The Habitant’s Association and the ICTs, Proposals for an International Research-action - 中欧社会论坛 - China Europa Forum

The Habitant’s Association and the ICTs, Proposals for an International Research-action

Authors: Cesare Ottolini

Published by International Alliance of Inhabitants

Do we know how to measure an elephant?

« Suppose I hire you to measure an elephant. That may sound like a pretty straightforward job description, but think about it for a minute. Do you measure its weight? Height? Length? Volume? Intensity of its grey colour? … In order to measure this creature, you need to select one or a few characteristics from many possibilities. That choice will be determined by your purpose of measuring. » The problem becomes more complex if the elephant moves, changes position and grows. It become perhaps unsolvable if the elephant evolves, transforming itself in another animal species. How can I measure something that no longer is there, in other words, something that has become something else?

Extending this metaphor, if we consider the issue of the indicators, we can’t avoid considering their great variety, the differences in their sources and the different goals underlying the collection and elaboration of data. From the OCSE to the IMF, from the World Bank to the UNESCO, from the various other agencies of the UN to the databases of the governments themselves, and also including those indicators adopted to measure the implementation of Agenda 21 and of the Habitat Agenda, we can note that a growing number of institutions at the transnational level, are weaving a web of numerical output that can be neither easily interpreted nor utilised. This issue becomes more complicated if we examine the introduction of the Information Technologies (ICTs). The technological innovation in the information fields is in fact provoking a real revolution in the relationships between production and exchange, and is thereby accelerating the globalization processes. We are dealing with an unprecedented revolution whose influence permeates as far as the families and the city quarters. But regardless of this influence, the use of the ICTs is not included among the indicators of urban development, even though precise and update statistics are available.

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