge last December after New York-based Westsphere agreed to invest $30 million to create Red Uno. It is Westsphere's first Internet investment, although it has a wide portfolio in Latin America with interests ranging from entertainment to soft-drink bottlers.

"The $30 million is just the beginning," explains Soriano. "We expect to invest another $60 million within the next 12 months,"

Public web booths. Red Uno will use most of that money to roll out public rentals throughout Latin America. The company's experience and contacts have already facilitated joint ventures and strategic alliances in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia. El Salvador and Uruguay, and operations in 15 countries are expected to begin by the end of the year.

Red Uno even plans to export its public booths to the world's richest nation-- the United States. It will set up in cities with large Spanish-speaking immigrant populations. Soriano also plans to enter the electronic commerce arena.

By allying with a major bank, Soriano thinks he can provide a viable mechanism for "micro-transactions"--the purchase of small items worth maybe as little as $3.

The plan may sound bold, but Soriano has transformed services aimed at the poor into a growth business against the fast-changing background of the Internet business in Peru. Web portal Terra Networks and AT&T, among other global players, have recently arrived to expand Internet services and improve telecommunications infrastructure. Along with RCP, they are currently Peru's only three genuine Internet service providers: other companies offering Internet connections simply resell the services of one of the three.

Although Red Uno is targeting the public cabina market, it intends to compete on all fronts and is even studying the possibility of offering an initial public offering in New York this year.

"We will take on Terra and AT&T but from the standpoint of our culture, our language and our vision," says Soriano. "We refuse to recycle what is organized and imported from Miami. And that is our strength."

COPYRIGHT 2000 Freedom Magazines, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group

La Nueva Alfombra Magica: Usos y Mitos de Internet

2006-11-25T14:28:00.000-08:00

Raul Trejo Delarbre
La Nueva Alfombra Magica: Usos y Mitos de Internet, la Red de Redes
(The New Magic Carpet: Uses and Myths of the Internet, the Network of Networks)
Madrid: FUNDESCO (Fundacion para el Desarrollo de la Funcion Social de las Comunicaciones), 1996.
cloth, 276 p., ISBN 968-13-2932-5
Available through: Editorial Diana, Mexico, DF
Editorial Diana: 4sales@diana.com.mx
FUNDESCO: http://www.fundesco.es

There are now hundreds of thousands of Web sites in Latin America. You can read the news from any one of many daily newspapers, get on-the-site reports of the destruction from Hurricane Mitch, locate scholarly research conducted at Latin American universities or simply follow your favorite soccer team. Regional networks have been appearing at a rapid rate since the early 90's and "some [of these] ... have had the highest rates of growth worldwide" (Hahn, p. 58). Just as in the United States these networks serve to disseminate information about every sector of the economy and society. The most active Internet nations in Latin America include Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Venezuela, and Uruguay. A quick visit to such mega-Web sites as: http:// lanic.utexas.edu:80 (UT-LANIC), http://ekeko.rcp.net.pe (Red Cientifica Peruana) or http://www.rtn.net.mx (Red Tecnologica Nacional. Mexico) can lead the intrepid Web explorer into a multi-lingual Latin American-based world of information.

But are the issues facing Internet development in Latin America any different from those addressed in the developing world? Mr. Trejo Delarbre's book, La Nueva Alfombra Magica, thinks so. The book is a guide, not to individual Web sites, but to the political, social, cultural and economic issues inherent in the Internet and its potential and application in developing countries. The book is an excellent synthesis of the work of scholars and Internet theorists, citing sources as diverse as Nicholas Negroponte, Herbert Schiller, Armand Mattelart, Ed Krol, Robert Reich and Stewart Brand. Trejo Delarbre weaves this with Latin American theorists and practitioners including Jose Soriano (Peru) and combines it with examples from Mexico and other Latin American countries as well as the European Community. Don't be thrown by the publication date, although it was written in 1996, the theoretical background and framework is still quite applicable and identifies areas for further discussion that are infrequently mentioned in much of the English-language literature.

Trejo Delarbre is a faculty member and researcher at the Institute for Social Research at the National Autonomous University in Mexico (UNAM) and received the FUNDESCO Essay Prize for this work in 1995 (Premio FUNDESCO de Ensayo, Spain). Using Vinod K. Jain's image of the Intenet as Aladdin's magic carpet, Trejo Delarbre views the Internet as a combination of discovery, emotion and adventure and his work attempts to address the risks and challenges within. The book is divided into five chapters:

1. Internet Globalization
2. New Realities: A Cyberspace Profile
3. New Challenges
4. State and Liberalization
5. What to do with the Networks

The opening chapters of the book cover territory familiar to most, as Trejo Delarbre identifies uses of the Internet in developing countries, e.g., distance education, entertainment, academic and scientific research, e-mail, e-commerce, telecommuting, listservs and discussion groups, online news services, and political applications. He also raises many of the same issues one would see in any Internet discussion, hackers, copyright, encryption, and evaluation of information, for example.

Even in the "familiar territory" discussion, however, he suggests themes particular to Latin America and the developing world and raises the issue of North/South conflict in this context. He introduces early on the possibility that the globalization of the Internet may create new dependencies on the developed world rather than increasing developing countries' autonomy. He raises issues of national sovereignty in the increasing globalization of the Internet and introduces the idea that national and regional information policies are necessary to reduce this risk. He expresses the fear that Latin Americans will be consumers only, rather than providers of information. This may be one aspect in which the book is dated, as the explosion of Latin American resources has partially corrected this assumption.

It is in the latter portions of the book that he discusses issues endemic to the developing world that impact the Internet including: access (information rich v. information poor, lack of telephones, inadequate infrastructure); stratification of social classes; and increasing movement in most Latin American countries towards privatization and free market economies. While admitting that privatization is currently a prevailing force in much of Latin America, he argues for active involvement from the state. Citing the early history of the Internet and the fact that much of the good will that currently exists has to do with the Net's antecedents in academia and the nonprofit world, he fears this may well be overtaken by commercialism. He views state involvement as critical to reasonable development of the Internet, feeling that it can't simply be left to market forces to ensure the protection of society. Trejo Delarbre views the abstention of the State in regard to Internet regulation a roadblock of potentially historic significance, that must be overcome if the Internet is to achieve its full development and economic potential. The state's role must not be overly restrictive, but it must include the development and support of infrastructure; training and development of human resources; and strategic planning, administration and development of national policies.

He also points to the possibility of cooperation between the Latin American countries and views the European Community as model. Although it is not universal throughout Latin America, Trejo Delarbre cites the commonality of the Spanish language as a possible advantage in achieving collaboration across borders.

Citing the work of Soledad Robina, he states that the Internet alone is not going to solve the political, economic and social problems that torment developing nations, but it may be seen as an indispensable tool to improve planning, elevate educational levels and disseminate scientific and technological knowledge. Trejo Delarbre views the Internet as possessing great potential for developing nations, but warns that its potential must be assessed and molded for the benefit of its citizens.

This is a very accessible book (if you read Spanish) and it is not bogged down in either technical jargon or political polemics. It is well worth a read, dictionary in hand. I have touched on only a few of Mr. Trejo Delarbre's points. I recommend the book as a work that raises many of the political, social and cultural issues regarding the development of the Internet, not only for countries in the developing world but in regard to its growth in the United States and the developed world in general. - Lucinda Covert-Vail, New York University Libraries.

If you are interested in Latin American Internet development, you might consult the following selected English-language resources or visit the sites listed above:

B. Belejack, 1996. "Cyberculture comes to the Americas," NACLA Report on the Americas, volume 30 (November/December), pp. 14-17.

R. A. Fannin, 1997. "Internet finds its audience among elite Latin Americans," Advertising Age, volume 68 (December 8), p. 3.

S. Hahn, 1997. "Widening the western Web," Americas, volume 49 (May/June), pp. 58-59.

E. Horwitt, 1997. "Latin America: It might be only 3% online today, but fasten your seat belt," Computerworld, volume 14, number 39 (September 29), pp. 17-19.

C. Ryder, 1997. "Latin America: Internet Opportunity," Computerworld, volume 14, number 39 (September 29), p. 53.

pioneered the concept of Internet community centres

2006-11-25T14:25:00.000-08:00

Emerging Markets, Pockets of Excellence: India in a Global Internet Economy
By Madanmohan Rao

(excerpted from The Internet Economy of India, 2001. Edited by Osama Manzar, Madanmohan Rao and Tufail Ahmad Publisher: INOMY Media Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, India (www.inomy.com) 222 pages, paperback.)

Low PC penetration. High access costs. Low credit card usage. Inadequate fulfillment systems. Not enough locally relevant content or services.

One of the most powerful access innovations comes from Peru, where the Rede Cientifica Peruana (Peruvian Scientific Network—RCP) pioneered the concept of Internet community centres in the early 1990s. This model also forms the basis of the community access centres which Sam Pitroda’s World-Tel plans to replicate in several states in India.

Sounds like the Internet market in India or some other Asian countries, right? Well, this also applies to much of the Latin American Internet market—and delegates from the Americas and parts of Europe gather frequently at conferences in locales like Miami, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo and New York city to grapple with these thorny issues. Similar conferences and events about the Asian Internet market are often held in Bangkok, Beijing, Bangalore, and Boston.

In fact, an “umbilical cord” of venture capital and technology transfer seems to tie emerging Internet markets around the world with the more mature Internet economy of the U.S. Hence it would be instructive to compare and contrast emerging pockets of excellence in Internet economies around the world, and see how Asian countries like India fare in this regard.

Let us begin with the most advanced Internet market of the U.S., and then take a tour around some of the other concentrations of e-market potential; this “e-travelogue” is based on research reports from the various market consultancy firms around the globe, interspersed with experiences from the author's own speaking engagements at Internet conferences in over 35 countries around the world.

(1) The U.S.

Despite the current dotcom bust, the U.S. Internet market will continue to be the global trendsetter and benchmark thanks to its size, consumer/business/government spend, core research, venture capital culture, and stock exchanges for raising growth-oriented financing. The clout of the Fortune 500 companies will put them in centre-stage for driving much “hub and spoke” activity revolving around B2B commerce and market exchanges.

There is also a well-established and smoothly-oiled mechanism of research & development collaboration between academia, the government, and the private sector, which will help with initiatives like Internet2. In addition, the U.S. Internet sector also creates significant global mindshare thanks to the creation of an international media industry focusing on the Internet economy; this includes books, trade magazines, TV, radio and online media properties covering Internet developments and impacts (such as O'Reilly Publications, IDG magazines, Cnet, InternetNews.com, Upside magazine and FastCompany.com).

(2) Latin America

Between the Americas and Europe, there are about 40 million online speakers of Spanish and Portuguese across the globe, constituting one of the most dynamic online markets in the world.

Indeed, it is probably Latin America that offers one of the best case studies worldwide of how the Internet can simultaneously be a local, regional, transcontinental and multilingual medium for content and commerce.

“The objective conditions and people’s perceptions of the Net are changing throughout the region. The worldviews and lives of millions in the region are being transformed by the Net,” according to Fernando Espuelas, CEO of StarMedia, the leading media player in the Latin American Internet market. “The Net is creating a new dynamic in Latin America. It is victory for all—how often can you say that in life,” he says.

Latin American growth in the Internet user base exceeded even that of Asia for some time—but Asia seems to be bouncing back from the economic crisis of the late 1990s, and is estimated to be the fastest growing regional Internet market today.

The leading Latin American markets today are Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile. The Portuguese-speaking Brazilian market stands out as the single largest national market, whereas, the rest of the Spanish speakers are distributed throughout the other dozen countries.

As in other emerging economies of Asia, the Latin American Internet market is witnessing a simultaneous explosion of activity in basic access, mass portal, vertical portal and e-tail sectors—unlike the U.S., where these models sequentially evolved over time in the past few years. And like Asia, the average regional penetration will remain relatively low, reaching just about ten percent of the population in the next five years.

There are huge opportunities opening up for advertising agencies wishing to target pan-Latin as well as more local audiences. Cable TV and cellphone markets in Latin America are also growing explosively, offering new opportunities for convergent Internet access and content. Some of the most outstanding innovations in the region are probably in the area of free ISPs, community access models, and e-commerce logistics systems.

One of the most powerful access innovations comes from Peru, where the Rede Cientifica Peruana (Peruvian Scientific Network—RCP) pioneered the concept of Internet community centres in the early 1990s. This model also forms the basis of the community access centres which Sam Pitroda’s World-Tel plans to replicate in several states in India.

“Internet access through leased lines and shared devices in community centres—not just individual dial-up access—holds the key for growing the Internet as a mass medium in emerging economies,” according to Jose Soriano, founder of RCP.

RCP is exporting this model of affordable Internet access (now available for under 40 cents an hour in Peru) to Colombia, Argentina, El Salvador, and Brazil, said Sariano. “We are also working with World-Tel to extend this model to India,” according to Sariano.

And there is of course the huge entertainment potential of the Latin American market. “Latin American music has global appeal. Nations like Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, and Puerto Rico have always produced more than their fair share of great music,” says Jamey Stout, founder and CEO of music site DGolpe.com. Many more music giants like Carlos Santana, Ricky Martin or Caetano Veloso can now be discovered on the Net.

