Reviewing the project I found perhaps worthy to discuss a bit more of the recent institutional reforms in Chile and in Latin America. In fact the decision to reduce the Presidential Powers constituted a common aim in most of the reformist projects. In Chile and Paraguay, countries whose constitutions had been designated by severely authoritarian governments, this objective was clearly central. Thus, in the Chilean case, and after the reform, the President lost most of the "extraordinary" functions that he previously had, Presently, the Executive is not allowed anymore to dissolve the Congress; to send his political enemies to internal or external exile; to restrict the right of association and reunion of dissident groups; to impose censorship on communications or letters; etc.

Moreover the reform reduce the importance of certain institutions which the dictator Pinochet had designated just as a way to stay in power after the end of his formal mandate, like the institutions of the "designated Senators" i.e. a group of Senators which were not disegnated by the different States but by the chief of the Governments (Pinochet). The designated Senators were supposed to represent the "voice of experts" within the Congress, the rational voice, the non partisan or "non ideological voice". The reform did not eliminate this institutions, but increased the total number of senators, reducing thus the relative significance of Pinochet’s appointed legislators. Something similar occurred with the National Security Council, an agency that Pinochet created as a way to secure the "tutelary role of the Army Forces". This advisory institution did not disappear with the new Constitution, but it suffered important changes in its composition, changes that allowed the new civilian government to reduce the former importance of the Council.

Several articles of the IRIS (Institute de Relations Internationals et Strategiques) that I recollected in Oslo could be used to expand this section and to introduce a part on the regional economic integration in Latin America (Mercosur…) and assessing the role and the influence of North America, European Union presenting the economic indicator compared with the income distribution in the Latin American countries who opened up their economies.

In effect if we look at income, inequality is clearly on the raise in many countries that have opened their economies. In Latin America, Mexico has seen its income inequality raised since its economy rapidly beginning liberalised in the 80's. In 1984 before the reform its Gini coefficient was 0,43 but by 1992 it had risen to 0,48. In Chile, i.e. one of the most open economies in Latin America, income inequality has been rising markedly since the 70's. In 1970 its Gini coefficient was 0,45 but by 1990 it has increased by 27% to 0,57.

In order to justify the choice of a multimedia centre in a technological point of view the discourse on process innovation and product innovation could be introduced. There are four main types of innovations one regarding the sphere of production and three regarding the sphere of consumption.

The Process innovations are the ones which concern the sphere of the production and consist in to develop or in to utilise a given technology in view of a rationslisation of the production process; this in turn could theoretically produce grwoth thanks to the reduction of prices and to the increase of profits and wages. On the contrary often the rationalisation in the product process generate unemployment and if the final demand does not increase, the reduction of the prices and the raise of the profits will not be enough to compensate the loss of jobs. In this case the innovations process lead to stagflation and unemployment.

The Product (or Consumption) innovations, instead, are related with the sphere of consumption and are characterised by the apparition of, at least, a new product on, at least, a final market. There exist three types of product innovations. The Secondary innovations of product consist of an improving/evolution of a given product directed to the final demand but the effect on growth are marginal. The Substitution innovations consist of a tendency to replace a product or a service with another more adaptable to the final demand and could represent benefits in terms of growth if the product got a surplus compare to the former ones and if offered to a lower price. The Radical innovations of product are related to the overall economic system and are considered creator of growth if they answer to three given characteristics; their application to the information highways help to forecast the role of the IH's as regarding growth and if are to be considered as a radical innovation:

According to this approach, exploiting my dissertation’s researches and following what have been very well explained in the project as regarding direct/indirect beneficiaries it is not going to be difficult to demonstrate that the multimedia centre in Iquique will represent a radical innovation of product stressing on a "demand pull" approach, paying more attention to the citizen/user thanks to adaptive technologies as the multimedia.

To deepen the Progetto Sud’s development approach it could be remembered that this context the multimedia technologies can be presented as an appropriate technologies that fit the local factor, is economically efficient, is able to meet local demand, is customised to the characteristics of the recipient and using mainly local knowledge and skills where the implementation of the programmed is carried out via a close interaction between donor and recipient. This does not mean that imported technology should seen as an alternative to indigenous R&D and other scientific and technical activities. The very opposite is true otherwise the imported technologies can neither be understood, nor adapted to local conditions and resources, nor modified to meet local objectives, nor changed to cope with environmental conditions, regulations and hazards. On purpose it can be said that Chile has been able to established a small but quality software industry. Following Baeza-Yates the University, Industry and Government related events that explain the birth of the software industry can be included in the project as justification of the geographical target.

