Objectives
The EUTIC 08 International Colloquium is a space for reflection on the uses of Information and Communications Technology - ICT - within a framework of sustainable development.
The event will take place between 22 and 25 October 2008. The opening session will be held in the building of the Central Administration Services of the New University of Lisbon and – on subsequent days – working sessions will be held at the campus of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences.
The first international colloquium took place four years ago when EUTIC 05 was held at the Michel de Montaigne University (Bordeaux3), on the theme of “Social and cultural aspects” and was organized by GRESIC – the body which coordinated the event.
Information and Communication Technologies are a key factor that can lead to the predominance of the economic dimension as a key factor in sustainable development. The result of this is that even bodies that are nominally non-profit end up being influenced by this Economist tendency.
In fact, sustainable development brings a new and not insignificant perspective regarding the behaviour to adopt regarding competition that is increasingly more ferocious in all domains of human activity. This leads to the aim of satisfying a dual objective: to establish contributions involving both quality and efficiency.
Digital technologies and, in particular Internet resources, constitute a clear advantage in these two areas. Visibility, awareness and the ability to innovate greatly influence the quality of information spread through means such as websites.
While also encouraging views involving expansion, official bodies repeatedly voice their desire for the democratization of information and the multiplication of the means to enable everyone to have access to ICT. Without forgetting the political dimension of proposals of this nature, it is indispensable to analyse the roles and goes of territorial groups – at all levels – with regard to the spread of information and the sharing of knowledge.
What importance should be given to the notions of identity, of cultural belonging and being tied to a given region?
Companies, institutions, collectives and individuals all have their own part of responsibility for sustainable development, which can be analysed in the light of the new “electronic villages” which structure the digital world.
The academic committee supports the idea that active public participation will be facilitated by recourse to digital technologies, which favour spaces for the freedom of expression, interactivity and the cross-fertilisation of information.
Its flexibility and ease of use means that the user is not reduced to the role of passive receiver, but becomes the information sender and/or producer, that is, witness and citizen journalists in their areas of activity and residence.
As such we can question to what extent ICT, and in particular its potential for cooperation and openness, may do away with real and virtual territorial boundaries.
Another relevant question is to know to what extent they may contribute towards the wealth and synergy of the dynamics of sustainable development. This perspective is to be found not only in the economic but also in the multidimensional crossroads intersecting peoples.
The colloquium is aimed both at university teaching staff and the general public interested in the impact of ICT on the dynamics of sustainable development. The wealth and diversity of contributions will enable the widening of perspectives for everyone with the aim of establishing openness and international cooperation.
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