DiploNews – Issue 357 – 16 October 2018

Upcoming study opportunities

Application deadline extended – 2019 Master/Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy

Diplo is now accepting applications for the 2019 Master/Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy, and the Master/Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy with a specialisation in Internet Governance. These unique postgraduate programmes, offered in co-operation with the University of Malta, include a 10-day residential workshop in Malta followed by 16–20 months of online learning. Visit the Master in Contemporary Diplomacy webpage to read more. Scholarships covering 20%–50% of the Postgraduate Diploma fee are available for applicants from small and developing states. The programme starts on 4 February 2019. The application deadline has been extended to 30 November 2018. 

February 2018 online diplomacy courses

Start the new year with one of our most popular online courses:

• Diplomatic Theory and Practice
• Public Diplomacy
• Introduction to Internet Governance

Apply by 17 December 2018 for; University of Malta accredited courses and by 14 January 2019 for Diplo certificate courses. For further information or to apply, click on the titles of the courses listed, or visit our courses webpage. Register now to reserve your place.

Malta scholarships

Thanks to support from the government of Malta, partial scholarships are available for applicants from developing countries to attend upcoming Diplo online courses. These scholarships cover 30%–60% of course fees and can be applied to most online courses in 2019. Browse our course catalogue and contact us at admissions@diplomacy.edu for further information. You can also sign up for our courses mailing list to be informed about upcoming courses.
 

Content Creator FestivaI. Industrial Revolution 4.0: Dare to Say No?

The Content Creator Festival (CCF) will take place on 20 October in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The festival aims to reduce the negative impact of social media. Ms Shita Laksmi (Project Manager Asia, DiploFoundation-Geneva Internet Platform) will speak at the event. For more information, visit our events page.

The UN World Data Forum 2018

The UN World Data Forum will take place in Dubai from 22 to 24 October. DiploFoundation is organising a session on ‘Data & diplomats: capacity development for diplomats and policy-makers in the data age‘ at the forum, which will address the capacity development needs of decision-makers in the public sector, with a focus on ministries of foreign affairs.

The session will take place on 23 October and will build on DiploFoundation’s 15 years of experience in capacity development in the field of diplomacy and technology, which includes a recently developed programme on Data Diplomacy. As an outcome, the session aims to establish a curriculum for data-skills for policy-makers, which can be further elaborated and implemented through online training or other capacity development activities. Among the panellists are Katharina E Höne (Researcher Diplomacy and Global Governance, Project Manager Online Learning and Publications, DiploFoundation) and Jovan Kurbalija (Executive Director, Secretariat of the High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation).

The forum is a platform for intensifying co-operation with various professional groups, such as information technology specialists, geospatial information managers, data scientists, and users, as well as civil society stakeholders. For more information visit our dedicated webpage.

[Briefing] Internet governance in October 2018

What were the main Internet governance updates in October? How will recent updates influence the developments in upcoming months? Join us for our next monthly briefing, on Tuesday, 30th October, for a round-up of the major global IG and digital policy developments.

Registrations are open.

Cybermediation: What role for blockchain and artificial intelligence?

Last week, the Geneva Internet Platform hosted an event on #Cybermediation, as part of the #Cybermediation initiative. The event focused on the role of blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) in supporting mediators and their efforts. In his initial comments, Mr Enrico Formica stressed that it is important for mediators, who are more ‘analogue’ in their approach, to understand the role of new technology, and its potential for facilitating mediation.

The speakers, Ms Katharina Höne and Mr Dejan Dincic, then focused on AI and blockchain respectively. They both stressed that technology is not here to replace human intelligence and ingenuity, emphasising the need for pragmatic approaches that focus on how technology can support specific tasks during mediation. Read the full report in our latest blog.

Final summary and session reports from the WTO Public Forum are available online

‘Trade 2030’ was the main topic at this year’s World Trade Organization (WTO) Public Forum (2–4 October). The event provided a glimpse into the future and focused on the impact of technology on the trading system. Participants gathered at the headquarters of the WTO to discuss how trade can further contribute to economic growth, the creation of jobs, and sustainable development. The Geneva Internet Platform and DiploFoundation provided just-in-time reporting from the sessions related to digital policy, and produced a final summary of the event, identifying the main trends in the discussion.

What’s been happening in Diplo’s blogphere

In Regulating social media: a multistakeholder ‘content congress’ guest bloggers Danielle Tomson and David Morar make suggestions in the area of content regulation on social media platforms. They argue that ‘companies would do better by engaging one another and their users to shape content-moderation policies in a more transparent and consistent way’. To this end, they elaborate their suggestion of a ‘content congress’, which they envision as a deliberative body that includes various stakeholders (companies, civil-society groups, and even constituencies of end-uses) in order to share best practices, air grievances, and offer rebuttals.