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<div>The World Social Forum is coming to Montreal in
August 2016 and I’m involved with others in
discussions to consider McGill as an anglophone
university partner along with the francophone
Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), the goal being
to build an important cultural bridge/corridor in what
often feels like a divided city. The Forum might offer
an opportunity to consider working to build a similar
bridge between approaches to civil society
participation in IG, i.e., to organize a civil society
convergence/workshop/encuentro, etc. on IG, similar to
what Parminder might be suggesting. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Except on occasion,
media/internet/telecommunications/technology/autonomous
media and related policy issues have <i>not</i> been
featured prominently at the Forum, but they <i>could/should
</i>be (exceptions include F/OSS, with FOSS being
analogous to the WSF format of knowledge exchange (<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://stephanecouture.info/fichiers/2013_Juris_Caruso_Couture,_Mosca_FLOSS_WSF.pdf">http://stephanecouture.info/fichiers/2013_Juris_Caruso_Couture,_Mosca_FLOSS_WSF.pdf</a>),
Creative Commons, the World Forum on Free Media (<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.fmml.net/spip.php?article135">http://www.fmml.net/spip.php?article135</a>),
and most recently the Internet Social Forum (<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.internetsocialforum.net">http://www.internetsocialforum.net</a>;
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://bambuser.com/v/5380786">http://bambuser.com/v/5380786</a>),
but IG per se, hasn’t been prominently featured, at
least not yet.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 40px; border:none;
padding:0px;">
<div>As brief background: Information about the WSF: <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Social_Forum">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Social_Forum</a></div>
<div>Video on the history of the WSF: <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUwelQswa20">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUwelQswa20</a></div>
<div>Other video material: <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCii7TQwLwBSHtsBzk0EedJg">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCii7TQwLwBSHtsBzk0EedJg</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 40px; border:none;
padding:0px;">
<div>And here is the website of the remarkable
francophone collective that succeeded in convincing
the WSF to consider bringing the Forum to Montreal,
which is the first time the Forum will be taking
place in the so-called global north: <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.fsm2016.org/en/declaration-from-2016-montreal-wsf-collective-to-the-international-commitee-of-the-world-social-forum" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);">http://www.fsm2016.org/en/declaration-from-2016-montreal-wsf-collective-to-the-international-commitee-of-the-world-social-forum</a>/.
For information about the Media@McGill research
delegation that attended the Forum click here: <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://tinyurl.com/kty3gub">http://media.mcgill.ca/en/content/world-social-forum-2016-montreal-and-mediamcgill</a>.</div>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>With this as background, there is an opportunity to
apply for a grant that could be used as a way to help
fund participation in the 2016 WSF focusing, as I
would suggest, on the challenges and possibilities for
diverse civil society participation in IG that
includes, but also goes beyond those NGOs/INGOs with
long histories in this field. It should be noted that
much of the organizing for the Montreal WSF was
achieved by youth coalitions and in the years I’ve
been teaching at McGill, I see a burgeoning interest
on the part of students to find pathways into this
important but challenging area of policymaking. I
think we need to respond to that interest with more
deliberate strategies for pipelines into the IG field
from a broad public interest perspective. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>For many seasoned IG policy advocates, the WSF may
not ostensibly present a strategic
policymaking/crafting space, but it does offer a space
to work on building trust that can evolve into
developing strategies and tactics for interventions
based on a shared set of values/principles. For that
reason, many on this list may not find this of
interest if what is of most value/concern is
engaging/intervening in the immediate challenges
presented by the numerous IG policy forums discussed
so often on this list. That said, I’m open to
collaborating on a grant proposal with like-minded
individuals with an interest primarily in capacity
building concerns, challenges, issues, and questions.
Here’s the grant opportunity: <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/programs-programmes/connection_grants-subventions_connexion-eng.aspx">http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/programs-programmes/connection_grants-subventions_connexion-eng.aspx</a>.
