Hi everyone,
Almost forgot; here's my powerpoint from earlier today. For those of you who have problems accessing powerpoint, I'll include a draft of the text from the slides. The audio will be online later, I hope.
http://www.andycarvin.com/nmun-wsis.ppt
NMUN Presentation notes
Intro; jargon alert: ICT4D, Prepcoms, Telecentres, etc.
About DDN
WSIS created as summit to bridge digital divide
Digital Divide first addressed in mid-90s
No one knows who coined the term, popularized by Clinton, Gore, Larry Irving, others
First focused only on household Internet access
Definition expanded to include literacy, content, other issues
Digital Divide as a reflection of poverty/development challenges, in the context of ICTs
First Summit in December 2003 Two out of Three Prepcoms for next Summit, November in Tunis I'm involved in Civil Society Delegation: n chair of telecentres caucus n participant in education, academia and research taskforce n WSISBlogs.org
WSIS and Civil Society
Civil Society has fought hard to have a seat at the table over the years
WSIS gives Civil Society and Private Sector seats at the table
Formed caucuses based on topics, regions
We get speaking slots, may present documents, recommendations, involved in Working Group on Internet Governance; but don't have a vote.
Spend time lobbying government delegates to include our ideas; were quite successful during first summit, though sometimes had problems (WSIS plenary speaker overruled)
Civil Society much bigger, more diverse than NMUN simulation; hundreds of NGOs, thousands of delegates, a very sizable presence
- technology advocates
- privacy and free expression groups
- human rights groups
- development activists
- free and open source activists
- universities
- labor unions
- religious groups
Great diversity, don't always see eye to eye, cultural differences, policy differences
Output based on consensus
What's Going on Now?
2nd Prepcom in Geneva last month; focused on financing digital divide initiatives, Digital Solidarity Fund
Next Prepcom: September in Geneva
Regional and thematic meetings
WSIS Third Week in November
Is WSIS accomplishing what it set out to do? It's a mixed bag.
Lots of energy spent on discussing financing ICT infrastructure, fighting over Digital Solidarity Fund, technical Internet governance issues
Less emphasis on education, literacy, privacy, free expression
Governments may end up paying lip service to policy outcomes
Successes:
Greater involvement of Civil Society in Summit processes;
Unique opportunity for civil society to gather in one place, collaborate, form partnerships
Raise awareness of the digital divide - at least outside the US
How to Get Involved Join WSIS Civil Society Plenary and Caucuses www.wsis-cs.org
Join WSIS Youth Caucus www.wsisyouth.org
Organize WSIS events on campus: - recruit students to volunteer - plan WSIS Meetups for November (ddn.meetup.com) - Blog, blog, blog
-- ----------------------------------- Andy Carvin Program Director EDC Center for Media & Community acarvin @ edc . org http://www.digitaldivide.net http://www.tsunami-info.org Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com ----------------------------------- _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
