[WSIS CS-Plenary] Miriam Nisbet next Director of the Information Society Division
at UNESCO
Dr. Francis MUGUET
muguet at mdpi.org
Tue May 29 23:52:27 BST 2007
Dear friends*
*
The suspense is out concerning the new
*Director of the * * Information Society Division *at UNESCO is over.
The UNESCO director has made his choice since May 11
http://recrutweb.unesco.org/postes/postes_histo.asp?AffLangue=gb&CATPOSTE=1
but the name was not known...
It is now almost official, the next director will be ....*
*
*Miriam Nisbet*
/Legistlative Counsel/, Office of Government Relations, American Library
Association
nisbet
Miriam Nisbet joined the American Library Association's Washington
Office as Legislative Counsel in August 1999. She works primarily on
copyright and other intellectual property issues raised by the digital
information environment. She also provides advice on law and policy
concerning access to government information and privacy. In addition,
Nisbet works closely with ALA's Office for Information Technology Policy
on issues and projects concerning electronic access to information. She
speaks frequently on copyright issues and information and access law to
educational, scholarly, trade and industry, and government groups. Since
2003, she has represented the library community as a member of the U.S.
delegation to The Hague Convention on Jurisdiction and Enforcement of
Judgments. From 1994 to 1999, Nisbet was Special Counsel for Information
Policy, National Archives and Records Administration. Prior to joining
the National Archives in 1994, Nisbet had served since 1982 as the
Deputy Director of the Office of Information and Privacy, U.S.
Department of Justice. An active member of the American Society of
Access Professionals (ASAP), Nisbet served as 1995 President of ASAP and
as a member of its Board of Directors from 1993-96 and from 2000-02. She
also serves on the Board of Directors of AFFECT, Americans For Fair
Electronic Commerce Transactions, a broad-based national coalition of
industry leaders, libraries and consumer organizations dedicated to
educating the public and policy makers about UCITA, the Uniform Computer
Information Transactions Act. Nisbet received a BA degree from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a JD degree from the
University's School of Law. She is a member of the Bars of the District
of Columbia and North Carolina. [More...
<http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/contactwo/ogr/ogrofficegovernment.htm>]
for the record, please read the recruitement call below, the requested qualification and experience for the position did not seem to correspond to a lawyer's profile...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*
Main responsibilities *
Under the authority of the Assistant Director-General for Communication
and Information, the incumbent of the post will be responsible for the
planning, implementation and evaluation of the strategy, regular
programme activities and extrabudgetary projects of the Information
Society Division in its pursuit to foster the development of policies,
capacities and tools for universal access to information and knowledge
for development taking into account /inter alia/ the decision of the
World Summit on the Information Society.
This will include providing intellectual, strategic and operational
leadership of the Information Society Division; serving as the Secretary
of the Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programme,
ensuring the management of the staff of the Information Society Division
and establishing appropriate communication procedures, and information
and knowledge management structures of the Information Society Division,
including providing intellectual and strategic leadership for the
development of the web services of the Communication and Information
Sector.
The incumbent will work closely with Member States, United Nations
agencies, regional and international intergovernmental and
non-governmental organizations, universities, research centres, the
private sector and other relevant institutions. He/she will also
collaborate closely with UNESCO's Advisers for Communication and
Information in its various Field Offices and with the Organization's
other programme sectors to ensure consistent strategy and action
regarding information and knowledge for development.
*Qualifications and experience *
* Advanced university degree (preferably doctorate) in information
science, communication or social science;
* Postgraduate training in information and knowledge management;
* Excellent command of written and spoken English or French the
two working languages of UNESCO's Secretariat with excellent
drafting ability in one of them, and a good command of the other
language; knowledge of planning and managing international
programmes in the fields covered by the Information Society
Division (at least five years);
* Recognized experience to manage, lead and motivate a large and
diversified body of staff in a multicultural environment (at least
five years);
* Extensive professional experience (at least 15 years) in the
fields covered by the Information Society Division at the
international level;
* Recognized experience in leadership and proven ability in another
official language (Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish) would be
an asset.
