[WSIS CS-Plenary] WSIS Briefing yesterday in New York

Fri Jan 9 17:14:43 GMT 2004

Just wanted to chime in and thank all of those who are reporting on 
particular reflections and follow up meetings and reports.
These actions really help all of us develop a more comprehensive world 
view, as we shift focus from Geneva to Tunis.
In Canada, the Canadian Commission on Unesco has arranged a civil society 
debriefing for those who went to Geneva, on Friday, January 23rd in Ottawa.
If anyone on list has not yet received their invitation, please let me know 
as I am adding to the list of participants.
We will post results from this meeting, and continue discussions among the 
Canadian civil society groups next week on the web space C2C that 
eCommons/agora is hosting:
http://wsis.ecommons.ca
http://smsi.agora-electronique.ca

Marc Raboy has agreed to post an essay he is doing on the role of global 
civil society on the site, and we will host a discussion once that happens.
Plus my seminar at McLuhan program University of Toronto, New media and 
policy: Canada in global context, will be adding materials and brain 
storming specific topics (such as the indicators and framework for 
evaluating the Plan of Action) between January 12 and April 4th. We will 
let the list know about major events (a few netcasts and forums are 
planned) and summary reports that will be prepared from time to time.

Again, many thanks to those who are taking time to use this web instrument 
to help us witness the aftermath of the WSIS SMSI process. We all know that 
WSIS is a work in progress, and now we can get on with the task in our own 
neighbourhoods (local and global) while staying alert to actions at a distance.
Cheers
Liss Jeffrey
Director, eCommons/agora project

At 11:35 AM 09/01/2004 -0500, you wrote:

>Bahiyyih Chaffers has posted an excellent brief synopsis of the discussions.
>I also attended the  United Nations Association-USA briefing and found the
>briefing and comments from the audience interesting.  I would like to add
>that there was mention of the CS Declaration by one of the speakers, who
>described it as much more comprehensive than the WSIS Principles and Plan of
>Action and commended the CS Declaration's focus on emphasizing people and
>human rights.  While no document can capture all the issues perfectly, it
>was nice to see the appreciation for the CS Declaration as a first step in
>attempting to address the many issues.
>
>It is always good to be able to provide positive feedback to those who
>invested much time and effort over this lengthy and involved process to
>develop and draft the CS Declaration. While I was a relative newcomer to the
>process, it is apparent that long term focused efforts can produce results.
>
>Best regards,
>
>Elizabeth
>
>Dr. Elizabeth Carll
>Focal Point
>International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies;
>Chair Media/ICT Working Group,
>NGO Committee on Mental Health, New York
>Tel: 1-631-754-2424
>Fax: 1-631-754-5032
>ecarll at optonline.net
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org]On
>Behalf Of Bahiyyih Chaffers
>Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 11:16 AM
>To: Plenary at Wsis-Cs. Org
>Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] WSIS Briefing yesterday in New York
>
>
>Hi everybody,
>
>The United Nations Association-USA had a briefing yesterday in New York on
>the WSIS entitled "The WSIS: What happened and Where Do We Go From Here?"
>Participants included UN staff, government reps and NGO reps.
>
>It was interesting to hear the different views of whether WSIS was a
>success.  Some put forward that the Summit was a success as it is the first
>time that the use of information technology for development has been put on
>the map and an agenda is now set to address the issues globally.  Others
>expressed distress about the political wrangling that took place and
>wondered whether it would be possible to turn things around for Tunis.
>
>What was clear is that it is critical to spend more time reflecting on our
>experience.  What would be constructive would be to assess what were the
>achievements and challenges during the Summit process.  Once we have an
>understanding of where there was success, we can focus on how to strengthen
>those areas and how to adjust for the weak spots.
>
>What is incredibly empowering about the experience is the realization that
>it is just part of the learning process of learning to work together as a
>global community.  The process needs to be challenging to force us to learn
>from each other and find common ground.
>
>Warm wishes for the New Year,
>
>Bahiyyih Chaffers
>--
>Representative to the United Nations
>Baha'i International Community
>United Nations Office, New York
>
>
>P.s  This new journal looks interesting!
>
>Subject: Information Technologies and International Development
>Quarterly - WSIS
>
>After the first phase of the WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society,
>Dec.10-12, 2003 in Geneva),  a new initiative has been launched :
>
>Information Technologies and International Development will be the premier
>journal in its field, focusing on the intersection of information and
>communication technologies (ICT) with international development. It aims to
>create a networked community of leading thinkers and strategists to discuss
>the critical issues of ICT and development, an epistemic community that
>crosses disciplines (especially technologists and social scientists),
>national boundaries, and the North and South hemispheres. The audience for
>Information Technologies and International Development will come from
>academia, the private sector, NGOs, and government.
>
>It will attract readers interested in the "other four billion" - the share
>of the world population
>whose countries are not yet widely connected to the Internet nor widely
>considered in the design of new information technologies. The journal will
>be informative, lively, and provocative. The MIT Press will publish this
>exciting new quarterly periodical from Fall 2003.
>
>For the Special Call for Papers on this  World Summit in Reflection, go to :
>http://mitpress.mit.edu/ITID   or contact for add'l info:  Ernest Wilson :
>ejw at itid.umd.edu
>
>
>
>
>
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