2017 - National and Regional Internet Governance Forum Initiatives (NRIs)
Leveraging community networks to remedy exclusions in internet governance
Organization
Introduction
International internet governance spaces such as the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) are relevant for coordinating global actions, but the governance of the internet comes down to the local scope, where discussions and agreements must become specific and practical: about policies and regulation, about societal needs and planning, about priorities and what comes first, about local telecommunication infrastructures, and about governance itself.
Themes
A mapping of national and regional IGFs
Organization
In 2005, during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the Tunis Agenda 1 established the basis for the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF): “We ask the UN [United Nations] Secretary-General, in an open and inclusive process, to convene, by the second quarter of 2006, a meeting of the new forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue – called the Internet Governance Forum.”
Themes
What we talk about when we talk about gender
Organization
Introduction
What we talk about when we talk about gender. The title of this chapter is a riff on US novelist Raymond Carver's landmark short story, “What we talk about when we talk about love”. 1 It applies to gender and internet governance simply because more than 20 years after this discourse first emerged, there is still not enough clarity on what it's really about.
Themes
The national IGF landscape in Latin America and the Caribbean: Mapping the initiatives
Organization
Introduction
The regional Internet Governance Forum of Latin America and the Caribbean (LACIGF) celebrated its 10th event in August 2017. This is a landmark for a developing region that is still striving to connect the remaining 50% of its inhabitants to the internet. In tandem, national internet governance initiatives flourish in the region.
Themes
NRIs and the United Nations IGF: A reciprocal relationship
Organization
Introduction
National and Regional Internet Governance Forums (NRIs) grew organically and spontaneously in the first few years after the United Nations (UN) Internet Governance Forum (IGF) – what we have come to know as the global IGF – was established in 2006. These national and regional IGFs focused on internet governance and broader internet policy issues that reflect national and regional priorities.