[Chapter-delegates] Report - Inet Qatar, 27 November, Doha, The Rise of the Arab Information Society

Mon Dec 3 02:01:13 PST 2012

Video of the INET Qatar conference is available at
http://isoc-ny.org/p2/4496

At present they are uncaptioned. I have hopes of getting some volunteer
assistance to caption them in English, and then in Arabic. If you know of
anyone who would be interested in helping out, please do put them in touch.

joly

On Mon, Dec 3, 2012 at 4:43 AM, Constance Bommelaer <bommelaer at isoc.org>wrote:

> Dear Members,
>
> The Internet Society (Dr. Dawit Bekele, Regional Bureau Director for
> Africa, and Ms. Constance Bommelaer, Director of Public Policy) organized,
> in partnership with ictQATAR, the first Inet conference in the Gulf region
> on 27 November, in Doha. Supported by ictQATAR, Carnegie Mellon University
> Qatar,'T4me' and 'I love Qatar', the event gathered around 300 participants
> to discuss ”The Rise of the Arab Information Society”:
> http://www.internetsociety.**org/events/inet-qatar<http://www.internetsociety.org/events/inet-qatar>
>
> In their opening remarks, Dr. Hessa, Al Jaber, Secretary General, Supreme
> Council of Information and Communication Technology, ictQATAR, and Ms.
> Walda Roseman, Chief Operating Officer at the Internet Society, recognized
> this event as a milestone in fostering the Internet community in the region.
>
> Discussions began with an overview of the state of the Internet in the
> Arab region. As demonstrated by Professor William Dutton from the Oxford
> Internet Institute, we have seen in the past years tremendous developments
> of the Internet in this part of the world. The development of the physical
> infrastructure has given birth to new trends in the region with regards to
> multilingualism, but also security, privacy or freedom. Panelists
> emphasized how timely and critical it is to address these issues to ensure
> the Internet’s development is for everyone - and allows progress “Towards
> an inclusive Information Society”.
>
> The conference continued with a reflection on how and why the Internet is
> such a strategic resource for “Spurring Innovation and Economic growth”.
> Many stakeholders and business entities believe it is the Openness of the
> Internet - an open architecture, based on open development standards
> processes – that is the cause of this success. Taylor Reynolds, Senior
> Economist at the OECD, demonstrated that policies that preserve this
> openness contribute to a sustainable economic growth.
>
> The last session was the occasion of a frank dialogue on current “Internet
> Policy Challenges and the Way Forward” between policymakers
> (Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Lebanon, Kuwait Information
> Technology) and representatives of the business (Microsoft, Verizon and
> Samena Telecommunications Council) and the technical communities (Ripe NCC
> and ISOC). A series of international and regional conferences currently
> shed light on the different possible policy frameworks – different models –
> that can be chosen. The 2012 ITU World Conference on International
> Telecommunications, the OECD High-Level meeting on Cyber-Security planned
> for 2013, the 8th Internet Governance Forum also planned for 2013 – and
> many other tracks of discussions and negotiations with a constant and
> unchanged question: How should Internet-related public policies be
> developed? – What is a multi-stakeholder model? What kind of added value
> does it bring to the development of the Internet?
>
> Finally, and because our attempt was to discuss the foundations of
> tomorrow’s information society, it seemed more than legitimate to involve
> the next generation of policy and industry leaders in Inet Qatar’s
> discussions. We had the privilege of hearing students from Education City
> and their professors – Professor John Laprise from Northwestern university,
> Professors George White and Daniel Phelps from Carnegie Mellon – interact
> with the panelists and share their views on the rise of the Arab
> information society.
>
> Side-meetings
> -------------
>
> Inet Qatar was preceded by the first Middle Eastern and Northern African
> Chapters’ Workshop, held on 26 November. Chapter representatives from the
> following Middle Eastern and Northern African Chapters participated in the
> workshop:
>
> -       Lebanon Chapter
> -       Palestine Chapter
> -       Bahrein Chapter
> -       United Arab Emirates Chapter
> -       Qatar Chapter
> -       Morocco Chapter
> -       Tunisia Chapter
> -       Egypt Chapter (in rejuvenation)
>
> In addition to the chapter representatives, Damian Radcliffe, Internet &
> Society Manager of ictQATAR and other staff members of the Internet Society
> participated in the meeting chaired by Ms. Walda Roseman. The workshop was
> organized by Ms. Christine Saegesser Baethge, Senior Manager, Chapter
> Development-Africa and the Middle East of the Internet Society, with the
> generous support of ictQATAR.
>
> The chapters’ representatives had the opportunity to discuss our common
> strategic planning, the various activities of the Internet Society and the
> chapters as well as the tools available for chapters. The workshop was an
> opportunity to share experiences between the chapters and Internet Society
> staff members present at the meeting. The participants appreciated the
> Internet Society’s interest in this increasingly important region and urged
> for an increased presence of the Internet Society in the Middle East and
> Northern Africa for increased collaboration to strengthen the region. We
> would like to thank ictQATAR who has made this workshop possible by
> sponsoring the venue, catering and half of the chapters’ representatives.
>
> Inet Qatar was also followed by a half day Briefing Session on Internet
> Governance with ictQATAR managers. Internet-related policy and governance
> issues at the global and the regional levels were discussed with
> representatives from the technical community including Ms. Theresa
> Swinehart, Member of the Board of ISOC, Ms. Sofie Maddens, Senior Director
> of Global Services at ISOC, and Mr. Paul Rendek, Director of External
> Affairs at Ripe NCC.
>
> These events in the Middle East are the first of a series in the region
> where the Internet Society is looking forward to developing its presence
> and outreach in close cooperation with Mr. Fadel Al Enazi, Chairman of ISOC
> Qatar.
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> --
> Constance Bommelaer
> Director, Public Policy
> The Internet Society
> www.isoc.org
> ______________________________**_________________
> As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically subscribed
> to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet Society
> Chapter Portal (AMS): https://portal.isoc.org
>

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