Players in the Spanish language markets are emerging not just in Latin America but from the U.S. and Spain as well, such as AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, Prodigy, and Telefonica.

For this reason, cities like Miami in the U.S. are emerging as a major hub for e-commerce companies operating in Latin America; Miami also happens to be one of the most visited destination cities for shoppers and tourists from Latin America.

Some local players are on the other hand arguing that excessive dependence on the U.S. stock market could be unhealthy by increasing vulnerability of local players to downturns in the U.S. markets.

(3) e-Europe

As the Internet user population outside the U.S. exceeds the user base within the U.S.—a historic landmark which was just passed in year 2000 -- powerful innovations and business models for online access and usage are emerging from outside the U.S. as well.

One of the most dramatic innovations to sweep the access market in recent times has been the explosion of free-usage ISPs in countries like Britain. Despite operational challenges, the phenomenal success of free ISPs has ignited the imagination of telcos, ISPs, retailers, content publishers, and commerce ventures elsewhere in Europe and other parts of the world.

And while the U.S. may lead in diffusion of the Net via PCs, Europe has a much greater diversity of other interactive platforms such as digital TV (DTV). In terms of content, sites focusing on European sports like football and rugby have a much more international appeal (especially in Asia and Latin America) than U.S. sports like baseball and basketball, and can thus scale up to global audiences and ad revenue streams more easily.

European businesses in cities are taking on broadband connections much faster than the U.S. More European sites tend to be multilingual and localised for many countries, as compared to U.S. sites which are largely in English only. Furthermore, traditional European media companies on the Net have already dared to cannibalise their own content, as compared to many U.S. media companies who have been sidelined by Internet pure-plays.

Interesting developments are also unfolding in Scandinavia in areas like Internet applications for cellphones, and creative uses of corporate Intranets. For instance, shopping for clothes is possible from Ericsson's Intranet.

“Though the mass markets for the Internet are in Germany, UK and France, the Scandinavian markets show higher sophistication,” according to Even Neufeld, vice president of international research at Jupiter.

With an increase in convergence of communication and financial services accessible via cellphones, a Scandinaivan enthusiast has reportedly remarked that “your phone will be your remote control for life.”

In fact, some countries in Europe such as Spain and Italy are expected to largely leapfrog the PC-based e-commerce phase and directly get into m-commerce. Telefonica Italy is rolling out cellphones with preconfigured Internet access.

There will also be a huge market in Europe for content and devices which don't necessarily depend on a visual interface such as a screen, but can be accessed on audio devices—such as music, radio programming and MP3 players.

European digital TV companies like France TPS and NTL Interactive are rolling out interactive Web-enabled shopping services coupled with cable TV content, where users can view music videos, dig up album and artist information in Web formats, and then place orders via online credit card transactions.

A major issue for European Internet companies is withstanding the fierce competition from U.S. players moving into Europe. A big challenge for players in Europe is scaling up their existing information and technology base to pan-European operations, a feat which U.S. players like publishing group IDG, portal Yahoo, and online service AOL have pulled off remarkably well.

European retailers are feeling market share erosion from US online retailers—for instance, from, Amazon.com which has operations in Germany and Britain, and from U.S. travel companies.

In the U.S., it is easier for new ideas to scale up quickly, due to the larger and more homogenous user base. European Internet professionals also do not have as much access to sophisticated and comprehensive market research resources as their U.S. counterparts, though this is beginning to change as more market research groups launch or scale up their European operations.

Despite Europe's different languages, cultures and cuisines, many observers note that a “European consumer” is starting to emerge from the region's economic convergence, single market and modern means of communication.

In January 2002, the Euro will become the only valid currency in 11 European countries, creating a market of 400 million consumers whose younger generation has been weaned on technology, world travel, and the Internet.

“Because of this, they will adopt more uniform buying behaviour than their elders,” according to Jacques Habib, a partner at Andersen Consulting in Paris.

In sum, it is in four areas—wireless Internet access, integrated DTV, multilingual publishing, and free ISP models—that Europe is at the cutting edge of the Internet economy.

But European companies also face massive shortages in skilled IT workers in gearing up for the Internet age, and numerous reports from research firms like IDC predict shortfalls of hundreds of thousands of knowledge workers in the coming years. Many of these are likely to be filled up from non-EU countries like India.

(4) Middle East and Africa

The concept “algorithm” -- on which much of computer science is based—derives its name from Arab mathematician Abdallah Al-Khwarizmi, who was born in Baghdad in the 8th century A.D. Though Arab countries seem to have fallen behind in the IT race today, some are making determined attempts to catch up.

While the Internet market in the Middle East and African countries is just moving from embryonic to emerging stages, pockets of notable developments are visible in South Africa, Dubai and Tunisia.

The Internet population worldwide is expected to double in the period 1999 to 2002, and the Internet user base in the Middle East and Africa is expected to triple; there will be an estimated 12 million Internet users in the Middle East by 2002.

Dubai has announced the launch of a tax-free Internet City which has attracted more than 190 companies including Microsoft, Compaq, IBM and Oracle. Dubai Internet City has no corporate or personal income tax, allows foreign companies to maintain 100 percent ownership of their businesses, and aims to become a “regional oasis” for local startups.

Notable emerging projects in Tunisia include TradeNet Tunisia (www.tradenet.com.tn), a one-stop online documentation and financial service for importers, exporters and freight organisations; PubliNet (public Internet centres) to increase Internet access options via community centres; “Internet Caravans” (www.caravanes-internet.tn) to take mobile workshops about the Internet around the country; and the Tunisian postal agency's smart card project called e-Dinar (e-dinar.poste.tn).

Areas ripe for harnessing for online global media markets include Arabic music, which is receiving significant international attention thanks in part to pop star Sting's recent track “Desert Rose,” which features Algerian singer Cheb Mami. Popular sites like Mazika.com now feature discographies, fanmail, and music downloads of Arab musicians.

Japanese management guru Ken-ichi Ohmae, in his recent besteseller “The Invisible Continent,” observes that smaller and more nimble countries like Ireland and Singapore have done a remarkable job of transforming themselves into regional “e-hubs” in the information age.

Perhaps a similar approach would serve Tunisia well too, especially if it harnesses the talent and capital of its diaspora and leverages its strategic location between Africa, Europe and the Arab bloc.

(5) Asia-Pacific

With a population of over three billion people, the 23 countries of the Asia-Pacific region represent a rapidly growing and lucrative segment of the global Internet market.

According to market research firm Yankee Group, Asia will have 374 million users at the end of 2005. But despite dropping costs of Internet devices and access tariffs, there will be some bumps up ahead on the Asian information superhighway, in the form of ambiguous or unfavourable regulations, lack of scaling in infrastructure, inadequate investment in start-ups, and management challenges in running companies which have gone public.

Asia exhibits a wide diversity of telecom and broadcast environments, ranging from teledensity-poor India and China to advanced info-societies like Singapore and Hong Kong where provision of basic universal telecom access is no longer an issue.

“Getting the regulatory house in order remains a primary challenge in much of Asia,” according to Mark Hukill, professor at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Luckily, role models for the Asian Internet have already emerged, leading global investors have taken a serious interest in the Asian Internet, and government regulations on the Internet market are slowly easing.

Three key trends are emerging in the Asian mediascape: the rise of new technology platforms and associated socio-economic behaviour patterns such as NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service for mobile Internet access in Japan, the growing clout of countries like India, Singapore and the Philippines as hubs of e-commerce solutions development, and the rise of the “digital keiretsu” or networks of Web properties via mergers, acquisitions and alliances.

At the head of the Asian Internet market is Japan. “The basic foundations of the Japanese Internet economy are coming together,” according to Allen Miller, president of SunBridge, a U.S. firm focusing on early-stage investments in Japanese Internet companies. Japan is much ahead of the U.S. in mobile communications and related technologies like Internet appliances, mobile emailers, and Web-enabled iMode phones.

Tens of thousands of i-mode sites are available in Japan for mobile Internet access, offering banking, travel ticketing, news and email services via a “portal tone.” Soon NTT plans to roll out 3G W-CDMA services with 2 Mbps bandwidth and broadband content, as the number of users accessing the Net via mobiles exceeds those accessing it via PCs. The pervasive, “always on” nature of mobile Net access will undoubtedly continue to spin off entirely new innovations in online services.

Japanese e-commerce pioneers have also shown a lot of innovation via creation of digital vending machines in public places for downloading maps and music, and the integration of convenience stores (such as 7-Elevens) in the e-commerce logistics chain for delivery of goods to customers near their homes or train stations.

Australia tends to lead the region in early adoption of new media; unfortunately, it has not been able to creation conditions favourable for the formation of a “regional Silicon Valley” in the Asia Pacific.

On the regulatory front, there is widespread community support for government-citizen-industry partnerships for cyberspace regulation in Australia. The Australian scheme has three components: a hotline for complaints about online content, a community advisory and educational body called NetAlert, and codes of practice formulated by the 600-member Internet Industry Association of Australia. Many countries are looking at the Australian model of cooperative regulation with a lot of interest.

The proliferation of the Internet has also been leveraged by regional political movements hampered by governments, such as the opposition movement in Malaysia and the student movements in Indonesia. Web sites used by activists have helped ensure more open elections in east Asia, exposed corrupt politicians in South Korea, and spread environmental viewpoints in India.

“Out of 3 billion people in Asia, more than two-thirds—over 2 billion—are less than 35 years of age. They have grown up in an expansive and expanding environment, and are finely in tune with new media, awareness of outside influences, and a sense of momentum,” according to Frank Brown, president of MTV Networks Asia.

“For a long time, Asian countries like Singapore have been nations of employees. Our challenge now in the digital millenium is to spawn a nation of entrepreneurs and innovators,” according to Lim Swee Say, Singapore's minister of state for communications.

Another major Internet player in East Asia is Korea. The Korean government has launched an ambitious programme called “One PC, One Home” to accelerate PC diffusion. Korea leads the world in per capita diffusion of broadband Internet access as well as activities like online stock trading and Internet gaming.

Mainland China is expected to become a leading global market in five years. China declared 1999 to be the Year of the Internet. “E-Commerce is the future of business,” Chinese president Jiang Jemin is reported to have said during a recent APEC summit.

In comparison, India is an extremely content-rich country with a very free press climate, unlike some of its other Asian counterparts: the news, culture, entertainment, sports and medical knowledge base of this country can easily sustain dozens of portals and vortals for a content-hungry consumer marketplace.

The Indian diaspora are spread across the world from Silicon Valley and Sydney to Singapore and Southall, and their strong community ties have led to global audiences for content offerings as well as interlinked networks of venture capital and a superb flair for collective international Netrepreneurship.

India's cutting-edge competitive infotech and design skills are leading growing numbers of U.S., European and Australian companies to outsource much of their software development and even customer service to companies based half-way around the world in India.

Indians in the U.S. -- like Vinod Khosla (co-founder of Sun Microsystems), C.K. Prahlad (management studies guru at Harvard Business School), Ravi Kalakota (e-commerce professor at the University of Texas in Austin), Rajat Gupta (CEO of McKinsey Consulting), Gunjan Sinha (founder of eGain), Gururaj Deshpande (founder of Juniper Networks), Sandeep Sidhu (founder of i2 Technologies), Kanwal Rekhi (former CTO of Novell Networks), Sabeer Bhatia (founder of Hotmail), Rakesh Mathur (co-founder of Junglee) and Rohit Chandra (founder of eCode) -- have been making quite a mark in the computer, Internet, academic, and business fields in the U.S. They are now forging new links with their home country for the New Economy—turning a “brain drain” into a “brain bank.”

“Silicon Valley is built on ICs—not integrated circuits, but Indians and Chinese,” jokes regional economics scholar AnnaLee Saxenian, a professor at the University of California in Berkeley who has published research work on how Indian Internet professionals are building technology transfer and venture capital bridges between Silicon Valley and India, paralleling developments in Taiwan a decade ago in the hardware industry.

Having a large domestic user base means India can sustain a lot of local infrastructure, content, foreign capital investments, and an online market in general—unlike smaller countries like Ireland and Singapore, who need to be focusing much more on overseas markets.

But India still lags behind in becoming a powerful services hub like Singapore or Ireland, which have much more robust infrastructure, less bureaucratic red tape, and more political stability.

The challenge ahead is to grow the scope and scale of these targets while also extending the benefits of the IT and Internet revolution to the rest of the Indian economy and society at large, overcoming the digital divide in the process. India will also be hard-pressed to meet the target workforce size of 2.2. million IT workers by 2008 (up from 300,000 today).

Other challenges include creating the right regulatory environment, growing the domestic market, bridging the digital divide, breaking into non-English markets, improving global marketing skills, dealing with the global trend towards shorter lifecycles, and migrating up the value chain from basic software maintenance to full-fledged IPR creation. Generally risk-averse, many Indian companies have also preferred to stick to low-risk highly-contractable work, though this is beginning to change as a new generation of “Netrepreneurs” is emerging.

