Internet availability and politics in Peru: a preliminary report on an apparent paradox

摘要

As an underdeveloped country, Peru has faced many challenges regarding the availability of ICTs, especially Internet access and contents. Lacking coherent public policies, most of the current efforts to resolve these issues are limited in scope and with a heavy presence of private activists or investors. The surge of the cabinas publicas, the Peruvian version of telecenters or Internet cafes, is a singular form of response. These cabinas have been thought of as a promise of enhanced social use of the Internet, specially in the public arena and political participation. But this has yet to happen.Both the lack of proper promotion from the government and the political elites of a vibrant public space on the Peruvian Internet, and the nature of the cabinas publicas can be considered as partial explanations. Taking into account that mere access to the technology does not provide immediate new services, nor new attitudes toward learning, communication and participation, the emphasis on consumption of pop culture and interpersonal communication resources appears as a case of the Internet in Peru that has been socially shaped in a direction that is not necessarily what the original promoters nor the very rustic public policies have intended. Some potential research paths and policy considerations are inferred from this reasoning.