The eruption of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in Latin America has aided the region's efforts to achieve economic, political, cultural, and social development. ICTs have contributed to the sustained progress Chile has enjoyed since the mid-1980s. The Newspaper of the Civil Society is a pioneering experiment in the ICT field to improve the mechanisms of collaboration and participation between civil society and government.

Implemented in 1999 by the IDEAS Foundation with the support of the Fund for the Americas, the Newspaper has become an important tool to support the work of diverse organizations in civil society. It has enabled coordination and communication within civil society and has influenced public policy. Nevertheless, it faced many obstacles limiting its impact and reach as an innovative tool, such as the slow evolution between social connectivity and computer literacy, and the limited receptivity to its role in state policies related to the development of ICTs.

On the other hand, the high degree of legitimacy it has achieved within civil-society organizations and the objective and subjective empowerment they have granted to the Newspaper have spurred the formation of organizations such as the Forum for Civil Society and the training of more than 100 leaders and/or social agents to establish bridges of communication with government agencies in charge of implementing national policy for ICTs. "Public journalism" designed to increase the role of citizens in forming "public agendas" has also played an important role.

Some of the challenges facing the Newspaper are the diversification of its training dimension, its expansion to a national level, the strengthening of virtual public journalism, and achieving financial sustainability.

This paper is an outgrowth of the Ash Institute's Innovations in Technology and Governance (ITG) Project, which seeks to identify the conditions under which innovations in technology and governance can be most effectively and appropriately harnessed to drive improvements in the ways societies govern themselves. A central research question for the ITG Project is how networks that enable wider and more horizontal communication flows, and at more scales, challenge or alter traditional governance. The ITG Project also aims to better understand the causal relationships between polity, technology, and economy.

The ITG Workshop took place on October 30 - 31, 2003 at Harvard University.