Areas ripe for foreign companies to consider Indian alliances include strengthening Internet security, data caching, Web-enabling legacy systems, XML-enabled application integration, implementing e-commerce sites (eg. auctions, B2B exchanges), developing enterprise portals, managing content-heavy sites, standardising plug-and-play technologies, evolving WAP utilities, spinning off hi-tech consulting services, remote education and training, and online market research.

According to a NASSCOM-McKinsey survey, The domestic IT market in India is still largely untapped, thanks to low PC penetration (3.6 per thousand people, as compared to 362 in the U.S., 217 in Singapore, 145 in Ireland, and 9 in the Philippines), low computerisation of government departments (Singapore is a notable role model here, thanks to electronic government and the Singapore One broadband initiative; Malaysia is also ambitious in this regard), and low IT spending as a percentage of GDP (0.2 per cent, as compared to 2 per cent in the U.S., 1.8 in Sweden, 1.0 in Singapore, and 0.8 in Ireland).

Regulatory obstacles are currently responsible for higher costs of leased data lines, inadequate interconnectivity between various communications networks, and lack of VoIP services. Other developing countries like the Philippines are ahead of India in this regard; Manila is now an important hub as an animation centre for Disney, call centre for Intel, help desk for AOL, and Java skill centre for Sun.

Due to reasons of much more diverse business and political cultures, it may be more difficult for Asia to have pan-Asian Internet players than other continents like Europe and Latin America, where pan-European ISPs and pan-Latin portals are rapidly emerging.

Asian Internet players are also facing challenges in attracting talented management, drawing on “smart capital,” and harnessing employee strengths via stock option programmes.

And as long as infrastructural obstacles and regulatory obscurities persist, the Internet phenomenon in many Asian countries may continue to be characterised as a gradual evolution rather than a dramatic revolution.

CARETAS MAGAZINE FROM PERU IS ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB

2006-11-25T14:21:00.000-08:00

CARETAS MAGAZINE

* Subject: CARETAS MAGAZINE
* Date: Sun, 30 Jul 95 23:23:15 EDT

CARETAS MAGAZINE
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 01:26:44 GMT
Subject: Caretas Magazine
Sender: owner-newjour@ccat.sas.upenn.edu

Date: Thu, 26 Jan 1995 19:21:46 +0100
From: au007@rs1.rrz.uni-koeln.de (Michael Uwe Moebius)
Subject: CARETAS

SENDER: js@cahuide.rcp.net.pe (Jose Soriano)
Subject: WWW> ANNOUNCING: CARETAS MAGAZINE WWW (Peru)
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 1995 15:08:14 +0000 (GMT)

-- INTERNET PRESS RELEASE --

CARETAS MAGAZINE FROM PERU IS ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB

Lima (Monday, January 16, 1995): CARETAS the most ancient magazine of
PERU, announces the launch of its World Wide Web page

(http://www.rcp.net.pe/CARETAS

This weekly magazine ( in spanish ) founded 45 years ago it will be
now also available each thursday in the WWW of the Peru national network:
RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA.

--
Jose Soriano - Red Cientifica Peruana - e-mail : js@rcp.net.pe
Av. Alonso de la Molina 1698 Monterrico - Lima - Peru
TE: ( 51 -14) 36 89 89 anexo 527 / fax: 36 40 67
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Frente a las igualmente invalidas posiciones del optimismo y del
pesimismo solo cabe la incertidumbre!!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------

V FORO PERMANENTE DE REDES DE AMERICA LATINA Y EL CARIBE - abril 1996

2006-11-25T14:20:00.001-08:00

V FORO REDES AMERICA LATINA Y CARIBE

AUTHOR: Maria Saenz

=======================================================================
CONVOCATORIA
=======================================================================

V FORO PERMANENTE DE REDES DE
AMERICA LATINA Y EL CARIBE

Lima, Peru
abril 1996

TEMARIO Introduccion Objetivos Miembros del Comite Organizador** Etapas del foro Taller de planificacion estrategica del Internet Latinoamericano Presentacion de Ponencias Clausura Logistica (incluye costos de participacion)** Solicitud de inscripcion Las instituciones participantes en la construccion de Internet en America Latina y el Caribe (ALC), hemos desarrollado con enorme esfuerzo la base de una infraestructura y una cultura Internet en esta region. Una gran parte de este esfuerzo ha sido apoyado de manera notable por algunas personas y organismos internacionales.

Hoy, cuatro anhos despues de nuestra primera reunion en Rio de Janeiro, auspiciada por el proyecto REDUHCYT de la Organizacion de Estados Americanos (OEA) y por organismos nacionales, la mayoria de las redes academicas, de ONGs y nacionales hemos llegado a un punto de maduracion notable.

Mientras tanto, Internet esta cambiando aceleradamente y se ha convertido en una moda. Muchas compa~nias telefonicas nacionales estan incursionando en este nuevo "mercado".

En este contexto, creemos necesario responder como region ante las oportunidades y la problematica que deberemos enfrentar en los proximos a~nos. Urge "ubicarnos en la avanzada de los grandes cambios" tal y como lo ha dicho Ida Holz de Uruguay

Con estas ideas en mente, la Red Cientifica Peruana, junto a todas las redes academicas, de ONGs y nacionales, les extiende la mas cordial invitacion a participar en el V FORO PERMANENTE DE REDES DE AMERICA LATINA Y EL CARIBE a realizarse en Lima, Peru del 14 al 19 de abril de 1996.

Los objetivos de este Foro son:

* Preparar a ALC para actuar de forma integrada en futuros eventos mundiales en los que se tomen decisiones que afecten el futuro del Internet latinoamericano. Como resultado, prepararemos el terreno para INET '96 en Montreal y para el VI Foro Permanente a realizarse en Santiago de Chile el proximo septiembre.
* Decidir sobre el establecimiento de una entidad formal que impulse el desarrollo del Internet latinoamericano, al mismo tiempo que analizar el futuro papel del Foro Permanente de Redes de America Latina y el Caribe.
* Examinar las formas en que las redes se convierten en agentes de cambios sociales, culturales y economicos en LAC.
* Intercambiar informacion sobre los ultimos adelantos tecnicos y politicos relacionados con el Internet latinoamericano.

Este Foro promete aplicar un enfoque distinto. Su filosofia central gira alrededor de los siguientes ejes:

* RESPONSABILIDAD HACIA LOS USUARIOS FINALES. Las redes y las PTT en si mismas no tienen valor alguno. Su valor se crea a partir del ofrecimiento a los usuarios finales de servicios de alta calidad y accesibilidad. Las redes y las PTT debemos rendir cuentas de nuestro trabajo, el cual debe ir enfocado a satisfacer las necesidades de nuestros usuarios.
* PARTICIPACION AMPLIA. En este Foro participaran todos los actores involucrados en el desarrollo del Internet latinoamericano. Es decir, que a diferencia de los Foros anteriores que unicamente contaron con la presencia de los administradores de redes, estamos invitando a representantes de las compa~nias de telefonia y transporte de datos (PTT, por sus siglas en ingles), los usuarios de Internet y expertos internacionales sin distinciones.

Ademas, la organizacion del Foro no recaera solo en la Red Cientifica Peruana, sino que estara a cargo de un Comite Organizador internacional, conformado por las siguientes personas:

Estela Barone
ebarone@secyt.gov.ar
Coordinadora
RECyT Red Cienti fica y Tecnologica Nacional
Subsecretaria de Informatica y Desarrollo de
la Presidencia de la Nacion
Argentina

Ida Holz holz@seciu.uy Directora Servicio Central de Informatica de la Universidad de la Republica Uruguay

Karin Delgadillo karin@clai.ecx.ec Presidenta Ecuanex

Saul Hahn Coordinador de Ciencias Basicas y Redes shahn@umd5.umd.edu Organizacion de Estados Americanos (OEA)

Ing. Jesus Martinez Alfonso jemar@ceniai.cu Director CENIAI Cuba

Luis German Rodriguez L. lgrodrig@conicit.ve Profesor Universidad Central de Venezuela

Maria Saenz msaenz@amauta.rcp.net.pe Coordinadora V Foro Red Cientifica Peruana

Jose Soriano js@rcp.net.pe Gerente General Red Cientifica Peruana- Internet Peru

Amalia Souza apcadmin@ax.apc.org Coordinadora Adjunta Secretariado Internacional Asociacion para el Progreso de las Comunicaciones (APC)

Florencio Utretas futretas@reuna.cl Red Universitaria Nacional (REUNA) Chile

Edmundo Vitale evitale@faces.ula.ve Coordinador REDULA Venezuela

I. ETAPAS DEL FORO

El foro estara dividido en tres etapas: un taller de planificacion estrategica del Internet latinomericano, una sesion de ponencias sobre siete temas de actualidad, y para clausurar el evento, un conversatorio sobre el futuro del Internet peruano. En la primera etapa participaran un grupo multisectorial de expertos en Internet, quienes seran responsables de diseminar los resultados obtenidos. En cambio, en las siguientes dos etapas se abriran las puertas a una audiencia amplia conformada por todas aquellas personas interesadas en el Internet latinoamericano.

Cuatro dias antes del foro, el Comite Organizador se reunira para preparar un documento de discusion, que sirva de base para el taller de planificacion estrategica. Este documento tomara como insumo las ponencias enviadas al Comite Organizador, siguiendo las indicaciones que se presentan mas adelante.

I.1. TALLER DE PLANIFICACION ESTRATEGICA DEL INTERNET LATINOMERICANO

Los representantes de las redes, empresas de telefonia y transporte de datos, usuarios y expertos examinaran los logros y problemas mas importantes para el desarrollo del Internet latinoamericano. Estas personas buscaran soluciones regionales concertadas que respondan a necesidades compartidas.

Los temas centrales del taller seran los siguientes (nota al pie 1):

* PARTICIPACION EN LA SOCIEDAD INTERNET (ISOC). INET 95, la ultima reunion de la ISOC, evidencio los giros sin precedentes que estan ocurriendo en su seno. La falta de representatividad latinoamericana ante la ISOC ha limitado nuestra participacion real en estos procesos. Existe un interes fuerte en combinar nuestros esfuerzos para participar activamente en las decisiones de esta entidad.
* PAPEL DE LAS REDES NACIONALES. Las redes nacionales, como entidades integradoras de esfuerzos de los sectores academicos, gubernamental y no gubernamental, sin fines de lucro y empresarial, conllevan un potencial sin paralelo para asegurar la estabilidad de los servicios Internet y su accesibilidad por parte de toda la sociedad civil latinoamericana. El taller examinara de cerca cuales han sido las lecciones aprendidas por las redes nacionales, para asi definir claramente el papel que deberian estar jugando en el desarrollo de ALC.
* ACERCAMIENTO ENTRE REDES Y PTT. En muchas ocasiones, las redes y las PTT nos hemos percibido mutuamente como competidores. Este taller reunira a representantes de ambos grupos, para que juntos encontremos puntos de alianza.
* PAPEL DE LOS GOBIERNOS. La existencia o falta de politicas y regulaciones nacionales sobre informacion y telecomunicaciones ha tenido un impacto decisivo sobre el avance de Internet. Necesitamos conocer su estado actual para encontrar puntos de incidencia en las mismas, y para planear el desarrollo de nuestros servicios.
* COMERCIALIZACION DE INTERNET. Uno de los puntos candentes de 1995 ha sido la pujante comercializacion de Internet. Es importante impulsar acciones coherentes, dentro de esta nueva concepcion, que busquen el beneficio de los usuarios.
* INFORMACION EN INTERNET. Internet es algo mas que cables y enchufes, es un espacio para intercambiar informacion. Tenemos la experiencia necesaria para apoyar a mas productores de informacion en espa~nol y portugues para colocar sus recursos en linea. La interrelacion de recursos de informacion y la creacion de informacion sobre la informacion en linea seran dos lineas de trabajo importantes durante los siguientes a~nos.
* COLUMNA VERTEBRAL LATINOAMERICANA. Desde hace a~nos se habla de la importancia de fortalecer nuestra infraestructura regional. Unos de los puntos cruciales es la creacion de una columna vertebral regional, que ofrezca multiples puntos de acceso al Internet. Antes del V Foro haremos un inventario de los avances hechos por varios actores, para que durante el taller veamos como se puede eliminar la brecha para alcanzar este objetivo.
* AUTOSOSTENIBILIDAD Y GESTION DE FONDOS. Situandonos en la nueva realidad, se analizaran las alternativas financieras para caminar hacia la autosostenibilidad de las redes, que tomen en cuenta la creacion de mecanismos de apoyo y coordinacion, y el rol de la comunidad de donantes.
* CREACION DE UNA ENTIDAD COORDINADORA PERMANENTE. Uno de los puntos centrales de este taller sera tomar la decision de crear una entidad que implemente las iniciativas acordadas durante este y los siguientes Foros. Consideramos que ha llegado el momento apropiado para crear una instancia formal y permanente que promueva el desarrollo del Internet latinoamericano. Si los participantes concuerdan en estos puntos, entonces deberemos definir su mision y los lineamientos esenciales para su operacion.

En otro memorandum se ofrecen los detalles de la metodologia del taller que utilizara herramientas de planificacion estrategica a cargo de consultores profesionales.

