More than half the people of the world are living in conditions approaching misery. Their food is inadequate, they are victims of disease. Their economic life is primitive and stagnant. For the first time in history humanity possesses the knowledge and the skill to relieve the suffering of these people. I believe that we should make available to peace-loving peoples the benefits of our store of technical knowledge in order to help them realize their aspirations for a better life.What we envisage is a program of development based on the concepts of democratic fair dealing. Greater production is the key to prosperity and peace. And the key to greater production is a wider and more vigorous application of modern scientific and technical knowledge. (Harry S. Truman, 1949)

We are also fully aware that the benefits of the information technology revolution are today unevenly distributed between the developed and developing countries and within societies. We are fully committed to turning this digital divide into a digital opportunity for all, particularly for those who risk being left behind and being further marginalized. Under favourable conditions, these technologies can be a powerful instrument, increasing productivity, generating economic growth, job creation and employability and improving the quality of life of all. ( Declaration of Principles,Geneva, 2003)

The World Summit on the Information Society (IS) took place in Geneva on December 10-12, 2003 . The main documents adopted at the Summit were the Declaration of Principles and the Plan of Action.

The first projects on IS creation were developed in the West in the 1990's, by the United States (1993) and the European Union (1994). A similar project was also been created in 1995 within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States (Concept of Common Information Zone for CIS Member States).

A decade after these projects were launched, we are now witnessing a world initiative, which, it must be admitted, is a completely different thing, and cannot be compared with either of the previous projects. Perhaps the global scale of this initiative's aspirations is the reason for the enthusiasm and optimism manifested in the Declaration of Principles:

" We, the representatives of the peoples of the world , declare our common desire and commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life."

But the Declaration of Principles doesn't contain anything new in principle. After the experience of a half-century of economic development in underdeveloped countries, of course, the desire to rely on new technologies with the aim of the overcoming of human misery and the "eradication of extreme poverty and hunger" on a global scale is nothing new. As the passage from US President Harry Truman's inauguration speech quoted above suggests, the earlier project on global development had similar motives and sources of inspiration. The main principles and notions (digital divide, universal service, etc.) aren't new either; they are well known and understandable.

Thus, on one hand a huge disparity exists between states and within states, and on the other hand, the limitless and inspirational opportunities provided by ICTs seem clear. The documents mentioned above present the existing world situation in terms of the so-called Digital Divide (DD) and the overcoming of this divide. The concept of the DD appeared back in the mid-1990s. It may be understood as a disparity in accessibility to information, to information and communication technologies and services, and to the necessary knowledge and skills, which arises for geographical, economic, social, cultural, and other reasons.

In order to overcome this divide, the Plan of Action adopted by the Summit envisages steps to be taken up to 2015. However, serious disagreements and uncertainty exist so far as to the financing of the projects - whether it should be done through existing international organizations, or whether new methods and new financial sources should be sought.

Taking into consideration the experience of and range of approaches to building the IS, the differences in strategies employed by developing countries, and other circumstances, it would be impossible to expect a comprehensive and coherent model or concept of the Information Society. The Declaration of Principles itself has no such ambition. Instead, it formulates a group of main principles for creating an inclusive IS, which consequently were transformed into activity directions in the Plan of Action. It also proposes methods for evaluation and supervision. Thus, considering national development policies and local conditions, special indices for evaluating progress toward the IS in given countries must be established. This process is subject to international evaluation and control. International and regional organizations should continuously evaluate and report on the accessibility of ICTs to given nations.

Again, the technological underdevelopment or backwardness of different nations is interpreted in terms of the digital divide, which undoubtedly conceals an obvious simplification. The DD doesn't appear in a vacuum; it is a digital expression of various already existing disparities between countries and regions, as well as between the haves and the have-nots within societies. It is very likely that, for example, computer or IT illiteracy is just a consequence and extension of common illiteracy, that the digital gap dividing the countries is just the consequence of the technological divide inherited from the industrial age, and so on.

The notion of DD is better expressed through the desire to control the market - to quickly overcome this obstacle and to conquer new territories, countries, and societies. Apparently, the success of this initiative promises new markets and new prospects for many corporations (computer and software sales, infrastructure development, provision of services, etc.). Naturally, there is nothing in the documents about possible worst-case scenarios or their consequences. Or about how to protect cultural diversity, when American culture and the English language dominate the mass media, especially the internet; when under the reign of global culture, local cultures are condemned to marginalization...

Armenia on the road to the Information Society

Armenia was one of the countries that participated in the Summit and joined the initiative. Clearly, most official statements at such forums are formal in nature. Their use of proper words and expressions (cyberspace, e-Development, etc.) is intended to demonstrate that the head of a given state commands the necessary language. Nevertheless, it is worth reading some of them. The statement by the Azerbaijani president can be summarized as follows: Azerbaijan has oil; therefore it can have anything else, including the information society. But unfortunately there is an impediment - Armenia has occupied 20% of Azerbaijani territory. When the president of Armenia spoke, the obstacles on the road to the information society were not mentioned, but he too discussed the necessary prerequisites for the information society that his country possesses, which are, not surprisingly, the traditional potential of Armenia in the field of IT and its present achievements. But he also made some statements that were incautious, to put it mildly. For example, the fact that the president of Armenia needs information technology to "get closer to a society of equals" is perplexing. Perhaps we should allow, however, that certain occasions might call for word like these.

For ten years now, we have heard it said that Armenia "has been considered the Silicon Valley of the Soviet Union ." This is not just a marketing exaggeration or an expression of provincial self-importance; it is a complete misperception. No one can say specifically who has been considering Armenia as such, since this expression was invented in Armenia itself. Nevertheless, it was repeated in Geneva by the president of Armenia . It is understandable that the president, too, may have a weakness for hyperbole, and this is something his speechwriters are aware of, especially since this is also, at the same time, a way of pleasing the audience, a sort of information love-game with the West. We would, however, like to remind the newly-fledged Armenian ideologists of the information society that the authoritative work of Manuel Castells, "The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, v. 3, End of Millennium", substantiates very well that it is the city of Zelenograd, near Moscow, that was the "Silicon Valley" of the Soviet Union, a city which was indeed a real center of innovation in the area of information technologies in the Soviet Union.

Of course, it is not necessary that a country be guided by the Geneva principles, but to manage without principles will hardly be possible; it will hardly be possible to justify the absence of national policies on the dissemination and employment of ICTs. And it is hardly possible to consider the present situation in Armenia a suitable starting point for any path toward the information society, including the ones described above - there are too many deficiencies and omissions. At present, there is not even a governing entity in Armenia which can called upon or is able to implement even a minimum of the obligations undertaken in Geneva . The prime minister's commission that deals with the IT industry is not able to solve such problems in any sense - it has neither the necessary power, nor the required expertise. Moreover, with its own interests, the commission is in a decisive sense opposed to everything related to the IS initiative.

After all, the IT industry in Armenia today is to a large extent oriented toward export, and is developing at the expense of the local market, at the expense of the dissemination, employment, and expansion of ICTs in social, cultural, and other fields. In this sense, it may be that projects aimed at creating the IS will rather serve the interests of the IT industry.