[governance] Remote participation at the February consultations (was: Re: http://igf2006.intgovforum.org/ ist down)

[Jeremy Malcolm]

Ralf Bendrath wrote [off-list]:
> Hi Jeremy and Kieren,
> 
> happy new year, first of all!
> 
> Can you please fix the server? Or is there a more difficult (like 
> political) problem behind this? We are starting to plan for the February 
> consultations, and the wiki would be really helpful for that.

Thanks for the note Ralf; I'm cc'ing the IGC list in case others have 
been trying the same URL and encountered the same difficulty.  Also, I'd 
like to update them and you on some other important developments.

First, the correct URL for the IGF 2006 Community Site has always been 
http://igf2006.info/.  For a while we moved the site to a United Nations 
server and redirected the above URL to it, at the address you tried. 
However, the Secretariat didn't want to host the site any longer, so 
they have taken it down and it is back on the original server, still 
accessible at the above address.

But there are some other things you ought to know in relation to the use 
of the site for the 2007 consultations:

* There is a new site on the way, to be developed by a new Dynamic
   Coalition for Online Collaboration (which naturally you are all
   invited to participate in, so stay tuned for further details).
   You may recall a draft letter to the Secretariat about the IGF's
   Web sites... this was never sent, but has morphed into a draft
   manifesto for the Dynamic Coalition.

* This may or may not use the same technology as igf2006.info.  I am
   in discussion with the developers of Deme (http://groupspace.org/)
   who are soon to release a new and very impressive looking version
   of their Web-based platform for online deliberation.  But, there
   are other alternatives too, that will need to be discussed by the
   new Dynamic Coalition.

* The new site, in whatever form it takes, won't be ready for the
   February 2007 consultations.  However, the IGF Secretariat has
   approved my application to become the IGF's contact with the
   Freenode IRC network (see http://freenode.net), which means that
   we have a new chat forum that is much more scalable than the one
   on the old Web site.  I encourage you all to try it out.

   For details on how to access the #igf channel on the Freenode IRC
   network, see http://igf2006.info/wiki/RemoteParticipation.

I'm running late with all of this because my wife has just given birth 
to our first child this week, and I've also been racing to finish 
Chapter 4 of my thesis (which, to digress, is well worth reading now 
that I've completed it, because it contains a section on tools for 
remote participation (see http://www.malcolm.id.au/thesis/).

Whether or not the IRC channel will be of any use depends on whether 
there will have been arrangements made for someone to have an Internet 
connection in Geneva on the 13th and to act as a go-between for remote 
participants - can Avri or Adam or anyone else in the know give us an 
update on this?  If not, it is all for naught.

Additionally, of course, it would be great if the IGF Secretariat would 
publicise the facility on the official Web site.  But given that they 
haven't done that for igf2006.info or even for the official 
plenary at intgovforum.org mailing list, I'm holding out for a pig to go 
flapping past my window first.

-- 
Jeremy Malcolm LLB (Hons) B Com
Internet and Open Source lawyer, IT consultant, actor
host -t NAPTR 1.0.8.0.3.1.2.9.8.1.6.e164.org|awk -F! '{print $3}'
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
     governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org

For all list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance