Social Movements on the Net
Osvaldo León, Sally Burch, Eduardo Tamayo
ALAI, september 2001
http://alainet.org/publica/msred/

PART II
Latin @merica: movimientos.org

Chapter 4.
Internet and Social Organizations:
An Exploratory Study
(Part I)

Electronic networks, due to the versatility of their resources, offer social organizations¹ a broad range of opportunities for their organizational processes and their presence on the public scene. But these advantages will not take effect simply by “getting connected”. Rather, this will depend on the definitions and decisions the organization makes regarding what it seeks to achieve through use of such technology, which in turn means weighing its real, effective possibilities and the type of application to implement.

Under the premise that what counts is organization and not technology as such, an exploratory study was carried out, that we present in the following pages. It was exploratory both in terms of the field of intervention – the Internet – and of current practices, values and perceptions in social organizations, mainly among those participating in the Web Community of Social Movements process.

That is, it is a study not only on problems of Internet connectivity, access and use, but also of motivations and concepts to capitalize and develop this resource in accordance with their goals and purposes, both on the social–organizational level and on the public intervention level. Therefore, the study does not follow the reductionist cause-effect line of thought that the promotional discourse has tried to impose, which would imply artificially isolating variables, thus leaving aside diverse factors that intervene in reality, where both situations and stakeholders are key elements to consider.

Information Capital: a Methodological Opening

From the literature we have available on the matter, we have found that the development of instruments of analysis is still a pending task, especially for dealing with issues regarding the appropriation of technological innovations by collective actors, as is the current case. In fact, most attention seems to be focused on individual–machine relations, somewhat less on individual–individual relations mediated by this technology, and to a lesser extent on individual–group relations, also mediated by this technology.

One of the most wide-spread approaches for understanding ICT–society relations refers to “impact”. This has given way to a series of – mainly quantitative – studies, referring above all to the expansion of these technologies, where any significant percentage becomes a determining argument and evidence. With the focus centered on the accelerated pace of technological innovation and deployment, the slow pace at which social dynamics can effectively process, incorporate and redefine them tends to be left aside.

In this regard, Michel Menou (1999: 1) emphasizes: “The growing concern for demonstrating the impact, assumedly positive, of ICTs, the Internet, Information, etc. seems to be primarily driven by the need to justify urgent and massive investments in these areas, or benefit from them. This approach might be short-sighted and not so much productive. The notion of impact itself is floating on a continuum of assessment perspectives ranging from mere market penetration to lasting social transformation and beyond.”

To clarify the issue, he proposes differentiating changes that most appropriately could be considered “effects”, from those that truly express “impacts”. He explains that “impact is the collision of two bodies, and their resulting alteration. When there has been an impact, neither (of the) bodies are the same. We thus contend that impact should be restricted to substantive and lasting changes occurring in the knowledge base, behaviour, organisation or effectiveness of the individuals, institutions or society. To the extent sustainability is a primary attribute in the above definition, we would even restrict further impact to changes in the actors' ability to cope with their problems. What could be formulated in the following way: Impact is the change in the ability of people to satisfy their needs brought by the outcome of the use of the Internet (or any other information resource). At this point impact is quite similar to learning.” (3)

With the problem so stated, we chose to take as a basis the clue that Cees J. Hamelink (1999, 15) provides with the idea of “information capital”, following the proposal of Pierre Bourdieu, according to which the positions of social actors are not solely determined by their economic capital, but also by their cultural capital (skills in fine arts, music, literature, habits of etiquette, and knowledge of foreign languages), social capital (social contacts and relations) and symbolic capital (prestige and reputation).

Bourdieu significantly helped clarify the dialectical comprehension of social production and reproduction² through the development of the categories of cultural, social and symbolic capital. We agree with Hamelink as to the relevance of adding the “information capital” category to these forms of capital, in order to speak of the new realities that arise with the deployment of ICTs.

The concept of information capital “embraces the financial capacity to pay for network usage and information services, the technical ability to handle network infrastructures, the intellectual capacity to filter and evaluate information, but also the motivation to actively search for information and the ability to apply information to social situations,” states Hamelink.

Based on this characterization, we have established the following central points for this study:

a) Hardware and access to electronic networks: installed computer infra­structure, Internet connectivity and local area network connections.

b) Use of technology, available instruments (software) and services used, prevailing criteria and modalities.

c) Technological and information appropriation: organizational arrangements to integrate resources and uses, human resources, training and skills development; to process information, motivations to seek information and use it in concrete situations.

d) Networking: information flows and organizational dynamics, both internal and external (coordinating bodies).

e) Communications policies and strategies: ability to generate and disseminate their own information, public presence, media policy, priorities, goals and lines of action.

On the basis of these central ordering elements, which are in no way discrete units, this exploratory study was conceived above all to clarify the outlook of the WCSM, since a sense of strategy requires taking the pulse of the forces driving it. This is because behind the coordinating bodies and social networks there is a diverse, disparate reality marked by differences among organizations due to size, capacity, practices, pace, work styles, organizational accruals, installed capacity, etc. Their dynamics largely follow a “negotiation” of mutual adjustments that condition their pace, since what is most important is process and interlinking, rather than immediate products.

Thus it is this same logic that has dominated the process of implementation of the WCSM and, it goes without saying, that has been emphasized in this study. So attention was not centered on how organizations respond to the fast pace of technological innovation, but on the gradual processing of these innovations in time with their own rhythms. In other words, it is not a study for the Internet, but with the Internet in social–organizational processes.

In carrying out this exploratory assessment, work was not only done separately with each organization. Three meetings were also held for sharing, where the above central elements were raised, as well as the outlook for sustaining the WCSM,³ and a wealth of information was shared that was of great value for the purpose of the study. The workshops were conceived for learning to learn from each others’ experiences, reflections and proposals, with the central topic being Internet use in communication policies and strategies, and consequent implications for the WCSM.

In implementing this assessment, we recurred to the application of a directed survey, in-depth interviews, and the systematization of exchanges recorded during the meetings. The interviews were applied to two groups of people: those in charge of the communications departments or areas, and elected leaders, with priority to those movements with greater development of Internet use, since they had more elements to delve into and could provide clues for future work with other organizations.

