DiploNews – Issue 245 – 3 February 2014

Webinar – Geneva Briefing on Internet governance

The Geneva Briefing on Internet Governance will take place on the first Tuesday of every month. If you would like to get a regular 'zoomed-out' update of the major global IG developments, join us for the first  webinar briefing from Geneva within the Geneva Internet Platform project on Tuesday, 4th February 2014 at 13.00 CET.
 

Book launch: two recent books on Internet governance

The newly established Geneva Internet Platform, powered by DiploFoundation, will host an event on 24 February 2014 (18.30–20.00) in Geneva (World Meteorological Organization, 7bis, Avenue de la Paix) to launch two recent books on Internet governance.

• The Evolution of Global Internet Governance: Principles and Policies in the Making by Rolf Weber, Roxana Radu, and Jean-Marie Chenou
• The New International Telecommunication Regulations and the Internet: A Commentary and Legislative History by Richard Hill
   

May online courses on diplomacy

We are now accepting applications for four exciting online courses which start the week of 5 May 2014:

• Bilateral Diplomacy
• Current Issues in the United Nations
• Diplomacy of Small States
• E-diplomacy

Apply by 3 March for University of Malta accredited courses and by 31 March 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!

Sign up for our courses mailing list to be informed about upcoming courses.
 

What's been happening in Diplo's blogosphere?

There are only 24 hours in a day. Nothing we can do will change that. And for some, 24 hours might seem like an eternity. Working smarter might help. In her post Keeping up with Google, Mary Murphy looks at technological shortcuts that might just save some time.  She also reflects on how far we’ve come in the last 20 years with a link to a News report on the Internet from 1981. Jovan Kurbalija explores whether Hierarchy is here to stay and demystifies some false assumptions we make about endisms.

Remember, you too can have your say by commenting on these or any of our blog posts. And, if you’d like to be a guest blogger, let us know.
 

Discussing Internet governance

The need for awareness building and explanations of Internet governance made us design the IG building in autumn 2004. This has become part of IG’s visual identity. The five floors in our IG building (infrastructure and standardization, legal, economic, development, and sociocultural) may be extended to include two new ones: cybersecurity and human rights. The new IG building will also have two elevators moving core IG values and principles between different floors. Discussion has been heated on the issue of whether the building should remain ‘under construction’ or take a more definite shape and look.  Jovan Kurbalija appeals to everyone to Help us to build a new Internet governance building and classify IG issues.

When CIGI and Chatham House announced the launch of yet another IG initiative, this prompted Vladimir Radunovic to investigate Governance of Internet governance: towards a plateau of productivity. He posits that if we believe the old motto of the Craft Freemasonry Ordo ab chao – out of chaos comes order – we should start looking at how to move this plethora of initiatives towards productivity.

Internet governance (IG) developments in 2013 confirmed vividly the old saying that it is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future. Who could have predicted the Snowden revelations that have substantially affected global digital politics? If you missed our January webinar, you can catch up with it all here: Webinar digest: (Un)knowns in digital politics in 2014
 

Workshop on Modern Diplomacy for Small States

The 6th workshop on Modern Diplomacy for Small States will take place in Malta, 19-28 March 2014. It is being organised by DiploFoundation, and sponsored by the government of Malta and the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation (CFTC).

You may find more information about the workshop, scholarships and how to apply by visiting the workshop website.