Internet Society Launches UNESCO Internet Universality Indicators Research Project
SANTO DOMINGO- The community of professionals in digital technologies Internet Society Dominican Republic chapter (ISOC-DO) launched a research project on Internet Universality Indicators (IUI) of Unesco applied in the country, in collaboration with the International Program for the Development of Communication (IPDC), the UNESCO and Regional Office of Culture for Latin America and the Caribbean of UNESCO.
With the objective of making an evaluation in the national digital field, the research to be carried out will focus on the IUI established by UNESCO in 2015 in order to demonstrate results that allow the identification of strengths, opportunities for improvement and existing gaps in the web field. .
Osvaldo Larancuent, president of ISOC-DO, as well as professor of the career of Cybersecurity Engineering of the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), the venue for the activity, explained that the project for the estimation of the IUI covers the dimensions of "Human Rights, levels of Openness, Significant Access and the inclusion of Multiple interested parties", abbreviated as DAAM-X . At the same time, it considers the perspective of gender equality, the needs of boys, girls and young people, sustainable development, trust and security, together with the legal and ethical aspects of the Internet.
“Provide indicators that, beyond infrastructure or connectivity variables, but including them, reflect the current situation regarding access and significant content, which allow us to explore how our netizens use the Internet, identify current gains and benefits, as well as potential challenges to overcome to improve its use”, deepened Larancuent.
Pedro Quezada, rector of the Higher Technical Institute of San Luis, explained that in the Dominican Republic there is a digital divide, which, although it has socioeconomic elements among its causes, assured that this in turn originates from "the lack of adequate knowledge, education and training of the population", as well as key aspects to ensure its affordability. That is why he considered it necessary to establish frameworks and models for measuring the progress of digitization from the public sphere, civil society and academia.
“This project will serve to continue deepening the generation of new indicators to facilitate the decision-making process in real time around digital technologies. Likewise, it will allow the strengthening and new alliances, positioning key objectives of the government and generating value through valuable information on the ICT sector and will contribute to the monitoring and analysis of the advancement and evolution of digital technologies ”, he said.
La director of UNESCO headquarters in Havana Anne Lemaistre He recalled that the Internet universality indicators were developed based on principles of openness, affordable access, human rights, inclusion and multisectoral participation.
"UNESCO's indicators on internet universality are part of an effort by the organization to provide its member states with concrete tools to examine issues relevant to the development of communication, information and human rights," he said, referring to the last aspect to the safety of journalists, the credibility of the media, media development and the integration of the gender perspective in operational knowledge and communication content.
Lamaistre emphasized that the study will complement the findings of research implemented in the country based on indicators of media development and indicators of viability in the media.
The launch event also had the participation of Alessandre Barbosa, director y Ana Laura Martínez, coordinator of the Regional Center for ICT Studies for the Knowledge Society in Brazil (CETIC.BR), who spoke about Unesco's internet universality indicators and the best implementation practices in national research carried out in Brazil.
CETIC.BR, one of the collaborating institutions of the research project, has as its mission the production, development and technical cooperation of ICT statistics with Latin American countries and PALOP (African Countries with the Official Portuguese Language).
The event was held in the Social Security Hall of the Ana Henríquez building of INTEC. Among the participants was Elena Naples, Communication and Information Officer of the Regional Office of Culture UNESCO.
About the research project
The IUI project was designed to be executed in a period of 12 months, with an organizational structure supported by two work teams, with representatives of the collaborating institutions to facilitate the objectivity of the project and reflect the reality of Internet use from their corresponding perspectives.
The first team is a Multisectoral Advisory Committee, integrated with an inclusive and multisectoral approach by entities from the academic, public, private sector, civil society and other interested parties; with sufficient flexibility for expansion based on other interested representatives, such as: Ministry of the Presidency; Indothel; Mescyt; Ministry of women; Central Bank of the Dominican Republic; General Directorate of Government Ethics of the Government Office of Information and Communication Technologies (Ogtic).
Likewise, the UASD; PUCMM; ICT camera; Press and Law Foundation; Ministry of Industry, Commerce and MSMEs; American Chamber of Commerce of the Dominican Republic (AMCHAMRD) and the Technological Institute of San Luis; who were present at the activity.
There is also the investigation committee, made up of specialists from academia and research from different fields of science, technology, education, regulations, human rights and public policies; that, in a transdisciplinary and coherent way, evaluate and reflect supported by evidence and findings already published locally and available in different local sources. Dr. Manuel Madé, coordinator of Management and Scientific Diffusion of INTEC, will be the leader of the investigation, together with Omar Pérez Rubiera, Katherine Javier and Glenis Pérez.
El Dominican Republic chapter of the Internet Society, Inc.- (ISOC-DO), incorporated as a Non-Profit organization since 2018, emerged as a technical community of digital technology professionals, who identified the needs to collaborate with public policies, similar to other chapters globally, in favor of the agenda and digital transformation of society with a perspective from the network infrastructure, the opening to promote education, productivity, development; with inclusion.
The organization has promoted initiatives to debate the impact of digital technologies. She was awarded international recognition of the Digital Agenda 2030 in 2022 by the World Summit on the Information Society, in category six "Enabling Environment" (Apt Environment, WSIS Prizes 2022), delivered in Geneva, Switzerland.