In total, 27 organizations from 14 countries of the continent participated in the study, with the following distribution by sector: 15 rural and indigenous organizations (including 2 rural women’s organizations), 4 urban community organizations, 4 women’s organizations / networks; 2 international campaign secretariats; and 1 national human rights organization. 24 representatives of these organizations were women and 23 were men. The presence of more rural organizations than from other sectors was due to the fact that the CLOC is the largest organized coordinating body of those participating in the WCSM, and the one that has gone furthest in appropriating ICTs.

The first phase of the exploratory study sought to identify what technological Internet infrastructure the surveyed organizations had and the “range” of their use of them. The second phase was for understanding how this technology is perceived (in terms of both potentialities and the risks, threats and uncertainties it presents) and what they think they can do with it, what practical uses they have given it, what its relation is to organizational dynamics, and to what extent all this translates into communications lines of action, policies and strategies of the participating social organizations.

In practical terms, with the application of the findings in mind, the study sought: (a) to locate training needs in detail, (b) to identify elements of strategy for building the Web Community of Social Movements; and (c) to facilitate the design of methodological parameters to continue with the study and practice of the topic in question.

Getting to know the level of benefit of new technologies in pursuit of the political and strategic proposals of the social organizations involved, was always seen as the most ambitious and complex goal of the exploratory study, as it meant going beyond an “inventory” of their communications infrastructure and acknowledgement of their structural difficulties of access, so as to arrive at an understanding of the dialectics that enable them to qualitatively turn the body of data into socially useful knowledge in accordance with organizational criteria.

The context of the exploration was characterized by the social and political dynamics in which the participating organizations – among which are some of the most active on the continent – are involved, which were discussed in the group meetings.

The findings show that the nature of the methodology applied was appropriate and efficient for the case of an exploratory study. It is a methodology that is often used and recommended in studies of social actors and change situations. For the purposes of the WCSM, the findings offer a great wealth of input, as beyond verifying and fine-tuning what was already "suspected", they also introduce both nuances and issues that had not been considered and that demand quality answers in order to sustain and develop the initiative. Having said this, let us go on to look at the findings.

An Adverse Environment

In order to understand the process by which social organizations adopt new technologies, one must keep in mind the external conditioning and influencing factors. In Latin America, especially in marginalized sectors, these factors are closely related to the digital gap, both geographically and in social / cultural aspects. This affects not only the possibility of connectivity, but also the ease of using and gaining benefit from ICTs.

The environment of available infrastructure, its degree of ubiquity and affordability are basic preconditions for access and use of ICTs. Basically, there are three factors: electricity, telephone lines, and the supply of Internet services; to which one might add the availability of and ability to purchase computer hardware.

The first of these four elements – electricity – might appear to have been solved in the cities (although not always in marginal urban areas and even less in rural areas), but it has not, because of the frequent “blackouts”. In the Dominican Republic in 2001, for example, they reached 15 hours per day. In Brazil itself, despite its energy potential, blackouts are becoming increasingly frequent, which is attributed to the way privatization was done, prioritizing business over service quality, with higher prices but not the investments needed to improve infrastructure. Clearly this problem is not exclusive to Latin America, as the California State energy crisis in the US shows.

Although there are several options for connecting, the most used and accessible option in the region is via modems and fixed telephone lines. In spite of the telephony development observed in past years, telephone networks in most countries are still deficient, especially in the countryside and in lower-class urban areas. When compared with developed countries, the difference is abysmal: in 1999 the number of fixed telephones per 1000 inhabitants was 682 in the United States, and only 9 in Haiti and 271 in Uruguay, the highest figure in Latin America, whose average was 131. (UNDP, 2001: 62-64)

The privatization of telephone services, contrary to what its mentors anticipated, has not solved the deficits in coverage and service quality. In the case of Brazil, for example, the operators that have administered the fixed telephony network since its privatization in 1998 increased its coverage but did not fulfill their commitments to improve service quality, especially in terms of expansion towards small cities and rural areas. The cost for basic subscription and telephone calls soared 344% from 1994 to 2001, in comparison with a 97% increase in the official inflation rate and a much smaller raise in salaries (Betto, 2001b: 10). Something similar happened in Argentina, where privatization brought expanded coverage, but many people had to disconnect their lines because they could not pay the high rates.

The situation is particularly critical in the rural sector. Bolivia and Guatemala, two countries with a mostly indigenous population, are among those with the least-developed infrastructure in the countryside. The comment of one woman, a Bolivian peasant leader, illustrates how technological backwardness combines even with discrimination: “the telephone network is just now entering the rural areas, but we are afraid of how telephone use in charged for, because in some places they have started automating charges, but in other places there is no such control and they charge you according to how you look.”

Internet connectivity services saw rapid growth in the region since 1994, with the expansion of commercial providers and satellite connections. Currently, Latin America is the region with the highest growth in Internet use: in 1999 the number of hosts grew by 136%, followed by North America with 74% (Hilbert, 2001: 32). But it remains to be seen whether this growth will hold the same pace once enclaves with good levels of connectivity have been created in the main cities.

So in most countries, the possibility of connecting in the larger cities is relatively good. Moreover, the cost has gone down gradually, and organizations with a minimal budget for communications can afford it. However, even where there is connectivity, use is still limited in terms of time (especially to surf the Web) due to the cost of local calls. Only a few countries of the region have introduced reduced rates for data connections. Outside large cities, the possibilities of connecting are less in many places, although the situation varies from one country and one place to another, since often it means a domestic long distance call, or lines full of interference, which limit the possibilities of use.⁴

But connectivity rates are very different from one country to another, as shown by the indicator of “hosts”⁵ per 1000 inhabitants: while in the year 2000 the US had 179.1 hosts, Latin America had an average of 5.6, Uruguay had 19.6, Argentina 8.7, and Bolivia 0.3 (UNDP, 2001: 60-63).

One of the contributing factors in the unequal distribution of these resources is the lack (in most cases) of state policies on this matter, with certain exceptions in Brazil, Costa Rica, and to a lesser extent countries like Argentina and Peru. Generally, governments have left the development of Internet services (and in many cases also telephony) in the hands of private companies, without establishing a legal and regulatory framework that ensures service to the remotest areas, where it is generally less profitable.

