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Al-Ahram Weekly 23 - 29 September 1999 Issue No. 448 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 23 - 29 September 1999 Issue No. 448
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Comment Focus Special Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The will to inform
By Mohamed El-Sayed Said *In his speech to the first National Conference on Informatics, held a week ago, President Mubarak promised a big push for the industry, insisting that information technology is a bridge into the 21st century. The drive to first consolidate and then develop the industry will, he said, be a major priority of his fourth term in office.
The direct interest taken by the president, and the intense interest generated by the conference among information technology specialists, appears to indicate fairly clearly that Egypt is serious about exploiting this booming industry.
Certainly, there is a degree of consensus about the comparative advantages possessed by Egypt in software development: the industry, after all, relies first and foremost on human resources, i.e. a well-trained and educated work force. Egypt also possesses an important advantage in terms of wage levels, over Israel and even India.
Another very tangible advantage, and one that should not be underestimated, is the zeal with which Egyptian specialists are pushing for a strong informatics industry. Exploiting the export potential of the industry, many argue, will serve as an engine for overall development. Significantly, the arguments of the informatics' zealots are beginning to be reflected in a whole host of decisions taken at the institutional, economic and human resource levels. The only thing, perhaps, that is missing from the equation is any debate over the theoretical underpinnings of information technology.
What remains essentially interesting about information technology, in the end, is its liberating potential. This potential may be felt in many spheres, but above all in relation to imagination, diversity, creativity and transparency. We do well, I think, to remember, that the computer was initially conceived not as a speedy calculator, but as a communication tool, one whose value lay in its ability to promote transparency.
The ideals of those early days may well look hopelessly optimistic and information technology, like everything else, has proved a tool for manipulation and of control. Debates continue to rage over the way in which the communications revolution is affecting our lives, and the way in which we view the world, and it is likely that there will always be legitimate doubts over whether or not technology, as harnessed by the media, will become an agency for greater liberation.
There is one issue though, on which all engaged in such debates agree: information technology is organically linked to liberty and the real development of informatics as an industry hinges on the fullest possible recognition of human freedom. Yet this central relationship between informatics and democracy continues to be overlooked by Egyptian specialists, particularly those who are linked to the business sector. But even if, for the time being, we choose to ignore the moral dimension of informatics, other aspects of the relationship between IT and democracy impinge within a specifically local context: the right to information, making of legitimate use of that information, and the formulation of applicable agendas.
In a totally pragmatic sense, information technology is impossible to install and develop in a locality or a given social context unless the right to receive, impart and circulate information is guaranteed as a basic human right and as a prerequisite for the cultural formation of citizens and civic responsibility. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is very clear on this point.
Information technology is all about making information available to those willing to use it. If it is restricted, there is no use in basing an industry on it. Blocking information leads automatically to manipulation.
In Egypt there is a great lack of transparency. And while it is true that the new press law guarantees the right to receive information from different sources, including government, this right has yet to be fully satisfied and secrecy continues to apply to the simplest information.
Behind the urge to preserve such secrecy remains a very restricted view of national security. Ironically, given the vast increase in Egypt's relations with other nations, the Egyptian public finds its access to information restricted while it is readily available to other nationals.
Another crucial aspect of democracy is the way information is actually understood. Many in Egypt, and abroad, understand the term 'information' as the making of certain data -- whether crude or processed -- available to people. Yet this definition misses the most salient aspect of information, i.e. its intelligibility.
Information presumes communication: the person or persons being informed should receive information as subjects not objects. Only then can the information received begin to signify for its recipient. Information should be regarded as an element of knowledge. And the industry that processes and transmits this information must make sense of data in order to produce intelligible meanings.
The proper functioning of the industry, then, depends on people being empowered to act and to initiate meaningful projects. In other words, the nature of the industry presumes the existence of a fully enfranchised citizenry.
If people do not believe their votes matter informatics is unlikely to mean much to them. And if people cannot freely choose their political representatives, if they cannot make their opinions heard or participate in the running of their own affairs, nothing can save them from ignorance and from the misrepresentation of their reality.
Within this context, the development of informatics as an industry becomes impossible to realise in non-democratic societies.
This statement may appear to contradict the development of the computer industry in certain East Asian countries which are notoriously authoritarian. But such countries have, by and large, traditionally emphasised the hardware aspects of the industry. Their share in what is wrongly called informatics is focused on games and other entertainment items. And in the last analysis the most developed of these countries have found it impossible to maintain their traditional forms of authoritarian rule, having been forced to liberalise, a move at least partially due to the impact of progress in informatics and other high-tech industries.
The informatics sector contains various tensions: the name itself has become so loose as to include activities that run counter to the original purposes of information technology. Computer aided outputs and activities urgently need to be categorised according to their nature and roles in relation to intelligibility and understanding, as well as purposes and aims. Certain computer aided activities may then be seen for what they are -- attempts to consolidate authoritarian forms of control -- and be subsequently excluded from the portmanteau term informatics, which can then be restricted only to those activities and items that aid people in their pursuit of understanding.
The shaping of the industry in Egypt is likely to be a reflection of the struggle towards democratisation. And it is the responsibility of the community of specialists and scholars to ensure that Egypt makes use of the industry for its liberation and not for its enslavement.
* The writer is deputy director of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.
