Feminist talk

Is Pakistan putting the UN Millennium Goals at risk?

Posted Thu 7 Oct 2010 - 04:01 | 9,770 views
"The discussions I witnessed at IGF 2010 really brought home to me the scale of the challenges we still face, if we are to make meaningful progress towards the goals of the IGF in general, and MDG3 in particular." Nighat Dad from the Pakistan MDG3: Take Back the Tech! project assesses the outcomes of IGF and the Millenium Development Goals in the context of national debates and women’s rights.

Feminist talk

Lebanon: Queering the internet

Posted Mon 27 Sep 2010 - 02:26 | 7,943 views
Lebanon EroTICs team report-back to the local Meem group (www.meemgroup.org) about the IGF. She reflects on strategy and queer history on the Internet: "Last week, I went to Vilnius, Lithuania to represent the Lebanon team of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC)’s Exploratory Research Project into Sexuality and the Internet (EroTICs) at the…

Feminist talk

Africa and internet governance: going global or stay local?

Posted Sun 19 Sep 2010 - 10:54 | 8,419 views
The impact of internet governance on Africa was discussed on September 16th 2010, in Vilnius, Lithuania. There was fair representation of all stakeholders. Officials from South Africa, Kenya and Tunisia were there; a representative from an internet service provider; and various Africa bodies that follow the process, such as AFRINIC, ISOC Africa and CICEWA. And there were representatives from…

Feminist talk

dot gay: what are the implications?

Posted Fri 17 Sep 2010 - 01:32 | 53,359 views
It was in a dynamic coalition session on freedom of expression and freedom of the media on the internet that Schubert announced that the domain name, “dot gay” was in the pipeline. The domain name hopes to incorporate all lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer sites under one domain. Nyx looks at who is excluded, and the potential impact of a 'dot gay' domain on queer communities.

Feminist talk

First-time impressions of IGF10

Posted Thu 16 Sep 2010 - 22:51 | 9,224 views
"As one door closes, another opens", they say sometimes. This is the first IGF I have attended... and yet if the initial plan is to be kept, it may be the last occurrence of this international gathering. Nighat explores why she thinks that if that's how it turns out, it will be a shame.

Feminist talk

Why I took a long flight to Vilnius

Posted Thu 16 Sep 2010 - 05:57 | 9,680 views
Francoise examines the role that mass media play as the fourth estate or power in the world, and looks at how convergence and large media companies are threatening the positive achievements of the internet in helping to create diversity, freedom of expression and greater focus on human rights reporting.

Feminist talk

Why we should get over facebook

Posted Thu 16 Sep 2010 - 03:57 | 10,806 views
Social networking sites and privacy formed the main topics in two sessions Maya attended - but she found that the discussions were not grounded in research, that users were absent from the debates and tired assumptions dominated the rooms. What's needed, she argues, are more workable proposals that take into account a variety of research and based on how people actually use social networking…

Feminist talk

“The youth are good for nothing”: session on social exclusion

Posted Wed 15 Sep 2010 - 05:08 | 9,281 views
Nyx attended a session on social exclusion, where the portrayal of youth by a Kenyan MP, and his ignorance of what was going on even in the conference around him, caused her to reflect on youth and their engagement in governance processes.

Feminist talk

Reflecting on language and power

Posted Wed 15 Sep 2010 - 00:57 | 8,960 views
Looks at how power is played out in the language and terminology used in the IGF discussions, even when the theme of the discussion is "Internet governance and human rights: strategies and collaboration for empowerment".

Feminist talk

Close Encounters

Posted Tue 14 Sep 2010 - 17:41 | 9,280 views
This is the third time Maya is attending the Internet Governance Forum and she has never really expected anything too extraordinary to happen here. She finds her expectations challenged when she meets with two representatives of the ICM Registry and IFFOR (the International Foundation for Online Responsibility) at a session on Sexual Rightsi, Openness and Regulatory Systems - who are interested…