But there are also novel factors that unexpectedly affect infrastructure supply. In Ecuador, for example, after the recent wave of migrations, mostly from the countryside to Spain and other countries, migrants found the Internet to be the cheapest way to keep in touch with family members staying at home. Subsequently, Internet cafes mushroomed, even in small provincial cities, giving rise to new possibilities of access to the inhabitants of these areas and adding a new social strata as at least occasional users of ICTs. Something similar is happening in other countries with heavy emigration.

The issue of supplying hardware and network access is directly related to people’s purchasing power. A computer costs the same in the United States as in Ecuador. But in order to purchase it, an Ecuadorian worker making the minimum wage must work six months, while one from the US need only work two weeks. In developed countries, one month of Internet access is equal to one hour of average wage, while an elementary school teacher in Ecuador must budget ten days of wages to cover it.

Another problem is that intra-regional connections from Latin America go through the United States, where a small group of companies hold an oligopoly position that enables them to impose their rates.⁶ Over 90% of all traffic from the region goes through, originates from, or terminates in the United States which, combined with insufficient infrastructure, has repercussions on efficiency levels. (Hilbert, 2001: 29)

Social and Cultural Factors

Connectivity problems, though, are only one component of the digital gap. Many other factors come into play in order to take full advantage of these technologies, including educational, language and even cultural issues.

In effect, Internet use requires a certain level of preparation, such as being able to read and write, besides technical skills and an understanding of how programs work. Functional illiteracy and low levels of schooling prevailing in the countryside and marginal urban areas are true obstacles to Internet access. In spite of all the literacy campaigns, illiteracy rates are still high. In Guatemala, for example, four of every ten persons are illiterate. In Bolivia, it is two of every ten. Illiteracy especially affects indigenous populations and women.

Although multimedia means the possibility of other forms of communication than writing on the Internet, written communication is still predominant in this media – especially in e-mail. Meanwhile, in many parts of the region (such as the Andean countries and Central America), especially among popular sectors, oral traditions prevail over writing, and this is an obstacle for including this medium in daily activities.

Another factor that is present is language.⁷ Latin America and the Caribbean have great linguistic wealth. Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, dozens of indigenous languages, and several dialects of Creole are spoken, with the peculiarity that the great majority of the population understands the same language, Spanish – relatively understandable by even the Brazilian and French-speaking Caribbean population –, which is not the case of other continents such as Europe, Asia or Africa. Although this facilitates intra-regional communication, the predominance of English in contents on the Net is an obstacle for Internet use, since that language is only understood by a minority of the region’s population. The same applies, in general, for the region to communicate with the rest of the world where English is dominant as the lingua franca.

The amount of information on the Internet in Spanish and Portuguese – the two main languages of the region, is still small in comparison to that in English.⁸ However, there are signs that this situation is changing. According to a study by Funredes and Unión Latina (2001), from 1998 to 2001 the number of Web pages in Spanish is estimated to have grown from 2.53 % to 5.69 %, and those in Portuguese from 0.82 % to 2.81 % of the total available. During the same period, the number of pages in English is calculated to have decreased in relation to the total, from 75 % to 52 %. This figure is still high, considering that only a tenth of the world’s population is English-speaking.

In a broader context, it is cause for much concern that together with English predominance goes the pretension to impose, through new communications technologies, a standardizing, hegemonizing cultural industry that disregards linguistic and cultural diversity.

Finally, there remains a social and gender gap in the access to new technologies in Latin America. During 1998-99, 90 % of all Internet users in this part of the world came from upper income groups. As the UNDP (1999: 62) illustrates, in Mexico 67 % of all users had university degrees, while in Brazil, only 25 % of all Internet users were women. By the end of 2000, only 5 % of the population had a computer, and although 50 % to 70 % of all companies had access to Internet, only 9.4 % of all individual workers could take advantage of that service. (Hilbert, 2001: 102)

Hardware and Access

Throughout the 90’s, social organizations have felt the need to progressively incorporate digital systems into their diverse daily tasks. Initially they did so for the purpose of improving their administrative and managerial activities. More recently, however, the decision to incorporate Internet has become generalized among them with the understanding that it will enable them to be better related and informed internationally. But when taking this step, they do not necessarily consider the internal transformations that this technological renovation could unleash. Such changes do not occur from one moment to the next, nor in a spectacular way, but rather they congeal progressively. The fact of installing hardware does not automatically produce changes in organization of work, nor does it solve other problems that had not been identified.

Precisely one of the sequels of the promotional discourse that, among other things, presents ICTs as “solutions” seeking “problems”, is that it has become common to think that an innovative technology can be incorporated as a strategy – generally with lamentable results for whoever does so – when what is needed is an innovative strategy, and from there to seek the right technology. Without a strategy, information technology remains in the air, being subordinate to strategy.

In other words, an organization that limits itself to installing hardware and adding computer functions to its activities might increase its efficiency in the best of cases, but will hardly take full advantage of this technology’s potential as long as there is no process of appropriation in place. When this process does occur – sometimes based on explicit criteria, other times more intuitively, often driven by personal initiative – it translates into readjusting the organizational setup to take fuller advantage of the technology in response to organizational goals.

Getting equipped with hardware and installing Internet connectivity is an important first step. But this alone is not enough nor, from what we have seen, is it the most difficult aspect for organizations. The hardest part is implementation, since it necessitates internal re-formulations that are more complicated to introduce.

Taking the Leap

The supply of hardware and services for connectivity implies a decision to invest or request resources. Truly some social organizations are supported initially (or complementarily) by external services, such as friendly institutions, leaders with personal connections, or Internet cafes. But sooner or later they recognize the need to have their own connection. As use grows, the need for infrastructure grows accordingly. In fact, organizations that because of their experience or understanding have gained a greater appreciation for the possibilities offered by ICTs also seek to acquire the hardware that best suits their needs.

This does not mean, however, that the amount of infrastructure that an organization has is necessarily a measure of how fully it takes advantage of Internet resources. In practice, we find that some organizations, with very precarious equipment but with a certain clarity in their goals, take better advantage of information flows than others that are better equipped but lack clear definitions for taking advantage of such resources.

