Las redes ciudadanas: de la información a la participación democrática

The progressive development of Information Technology and Communication (ICT) has been generating fundamental changes in the functioning of economies and societies as a whole. These changes have affected his time in lifestyles and habits of citizens. Every day is moving one step closer to the so-called Information Society and Knowledge. Aware of this, being designed and promoted numerous projects by the government, eg. Plan Info Century "Information Society for All" or telecenters. However, the Civil Service is not the only engine of development of the Information Society, are emerging new forms of access and dissemination of information and knowledge creation and information addressed, among others, by the civic networks, developed by initiatives citizens, or for the cooperation between them and the Administration itself. These projects, articulated within the so-called modernization plans, implementation or adaptation, born with the intention of bringing the Information Society for all citizens, build a new field of interpersonal relations and collective basis on telematics, creating a platform services, both in the Civil Service, as the rest socio-economic agents to provide content to society, and anticipate the future as a source of benefits to boost competitiveness. It is in this context that the networks are born Citizen, an example of virtual community, which is the subject of the next article