World Summit on the Information Society
Also called: WSIS · Topic: Infrastructure: Transport, Communications and Energy · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is a UN process led by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN body for telecom. It began with two UN summits, first in Geneva and then in Tunis. Their aim was an information society, meaning one where everyone can use information and communication technology (ICT), such as phones and the internet, to improve their lives. The work is organised under Action Lines, which are themes like access, e-governance and building the right policy environment for ICT. Every year, the WSIS Prizes honour ICT projects that put these goals into practice. WSIS matters because it ties the closing of the digital divide (the gap between people who are online and people who are not) to real services for people.
Example
India's Samriddh Gram Centres won a WSIS Prize. A villager can get healthcare, farm advice, banking and government certificates in one place. These centres run on connectivity from BharatNet, India's public rural broadband network, so the network becomes services that people actually use.
Don't confuse with
- International Telecommunication Union (ITU): a permanent UN specialised agency, founded in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, that sets telecom standards and spectrum rules. WSIS is not an organisation. It is a summit process that the ITU leads.
- Digital divide: this is the problem, the gap in internet access. WSIS is the global framework set up to close it.