Status:
IGF Theme(s) for workshop: Access and Diversity
Main theme question address by workshop: Why do developing countries have a low participation in the Internet Governance Process?
Concise description of the proposed workshop:
This worshop has been organized in the IGF of Sharm el Sheik, in the IGF of Vilnius and in the IGF in Kenya.
Although some latin languages like Spanish and Portuguese are spoken by hundreds of million people, there is not a direct relationship with these figures and the presence of these languages on the Internet.
Even more challenging is the situation of native languages in the Internet, which are also challenged even in their national environment.
Although there seem to be many barriers, there are also several projects and examples that show that from different perspectives, goverment, private sector, NGOs and academy, these difficulties can be solved and languages can find their way in the Internet.
The workshop will review again the challenges that these languages face in the Internet, both from the content perspective and also from the IDNs and other diversity innitiatives, and will review also successful stories of lowering existing barriers for these languages.
A prospective revision through the outcomes of the other workshops will be done as well.
The main questions that the workshop will try to answer are.
- Why latin languages have a lower presence in the Internet?
- Are there cultural factors that may influence this tendency?
- Is there a relationship between development and the presence of a language in the Internet?
- Which are the main projects that could make a change in this?
- What happens with native american languages in the internet?
- Are these languages present in the Internet?
- Is the Internet an opportunity to preserve the culture?
Background Paper:
Name of the organiser(s) of the workshop and their affiliation to various stakeholder groups:
- Olga Cavalli, Regional Director, South School on Internet Governance - Workshop organizer and moderator
Have you, or any of your co-organisers, organised an IGF workshop before?: Yes
Please provide link(s) to workshop(s) or report(s):
http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/component/chronocontact/?chronoformname=Workshops2011View&wspid=147
Provide the names and affiliations of the panellists you are planning to invite:
- Vanessa Fusco Nogueira Simoes, Ministerio de Justicia de Minas Gerais, Brazil.
- Beatriz Lopez Crespo - Adivisor Telasamigas.net
- Nacho Amadoz, Policy and Regulations Manager, Fundacio .cat. (to be confirmed)
- Jorge Vega Iracelay, Microsoft Legal and Corporate Affairs Senior Director for Mexico.
- Jesús Jiménez Segura - Instituto Cervantes
- Gorka Orueta, Universidad del País Vasco
- Ivan Sanchez Medina - Commissioner National Commission of Communications of Colombia
Name of Remote Moderator(s):
Adrián Carballo, South SSIG Institutional Relations Director.