[governance] Effective participation ....

[Jeanette Hofmann]

Jeffrey, are you referring to the Internet Governance Forum or to this 
list? In any case, my guess is that in both activities too many 
organizations are involved for a "brief primer" :-) I'd suggest you have 
a look at the forum's website for a start: http://www.intgovforum.org/
jeanette

Jeffrey Hunker wrote:
> 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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> 
> 
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