DiploNews – Issue 224 – 20 March 2013

May 2013 online courses

Starting on 6 May 2013, Diplo will offer a series of important online courses covering essential topics in contemporary diplomacy, including:

• 
  Bilateral Diplomacy
• 
  Diplomacy of Small States
• 
  E-diplomacy
• 
  Economic Diplomacy (NEW! – available in this session as a certificate course only)

Apply by 1 April for Diplo Certificate Courses. For further information or to apply, click on the titles of the courses above, or visit our courses website. Register now to reserve your place.

After ten years immersed in the multilateral side of diplomacy and international relations, the Bilateral Diplomacy Course provided me with an invaluable complement to my experience. Though challenging and intense, Ambassador Rana guided us to exchange and discuss the topics and generate ideas, as well as to apply what was learnt to our real-life situations. I was particularly drawn to the myriad theories and aspects of cultural diplomacy, and the role it plays in the successful practice of diplomacy and negotiations, which provided me with new skills useful to my work.

Myrna Huggins, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Communications, Trinidad and Tobago
 

Save the date: Webinar on ICANN’s new engagement strategy in the developing world

ICANN’s soul-searching continues: from the implementation of its management reform, the introduction of new gTLDs, and its new CEO, ICANN is moving closer to stakeholders in an effort to make the organisation relevant to its stakeholders around the globe. Our March webinar, on Tuesday, 26th March, at 14:00 GMT, will focus on ICANN’s new engagement strategy in the developing world. Our discussion will be led by Dr Tarek Kamel, ICANN’s Senior Advisor to the President, and former Minister of Communication and Information Technology in Egypt. Read more about the webinar here. The page contains links to the registration form.
 

April at Diplo in Geneva

After a long and cold winter, at least in Geneva, the first signs of spring are appearing. Diplo will also follow this natural cycle. We will start this month with a seminar on Persuasion, the essence of diplomacy in honour of the 80th birthday of Professor Dietrich Kappeler (co-organised with the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies). At the seminar we will present a book of the same title, which has a series of a very interesting articles. Panellist will discuss persuasion from various perspectives including diplomatic, academic, journalistic, and photographic. If you are in Geneva please join us. We may also broadcast the event (if you are interested in receiving information on broadcasting please let us know at persuasion@diplomacy.edu

On 17 April 2013 we will host the second e-diplomacy day in Geneva focusing on online learning. We will use an innovative approach by having a morning discussion (10.00 – 12.00) via webinar accessible to  anyone on the Internet. In the evening, we will organise a meet-up style meeting at Diplo’s premises in Geneva (18.00 – 20.00). Through the mix of reception and discussion we aim to identify what Geneva International (international organisations, academia) can offer via online learning to learners and students worldwide.

Next week, 22-24 April, Diplo will have a stand at the International Security Forum in Geneva where we will discuss our new activities in the field of cybersecurity.
 

‘Internet Governance Lite’ videos

Ever wondered how the Internet works and what all these terms and abbreviations – like IPv6, DNSSec, DPI or Cloud Computing – stand for? You don’t have to be an engineer to understand it. Check out our new series of animated videos, produced with support of VeriSign: Internet Governance Lite playlist

Of course, feel free to use them or share further – they are available under Creative Commons licences. Also, you are more than welcome to send us feedback, and ideas for some future videos!
 

Discussing Internet governance

Preparations for the upcoming Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Bali, Indonesia, in October, have started. Deirdre Williams shares a call for workshop proposals by the IGF Secretariat. The call is a preliminary call for proposals which closes this week; a second call for complete workshop proposals closes in April.

In a second blog post, Deirdre writes about the Freedom to choose, and asks whether our right to choose is being eroded by ‘web-herders’, i.e. those who manoeuvre the vulnerable, under the guise of protecting them. ‘Is the group you are joining really a voluntary association, or are you being pressured and manoeuvred into belonging? Is there really a choice?’, she asks.

In Website cookies, Dejan Dincic, Diplo’s technical director, shares a video that describes the issue related to website cookies and the legislation in the European Union.

In Can ‘Six Strikes’ solve internet piracy?, Steven Nelson discusses the Copyright Alert System (CAS), the latest attempt to end online piracy in the US. CAS involves a three-tiered, ‘six strikes’ system, of warnings and sanctions to online pirates… but the question is: will this work?

To read and comment on IG-related blog posts, follow Diplo’s Internet governance blog roll, and follow posts/comments shared by members of Diplo’s IG community.
 

What’s happening in Diplo’s blogosphere

Over on the E-diplomacy channel, Jovan Kurbalija talks about Developing more inclusive and effective diplomacy. If you missed our webinar on Twitter, never fear. You can get the gist of it in on Webinar digest: Twitter for Diplomacy – How to Harness the Power of Ideas. Mary Murphy looks at  Ambassadors who love to tweet while we launch the first of three Diplo blogs on Kony2012: Truth in the social mediasphere – lessons from #Kony2012

Biljana Scotts asks  Why don’t you come over? as she talks about the furore over rumours that UK ministers were considering a negative advertising campaign to be targeted at Romanians and Bulgarians in order to dissuade them from coming to the UK.

On the Diplomacy channel, Jovan has a look at Geo-strategic Yo-Yo as he highlights an article by Paul Meerts on Persuasion through negotiation at the Congress of Vienna 1814-1815. while Petru Dumitriu talks about Dag Hammarskjöld: A United Nations legend.  The rest, as he says, is poetry.

Remember, you too can have your say. Feel free to comment on any of these or other blog posts. And, if you’re feeling like putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, why not submit your own.