Author: Joanna Witt

Joanna Witt is a London-based freelance journalist and digital producer who has spent the majority of her career running high-profile websites for the BBC.

Having trained as a legal journalist, she went on to work on a number of trade publications, reporting on the advertising and marketing industry, and producing consumer health news for an online news agency.

She joined the BBC in 2003 and was staff for eight years, launching some of the corporation's most popular websites, many of which ran alongside live studio shows. As such she is particularly interested in the power of brands online and the nuts and bolts of producing successful and profitable sites.

She specializes in social media and has a strong interest in the power of SEO as the web develops. Joanna has a BA and an MA from Nottingham University.

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Story
26 July 2012
So what exactly is WCIT?

What is the WCIT?

The World Conference on International Telecommunications 2012 (WCIT-12) is an international meeting hosted by the ITU. It'll review the ITRs and will take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from 3 to 14 December 2012.

Ok, that's too many acronyms. From the top: what's the ITU?

The ITU is the UN agency looking after information and communication technologies (ICTs). It's an inter-governmental body with 193 country members and more than 750 private-sector companies, organizations and academic institutions members/associates of its three sectors (Radiocommunication, Telecommunication Standardization, and Telecommunication Development). You can find lists of these member states, sector members and associates here.

The ITU is not to be confused with the ITU Secretariat. The former makes the decisions in a "bottom-up" process, the latter facilitates the process.

Ok great. So what are the ITRs?
NIB
21 June 2012
Applicants join forces for dot-mls

The MLS Domains Association (MDA) has joined up with the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) to apply for the gTLD dot-mls. Both parties were working on individual applications until they became aware of the other, and under the new agreement CREA will make the application to ICANN, and MDA will provide financial support. MDA will also protect CREA's "Multiple Listing Service" and "MLS" trademarks within Canada and the US and in return has exclusive rights to use dot-mls domains for marketing real estate in the US. The application faces competition from Dublin-based Afilias Limited which has also applied for the domain.
Story
5 June 2012
Everything you wanted to know about the IGF...

What is the IGF? And what does it actually do? Here's what you need to know.

  1. The IGF is an open forum that has no members.
  2. It was established by the World Summit on the Information Society in November2005.
  3. It is financed through voluntary contributions.
  4. It's the leading global multi-stakeholder forum on public policy issues related to Internet governance.
  5. Its inaugural meeting took place in Athens, Greece in from 30 October-2 November 2006.
  6. Host countries bear most of the expenses of the annual meeting.
  7. It supports Article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Story
5 June 2012
The IGF - what to expect at Baku

The seventh annual IGF meeting will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 6-9 November 2012. The proposed theme is Internet Governance for Sustainable Human, Economic and Social Development.

The focus is broadly similar to those of previous years, which have looked at Internet governance and development. Last year's meeting in Nairobi centred on "Internet as a Catalyst for Change: Access, Development, Freedoms and Innovation."

What will the meeting cover?
The deadline for submitting workshops has passed and confirmed sessions are available on the IGF website. There are also a number of "pending" sessions awaiting further information from organisers before being confirmed or rejected - we will update this article as more workshops are accepted. The confirmed sessions follow specific themes and are as follows:

Access and Diversity

Key issues: native languages, women and the Internet, inclusion and public access.
NIB
1 June 2012
Sky blocks access to The Pirate Bay

Sky has joined other major UK broadband providers in blocking access to file-sharing site The Pirate Bay. Last week, the organisation cut off access to the Swedish site following a court order, filed under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act and obtained by the British Phonographic Industry. Sky follows Virgin Media and Everything Everywhere in barring access to the site. O2, TalkTalk and BT are expected to do the same. The ban is a win for the entertainment industry, which started targeting broadband providers after legal challenges to the file-sharing websites themselves failed. The decision about The Pirate Bay follows a landmark ruling about a similar site Newzbin2 last year.