[governance] Effective participation ....

[Jeffrey Hunker]

May I suggest that a brief primer on the organizations involoved, including contact info and a brief line about their role, would be helpful to those (like me) interested in issues of governance, but still learning how 
to be engaged. I do a lot of work involving Internet security and reliability, and realize that governance issues are critical. I suspect that there are many in my position.

Jeffrey Hunker
Professor of Public Policy and Management
Professor of Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon University
jhunker at andrew.cmu.edu

> Kwasi: Thanks for your realistic if bleak appraisal of the situation.
> Makes for an interesting contrast with McTim's... --MM
> 
>>>> kboakye1 at yahoo.co.uk 10/07/06 2:09 AM >>>
> Howzit Anriette,
> 
> On 10/6/06, Anriette Esterhuysen wrote:
> 
>> 
>> Why are there so few participants from national IG communities in this 
>> space, and it appears, going to the IGF?
> ####################
> 
> The problem of participation from developing countries goes beyond 
> funding. There a number of issues involved, among which are:
> 
> 1. Very few people know about IG, ISOC, ICANN, etc. and most of those who
> know about them (including government officials, IT professionals, 
> academics, those working or doing business in the IT industry, etc.) don't
> even understand them or the issues involved.
> 
> 2. They don't know about these conferences, discussions, meetings, 
> cyberspaces, etc. and they don't even know they can attend.
> 
> 3. Local Chapters of ISOC exist on web pages, when you even send an e-mail
> enquiry you don't get response
> 
> 4. Those who are supposed to know don't even know and/ or understand 
> ccTLDs. Some company claims to be sponsoring ccTLDs but doesn't even 
> respond to e-mail enquiries. dot gh for instance is far more expensive 
> than a dot uk and you ask yourself why. Besides no one seems to care.
> 
> 5. Most of the folks who get to attend these IG related conferences and
> meetings and represent developing countries probably don't understand the
> issues - some of them are businessmen and government officials who stand
> to gain by the status quo.
> 
> 2. The average person can't get visa to attend these meetings; we are 
> living in a situation where being allowed to travel depends on the whims 
> and caprices of some entry clearance official who doesn't even know about
> ICANN and probably doesn't even care.
> 
> 3. The average person can't even afford to fully participate in these 
> online spaces; he cannot afford Internet connection at home and can't pay
> for a decent Internet access. Internet access is more expensive in 
> developing countries; universities, colleges, schools, can't afford them.
> Academics as a result don't have them.
> 
> 5. I have come to live in the UK for 5 years and I'm dreading going back
> because of Internet access. In the UK regardless of how low your income is
> you can afford it, in Ghana, it is a luxury and sometimes a status symbol.
> I work 15 hours a week (my visa allows me to work a max. of 20 hours, as
> an International student) but I can afford broadband Internet access.
> 
> 6. Government officials can afford this luxury so why bother
> 
> 7. ICANN held a general meeting in 2001 in Ghana and local IT 
> professionals didn't know about it; those who knew didn't understand what
> was going on neither were they aware they could participate.
> 
> These, in my opinion, are just a few of the issues we are plagued with.
> 
> ...Kwasi
> 
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