I.2. PRESENTACION DE PONENCIAS

Durante dos dias y medio, personas expertas presentaran sus ponencias sobre siete temas de actualidad. Las ponencias pueden tratar estudios de casos, propuestas innovadoras, y experiencias en general que sean importantes de compartir con la comunidad del Internet latinoamericano.

Les invitamos a que envien sus ponencias sobre los siguientes temas al Comite Organizador:

* POLITICAS Y REGULACIONES. Los cambios en la naturaleza de Internet nos obligan a adaptar las politicas y regulaciones actuales para asegurar su crecimiento y la accesibilidad de sus servicios a toda la poblacion civil latinoamericana.
* IMPACTO SOCIAL Y CULTURAL. La oportunidad de comunicarse e intercambiar informacion a nivel local, regional y global en forma rapida y de bajo costo prometen el surgimiento de una nueva era para la humanidad. Los efectos de Internet ya se estan sintiendo en la vida de las personas que trabajan en muchos campos, tales como la salud, medio ambiente, derechos humanos, y desarrollo urbano y rural; como tambien en la cultura organizativa de las instituciones donde trabajan estos individuos, y en las comunidades donde viven.
* EDUCACION. La educacion es definitivamente un area en la que Internet tiene un impacto renovador. La educacion interactiva a distancia, el incremento de la creatividad y el nacimiento de una actitud distintiva sobre el manejo de informacion se han visto fuertemente beneficiados por las herramientas que brinda Internet.
* ESPA~NOL Y PORTUGUES EN INTERNET. La gran mayoria de la informacion en Internet se encuentra en ingles, por lo cual la poblacion latinoamericana aprovecha una peque~na fraccion del potencial de esta tecnologia. Importantes esfuerzos se estan haciendo por apoyar a los productores de informacion en espa~nol y portugues para que coloquen sus recursos en linea. Otras personas han optado por traducir masivamente al espa~nol y portugues la informacion originada en otros idiomas.
* MERCADEO Y COMERCIO A TRAVES DE INTERNET. El mercadeo a traves de Internet le esta abriendo las puertas a las peque~nas y medianas empresas para que compitan en mejores terminos con los grandes conglomerados. A todo nivel se esta transformando la forma en que las personas intercambian bienes y servicios. Tenemos la oportunidad de aprender de los exitos y fracasos de los paises que estan invirtiendo muchisimos recursos en convertir al Internet en la nueva avenida del comercio global.
* ADELANTOS TECNOLOGICOS. Muchas son las innovaciones de software y hardware que ALC esta adaptando y en algunos casos desarrollando. A la cabeza tenemos los multimedios, tecnicas de manejo y recuperacion de informacion, e interfaces amigables para los usuarios finales. Los administradores de redes estan incorporando nuevos protocolos, dise~nos, y otros conceptos.
* SERVICIOS DE APOYO A USUARIOS. El Internet intimida a muchos usuarios. Para eliminar las barreras culturales y tecnicas debemos ofrecer servicios y entrenamiento que muestren a los usuarios de manera amigable y de bajo costo como usar las herramientas de Internet, y como aprovecharlas en beneficio propio y de su comunidad.

Les invitamos a partipar enviando sus ponencias, siguiendo las siguientes indicaciones:

* Se aceptan contribuciones en espa~nol, portugues e ingles.
* Las contribuciones tendran como maximo 2,500 palabras.
* Envien sus ponencias completas en ASCII antes del 1 de marzo de 1996 a la siguiente direccion electronica: .
* Acompa~nada a su ponencia completa, envie una sola hoja con un resumen de la ponencia; los datos de los autores y de una persona contacto; el tema de actualidad al que corresponde su ponencia de acuerdo a la lista incluida en este mensaje; y un lista de descriptores (keywords) de su trabajo. (Los datos de cada persona deben incluir sus direcciones electronicas, postales, y fisicas, y sus numeros de telefono y facsimil.)

El 8 de marzo el Comite Organizador les enviara su dictamen, e indicaciones para enviar la version final de su ponencia que debera ser enviada antes del 12 de marzo para ser incluida en las memorias del Foro.

I.3. CLAUSURA

Para la clausura del Foro, se convocara a personas a cargo de la toma de decisiones en el Peru del gobierno, empresa privada, organizaciones de desarrollo nacionales e internacionales, y universidades. A partir de las conclusiones del taller, se realizara un conversatorio para analizar la creacion de politicas y regulaciones que provean un marco de referencia para continuar con el desarrollo de Internet en el Peru.

II. LOGISTICA

A continuacion, les informamos de algunos aspectos logisticos:

== LUGAR Y FECHAS ==

ETAPA FECHA LUGAR
======================================================================

Taller de planificacion
estrategica 14-16 de abril Hotel Jose Antonio

Presentacion de Ponencias 17-19 de abril Auditorio "Ricardo
Palma"

Clausura 19 de abril Auditorio "Ricardo
(tarde) Palma"

Se solicita a los participantes que lleguen a Lima, Peru, por lo menos la noche anterior a la fecha de inicio de la etapa en la cual participaran.

El Hotel Jose Antonio se ubica a pocas cuadras de las oficinas de la Red Cientifica Peruana (RCP) en Ave. 28 de Julio No. 398, Miraflores, Lima (telefono: +51 (1) 445-6870 y 446-6058; fax: 448-8295). El Auditorio Ricardo Palma se ubica en el edificio que ocupa la RCP.

== FECHA LIMITE PARA SOLICITUD DE INSCRIPCION ==

El 23 de febrero sera la ultima fecha para enviar su solicitud para asistir al evento. (Encontraran un formato para enviar sus solicitudes al final de este documento). La confirmacion final de su asistencia debera hacerse antes del 10 de marzo.

== IDIOMAS ==

Los idiomas principales serl espanhol y portugues. Se traducira simultaneamente al ingles y viceversa.

== COSTO DE PARTICIPACION -- PAQUETE COMPLETO ==

INCLUYE: ingreso al Foro, materiales, alojamiento en habitacion doble, comidas, y traslados desde y hacia el aeropuerto.

UNA ETAPA (taller de planificacion estrategica (14 al 16 de abril) o presentacion de ponencias y clausura (17 al 19 de abril)):

Hotel Jose Antonio Senhorial*
4 estrellas 3 estrellas
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Habitacion Sencilla Doble Sencilla Doble
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Institucional** US$ 700 US$ 550 US$ 475 US$ 425
General US$ 800 US$ 650 US$ 575 US$ 525

TODAS LAS ETAPAS (taller de planificacion estrategica, presentacion de ponencias y clausura (14 al 19 de abril)):

Hotel Jose Antonio Senhorial*
4 estrellas 3 estrellas
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Habitacion Sencilla Doble Sencilla Doble
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Institucional** US $ 1150 US $ 875 US $ 725 US $ 600
General US $ 1250 US $ 975 US $ 825 US $ 750

* El Hostal Se~norial esta ubicado a pocas cuadras del Hotel Jose Antonio y de la Red Cientifica Peruana, en la Ave. Jose Gonzales No. 567 (telefax: +51 (1) 444-5755 y 445-7306).

** La categoria Institucional incluye a ONGs, organizaciones academicas y estatales.

== COSTO DE PARTICIPACION -- UNICAMENTE INSCRIPCION ==

INCLUYE: ingreso al foro, refrigerios y materiales

UNA ETAPA (taller de planificacion estrategica (14 al 16 de abril) o presentacion de ponencias y clausura (17 al 19 de abril)):

Instituciones sin fines de lucro US$ 65
(ONGs, inst. academicas y estatales)

General US$ 95

TODAS LAS ETAPAS (taller de planificacion estrategica o presentacion de ponencias y clausura (14 al 19 de abril)):

Instituciones sin fines de lucro US$ 130
(ONGs, inst. academicas y estatales)

General US$ 190

== FORMA DE PAGO DE COSTOS DE PARTICIPACION ==

El pago del costo de participacion puede realizarse de dos maneras:

* Transferencia bancaria a la cuenta 182-2-005388 en el Banco Continental del Peru, a nombre de la Red Cientifica Peruana. Sirvase enviar por fax el comprobante de la transferencia.
* A su llegada al Peru, en dolares en efectivo (o soles en el caso de los participantes locales), o con cheques de viajero en dolares.

== DESCUENTOS ==

Se ofreceran descuentos a las personas o instituciones cuyas ponencias hayan sido seleccionadas por el Comite Organizador:

US $ 100 por todas las etapas del Foro y US $ 50 por una etapa.

== BECAS ==

A las personas que necesiten apoyo financiero para cubrir los costos mencionados y/o su boleto aereo, se les agradecera que envien su solicitud sustentada por la direccion ejecutiva de su institucion, detallando los costos que cubrira usted o su institucion y aquellos para los cuales necesitara apoyo financiero, a la siguiente direccion electronica: becas-foro@rcp.net.pe. Tambien pueden hacernos llegar su solicitud via fax o personalmente.

Procuraremos apoyar a la mayor cantidad de personas posible, dando prioridad a aquellas que contribuyan con ponencias. Como principio NO SE OTORGARAN BECAS TOTALES. Todos los participantes deberan aportar algo en la medida de sus posibilidades.

A inicio de mayo, el Comite Organizador dara respuesta a las solicitudes de beca.

== RESERVACIONES DE AVION ==

Solicitamos a todos las personas interesadas en participar en el V Foro que hagan sus **reservaciones** de vuelo lo antes posible. Despues que el Comite Organizador de respuesta a las solicitudes de inscripcion y becas, les pediremos que procedan a comprar sus boletos.

== RECEPCION EN EL AEROPUERTO ==

Un representante de la Red Cientifica Peruana le estara esperando a su llegada al aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chavez para trasladarle a su hotel. Para el efecto, portara un cartel con el logotipo de la RCP y su nombre.

== CLIMA ==

La ciudad de Lima se encuentra a 60 metros sobre el nivel del mar. El foro se realizara durante el final del verano. La temperatura promedio anual es de 20 grados centigrados, descendiendo algunos grados hacia las ultimas horas de la tarde y durante la noche. La humedad promedio es de 80%. Los dias seran soleados, aunque pueden amanecer con neblina baja, despejandose hacia el medio dia. Oscurece aproximadamente a las 6:30 PM. Se recomienda ropa de media estacion, no invernal; chaquetas ligeras o sueteres de algodon, especialmente para las noches.

== DINERO ==

La unidad monetaria es el nuevo sol (S/.). Un dolar americano equivale a aproximadamente S/.2.33. Se puede cambiar moneda extranjera en cualquier banco o casa de cambio, los cualesson numerosos en Miraflores. Los bancos atienden hasta el medio dia. Existen numerosos cambistas ambulantes, algunos de ellos acreditados, pero no recomendamos cambiar dinero por este medio.

En la mayoria de los negocios en Miraflores, se aceptan todas las tarjetas de credito internacionales (Visa, Mastercard, Diners, American Express), asi como dolares americanos.

=======================================================================

Rogamos a las personas interesadas en participar en este evento que se comuniquen lo antes posible con el Comite Organizador para reservar su cupo, enviar sus ponencias y recibir informacion adicional. Este Comite es coordinado por Maria Saenz.

A aquellas personas que ya han enviado sus solicitudes, les agradecemos su interes por participar en el V Foro.

Esperamos contar con su presencia,

Jose Soriano
RCP

Correo-e comite-foro@rcp.net.pe
Gopher gopher://gopher.rcp.net.pe
WWW http://www.rcp.net.pe/VFORO
Telefonos +51 (1) 954-4799 (nuevo numero), 241-5689 y 241-5696
Fax +51 (1) 241-1320

NOTAS AL PIE

Nota 1. Estos temas fueron extraidos de las discusiones realizadas en la lista electronica , en la que participan principalmente administradores de redes de ALC.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
SOLICITUD DE INSCRIPCION

V FORO PERMANENTE DE REDES DE
AMERICA LATINA Y EL CARIBE

Lima, Peru
abril 1996

1. DATOS PERSONALES

1.1. Nombre completo:

1.2. Sexo:

1.3. Telefono domiciliar:

1.4. Nacionalidad:

1.5. Idiomas que habla fluidamente:

1.6. Fuma (si/no):

1.7. Habitos alimenticios especiales:

1.8. Otros datos importantes para asegurar que su alojamiento,
alimentacion y transporte sean adecuados:

2. DATOS INSTITUCIONALES

2.1. Nombre de la institucion donde trabaja:

2.2. Cargo:

2.3. Direccion postal completa:

2.4. Direccion fisica completa:

2.5. Direccion electronica:

2.6. Telefono:

2.7. Facsimil:

3. PARTICIPACION EN FORO

3.1. Por favor, marque con una "x", las etapas del Foro en que
desea participar:

() Taller de planificacion estrategica 14-16 de abril
() Presentacion de Ponencias 17-19 de abril
() Clausura 19 de abril (tarde)

3.2. Ha solicitado o tiene planeado solicitar beca parcial para su
participacion en el Foro (si/no)?

En caso positivo, indique para que tipo de gastos necesita apoyo
financiero.

