Tunis, November 15, 2005

1. The challenge of creating a new National Observatory on Information and Knowledge Society in Dominican Republic World Summit on the Information Society(Second Phase) Tunis, November 15, 2005 Pablo Tactuk, National Director National Statistics Office of the Dominican Republic (ONE)

2. What is a documental observatory? • A tool to obtain a global and permanent vision of the situation and its evolution of an specific subject of study, which allows to evaluate its impact and the most feasible ways to take advantage from.

3. What is a documental observatory?Ordinary Duties (1) • Establish a documental fund to give account of the issues it studies. • Analyze new tendencies, ongoing changes and associated factors. • Perform researches, as well as preliminary and feasibility studies. • Organize meetings of specialized experts and focus groups.

4. What is a documental observatory?Ordinary Duties (2) • Stimulate the spreading of the ICT agenda and the Information Society within the media. • Facilitate the exchange of information between the different appointed offices in charge of decision making, researchers, professionals and other inspecting agencies. • Advise different institutions about the subject matter.

5. Why DR requires an ICT Observatory? • Strategic vision of the Dominican Republic’s President, Leonel Fernández, on the key development issues linked to the opportunities the ICTs have to offer. • Give support to the National Commission of Information and Knowledge Society, through the close tracking of the use and seizing of the ICTs, using appropiate indicators, comparable to the similar international information.

6. Dominican Response to the need of a Documental Observatory on ICT • Creation by Presidential Decree of the Dominican Republic Observatory on the Information and Knowledge Society • In Spanish: Observatorio de la Sociedad de la Información y el Conocimiento (OSIC) en República Dominicana

7. OSIC-DR Modus Operandi The OSIC-DR would perform as a monitoring center of the development and use, from the public and private sectors, as well as domestic users, of the ICT-based products and services. This will be achieved through identifying the best opportunities from new technologies, as well as spreading them among DR.

8. OSIC-DR: Background (1) • The objective of the Dominican Government of democratizing the use, access and application of ICTs, to the whole population, in order to help reduce the Digital Divide. • The existence of various international observatories around the world, as well as the Observatory for the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean(OSILAC).

9. OSIC-DR: Background (2) • Bávaro Declaration (11-15-02), The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Geneva, Switzerland (First Phase on 12-12-03) and the Declaration of Principles of Rio in year 2005, and the Regional Plan for Latin America and the Caribbean (e-LAC 2007). • From the legal point of view, it is worthwhile to quote: General Telecommunications Law 153-98 and General Law of Free Access to the Public Information.

10. Institutional Nature of the OSIC-DR (1) • Created by Decree No. 212-05 dated April 11th, 2005. • A collegiate organism with advisory nature subscribed to CNSIC. • Chaired by the CNSIC’s President, its General Coordinator is the National Director of the Statistics Office (ONE).

11. Institutional Nature of the OSIC-DR (2) • Its main mission is to become a reference center for the tracking, follow-through, evaluation, analysis, monitoring and spread of information about the development of the Information and Knowledge Society in Dominican Republic.

12. Organization of the OSIC-DR • The General Committee of the OSIC-DR would be conformed by: • The President of the CNSIC, as the head of the committee. • The National Director of the Statistics Office (ONE), as the General Coordinator. • The CNSIC’s Secretary and the Sub-coordinators. These will be appointed by the General Coordinator.

13. Users Documentation Center National Commission on the Information and Knowledge Society (CNSIC) OSIC-DR Statistical Researches Administrative Structure Organizational chart of the OSIC-DR National Statistics Office (ONE)

14. Service Channels • Documentation centre • Website • Published material • Public events

15. OSIC-DR: Services (1) • Generates news on the technology advancements, its uses and the relevant debates associated to the Information and Knowledge Society, on the national, regional and international levels.

16. OSIC-DR: Services (2) • Leading ICT companies websites tracking. • Local media tracking on ICT-related issues.

17. OSIC-DR: Services (3) • Tracking of government websites from other countries, as well as multilateral organizations. • Linkage with other observatories with similar specialization.

18. OSIC-DR: Services (4) • Administration of data bases from entities and local professionals that work with ICT-related issues. • Managing an e-library.

19. OSIC-DR: Services (5) • Develope and provide a list of online resources on tracked subjects. • Collection of software, as well as other useful resources and material.

20. OSIC-DR: Public Events • Congresses • Seminaries • Workshops • Debates • Forums

21. Specific inputs from ONE • Set up of the baseline of ICT surveys at households, companies and government. • Statistics. • Indicators. • Benchmarking with other countries. • ICT Geostatistical information.

22. Follow-up of the digital agenda:e-dominicana Strategic areas. Definition and production of performance indicators, measuring the impact of public policies and initiatives, about: • Infrastructure and access • Social inclusion • Training and education on ICT • Content development • Digital state: electronic national and local government, the Judiciary and the Parliament • Use of ICT among private sector

23. Contact • www.one.gov.do • p.tactuk@one.gov.do • 809 682 7777. Ext. 277 • Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Many thanks for your attention.