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United Methodists help shape global language of technology

Dec. 2, 2005

NOTE: Photographs and audio are available at http://umns.umc.org.

By Ginny Underwood*

TUNIS, Tunisia (UMNS) - As fast as the Internet has exploded into every
corner of the world, so have the issues associated with this ultimate
form of communication.

The World Summit on the Information Society, convened Nov. 16-18 in
Tunis by the United Nations, became a magnifying glass for the concerns
of human rights, access to information, Internet governance and the gap
between the haves and have-nots in global technology.

"Technology should be a tool, a medium put to use for health, wholeness
and well-being of everyone," said Glory Dharmaraj, a summit participant
and executive secretary of justice education for the United Methodist
Women's Division. "All of the new discoveries, all the new information
and communication technology should create access and participation for
all."

Bridging the digital divide, building community and creating a ministry
of presence were among the goals of the eight-member delegation
representing the United Methodist Church.

The group participated in sessions for nongovernmental organizations and
the summit's civil society group. By attending both phase one of the
summit in Geneva two years ago and the final summit in Tunisia, United
Methodists influenced the language used in addressing information
communication technologies. Recommendations from the civil-society group
were included in the final document adopted by the governments
participating in the summit.

"The technology language has been about efficiently distributing and
efficiently consuming information. The technology is the conduit to a
good communication process. So we thought, as civil society, this is an
incomplete perspective," said the Rev. Liberato C. Bautista, a summit
participant and United Methodist Board of Church and Society staff
executive assigned to the United Nations.

"The church is adept (in) the language of ethics and values," he said.
"The language that includes empowerment, human rights, sharing of
resources, creating sustainability is important and needed to be
included in this process."

In a document titled "Tunis Commitment," the participating governments
reaffirmed their pledge to build a people-centered, inclusive and
development-oriented information society, outlined in the Geneva phase
of the summit in 2003.

Some 174 states and European Community governments participated in the
summit, which drew 19,401 people, including representatives from
international and nongovernmental organizations, media and business.

Bautista said that while the "Tunis Commitment" language sounds hopeful,
the "Tunis Agenda," which spells out implementation and follow-up of the
summit, lacked details on who politically governs and finances this
global tool called the Internet.

"Governments, civil society and the private sector are critical
stakeholders. That's where the church can play a role in public policy
advocacy and sharing information," he said.

"While we are increasingly using information communication technologies,
and are addressing ways how production and use of these technologies are
governed and financed, a digital divide - which is ultimately an
economic divide - has emerged," he said. "The greater population does
not have access to these technologies, and the church is in a position
to address the economic divide."

Bridging the divide

Summit participant Marthe Dansokho is a regional United Methodist
missionary and a social worker in Senegal. She spends her time working
with young women who either left school early or never attended at all.
When the young women are offered computer training, Dansokho said, the
digital divide becomes apparent.

"We know 65 percent of women in Senegal are not literate, they don't go
to school and don't know how to read or write," said Dansokho, who works
for the Women's Division of the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries. "It brings me to think that this technical language is not
for them, for the larger part, not for women."

The technology is a challenge, but even if participants overcome that,
they are tested again because the computer text is only offered in
French or English, Dansokho said. "The language is not for all."

In 2004, less than 3 out of every 100 Africans used the Internet,
compared with an average 1 out of every 2 inhabitants of the G8
countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United
Kingdom and the United States), according to International
Telecommunication Union statistics. The number of Internet users in the
United States is more than eight times greater than that for the entire
African continent.

Not only is communications a human rights issue; it's ultimately a
justice issue. "The digital divide in the end must address the economic
divide," Bautista said. "The infrastructure that will make the efficient
and sustainable flow of information and knowledge that is
nondiscriminatory and therefore participatory is not possible without
the necessary economic structure."

Building community

The United Methodist Book of Resolutions acknowledges the benefits of
information communication technologies: "They enable global contact and,
when made available for human uses and to address human needs, can
significantly enhance life, development and global consciousness."

The resolution, "Proper Use of Information Communication Technologies,"
also calls the church to "to affirm that the right to communicate and to
access information is a basic human right, essential to human dignity
and to a just and democratic society." The statement was adopted by the
denomination's top legislative body, the General Conference, last year.

"We are called upon to witness to power here," Dharmaraj said.
"Communication in the ultimate sense needs to connect each other,
promote reconciliation and create community."

Dharmaraj said the role of the church is to ask the difficult questions:
Do these information communication technologies promote community or do
they create further division? Is the benefit for everyone?

The discussion should take place in every local church, she said. For
example, music and songs used in worship are often borrowed from other
societies and other countries. As a church, building community,
Dharmaraj suggests that the communities or the people providing the
resources should be properly compensated.

"Intellectual property and knowledge should be handled with care to the
smallest degree," she said.

"The general church's role is to be informed and raise awareness. We
have a greater responsibility as Christians living in the United States
to raise a prophetic voice."

Moving forward

Dharmaraj is preparing a kit to help local churches discuss issues
raised at the summit. It will be available in 2006 through the Women's
Division. The following year, United Methodist Communications will hold
a digital summit.

As for the work of the governments participating in the summit,
follow-up forums will be organized in 2007. The first will address
Internet governance.

In addition to Bautista, Dharmaraj and Dansokho, the inter-agency
delegation included Mia Adjali, executive secretary for global affairs,
Alice Belton, vice president, chairperson of finance and a director, and
Kathleen Enzminger, chairperson of the missions volunteer committee, all
of the Women's Division; the Rev. David Briddell, retired from the
National Council of Churches and a 2003 delegate to the summit in
Geneva; and Ginny Underwood, executive director of the Media Group at
United Methodist Communications.

The "Tunis Commitment" statement can be read at
http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs2/tunis/off/7.html.

*Underwood is executive director of the Media Group at United Methodist
Communications, which includes United Methodist News Service.

News media contact: Ginny Underwood, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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