[governance] Wikipedia Article on the IGF Needs Updating

William Drake william.drake at uzh.ch
Wed Jan 30 09:42:23 EST 2013 

Hi

The Wikipedia entries on Internet governance and related issues could really use some work.  I've had both undergrad and grad students draw on these and come in with misunderstandings of core concepts, events and outcomes that many of us here experienced first hand and could help to clean up.  Given variations in ideological dispositions and views it might require a lot of "some people argue" and "others maintain instead that" ping pong, but if done right it would still be a helpful improvement at time when IG issues are moving up agendas around the world.  Probably a lot of folks looking at these and coming away confused at a higher level of complexity.

Improving this material might be a good collaborative opportunity for interested folks not only from the IGC, but also GigaNet.  Teams could be formed around different topics etc…just a thought, obviously would depend on bandwidth etc.

In the case of the IGF entry Charity mentions, there's a lot of good stuff people have put effort into, but also some eye openers.  For example, the front end claim that "The formation of the Internet Governance Forum was first recommended in the report of the Working Group on Internet Governance following a series of open consultations" is just wrong, it ignores what happened the year prior in the UNICT Task Force meetings.  And it's sort of black box, doesn't capture at all the intense debates and disagreements about what it should be, the mandate, etc.  Ditto the debates about the forum itself as it got underway, the mandate renewal battle, etc.  

There's also not much thematic integration in describing what went on in IGFs.  Here one would think a look might be merited at the chapters included in the Sharm book that I edited, which included paper by folks here that attempted to synthesize how different topics had been handle to what effect across the meetings to date.  These included


Critical Internet Resources: Coping with the Elephant in the Room
Jeanette Hofmann.............................................................................. 1

Openness: Protecting Internet Freedoms
Olga Cavalli.................................................................................... 15

Diversity: Achieving an Internet that is Really for All
Hong Xue....................................................................................... 25

Access: The First and Final Frontier
Willie Currie and Anriette Esterhuysen................................................ 34

Security: The Key to Trust and Growth of the Internet
Alejandro Pisanty............................................................................. 46

IG4D: Toward a Development Agenda for Internet Governance
William J. Drake.............................................................................. 57

Multistakeholderism and the IGF: Laboratory, Clearinghouse, Watchdog Wolfgang Kleinwächter..................................................................... 76

Towards an Internet Governance Network: Why the Format of the IGF
is One of its Major Outcomes
Bertrand de La Chapelle.................................................................... 92


That's a hundred pages of deep dive on what have IGFs actually talked about in the main sessions; surely something of relevance could be extracted from these.

Anyway, just a thought…one would think this would be a nice change to actually construct global public goods that could be of value to a lot of folks going forward…

Bill

On Jan 29, 2013, at 11:43 PM, Charity Gamboa <charityg at diplomacy.edu> wrote:

> Sorry I missed this thread earlier before I sent my response. But thanks that some of you have really taken the reigns. I would suggest to sticking to facts instead of opinions when writing about the sessions. The wiki can definitely need some sprucing up from people who were really there. I also sent an explanation of what happened to the development of the IGF wiki in a separate email. Thanks.
> 
> Charity 
> 
> On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 5:27 AM, Paul M <paulitrix at gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks Fouad and Tracy.  We could start by updating and writing articles from Vilnius to Baku.
> I can give input on both the Nairobi and Baku IGF meetings. Indeed Fouad I agree a peer review will be needed once any changes are made any suggestions on who to bring on board?
> 
> 
> On 28/01/2013, at 12:41 PM, Fouad Bajwa <fouadbajwa at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > One the wikipedia resource pages that I have requested people to
> > regularly contribute to. Needs a bit of peer review every now and
> > then.
> >
> > Best
> >
> > Fouad
> >
> > On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 1:48 PM, Tracy F. Hackshaw @ Google
> > <tracyhackshaw at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Hi Paul,
> >>
> >> I can volunteer to assist.
> >>
> >> Rgds,
> >>
> >> Tracy
> >>
> >> On Jan 28, 2013 4:05 AM, "Paul M" <paulitrix at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Hope this is the right forum to discuss this matter. The Wikipedia article
> >>> on the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), is wanting and in dire need of
> >>> updating. A lot has happened since Vilnius 2010 but the article has little
> >>> to show for it. I would be delighted to work with anyone who cares to spruce
> >>> up the wiki page.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> :-) Paul M
> >>>
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