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Proposed events may be:</div>
<ul>
<li>face-to-face or involve virtual interaction;</li>
<li>discipline-specific, or cross-disciplinary and/or
cross-sectoral; and</li>
<li>open- or closed-invitation.</li>
</ul>
<div>From the website: </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Participants or audiences, in Canada and abroad,
for both event and outreach activities, may include,
among others, any of the following:</div>
<ul>
<li>academic researchers;</li>
<li>non-academic researchers;</li>
<li>policy-makers;</li>
<li>professional practitioners;</li>
<li>representatives from organizations in the public,
private or not-for-profit sectors;</li>
<li>representatives from community-based, local or
regional non-academic organizations; and/or</li>
<li>students at all levels.</li>
</ul>
<div>Also from the website: </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Proposed outreach activities must be designed to
engage the broader public in humanities and social
sciences knowledge through one or a combination of the
following: knowledge dissemination, transfer,
brokering, translation, synthesis, exchange,
networking or co-creation. Proposed activities may
include, but are not limited to:</div>
<ul>
<li>adaptation (including translation, e.g., into
French, English or aboriginal languages) of texts or
presentations for the purpose of broader knowledge
mobilization to different audiences; </li>
<li>development of policy briefs, knowledge syntheses
and scoping reviews; </li>
<li>development of articles for print or online
publication in newspapers or weekly or monthly
magazines—whether specialized or general interest; </li>
<li>virtual networking;</li>
<li>media events (such as television/radio
presentations);</li>
<li>public debates; </li>
<li>artistic exhibits, performances or festivals;</li>
<li>development/use of interactive technologies,
audio-visual products or software; and/or</li>
<li>development/use of educational aids, instruments
or equipment.</li>
</ul>
<div><b>Note, however, that Matching Funds are required</b>
in this grant opportunity, <i>so perhaps that might
be an opportunity for those better-resourced
organizations/networks to contribute to a capacity
building conversation/effort. We know that not all
stakeholders in the BestBits community have equal
access to human and financial resources and that
some BestBits community members serve as re-granting
organizations, so again, this might offer an
opportunity for them to contribute to a shared
agenda that a university partner (or two) can help
convene.</i> From the website above: </div>
<div><strong><br>
</strong></div>
<blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 40px; border:none;
padding:0px;">
<div><strong>Matching Funds</strong></div>
<p><abbr title="Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council">SSHRC</abbr> will not fund the
full cost of any connection event or outreach
activity. Additional support in the form of cash
and/or in-kind contributions (excluding registration
fees), <strong>equivalent to a minimum of
50 per cent of the amount requested from SSHRC</strong>,
must come from sponsoring organizations. <abbr title="Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council">SSHRC</abbr> will consider only those
funds stemming from sponsoring organizations in its
calculations of matching funds.</p>
<p>Applicants must demonstrate their ability to secure
at least the minimum matching funding, by including
letters of support from sponsoring organizations
that clearly confirm the amounts and types of
contributions the organizations are providing for
the proposed event or activity (see SSHRC’s <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="ui-link" href="http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/policies-politiques/cash_inkind-especes_en_nature-eng.aspx">Guidelines
for Cash and In-Kind Contributions</a> for more
details).</p>
<p>Applicants may draw on complementary funding from <abbr title="Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council">SSHRC</abbr> research grants and/or other
research funding agencies, but must make clear in
their budget proposal that there is no duplication
of financial support for the same budget expenses.
While <abbr title="Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council">SSHRC</abbr> funds may be used
in this complementary way, these funds <strong>cannot</strong>
be counted towards the 50 per cent requirement for
matching funds.</p>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Please feel free to contact me off-list if you have
interest in considering this as a potential
partner/collaborator/participant with an interest in
working together to articulate a shared set of
values/principles in line with the WSF’s
values/principles for capacity building related to
civil society participation in IG processes.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Best,</div>
<div>Becky</div>
<div>
<div><span style="font-size: 10pt;">----------------------</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Becky Lentz, PhD</span></div>
<div><font size="2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Department of Art
History/Communication Studies</span></font></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:
13px; ">McGill University</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:
13px; ">853 Sherbrooke Street West, Arts Building,
W-265 (West Wing)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; "><br>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">Montreal, QC, Canada H3A
0G5</span></div>
<div>For deliveries, use Arts Building, 265 (East
Wing)</div>
<div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">P</span></font><font face="Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:
13px;">hone 514.398.4995</span></font></div>
<div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">F</span></font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">ax
514.398.8557</span></div>
<div>Email: <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:becky.lentz@mcgill.ca">becky.lentz@mcgill.ca</a></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:
13px;"><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.mcgill.ca/ahcs">http://www.mcgill.ca/ahcs</a></span></div>
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