[Air-L] Towards a people's Internet

Tue May 26 00:55:05 PDT 2015

It's great to see the level of interest/enthusiasm elicited by Becky's
excellent post.

To reiterate and clarify a bit.

The World Social Forum (WSF) <https://fsm2015.org/en>  which is meeting (for
the first time in the "Global North") in Montreal in 2016
<http://www.fsm2016.org/en/>  is the major meeting ground for global Civil
Society advocates, activists, organizations and individuals. It is typically
attended by upwards of 40,000 individuals from all over the world with
thousands of (competing) events, advocacy processes, mobilization and
coalition development initiatives and so on.

The notion of an Internet Social Forum (ISF)
<http://www.internetsocialforum.net/>  was introduced at the recent WSF in
Tunis <http://www.fsm2015.org/>  as a potential thematic area within the
WSF.  The intention was to focus on democratization and social justice and
related issues
<https://gurstein.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/the-internet-social-forum-and-the
-global-internet-community/>  as they pertain particularly to Internet
Governance (understood in the broadest terms). Notably there is also a
likely parallelism with the on-going stream of Internet Governance
activities as for example, the Internet Governance Forum
<http://www.intgovforum.org/>  (IGF) and ICANN <https://www.icann.org/> .
The IGF notably is a specific follow-on from the UN’s World Summit on the
Information Society <http://www.itu.int/wsis/>  (WSIS)  which has met
annually since WSIS and will be meeting this year in November in Brazil, but
which has not itself engaged with the social justice implications and
impacts of the Internet.

The primary driver behind the ISF has been a coalition led by the Just Net
Coalition (JNC), whose Declaration
<http://justnetcoalition.org/delhi-declaration>  I circulated to this list
some time ago and to which several of you folks appended your names.

The intention at this moment seems to be that a dedicated ISF will be held
(very likely in India) within about a year with an affiliation with the WSF
as per the ISF invitation document <http://justnetcoalition.org/ISF> .  It
is also almost certain that the ISF will have some sort of preparatory
meeting/event at the Montreal WSF which is what I believe that Becky was
pointing to.

There are several ways among others in which AoIR or AoIR folks could become
part of the above processes including by joining or becoming affiliated with
the JNC, choosing to become a partner/sponsor of the ISF or joining the ISF
discussion <http://internetsocialforum.net/Join_ISF>  list or the more
general Internet democracy and social justice oriented JNC forum
<http://mail.justnetcoalition.org/listinfo/forum> . The notion that appears
implicit in this discussion, that a research element be developed in the
context of the ISF seems to me to be an excellent one but necessarily would
need to focus I believe, on issues of inclusion, democracy and social
justice as they pertain to Internet Governance and the on-going evolution
and development of the Internet.

(For clarification/identification I'm on the Steering Committee of the JNC
and have been actively involved in the development of the ISF to its current
status.)

Mike

Michael Gurstein, Ph.D. 
Editor in Chief: Journal of Community Informatics 
web:  <http://ci-journal.net/> http://ci-journal.net 

Executive Director: Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development
and Training (CCIRDT) 
Vancouver, BC CANADA 

tel/fax:  <tel:%2B1-604-602-0624> +1-604-602-0624 
email:  <mailto:gurstein at gmail.com> gurstein at gmail.com 
blog:  <http://gurstein.wordpress.com/> http://gurstein.wordpress.com 

twitter: @michaelgurstein

-----Original Message-----
From: Air-L [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of
Livingstone,S
Sent: May 26, 2015 7:29 AM
To: Cameran Ashraf
Cc: air-l at listserv.aoir.org; Becky Lentz
Subject: Re: [Air-L] Towards a people's Internet

Great point. Just to say that I won't be at AoIR sadly but if there's going
to be folk meeting at IAMCR in Montreal (as I think raised in an earlier
message?) I would love to join the conversation ftf. I will even have
drafted my paper on the 'one in three' (subtext: the days of imagining
internet governance primarily as in the interests of privileged white adults
must be firmly put behind us)

Best, Sonia

-----Original Message-----

From: Cameran Ashraf [ <mailto:chashraf at ucla.edu> mailto:chashraf at ucla.edu]

Sent: 26 May 2015 01:54

To: Livingstone,S

Cc: Becky Lentz;  <mailto:air-l at listserv.aoir.org> air-l at listserv.aoir.org

Subject: Re: [Air-L] Towards a people's Internet

To follow up on Sonia's excellent observation, please recall that over a
billion people experience a censored or controlled Internet, and often
access the broader Internet at great personal risk.  Their voices must be
counted too.

