IGF Remote Participation Working Group

The IGF Remote Participation Working Group

Did you know that in 2009, there were people from all over the world participating in the Internet Governance Forum #IGF09 ... from their local homes or "hubs"?

Welcome to a simple page that shares the basics of a very interesting and complex project! (an official website will be launching soon with more detail).

IGF REMOTE PARTICIPATION HUBS - 2009

Watch the IGF hub from Peru, during the IGF in 2009:

These videos also show the work from the remote hub from Ghana reporting for the #IGF09 (Twitter hashtag used during the 4th Internet Governance Forum meeting):



HOW WAS THIS ORGANIZED?

This was made possible because of volunteer work from the Internet governance community in partnership with the IGF Secretariat.

1) Public policy

We have been working on the public policy side, encouraging different voices to speak out about the benefits that the remote hub participation model can bring to the Internet Governance process. Watch a video of this being done during the IGF Open Consultations in Geneva:



Statement read by Olga Cavalli in 2008


Statement read by Ginger Paque in 2009

2) Raising awareness

The idea of the remote hubs has been consistently promoted among the Internet governance community by members of the Remote Participation Working Group. Here are two videos from Marilia Maciel, during a workshop in the IGF meeting in India in 2008 and another one prepared by her at her home in Brazil:





Surprised? Well, this has started back in 2007 in the Rio de Janeiro meeting, during the Emerging Issues session, when it was mentioned that there was a need for more inclusion and engagement in discussions using online platforms. The group of young people involved in the online roundtable about youth participated in IGF Rio as youth representatives. The idea of using online tools is present in the common document.



3) Facilitation on technical aspects and implementation

In addition to the policy work, there is the communication that has been made to make the experience easier to the global community. Here is one video that explains how one could get involved, through DimDim software, that was the partner institution who generously provided the technology platform in the IGF 2008:



Remote hubs were organized in many different countries, following the example of the Hyderabad meeting in 2008. Click here to download the Remote Participation Report 2008.

Among many hubs who expanded the outreach of the IGF in 2008, you can watch videos from Brazil and Argentina:





WHAT DO YOU THINK?

If you want to also get engaged in this idea and help us to push forward the use of online tools for Internet governance, leave a comment on this page and we will let you know when the new website is launched. There is a lot to be done for the 2010 IGF and beyond!

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