As the leader of a Mexican farmer organization commented, “Our main difficulty is not having created the culture to appropriate the Internet idea. We have the conditions; it isn’t even an economic problem. The resources for installing it are not unaffordable. But the hardest thing is not having been able to implant it as a culture.”

In any case, most grass-roots social organizations in the region face an endless list of urgent demands and needs that oblige them to allot their scarce financial resources with extreme paucity. So it is never an easy decision to invest in technology.

Frequently, what drives this decision is the ability to lower the cost of communications via fax and telephone, which add up considerably as organizations increase their international relations. In this case, the investment is a saving.

Another motivating factor for organizations participating in the regional coordinating bodies is the example and encouragement of sister organizations that already use e-mail. As soon as certain organizations on the same regional network start having regular inter-communication, this applies pressure on others to join. From there on, the pace of adopting e-mail accelerates among network members. It is also worth keeping in mind the role played by external agents such as NGOs, cooperation agencies, volunteers and others that have influenced organizations to adopt ICTs.

But there are also organizations where political considerations come first, as in the case of the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST – Landless Workers Movement) in Brazil. In the words of one of its leaders, “It is a merit for the movement to have been very attentive to the matter of technological development in communications. In Brazil, this was the first organization able to place a telex network in all states, together with the Pastoral Land Commission, with the intention of facilitating information and achieving unity on a national scale. The criterion was that if the movement was unable to make the struggle nation-wide, it would fail. So with this same reasoning, after the telex came faxes and then, almost naturally, computers and the Internet. Initially it seemed astonishing, but we are increasingly realizing that this is a resource for agile, efficient communications that always demands new things of you.”

Likewise, a communicator of the Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo (ATC – Association of Rural Workers) in Nicaragua pointed out that “The new information and communications technologies have been incorporated as a consequence of organizational growth and of having proposed an international relations strategy for ourselves. So we created an information technology infrastructure (over 20 computers), trained more than 15 co-workers in operating techniques, more than 5 co-workers in use of the Web, but at the same time created a mechanism for decision-making on communications policies.”

In the case of regional coordinating bodies that still have not established a permanent mechanism of on-line exchanges, it was noted that the motivation to connect to the Internet among national member organizations is lower, in spite of the fact that in several cases they have the basic infrastructure (computers and a telephone line).

One can infer then, at least with regard to social organizations, that the dynamics of exchange and dissemination do not arise as a result of connectivity but that, to the contrary, what drives them to connect is the existence of these dynamics and the need to give them greater regularity through more agile communications.

Basic Shortcomings

The use of computers in the main offices of national social organizations is almost region-wide. Some have modern, relatively powerful hardware. However, with regard to their activities and hardware requirements, there are still shortcomings.

Although a single computer with a modem is enough to receive e-mail service, in practice when there is much demand on the same computer for other uses, communications do not flow very well. The demand for hardware is even greater – in time and installed capacity – when trying to navigate the Web.

When the organizations were first consulted at mid-2000, very few had more than five computers for all the work of their main offices, and many had only one or two. Nevertheless, these figures rapidly became outdated, and several organizations increased the number of computers during the following months.

Even so, whether in national organizations or regional secretariats (where not only staff work, but also elected leaders who generally share their time between the main office and affiliate organizations, besides the presence of volunteers or interns) the number of persons per computer is generally very high – sometimes 5, 10 or more. Compared to professional NGOs where generally each person has a computer as a daily work tool, the difference is striking.

So although several organizations have set up teams in charge of communications, their work has been limited by the lack of computer availability. Thus, for example, one communications department has only 10 hours per week assigned for computer access. The fewer computers an organization has, the more uses each unit must serve (accounting, communications, secretarial, etc.), which must be shared among several departments.

One dilemma that national federated organizations face when purchasing computer equipment is that, although there may be resources available for it, they not only have to consider the requirements for expanding main office infrastructure, but also hope to stretch them to supply technical resources for their affiliates, which generally are lacking in infrastructure.

Added to this is the draw-back of out-dated computers that are unable to use the latest programs, which creates pressure to renew them, meaning new disbursements. But the situation is very dissimilar from one organization to the next, and sometimes those beginning to use computers more recently do so in better conditions than those that have used them longer.

Very few organizations have installed local network connections between computers on the same site, which would multiply the ability to share resources, programs, files and printers and have more hardware connected to the Internet. One impediment is the cost of technical staff required to maintain an internal network.

In summary, the general situation found is that social organizations incorporate computer use with precarious infrastructure. Nevertheless, they also show that a lot can be done with few resources, provided their goals are clear.

In the words of a Mexican barrio leader, “We have no need for luxury computers, nor is there any reason to think about sophisticated, useless programs. It is enough to know how to make use of them according to our needs, means and instruments. It is not necessary to have lots of capital or an international relations force to have daily access to the world and for the world to know about us. One just needs to learn how to do it.”

Internet Connectivity

In the early 90’s, very few social organizations in the region had e-mail. The process of incorporating this resource has been gradual, and started mostly by mid-decade, almost always where there was already certain experience in the use of computers. For organizations that start using computers more recently, the probability that they use Internet from the outset is greater, since it currently comes as part of the installed package, and marketing companies promote it as the main attraction, sometimes even with free connection time.

They often start out with a single computer and modem – which most of the day is used for other purposes – and one e-mail address for the entire organization. But the mere fact of having a computer connected to the Internet can change an organization’s communication possibilities enormously.

As the flow of communications intensifies, pressure often mounts from different departments and individuals to connect directly to the Internet, which leads to the need to expand the infrastructure. For this to be possible, aside from the financial cost, several obstacles must be overcome, such as the scarcity of telephone lines, or the obsolescence of existing hardware.

Nevertheless, when the executive is clear as to their need for communications, they seek solutions to overcome this lack of infrastructure. For example, communications at the main office are supplemented with other mechanisms, such as the use of a leader’s personal address and connection at home, the work place, or some other public site. That is why it is difficult to measure an organization’s communications capacity based solely on installed infrastructure at the main office and its formal communications structures. The executive members themselves may not necessarily have this fact in mind when making a balance of the organization’s communications activities.