Best,

Cameran

--

Ph.D. Candidate

Department of Geography

University of California, Los Angeles

Website:  <http://www.cashraf.com> www.cashraf.com

On Mon, May 25, 2015 at 8:10 AM, Livingstone,S <
<mailto:S.Livingstone at lse.ac.uk> S.Livingstone at lse.ac.uk> wrote:

> Hi there - this is a great initiative. I would just like to point out, as
'we' write about 'the people' using the internet that fully one in three of
them (as far as I can calculate) is aged under 18 and therefore children's
particular needs, interests and voices should also be clearly counted within
the 'we'.

> 

> Am writing a paper now to this effect - happy to receive thoughts and 

> suggestions (or arguments against including children!)

> 

> All the best, Sonia

> 

> 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Air-L [ <mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org>
mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of 

> Becky Lentz

> Sent: 25 May 2015 15:56

> To:  <mailto:air-l at listserv.aoir.org> air-l at listserv.aoir.org

> Subject: [Air-L] Towards a people's Internet

> 

> Hi all,

> 

> Some have written to me with interest in the 2016 World Social Forum. 

> At the

> 2015 Forum in Tunis, a new initiative was begun around an Internet Social
Forum. It might convene again in Montreal, so this might be of interest to
the AOIR community. Here¹s the main website for that:

>  <http://www.internetsocialforum.net/?q=Home>
http://www.internetsocialforum.net/?q=Home and here¹s the mailing list if
you wish to subscribe:  <http://internetsocialforum.net/Join_ISF>
http://internetsocialforum.net/Join_ISF. Below I¹ve clipped a message
recently posted to that list.

> 

> Best,

> Becky Lentz

> McGill University

> 

> 

>> 

>>  Now available in English -- a contribution to the debates around the
ISF.

>> Please circulate.

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> Towards a people¹s Internet

>> < <http://www.alainet.org/en/revistas/169787>
http://www.alainet.org/en/revistas/169787>

>>  No. 503, April 2015

>> 

>>  The decisions about Internet development, its applications and uses 

>> hold implications for human rights, social and economic justice and
democracy.

>> This raises new challenges that require a public policy framework; 

>> yet our societies have not yet been able to process them adequately.

>> Edition No. 503 (now in English) of ALAI's magazine Latin America in 

>> Movement examines several key aspects of these challenges.

>> 

>> 

>> Is another Internet possible?

>> < <http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169779>
http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169779>

>> 

>> Sally Burch

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> The importance of intellectual property malleability

>> 

>> So open, so closed < <http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169786>
http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169786>

>> 

>> Pedro Cagigal

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> Security versus privacy, the right to resistance 

>> < <http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169793>
http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169793>

>> 

>> Montserrat Boix

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> Technical and political challenges for a secure Internet 

>> < <http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169796>
http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169796>

>> 

>> ALAI

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> Make Cyberpeace not Cyberwar!

>> < <http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169780>
http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169780>

>> 

>> Prabir Purkayastha

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> Toward freer lands on the Internet

>> < <http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169792>
http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169792>

>> 

>> María del Pilar Sáenz

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> Net Neutrality for an egalitarian Internet 

>> < <http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169781>
http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169781>

>> 

>> Parminder Jeet Singh

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> Women in Internet

>> 

>> Visibility to secure recognition and rights 

>> < <http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169795>
http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169795>

>> 

>> Dafne Sabanes Plou

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> The democratic challenge of Internet

>> < <http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169782>
http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169782>

>> 

>> Norbert Bollow

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> WSIS+10: issues, actors, what to expect, what to achieve

>> < <http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169785>
http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/169785>

>> 

>> Richard Hill

>> 

>> 

>> 

>>           Tunis Call for a People's Internet 

>> < <http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/168669>
http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/168669>

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> 

>>   <http://www.alainet.org/en/revistas/169787>
http://www.alainet.org/en/revistas/169787

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> More information:  <http://alainet.org/index.phtml.en>
http://alainet.org/index.phtml.en

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> 

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