NRIs Meeting V

NATIONAL, (SUB)REGIONAL AND YOUTH IGF INITIATIVES
- Virtual Meeting V, 16 July 2018, 14:00 p.m. UTC -

SUMMARY REPORT

About 

  1. The 5th virtual meeting of the National, Subregional, Regional and Youth IGF Initiatives (NRIs), took place on 16 July 2018 at 14:00 p.m. UTC.
     
  2. The meeting was hosted by the IGF Secretariat’s NRIs Focal Point. Agenda is attached to this document as Annex A1 and a list of Meeting Participants as Annex A2. The list of shared documents is attached to this report as Annex A3.

Summary of key points

  1. The meeting was opened with a few updates shared from the IGF Secretariat, related to the main outcomes of the IGF 2018 Second Open Consultations and MAG Meeting, hosted from 11 to 13 July at the United Nations Office at Geneva, Switzerland. These updates were the following:  
  • The MAG has finalized the evaluation process of the 344 workshop proposals in total. It is expected that approximately 60 slots will be reserved for workshops, subject to final decision of the MAG at their next virtual meeting.
  • The IGF Secretariat has reviewed all received Open Forums, and 32 out of 40 received, are eligible to be incorporated in the programme, subject to availability of space.
  • The overarching theme for the IGF 2018 annual meeting is not finalized. However, the majority of shared proposals from the MAG and the Host Country, were coined around the terms ‘trust’ and ‘digital revolution’.
  • The request from the NRIs to host the main session on the Evolution of the Internet Governance, with a focus on the multistakeholder approach, was approved to be done in collaboration with the MAG.
  • The request from the Dynamic Coalitions (DCs) to host the main session was approved to be prepared in collaboration with the private sector.
  • In total 82 request for the IGF Village were received. The venue will be able to accommodate 54, and the review process of all requests is underway.
     
  1. From the IGF-USA it was suggested that the IGF Secretariat could explore the option of accommodating all booth requests by assigning a booth for half of the day to the stakeholders that do not have enough resources to staff the booth for the whole day. The Host took note of this suggestion and will pass it to the management.
     
  2. After these updates, the participants moved to discussing the next agenda item focused on the NRIs Main Session at the 2018 IGF.
     
  3. The Host informed that the MAG approved the NRIs request for organizing the main session on the agreed topic, in collaboration with the MAG members. The Host added that this is feasible, as there is a number of MAG members directly affiliated with the NRIs. The Host asked the NRIs to advise on the next preparatory steps for the main session and how the synergies could be created between the NRIs and the MAG in this regard. It was informed that most probably all main sessions will have at disposal 80 minutes of allocated time.
     
  4. From the IGF-USA, it was stressed that several MAG members are directly affiliated with the NRIs, and the collaboration with the MAG on the organization of the NRIs main session should be done with those members, in order to keep the bottom up, horizontal way of co-organization across the NRIs. It was added that the NRIs are fortunate to have good communication with the IGF 2018 Host Country through the national IGF of France.
     
  5. It was agreed that the IGF Secretariat will schedule a doodle poll for the NRIs to respond if they plan to attend the IGF 2018 in person or online, and if they are willing to commit to actively participate in the preparation of the NRIs-related session at the IGF (namely, the main session, coordination session and collaborative sessions) and the joint booth at the IGF Village. Also, it was said that it would be useful if the NRIs could designate community members to help the organizational process, in case the coordinators are not with this capacity. Having this data available as soon as possible will help the scheduling and management of the NRIs preparatory work for the 13th IGF annual meeting.
     
  6.  The Indonesia IGF coordinator asked for an explanation on who is considered to be an active NRI. It was explained that all those that keep active their IGF processes and are contributing to the NRIs join work are considered to be active.
     
  7. From the IGF-USA it was proposed to develop a set of designated, orientation, policy questions, that would help to navigate the session within a very limited time framework. It was pointed to some of the previous practices, where for example the session on the WSIS+10 Review at the 2015 IGF was designed in a similar way, giving speakers a maximum of 1 minute for their remarks, and others a maximum of 1 minute for responding or challenging those remarks. It was proposed that one of the question be focused on the factors that helped the NRIs to achieve the current level of the multistakeholder engagement, as well as on the change that came out of the IGF processes established on the national and regional levels have, especially related to changing policies and laws.
     
  8. From the Spain IGF it was reminded that their Initiative is of an opinion that the session should be focused on cases where the multistakeholder model contributed to decision making and development of the Internet.
     
  9. From the Nigeria IGF and West Africa IGF it was added that the diversity criteria could be factored in, while organizing the main session, for practical purpose of effectively using limited time.  
     
  10. The Host noted that the NRIs mailing list is open to everyone that would want to be informed about preparatory work. However, the coordinator from the IGF-USA said that the purpose of the list is to be a working space of the NRIs, while others can observe. It was added that the NRIs should think deeper about the status of observers.
     
  11. Participants advised that for the continuation of the preparatory process of the collaborative sessions, the NRIs should continue submitting topics through the already initiated process, that will indicate topical interests. Many underlined the importance of these, and their nature focused on an interactive and multistakeholder way for bringing bottom up inputs to the wider IGF community. The Host added that these sessions received a very positive feedback from the wider community during the 12th IGF, and the post-meeting Taking Stock process. The Croatian IGF coordinator added that their respective community is focusing of leveraging their process, to have the wider community consulted on these topics and feed into the global IGF.
     