Telephone lines are also a problem for many organizations. Although they may be located in capital cities where telephone service is generally acceptable, many organizations have few lines (either due to cost or simply because they are not available in the sector) that must serve not only for Internet connections, but also for all other needs of the organization. This limitation requires a rationalization of resources, sometimes to the extreme, as occurs in one Ecuadorian farmers’ organization: “At the office there are 30 people and one telephone line. I connect to the Internet five minutes per day,” relates the head of communications, adding that “The executive is clear on what is most important. However, there is a lack of mechanisms to make this viable.”

Problems tend to be greater when a national organization tries to connect its affiliates. This is a goal that all organizations seek, to speed up internal coordination, but in practice it faces several difficulties. For a large number of organizations in the provinces there are many needs, not just in terms of telephone service and electricity – especially in areas that are far from large- to medium-sized cities – but even with regard to office space and computers. Of all the national organizations consulted, only one had more than 90% of its affiliates connected to e-mail. For the rest, the figure was below 25%.

There have, however, been a few innovative experiences in overcoming these limitations. In the Ecuadorian Amazon Region, in areas where there are no telephone lines, there are organizations that communicate with each other and with their main offices via Internet, through a radio connection. In other countries, provincial organizations use cyber-cafes or turn to friendly institutions to receive communications from their main offices.

In naming the problems that organizations face for incorporating Internet into their daily activities, several of the people asked gave first place to the lack of economic resources and basic infrastructure, but they also point out other factors – sometimes assigning them more importance – such as a lack of training or insufficient prioritization by the leadership.

The exchange on these topics within the framework of WCSM activities has motivated organizations to ponder more on their communication activities and the possibilities of capitalizing on their Internet use. In fact, when a policy decision is made in this regard, it accelerates the search for solutions to raise the level of connectivity.⁹

Uses and Usefulness

Computers place a powerful, versatile tool in the hands of organizations, enabling them to improve and speed up administrative organization, besides having a capacity to order and handle data, information, documentation, publications, directories, graphs, among others, that is almost impossible with manual systems. With a computer connected to the Internet, this potential is multiplied exponentially, due to the possibilities of inter-connection, intercommunication and information flows, from a local level to a worldwide level.

When social organizations include computers in their day-to-day life for the first time (influenced by the general context of their societies with the surge in the adoption of computer and information technology packages for more efficient performance of activities in general), they are introduced mainly as tools for administrative operations: accounting, writing up minutes of meetings, executing correspondence, writing press bulletins. That is, existing functions are replaced and improved, though introducing few changes in them. Thus, technological modernization is managed essentially with administrative, secretarial criteria. In the organizations themselves, it is common to hear, “We do not take proper advantage of the computer; we simply use it as a typewriter.”

In terms of program (software) use, this translates into the implementation of pre-established applications, taking little advantage of the flexible adaptations that, in principle, computers allow.

In any case, technological innovation has been important: it represents a leap from typewritten and manual means for processing data and information to digital means. What was once done with a typewriter or by hand is now done with a computer, considerably reducing repetitive labor.

Something similar occurs, at least initially, with the incorporation of e-mail: it replaces functions of fax and the post, but it is handled essentially with administrative, secretarial criteria. In this regard it is worth noting that, during the initial phase of incorporating Internet, none of the organizations participating in this study had in mind internalizing the use of the electronic network from an information / communications perspective. Rather, this developed gradually – by differing degrees according to the organization – based on practical experience and in response to situations posed by other levels of need.

Applications vs. Appropriation

One of the conditions that determine patterns of use is precisely installed software packages and programs and access to communications services. Although computers provide enormous flexibility in terms of possible modalities and applications, the options presented to organizations are generally very narrow. Consequently, they have to adjust their needs to available programs, and not the other way around. The result is that the approach to computers is conditioned from the start by a sense of program application, which limits the options for a real appropriation of technology.

To illustrate the point, computers – from their very definition as PC’s (personal computers) – and therefore most available software packages, are designed for individual use, or in the case of multi-user programs, for several individuals. Nevertheless, for practical reasons, but also due to their particular cultural and organizational vision, it is usual for social organizations of Latin America to make collective / organizational use rather than personal use of the computer, for which they lack the appropriate software;¹⁰ or else in those programs available the functions enabling them to be adapted are not easily mastered.

Furthermore, the predominant logic of continually updating programs and hardware, the former requiring increasingly greater installed resources, the latter encouraging the use of the latest programs, leads down a never-ending spiral of investment (driven by the interests of a very profitable market) and furthermore creates incompatibility problems for sharing files among computers using different versions. For most social organizations, this spiral is unsustainable.

As a Central American leader commented, “In computer matters one is often subject to the whims of technocrats who install programs, computers are continually being phased out, and you are also subjected to information technology propaganda. And the time comes when this generates costs.”

When an organization purchases a new computer or installs an Internet service, usually those selling the hardware or service install technological packages without offering or explaining any options that would make it possible to adapt these resources to one’s particular needs. What is most common is that it comes with the latest version of the package offered by Microsoft.

However, there are some examples of fuller appropriation of programs: ATC of Nicaragua, for example, has developed a database that takes its unique needs into account. It stores information on the leaders and officials of the organization, their levels of technical and pedagogical training, etc, which helps plan training courses, among other things.

Due to a lack of knowledge or technical skills, very few organizations actually choose or adapt programs according to needs defined by them. Commonly they limit themselves to applying pre-determined functions. But for better or for worse, being accustomed to using their imaginations to overcome deficiencies and combining computer facilities with manual operations, organizations adjust to the limitations of instruments to achieve the ends they seek.

One serious problem is accidents causing loss of data. Several organizations have lost files from their computers, either due to virus, incorrect program operation or hardware damage, with the grave consequence (if they have not been careful to create backup files or when these are incomplete or also contaminated) that the organization practically is left “without a memory”. The resulting mistrust leads sometimes to the option of keeping a parallel hardcopy archive of all incoming information. This may work in organizations that send and receive relatively small volumes of information, but becomes impractical when exchanges are voluminous.

