Information Policy

The Internet Governance Forum: A story in its beginning, middle or end?

It seems as though the IGF has already decided what format the workshops should take. According to the Secretariat, workshops that represent the multi-stakeholder approach of the forum (i.e. with representatives from government, private sector, civil society etc) will most probably be chosen over those that represent only one perspective. For example, if Creative Commons wanted to propose a workshop on "Open Content Licences and Collecting Societies", they would probably have to involve representatives from collecting societies in order for the workshop to be accepted.

http://icommons.org/2006/07/31/the-internet-governance-forum-a-story-in-its-beginning-middle-or-end/

CNN to boost citizen journalism initiative

Time Warner Inc.'s CNN plans to standardize how it solicits and handles user-contributed news amid an industry-wide move to let consumers play a more prominent role in the news gathering process.

The cable news network on Tuesday plans to announce it has created a new program to let users send in digital audio and video from breaking news events in their region. Users can e-mail or upload these so-called "I-Reports" directly from CNN's site.

Contributions are vetted by seasoned editors much in the same way all news tips are followed up, Susan Bunda, senior vice president of news at CNN/U.S. said in an interview.

The news network also has created a new Web site, CNN Exchange, which will house user-generated audio and video submissions.

"This is an opportunity to hear the very personal stories of people who know the events ... and are able to share with the world," Bunda said.

Although news organizations have accepted user contributions for years -- one of the most memorable being the 1991 videotaped beatings of Rodney King by the Los Angeles Police Department -- viewers armed with cheap digital cameras and camera phones have now taken to sharing glimpses of their world with increasing frequency on the Web.

Last year, the first grainy images of the aftermath of the London bombings came from cell phone camera images long before professional photo journalists hit the scene.

Many of these images hit personal Web sites before they reached mainstream media.

"You never know how life unfolds in front of you," Bunda said.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/31072006/80-91/cnn-boost-citizen-journalism-initiative.html

AZ: Blog that satirizes President Aliev made inaccessible

Internet users in Azerbaijan are currently unable to access Tinsohbeti.com, a foreign-based satirical blog with cartoons making fun of President Ilham Aliev and his government, Reporters Without Borders said today. The blog has been rendered inaccessible in the past, forcing its publishers to change their Internet address several times.

“The government clearly does not appreciate a blog that challenges the image the official media present of President Aliev as always smiling and affable,” the press freedom organisation said. “We strongly suspect the Azeri authorities of blocking the Tinsohbeti site, and if this is the case, we call on them to put an end to this censorship.”

As well as cartoons of Aliev, the blog includes articles that openly criticise government policies. But Internet users trying to connect to Tinsohbeti.com from inside Azerbaijan today are sent to a page that says, “This web page does not exist” or “The connection to this website is impossible.”

In Azerbaijan, the communications ministry exercises a monopoly of the long-distance telephone network through the state-owned company Aztelcom, and most of the country’s ISPs depend directly on it. It is therefore very easy for the government to ensure implementation of an order blocking an Internet address.

The Avrasiyaturk.com and Virtualmonitor.org websites were rendered inaccessible in this fashion for a while in 2003.

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=18416

Twenty Five Steps towards e-Governance Failure

Twenty five steps towards e-Governance failure is a sequel to the paper Twenty five steps towards successful e-Governance. e-Governance projects may fail due to multiple reasons and the reasons listed are neither comprehensive nor complete. A few individuals may feel that certain causes are non existence while others may feel that more can be added. The paper is an attempt to enlist possible causes of failure of various e-Governance projects.

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ict/rc/filedownload.do~itemId=1068127

US: One-third of bloggers see blogging as a form of journalism

A national phone survey of bloggers from the Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that most are focused on describing their personal experiences to a relatively small audience of readers and that only a small proportion focus their coverage on politics, media, government, or technology.

Perhaps more interestingly, one-third of bloggers see blogging as a form of journalism. Many say they check facts and cite original sources.

• 34% of bloggers consider their blog a form of journalism, and 65% of bloggers do not.
• 57% of bloggers include links to original sources either “sometimes” or “often.”
• 56% of bloggers spend extra time trying to verify facts they want to include in a post either “sometimes” or “often.”

http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/003623.php

2006 Knight-Batten Award Winners Advance Discovery, Participation, Transparency

Seven new ways to connect people with news – from showing every Congressional vote, to warning where hurricanes will strike, to blogging the world – are the winners of this year's Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism.

http://www.j-lab.org/ba06finalistsrelease.shtml

VoIPocalypse Now: How Google, Skype, and Yahoo! Will Change Fixed Telcos Models

Pyramid Research, a USA-based consultancy firm, has released a report on portal VoIP services and fixed telco operators, "VoIPocalypse Now: How Google, Skype, and Yahoo! Will Change Fixed Telcos Models". The main recommendations for traditional telephone companies wanting to protect their lucrative markets from new players include: highlight VoIP vulnerabilities, cultivate subscriber lethargy, interfere with—or even block—VoIP packets and, where the latter is illegal, lobby for the ability to interfere with/block VoIP packets.

http://www.regulateonline.org/content/view/798/32

World Investment Report 2005

World Investment Report 2005 (WIR05) presents the latest trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) and explores the internationalization of research and development by transnational corporations (TNCs) along with the development implications of this phenomenon. Part One highlights recent global and regional trends in FDI and international production by TNCs. Global FDI flows resumed growth in 2004, but inflows continued to decline in developed countries. This Part documents the fact that developing regions are leading the recovery in FDI flows. It also documents different trends and patterns between developed and developing countries as regards the financing component of FDI (equity investment, reinvested earnings, intra-company loans) as well as the modes of investment (mergers and acquisitions, greenfield FDI). Part Two assesses the implications of the recent surge in R&D internationalization by TNCs. R&D activities at growing levels of complexity are increasingly being established in selected developing countries. In contrast to past experience, this R&D often goes beyond local market adaptation and involves highly complex activities targeted on global markets. The Report discusses the driving forces behind this trend and considers how host as well as home countries are affected. Finally, the Report analyses the need for active government policies to enhance development benefits from TNCs´ internationalization of R&D. The Report underlines the importance of coherent policies in order to create an environment conducive to fruitful interaction between the R&D activities of TNCs and those of domestic firms and institutions. A final chapter outlines the role of international agreements in this area. A substantial Statistical Annex is also included, with data on FDI flows and stock for more than 200 economies.

http://www.unctad.org/Templates/webflyer.asp?docid=6087&intItemID=3489&lang=1&mode=downloads

UNGIS - United Nations Group on the Information Society

In April 2006, UNGIS was endorsed by the UN-Chief Executives Board (CEB) as the new inter-agency mechanism with the main objective to coordinate substantive and policy issues facing the United Nations’ implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

UNGIS will gather CEB members (UN agencies, programs and funds as well as other specialized agencies such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund or the World Trade Organization) and is designed to promote policy and programme coordination and coherence as well as overall guidance to the UN system.

To achieve this objective UNGIS will:

• Contribute to the implementation of the Geneva Plan of Action and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, primarily at the international level, by mainstreaming the Information Society Agenda into the activities and programmes of CEB members. In this context, the UNGIS would be closely coordinated with the mechanisms for national and regional implementation established in the Tunis Agenda (paragraphs 100 and 101), as well as the multi-stakeholder implementation process (paragraphs 108-110).
• Facilitate synergies between organizations belonging to the UN system to maximize joint efforts, avoid duplication and enhance effectiveness in achieving the WSIS outcomes; and
• Promote public awareness about WSIS implementation by the UN system.

http://www.ungis.org/

China Builds a Better Internet

Meanwhile, out of sight, in research labs throughout China, engineers are busy working on another project that the Chinese government plans to unveil at the Olympics: China's Next Generation Internet (CNGI), a faster, more secure, more mobile version of the current one. And unlike the Friendlies and the stadiums, which the world will forget as soon as the games end, CNGI's impact will be felt for decades. CNGI is the centerpiece of China's plan to steal leadership away from the United States in all things Internet and information technology.

http://www.cio.com/archive/071506/china.html?action=print