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DIRSI announces junior competition winners Print E-mail
Written by Amy K. Mahan   
Tuesday, 13 June 2006
DIRSIThe Regional Dialogue on the Information Society, a WDR partner in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) known by its Spanish acronym, DIRSI, has announced the winners of its Research Project Competition for young researchers in the region.

Three research projects were selected from 60 proposals submitted by young researchers (under 35 years of age) from the LAC region. The selection committee, amongst other criteria, sought for excellence in presentation and overall coherence of the proposal, and relevance to the DIRSI research agenda.

Each project receives 5,000 USD, and will be undertaken with supervision by DIRSI members. Additional funds will also be made available to finance the winners’ participation in an international conference to present their work. The finalised projects will be completed on 15 December 2006.

Awarded Projects (in alphabetical order)

Mobile telephony and digital poverty in Latin America: Can the expansion of mobile telephony reduce poverty? (Telefonía móvil y pobreza digital en América Latina: ¿Puede la expansión de los teléfonos celulares reducir la pobreza?)

Carla Marisa Bonina (Centro de Investigación y Docencia Economicas – CIDE, México) and Martín Rivero Illa (Instituto de Ciencia Política – ICP, Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay)

Bonina and Rivero presented a joint proposal to assess the impact of mobile telephony on digital poverty and within the framework of this study, to develop an indicator to evaluate the contribution to poverty reduction achieved by extending mobile telephony networks – especially to economically vulnerable populations in the region.

Poverty and e-Government in Chile: From a sociocultural approach towards a virtuous relationship between the State and the citizen (Pobreza y Gobierno Electrónico en Chile: Desde un enfoque sociocultural hacia una relación virtuosa entre el Estado y el ciudadano)

María Inés Salamanca (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales – FLACSO, Chile)

Salamanca will consider Chile’s e-government policies and initiatives from the viewpoint of meaningfully extending public information and services to marginalised sectors of the population. Using a qualitative methodology combining discussion groups and a series of interviews, Salamanca’s study will make recommendations for improving the implementation of e-government programmes in Chile.

Development, peace and new technologies in Colombia: Access, uses and the contruction of imaginaries in a country in conflict (Desarrollo, paz y nuevas tecnologías en Colombia: accesos, usos y construcción de imaginarios en un país en conflicto)

Camilo Andrés Tamayo Gómez (Centro de Investigación y Educación Popular – CINEP, Colombia)

Tamayo Gómez, from a political economic perspective, will assess access to ICTs by three Colombian development and peace programmes to formulate recommendations for improving access and appropriate use of new technologies in the service of development initiatives and developing peace in Colombia.