[Chapter-delegates] Update on preparations for IGF 2008

[Bill Graham]

Dear all,

Several ISOC Trustees, as well as Matthew Shears and I are currently  
members of the United Nations IGF multistakeholder advisory group, and  
attended the most recent meeting a little over a week ago in Geneva.   
At the meeting, there was lengthy discussion of the format and topics  
of this year's meeting in Hyderabad, India.  (See minutes at <http://www.intgovforum.org/AGD/MAG.Summary.16.05.2008.final.pdf 
 >)  The MAG decided to quite radically alter the format of the IGF,  
so I thought I should alert you, particularly because I see quite a  
few ISOC Chapters are involved with workshop proposals in one way or  
another, and there are new deadlines.

1.	Workshop Proposals and Coming Deadlines

	The MAG did not go through the workshop proposals in detail, but did  
use them as an indication of where many people's interests were for  
the IGF program (i.e., many workshop proposals on a topic = higher  
interest in that topic).  Approximately 105 proposals were received,  
but not all were in final form.  There will *not* be room in Hyderabad  
to accommodate all proposed workshops -- the maximum will be in the 75  
to 80 range.  There is now a deadline of 30 June for completing the  
proposals by adding missing information.  The proposals are all posted  
at the IGF site <http://www.intgovforum.org/workshops_08/ 
wrkshplist.php> -- all workshop proposers are encouraged to look at  
the list and if possible merge workshops with others that are  
similar.  If any of you are involved in organizing workshops, I would  
urge you to think about whether there are other proposals on the list,  
and try to arrange to merge them.

	You should be aware that, in addition to individual chapters'  
proposals, ISOC has made proposals to organize a workshop on  
Multilingualism (#23: Steps toward an Internet that is multilingual,  
yet remains global), one on IXPs (#86:  Internet Exchange Points -  
Benefits and Best Practices), and agreed to work with other  
organizations on several others.

	The same 30 June deadline has been set for submitting proposals for  
Open Forums, proposals for Dynamic Coalition meetings, and for  
submitting requests for a booth in the IGF village.  The IGF village  
will be an open display space, and I expect it to be larger than the  
one for previous IGF meetings.

	There is a second deadline of 12 September for  submission of the  
final program for all workshops, best practice forums, open forums and  
Dynamic Coalition meetings.  It is aldo the deadline for submission of  
papers as an input for the Hyderabad meeting.  All papers submitted by  
this date will be reflected in a synthesis paper prepared by the  
Secretariat for the Hyderabad meeting.

2,	Structure of the IGF

	The minutes of the meeting explain the new structure fairly well, but  
I will try to clarify a bit more.  From public consultations, the MAG  
got a clear message that IGF attendees felt the main sessions with  
large panels of speakers were not very useful  To avoid a repeat, MAG  
decided to rework the main room programs into two types of sessions:  
"super workshops," and "debates."  Both of those will still happen in  
a large room and will benefit from simultaneous interpretation  
provided in the 6 official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English,  
French, Russian and Spanish).  The super workshops and debates will be  
on the following themes and sub-themes (chosen in part based on the  
number of workshop proposals on each):
•  Day 1: Reaching the next billion:
	o Access
	o Multilingualism
•  Day 2: Promoting cyber-security and trust:
	o Are we losing the battle against cyber-crime?
	o Fostering security, privacy and openness
•  Day 3: Managing critical Internet resources
	o Transition from IPv4 to IPv6
	o Arrangements for Internet governance – global and national/regional
•  Day 4: Emerging issues:
	o The Internet of tomorrow - Innovation and the evolution of the  
Internet.

The MAG will take responsibility for organizing the super workshops,  
but (via the minutes) has invited others who submitted proposals for  
individual workshops on those themes to collaborate on them, if they  
wish.  That will be an open offer: no one will be forced to  
collaborate on the super workshops, and they are welcome to continue  
seeking their own (if space is available).  The MAG responsibility  
will be to ensure the super workshops are balanced, and not overtaken  
by any one point of view.

	Two super workshops will be held each morning except Day 4 (because  
the second time slot will be used for an open stocktaking and way- 
forward session about the IGF).  In the afternoons, the chairs of each  
of the super workshops will present their findings briefly, and the  
rest of the main hall time will be left to an open debate, which could  
include reports from individual workshops (i.e., not the super  
workshops) as well.

	This new format will be a challenging experiment, in my opinion.   
Approximately 2000 people are expected to attend the Hyderabad  
meeting, so having any kind of open discussion that remains reasonably  
focused and coherent will require the skills of an excellent chair, at  
a minimum.  But it also presents opportunities.  If any of you have  
found it difficult to raise points or express your views at previous  
IGFs, you should find it easier this year.  If you do have things you  
want to say on any of the specific topics, I would recommend you think  
about preparing some very short speaking notes, which will make it  
easier for you to use the time available.

	Finally, you should know that there will be an ISOC IGF Ambassador  
program again for the 2008 meeting.  The call letter, application  
form, and guidelines are in preparation, and should be posted to the  
web site next week.  If you are interested, please watch for it there.

	I hope you find this information useful -- best regards

Bill




========================
Bill Graham
Global Strategic Engagement
The Internet Society
graham at isoc.org
tel +1.613.231.8543 or
  +1.703.439.2157