"Las páginas que siguen tienen, además de un rico arsenal teórico, un evidente carácter testimonial. Refleja los esfuerzos cumplidos por los Comités de Vigilancia Ciudadana respecto de los congresistas electos por los departamentos de Arequipa, Cuzco, Huancavelica, Loreto y Ayacucho. La elecci
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n del Congreso, como objeto de vigilancia, no es, por cierto, arbitraria. Responde a una necesidad universal de reonciliación entre el pueblo y sus órganos representativos que, con la video política, han ido perdiendo presencia y paulatinamente, también legitimidad. Y ello afecta, de modo grave al sistema democrático que se asienta precisamente sobre la base de la representación y, desde luego, de los partidos. Lograr esa reconciliación pasa, sin duda, por una mayor eficiencia en la tarea parlamentaria pero también por una comunicación, directa e inmediata, entre representantes y representados y entre el pueblo y los órganos de intermediación política." (Cubierta del libro)
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"Media Power in Central America is unique in the field, very readable, and tells an exciting story about the relationship between strong commercial media and authoritarian regimes. Rockwell and Janus provide a valuable description and analysis of the history, politics, culture, and economics of the
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print and electronic media in the six countries." (Elizabeth Fox, senior advisor with USAID and the author of Latin American Broadcasting: From Tango to Telenovela)
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"Jesús Martín-Barbero recoge en este libro lo esencial de sus aportes seminales al estudio de la comunicación en América Latina, profundizándolos y reelabórandolos con la visión prospectiva que le otorgan, por una parte, treinta años de investigación y trabajo académico y, por la otra, su
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convicción de que estamos todavía a tiempo para darle forma a una sociedad más humana, a condición de que sepamos reconocer los elementos de futuro presentes entre nosotros y que esperan ser reorientados en esa dirección. El texto ofrece una mirada diferente y enriquecedora sobre la comunicación, como uno de esos elementos de futuro cuya reorientación es imperiosa. Tanto la profundización de ese eje temático como los aportes del autor al estudio de las relaciones entre cultura de masas y cultura popular lo han convertido en un sujeto activo y singular del debate sobre la sociedad de la información, contribuyendo en forma destacada a la gestación y desarrollo de un pensamiento latinoamericano en la comunicación y la cultura." (Página web de Iniciativa de Comunicación)
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"A lo largo de este documento, se describirá el panorama mundial de los telecentros en los países del Sur, su evolución y su desarrollo. Esta revisión del “estado del arte” se hará tanto por regiones geográficas, analizando las experiencias que se están llevando a cabo en América, Asia y
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África, por agentes, estudiando cuáles son las organizaciones que están impulsando el establecimiento de telecentros, como por modelos, haciendo una clasificación en función de parámetros como sistema de financiación, objetivos, localización, beneficiarios o servicios ofrecidos." (Resumen)
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"The overall objective of this study was to provide a starting point for the involvement of development assistance in the promotion of ICTs for development. In the form of country studies we first tried to give insights into the ICT sectors along with stakeholders’ and other ICT-related activities
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in the selected countries (Peru, Vietnam, Lao P.D.R, Uganda and Tanzania). Based on this assessment, strengths and weaknesses were named and starting points for potential German involvement identified. The following section should point at some general lessons learnt from all countries and, with due caution, sum up the activities and discussions on the German donors’ side, as they emerged in the countries themselves or in discussions while this study was conducted." (Synopsis, page 67)
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"In 1994 the government established a Telecommunications Development Fund, financed by the national budget, to catalyze additional private investment in payphone service in rural and urban areas with low income and low telephone density. The Fund has been very successful. Between 1995 and 2000 it su
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pported the provision of payphone service to more than 6,000 rural localities with about 2.2 million inhabitants, thereby reducing the proportion of Chile's population living in places without access to basic voice communication from 15 percent in 1994 to 1 percent in 2002. In addition, some 25,000 individual rural telephone lines are being provided. The subsidies awarded cost the government less than 0.3 percent of total telecommunications sector revenue during the funding period, and Fund administration cost about 3 percent of the monies granted. The Fund's success was due largely to extensive reliance on market forces to determine and allocate subsidies, minimal regulatory intervention, simple and relatively expeditious processing, and effective government leadership. Competition among existing and new operators for the rural market and subsidies led to substantial reductions in cost to the government compared to earlier public sector investments in similar facilities. Commercial success has hinged on operators using the subsidized payphone infrastructures to also provide individual business and residential telephone lines and, subsequently, add value through new services (including voice mail and internet access in some areas) over this network. Interconnection was the single most important regulatory factor of commercial viability, with access charges in some cases surpassing 40 percent of rural operating revenues. The design of the Fund proved robust, and remains the leading example of a costeffective slution to reduce access gaps in basic communication in emerging economies. Some questions remain, however, about whether the services can be sustained in the long term, what to do with the small residual rural population still excluded, and whether anything needs to be done in urban areas. These questions-in addition to limited design improvements suggested by the Fund's experience, as well as work still in progress on quality standards and monitoring-are relevant to the Fund's proposed extension into more advanced modes of communication and access to information, as well as to other countries learning from the Chilean experience." (Executive summary)
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