[WSIS CS-Plenary] Opening ceremony speaker

[jeanette at wz-berlin.de]

On 10 Nov 2003 at 2:06, Bertrand de LA CHAPELLE wrote:

> Hi all, 

Hi, Bertrand,

I'd like to speak against your proposal. While I share your strategic 
thoughts I don't follow your conclusions. 

First of all, I don't agree that information society is built around the 
worldwideweb. The WWW is just one of many services running on 
the Internet. Email, for example, is more popular and widespread than 
WWW. It is only in the developed world with plenty of bandwidth that 
people confuse the Internet with the Web. 
Second, I don't see how the Web was invented by civil society.
Third, I don't see in what respect the World Wide Web Consortium is 
an innovative multi-takeholder body. Unlike the Internet Engineering 
Task Force, a standard developing body, which is open for everybody, 
membership in the W3C is really expensive and, if I am not mistaken, 
confined to the Internet industry. 
In sum, I'd prefer if we picked a speaker who makes the point for 
human rights in information society in a credible and charismatic way. 

Best, jeanette 
> 
> Choosing who will speak in the opening ceremony is important 
> to be sure our views are faithfully expressed and to enhance 
> media coverage. But it is also about strategically 
> ESTABLISHING THE RIGHT FOR CIVIL SOCIETY TO NOMINATE WHO 
> WILL REPRESENT IT.  
> 
> Therefore, as the goal is to set a precedent upon which we 
> can build later, we need to choose someone reflecting CS 
> views on the Information Society that cannot be rebuffed or 
> refused by any government.
> 
> For these reasons, why not invite for the opening ceremony 
> speech Tim Berners-Lee, THE inventor of the World Wide Web 
> and the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) ? 
> 
> This would present many advantages, reminding participants 
> and in particular governments :
> - that the Information Society they keep talking about is 
> fundamentally organized around the World Wide Web, which was 
> invented by civil society (indeed a single human : how more 
> civil society can you be ?)
> -  that without wanting to protect or patent his invention, 
> Berners-Lee made it a gift to the whole world, showing that 
> if legal protection can help innovation, it is not always a 
> necessity;
> - that the creation of this global commons (an open 
> standard) has triggerd a multi-trillion dollar industry and 
> impacted society in a way similar only to the printing press 
> or electricity
> - that new frontiers are being explored (the so-
> called "Semantic web" of the highest importance for cultural 
> and linguistic diversity).
> 
> Beyond singlehandedly inventing the Web, Tim Berners-lee 
> also designed the World Wide Web Consortium or W3C), an 
> innovative multi-stakeholder decision-making and standard-
> setting process dedicated to addressing the issues raised by 
> its development.
> 
> In a nutshel, TBL did not only promote the values we defend 
> (global commons, open architectures and standards, flexible 
> frameworks for dialogue involving a wide variety of 
> stakeholders, access to information, transparency, non-
> profit approach,  ...); he also implemented them in 
> everything he did. 
> 
> The very success of what he created is the best proof that 
> those principles do work. Nobody is in a better position 
> (credibility) to expose the present attacks against some of 
> the founding principles of the Internet and the Web that CS 
> cares about.
> 
> Other advantage : no government in its sane mind can take 
> the risk of the public ridicule of refusing the floor in a 
> summit on the Information Society to the very man who, more 
> than anyone, helped it happen. Should Civil Society agree on 
> his nomination through the present process (and provided of 
> course he can and wants to participate), his name could be 
> given with no alternative option, thereby establishing CS 
> right to nominating its own speakers. 
> 
> I hope you will find this suggestion useful and capable of 
> triggering a rapid consensus. Many things can be added.
> 
> But as my view may be biased, I encourage suggestions, 
> comments and critics on this one. In particular, I recognize 
> TBL, as a white male living in the US, does not help on the 
> criterias of gender and geographical balance. 
> 
> Should a decision be taken among us, I am sure many of you 
> are in a position to help contact TBL if necessary and we 
> should select the best channel . 
> 
> Cheers to all
> 
> Bertrand
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