Sally Burch (ALAI, Ecuador)
Social movements, communications and ICTs.

Sally Burch’s presentation came out of a study she did on the use of communication technology by social movements in Latin America. As the cover of her book says:

“The ‘reconnection’ of social movements with communication has moved beyond isolated responses. Movements are now striving to implement common, coordinated initiatives, which mark a breakthrough, as disconnected plans merge into programmed decision making. In this process, appropriating new communication technologies, especially internet, has played a crucial role, leading to an increasingly firm standpoint of the complex realm of communications, in view of their democratization.”

“One expression of this social phenomenon is the Information “Minga” of Social Movements, a communication initiative driven by the most prominent social networks and coordinating bodies of the Americas, with the www.movimientos.org portal as its central pivot. This is no “virtual network”, but a dynamic undertaking of social stakeholders, who have set out to grasp, reflect on, propose and give life to the statement that: ‘Another communication is possible’”.