IFLA at the Internet Governance Forum in Baku, 6-9 November 2012
31 October 2012
‘Internet Governance for Sustainable Human, Economic and Social Development’
The seventh meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) will take place from 6-9 November in Baku, Azerbaijan. The IGF is a UN-sponsored event to discuss the main public policy issues related to the governance and development of the Internet. It identifies and discusses key issues, recognizes emerging trends, and forms recommendations that policy makers worldwide take note of. Almost uniquely for an event of this importance, all discussions take place in a multistakeholder environment where each participant contributes on an equal basis.
IFLA has participated in the IGF and its regional events since 2008 with the aim of ensuring that libraries are visible and active in the debate on Internet governance. This year we will be represented at the forum by Stuart Hamilton (Director, Policy and Advocacy) and Andrea Beccalli (Manager, Projects). In addition, IFLA HQ staff will be joined by one of the participants in the IFLA Leaders Programme, Irina Trushina from the National Library of Russia.
The 2012 IGF main theme is ‘Internet Governance for Sustainable Human, Economic and Social Development’. IFLA will be promoting the role of libraries as agents for development throughout the IGF’s sessions and workshops, but we will place special emphasis on the workshops around the main session on access and diversity, including a workshop on Digital Inclusion and Public Access to the Internet which we have organized with Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) and the Internet Society (ISOC). This IGF will feature the first meeting of the Dynamic Coalition for Public Access in Libraries, a group of interested organizations that has been set up by IFLA and EIFL to raise the profile at libraries at the IGF and beyond. The IFLA representatives will also be participating in sessions on Intellectual property rights and freedom to share, capacity building Initiatives to include vulnerable people in the Information society, and open government data. You can find the briefs and background information for all of these workshops on the IGF Website.
The best news is that you can get involved too. The IGF offers full remote participation to all its events, as well as the possibility to join or host a remote hub. You can follow the debate, ask questions and share experiences. Past IGFs have been notable for the numbers of people who have remotely participated in the library-organised workshops, and we hope that you will join us this year. The schedule for the IGF can be found here (PDF), and the workshops IFLA representatives are involved in are:
- Workshop 130: Digital Inclusion and Public Access to the Internet: What Policymakers Need and How Libraries and other Community Services can Deliver (Tuesday 6th November, Room 7, 14.30pm Baku Time)
- Workshop 146: Intellectual Property Rights and the Freedom to Share: are the Two Compatible? (Thursday 8th November, Room 4, 11am Baku Time)
- Workshop 168: Capacity building Initiatives for better economic and social inclusion of vulnerable people into the Information society (Wednesday 7th November, Room 10, 11am Baku Time)
- Workshop 189: Open Government Data For Citizens, By Citizens, About Citizens? (Wednesday 7th November, Room 3, 16.30pm Baku time)
We will do our best to bring you more information as the meeting progresses. The IFLA team will be tweeting throughout the IGF and will try to answer all your direct questions and bring your input to the IGF as well.
Please follow them on:
Stuart Hamilton: @ifladpa
Andrea Beccalli: @becktweet
If you have any further questions, please contact Stuart.Hamilton@ifla.org