WORKSHOP PROPOSAL IGF-BAKU
Digital Citizenship - can it translate in the face of
Dil Korkuluklar, 互联网治理论坛.中国 or "I just became the Mayor of
my living room": 4sq.com/1X23F?
("Language Barriers" in Azerbaijani or "internetgovernanceforum.china" in traditional Chinese)
Over the last decade and a half, a tremendous amount of attention has been placed on "online
safety" and protecting the "vulnerable" online, i.e., youth and the elderly.
We think the term Digital Citizenship includes but necessarily goes much farther than Internet
safety. In keeping with the 21st century's highly mobile and user-driven Internet, - it's proactive
and participatory, modeling positive behavior toward fellow participants of digital
environments and today's networked world. Digital Citizenship needs to be empowering,
instilling a sense of agency and stakeholdership in today's Internet users, including youth.
When all users of participatory media understand their key role in making experiences with
digital technology positive, the protective properties of digital citizenship will become clear.
During last year's panel at IGF Nairobi, we asked if Digital Citizenship could scale in developing
countries. While we had a healthy discussion, including some eye opening, yet informative
perspectives from youth – e.g., "maybe ‘participant’ is a better word than ‘citizen’” and “it’s not
relevant to our generation yet “, " it was clear that there is much work and consensus-building
to do to bring to Internet users of all ages and cultures awareness of their vital role.
Youth in both developed countries and developing countries share one common experience
that, fortunately, supports the notion of Digital Citizenship: they're the most active users of
social, or participatory, media and culture. And, while the youth of developing countries are
often first going online on the mobile platform, youth in developed countries' use of social
media and the Net is increasingly mobile. Youth everywhere are now accessing the Internet in
ways that challenge the early constructs of Internet safety instruction in developed countries.
Internet-safety and digital literacy training increasingly need to move past the Internet safety
lessons of 1995-2005 in the developed world.
Digital Citizenship is the concept that translates Internet safety for the new paradigm of this
digitally networked world in which Internet users in virtually every country find themselves.
Over the course of the next few years, the Internet will continue these transformations. Social
networking is here to stay, and accessing the Web via mobile devices will continue to climb.
The coming of the multi-internet as a result of new Internationalized Domain Names will bring
online millions of new users of all ages every year.
How can we help Digital Citizenship efforts? Does the term “Digital Citizens” translate – in both
developed and developing countries?
Our Workshop will focus on this question.
Format
In order to stimulate a conversation as opposed to a series of presentations, our workshop will
be a roundtable discussion with no formal slide presentations. Discussion leaders will introduce
the subject, then walk the panelists and audience members through a series of questions
designed to spark conversation and even debate. We want this to be a highly interactive
session, where everyone is sharing ideas and experiences, and contributes toward a better
understanding of the challenges faced by Digital Citizenship efforts and what the solutions
should be.
In order to engage geographically and ethnically diverse youth audiences, the workshop will
leverage digital tools, including integrated Twitter and uStream feeds, to enable robust
discussions prior to, during and following the event in November. This ensures that the
workshop content is relevant to youth interested in the subject and responsive to their specific
needs, while building a global community of young digital activists that can be mobilized for
continued work with IGF.
Proposed Catalysts
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Anne Collier, ConnectSafely.org - Confirmed
Kim Sanchez, Microsoft - Confirmed
Representative from ICT Qatar
Jim Prendergast, Galway Strategy Group, Remote Moderator - Confirmed
Additional regional organizations - TBD
George DeBakey, DeBakey International - Confirmed
Elizabeth Metraux, PH International - Confirmed
University Professor, Baku, Azerbaijan - (TBD)
Representative from Government of Azerbaijan - invited
Youth Participants:
Ms. Arzu Geybullayeva, Azerbaijan and Turkey – Confirmed
Mr. Niko (Nikolay) Harutyunyan, Armenia, Center for Creative Technologies – Invited
Mr. Berdia Natsvlishvili, Republic of Georgia – plus 2-3 others (TBD)
Iran – 1-2 – (TBD)
Nordic Youths from Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland – 3-4 – (TBD)
Main theme is Openness, Security and Privacy
Specific questions we are trying to address: What measures can be taken to ensure freedom of
expression, access to knowledge and privacy, including for children? What are the challenges to
protecting freedom of expression online and what measures can be taken to better empower
citizens’ access to information and participation in the digital age? “Net Etiquette” and the roles
and responsibilities of users as they relate to openness, privacy and security?