Viruses are precisely pointed out as one of the worst computer problems that organizations face. The risk of viruses increases rapidly with the use of e-mail and lists, since many come through that channel, either in files from infected computers or from “self-propagating” ones, the most pernicious of which are those that apparently come from familiar addresses. There has been at least one case of “epidemic contagion” among several organizations of the same network, resulting in the loss of their respective hard disks.

To a certain extent, it would seem that grass-roots organizations are among the most vulnerable to such contagion. The installation of updated anti-virus programs is a problem for those with a slow connection because, although they are available free over the Internet, with a slow modem it may take several hours of connection time, which may be more expensive than purchasing the program. The fact that several people share the same computer sometimes means that not all are duly instructed in anti-virus measures. The almost universal use of programs that are most susceptible to virus (Microsoft Outlook, Word) and the use and abuse of attached files increases this vulnerability.

The issue of attached files brings up another of the difficulties underlined by the organizations: incompatibility between different generations of the same program, obstructing information exchange among organizations. There were many complaints regarding files arriving by e-mail that were saved in versions that are too advanced for the software they have. For example, more and more files are received in Word 2000, a program that most have not installed. Earlier, the same thing happened with Word 97. This problem creates noise within the networks, impeding fluid communications.

The very use of files attached to mail messages, often pointed out by whoever installs the programs as the normal way to send mail, causes many problems that, besides the incompatibility mentioned above, goes from the unnecessary loss of time and money in telephone connections for downloading large messages via modem, to greater vulnerability to virus transmission. Among the frequent cases are messages with relatively scarce contents but heavy formats and graphic design, or those accompanied by lists of attached graphics (“.gif" files), or in a PowerPoint format with animation (easily reaching 1 megabyte and taking 10 to 30 minutes of connection time to download). The use of these formats also puts pressure on those who prefer to use other types of software, since they are obliged to install more widely-used programs in order to open the files they receive.

Having approached these issues within the framework of the continental coordinating bodies’ meetings and the Web Community itself has made it possible to open doors to an understanding of the possibilities of appropriating software as a function of their specific needs, starting with the commitment to use text only (which is not always done) for e-mail communications.¹¹

Internet Services Used

In all organizations consulted, the first Internet service they have access to, and the one they use most, is e-mail. This fits in with the worldwide standard (several studies show that e-mail is used more than the Web), but also expresses the fact that Internet is, above all, seen as an instrument for interrelation and linkage.

With e-mail and its correlated electronic lists, social organizations for the first time have a communications instrument that enables them to truly communicate as a network, horizontally, without going through the bottlenecks and delays of “networks” whose information flows must needs be channeled through a centralized point.

Many organizations, whether due to costs,¹² having older equipment, or simply staff or telephone time factors, are content with only e-mail access.

The organizations that were consulted reported that e-mail is used mainly for private correspondence, external relations with sister or solidary organizations, and for participating in collective coordination spaces and disseminating denouncements. That is, it is above all an instrument of international coordination.

It is also used for disseminating information on the organization’s activities and issues, as well as to exchange operational information internally and with affiliate organizations, and for other national communications.

Among the main advantages that organizations claim to have gained with the introduction of e-mail are faster internal and external communications, as well as speeding up work and decreasing costs. They say that e-mail has enabled more direct, timely contacts; promotes communications with sister organizations and relations with other social forces; facilitates greater coordination and direct participation in international campaigns; and makes it possible to break out of isolation. They also find that it makes it possible to obtain recent, first-hand information, and input for internal discussions and decision-making. It also helps them make the organization known and quickly disseminate its aims, denouncements and activities.

E-mail includes four different dimensions for organizations: organizational, external relations and networking, information and communications.

During the exchanges held on this topic, it was clear that the organizations incorporate e-mail to the extent that it relates to their perceived needs, especially within the framework of their relations environments. The more they become involved in networking dynamics, in some cases international and in others national, the more indispensable electronic communications become. But it was also clear that Internet access is not what creates the need to communicate, but rather vice-versa. This is illustrated by the case of a women’s “barrio” program in Mexico that had a computer connected to the Internet within the framework of a funded program, but when this aid terminated the connection was cut and the computer was kept as a typewriter. No urgent need was felt to seek a solution in order to reconnect.

The ease of communication offered by e-mail also has its down side, as one rural leader relates. “Before,” she says, “when organizations sent international solidarity letters to counterparts, they would post them on a bulletin board and make copies for everyone to know about them.” Now, however, “they are sent to the government and everyone on the mail list, but then we don’t know about it; also, there is never an answer whether it arrived, or whether or not it had an effect. Nobody tells you they received it. So suddenly solidarity is so impersonal by e-mail . . . you know it arrived because the message didn’t bounce, but you never know whether they opened it. There’s no follow-up.”

As we have said, e-mail is used much more broadly than the Web. The organizations consulted confirmed this parameter, although many choose to surf the Network, especially seeking new sources of information. However, these intentions are limited by diverse factors such as telephone service costs, slow access, technical failures in servers, telephone connection problems, or because the pages are “too heavy”, especially when loaded with too many photos and graphics, and when organizations do not have fast equipment.

In summary, without denying that the Web is increasingly used as a source of information, it is still more of an adjective resource, while e-mail is the substantive element of Internet use by organizations.

Technological Appropriation

Organizational Arrangements

When an organization chooses to incorporate information and communications technologies, what stands out at first are the advantages they offer, without necessarily considering their organizational implications. Sooner or later these end up surfacing with the need to seek more appropriate organizational arrangements to integrate electronic communications resources and uses and assign and train human resources, both for technical and information management.

In effect, with Internet access, organizations find themselves up against the fact that the amount of information they receive grows continually, and the need to establish mechanisms for administering it becomes unavoidable. Automated computer functions help somewhat, but this is not enough. They need “intelligent filters”, or information managers that select timely, relevant information and then channel it to the right persons or sectors, in order to take best advantage of the benefits this technology offers, so as to further the organization’s goals.

Since this is not a new situation that shows up overnight, but rather takes form little by little, these changes tend to follow the pace of inertia in social organizations. This is so much so that the few organizations that have dealt explicitly with this issue did so in response to actual consequences.

To illustrate this point, let us take a look at to two typical cases that demonstrate different dynamics in processing such a situation. The first refers to organizations where Internet incorporation occurred as just another addition to the predominantly secretarial and administrative use generally given the computer. There were even situations where only the secretary had the password to the computer used to connect to the Internet, and when he or she was out, nobody could access this resource.

