ISOC announces the Next Generation Leaders program.

Are you a Next Generation Leader?

Each year, the Internet Society will accept a group of qualified young Internet professionals from academia, the public sector, technology industries, and civil society into its Next Generation Leaders programme. Candidates will be between the ages of 20 and 35 and must be able to demonstrate leadership potential in their chosen field. Individuals accepted into the programme will automatically become Global Members of the Internet Society.

On course for leadership

The specialized coursework and high-level guidance that make up the Next Generation Leaders programme will give graduates the opportunity to build a solid background in Internet governance, policy, and business in a flexible yet rigourous environment. Blending academic study with practical, high-level experience, the programme will accelerate the careers of talented young Internet practitioners.

The curriculum

Programme entrants will complete a tailored eLearning course, covering the essential topics required for effective interactions and relationships within the Internet ecosystem, as well as key concepts and emerging issues in Internet governance.

Entrants will be encouraged to apply for the Internet Society's representation programmes, such as ISOC Ambassadorships to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the World Bank, and OECD, and the ISOC Fellowship to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). These unique international experiences will allow Internet Society Next Generation Leaders to:

• accelerate their training in diplomatic skills,
• master the drivers of Internet-based innovation and growth, and
• experience the technical development of the Internet.

Recognizing outstanding achievement

At the end of the programme, all Next Generation Leaders programme graduates will be invited to submit a proposal for a project focussed on an Internet development issue within their own communities. Of those, three projects will be chosen and the respective project leaders will be invited to Geneva for a final, one-week course in Internet diplomacy.

The three project leaders will be recognized as the Next Generation Leaders programme laureates, rewarded with special opportunities to network with some of the Internet's most respected leaders and to participate in special leadership events, and they may be encouraged to start new Internet Society Chapters in their communities.

Applications

The Internet Society Next Generation Leaders programme will commence in 2010. Full details about the curriculum and application process will be published in the coming months. In the meantime, if you have questions or would like to register your interest, please email leaders@InternetSociety.org.

more details and related information at page http://www.isoc.org/leaders/applications.shtml

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I-Net Delhi

Since 1994, the Internet Society has organized INET conferences around the world. Originally staged as annual global conferences, over time we have refined their focus, targetting the specific needs of previously underserved regions. Today, the Internet Society holds multiple INETS each year, each with a unique regional focus and a selection of topics most relevant to the communities involved. 

The Internet Society, in collaboration with the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), hel a regional conference in Delhi, India on 17 September, 2009. The conference, part of the Internet Society's INET series of regional conferences, will be focused on enabling Internet access with the theme "Towards an Enabling Internet Access Environment".

The challenges of improving Internet growth are multifaceted and interrelated, particularly in developing countries. They include, for example, access to technical skills and knowledge, the regulatory and policy environment for information and telecommunications services, and broader economic and market factors, language diversity, and the diffusion and reliability of basic infrastructure and services.

INET Delhi brougt together regional and international policy and technical experts, government, network operators, the private sector and the user community to discuss and deliberate the current state of play of the Internet access environment in the region. The conference discussed issues in creating and sustaining an enabling Internet access environment, including Internet for development through accessibility, inclusion and growth, multi-stakeholder participation, online content and local languages, and strategies to ensure the continued growth and evolution of the User Centric Internet through appropriate and consultative policy action.

There was a Chapter Workshop during I-Net with participation from one member from each of the Chapters in the South and South East Asia region attended by ISOC India Chennai, Calcutta, Delhi, Nepal and Pakistan.

The program details of the main I-Net event is at on this page at the ISOC web

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Children Online: Council of Europe Recommendations.

Council of Europe's Recommendations on Child Safety Online are well balanced. Child Safety Online is an important issue, but seldom one finds an approach as balanced as that of the Council of Europe on this problem. CoE's assessment of the problem is balanced and its recommendations are in proportionate measure. (Usually this is a politicized topic, used to campaign for tighter controls for the Internet.)

Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member state on measures to protect children against harmful content and behaviour and to promote their active participation in the new information and communications environment

Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 8 July 2009 at the 1063rd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies)

1. Protecting freedom of expression and human dignity in the information and communications environment by ensuring a coherent level of protection for minors against harmful content and developing children’s media literacy skills is a priority for the Council of Europe.

2. The risk of harm may arise from content and behaviour, such as online pornography, the degrading and stereotyped portrayal of women, the portrayal and glorification of violence and self-harm, demeaning, discriminatory or racist expressions or apologia for such conduct, solicitation (grooming), the recruitment of child victims of trafficking in human beings, bullying, stalking and other forms of harassment, which are capable of adversely affecting the physical, emotional and psychological well-being of children.

3. Attention should be drawn to the normative texts adopted by the Committee of Ministers designed to assist member states in dealing with these risks and, as a corollary, in securing everyone’s human rights and fundamental freedoms. These texts include Recommendation CM/Rec(2008)6 on measures to promote the respect for freedom of expression and information with regard to Internet filters; the 2008 Declaration on protecting the dignity, security and privacy of children on the Internet; Recommendation CM/Rec(2007)11 on promoting freedom of expression and information in the new information and communications environment; Recommendation Rec(2006)12 on empowering children in the new information and communications environment; and Recommendation Rec(2001)8 of the Committee of Ministers on self-regulation concerning cyber content (self-regulation and user protection against illegal or harmful content on new communications and information services).

4. There is a need to provide children with the knowledge, skills, understanding, attitudes, human rights values and behaviour necessary to participate actively in social and public life, and to act responsibly while respecting the rights of others.

5. There is also the need to encourage trust and promote confidence on the Internet, in particular by neutral labelling of content to enable both children and adults to make their own value judgments regarding Internet content.

6. The Committee of Ministers recommends that member states, in co-operation with private sector actors and civil society, develop and promote coherent strategies to protect children against content and behaviour carrying a risk of harm while advocating their active participation in and best possible use of the new information and communications environment, in particular by:

– encouraging the development and use of safe spaces (walled gardens), as well as other tools facilitating access to websites and Internet content appropriate for children;

– promoting the further development and voluntary use of labels and trustmarks allowing parents and children to easily distinguish non-harmful content from content carrying a risk of harm;

– promoting the development of skills among children, parents and educators to understand better and deal with content and behaviour that carries a risk of harm;

– bringing this recommendation and its appended guidelines to the attention of all relevant private and public sector stakeholders.

Read more from the CoE Web

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