[liberationtech] Latin American Center for Internet Research (C.L.I.S.I)

[Jose Luis Mendoza Marquez]

Approach to reality:
At the Ibero-American level there are many civil society organizations
that are conducting independent research on the realities being
developed around the internet. Many of these investigations can be
circumscribed to a specific reality or need, being sometimes
commissioned and therefore, exhausted in the commission. This
research, carried out by capable people who represent an expenditure
of resources, could serve as an input for the academic world, which
has had in the region few approaches to the subject, considering it
still novel, within the rigor required by the standards of scientific
publications. This results in the need for a connection that allows
this material to arrive and be used by academics, allowing also the
replication and extension of these studies as is inherent to the
scientific world.

Diagnosis of the problem:
There is a wealth of research and publications that are being
developed and do not reach the academic/scientific world, accustomed
to more traditional parameters that require some adaptation while
being, however, fully compatible and only requiring small adjustments.
In addition, the academic world develops its own inputs which it uses
in its research, thus creating two circles that do not communicate
with each other, and that could maximize the use of resources if they
feed into each other.

The proposal:
The creation of a Latin American Center for Internet Research, with a
presence in Latin America, which would establish links with main
universities of countries of the region, thus allowing it to create
lines of research with working groups to orchestrate research in the
region, and also advise the various NGOs in ways to adapt their
publications and research so that they serve as an input for the
academic and scientific world. In addition, this Center would have its
own publications that would allow it to give a way out of the
scientific world to research that, having been born by commission, has
scientific value and usefulness.

Finally, the creation of a Public Lecture that would publicize the
work of the research center through participation in academic events
such as congresses, forums, symposia, etc., whether organized by third
parties or by the research center itself.

We have three clear lines of action; the first is a research center
with links with the main universities in the region, but without being
subject to only one, which allows autonomy of action, to develop lines
of research clearly defined with working groups in the various
universities. Second, the administration of various publications that
will allow the dissemination of the work carried out by the working
groups, as well as the product of research carried out by NGOs in the
region or independent researchers, providing inputs to researchers and
academics who seek to continue working on issues associated with the
internet. Finally, a Public Lecture that organizes and follows up on
its own academic events, as well as encouraging the participation of
the associated researchers in diverse events to expand the reach of
their investigations and contributions.