The Internet is today the paradigm of information and communications technologies (ICT), which have been incorporated into society in such a fashion that it is now inconceivable without them. Technological globalisation enriches and empowers some, many even, but it leaves others in a state of decline, which produces a social and geopolitical polarisation that is undesirable. In order for information and communications technologies to work in favour of equality of opportunities of access to knowledge, we need action plans and programs which give consideration to technological access, what is called connectivity, but which also make consideration of the numerous economic, social, educational, cultural and generational barriers that prevent users from accessing and contributing to Web-based content, and from using it correctly.
ICTs are being put to advantage right across the social spectrum. In the field of public participation, for example, interesting channels have been opened, such as the different innovations in political electronic communication. In education, information and communications technologies have produced a trend towards dehierarchisation, which stems from the possibility of the receptor, the learner, alternating between the roles of transmitter and receptor much more effectively than in the relationships of traditional pedagogy. The use of the Web as an information archive and as a source of knowledge is also important, as is the continuity of information and knowledge through a relationship that is interactive and permanent, particularly so via the creation of interest groups, including virtual teaching and research communities. As regards the universities themselves, coordination of efforts needs to be translated into the creation of intercampus spaces on the Internet, fostering not only communication but also academic activity between universities and between people in the same or in different countries or geographical regions of Latin America.
We are firmly in favour of the development and use of ICTs, not as a panacea, which they are not by any means, but as a means of enhancing all that which it is worth enhancing or, if necessary, creating.
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