Si no necesita apoyo financiero, indique el tipo de tarifa que
cancelara, segun el tarifario incluido en la seccion llamada
LOGISTICA:

3.3. Presentara una ponencia en el Foro (si/no)? En caso positivo,
indique cual es el tema de su ponencia.

3.4. Como se entero por primera vez de este evento?

3.5. Cuales de los temas incluidos en el Foro le interesan mas?

Por favor envie su solicitud de inscripcion a: comite-foro@rcp.net.pe

RCP implementa en nuestro país la llamada Tarifa Plana para el acceso a Internet.

2006-11-25T14:17:00.000-08:00

Red a Merced - © 1995 - 1999 Empresa Editora Caretas S.A.
RCP implementa en nuestro país la llamada Tarifa Plana para el acceso a Internet.

José Soriano, gerente de RCP: "Lo que frena el desarrollo de Internet en el Perú no es su precio".

HACE un año y medio, Telefónica firmó con el gobierno el contrato de apertura del mercado anticipado. En aquel momento la Red Científica Peruana pensó que la idea de real competencia era improbable antes de 18 meses. Por desgracia, todo parece indicar que RCP tenía razón. No existe competencia en el campo de las telecomunicaciones porque las barreras de entrada, la firma de los contratos de interconexión y la nebulosa en la cual se trabaja, hacen que empresas como Bellsouth, First com y los 18 portadores de larga distancia nacional e internacional, se topen con murallas inesquivables. Telefónica compró todos los usuarios de los CPI´s (Centros Proveedores Internet). "Ellos canibalizaban el precio de la Internet a favor del tráfico telefónico que no estaban dispuestos a descender" asegura José Soriano, presidente de RCP.

Alrededor de 600 cabinas públicas en todo el Perú facilitan el acceso a Internet.

La actual situación de RCP como portador de larga distancia nacional e internacional y su condición de empresa de convergencia han permitido que favorezca al explotado internauta, pagándole a Telefónica el tráfico telefónico de éste. "Lo que frena el desarrollo de Internet en el Perú, no es su precio, puesto que es el más barato del mundo. No se encuentran en ningún otro país las tarifas que tenemos acá, desde gratis, hasta 3 dólares por mes o 60 dólares por año. El problema es la tarifa del teléfono, arma con la cual se expulsa del mercado verdaderos operadores de Internet", continúa Soriano. RCP es el único sobreviviente. Por ello decide pagar el porcentaje del llamado telefónico que permite a un usuario 600 minutos mensuales por un cargo fijo de 25,99 dólares. Por primera vez en el Perú, un proveedor de Internet le está pagando a Telefónica los minutos que sus usuarios consumen (aproximadamente el 46%). Se sigue esperando el esquema de descuentos ofrecido por Telefónica en el Congreso, la solución definitiva sería el más justo acceso a esta herramienta clave para el desarrollo del país. (V.K.)

Global Networking Survey

2006-11-25T14:16:00.000-08:00

Red Cientifica Peruana
From: js@cahuide.rcp.net.pe (Jose Soriano)
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 13:50:09 +0000 (GMT)

Global Networking Survey

Section 1: Coordinates

Name of the network : RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA
Contact person/point: Jose Soriano
- Red Cientifica Peruana
Postal address
Av. Alonso de la Molina 1698
- Monterrico
- Lima
- Peru
Telephone Number
- TE: ( 51 -14) 36 89 89 anexo 527 /
Fax Number
- fax: 36 40 67
e-mail address
js@rcp.net.pe

Section 2: Network

1. Scope of the network (check all that apply)

Academic [X]
General Research [X]
Government [X]
NGO [X]
Commercial [X]
Special Interest Group [X] Specify Schools, BBS, Lybrarians...
Other [] Specify________

2. Description

Operating since 1991
Registered users 7,716
Active users 6,900 (connected at least once a
month during the last 3 months)

3. Approximately, what percent of your users would you estimate as being

_____ University and research faculty staff
_____ University students
_____ Government employees
_____ Commercial employees
_____ NGO employees
_____ Employees of International organizations, e.g.,
(UNESCO, PNUD, OAS, IADB, and World Bank)
_____ Other ______________________

4. Do you charge for services Yes [X] No []

If Yes, specify charging methods (check all that apply)
X Free to end users
X Fixed charges to end users ( in RCP hosts )
____ Variable (usage-based) charge to end users
____ Free to end institutions (such as a university)
X Fixed charged to institutions
____ Variable (usage-based) charge to institutions

5. What is the approximate annual budget for your network
connection and/or information center? 1994 - 360.000 USA$
1995 - 980.000 USA$
6. Of that budget, approximately what percent is used for

* communication equipment
* computer equipment
17.0 communication charges
57.4 technical staff : and support are in the same budget of
22 peoples.
17.0 management staff: We make subcontratation of outside
services of accounting and finantial
consulting companies.
____ support staff
17.0 facilities
* software
0.6 overhead
2.8 other Trips, subscriptions, etc..

* This are different accounts for us. The * means 53.6 percent of
investements for 1995.

7. Type(s) of connection(s) or gateway(s) out of your country

X IP
_____ UUCP
_____ Fidonet
_____ Bitnet
_____ Other _______________________

8. Communication links(s) out of your country (for each link)

Speed 128 K
Leased or switched Leased
Vendor PANAMSAT
Where do you connect? NSF BACKBONE

9. Approximately, what percent of your users have

We are not talking about end-users but about institutional networks
in this case.

65 e-mail only
10 dial-in access to a command line account on a host
10 dial-in SLIP/PPP connectivity
5 full-time IP connectivity

10. Approximately, what percent of hosts on your network run

____ an FTP server
____ a WWW (http) server
____ a Gopher server
____ a list server
____ a news server
____ a dial-up bulletin board
____ a library catalogue

11. Of the hosts of your network, what of each type?

X Personal computers running DOS
X Personal computers running Microsoft Windows
X Personal computers running Unix
____ Personal computers running Mac OS
X Unix workstations
____ Other workstations
X Unix minicomputers
____ Other minicomputers
____ Unix mainframes
____ Other mainframes
X Other IPX ( Novell networks )

12. Approximately, what percent of the hosts in your network communicate via

9 IP
91 UUCP
____ Fido
____ Bitnet
____ Other ________________

Section 3: Help-desk and user support

1. Is there a help-desk or other central point for queries? Yes [X] No []

Postal address
Av Larco 770
Lima 18 - Miraflores
Peru

Telephone number : (51 14 ) 45 51 68
e-mail address

2. Is a general user guide available? Yes [X] No []

Paper [X] Electronic [X]

3. User group support activities
Describe here activities to support user groups in using the network.
All the staff support end-users and are trained for this. For us this is
the key of our work. We have a specialiced group of our team dedicately
exclusively to give support and trainning to institutios ( networks ) or
end users. We make manuals and translation of information about Internet to
spanish ( also software ).

4. Training activities and workshops
Describe here activities to train and inform user support staff.

We open a public kiosque. In there we give training free courses all days
from 9 AM to 9 PM. This courses are from use of Internet to how to build an
campus network. The courses are free or very cheap that depends of
complexitie ( UNIX, IP, etc ) have a little charge ( 10 USA$ for person) to
pay expenses.
We give hands-on training and also conferences in this place or in
the universities, ngo's, schools, entreprises, etc...

5. Other activities
Describe here any other activities on your network you consider
relevant. Comments (plans, etc.)

National and regional backbones. National Postmaster annual metting.
Lima workshop of "Escuela latinoamericana de redes".

Section 4: Success stories

Could you give some examples of users or applications which best
illustrate the value of your network?

gopher.rcp.net.pe
http://www.rcp.net.pe
interest group lists ( 51 )

Jose Soriano - Red Cientifica Peruana - e-mail js@rcp.net.pe
Av. Alonso de la Molina 1698 Monterrico - Lima - Peru
TE ( 51 -14) 36 89 89 anexo 527 / fax: 36 40 67

Frente a las igualmente invalidas posiciones del optimismo y del
pesimismo solo cabe la incertidumbre!!!

NETWORK SERVICE PROVIDERS IN LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBE

2006-11-25T14:14:00.000-08:00

NETWORK SERVICE PROVIDERS IN LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBE (fwd)
Arthur R. McGee (amcgee@netcom.com)
Wed, 2 Mar 1994 19:21:51 -0800 (PST)

* Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
* Next message: NVALDES@BOOTES.UNM.EDU: "Research Seminar Tour - Cuba _ May 1994"
* Previous message: JEP@LASPAU.mhs.harvard.edu: ""

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 2 Mar 1994 18:37:13 -0500 (EST)
From: Jose Soriano
Subject: NETWORK SERVICE PROVIDERS IN LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBE (fwd)

===========================================================================
RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA ADMINISTRACION
===========================================================================
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 1994

Hello Everyone,

Network Service Providers in Latin America and Caribe version 1.4
( 1 Mar 1994 ) has just been released.

This document is a non extensive list of Internet, E-mail, providers
in Latin America and Caribe. The list is designed to help people and
organizations FIND the providers in our region. Each entry is confirmed
by the service provider. Queries for updates are sent to each service
provider all 3 month by Giovana Jave < gjave@amauta.rcp.net.pe >.The
document is in spanish and soon will be available in english.

You will found two kind of format ( complete document with all the
countrys and and country by country providers ):

******************************************************************************
FORMATO ENTRADAS POR PAIS
(FORMAT COUNTRY BY COUNTRY ENTRYS)
PERU

#1
Tipo: Red Cientifica
Direccion: Red Cientifica Peruana
Alonso de Molina, 1698
Monterrico - Lima - Peru
Horarios: las 24 horas.
Contactos: Jose Soriano (Coordinador General),
Ricardo Lent(Operador Principal)
Tel1: 35-1760 / 36-8989 anx. 527/528, Fax1: 36-4067
Email: js@rcp.pe,
ricardo@rcp.pe
Protocolos Soportados: UUCP, TCP/IP, X.25
Tarifas Internacionales:

******************************************************************************
FORMATO DOCUMENTO TODA LA REGION
(FORMAT ALL THE NETWORKS IN LA&C)

COUNTRY

Tipo (Type): (Tipo de Red : ONG, Academica o Cientifica)
(Type of net : ONG or Scientific or Academic)
Direccion (Address):
Contactos (Contact): Nombre del contacto o postmaster (Name of the contact
or Postmaster)
Telef. (Phone):
Fax:
Email:

*****************************************************************************
Copies can be picked up on the Peru Internet Network, the Red
Cientifica Peruana, gopher :

gopher.rcp.net.pe port 70

Or in any gopher menu in South America item.

if you don't have acces to gopher ressourses you can send a request
to Yuri Herrera < odi@rcp.net.pe >
...
un abrazo
Jose Soriano - Red Cientifica Peruana - e-mail : js@rcp.net.pe
Av. Alonso de la Molina 1698 Monterrico - Lima - Peru
TE: ( 51 -14) 46 - 16 -95 / 36 89 89 anexo 527 / fax: 36 40 67
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
" La IGNORANCIA hace del conocimiento su peor enemigo...."

ANIVERSARIO RCP-IP

2006-11-25T14:13:00.000-08:00

ANIVERSARIO RCP-IP (fwd)
Molly Molloy (mmolloy@lib.nmsu.edu)
Wed, 18 Dec 1996 12:48:30 -0700 (MST)

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* Next message: Luis Fierro: "Books for kids (fwd)"
* Previous message: Sergio Mansilla: "Help me, please"

Here's an interesting article by Jose Soriano of the Red Cientifica Peruano--

Molly Molloy New Mexico State University Library Las Cruces, NM 88001
505-646-6931 mmolloy@lib.nmsu.edu http://lib.nmsu.edu/staff/mmolloy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 13:52:52 -0500 (EST)
From: Jose Soriano
Subject: ANIVERSARIO RCP-IP

CYBERNAUTAS O CIBERNOMADES
HACIENDO CAMINO AL ANDAR

Por Jose Soriano M.

Cinco an~os han pasado desde que los primeros 15 peruanos mandaron su
primer mensaje desde la recien fundada Asociacion sin fines de lucro, Red
Cientifica Peruana. Con solo tres mil dolares, una computadora 386, cuatro
modem y muchisima voluntad decenas de peruanos nos lanzamos a la aventura
de construir un modelo cooperativo, que permite hoy, cinco an~os despues,
a casi 7 mil asociados ser propietarios de un patrimonio mayor a los 2
millones de dolares y un modelo probado y admirado en todas las latitudes
que nos llena de orgullo.

Son 80 mil cibernomades conformando nuestra red nacional. Un infoducto
nacional que permite integrar nuestra nacion mas alla de nuestras fronteras
fisicas consolidando nuestras culturas e idiomas. Algo mas de 15,000
llamados telefonicos diarios, 260 web nacionales que reciben algo mas de 6
millones de visitas por mes, 151 listas de interes con mas de 26,825
personas inscritas desde todo el mundo, atestiguan lo valioso de la
informacion Peruana y el notable desarrollo que hemos logrado en este
ultimo an~o.