  12. The Host informed the NRIs that during the MAG meeting, the BPF on Cybersecurity co-facilitators said that they are willing to engage with the NRIs, in case there will be a collaborative session focused on the cybersecurity. The NRIs were advised to think about this expended collaboration, while the final list of topics is finalized.
     
  13. Finally, the Host reminded that the topics for the collaborative session will be developed in reflection to the topics that are under-represented in the IGF programme, mainly referring to workshops and DCs sessions, for the sake of bringing diversity to the programme and contributing to a more comprehensive agenda.
     
  14. The co-facilitator of the BPF on Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Internet of Things briefed the NRIs on the objectives of this BPF (Annex A3.1), and invited everyone to join the mailing list and contribute to developing a good output documents. The co-facilitator explained that this BPF will look at the linkages of its topic with the SDGs, and for that reason, they are mapping the work that is already underway with many focus groups within the IGF ecosystem, including the NRIs.
     
  15. In closing, the Host reminded participants on the dedicated call between the BPF on Cybersecurity and the NRIs scheduled for the day after this Meeting, 17 July, 15:00 p.m. UTC. Everyone were encouraged to join this call in order to explore ways for strengthening the collaboration between this BPF and the NRIs.
     
  16. In closing, the IGF-USA coordinator recognized the passing of one of the IGF community members, Manu Bhardwaj, that left strong impact on the Internet Governance field and was a strong supporter of the NRIs.

 

Next Steps

  1.  A full summary report will be sent to the NRIs mailing list within the next three working days, for further consultations.
  2.  The IGF Secretariat will invite all NRIs to continue suggesting the priority topics for the NRIs collaborative sessions.
  3. The IGF Secretariat will schedule the doodle poll for the NRIs to respond if they plan to attend the IGF 2018 annual meeting in person or online, and if they are willing to commit to actively contribute to the preparatory process.
  4. Next meeting: A doodle poll will be sent in two weeks-time, for scheduling the next virtual meeting.
  5.  For any suggestions or questions regarding the Report, kindly contact the IGF Secretariat, NRIs Focal Point at: [email protected].

 

ANNEX A1
AGENDA: Virtual Meeting V

  1. Welcome and Introductions
  2. Feedback to the 2nd IGF2018 Open Consultations and MAG Meeting
  3. Next steps: NRIs Main Session
  4. Next Steps: NRIs Collaborative Sessions
  5. NRIs collaboration with BPF on AI, Big Data and IoT
  6. Reminder to NRIs-BPF on Cybersecurity Call (17 July)
  7. AoB

 

ANNEX A2 
MEETING PARTICIPANTS (in alphabetical order):

  1. Almudena Fernández, Spain IGF
  2. Anja Gengo, IGF Secretariat
  3. Carlos Vera, Ecuador IGF
  4. Concettina Cassa, Italy IGF
  5. Dajana Mulaj, Youth Albania IGF
  6. Fotjon Kosta, Albania IGF
  7. Katie Watson, ISOC
  8. Kristina Hakobyan, Armenia IGF
  9. Lucien Castex, France IGF
  10. Mahamat Silim Moustapha, Youth Africa IGF
  11. Maheeshwara Kirindigoda, Sri Lanka IGF
  12. Mard Diana, Indonesia IGF
  13. Marilyn Cade, IGF-USA
  14. Mary Uduma, Nigeria IGF
  15. Natasa Glavor, Croatia IGF
  16. Nigel Cassimire, Caribbean IGF
  17. Paul Rowney, Namibia IGF
  18. Penelope O'Leary, USA
  19. Ying-Chu Chen, APrIGF community
  20.  Zeina Bou Harb, Lebanon

 

 

ANNEX A3
LIST OF SHARED INPUTS:
A3.1. BPF on AI, Big Data and Internet of Things

IGF 2018

Best Practice Forum on AI, IoT, Big Data

Draft outlook / structure

 

  1.  AI, IoT, Big Data - Introduction

Content:

Definitions of the of the three concepts with few examples. 

The BPF document is intended to inform policy discussions, clear definitions tailored to an audience of policy makers who not necessarily deal with technology on a day-to-day basis.

  1. How AI, IoT and Big Data come together
  2. How AI, IoT and Big Data together can help address SDGs
  3. what we should watch out for (dangers/traps)?

Content:

Identify different dangers and issues across the three technologies, what the risks are and why they should be addresses.

Input from survey:

Transparency, Accountability, Security, Privacy, Education, ….

  1. Existing platforms and working groups that are discussing or well-placed to discuss issues identified in.

Initial input from survey.

  1. Next Steps  ?

Content:

BPF 2018 identified link between AI-IoT-Big Data and their potential contribution to SDGs.

BPF 2018 identified potential risks and dangers; and stakeholders forums discussing or well placed to address these risks and dangers.

BPF in 2019 could then dive deeper into some of the issues and best practices to deal with them.  ( the BPF 2018 could identify and prioritize issues )