[ecrea] Remote participation possible: Critical knowledge societies issues will be addressed during the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 09

New WSIS Forum 09 format offers remote web-participation
> 15-05-2009 (Paris)
>
> <http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=28624&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html>http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=28624&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
>
> Critical knowledge societies issues will be addressed in six 
> high-level panels and 35 sessions with the participation of experts, 
> practitioners, representatives of governments, civil society and the 
> private sector during the upcoming World Summit on the Information 
> Society (WSIS) Forum 09.
>
> More than 850 participants have already registered for next-weeks 
> event, which will be jointly organized by ITU, UNESCO and others in 
> Geneva, Switzerland, from 18 to 22 May 2009.
>
> "It is good to see how the WSIS follow-up is evolving with the 
> technological and related social developments," says Mr Khan, 
> UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Communication and 
> Information. "Facebook, You Tube, Twitter and blogging provide 
> entirely new tools for putting many of the WSIS visions into reality."
>
> At the Geneva Forum next week, UNESCO will launch its WSIS community 
> platform, which includes blogging, Facebook-like features and the 
> possibility to insert your Twitter in your personalized online 
> platform dashboard, etc. "This platform was requested by the WSIS 
> community, has incredible potential and will also make the follow-up 
> process more inclusive," says Miriam Nisbet, Director of the 
> Information Society Division. She adds: "The platform will 
> facilitate our WSIS related discussions, networking and information 
> sharing. It is an Open Source product with great features and the 
> possibility to evolve with the WSIS community." (Readers are invited 
> to explore and take a sneak preview at: www.wsis-community.org).
>
> In spite of this and other tools, UNESCO is concerned that the 
> vision of societies, in which the power of information and 
> communication helps people access the knowledge they need to improve 
> their daily lives and achieve their full potential, is still fare 
> from being realized. "This requires vision, political will, 
> institutional and individual capacities, considerable resources, and 
> of course good coordination among all actors," says Mr Khan.
>
> This WSIS Forum unites an unprecedented number of high-level 
> participants and experts in a new format. It includes also a meeting 
> of the representatives of 28 international organizations, all 
> members of the United Nations Group on the Information Society 
> (UNGIS), who will discuss ways to enhance coordination.
>
> For the international community, the main challenge is now to 
> mainstream the issue of information and communication for 
> development in the agendas of the various stakeholders in the WSIS 
> process, and to keep the spirit of Geneva and Tunis alive 
> translating it into concrete actions.
>
> For the first time, the WSIS Forum will also offer access to the 
> meetings through remote web participation.
>
> See <http://www.istr.org/>http://www.istr.org/ for information.

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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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