Internet Governance, Technology for Transparency, and Open Design at DMY

Feeling like I’ve neglected my blog for far too long, and so during a weekend-at-home spurt, I thought I’d throw in some links and updates about great projects and ideas of late. Happy to hear your thoughts and let me know if you want to get involved in any of these efforts!

Last week I kicked off diplomatic training in Internet Governance, led by the excellent team at Diplo. We’ll spend the next few months dissecting issues such as critical internet resources, filtering, legal and economic approaches to domain names, and the role of different sectors in internet governance structures around the globe. As a field, it’s an exciting, new world for me with a lot to learn and a great group of fellow advocates. I was inspired to take this course after an appearance at the Internet Governance Forum in Sharm El-Sheikh, where the extent and importance of these discussions became clear to me, and so many participants recommended the Diplo program as the best formal training in the field.

If you’re interested in enrolling in the next session, keep an eye on http://www.diplomacy.edu/.They offer courses free of charge for students from non-OCED countries and have a great network of experienced IG diplomats.

Another new project I’m wading into is Global Voices’ recently launched Technology for Transparency Network. Led by Rising Voices’ David Sasaki, the network documents technology projects that promote transparency, accountability, & civic engagement around the world. I’m editing my first case study this weekend, Guatemala Visible, written by Georg Neumann Renata Avila. I’ve always wanted to collaborate more with Global Voices, a project I greatly admire, ever since Renata Avila turned me on to them back when we were roomies at the iSummit Dubrovnik in 2007.  ^_^

Ever since last year’s stellar DMY, when Ake Rudolf initiated a conversation about open design with Ronen Kadushin, John Weitzmann, and I, we’ve been keen to see the ideas take root among the design community, especially in Berlin. We’ve been in touch over the months to discuss how to bring these topics to a greater audience, and to get people understanding and inspired by collaboration and sharing, practices regrettably under-exposed in the design world. To this end, Jovoto’s Nadine Freischlad and I, together with a great team, organized an Open Design workshop (#od10beta) during the Social Media Week in January. The energy and enthusiasm from the event blew us away, and I think I echo all the organizers when I say that we were humbled and invigorated by the ambitious maker scene in Berlin. To take this to the next level, a number of us, notably Jay Cousins, Luis Berríos-Negrón, and Gabriel Shalom, and I, are working closely with Ake and DMY to develop a maker/open design platform at DMY this June. We’re really grateful to DMY for providing such an opportunity and unparalleled support. Over the last weeks, the event has really taken shape, and if you are keen to get involved and share your DIY knowledge, we’re meeting on March 16 at 1930 at palomar5, Mehringdamm 55.

So stoked to see these great projects coming together!

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