[governance] RE: WSIS Forum 2011

[Lee W McKnight]

Hi,

Speaking as an academic for whom I admit New York City is convenient and would lowering my personal costs and logistics hassles, we can agree that UN venue decisions have impacts that may vary depending upon where one is coming from. Geneva is a fine (expensive) city, New York has its virtues too.

A move to New York for wsis 2011 would to me signal a mainstreaming of IG issues wthin UN system; as would establishment of a permanent secretariat in yet a 3rd (developing?) location.

But Wolfgang, the argument that it would be more difficult to get media/public attention - in New York City -  doesn't make much sense to me. In principle it should be easier. There's certainly plenty of media outlets hanging around already looking for things to talk and write about. 

Anyway, as I suggested before, while civil society has some success at substantive issues around IG, venue/location decisions I am afraid remain power politics/business as usual choices. 

Lee
________________________________________
From: "Kleinwächter, Wolfgang" [wolfgang.kleinwaechter at medienkomm.uni-halle.de] 
Sent: Monday, September 06, 2010 11:33 AM
To: wsis-info at itu.int
Cc: governance at lists.cpsr.org
Subject: [governance] WSIS Forum 2011

Dear friends

I disagree with the argument that a move from Geneva to to New York of the WSIS Forum 2011 would improve outreach and bring WSIS implementation forward. In contrary I am afraid that a move to NewYork will weaken in particular the involvement of civil society and the academic community as important stakeholders in the WSIS process. A large number of civil society organisations, including represenations of organisations from developing countries, are based in Geneva or not far from Geneva. Moving the event to New York would create additional costs and logistic problems for them which would result in lower participation of civil society organisations. This would certainly undermine the multistakeholder nature of the WSIS implementaiton process.

Another risk moving the WSIS Forum 2011 to New York would be that the important WSIS issues would be discussed in the shadow of more important political and security issues which dominate the day to day UN acitvities in New York. The WSIS Forum would be just "another conference" and would have difficulties to get the needed public attention.

Finally I want to flag that in same week the European Union has its annual Future of the Internet Week meetings under the Hungarian Presidency in Budapest.


Regards

Wolfgang Kleinwächter
____________________________________________________________
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

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t
____________________________________________________________
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

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t