[WSIS CS-Plenary] LAUNCH of INTERNET GOVERNANCE PROJECT

[Milton Mueller]

Hello, Lisa and Mavic:

We have discussed this at length. 
Longer-term we would like to put together
what we call a "global consortium" of university-
based researchers working on IG issues. 
But that will take substantial administrative
and travel support, which we don't have now. 

More broadly, let me warn that it would be easy to add
a bunch of names to a list on a web site and
claim that we are more "representative."
But surely you can see that such purely nominal
"representativeness" would be an empty gesture,
unless the people involved actually work together, 
meet, actively forge compatible and consistent ideas, 
etc. How is that supposed to happen? We lack the 
resources to do any more than we are doing now.
 
But, we are beginning to approach some funding
sources about this. No guarantee of anything, of course.

Let's keep this in perspective. The IGP is a private 
initiative that originally consisted of 3 people on the same
university campus. Later, two others were added who 
the principals have known and worked with for years. IGP 
now is a group that knows how to work together, and we
have collectively already developed several
papers and policy analyses that might be useful
to the WGIG proces. Any expansion will be incremental
and *careful,* focused on quality and consistency as well
as broader perspectives.

Bottom line: If the research we produce is considered by 
others to be unrepresentative of South 
perspectives or other perspectives, then
educate us - criticize it and reject it. Or, better yet, 
form a group that can do it better. IGP enjoys no
special monopoly on the topic and anyone else can set up
something similar. Thus, while longer term we do
intend to expand if possible, I would have to reject
the implication that no university can publish or do
research on Internet governance unless it first
sets up an apparatus of global representation
(the representativeness of which could always be
contested anyway).

--MM

>>> mavic at isiswomen.org 07/18/04 07:53PM >>>

How can women and men from the Global South take part in this research --as 
researchers or part of the research team and not just as respondents or 
subjects?

I visited the www.InternetGovernance.org site to find some information on 
the research design but there was none unfortunately.

If there is an opening for collaboration, I would be pleased to discuss 
this with people from the University of the Philippines and the 
Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.

Mavic Cabrera-Balleza

At 11:29 AM 7/18/04 -0400, you wrote:
>This sounds like a worthwhile project; however, respectfully, I would like 
>to suggest that you consider diversifying your research team. So far as I 
>can judge from the following names, there are no women, no persons of 
>color, and no persons from the Global South who are involved as central 
>figures in your research project.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Lisa McLaughlin
>
>
>>                             * * * Please Forward * * *
>>
>>                         =======================
>>                             Announcing the Launch
>>                                        of the
>>                           Internet Governance Project
>>                           www.InternetGovernance.org 
>>                         =======================
>>
>>
>>We are pleased to announce the launch of the Internet Governance Project
>>(IGP), a multi-university partnership to analyze global Internet policy
>>issues.  IGP's research agenda is closely related to the on-going United
>>Nations' review of Internet Governance.
>>
>>IGP's member institutions include two research centers at Syracuse 
>>University:
>>    - The Convergence Center at the School of Information Studies
>>    - The Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs at the Maxwell School
>>and one research center at the Georgia Institute of Technology:
>>    - The Internet and Public Policy Project (IP3) at the School of Public
>>      Policy
>>
>>As its first project IGP is providing the United Nations' Information and
>>Communication Technologies Task Force (UN ICT TF) a detailed analysis of
>>global policy regimes. The resulting study will provide a fact-based "map" of
>>existing global rules for the Internet and the institutions that make those
>>rules.
>>
>>IGP's research team includes:
>>- MILTON MUELLER, Professor, Syracuse University School of Information 
>>Studies
>>- JOHN R. MATHIASON, Adjunct Professor, Syracuse University Maxwell School of
>>   Citizenship and Public Affairs
>>- HANS KLEIN, Assoc. Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology, School of
>>   Public Policy
>>- LEE MCKNIGHT, Assoc. Professor, Syracuse University School of Information
>>   Studies
>>- MARC HOLITSCHER, Lecturer, Institut für Politikwissenschaft der Universität
>>   Zürich
>>
>>For information on the relevant UN activities:
>>         http://www.itu.int/wsis/ 
>>For more information on the Internet Governance Project:
>>         www.InternetGovernance.org 
>>or send an inquiry to:
>>         info at InternetGovernance.org 
>>
>>###
>>
>>
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>
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