As the management of relations and information flows passes more and more though this channel, there is actually an increase in the responsibilities of the staff assigned to this task, who become a bridge between elected leaders or heads of areas and external counterparts. When e-mail comes to involve not only private correspondence but also networking dynamics and thematic information sources, the information management task requires skills for which the secretarial staff is not necessarily qualified. Depending on their training, intuition and personal ability to perceive and respond to the new challenges posed by this task, whoever takes on this position can either become a key facilitating point for external interactions, or else an involuntary blocking factor.

The other case has to do with organizations where a leader or organizer takes the personal initiative to manage information, selecting what is pertinent from what arrives (analyses, dispatches, proposals, etc.), and redistributes it to lists by sector or group of persons (or when they do not have e-mail, prints it and delivers hardcopies). These might be materials for training either officials or trainers, for orienting the activities of the executive committee, the organization, or persons having to do with specific work areas (health, education, etc.) An initiative of this type often helps motivate the whole group and promotes the habit of sharing information in the organization, which is different from the simple comings and goings of messages and specific indications (as would be the case with mail and faxes). This makes good use of the interactive aspect of the Internet to the benefit of the organization.

This last example demonstrates how sound judgement in Internet use can help encourage personal initiatives that affect the pace of the entire organization. Thus, the task of selecting, ordering and redistributing information begins even before internal organizational provisions are in place for implementing this or that specific task that regularly incorporates the advantages of the Internet. Moreover, these tasks need not be carried out in the office nor during work hours, as they are often taken home.

The potential of these new technologies for social organizations has to do with at least four aspects of organizational activities: internal organization, information, communication, and external relations. In practice, although each has its own peculiarities, the distinctions among them are not clear-cut. For example, information serves the other three, and internal / external relations incorporate a communications dimension. Therefore, it is good to maintain a certain amount of coordination and feedback between these activities.

When organizations take steps towards a more explicit organizational arrangement for appropriating ICTs, this can include as the case requires: redistribution of tasks and responsibilities, assignment of connection infrastructure and services, and hiring and/or training of human resources.

These changes tend not to be sudden. After the first few days from introducing a new technology (such as buying a computer or connecting to the Internet), it quickly becomes part of the routine. Although the Internet brings certain acceleration, in social organizations it ends up adjusting the pace to the pauses imposed by social processes. In other words, in day-to-day living, organizations are slow to process changes, they do so gradually, even when under pressure to quicken the pace.

Often, organizations start planning internal reordering from the moment they acknowledge the information / communications dimension of ICTs. Then they start assigning information management tasks to the respective sectors. Thus, the management of information flows is handed over to the communications department, or e-mail for external relations to the respective department or secretariat. In several cases, the intensified use of new technologies is even what has accelerated the decision to create a communications department.

Organizations are aware that in order for a department to manage information appropriately it needs to be assigned a computer with an Internet connection. Different persons responsible for communications actually spoke of difficulties they faced to take full advantage of the Internet when obliged to share the computer with administration, with only 5 or 30 minutes per day to handle e-mail.

Therefore, assigning a computer to such a department is seen as one of the first steps to solve when deciding to prioritize this activity. A few organizations have also recognized that it is important for this department to have its own mailbox, in order to manage communications more independently and speedily.

But this operational autonomy also has its risks if mechanisms and habits of information sharing and feedback are not generated between the different departments and offices of the organization, so that they can contribute to organizational strengthening. When borders between different departments or secretariats remain rigid, it may be the case that each becomes an island, externally connected but lacking internal communication, thus forming a kind of archipelago.

Thus, for example, in one organization the communications department, whose actions were mainly oriented by media policy, was externally related primarily with the press, a focus that established a field of specific attention, with personal relations channels subordinated to the task of sending and receiving news. Under the same logic, its internal relations were mainly with elected leaders who appeared in the media, and every so often with other secretariats when they participated in some action or topic that had become “newsworthy”.

Meanwhile, the health sector, with its own mailbox, also had its network of external relations and sources – participation on interest lists, location of related web sites or other specialized sources, etc. – that enabled it to acquire a critical mass of information on which basis it produced its own. But this processed information remained as the heritage of the health sector and was not shared with the communications team, which frequently lacked internal sources for producing bulletins, updating the magazine or web site, etc.

This example shows how taking advantage – or not – of the facilities the Internet offers to create internal information flow mechanisms can influence the permeability or rigidity of borders set up between departments and, therefore, their ability to strengthen each other. Or, to put it another way, it helps underline that, rather than having experts in this technology, what counts is having persons who are concerned with thinking about how to capitalize on such technology to further the organization’s purposes.

Human Resources

The proportion of staff and leaders who use electronic communications varies a lot from one organization to the next, but tends to increase as electronic communications are more assimilated into internal and external activities. In this regard it is worthwhile to differentiate between those who use it directly or indirectly (through someone else who handles the computer).

We found that, especially at the beginning, many elected leaders kept their distance from directly handling the Internet, claiming they were over-worked, although there were cases of leaders who learned to operate the hardware and programs on their own and socialized their knowledge and skills in the organization. But generally they start out having support staff – secretaries, technical staff and/or volunteers – operate the Internet.

As e-mail use takes an increasingly important place in the organization’s communications and inter-relations, leaders begin to realize that they are disadvantaged by not being able to operate the equipment, and so seek to overcome their resistance to it.

Often this resistance is greater in those with a low level of formal education, as is the case with many leaders of rural organizations. But when there are clear motives and a decision to learn, these limitations are overcome.

One leader of the Coordinadora Nacional Indígena y Campesina (CONIC – National Indigenous and Campesina Coordination) of Guatemala described how his organization dealt with these difficulties. Despite their low level of schooling, leaders “made a real effort to grow in this sense and ‘stretch’ themselves to gain access to computers and the Internet. Not just one or two co-leaders, but at least five have been trained to use this equipment.” Initially, it was only handled by members of the national executive committee, but later “access was opened to other co-workers with time to learn.” They worked in teams in front of the computer to overcome any difficulties that arose.

