[governance] ITU Broadband Commission

Wed Apr 4 09:03:34 EDT 2012

John,

Some time ago I stopped attempting to post useful stuff in response to
random, non-directed, open ended, structureless, formless calls for best
practices, case studies, etc.etc.  There are about a dozen of those (or
more) floating around the ICT4D world at any one time.  In the absence of
any indication of how one's effort is going to be considered, the
opportunity to engage in dialogue and context setting with those in theory
reading the documents, the process by which one's input might be considered
and channeled into discussion, and so on, I consider it to be a major waste
of time--providing the form of consultation without any of the substance.

If folks are seriously interested in getting feedback there are quite
specific mechanisms for engaging with people who have knowledge/experience
to provide... In the absence of such mechanisms there is Google to provide
an almost endless stream of such floating in the ether--reports, best
practices etc.etc.

As I said I read the first report and gave my off the top reactions...
Nothing I saw from your pointers has changed my mind. The Working Groups
appear to be for the most part either inactive beyond the appointment of one
of the worthies on the Commission as Chair and the formulation of a mission
statement; or their outreach consists of including one or two academic
notables whose positions also are well known. If their Sharehouse facility
only has two reports referencing Nigeria then little more needs to be said
about that enterprise--the rest of the world appears to share my opinion of
those types of efforts rather than yours.

As I recall in the original blogpost I talked about form without
substance... 

M

 -----Original Message-----
From: John Curran [mailto:jcurran at istaff.org] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2012 9:00 AM
To: michael gurstein
Cc: governance at lists.igcaucus.org
Subject: Re: [governance] ITU Broadband Commission

On Apr 4, 2012, at 6:28 AM, michael gurstein wrote:

The problem with what you say below and as is suggested I think, in my
blogpost is not that "we" are focusing on the titles but rather that whoever
is organizing the initiative is focusing on the titles.  And the problem
with that is not either with the titles or the individuals behind the titles
but that the outcome is more or less completely predictable based on those
titles (presumably as executed by the various courtiers and functionaries
who actually did the work as opposed to having simply graced the meetings
with their presence...

Strange.   An organization which historically has focused on participation
predominantly
by member states expands its model to specifically allow for submission of
"case studies, 
best practice, analytical reports and policy recommendations" from anyone,
and yet in 
advance you can determine that the outcome is completely predictable?  That
implies
that we are 100% certain that these inputs are not being considered (or
maybe you
mean 'completely predictable' because civil society has not intention of
participating??)

And, since you asked, I sent my blogpost to one of the Commissions'
"researchers", who replied with some irritation but who failed to directly
address any of the points that I, or the commentators on the post were
raising.

Your blogpost calls for (amongst other things) that the Broadband Commission
consider 
"the much more nuanced and sensible approach outlined in the Background
document to 
the Nigerian BB4NG forum"   Did you ever submit that document to the actual
Broadband 
Commission?  From what I can tell, this would be via their 'Sharehouse'
system, and yet
I've searched the Sharehouse but only find two submissions including term
"Nigeria" 
(see below).  Wouldn't actually submitting them the document aid in its
consideration?  

If indeed they are not considering these submissions in their work which is
asserted to be 
a multistakeholder process, then, yes, that would indeed be a very important
issue, and
one worth raising in multiple forums. As it is, it is impossible to address
raise concerns
since it doesn't appear that you're even tried to participate in their
processes at all.

FYI,
/John

Disclaimers:  My views alone.  No Lifeguard On Duty - Use Mailing List At
Your Own Risk.
                    Check tags on individual email messages as many messages
look alike.

=== http://www.broadbandcommission.org/Sharehouse/Search.aspx  (term
"Nigeria")

2 initiatives found

Updated	 Country/Entity	 Initiative	
9 Jan 2011	 Nigeria: DigitalSENSE Africa Media	 Nigeria
<http://www.itu.int/wsis/stocktaking/plugin/broadband/documents2BB.asp?proje
ct=1294527821&lang=en&email=&userid=> Digital Sense Forum
Tthe forum tends to explore the impact of Internet Governance and Broadband
Evolution in Nigeria in relation to achieving the goal of Information and
communication technology (ICT) accessibility and adoption for the benefit of
the populace, especially with the coming on stream and launch of two subm
...
ID: 1294527821	
27 Sep 2010	 United States of America: Pyramid Research (UK and US)	 The
<http://www.itu.int/wsis/stocktaking/plugin/broadband/documents2BB.asp?proje
ct=1285599926&lang=en&email=&userid=> Impact of Mobile Services in Nigeria:
How Mobile Technologies Are Transforming Economic and Social Activities
Pyramid analyzed mobile adoption trends, examples of mobile applications, as
well as the perspectives of key players and 1,500 Nigerian end users. Mobile
communications are having a positive impact in Nigeria by attracting
investment and developing commercial activities.In Nigeria mobile broadband
s ...
ID: 1285599926	

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