Word Matters: Multicultural Perspectives on Information Societies

This is a collection of work by thirty authors from civil societies all over the world, which works to decipher the central concepts of the "information society".

The instructions given to the authors prior to their contributions included an editorial guide, which outlined the key aspects to be included: history of the concept they were addressing and the range of possible definitions of it, together with a critical review of the formal definition generally used during international negotiations.

The three objectives of "Word Matters" were to:

• Bring into the public arena those controversies, the political significance of which are largely unknown or underestimated.
• Help social and civil movements to understand the terms of the debate and to establish a vocabulary which reflects their practices as well as their own political positions and not those of international institutions.
• Contribute, at the same time, to reinforcing of these movements and their capacity to help build an alternative form of political action.

Topics include: The Information Society/the Knowledge Society; Networked and e-Governance; Internet Governance; Cultural Diversity; Infrastructure and Universal Access; Digital Divide; Public Access to the Internet; Gender; Accessibility; Open Source Intelligence; Citizen Expression; Innovation by Usage; Virtual Communities; Digital Libraries; Knowledge Management; Education in the Information Society; Human Rights; Cybercrime; Communication Rights; Media; Piracy; Free Software; Intellectual Property Rights; Information Economy; and Multilingualism Matters.

Click here for excerpts from the English version and access to excerpts from the other language versions online.

The printed book can also be purchased online at the C & F Editions website - please click here for access.