Other obstacles to learning how to handle the technology, that leaders highlight, are a lack of financial resources, need for training, age, and language. But there are cases that illustrate the decision to seek solutions.

One farmers’ organization in Nicaragua says that if its leaders learned to handle computers, it was in order to save resources, since it was extraordinarily costly to hire technical operators. “So they preferred for the leaders themselves to handle these technologies, first for the security of the organization, in order to manage information internally, and second because it is easier for leaders to stay after-hours working on their computers. Then they can connect their own e-mail, which is better than depending on an operator.”

The lack of technical training, as well as inexperience in this field, is cited as an obstacle to taking full advantage of ICT’s possibilities, and also as a limitation to reproducing technology use among other persons and groups of the organization.

Age is cited as an important factor: there is a perception that young people have more aptitude and predisposition to enter and navigate the Internet than older persons, who are generally the ones who hold positions on the executive. For the “pre-Web” generations, technological appropriation requires an extra effort to understand its logic and new codes, jargon and practices, which one community organizer calls overcoming “our virtual illiteracy”. But the generational problem is not just about learning difficulties, but also image: it is perceived as the domain of youth. The reason for not taking advantage of cybercafes, for example, when provincial organizations do not have their own connections, is because they are seen as places for young people.

Language barriers present another problem to those who do not know English – as is the case with most social leaders – due to its predominance not just in Internet contents, but also in available software. Some people working in these organizations have acquired a certain utilitarian command of English, and in certain cases they have the help of volunteers and cooperants who facilitate access (through translations) to documents and information. The availability (although limited) of computer programs in Spanish and Portuguese, as well as the existence of a considerable volume of information circulating in these languages through the web, make things easier.

It is notable that nobody – neither men nor women – mentioned a gender gap. Moreover, the tendency is for women to use the Internet more than men in social organizations, possibly due to their computing background transcribing texts. The executive members of mixed-gender people’s organizations tend to be older men who often never learned to use a typewriter and feel certain resistance to sitting in front of a keyboard.

Finally, there are those who see ICTs as a matter for “technicians and the savvy” and not for peasants, women leaders or barrio organizers, which leads them to claim that the Internet does not belong to the culture of the members of social organizations, in whose cultural context oral communication and direct interpersonal relations prevail. But it is only a small minority among elected leaders. Some rural organizations rather state that on this plane they have had to deal with other people’s prejudices: the image that the farmer population is per se a “backward people” and therefore unable to get along with these new technologies. So there is always someone who is surprised at seeing them using a computer.

To say it with the testimony of one Brazilian MST leader, “During a conversation I had with a Bishop, he was going around and around the issue and finally spat it out: ‘I was told that the MST secretariat has computers, and I couldn’t believe it.’ At another time, when we had the march to Brasilia in 1997, we went to a union to ask for a machine to prepare the paper we were going to submit. And they asked us ‘Do the landless know how to type?’ But why these doubts? Why did they have that image of the poor landless worker, behind which is the concept that we almost are unable to have access nor have a right to these technologies.”

Training

Training in Internet use is highlighted by almost all organizations participating in this initiative as a necessity and shortcoming. Although many have personnel with some level of training, almost all recognize deficiencies in this area, including those whose staff is more highly specialized (for example, women’s centers). This is because the incorporation of these new technologies is so recent and its evolution so rapid, that most have not been able to accumulate the range of knowledge required nor keep apace with its evolution.

Each country has its technical training resources, but as such they do not necessarily solve the problem. Often they only provide training in elementary procedures and basic techniques, but not based on the real needs of the organizations.

Furthermore, training needs are not limited to handling technology as such, but also – and perhaps this is the most complex part – are required in information management skills and policy-making criteria, which include a deeper understanding of the logic and peculiarities of the medium.

Most organizations participating in the study include training programs for their leaders as part of their normal activities, and some even have career development agreements with universities for them. However, these training programs seldom include regular training in communications or Internet use and operation.

In this regard, the Nicaraguan ATC has achieved support for an exemplary initiative aimed at training its leaders and providing them with a profession (as computer operators, accountants, etc.) considering that it is both an investment for the organization and a way to ensure the person’s future when he or she is no longer a member of the executive. This is achieved not merely by organizing internal training courses, but through agreements with university institutions so that these leaders receive a professional diploma. This organization initially provided basic training in e-mail use for some 30 persons from both its central office and member organizations in the provinces, although in some areas the organizations still lack Internet access.

One factor that prevents organizations from more formally integrating communications and new technologies into internal training programs is the perception that communications is an area reserved for specialists. So they think that hiring journalists solves an organization’s communications problems, although every evidence shows that communications is an activity that cuts across all other areas and no matter how much goodwill they may have, without clear guidelines journalists may not respond appropriately. With this in mind, participants at the WCSM exchange workshop (April 2001) recommended that their organizations include training in communications policies and Internet for their elected leaders, as one of their greatest present needs.

For technical operation of the Internet, several leaders have taken the initiative to train themselves. Some organizations have hired staff or volunteers with a command of these matters. Others prefer the more informal mechanism of socializing learning among those working in the organization. In these cases, much depends on the level of knowledge and understanding of the person heading the process, because although his or her achievements could mean progress for the entire organization, any limitations they have may also have repercussions throughout unless means are found to overcome them.

Despite the cultural barriers mentioned earlier, most organizations state that their staff and leaders are eager to receive training in Internet use. In one way or another, with practice and familiarity they have been able to overcome any resistance and uncertainties that arise from unknown technologies. In several cases, this is even being demanded by provincial leaders. In this regard, one peasant leader denies that cultural barriers are real: “It is true that we do not know how these technologies are used and all the benefits they can offer. But as organizations we have the ability to learn and share what we have learned. The main problem is how to obtain them and learn to use them.”

Collective training was emphasized among the expectations mentioned by the persons consulted. Some pointed out that technical training should be general, not just for leaders, but also for the grass roots. They underlined the need to share information on the many uses of Internet and learn to handle programs and resources for discriminating among information.

As obstacles to training, they mentioned insufficient economic resources, a lack of materials and equipment for practicing, time constraints, and the fact that their organizations either do not have or have not given sufficient importance to a training program.

Notes: