A Capacity-Building Workshop: Internet Governance for Innovation and Sustainable Development 2015 United Nations Public Service Forum day and Awards Ceremony Deirdre Williams Medellin, Colombia, 25 th June 2015
Internet governance & innovations for sustainable development
Divides: don t stop things, just make them more difficult. Human beings find a way around Some divides paradoxically also help to bring together, which is why I have used the sea as a background for the slides
Caribbean and Central America Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook.
Undersea cable connections - Caribbean
Human Difference, diversity Language Culture Level of education Level of awareness Availability of local content Social/Economic
Language and Culture English spoken in a larger number of islands by a smaller number of people French Spanish the largest in number of speakers Dutch Creoles French lexicon, English lexicon, Papiamentu (Scaled up this is the situation across the world)
Interest/apathy Quite a few of us are in Buenos Aires at the ICANN meeting. The talk here is about poor to uneven participation in ICANN policy development from the region in general and the Caribbean in particular. Another type of 'divide' for sure. Carlton Samuels, email from ICANN, Buenos Aires, 23 rd June 2015
Level of Education/Level of Awareness To use the Internet effectively you still need to be able to read and write; The youth do the Internet part by themselves; they need help with things like how to run a business Fear and dislike of homogenisation by Internet
Social/Economic issues If you can t afford it (public access in libraries and schools?) If you don t know how to use it (systems for knowledge sharing so you can learn an each one teach one approach?) If you live where wireless signals and cables haven t reached you yet (lobby for appropriate use of the universal service fund)
Changing perceptions From the Dominican Republic the need to consider and try to correct the misconception by girls with good grades in maths and science that careers in ICT are somehow a rough, male preserve, and that they should choose something else to do.
Closing the Digital Divide in the Caribbean A Leadership Challenge Dr. Gillian M Marcelle, 2004 Promote widespread use of ICT applications Facilitate local design and adaptation of relevant applications Participate in globalised production of ICT equipment and services Provide cost-effective ICT enabled social services (health, education, political participation, community management) Ensure greater participation in decision making in ICT governance Make public investment in the public interest Balance diverse interests http://www.caricom.org/jsp/projects/caribbean_leadership_digital_divide.pd f
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Caribbean ICT stakeholders Virtual Community (CIVIC) Started in 2003, the Caribbean ICT Virtual Community (CIVIC) is a permanent virtual forum of Caribbean ICT stakeholders. It is a venue for sharing information, holding discussions, networking and linking ideas, actors, projects or initiatives on ICTs and development in the Caribbean. It also aims to contribute in the building of a common vision/perspective on ICTs, and to promote a Caribbean strategy and/or regional Caribbean-wide actions https://dgroups.org/groups/civic/
C@ribNET A dedicated research and education network, C@ribNET. Currently there are connections not only to tertiary institutions, but Police Academies throughout the region (through a State Dept project) are also being connected to the network for regional training in security; talks are ongoing with the SickKids-Caribbean Foundation in Toronto for consultations and diagnosis etc of pediatric diabetes and other blood disorders. http://www.ckln.org/home/content/cribnet
MAGIC: Middleware for collaborative Applications and Global virtual Communities Start: 1 st May 2015 End: 30 th April 2017 Building on the success of the ELCIRA project, RedCLARA - with partners from Latin America, Europe, the Caribbean, West and Central Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, North Africa and the Middle East, Central Asia and Asia-Pacific- is leading MAGIC, a cooperation project which aims to significantly improve the ability of researchers and academics around the world to collaborate together. http://magic-project.eu/index.php/about/about-magic
M-Fisheries 2012 Mobile Fisheries, mfisheries, presents a channel for the integration of technologyexcluded small scale fisherfolk into the global information society through the use of mobile applications, services and content that directly impact their lives and livelihoods. Dr Kim Mallalieu and her team at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago http://programafrida.net/theme/default/upload/project_docum ent/filename/mfisheries_brief_may_2012.pdf
So can we close the divide? Yes we can BUT Policy needs to address the human issues first
Thank you Mèsi anpil