Taking Internet governance webinars to the next level

As for many of Diplo’s friends, the monthly Internet governance (IG) webinars have been a constant on our schedule. Last year alone, over 300 participants joined us online to discuss IG issues.

Screenshot from the March 2014 IG webinar on NETmundial: On the path to Brazil, with Raúl Echeberría, LACNIC executive director and co-chair of NETmundial’s Executive Multistakeholder Committee, and Rodrigo de la Parra, ICANN vice-president, Stakeholder Engagement, LAC; the webinar was moderated by Diplo’s Vladimir Radunovic.

Diplo has been organising IG webinars in the last week of every month for several years. Since the first webinar in July 2011, the aim has always been to focus on a current pressing issue. Special guests – experts in each area – would first present an overview of the issue. This would then be followed by Q&As and a discussion with webinar participants and our readers. The recordings and digests were made available shortly after each webinar, and uploaded to the IG webinars archive.

Diplo’s webinars have tackled many important topics: from Net Neutrality, surveillance, and data protection, to developments within ICANN, at the European Commission, Africa, Brazil, and the Arab region, and the participation of SIDS; from outcomes of the IGF, NETmundial, WCIT and ITU Plenipotentiary meetings, to more thematic webinars on evidence and measurement in IG, the Internet of Things, open government, and remote participation.

IG issues are constantly evolving, and developments are taking place at a faster rate than before. Analysing every single development can be onerous, especially if there are also events, conferences or meetings taking place roughly at the same time.

The plan for 2015 is to merge the experience of Diplo’s IG webinars with that of the Geneva Briefings on Internet Governance, which also took place every month under the auspices of the Geneva Internet Platform (run by Diplo). Here’s what to expect:

1. Monthly ‘briefings’

We will ask ourselves which IG developments took place this month, how these developments will shape future ones and what can we expect next month? The answers will be provided in each briefing, on the last Tuesday of every month.

2. Zoomed-out updates

The monthly appointment will therefore serve a new aim: that of decoding, analysing, and summarising the main developments, which will be presented during the monthly briefing, thus providing a zoomed-out update of the major developments in global IG and digital policies.

3. Discussing the developments

As usual, there will be a dedicated time for Q&A, a discussion with the host, and space for polls.

4. Special webinars

Special events may warrant a dedicated webinar. In such cases, we will invite guest experts to brief us on the outcomes.

5. Recordings, digests and archive

In our effort to decode and present zoomed-out updates that are as timely and as relevant as the developments themselves, we will make the recordings and digests available as soon as possible. They will also be uploaded to a briefings archive for easy reference.

6. Online and in situ

All briefings will be delivered both online and in situ. Participants from Geneva are invited to join us in person. Details will be provided on each registration form.

The briefings will be delivered by the Geneva Internet Platform, an initiative of the Swiss authorities run by DiploFoundation.

To join us for our monthly briefings, register by following the links on the calendar, and subscribing to the mailing list. Follow the briefings on Twitter via #theGIP, and e-mail us your comments and suggestions to webinars@diplomacy.edu