WITFOR 2005

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• WITFOR 2005
• Social, Ethical Legal Aspects
• September 1-3, 2005,
• Gabarone, Botswana

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At the Boundaries of Ethics and Cultures
Virtual Communities as an Open Ended Process
Carrying the Will for Social ChangeWhat can be
learnt in Africa from LAC MISTICA experience?
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Daniel Pimientapimienta_at_funredes.orgNETWORKS
DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATIONFUNREDEShttp//funrede
s.orghttp//funredes.org/mistica
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• A BIT OF HISTORY

• MERIT INTERNET CRUISE

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• THE WEB IS NOT THE INTERNET!
• THE INTERNET IS NOT THE WEB!

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SPECTACULAR vs. IMPACTING
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• VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES REPRESENT ONE OF THE MOST
  IMPACTING SPACES OF THE INTERNET FOR THE
  SOCIETY...
• ...ALTHOUGH NOT SPECTACULAR

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VIRTUAL COMUNITIES AN ELECTRONIC CONFERENCE IS
NOT A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY...
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• VIRTUAL SOCIAL ENGINEERING...
• WHY AND HOW A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY EMERGES FROM AN
  ELECTRONIC CONFERENCE?
• HOW ARE COLECTIVE CONSTRUCTIONS REALIZED IN
  VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES?
• WHY AND HOW PEOPLE COLLABORATE IN VIRTUAL SPACES?

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• VIRTUAL SOCIAL ENGINEERING...
• HOW DOES PARTICIPANTS ARTICULATE THIS GLOBAL LIFE
  WITH THEIR LOCAL LIFE?
• HOW ARE CULTURAL LINGUISTIC DIFFERENCES MANAGED
  BETWEEN PARTICIPANTS?
• WHERE AND HOW ETHICS INTERVENE IN VIRTUAL
  SPACES?

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• LETS SEE A REAL CASE
• MISTICA (1998-...?)
• SEE MISTICA PRESENTATION
• http//funredes.org/mistica/castellano/pres/
• A LOOK AT MISTICA COLLECTIVE PRODUCTS
  http//funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/
  tematica/
• REALISTICA
• UTOPISTA OF SHARED KNOWLEDGE
• WORKING THE INTERNET WITH A SOCIAL VISION
• MISTICAS EQUATIONS

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• HOW TO SYNTHETIZE IN 5 MINUTES?
• 400 PARTICIPANTS WITH 4 LANGUAGES
• 6000 CONTRIBUTIONS
• 20 MILLON DE HITS (500,000/MONTH)
• 1000 WEB PAGES (100 MBYTES)
• 2000 PAGES (100 DOCUMENTS)
• 850KUS INVESTMENT...
•  

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MATHEMATICS OF SOCIAL ENGINEERING
t4/04 MISTICA/(KBC VCMCDRE) Dt
t11/98 KB Knowledge Base G C
Collaboration z VCM Virtual Community
Methodologies _at_ CD Colective Documents T RE
Recursive Evaluation a
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KNOWLEDGE BASE G
KB N (RH RI) N Networking of v RH
Human network RI Información network
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COLLABORATION z
LogE (C) RH PD AT PA
E Empathy Y RH Human
Network PD Participative Democracy
_ AT Active Transparency q
PA Pilot Applications '
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VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES METHODOLOGIES
  VCM Max (S/R) Min (O/LC) Max(S/N)Maxi
mize signal/noise   Min(O/LC)Minimize Obstacles
to Languages Cultures
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COLLECTIVE DOCUMENTS T
tJ CD /F(CKB)Dt ti
  F Facilitation l C Collaboration z KB
Knowledge Base G
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• VIRTUAL SOCIAL ENGINEERING...
• COMMON VALUES
• P
• R
• O
• C
• E
• S
• S
• COMMON VISIONS

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• VIRTUAL SOCIAL ENGINEERING RECIPEES...

• A CLEAR GOAL WITH METHODOLÓGICAL SUPPORT

• FACILITATION FOR A SUBTLE BALANCE BETWEEN CHAÓS
  ORDER

• FIRM DEMOCRÁTIC MODERATIÓN MODERATION BY FOCUS
• MODERATION BY SIGNAL/NOISE

• META-COMMUNICATION ALWAYS OPEN FOR ALL CHANNELS,
  FORMAL (EVALUATIÓN) INFORMAL.

• ACTIVE TRANSPARENCY LEADING TO ACTIVE
  PARTICIPATION

• TRANSFER OF FACE TO FACE EMPATHY INTO VIRTUAL
  SPACE

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• TWO TRANSVERSAL FUNDAMENTAL INGREDIENTS

A permanent ethical concern

• A permanent concern for cultural diversity

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• ISTICAF

A mission in Africa from Senaïda Jansen
(FUNREDES) Sept. Dic. 1999
An attempt to create a partnership with OSIRIS
and ENDA with a south-south vision.
The conditions where not present back in 2000 for
this type of project to catch.
HOW ABOUT NOW???????
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Thanks! ?Daniel PimientaPIMIENTA_at_FUNREDES.ORG
HTTP//FUNREDES.ORG HTTP//FUNREDES.ORG/MIS
TICA