Los nodos concentradores distribuidos en Trujillo, Tacna,, Pasco, Arequipa,
Iquitos, Cajamarca y Cusco son los primeros ya operativos. Pronto estaran
conectados, Lambayeque, Ilo, Tumbes y Puno. Esperamos en 1997 poder contar
con puntos de presencia distribuidos en todos los departamentos y comenzar
con la interconexion de las provincias y los distritos.

Las cabinas publicas son el eje fundamental de un desarrollo autosostenido
y autonomo en una realidad donde no existe la infraestructura necesaria
para seguir creciendo y llevando esta herramienta de desarrollo a la
mayoria de los peruanos. Por ello esperamos poder instalar 30 Cabinas
Publicas propias y 300 autonomas en el curso del proximo an~o.

Podriamos abundar en la estadistica y en los ejemplos, pero como para
muestra basta un boton, creemos que hemos demostrado que un modelo distinto
es posible y que en el Peru, lo estamos construyendo, haciendo camino al
andar.

La falta de politicas del Estado que apoyen este tipo de desarrollos, como
se esta haciendo en Argentina Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica; y las
exageradas tarifas de telecomunicaciones que acompan~an la inconducta de
la empresa monopolica dominante, que se resiste a cumplir las leyes y
regulaciones nacionales, retrasan una mayor participacion de los peruanos
en la globalizacion pero nos han hecho fuertes ante la adversidad.

SUPERAUTOPISTA O INFODUCTOS,

Signo de los tiempos, todos los dias recibimos informaciones diversas
acerca de un concepto llamado =B3autopistas de la informacion=B2 cada vez ma=
s
extran~o. Se trata de algo que no se sabe muy bien que es, pero suena a
moderno y vende, resulta comercial.

El concepto de autopista de la informacion (information superhighway) fue
acun~ado por el Vicepresidente de Estados Unidos. Al Gore, para designar
los servicios de telecomunicacion de la proxima generacion basados en
tecnologias hoy conocidas como Internet. El nombre surgio como un homenaje
a su padre quien hace algunas decadas presento ante el Congreso de los
Estados Unidos el proyecto de Carreteras terrestres que integraron el
territorio de dicho pais.

Una red mundial adaptada a las necesidades del nuevo comercio globalizado y
con la tentacion de imponer un pensamiento unico, aculturado, que favorece
los intereses de las grandes multinacionales. Pero la globalizacion de las
relaciones internacionales, basada en la explosion de los mercados
financieros y las redes de informacion, ''verdaderas columnas vertebrales
de la sociedad moderna'', encierran tambien una oportunidad de desarrollo.

Si somos capaces de pensar al Internet no solo en terminos de lucro, tal
vez estemos frente a una oportunidad unica en la historia. Si logramos
adaptar estas nuevas tecnologias a nuestras necesidades de desarrollo y
establecer, diferencias competitivas para nuestras empresas, universidades,
colegios, organizaciones de base puede ser que tengamos una oportunidad en
los nuevos escenarios mundiales.

Por primera vez en la historia de la humanidad la inteligencia de la
informacion no esta solo en manos de quien la emite, sino que estara en
manos de quien la recibe. El usuario tendra la capacidad de elegir que
recibe, cuando y en que tipo de soporte final. Lo mas importante es que
cualquier persona tiene la capacidad de producir y poner informacion en
esta red mundial en igualdad de condiciones.

Lo que cualquiera puede hacer en Internet desde su casa, convertirse en un
nomada recorriendo territorios y laberintos borgianos sin jamas perderse.
Recorrer varias tiendas para comprar articulos siguiendo los consejos y
explicaciones de expertos vendedores. Enviar y recibir faxes. Examinar su
historial medico para recordar el nombre de esa medicina que tiene que
comprar. Aprender cualquier lengua del planeta recibiendo clases
personales de nativos del pais. Tambien puede hacerse hacia el Peru,
debemos aprender a construir masivamente los infoductos que provean nuestra
informacion al mundo. Vale la pena intentarlo.

Si no lo abordamos como proyecto estrategico no tendremos ningun lugar, ni
como pais, ni como instituciones, ni como personas en los nuevos
escenarios. De eso podemos estar seguros.

Pero todo esto que ya se ha logrado puede perderse. Las multinacionales de
telecomunicaciones estan estableciendo estrategias que les devuelvan la
propiedad absoluta de los medios. Los monopolios buscan expulsar del
mercado a quienes puedan significar competencia. El libre mercado mal
entendido enfrenta proyectos autogestionados, autonomos y autofinanciados
de aplicacion intensiva para el desarrollo, con grandes multinacionales de
recursos casi ilimitados ejecutando politicas de perro del hortelano.

En el Peru existen actualmente algo mas de un millon cuatrocientos mil
telefonos y poco menos de 465 mil computadoras en los hogares. Para el an~o
2000 el crecimiento anunciado es el doble de telefonos y un aumento anual
de 60 mil computadoras.

Esto quiere decir que, de aceptar el modelo propuesto por las
multinacionales, para el nuevo siglo, menos del 5 % de los peruanos podran
navegar =B3autopistas=B2 que seran propiedad exclusiva de las empresas de
telecomunicaciones, orientadas hacia el exterior, y buscando ganancias de
corto plazo siguiendo el modelo de la television.

Los infoductos, termino que me parece mas apropiado, acun~ado en Europa
hace 8 an~os, son y seran propiedad de la gente. Por eso en la RCP-IP
seguiremos =B3haciendo junto con la gente Peru al andar=B2.

----> PERULLAQTAMANTA LLAPANYACHANAJPA LLIKAN <-----
----> RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA <-----
Peruvian Internet Network
Jose Soriano - Coordinador General - e-mail : js@rcp.net.pe
Av. Larco 770 - Miraflores Telf. (51 1) 4455168
4455797=20

--
--
un abrazo,
js
_______________________________________________________________________
PERULLAQTAMANTA LLAPANYACHANAQPA LLIKAN - RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA
Jose Soriano - Coordinador General - e-mail : js@rcp.net.pe
Av. Larco 770 - Miraflores - Lima 18 - Peru
Telefono: (511) 241 5689, (511) 954 4799 Fax (511) 241 1320
_______________________________________________________________________
La Libertad, Sancho,
es uno de los mas preciosos dones
que a los hombres dieron los Cielos;
con ella no pueden igualarse los tesoros
que encierra la tierra, ni el mar encubre;
por la Libertad, asi como por la Honra,
se puede y se debe aventurar la vida"
(Don Quijote II:58)

Hot wiring Perú

2006-11-25T09:09:00.000-08:00

http://www.gci275.com/peru/internet.shtml
Peru has one of the fastest expanding Internet networks in the developing world. Much of this growth started with a pushy, charismatic organizer, José Soriano, who stubbornly insisted on building up the RCP (Red Cientifica Peruana or the Peruvian Scientific Network) when everything else in Peru was falling to pieces. Founded in 1991, the network was based on public and private universities, as well as other non-profit organizations. The digital explosion was mainly centered on e-mail but it expanded onto the Web quickly. Soriano singlehandedly kept the RCP going and made it unique in the Americas, as noted in this Wired News story, "Reflections of Peru's Web Pioneer". There is also a International Trade Foum interview with him from July 2000.

I first met Soriano in 1992 when I was visiting Peru for the Federation of American Scientists. The RCP was still in diapers, operating mostly with donated equipment and unpaid university students eager to get their hands wet with new technology. RCP offered mainly e-mail services, at a time when public services seemed to be collapsing. I met him again when I came back to Peru in 1993-96 to work for the International Potato Center. It was one of the founding institutions in those early days, even though they had other options for telecommuncations because they say it as crucial for fomenting research and low-cost communications. Soriano was touchy to work with because he was feuding with the Spanish telephone company that had purchased the formerly public telephone company and wanted to squash all competition. But I could see first hand the importance of Internet access and e-mail on the isolated researchers associated with CIP.

Those early days went a long way towards kindling my enthusiasm for the Internet. I can remember downloading my first applications and utilities -- strange programs to connect with services called gophers, ftp and telnet. I got the first versions of a web browser.

In 2003, RCP revamped its websites and they look at lot better. Yachay is its web directory. It also serves as the registry for Peruvian domain names. It has a online report about the Internet in Peru in Spanish.

However, in the past few years, Telefónica del Peru has taken the lead in expanding the Internet. It has undertaken a great cultural portal and and web directory. It's all part of its public relations efforts of the Spanish telephone company to win friends after buying its way into the Peruvian market.

When I revisted Peru in October 2002, I found that there were public Internet booths on almost any corner. These places, called cabinas pública or cybercafés, allow you to check your e-mail or browse for information on the web. They are inexpensive, about $0.50 per hour. They are frequently opened around the clock.

On the subject of the Internet in Peru, "Providing Content and Facilitating Social Change: Electronic Media in Rural Development Based on Case Material from Peru" by Robin van Koert, which appeared in First Monday. You can also see a Stanford University case study on Peru: The Impact of the Internet on Developing Countries Victoria Holmes did a dissertation on The Internet, inequality and exclusion in Peru: the social impact of the cabinas públicas [Adobe Acrobat portable file format - 230 kb]

Peru benefits from Internet innovation - an article in USAToday, February 28, 1999 ::: Internet use up sharply in Peru ::: NetAid Projects in Peru ::: Christian Science Monitor's Women sell cake over the Interent and International Trade Forum's piece on Computers and Cakes Give Confidence and Cash to Housewives in Peru

An International Telecommunication Union study Adobe Acrobat pdf format - 118 kb on the impact of telephony over Internet Protocol (IP). The study illlustrates the clash between an incumbent phone company, Telefónica del Perú, and new uses of Internet-based phone services.

Radio and TV stations broadcasting over the Internet: TVRadioWorld or VTuner

Information Technology in Peru by Jeffrey S. Bernstein, a graduate of American University's Masters of Business Administration program. An excellent job of providing an overview of the impact and potential of IT in a developing country.

Cyberculture Comes to the Americas

2006-11-25T09:07:00.000-08:00

http://www.txinfinet.com/mader/ecotravel/period/belejack.html

> [Image]
> Cyberculture Comes to the Americas
> by Barbara Belejack
>
> December, 1996
>
> Kunanqa rihsisunchisya Runa Simita, inkakunah rimayninta, Kay
> musuhanpi, Supercarretera de Informacion, Internetpa Kancharyninwan.
>
> Even for those without a word of Quechua, the phrase Supercarretera de
> Informacion, Internetpa, is a dead give-away: "Let's learn Quechua,
> language of the Incas, the modern way, via the information highway
> through the light of the Internet."
>
> The message appeared in a Lima newsweekly last July, directing readers
> to the web page of the Peruvian Scientific Network (RCP), a
> non-profit, user-financed consortium of individual, academic,
> non-governmental, business and public-sector members. It was founded
> in Lima in 1991 with one computer, three modems and 7,000 dollars in
> seed money from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). In 1994
> the RCP connected to the backbone of the National Science Foundation
> (NSF) and now includes over 3,000 member-organizations and nearly
> 60,000 individual users. In the words of director Jose Soriano, it is
> an autonomous network that strictly applies the concept of the
> Internet - a network of national networks that belongs to no one and
> everyone.
>
> On the telecommunications-fair circuit, where he is a frequent
> speaker, Soriano makes a passionate case for a regional Latin American
> backbone - the necessary infrastructure that would allow the Internet
> to be used to the fullest extent as a developmental tool. A Latin
> American backbone would decentralize the use of communications
> technology beyond the major cities, and lessen the region's dependence
> on satellite connection to the United States. He portrays the Internet
> as a latter-day version of Bolvar's dream and the last chance to
> reverse centuries of centralization in Peru that have concentrated
> economic development in Lima and isolated much of the countryside.
>
> During the 1994 Miami Summit of the Americas, Internet connectivity
> was declared a priority for the region and the Organization of
> American States (OAS), the NSF and the UNDP have been responsible for
> much of the recent push for full connectivity. All countries in the
> hemisphere have at least simple e-mail connections and with few
> exceptions, most are connected to the Internet. (In September Cuba
> connected through Sprint in the United States.) By far the most
> networked nation in the region is Brazil, where the Internet has been
> featured on a TV Globo soap opera. According to Matrix Information and
> Data Systems in Austin, Texas, the opening up of the Internet market
> in Brazil has resulted in 2,333% growth between January 1995 and
> January 1996.
>
> Although they may be just as confused about the role of print media in
> cyberspace as their counterparts north of the Rio Grande, most major
> publications in Latin America are on the Internet, and most have a
> special computer section or at least a computer columnist to chronicle
> the many wonders of cyberspace. And when an attorney with ties to the
> drug world was shot and killed in a Monterrey restaurant last spring,
> the newspaper El Norte obtained his computer diskettes and published
> dozens of incriminating letters on its web site. Soon after, the
> governor of the state of Nuevo Leon resigned and was charged with
> masterminding the attorney's murder.
>
> The range of cyberactivities is coming to resemble the computer
> supermarket of the North. Brazil's largest bank offers electronic
> banking; Mexco's largest private university is pioneering a virtual
> university; a Venezuelan e-zine points readers to web sites devoted to
> Hillary Clinton's hair. And like up north, computer-culture
> personalities have captured the popular imagination; the Latin
> American journeys of Bill Gates make for front page headlines
> throughout the region. But aside from cyberscoops and technological
> prowess, what does the Internet have to offer in the way of cultural
> and politics? Does it differ from radio, television, public-access
> cable television, video and all the other technological innovations
> touted as great equalizers and promoters of democracy? Is there
> anything really different going on now?
>
> While RCP prides itself on its computer stations - cabinas publicas -
> that make the Internet available to those without computers at home,
> "available" is a relative concept in a country where only 20% of the
> population is adequately employed and the cost of a basic basket of
> consumer goods exceeds the average worker's salary. According to a
> preliminary study of the RCP conducted by University of Lima
> sociologist Javier Diaz-Albertini, the average individual member is
> male, university-educated, 28 years old and resides in a high-income
> district of Lima.
>
> The Internet should be seen as a tool - no more, no less, says Scott
> Robinson, an anthropologist who coordinates Mexico's Rural Information
> Network on the non-profit LaNeta network. Robinson is less concerned
> about the number of individual users in the region than the number of
> barriers that appear when information and databases become products in
> nations that never developed a culture of freedom of information. And
> as Soriano somewhat reluctantly admits, perhaps it is time to start
> talking about "two Internets." The current one, he conjectures, with
> all the wonderful, full-graphic and video applications may be confined
> to North-South communication for the elites of the region, while there
> may also be a South-South Internet of lower quality connecting Latin
> American countries to one another.
>
> "We should not simply abandon this technology because it is unlikely
> that all the people will have direct access to it," says Carlos Afonso
> of the network of the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic
> Analysis (IBASE), a progressive think tank and umbrella organization
> based in Rio de Janeiro. The fact is that popular organizations can
> use the medium and are using it as a powerful instrument for
> democratization of information and exchange of common plans, policies
> and strategies. Until mid-1994, Internet access in Brazil was limited
> to a select portion of the academic community. The only organization
> providing services outside academia was AlterNex, the network of
> IBASE. The country now has the most extensive regulation of the
> Internet; phone companies are prohibited from providing access
> services to end users and the Brazilian government subsidizes the
> development of the Internet backbone structure.
>
> Just as in the United States, the Internet in Latin America is
> shifting from a primarily academic-based model with its origins in
> departments of engineering and computer science, to a commercial
> model. In the United States the process took 20 years; in Latin
> America it has happened much more rapidly and in the context of
> privatization and deregulation of national telephone companies, and
> the specter of a handful of corporations carving out global markets.
>
> One of the first countries in the region to experiment with the
> Internet was Mexico, where efforts to connect networks at the National
> Autonomous University in Mexico City (UNAM) and the private
> Technological Institute of Monterrey (ITESM or Monterrey Tec) began
> over a decade ago. In 1985 the computer science department at the
> University of Chile began experimenting with UUCP (UNIX-to- UNIX copy
> program, an early technology that uses ordinary modems and phone lines
> to handle e-mail and network news), and in 1987 Chile became the first
> Latin American nation, followed by Argentina, to enter the UUCP
> network with access to e-mail and USENET. (Among the factors
> contributing to the early development of the Internet in Argentina and
> Uruguay was the return of political exiles who had been teaching and
> researching at U.S. and European universities.) Chile's two competing
> academic networks are now commercial.
>
> To a great extent, the development of the progressive movement of
> nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Latin America is a product of
> the development of the "other Internet," the one without the glitz.
> Internet connections made an increasing number of alliances possible
> across borders. Alliances on environmental, human rights, labor and
> other issues have been facilitated by the Association for Progressive
> Communications (APC), a global network, comprised of 20 member
> networks in 135 countries, including the Institute for Global
> Communications (IGC) which operates PeaceNet, EcoNet, ConflictNet,
> LaborNet and WomensNet in the United States. Two of the earliest
> activist networks in Latin America were IBASE AlterNex and Nicarao,
> the electronic mail node established by APC in Nicaragua in 1985 in
> response to the U.S. hostility to the Sandinista government.
>
> The campaign against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
> in the early 1990s created alliances among organizations in the United
> States, Mexico and Canada, many of which shared communication via APC
> networks. Those networks, along with academic newsgroups, mobilized
> almost immediately after the January 1994 Zapatista uprising in
> Chiapas, and again in February 1995, in the wake of increased
> militarization. More recently, activists began laying the foundation
> for an Intercontinental "Network of Alternative Communication" (RICA
> in Spanish) as a way to consolidate already existing social
> communications networks and to share organizing strategies.
>
> Another Internet-based effort to bypass traditional media is Pulsar, a
> Quito-based project that functions as a low-budget, grassroots news
> agency for community radio stations throughout Latin America. Financed
> in part by the Canadian government's international-education fund,
> Pulsar serves as an alternative wire service for community radio
> stations, effectively bypassing the traditional wire services whose
> services are too expensive and whose stories reflect a heavy U.S. or
> European bias. Using the Internet, Pulsar staff gather stories from
> newspapers such as La Jornada in Mexico or La Republica in Lima,
> rewrite the news in "broadcast" format, and distribute the newscasts
> by e-mail. The project is establishing a network of correspondents who
> will help pool information, and plans call for an eventual exchange of
> stories among community radio stations throughout the region.
>
> Perhaps the most important role of the Internet to grassroots
> organizations involves the simplest technology--the use of e-mail--not
> only to mobilize around human rights and environmental emergencies,
> but to cut costs. "I can't conceive of any other way of doing our
> work," explains Ernesto Morales, who directs the Mexico City office of
> the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission. In addition to daily
> correspondence, the Commission is mandated by the United Nations to
> prepare four quarterly reports a year in English and Spanish which are
> distributed through e-mail.
>
> Although the Commission's offices in Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica and
> Spain have become dependent on the Internet, that's not yet the case
> in Guatemala, where traditionally military officials have held high
> positions in the state-run phone company. Telephone service is now
> privatized, but Guatemalans have become accustomed to assuming that
> telephone conversations are tapped. As Morales explains, both "a
> culture of terror," as well as technological backlog have to be
> overcome.
>
> Another concern to activists and NGOs is the growing body of
> "cyberwar" and "netwar" literature pioneered by Rand Corporation
> analyst David Ronfeldt, who along with David Arquilla of the U.S.
> Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, coined the terms in
> a 1993 article "CyberWar is Coming!" In 1993, Ronfeldt was thinking
> along the lines of a potential threat from an updated version of the
> Mongol hordes that would upset the etablished hierarchy of
> institutions. He predicted that communication would be increasing
> organizing "into cross-border networks and coalitions, identifying
> more with the development of civil society (even global civil society)
> than with nation-states, and using advanced information and
> communictions technologies to strengthen their activities." By 1995
> Ronfeldt was characterizing the Zapatista activists as highly
> successful in limiting the government's maneuverability, and warning
> that "the country that produced the prototype social revolution of the
> 20th century may now be giving rise to the prototype social netwar of
> the 21st century."
>
> When the cabinas publicas finally arrived in Cuzco last summer, they
> were installed with great ceremony by local and university officials
> at the University of San Antonio Abad. Soon after, RCP's homepage
> began appearing in Quechua, as well as Spanish and English. Soriano
> insists that the Internet must reflect local language and culture and
> not just be a window for Peruvians to view the wonders of the United
> States. To finance the growth of the Internet and projects deemed not
> commercially viable, RCP has begun a series of joint ventures with
> commercial businesses, leading to charges that the non-profit
> consortium is trying to dominate the Internet in Peru.
>
> Since its founding, RCP has battled with the various incarnations of
> the Peruvian phone company as well as with government officials
> suspicious of an independent communications network that has an
> obvious appeal to human rights and other NGOs. Soriano insists that
> the private telephone monopoly, Telefonica del Peru has deliberately
> stonewalled on the installation of infrastructure in the provinces and
> charged steep prices for long-distance services to cover the inflated
> price at which it purchased the public telephone company. Since
> purcasing the state-owned service in 1993, Telefonica enjoys a
> five-year monopoly that Soriano describes as a modern-day version of
> the Conquest. (Telefonica's majority owner is Telefonica de Espana,
> whose international division is very active in Latin America, with a
> stake in the telephone companies of Agentina, Chile, Venezuela,
> Colombia, and Puerto Rico as well as Peru.)
>
> The Internet itself, of course, is in transition. Existing main data
> pipes of the Internet backbone are not paying for themselves, and
> veteran net watchers like Carlos Afonso foresee an eventual dual
> pricing scheme, classifying services into lower and higher priority in
> terms of real-time data transfer. In the United States, the trend is
> toward increasing specialization of the Internet, with service
> providers turning into information providers and purchasing bulk modem
> time from phone companies, or from firms that buy lines in bulk from
> phone companies. That trend has not yet begun in Latin America, but it
> will. In the meantime, Internet watchers in the region would do well
> to see that the growing gap that Peruvian writer Alfredo Bryce
> Echenique describes as the fundamental challenge for the 21st century
> - the gap between "the slow" and "the connected" - does not grow any
> bigger than it already is.
>
> A version of this article appeared in the November/December, 1996
> issue of NACLA Report on the Americas. Contact the author via email:
> 102334.201@CompuServe.COM; for subscription information to NACLA, send
> a message to nacla@igc.apc.org
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Internet und Demokratie in Lateinamerika: Peru

2006-11-25T09:01:00.002-08:00

1.2.3 (1998)Peru
Completo : http://www.lateinamerika-studien.at/content/lehrgang/internet/internet-10.html

In Peru sind bereits an die 3 Millionen Personen online (Einwohner: 25 Mio.). Ein Spezifikum für die Internetlandschaft in Peru sind die von der RCP (Red Científica Peruana) geschaffenen “cabinas públicas”. Die 1990 gegründete RCP ist ein nicht kommerzielles, von den UserInnen finanziertes Netzwerk aus Einzelpersonen, Forschungseinrichtungen, NGOs, Geschäften und öffentlichen Einrichtungen. Die RCP wurde gegründet, um das Andenland Peru aus einer gewissen Isolation heraus auch an den Möglichkeiten des globalen Datenaustausches teilhaben zu lassen. José Soriano, Mitbegründer des RCP, tätigte 1995 im US-amerikanischen Nachrichtenmagazin Newsweek die folgende Aussage: “Heute werden die Netze von Eliten genutzt. Nur wer bereits Informationen besitzt, bekommt mehr!”Da ein Internetzugang für die Mehrheit der LateinamerikanerInnen einen unerschwinglichen Luxus darstellt, wurden in Peru Möglichkeiten gesucht, das Internet einer breiteren Masse zugänglich zu machen. In den sogenannten cabinas públicas (öffentliche Räume mit 20 bis 40 PCs mit Internetanschluss) kann jeder gegen eine Monatsgebühr von $ 15 die PCs nutzen, inklusive 3 Freistunden. An sich lobenswert, doch liegen diese cabinas hauptsächlich noch in den vornehmeren Bezirken Limas.

Die cabinas públicas haben sich als Exportschlager erwiesen und werden auch in Ländern, wie Kolumbien, Argentinien, El Salvador und Brasilien, immer häufiger angeboten.

Das Modell der cabinas públicas trägt sich ökonomisch selbst und wirft sogar Gewinne ab, die teilweise in neue Investitionen fließen. So entwickelte die Red Científica Peruana 1998 eine neue Form des alternativen Internetzugangs, die monocabinas. Darunter versteht man technologisch aufgerüstete Telefonzellen mit Computern, in denen neben der Internet-Nutzung sowohl konventionell als auch per Internet telefoniert werden kann. Die RCP ließ 100 monocabinas produzieren. Mit einem Franchise-Modell, wie bei den cabinas públicas sollen einige Tausende monocabinas folgen.

Bussines Week : Peru: Putting the Net in the Corner Store

2006-11-25T09:01:00.001-08:00

INTERNATIONAL -- LATIN AMERICAN COVER STORY

Peru: Putting the Net in the Corner Store (int'l edition)

For Jose Soriano, the Net has been a lifesaver. In 1994, the founder and general manager of Red Cientifica Peruana (RCP), Peru's first Internet service provider, learned that doctors in his country could not treat his son, Damian, for a brain tumor. So Soriano posted the boy's brain scans on the Web for specialists in Argentina to examine. Within 48 hours, Damian was en route to Buenos Aires for an operation.

The experience convinced Soriano that the power of the Net needed to be harnessed for the benefit of the masses. ''We realized that in Peru, since there were not enough telephones and computers for everyone, we would have to share,'' he says. So he and his colleagues began setting up what they call public Internet cabins--walk-in offices equipped with personal computers linked to the Net. Peruvians who pay a fee of $15 a month can log on for up to 15 hours, including phone charges.

Now, RCP (ekekos.rcp.net.pe) manages a network of 30 Net cabins across the country. It has also provided the knowhow for other companies to set up 470 more. RCP's sales are expected to rise by 45% this year, to $6.1 million, while earnings will reach about $1.5 million. The company is powering ahead on a two-year, $51 million program designed to increase the number of Peruvian Internet users from 389,000 to 2.5 million by 2001.

