‘Free flow of information can help improve societies worldwide’
World Information Society Day will be marked on Monday (today) across the globe, including Pakistan, to alert people about how information and communication can help improve societies worldwide.
"World Information Society Day promotes people's awareness of the power of information and communication to build societies in which they can create, access, use and share information and knowledge to achieve their full potential," a press release issued on Sunday stated.
Organisations such as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) actively take part on the occasion by inviting people to engage in various activities to promote campaigns centred on this event.
The annual observance of World Telecommunication Day, which marks the founding of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on May 17, 1865, drew attention to the work of ITU and the challenges of global communication, the notification further read.
Read more: ‘Media muzzles killing freedom of expression’
In March 2006, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly proclaimed May 17 as World Information Society Day to recognise the efforts made to advance communication and ITU's role in helping people connect around the world.
The UN's first World Information Society Day took place on May 17, 2006, it added.
Before World Information Society Day, World Telecommunication Day, which was first held in 1969, was celebrated on May 17.
Many now refer to this day as World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, taking into account the UN's observance of World Information Society Day.
The purpose of this observance is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the internet and other information and communication technologies could bring to societies and economies as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 17th, 2021.