Students Participate in Internet Governance Forum “Remote Hub” - Washington, DC USA
On September 15th and 16th, the Center for Resesearch on Collaboratories and Technology Enhanced Learning (COTELCO) at American University had the pleasure of facilitating remote participation in the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) held in Vilnius, Lithuania on those dates. COTELCO also joined the opening ceremony of the IGF on the 14th, and many members of the University community were drawn into the hub as they passed by.
Students from throughout the Washington, DC area joined the COTELCO hub to participate in sessions on Access and Diversity, a Development Agenda Approach to Internet Names and Numbers, the follow-up meeting of IGF-USA, and the Dynamic Coalition on Core Internet Values. For many, remote participation in the IGF was a first introduction to global internet governance. Thus, students benefited immensely from the “hub” environment, as they were able to discuss new concepts and ask questions of Professor Derrick Cogburn, Director of COTELCO and a leading scholar of internet governance.
Participants were excited and impassioned by the discussions and the novel hub format, and some expressed interest in greater involvement in internet governance issues in the future. COTELCO looks forward to facilitating future remote participation events and further cultivating interest in internet governance in the next generation of young people who are now beginning to confront this complex web of relationships, responsibilities and concepts.
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