To do that, RCP plans to install 400 additional Internet cabins around Peru. It will also set up 5,000 new mono-cabins, the Internet equivalent of public telephone booths, in town squares and corner stores. Soriano says he is talking to a U.S. investor about financing and may consider taking the company public in a few years.

RCP's rise won't go unchallenged. Since Telefonica del Peru, a unit of Spain's Telefonica, lost its monopoly on fixed-line telephony last year, it has been scrambling to add new services, including Net access. RCP says it controls 56% of the Net market. The rest is split between Telefonica and IBM.

RCP doesn't have Telefonica's deep pockets, but ''it has a great capacity to innovate,'' says Jose Scaffi, a telecom expert at Apoyo, an economic think tank in Lima. Soriano has already proved that a good idea in Peru can go a long way.

By Jane Holligan in Lima

Revista IADB : Internet para el Pueblo

2006-11-25T08:59:00.000-08:00

José Soriano está seguro de que en algún momento en el próximo milenio el Internet estará al alcance de los latinoamericanos de toda clase social a un precio aceptable. Pero Soriano no está dispuesto a esperar tanto tiempo.

Este periodista experto en telecomunicaciones es el gerente general de la Red Científica Peruana (RCP) e impulsa un sistema para acercar el Internet a usuarios de recursos modestos en áreas subdesarrolladas.

Ejemplos de su estrategia están en funcionamiento en 27 puntos de todo el Perú. Conocidas como "cabinas públicas", cada una tiene usualmente unas 20 PCs conectadas al Internet que se alquilan por alrededor de US$1 la hora. Las cabinas ofrecen además instrucción, cuentas personales de correo electrónico, desarrollo de página para el World Wide Web y otros servicios.

Las cabinas resultaron ser enormemente populares con gente que no tiene teléfono o medios para comprar una computadora, una categoría de consumidores a la que según Soriano pertenecen más de 95 por ciento de los peruanos.

Quizás lo más notable es que las cabinas dan ganancia. Fundada en 1991 por Soriano y unos amigos, la RCP fue organizada sobre la convicción de que "el Internet revolucionará el acceso a la información", explica Soriano. Pero "queríamos asegurarnos de que las universidades, las ONGs y el ciudadano común podrían tomar parte en esa revolución", agrega.

Soriano y sus asociados crearon la RCP uniendo cuidadosamente idealismo y sentido comercial. La escala de precios que adoptaron cubre los costos y permite la expansión, sin ser exhorbitante. La RCP opera como una entidad autosuficiente sin fines de lucro y ya es el proveedor predominante de acceso al Internet en el Perú.

La RCP es propiedad de 11.500 entidades asociadas que pagan en promedio US$18 al mes por distintos niveles de acceso a la red. Unos 80.000 usuarios individuales registrados pagan derechos aún menores. Tiene 60 empleados y equipos con un valor total de US$2.800.000 y se calcula que en 1997 la RCP recibirá más de US$4 millones de sus usuarios.

Las cabinas de la RCP operan como concesiones. Con una inversión inicial que puede ser de sólo US$2.500, la RCP provee al concesionario calificado computadoras y equipos periféricos y de red por valor de US$60.000. Las concesiones, usualmente parte de sucursales bancarias, cámaras de comercio o empresas pequeñas, asumen responsabilidad financiera por la operación y dependen de lo que recaudan de sus usuarios para pagar a RCP por los equipos y generar un respetable margen.

Los inversores están comenzando a mostrar interés por el concepto. En la Conferencia Informática 2000, que organizó el BID, su Departamento del Sector Privado y Worldtel Ltd., una compañía de inversiones que formula y solventa proyectos de telecomunicaciones en mercados emergentes, anunciaron planes de facilitar a RCP financiamiento para instalar 1.000 nuevas cabinas en todo el Perú, a un costo de US$125 millones. Según Warren Buhler, coordinador de la conferencia, el desembolso de los recursos podría comenzar en los primeros meses de 1998 y el Banco está considerando ofrecer apoyo a un proyecto similar en Argentina.
--David Mangurian

Intel Research - Exploratory Research - People and Practices ... -

2006-11-25T08:55:00.000-08:00

The Next Ten Percent Enlace: http://www.intel.com/research/exploratory/papr/extending_the_reach-peru.htm
Lima and Cusco, Peru: Cabinas Publicas
(July 2002) "Cabinas publicas" (public booths or cabins) are independently owned, for-profit business that provide shared access to computing, communications and Internet connectivity to the public for a fee. Physically, the majority of cabinas occupy a small store front along the sidewalk. Most spaces appear to be rented, while a few of the spaces are owned by the operator (though these statistics are hard to come by). Most appear to have 10- 20 PCs (+/- 2) and connect to the Internet through one ADSL line shared among the 10 or so computers. (Telefonica, the phone company permits up to 10-12 machines per line). The largest cabina we saw had 40 machines, which was a very large cabina. For many people, cabinas are the only place where they can access the Internet and make long distance phone calls using voice over the Internet. Even people with phone service will often go to their local cabina to make long distance Internet telephone calls because of the price difference. There are about 2000-3000 cabinas in Peru, most in Lima.

Cabinas publicas are interesting to us because they represent a model of shared access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) intended for the local population. They are typically not construed as "bars" or "cafes" or as places to go to "have a drink". And they tend not to be located in touristed areas, where one might find the more typical cyber café. The important point is that although cabinas and cyber cafes are not terribly dissimilar physically their inception and their ongoing use by the local population is actually quite different not apparent on first inspection.

As an example, one of the first locations outside of Lima to start cabinas was the tourist destination of Cuzco, at 11,000 feet in the Andes, and the base for many trekking expeditions to Machu Picchu and the surrounding Incan sites. There is also a large University in the town, about a mile from the center where the vast majority of tourists remain. There are 8 cabinas near the university that offer basic ICT access and service the university community as an extension of their reportedly inadequate university computing facilities. There are more than a dozen cyber cafes near the center offering not only access, but meals, drinks, music, entertainment, atmosphere and comfortable seating as a "place to hang out". Their prices are also considerably higher. Though they use the same ICT equipment, their operations and intent differ.

Cabinas were started with completely different intentions than cyber cafes. Jose Soriano was (and is) a social entrepreneur. He and colleagues conceived as the cabinas in two equal parts, but where one part was "more equal" than the other. The first was the important one: to develop the country and he saw ICT infrastructure and access by the people as a means of doing that. The second was to develop the physical network, which not only supports the first, but which also generates a foundation on which more can develop. Yet his first goal was to develop the country. As a result, he made decisions that one might question were his intentions to maximize profit.

For example, Cabinas proliferated because Mr. Soriano demonstrated a viable business model to individual entrepreneurs. He founded RCP (Red Cientifica Peruana – The Scientific Network of Peru), which then founded the first ISP in Peru. Rather than set up some sort of a franchise model or anything like that, he then offered free demonstration classes (live seminars) to wide audiences all around Lima that showed people step by step exactly how to set up a cabina and encouraged anyone who wanted to start one. RCP also had some of their own cabinas closely linked to itself in which classes were offered free of charge demonstrating how to use PCs and the Internet in their cabinas. As the then Vice-Minister for Communications of Peru said "A lot of people talk; a demonstration does a lot to show people something can be done."

Entrepreneurs were attracted to cabinas for several reasons, some of which are listed here. First, a cabina generates income for the entrepreneur immediately. Second, there was and is a relatively high unemployment rate, so a new idea that would generate income had immediate potential. Third, cabinas offered a "contained" business that could be operated completely by the entrepreneur for what is a large, but manageable investment of about US$10-14,000 (which is made back, on average, in about a year taking certain other considerations into account. In this way, one person told us that a cabina is "like a taxi" – a single investment with understandable and expected returns.) Fourth, the services offered in the cabinas - primarily communications such as email and voice over Internet - completed favorably with extant telephone company services satisfying an unmet need for cheap long distance communication. (Many Peruvians looking for work have migrated to Lima and from there many have emigrated to North America leaving family behind.) Fifth, cabinas also offer additional services that essentially "came for free" with access to the Internet, e.g., access to "free" software, movies, music and pornography were among the most popular items. Finally, and this should not be discounted, Mr. Soriano was among those rare actors who not only understood the needs of the local cabina entrepreneurs and how to communicate to them, but he also understood and had access to government and corporate resources, including the court system, as he needed; he thus bridged both worlds.

Another key issue is that most Cabinas appear to exist within the informal economy that comprises a significant portion of the overall Peruvian economy. While "informal economy" can mean many things, in this case, it refers to businesses are hidden from taxation and other formal measures of the economy. It also means that their use of licensable material is unchecked. Indeed, an entire "tech mart" (called "Wilson") has emerged in downtown Lima (only blocks from the Government Palace, Palacio de Gobierno) that sells all forms of electronics, computers, computer parts, software, movies, games, etc. Much – though certainly not all – of the hardware is refurbished or even retrofitted, e.g., reloaded toner cartridges for printers. And much of the software and media is unofficial. One could, for example, purchase a selection of the latest Hollywood movies on CD (choice of format), e.g., Spiderman, for US $2.

Wilson (market)
While their "informal" existence offers certain advantages in the short term, there is some evidence that it also offers some long term disadvantages. For example, given their small size, each cabina is, according to one source, too small to be sued for copyright infringement and certainly too small to be charged with tax evasion. Yet, the cabina operators also cannot form any sorts of associations, they cannot learn from each other, they can’t form any consortia to develop knowledge or practices of common benefit. As another example, the limited barriers to entry for any one cabina means that anyone can start one, making for intense competition that has reduced margins to nearly zero, and driving many cabinas out of
business (turnover is reported – unofficially, of course – at 50% within 3 years). One upshot of this is that there is limited cash flow for reinvestment, for evolving the cabina, for growing it’s service offerings independent of an organization like RCP, which has not been had the same role it had previously for some years now.

In summary, this is one model of shared access that’s gained some purchase in Peru. Though there is turnover, though there is intense price competition, there’s also value for both the entrepreneurs and the customers. It’s important to note that many of the conditions that together combine to form a sufficiently fertile environment for these cabinas appear to be uniquely Peruvian, especially their inception and the goals of Mr. Soriano and RCP. Different places will most likely require different models. Two other examples we’ve studied include Hungarian Telecottages and Drishtee, a collaboration of the private and public sector in India.

With contributions from Alvaro Urrutia, Intel New Mexico.

Wired News: Reflections of Peru's Web Pioneer

2006-11-25T08:53:00.000-08:00

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- José Soriano thinks anyone should be able to access the Internet, not only those who can afford a computer. That is why he created the Peruvian Scientific Net (RCP) in December 1991, just after the creation of the World Wide Web, and gave Web access to half a million Peruvians.

The 43 institutions, universities and companies that formed the RCP based their work on the idea that in a country like Perú, where there were four telephones for every hundred people, mounting a dial-up ISP would not make cyberspace popular.

Soriano came up with a different approach -- he built public Internet booths (much like cybercafes), making Net access cheap.

The first ISP in Latin America, it provided computer training to 50,000 people. In the last seven years, a thousand of these booths, called cabinas públicas, were built all over Perú.

"This led to a very intensive usage of Internet," said José Soriano recently in Buenos Aires, where he arrived for the opening of a community center much like the ones he helped build. The model is also being applied in El Salvador.

"For example, we had a cake-selling business (Tortasperú) running over Internet in 1993, before people started talking about e-commerce, that gave work to 200 women. And we taught the Ashanika Indians to use computers and the Web to save their heritage and make themselves known. Today, 10 percent of what they earn comes from e-commerce," explained Soriano, a former Peruvian journalist, now CEO of the RCP.

"We want to give people the ability to use technology as a means of progress, to make it their own. But you have to do it working with information."

Soriano was introduced to technology as a way to spread information. In 1985, he was an exile in Argentina, working as a journalist. He got fired, and started an electronic newsletter with some colleagues, to provide Latin news for exiled Peruvians. By 1986, the journalists had new jobs, and they thought about closing the newsletter. To their surprise, they found they had about 20,000 readers worldwide.

"I understood then the power of technology, and decided I had to do something with it to help my country," said Soriano. After returning to Perú and founding the RCP, he set to the task of translating technical manuals and software (including versions of Eudora and Mosaic).

"The usual way of distributing technology has been taking a successful model and applying it somewhere else, a cut-and-paste approach. But if you don't have an understanding of where you are applying it, it won't work," Soriano said. "You can't have an engineer teaching an Indian, a maid or a very poor kid how to browse the Net. Their languages are not quite the same, they don't have equal worries and problems."

So the RCP teaches instructors, who in turn show community leaders and volunteers how to use the computers. These leaders are familiar faces in their towns and neighborhoods -- they come from the same culture, so they don't seem alien to those trying to understand technology.

"We want to give people tools and knowledge about how to use them, in a way it makes sense to them. That is the only way people will get near technology, use it for their own good and be self-relying," he said.

"Otherwise, we won't be able to jump in the digital world. Also, this approach is a way to defend the old Internet idea of democratic sharing of information; if we don't learn to use computers for our own benefit, there's no way we will be able to make our voice heard in cyberspace."