Remote Participation Working Group

EuroDig Madrid: You Can Be There!

Creating hubs for remote participation

About the Eurodig

The European Dialogue on Internet Governance (Eurodig) is a meeting that takes place once a year to discuss issues related to Internet governance, which touch directly upon the lives of Internet users, such as: privacy, freedom of expression, access to the Internet and content diversity, to name just a few. The EuroDig is a multistakeholder forum. This means that governments, civil society and the business sector can participate on equal footing. The primary aim is to promote open dialogue between all participating stakeholders in order to prepare their participation in and contributions to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

Why is this meeting important to young people?

Young people are among those who use the Internet the most, not only for leisure, but also to research, to express themselves, to create culture and to share knowledge. They have more fully understood the potential of the Internet, but currently they have little participation in the process of making decisions about its future. Young people will inherit the Internet that is being shaped today. How can youth ensure that their freedom of expression, that their privacy and interests will be protected in the future? The only way is to get involved in the process of decision‐making now.

Why is this meeting important to you if you do not live in Europe?

The discussions in the meeting aim to contribute to the general Internet governance debate, and the outcomes of the discussions in EuroDig will be taken to the IGF in Vilnius. In addition the European Commission and the Council of Europe are very forward‐looking, making ground‐breaking progress in Internet governance, and are willing and eager to incorporate world views. They have made it clear that the views of other regions are important to them, so it is an additional opportunity to make your opinions heard.

How can I get to be involved in the EuroDig?

The EuroDig usually takes place in different countries. It has been held in France (2008) and in Switzerland (2009). In 2010, it will take place in Spain. Unfortunately, several factors may hamper physical attendance, such as professional commitments and travel costs. But staying in your home city does not mean that it is not possible to follow the debates. It does not mean you cannot participate actively and make your voice heard. There will be interactive channels for e‐participation. You can follow the discussions from home, watching the webcast of the event and participating in chat. But it is also possible to organize EuroDig hubs.

What are the Hubs?

The hubs are local meetings that take place in parallel with the main meeting. People can watch the webcast together and send questions (text or video) that will be answered by panelists in EuroDig. In addition, hub organizers can hold debates to discuss the themes introduced at the Eurodig, but from a local perspective. There are several advantages in creating a hub: it helps to raise awareness about Internet Governance issues, it fosters networking among participants and community building and it encourages follow‐up activities.

How to organize a hub in your city?

The requirements are very simple:

- A room or auditorium. It can be held in a university classroom or any other convenient place

- A computer with a broadband Internet connection and a video‐conference (or projector) equipment, to watch the webcast

- A hub moderator, who will plan the dynamics of the local roundtables and discussions as well as transmit the hub participants’ questions or comments to the main EuroDig meeting through the remote participation channels.

- A general call in lists, forums, etc, to invite the interested local community

- An online training session to become familiar with the platform that will be used for interaction will be offered prior to the event

Dynamics of interaction during the meeting

Remote participants will be able to follow the meeting taking place in Madrid by watching videocasts or listening to audiocasts from the meeting rooms and by viewing the PPT presentations from the speakers. The organization is also trying to make available real-time closed captioning.

Remote participants will be able to interact with the meeting individually or from a hub. All remote participants will be able to send text questions, using the remote participation platform (more information about it will be posted here soon). These questions will be forwarded to the panel moderator when he/she opens the floor for questions from the audience. Hubs can also send short pre-recorded video questions or statement that will be projected on the large meeting screen.

Both physical and remote attendees are encouraged to tweet about the event using #eurodig. The comments on Twitter will be monitored and questions could be forwarded to the panel moderators.

How can you receive more information about remote participation in Eurodig?

Remote Participation Working Group: info@igfremote.info

Ginger Paque: VirginiaP@diplomacy.edu

Link to videos about remote participation in the IGF and messages from hubs: http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/page/igf-remote-participation

IGF February 2010 Open Consultations Remote Participation Replay

Remote participation: a condition for broader inclusion

The growing awareness about the importance of creating channels for online interaction has increased, both on the national and on the international level. Governments make use of online platforms to provide information and services, as well as seeking to remain in close contact with citizens. Commercial enterprises and civil society take advantage of the potential offered by the online tools to improve their communication and organizational skills.

On the political sphere, online channels create new possibilities for constant participation on the debates and on the decision-making processes. While the traditional mechanisms for participation, such as councils, were limited, both in terms of space and time, the Internet offers an opportunity for real-time interaction of people who are geographically dispersed.

The possibility for broader participation, regardless of frontiers, is particularly important to conferences of global scope, such as the IGF. The IGF has taken place in different continents, something that is quite positive, but makes it harder for people to attend the meetings. Some segments particularly suffer from constraints be physically present, such as the young and the disabled people. Governments and civil society organizations from the developing world, who generally count on less financial resources, have also been under-represented.

Remote participation is one of the measures that should be put in place in order to reduce the various gaps related to the Internet today, such as access, age, gender and informational gaps. Reliable tools allow communication in both ways – from the IGF to the people following the debates around the world, and from these remote participants to the people physically present in the meeting – is an important step in reducing inequalities.

With this belief, some interested IGF participants from civil society created the Remote Participation Working Group in the beginning of 2008. We have been voluntarily working to propose concrete mechanisms that could enhance remote participation in the IGF.

We hope that this website that is now launched can provide valuable information about this project, as well as improve and facilitate communication between the RPWG and other interested people.