Some points on the present trends in technology transfer could be added showing Progetto Sud and Centro Tecnico Multimediale aware that, in the present phase of globalisation, it can be observed an increased/ing technological gap between the triad and out-triad regions, due also to the difficulties of non material factors transfer that have become determinant in triadic technology innovations and a further decrease of technology transfer through a reduced flows of investments in the out triad countries. By consequence the project will be implemented according to the principles of Co-development, Polycentrism and Co-determinance. The concept of Co-development requires a new policy toward outside countries and areas aimed to support the formation of new areas of economic co-operation according to the specifities of each regional scenario to obtain the best utilisation of human abilities and natural resources and the relation between needs and production.

The concept of Polycentrism implies the recognition of the impossibilities to export models of growth and/or development while Co-Determination means that the systems operates on the basis of complex and diversified forms of people participation to the decision planning process concerning the priorities for development and the allocation of material and immaterial resources, as well as to the evaluation of the results of policies and actions implemented.

In order to underline then the importance of NGO’s as Progetto Sud in this context it can be remembered the key role Progetto Sud could play in mediating on the decision to, where and how introduce ICT’s between the private sector and the government. In effect for the time being it is increasingly unthinkable that a major piece of legislation regarding ICT’s could be passed without it being seen that consultation with NGO’s working in the field had taken place.

Being the main direct beneficiaries of the Iquique Project the disabled in the Tarapaca Region I think could be useful stress on some definition of disability. The World Health Organisation makes a three fold distinction between a physical or mental "impairment" (a disability is some area of life function which is related to the impairment) and the "handicap" which follows from lack of social sensitivity to impairment or disability. Disability rights activists object to use of the term "the handicapped" to refer people with disabilities, and its continued use is taken as a sign of refusal to identify with the legitimate grievances of people with disabilities, much as continued use of the term "Negro" is found objectionable by many African Americans. Use of the term "disablement" has been suggested by some as a substitute either for WHO "handicapped" or to refer to disability related phenomena in general, but its use has not become widespread. Perhaps the use of the term "people with disabilities" rather than disabled could avoid to reduce people to their impairments.

In my opinion the part on the project dedicated to direct beneficiaries could be improved by describing the approaches will be used to "technologically assist" people with different impairments reviewing and justifying the choices in software and in hardware. For instance; as regarding computer access for people with disabilities, six main disabilities categories can be taken in to account in order to show how accomplished some tasks that aren’t usually performed on a computer:

• Vision Impairments
• Mobility Impairments
• Hearing Impairments
• Learning Disabilities
• Speech Impairments
• Traumatic Brain Injuries

For reasons of room and time the goal of this section is to give a non-exhaustive general outlook on the different issues involved. If and when needed I am in the measure to describe in detail the diverse software and hardware product for different impairments present nowadays on the market.

There are two potential computer access problem that exist for people with disabilities. The first is putting information into a computer (input), the second is knowing what has been displayed on the monitor of has been printed by the computer printer (output).Concerning the Input, a public domain software, AccesDOS, permits a user to avoid having to depress two keys simultaneously or to hold down a key for an unusually long period of time. There are also a number of Special keyboards and Mouse key software to assist people with different mobility impairments.

Morse code is another option for people with mobility impairments and one of the ways to produce Morse code without hand use is through a sip and puff straw. The sip and puff signals are created by the individual inhaling and exhaling into a straw, and these sips and puffs are translated through interface device into the same electronic signals produced by depressing keys on the keyboard.

The On screen Keyboard is one of the more sophisticated input device. A picture of the standard keyboard is displayed at the bottom of the computer monitor and is controlled by special pointing adaptive software via infrared device worn on the head that communicates with another infrared signal on the computer that does the pointing. The physicist Stephen Hawking use, for example, this kind of on-screen keyboard.

