On the first morning, there will be a session providing background on the evolution and current state of Internet governance discussions in the IGF. The objective of the session is to provide participants with some historical context on and an introduction to the main issues of the Vilnius meeting. The session will assess how dialogue on the IGF's main themes evolved over the first four years of the forum, and the extent to which there has been progress in terms of collective learning and consensus building. This year the session will have as a take-off point for the discussion brief presentations by five of the experts who authored background papers for the book documenting the proceedings of the 2009 meeting. (The book will be released on the occasion of the Vilnius meeting[1].) Each speaker will present one of the principal themes of the IGF meetings and will outline how the respective theme has been discussed in the main sessions from Athens (2006) through Sharm El Sheikh (2009); assess the level of progress attained over the course of these four meetings in terms of promoting collective learning and mutual understanding among stakeholders; and offer some recommendations on how to productively take the discussion forward in future IGFs. Two speakers drawn from government and private sector will then offer synthesizing responses to the presentations.
Co-Moderators:
- William J. Drake
- Markus Kummer
Panellists:
Authors
- Jeanette Hofmann (on critical Internet resources)
- Olga Cavalli (on Openness)
- Hong Xue (on Diversity)
- Anriette Esterhuysen (on Access)
- Alejandro Pisanty (on Security)
Commentators
- N Ravi Shanker
- Arthur Reilly
Remote Moderation:
- Ginger Paque and Marilia Maciel
[1] Internet Governance: Creating Opportunities for All---The Fourth Internet Governance Forum, Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, 15-18 November 2009. Edited by William J. Drake.