IGF banner incident

This year topics on the agenda of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) – in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt – are amongst others managing critical Internet resources, security, openness, privacy, access and diversity. On Sunday in their opening talks both the Egyptian Prime Minister and the Minister of Telecommunication were stressing especially the economic opportunities internet offers. Not one word was referring to the open character of internet, technical- and content wise.  “Egypt’s legitimacy to host such a meeting is questionable as it has repeatedly been guilty of violations of online free expression,” Reporters Without Borders said.

However minister Tarek Kamel of Communication and Information Technology welcomed explicitly the two fathers of the internet – Sir Tim Berners Lee and Bob Kahn – both very much in favour of an open and inclusive internet. Tim Berners Lee gave a summary of the past twenty years of the Internet existence as we know it. There has been lots of debate about the open structure of internet – transparency and openness versus security and safety. Berners Lee: ‘But two webs will not work, it has to be one web. No matter which device you use. Not only a matter of the language and signs you use. This universality implies an international approach. As time went on, standards did not seem enough. The web had to serve humanity to its up most including the disabled, poor and illiterate.’ Berners Lee than officially launched the World Wide Web Foundation. With support from the Knight Foundation the WWW Foundation will not look at connecting computers or counting webpages: ‘we look at humanity and want to empower the people’. He closed with the announcement of a workshop the next day on the precise goals and tasks of the new foundation.

The IGF has had its political incident just a few hours before. The Open Net Initiative – related to the Hivos partner The Berkman Institute – had their banner removed at the start of their workshop. The banner was taken away by security officer removed because it referred to amongst others Tibet and the Great Firewall of China. After their presentation ONI announced to write a letter to officially protest to the UN/IGF organisation against this act of censorship. Robert J. Deibert: ‘ When we refused to remove it, their security guards bundled it up and took it away. If this is a form of internet governance than how can privacy, access and freedom of expression be seriously discussed at this congress?’

Also read the Jac sm  Kee’s post on GenderIT

including the videoclip on of the situation at the APC website

PBwiki on the move

‘Making a wiki is as easy as making a peanut butter sandwich’, is the slogan of the company PBwiki. This week founder David Weekly visited an ICCO meeting as a keynote speaker. The Peanut Butter metaphor will not last much longer because in a few months time this name will be changed. Better integration in the desktop, use of spreadsheets and calender will be included in the new version; formerly known as PBwiki.

The meeting started with a handful development organisations – ICCO, IICD and Euforic – giving a short presentation of the way they use PBwiki in their daily work. Some organisations even integrated PBwiki in their intranet to make individual and collaborative planning, reporting, communicating, documenting and supporting easier. This was a gathering of enthusiastic wiki users. Of course the co workers who are less happy in using on line tools did not attend the meeting.

When does it work? You need:

- to focus on the need —-and deliver

- a simple structure

- manage access levels

- initiators, collaborators and audience

- timely support

We work smarter together; is David Weekly’s philosophy. He chatted about the start of PBwiki – he wrote it in a few hours – about the current situation and future business plans. He shared some wiki tips and emphasized the importance of privacy: all data uploaded is encrypted and saved on servers at three locations. Some of his clients – amongst others the Royal Bank of Scotland, FedEx and the Financial Times – are dealing with highly confidential stuff. You own your data, according to David.

Wiki’s will not do the work for you. One of the speakers talked of the parallel with gardening; a wiki does need attention and maintenance. Only then it will pay of, look nice and make people happy. Just like a garden does.

Watch the videoclip of the PB Wiki meeting

IDFA after talk

My favourites for the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) are this year:

Burma VJ; winner of the Joris Ivens Award and the ‘Movies That Matter’ Human Rights Award and also my number one.

Afghan Star; how about the tv programme Idols in Afghanistan? A film  about national roadshow in search of Afghanistan next big star.

When Carmen meets Borat; Carmen is 17 years old and lives in Glod; a small gypsy village somewhere in the Romanian mountains. She works daily in the shop and pub of her father. But Carmen dreams of a future somewhere else; somewhere she can find her ideal husband and lead a fantastic and rich life. She watches Spanish soap operas on TV and learns Spanish. When a man named Borat and his film crew appear; the villagers cooperate on what they believe will be a documentary.

Rough Aunties; “Fearless, feisty and resolute, the ‘Rough Aunties’ are a remarkable group of women unwavering in their stand to protect and care for the abused, neglected and forgotten children of Durban, South Africa.”

The Queen and I;  ‘Whereas during the Iranian Revolution in the late seventies the leftist documentary-maker Nahid Persson helped depose the shah the Iranian king. In reaction to these reprimands, Nahid decides to make a film about the last Iranian queen Farah, who lives abroad, like herself. This leads to a fascinating encounter of two women with clashing political visions, who develop an improbable friendship in the two years of their association’

De crisiskaravaan

‘Journalisten die zich meestal graag als kritische buitenstaanders presenteren, worden bij humanitaire rampen opeens volgelingen van de hulpverleners. Probleemloos gaan ze mee in de claim op neutraliteit van de humanitaire hulpverleningsorganisaties. Betrouwbaarheid en deskundigheid van de hulpverleners zijn boven journalistieke twijfel verheven.’ Onderzoeksjournaliste Linda Polman spaart in haar onlangs verschenen boek De Crisiskaravaan haar eigen beroepsgroep niet.

Donderdag 9 oktober gaf Polman in Felix Meritis een gloedvolle samenvatting van haar boek in de vorm van De Globaliseringslezing. Merkwaardig – maar vooral een beetje saai – was dat het panel bestond uit vier vertegenwoordigers van hulpverleningsorganisaties. Hun reacties op Polmans lezing droegen min of meer hetzelfde karakter (bij ons gaat dat anders). De een verpakte het intelligent, de ander hield een verkooppraatje; toch hoorde ik in essentie vier keer hetzelfde. Jammer dat er niet nog een journalist, bij voorkeur met een andere uitgangspositie, was uitgenodigd. Of dat meer moeite was gedaan om een politicus in het panel te krijgen.

Een meer algemene opmerking: de ondertitel van het boek – dat bestaat uit een spannende, soms provocerende analyse gelardeerd met goed gedocumenteerde praktijkcases – luidt ‘Achter de schermen van de noodhulpindustrie’.  Nu vrees ik dat tegenstanders van ontwikkelingssamenwerking dit boek in debatten over de zin en onzin van ontwikkelingssamenwerking zullen gebruiken om de OS hond te slaan. Dat De crisiskaravaan expliciet verslag doet van de gevoelige en gevaarlijke kanten van noodhulp, is een nuance die in discussies snel verloren zal gaan.

Metropolis TV

Metropolis TV is a clear example of citizen journalism combining international current affairs. The television programmes and website are produced by VPRO TV in cooperation with Hivos. The TV broadcasts are aired on Fridays on Dutch public TV channel Nederland 3. They are also available on the website Metropolistv.

Unlike the directors cuts of the videos on this website (which will be subtitled in English) the TV shows are only available in Dutch.