Mexico in Community
Original Title:
Mexico en Comunidad
Country:
Mexico
Producer:
Mr. Antonio Azcué Bremer
Mexico en Comunidad is a project developed by the ITCC in partnership with the Social Development Secretariat. Using information technologies, the project aims to support the poorest villages and towns in Mexico by focusing on two main areas: the Community Creation System and the Support Programs Platform. The Community Creation System provides an easy to use, non-specialized tool to create a web page for each community. Local users can provide information on the web page about specific topics: products, services, touristic attractions, festivities, as well as, information about customs & traditions, stories, myths or traditional recipes.
More than 300 communities have been highlighted and made visible to others using this system. The Support Programs Platform is intended to promote specific government and ngo programs, making their guidelines more understandable and accessible for non-IT liberated users. The programs focus on health, education, environment, economic development, housing and infrastructure. More than 15 different federal government agencies provide up-to-date content. Mexico en Comunidad is one the best examples of how to overcome the digital divide.
Jury Evaluation:
At a time when the era of globalisation sparks off fears of cultural homogenisation, sites like Mexico en Comunidad (Mexico in Community) shed light on the usefulness of the Internet as a multicultural asset. Mexico en Communidad shows how the Internet can be effectively used for preservation of ancient cultural resources along with contemporary and up to date information resources. The site offers content not just in Spanish but the indigenous Mexican languages of Mayan, Tzotzil, Topolabao and Mixteco.
Developed by the IT Cooperation Center Iberoamericana, the site also shows how Internet resources can be used with multiple models. The site is on the one hand a platform for support services, as well as a community communication tool. It is not just a one-way showcase of information created by a third-party media team, but has tools to allow users to create their own content specific to their individual communities.
The website meets e-governance needs of 15 government departments and NGOs, by providing access to important resources about education, healthcare and social support. By giving digital tools to local community members, the site lets them showcase local festivals as well as touristic attractions, meeting their cultural and commercial needs. The site has been described as “the facebook of communities and little towns” but also adds the important cultural purpose of “inclusion.”
Printer-friendly version
