Now called: Compiling guideline points Re: [governance] May consultation: IGC input RP and access

Jovan Kurbalija jovank at diplomacy.edu
Wed May 2 02:51:58 EDT 2012


Exactly, Deirdre, local hubs should be part of a sustained, ongoing 
process, as permanent as possible. But I do not think that one 
can/should impose any arrangement, especially in a bottom-up and 
volunteer process. People should be nudged into action, by showing that 
there is a possibility to link their local discussions and concerns to 
global policy making.

Here a few possible reasons why hubs should be strengthened (in 
cooperation with other existing networks/frameworks):
- to connect with people addressing similar issues worldwide (policy 
cross-fertilisation can be very useful; we feel better if we realise 
that our local problems are not unique, as we tend to believe).
- to connect with global (IGF) and regional processes so participants 
see that their local efforts have some resonance in larger policy 
shaping environments.
- to move beyond immediate social circles (communities - especially 
online - tend to look inwards and to gather people who think the same 
way); hubs should encourage diversity.

Local hubs and similar forms of e-participation may also help in 
bridging the increasingly wide gap between local communities and 
regional/global policy processes.

Regards, Jovan



On 5/1/12 4:08 PM, Deirdre Williams wrote:
> Speaking particularly to Jovan's mention of 'hubs' -
>
> one of the recurring themes in the IGC space is that the IGF is not 
> and should not be considered as a meeting held once a year to discuss 
> internet governance issues. Rather it is a continuing process of dialogue.
>
> That being the case, it would be desirable that the hubs should exist 
> within the same context - that is they should be active all the time 
> to extend the internet governance discussion into the global 
> community/communities. The IGF has spread outwards into regional 
> and  local IGFs; now perhaps micro-local, geographic community level 
> IG discussion needs to be encouraged, together with the wider ranging 
> community of interest groupings that can be facilitated by the technology.
>
> The problems come with how to foster and encourage continuing 
> discussion and how to aggregate and synthesise the resulting ideas so 
> that they can be shared continually and considered by the widest 
> possible community.
>
> I seem to have an aptitude for dreaming impossible dreams :-(
>
> But it should be possible to make a start by considering the hubs as 
> 'permanent' creations which attempt to keep the discussion active 
> throughout the year with the 'reward' of the camaraderie which can be 
> occasioned by remote participation at the big annual meeting.
>
> Ideally the hubs are up and running now and ready to participate.
>
> Deirdre
>
> On 30 April 2012 10:14, Jovan Kurbalija <jovank at diplomacy.edu 
> <mailto:jovank at diplomacy.edu>> wrote:
>
>     Following up on Adam's invitation to discuss, here are a few
>     comments on IGF RP....
>
>     It is good that we are moving out of Parento's formula of having
>     20% of investment (people, training) contributing 80% to the
>     success of remote participation. The CSTD paper is a good blend of
>     summarising experience over the last 6 years and paving the way
>     for the future development. The RP process proves the importance
>     of organic and bottom-up policy making.
>
>     Here are a few more concrete comments:
>
>     - One can see cross-fertilisation among different policy spaces.
>     ICANN, which introduced transcription into the IG policy space,
>     has effective RP. The WSIS Forum has introduced also highly
>     functional RP. Last week, INET had both RP and remote hubs. Each
>     policy space has its own specificities, but there is a lot of
>     possibilities for learning from each other. At the next WSIS Forum
>     there will be a session on e-participation. Ginger will maintain
>     the tradition of RP-workshop at the IGF Baku, as well. Diplo has
>     been trying to promote e-participation in other policy spaces in
>     the context of the project "20 years of e-diplomacy". The first
>     discussions are highly encouraging.
>
>     - Since the "venue" problems are identified and will be fixed, the
>     main challenge will be to have effective local hubs. The key
>     contribution of e-participation will be in linking global/regional
>     IG debates to the local policy context. The benefits will flow
>     both ways from global to local (understanding the wider policy
>     context) and from local to global (having reality check about
>     policy discussions). Local hubs should be part of the local policy
>     processes as well. I am sure that Ginger, Marilia, Bernard, Vlada
>     and other conveyers of local hubs can develop the recommendations
>     for the sub-section on local hubs.
>
>     - E-facilitation and local hubs are one the ways to engage "silent
>     majority". The more IGF moves beyond traditional IGF circles, the
>     more relevant it will be to the world at large. Typically, the
>     e-IGF attracts the most active people on social media. But,
>     e-facilitators - especially in local hubs - should engage people
>     beyond the "usual circles".  In the build-up for the IGF, local
>     hubs should facilitate discussion on the most pressing local issues.
>
>     - We should develop some sort of incentives for local hubs
>     facilitators. It could be participation in the next IGF for the
>     most successful hubs and publishing of reports from the local
>     hubs. Last year we ran a pilot course on e-facilitation.  The
>     results were good, and successful participants received a
>     certificate, which some of them used for e-facilitation in other
>     policy spaces. This could be also another encouragement.
>
>     I reiterate Ginger's offer of Diplo support if we can help in any
>     way. I look forward to the continued discussion.
>
>     Regards, Jovan
>
>
>     On 4/30/12 3:53 PM, Keisha Taylor wrote:
>>     Hi All,
>>
>>     I like the ideas listed below. I think that the inclusion of
>>     social media should be more formally introduced as part of remote
>>     participation so that even if the sessions sometimes do not reach
>>     people (for technical/timezone/bandwidth etc issues), the
>>     conversations surrounding the sessions can reach a much bigger
>>     audience even if the actual sessions were missed.
