Nitin Desai was a key architect of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General for Internet Governance between. Previously he had held several Under-Secretary roles at the UN, as well as at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and as chair of the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG).
We asked about his reflections specifically on the IGF, two years he had stepped down from running the annual conference.
Nitin Desai came out of retirement to build IGF. Photo: Richard Sambrook
What has been the biggest success and the largest lost opportunity of the IGF?
The biggest success: the multi-stakeholder format. The largest lost opportunity? Not enough attention on over-the-horizon issues.
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.
Leaderless, broke and mired in bureaucracy, the Internet Governance Forum will become an historic relic unless its supporters act
Pont d'Avignon and the IGF: dangerous similarities. Pic credit: Twicepix
"Sur le pont d’Avignon," the song goes. "L'on y danse… L'on y danse tous en rond". On the bridge of Avignon, we dance, all in a circle.
Those taking part in three days of discussions over the annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) last month were 200 miles north of Avignon, at the UN headquarters in Geneva, but that didn't prevent them from dancing in circles.
A breakdown of who sits on the IGF's agenda-setting body
The IGF MAG has had a difficult couple of years. The UN has failed to replace former special adviser Nitin Desai who acted as its chair, and also chose not to perform the annual rotation of members in 2011, leaving the previous year's members in place and in limbo.
The 2012 MAG was supposed to be announced in time for new members to attend the first preparatory meeting February, but delays in groups submitting nominations meant the 2010 MAG was called on once again.
Finally, on 25 April 2012, the UN announced the composition of the new MAG for 2012, just in time for all the new members to find flights and accommodation in Geneva for the second preparatory meeting, 16-17 May 2012. So who are the new MAG members whom the Internet governance community waited so long to finally have announced?
.Nxt provides a full information service covering the Internet policy and governance fields. While some content is freely provided, much of the information is available only to subscribers. There are a number of different membership options, listed in full below.
It's time for Internet organizations to ditch the palace politics and grow up
Starting next week, the United Nations in Geneva will host a series of back-to-back meetings with a broad focus: deciding the ways in which the future of the Internet will be decided.
Most meetings are open and attendance is free. And yet, despite the low barriers to entry, one key demographic is largely missing: business.
For example, of the 300 people registered with an online website covering the first of four conferences (the WSIS Forum), only 26 identify themselves as coming from the private sector, and of them, only 11 are not from specialist Internet infrastructure companies.
The same pattern is repeated at the conference that follows: consultations over the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). And business numbers will fall even further for the last two: "enhanced co-operation" and the annual meeting of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD).
Below is a video and transcript of the conclusions closing session of the Swedish Internet Forum on 19 April 2012. The presenter, Emily Taylor, also provided a written version of her summary for .Nxt.
In 2005, which in internet terms is really ancient history, I came across an article which was written in the New York Times about a funny little argument that was preoccupying those of us in our small circle of internet geeks and we were terribly worried about. Now the article is memorable for a couple of reasons. First of all, and this is unusual, believe me, in the internet space, it was short, cogent, humorous. And it sort of rose above the confusing detail and explained why this stuff was important. And the second surprise is that it was written by a politician. That politician was Carl Bildt.
Below is a video and transcript of the close of the Swedish Internet Forum on 19 April 2012.
Olof Ehrenkrona (OE): Can I start with asking all those who... In the team who are still standing on their feet to stand up. And there you are. Let's give the team a great big hand.
[applause]
OE: And can I then ask the moderators and the still living panelists to stand up. Some of you. Yeah, some of them. Let's also give them a big hand.
[applause]
And thanks to you, we have had such vibrant discussions and we have not been hesitating to take on also the most difficult questions. This is very, very much thanks to you and what you have done. This is not the end. This is not even the beginning of the end. There will be a continuation and let me then ask Bela Szombati from Budapest to come here and present very, very shortly the next event, upcoming event in Budapest.
Bela Szombati: Well, thank you. Very shortly, though I can't exactly see the clock.
In 2005, I came across an article in the New York Times about a funny little battle that was going on in the Internet corner of the world that no one outside of the small circle of Internet geeks seemed to understand or care about.
This article was memorable for several reasons. First, it was cogent, humorous, it rose above the dirty, confused, detail and explained why this stuff was important for all of us. Secondly, it was written by a politician. That politician was Carl Bildt.
Fast forward to this week. I was asked to moderate a couple of sessions at the Stockholm Internet Forum, and to provide some reflections at the end of the conference. This article highlights some of the themes I picked up from the two days of discussion.
Taylor moderating one of the sessions. Credit: Swedish Internet Forum
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