[WSIS CS-Plenary] WSISblogs.org: an idea worth developing?

[Rik Panganiban]

Hi Andy,

I don't think its necessarily a bad idea, particularly if you are 
offering to host the site and provide blogging services for whoever 
wants to use it.  However there are several blogs and news sites 
already out there.  Perhaps you mean an effort similar to what the 
British Council did at the Geneva summit, the "dailysummit" journalist 
blogs?  I would certainly support something that is more edgy, 
humorous, and outsider-friendly.

On wsis-cs.org we will probably be adding a CS blog / news coverage 
page shortly.

Some of us who have established WSIS civil society sites (APC, German 
CS group, WSIS-online.net, CONGO, etc) have been talking about the need 
for a more centralized online space for CS to work collaboratively, 
share documents, report the latest developments, etc.  The blog piece 
is important, but only one part of the puzzle.  The kind of stuff you 
guys have set up for the digital divide network is a great system for 
communities to use.  Perhaps we should just invade your site?

Regards,

Rik Panganiban
(ocassional blogger at rikomatic.objectic.net)

On Dec 14, 2004, at 7:25 PM, Andy Carvin wrote:

> Last night on a whim, I went online and bought the domain names 
> wsisblogs.org and wsisblogs.com.
>
> As you all know, we’re less than a year away from WSIS 2005. During 
> the the first summit in Geneva, there was a small contingent of 
> bloggers in Geneva, including myself and the amazing folks at 
> DailySummit.net.
>
> Undoubtedly there will be many more at the next summit, including 
> delegates, professional journalists, civic journalists and others. And 
> let's not forget the prepcoms and thematic meetings. Should we expect 
> much of media presence at all of these events, particularly when the 
> major policy decisions will take place? Precedence suggests otherwise. 
> At the last prepcom meeting in Tunisia last June, I was one of a 
> handful of bloggers present, all of whom -- as far as I know -- 
> represented civil society; there was practically no mainstream media 
> present, nor any noticeable media coverage after the fact.
>
> Just 10 days ago, Rebecca MacKinnon lamented in her blog on the lack 
> of mainstream media coverage regarding Internet governance, which was 
> discussed at a recent ICANN meeting in Capetown. The event was covered 
> by numerous bloggers, she noted, “But no meaningful mainstream media 
> coverage so far. Maybe it’s not as easy to understand or as exciting 
> as the FCC, but isn’t it just as important (if not more so) for our 
> global communication future?”
>
> So all of this got me wondering about WSIS, the upcoming prepcoms and 
> other WSIS thematic meetings, and the dearth of quality media 
> coverage. From my perspective, it’s incumbent upon civil society – 
> including civic bloggers – to embrace a bigger leadership role in 
> publicizing the policy outcomes that are currently at stake, and 
> mobilize the online public to take interest in the issue.
>
> With all of this swirling through my head last night, I purchased the 
> domain names WSISblogs.org and WSISblogs.com. I haven’t thought 
> through what should be done with it, but I can envision something like 
> Dave Winer’s ConventionBloggers.com, which aggregated all the bloggers 
> covering the Democratic and Republican National Conventions here in 
> the US this past summer. In other words, a site where you could find 
> all the latest posts from all the bloggers participating and/or 
> observing the WSIS process. The site could be organized by major 
> policy outcomes and related WSIS topics, so users could explore the 
> latest blogs on Internet governance, the digital divide, protest 
> activities, human rights issues, etc, as they occur. It would also be 
> great to allow bloggers to add their RSS feeds to the site, since it’s 
> not always possible to get an authoritative list of who’ll be blogging 
> prior to WSIS-related events.
>
> Even if we do nothing, chances are there will be bloggers galore at 
> WSIS: dozens of bloggers, blogging on a variety of issues, in a 
> variety of styles and languages, giving the public unfettered, 
> unfiltered access to the WSIS process. Imagine if we could organize 
> them all in one place.
>
> Anyway, it’s just an idea. Would love to hear what others think. -andy
>
> -- 
> -----------------------------------
> Andy Carvin
> Program Director
> EDC Center for Media & Community
> acarvin @ edc . org
> http://www.digitaldivide.net
> Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com
> -----------------------------------
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===============================================
RIK PANGANIBAN       Communications Coordinator
Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations 
(CONGO)
web: http://www.ngocongo.org
email: rik.panganiban at ngocongo.org
mobile: (+1) 917-710-5524

** Please note CONGO's new mailing address: CP 50, 1211 Genéve 20, 
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