Many of these input systems are slow, but systems to speed them up are always at work. The Word Prediction Software, where as the user inputs the letter of a long word the computer start to guess what word might be. One the software has been trained to the user’s vocabulary, the input rate is raised significantly. By the way the newest and most rapidly evolving system in input is Voice Recognition where pause are still very important but nowadays the user can speak more frequently and pause for a shorter time between words. Voice recognition hold the promise to become a significant alternative to the traditional input systems.

As Regarding the Output a purchase of a good quality monitor with high resolution and sharp contrast represent the first step answer. Within the limitations of the standard computer, the adjustments foe disabilities as low vision and learning disabilities are few. Adaptive software will permit enlarging the size of the letters and graphics on the screen by as much as 16 times like inLarge for Macintosh and Zoom text for PC. Synthetic Speech is another alternative output system enabling blind to get output from a computer requiring a speech synthesizer and specialises screen-reading software. Refreshable Braille is another way for blind users to gain access to a computer display. A device attached to the computer contains small pins that can be rapidly raised and lowered to make Braille characters. Finally, optical scanners and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software are important tools for blind individuals.

It is conceivably to mention in the project that all the adaptive software and hardware that will be used in the multimedia center in Iquique have been chosen reviewing all the sources and listing of commercially available products identified as appropriate for special education and rehabilitation by the different, and internationally recognised, institutions and organisation working in this field such as: EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information), The CSUN (Center on Disabilities at California State University, Northridge), The HEAT and RESNA Resources Centres, The World Institute of Disability (WID), The TRACE research and development centre for technology and disability etc…

In the project are well specified who are going to be the indirect beneficiaries of the multimedia centre. Could be added a forecast on the activities of the centre in the pursuit of revitalise the economic activity and the social inclusion in the Tarapacá Region. In effect in a not very far future , the centre could represent a catalyst pole for different activities in the community at large following the example of other very successful organisations.

The non profit making organisation Plugged In has been found in 1992 in East Palo Alto and to bridge the information gap by bringing the benefits of computer and communications technologies to the entire community. In effect although it lies just a few miles away from the heart of Silicon Valley, East Palo Alto has not shared in the high-tech boom that has transformed neighbouring communities.

The organisation is sponsored by the providers all its computer equipment. Technology companies like Bay Networks, Intel, Apple Computer and Hewlett Packard provide approximately one-third of the budget .

Plugged In helps to provide East Palo Alto organisations and families with access to computer technology, serving as a nationally recognised model for connecting low-income communities with the information economy. Community members of all ages use state-of-the art computers to do build their literacy skills, work on resumes and or build valuable computer skills in our classes via four programs:

• Community Kids: a technology-based after-school program for neighbourhood children. Fifty-five children are enrolled in the program. Each day, they come to Plugged in where they participate to some especially designed computer educational projects.
• Plugged In Enterprises: a teen-run web page design business. Thirty-six teenagers per year participate in this program, where they earn money working on real projects for real clients, while learning cutting-edge business and technical skills.
• The Community Technology Center: a technology resource center for teens and adults. An innovative mix between a cyber-cafe, a community Kinko's, and a library, the center receives 300 visits per week. Regular users become members who help run the center.
• Computer classes: each week, Plugged In offers a series of computer classes, some of them in partnership with other local non-profit groups, others are open to all community members.

In 1997, Plugged In won the National Information Infrastructure Public Access Award for enabling the 23,500 residents of East Palo Alto to participate in and benefit from the Internet. and was also a finalist for the Computerworld Smithsonian Award as an example of how information technology produces positive social, economic and educational change.

At the very end it is very important that in the project approach is recognisable the awareness that the social and technical development are characterised by a high degree of uncertainty and unpredictability (with consequences rarely matching intentions) and in the processes of change and of the development and use of technologies, the determining elements are the connections between politics and economics in international relations and the particular social order which links the two.

Hence it can be stated that technology does not drive history and assessing the impact that ICT’s played and still play in social change and the way around it can be said that change has been/is induced by social needs expressed in new political demands, affected by new technical possibilities and by development in S&T exerted by changes in the political panorama in a given moment. In this context the example of the multimedia center in Iquique attempting to use multimedia technologies to include the more disadvantaged in a given society will represent a valuable role in a period where the gap between info-rich and info-poor is more and more determinant.

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