>>
>>     I also think that it may be useful to use the IGF to gage
>>     opinions or insight on various issues from not only  IGF
>>     attendees but from those who cannot attend. This be through
>>     surveys or other lightweight but effective initiatives. The
>>     results of this I think can provide some very interesting insight.
>>
>>     Best
>>
>>     Keisha
>>
>>     On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 2:12 PM, Ginger Paque <ginger at paque.net
>>     <mailto:ginger at paque.net>> wrote:
>>
>>         Hello everyone, and thanks for taking this important
>>         discussion seriously.
>>
>>         Adam Peake suggested we start a formal set of guidelines or
>>         input to the IGF Remote Participation and Access issues for
>>         Baku.
>>         There have been great suggestions already, which I have
>>         compiled below. If anything is missing, please let us/me
>>         know. I add any additional comments, and will put this in a
>>         more coherent format before the end of the week.
>>
>>         Ginger: Support the DCAD on access issues as RP and access
>>         are closely linked Deidre says: Avoid conflating the issues
>>         Have a liason between RP working group or others who are
>>         working on RP with Bernard or the IGF secretariat, to
>>         facilitate coordination of volunteer efforts.
>>         Ask that experienced and new interested MAG members organize
>>         to support these issues (Katitza? Vlada? others?)
>>         Add the guidelines and principles from previous IGF workshops.
>>
>>         Anriette Esterhuysen: refer to the report of the CSTD working
>>         group on IGF improvements:
>>
>>         2. Enhance measures for broader participation
>>
>>         42. Remote participation is an integral part of the IGF.
>>         While remote
>>         participation has improved, in particular through remote
>>         moderators and
>>         hubs, there is still room for improvement in the following areas:
>>
>>         (a) The Secretariat should continue to ensure the availability of
>>         adequate technical and human resources, including remote
>>         moderators;
>>         (b) Chairs and moderators should give remote and on-site
>>         participants
>>         equal recognition and the opportunity to participate;
>>
>>         (c) Low-bandwidth connections to remote participation tools
>>         should be
>>         accommodated;
>>
>>         (d) Linguistic diversity in remote participation should be
>>         fostered by
>>         ensuring that online meeting platforms interface with on-site
>>         interpretation;
>>
>>         (e) Mechanisms that facilitate remote participation, such as live
>>         transcripts, should be kept as an integral part of the IGF. Such
>>         mechanisms are invaluable not only to remote participants,
>>         but also to
>>         non-English-speakers and to people with disabilities, whether
>>         they are
>>         on site or not.
>>
>>         43. It is important to ensure the accessibility of the IGF’s
>>         facilities
>>         to persons with disabilities.
>>
>>         44. To improve participation in the IGF of diverse linguistic and
>>         cultural groups, it is important to expand linguistic diversity
>>         functions in the work of the IGF. For example, this could be
>>         achieved by
>>         (resources permitting):
>>
>>         (a) Increasing the translation of key documents into United
>>         Nations
>>         official languages;
>>
>>         (b) Exploring the use of simultaneous machine translations
>>         based on
>>         realtime English transcripts;
>>
>>         (c) Encouraging the use of any of the United Nations official
>>         languages,
>>         not only English, as the working language in some workshops.
>>
>>         3. Improve the online visibility and accessibility of the IGF
>>
>>         45. A first step in this direction should be to enhance the IGF’s
>>         website by providing interactive functionalities and making
>>         it more
>>         attractive and inclusive. It should also maintain its
>>         conformance with
>>         open standards and further improve accessibility to persons with
>>         disabilities.
>>
>>         http://unctad.org/meetings/en/SessionalDocuments/a67d65_en.pdf
>>         Deirdre William: identify and train moderators, consider some
>>         kind of recognition for volunteers
>>         Nnenna: Avoid last minute changes in programming, and
>>         consider how they affect in situ and RP when necessary
>>         Janna Anderson: Good lighting in the room helps RP images -
>>         Roland Perry: have to manage ppt/presentations in lighting as
>>         well.
>>         Tim Davies: Add social aggregator tool
>>
>>
>>         On 30 April 2012 08:18, Roland Perry
>>         <roland at internetpolicyagency.com
>>         <mailto:roland at internetpolicyagency.com>> wrote:
>>
>>             In message
>>             <CAMz5XN6UmOe4X3U-DNTJsSnURUqu0p47G0-xWGKf8H=xfWm80Q at mail.gmail.com
>>             <mailto:xfWm80Q at mail.gmail.com>>, at 08:24:44 on Mon, 30
>>             Apr 2012, Deirdre Williams <williams.deirdre at gmail.com
>>             <mailto:williams.deirdre at gmail.com>> writes
>>
>>                 I also think that we should look at RP the other way
>>                 round too. Currently it isn't possible to make not
>>                 being physically present the same as being physically
>>                 present. Therefore we at least should be clear about
>>                 what are MUST HAVES and what may come later.
>>
>>                 Also I think it is vital NOT TO conflate RP with
>>                 access for people with disabilities. They are both
>>                 separate and important issues, and both of them
>>                 deserve individual attention
>>
>>
>>             My point is that the same solution is equally useful to
>>             either community. I wasn't making a judgement about which
>>             community
>>             "deserved" the solution more than the other.
>>             -- 
>>             Roland Perry
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> -- 
> “The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge" Sir 
> William Arthur Lewis, Nobel Prize Economics, 1979

-- 

*Jovan Kurbalija, PhD*

Director, DiploFoundation

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