* Competencies *
The successful candidate should have proven competency to:
* Lead and motivate teams in a multicultural environment;
* Communicate effectively and persuasively, orally and in writing;
* Participate effectively in high-level negotiations with internal
and external partners;
* Establish plans and priorities and implement them effectively;
* Demonstrate a high degree of information literacy.
*Terms and conditions *
The post is at grade D-1 common to the United Nations system, with a
salary composed of base salary and post adjustment, which, at the
present dollar exchange rate, totals approximately US $143,300 (with
dependants) or US $132,480 (without dependants) per annum, exempt from
taxation. In addition, UNESCO offers an attractive benefits package,
including 30 days annual vacation, home travel, education grant for
dependent children, pension plan and medical insurance. Please note that
UNESCO is a non-smoking Organization.
*How to apply:
Candidates wishing to apply for this post should do so through the
following website: http://www.unesco.org/employment * Candidates without
easy access to the Internet may, exceptionally, apply by mail, by
sending a full curriculum vitae in English or French, preferably on the
official UNESCO curriculum vitae form, showing their nationality, date
of birth and gender, to: Chief, Recruitment and Staffing Section, Bureau
of Human Resources Management, UNESCO, 7 Place de Fontenoy 75352 Paris
07-SP, France. *Applications should reach UNESCO before 31 October 2006.
Please quote post number "CI-335"* *THERE IS NO APPLICATION, PROCESSING
OR OTHER FEE AT THIS OR AT ANY STAGE OF THE PROCESS* *Applications from
qualified women candidates are encouraged, as are applications from
under- or non-represented Member States *
------------------
More comments :
The encouragement for application from under or non-represented Member states is rather ironic in the present context.
This specific recruitment took an incredibly long time.
( applications closed on 31 October 2006 )
Only the UNESCO director general is elected, and then he choose,
who is going to be recruited, with the assistance of a panel
of his choosing. ( The process is different from the one at ITU, where the
heads of sector are elected ). It appears that UNESCO recruitment procedures are not transparent. I was told that UNESCO received more than 150 applications. After examination of the written applications, a short list was made consisting of
about 10-20 persons that are interviewed in Paris. The short list composition
is secret. The recruitment panel process and hearings are all secret.
Frankly I am aware of 2 or 3 persons that complied with all the criteria of the
recruitment call and that were not selected to be on the short list.
It is shocking. Something went definitively wrong. The process was not fair.
In reality, the reason why the process
is not fair in terms of persons,
( according to people that know well the DG ),
is that the DG wants to ensure a right balance in terms
of geopolitical representation.
Peter Smith, the head of the Education Sector has been
ignominiously dismissed. The USA, that is under-represented, had lost any high position.
The lower position of a head of division is a compensation for the loss
of the higher position of a head of sector.
Now, Miriam Nsbet does not appear to be a creature of the Bush administration, she has
taken positions ( for the sake of her former employer ) in favor of fair use,
and she might well prove to be an excellent head of division. Her lawyer and librarian culture might even be an asset if she try to implement in good faith the WSIS recommendations.
So wait and see.
May be from this secret process could come out a good person, but
she shall have to prove her case.
Best
Francis
------------------------------------------------------
Francis F. MUGUET Ph.D
MDPI Foundation Open Access Journals
Associate Publisher
http://www.mdpi.org http://www.mdpi.net
muguet at mdpi.org muguet at mdpi.net
ENSTA Paris, France
KNIS lab. Director
"Knowledge Networks & Information Society" (KNIS)
muguet at ensta.fr http://www.ensta.fr/~muguet
World Summit On the Information Society (WSIS)
Civil Society Working Groups
Scientific Information : http://www.wsis-si.org chair
Patents & Copyrights : http://www.wsis-pct.org co-chair
Financing Mechanismns : http://www.wsis-finance.org web
UNMSP project : http://www.unmsp.org
WTIS initiative: http://www.wtis.org
------------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
Skipped content of type multipart/related
More information about the Plenary
mailing list