DiploNews – Issue 228 – 16 May 2013

E-participation webinar

Join us at our webinar on E-participation, 21 May, 15.00 – 16.30 CET. This event is part of the Geneva E-diplomacy Platform and builds on last autumn’s E-diplomacy Day and the recent Online Learning Day.  The webinar will examine the role of social media, remote participation, and open government/open data initiatives in international organisations. As an online participant you will be able to follow the debate, share comments with other online participants, put questions to the panellists, and vote on each topic. Please register here.

The event will be organised as an Oxford-style debate around three statements:

• The way that most international organisations are using social media suggests that this is not about true engagement, but simply another broadcast tool (yes/no).
• Remote participation programmes and initiatives make international agencies more transparent and inclusive (yes/no).
• Open government and open data initiatives are more relevant in a national context than at international level (yes/no).

For further information, please contact Guy Girardet.
   

Upcoming study opportunities

Applications open for 2014 Master in Contemporary Diplomacy

We are pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for the 2014 Master in Contemporary Diplomacy, and the Master in Contemporary Diplomacy with Internet Governance specialization. These unique post-graduate programmes, offered in cooperation with the University of Malta, include a 10-day residential workshop in Malta followed by 16 – 20 months of online learning. Please visit the Master in Contemporary Diplomacy webpage to read more and to apply. The application deadline is 1 October 2013.

Call for applications: Humanitarian Diplomacy online diploma course

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and DiploFoundation will offer a new session of the Humanitarian Diplomacy online diploma course starting 2 September 2013. This 12-week course, led by Ambassador Christopher Lamb, will extend the knowledge base and develop practical skills of current and future practitioners in humanitarian diplomacy and policy. The application deadline is 22 July 2013. For more details and to apply, please visit the course webpage.

Call for applications: Specialised courses in Internet governance

Diplo invites government officials, diplomats, and professionals working in the various Internet governance and ICT policy fields, who would like to refresh or expand their knowledge of more technical issues, to apply for the upcoming 10-week courses, starting 22 July 2013. The courses are based on a collaborative approach to learning, involving a high level of interaction and discussion.

• ICT Infrastructure and Critical Internet Resources (CIRS) presents topics and issues related to infrastructure and CIRs, including infrastructure development, connection costs, regulatory frameworks, IP protocols, network neutrality, the domain name system (DNS), and the roles of the main actors. Deadlines: 20 May for the University of Malta accredited course; 17 June for the Diplo certificate course. For more details visit the course webpage.
• ICT Policy and Strategic Planning offers in-depth discussion of national ICT policies and strategies, development, implementation and management, e-readiness assessment and benchmarking, including the analysis of case studies. Deadlines: 17 June for the Diplo certificate course. For more details visit the course webpage.
• Privacy and Personal Data Protection delves into the details of many of the global and local discussions surrounding privacy, the main instruments dealing with data protection and information privacy, their effects on national and regional regulations, emerging privacy issues such as anonymous expression, social networks, and cloud computing, the risks and challenges related to cybersecurity concerns, and the roles that companies play in the privacy protection ecosystem. Deadlines: 17 June for the Diplo certificate course. For more details visit the course webpage.

For more information or to apply, click on the respective course webpages, or e-mail us at ig@diplomacy.edu

Summer online courses on diplomacy

This summer, starting on 22 July, Diplo offers the following diplomacy courses:

• 21st Century Diplomacy
• Multilateral Diplomacy

Apply by 20 May for University of Malta accredited courses and by 17 June for Diplo Certificate Courses. For further information or to apply, click on the titles of the courses above, or visit our courses website. Register now to reserve your place.

Sign up for our courses mailing list to be informed about upcoming courses!
 

Diplo’s study on Emerging Language of Internet Diplomacy features in LAC project on the Information Society

As part of the 25 years of the information society in LAC 2000-2005 project of Fundación Comunica with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Dafne Sabanes Plou wrote an excellent update on the situation of women in the Information Society (IS) in Women in the Information Society: Participating in development and ICT policy. Plou summarises the journey from the effort to simply achieve a mention of gender issues in early WSIS documents, to the presence, and finally participation of women in IS and Internet governance (IG) processes. A reference to DiploFoundation’s study on Emerging Language of Internet Diplomacy points out the increase in participation and in interventions (e.g. number of words spoken by gender). While much still needs to be done to include women in ICT and IG, the article gives an interesting overview of the ongoing process. The original article in Spanish is available here.
 

What’s happening in Diplo’s blogosphere?

Last time we reported that Katharina Höne had asked: Who is a refugee? Who should be offered protection from human suffering? Is it misleading to speak about climate refugees? Of legal concepts, metaphors, and human suffering … According to Katharina, much depends on how we define those legal concepts. Aldo Matteucci takes up this point and in his post Generosity as fairness continues the dialogue on the concept of climate refugees.

Aldo also highlights a piece of reporting, which he describes as a brilliant analysis of North Korea’s policies. In his blog When you are in a hole – stop digging!,  he focuses on a public apology which, as notes, in Australia  is termed ‘dog whistle politics’: political messaging employing coded language that appears to mean one thing to the general population but has an additional, different or more specific resonance for a targeted subgroup. In his exploration of alpha-bullies, free-riders, and Bernard Machines, Aldo asks whether we are ‘unwittingly destroying social Bernard machines in an iconoclastic drive for reductionist order? As Tacitus said about the Romans: “where they make a desert, they call it peace…”.’

On the Home channel, Mary Murphy looks at public speech, private censorship as she discovers the Deciders, and explores the concept of free speech.

Remember, you too can have your say by commenting on these or any of our blog posts. And, if you’d like to be a guest blogger, let us know.
 

The latest in Internet governance: news and discussions

The European Union has just announced plans to develop a Global Internet Policy Observatory (GIPO), an online platform designed to increase global participation in debates and decisions on Internet policies, which will be developed in cooperation with key players in the IG arena. Countries such as Brazil and Switzerland, the African Union, alongside NGOs including DiploFoundation, APC, and ISOC have expressed an interest in being involved. Read more about the role of GIPO here.

The IGF Secretariat has announced the composition of the new Multistakeholder Advisory Group. Incoming members include Diplo alumni and members of Diplo’s IG community. Virginia (Ginger) Paque shares the list of incoming and outgoing members and thanks those who took part in the MAG member endorsement process on Diplo’s IG community platform. The process saw nominations by those who expressed interest in forming part of the MAG, and community-wide voting to endorse MAG nominees.

The cyber-attack which was recently carried out on Spamhaus, a non-profit organisation involved in the fight against spam, is being dubbed the biggest attack on the Internet in history. Our April IG webinar provided an opportunity to discuss the attack in detail with Diplo’s cybersecurity expert Vladimir Radunović, who explained how the attack took place, its implications, and the policy aspects of cyber-attacks. How real is the threat of similarly large-scale cyber-attacks, and how concerned should states and institutions be? Read the webinar digest and listen to the webinar recording on YouTube:

In Taste of Cyber Crime in Developing Nations – The Ugandan Version, community member Tom Kizito Mayengo discusses the reticence some developing countries still display towards cybercrime. The story of a 26-year-old Ugandan girl who was kidnapped following a seemingly harmless Facebook chat has stirred the waters. In the process, this has revealed the unpreparedness of the country to fight cybercrime, despite the risk to life it brings about. What will it take for the situation to change? Read the Tom’s compelling arguments here.

Follow IG-related news and discussions on Diplo’s Internet governance channel, and on Diplo’s IG community blog roll.