November 2012 Blog Posts (37)

By moving to the cloud, we are entrusting our data to third parties. Do we stop and think about the security issues, such as, whether the service provider is taking sufficient security measures to protect our data?

Cloud services also attract a host of legal issues. Data placed on remote servers in other countries can be subject to the laws of those countries. Which…

Two weeks since left Baku and still living in the mode of Baku, Baku the lovely city with the friendliest people I ever met.

I arrived to Baku after 12 hours traveling, very tired and all I think is to take a warm bath and sleep, arrived the airport with many other IGF participants, we all met at the passport controls waiting to granted our entry visas, very kind young man approach of us and took our passports and the requested documents and told us to wait, and after 10…

Dear bloggers,

I submiited an article below as part of my phase two assignment for my Doctorate Program in Information Technology at the Atlantic International University (AIU) in USA. The articles explores the philosophical evolution of computing and IT as disctinct field of study and I thought it would be of interest to the ICT fraternity. AIU has an open access policy that encourages wide sharing of information for learners. However, I would also like to have my articles…

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC), the Government of Kenya and the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) BASIS initiative (Business Action to Support the Information Society) organised a workshop Technology, Economic and Societal Opportunities and Womenduring the just ended IGF in Baku.

The focus was on existing Internet-related economic, cultural, political and social opportunities for women, and the gaps that exist. I…

Its been one week since I left Baku and the IGF2012. I'm still surprised that it has taken me this long to catch up on work and everything else. You may ask what does time travel have to do with Baku and the IGF. For those of us who travelled from the Caribbean it certainty felt like it. 

Travel from the Caribbean to London on an eight hour flight and Move forward four hours in real time(London is four hours ahead of the Caribbean). Then another flight of eight hours to Baku and move…

09:30h, Opening ceremony at the Main Session room, crowded. A lot of media present. I was sitting at the 3th row, with other Diplo Foundation fellows, just behind the ambassadors. Finally, the 7th IGF was formally handed over to the host country, Azerbaijan.

In May this year there were  demonstrations in Azerbaijan, where people demanded democracy, therefore the freedom of speech as one of the most important human rights. Having this in mind I wanted to extract  some parts of speeches…

Although it's up to debate, whether right or wrong, many people I talked to portrayed this picture that there is limited freedom of speech in Azerbaijan. From a number of speakers in the different workshops, the point continued to manifest it's self and sink deeper. It can be a point of denial or a point to reject but the it's near fact that there is limited freedom of speech in a country that successfully hosted the IGF12.

From…

The first day of IGF 2012, in Baku. It was pretty hard to wake up. Partly because I was tired, partly 'cause the bed was so cozy. Also, the charming view through my balcony simply kept me lying in my bed, enjoying. The sun was coming up and it was action time!

Friendly, yet unknown faces at the breakfast and Ms. Stephanies' energetic voice: „Please, don't be late for the shuttle bus“, were just the perfect way of starting this IGF experience.

I was really enjoying the ride…

Probably the science fiction movies and novels illustrating set of machines talking to each other are no longer an imaginary world. This is happening now! Thanks to machine to machine (M2M) communication technologies. Right at this time, a stolen vehicle might be reporting its present location, a car might be informing about an emergency situation due to its air bags activation, a photocopier might be alarming for a toner replacement and a smart meter might be informing a household about…

As it has always been said, the IGF conference is just the final of all IG issues that take place through out the year, the experience of IGF12 was also at it's climax in Baku.

It all started with travel experiences, staying close to 24 hours in transit to a beautiful reception and acceptance in Baku. The city of fire as referred to Baku city by the locals, received us (Uganda delegation) late in the evening, very tired but all…

On day 3 of the IGF, I attended WS 149 Freedom of expression online: Key challenges and best practices. During this session, many things were discussed but I was mainly drawn to the discussion by Nicola Douglas and Mathew Jackman (from UK) who shared about Youth and IGF. In July 2011, I attended the East Africa Internet Governance Forum (EAIGF) and was privileged to make a presentation about Youth and Internet Usage in Uganda. From that time on, I have been very interested in issues of Youth…

After a session on Critical Internet Resources (CIRs), I was blessed to have a 'corner' one-on-one session with Wim Degezelle from Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries (CENTR). During the workshop, I had generated a number of questions that needed attention about the implementation of the New generic Top Level Domains (ngTLDs). Wim was very willing to answer the questions.…

The Africa IGF session on day 4 was the perfect way for me to end the IGF. Being from Africa, I am definitely attracted to the African culture or any discussions about my continent. It was exciting to see so many Africans (and other non-Africans) gathered in one room to discuss issues of Internet Governance in Africa. That was a good way to show a side of Africa that is not known by many; it was not the ‘usual’ display of malnourished children, many homeless people or war torn areas. That…

There is a first time for everything: The 7^th meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2012 was the first IGF that I attended physically, having participated remotely in the 6^th meeting in Nairobi, Kenya in 2011. I am really thankful to DiploFoundation and VeriSign for the fellowship that enabled me to be part of one of the biggest gatherings in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) world.

I was…

It is ironic – to say the least – for participants of an annual IGF meeting to have limited Internet connection during an event dedicated to the Internet itself.

Perhaps it was not so bad after all. During workshops and main sessions, there were fewer ‘distractions’. We could not respond to e-mails, check out Facebook, or do any other unrelated task that depended on a stable connection. Whoever attended workshops could do nothing else but follow the discussion, take notes, or…

05.11.2012.

Monday, 05. November 2012. The day me and few more members and fellows of Diplo Foundation group arrived to the Heydar Aliyev International Airport, Baku, early morning. We met at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, and at that instant you could feel the positive energy. So, I knew this would be great experience! Didn't know how great, though.

A bit tired from the trip and from waiting for lost baggage, finally we were on our way to the hotel. At some point, I don't know…

Someone asked for impressions of Baku and the IGF, so here are mine -

Baku – olive trees full of olives lining the streets, a city of fountains, friendly faces, nearly everyone blessedly able to speak English, a feeling of shame for my pitiful, poorly pronounced Azeri vocabulary, black (and coloured) London taxis - find a taxi with a meter or establish the price first  same as Lima, same all over the world? Roses blooming in November. Empty roads on Saturday morning at sunrise, a…

After a flurry of sessions over the last few days, I was looking for a session to attend on the last afternoon of the IGF.

Grace Githaiga of the African IGF invitied me to attend the African IGF Session that was being held that day.

What I experienced at that session was inspiring, challenging and reaffirming.

The reports from the panelists covered the state of the IGF process from an African context and while panelists appealed for greater involvement of other African…

Being an African, I couldn't miss attending a workshop on African IGF and I have to report, there was nothing to loose as all was to gain.

As usual we kicked off with the introduction of the panelists which was followed by a small recap and report from previous IGF held in Cairo. The past African IGF was held in Cairo with assistance from the government of Egypt, APC, google to mention but a few with an aim of having a platform…

So the 2012 IGF has come to an end. Over 1600 delegates attended.

Overall the organisers performed quite well in some aspects and quite poorly in others. Today I will not assess the performance of the day since nothing really changed from yesterday. I will briefly look at the overall performance.

Positives

• The visa letters were sent to delegates on time, plus the dedicated desk at the airport was one area where the organisers…