IGF 2018 OF #5 Measuring a free, open, rights based and inclusive Internet

Session Type: Open Forum

Title: Measuring a free, open, rights based and inclusive Internet

Date & Time: Tuesday, 13 November, 2018 - 16:10 to 17:10

Organizer(s): UNESCO, Association for Progressive Communications (APC)

Chair/Moderator: Moez Chakchouk, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, UNESCO

Rapporteur/Notetaker: Xianhong Hu, UNESCO

List of speakers and their institutional affiliations:

• Presentation by Mr. David Souter, UNESCO commissioned author of Internet Universality Indicators (UK)
• Mr. Enrico Calandro, Research Manager,  Research ICT Africa (South Africa)
• Mr. Alexandre Barbosa, Head of the Center of Studies for Information and Communications Technologies (CETIC.br) and Mr. João Brant, Ex Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Ministry of Culture and External Consultant for the Pre-testing and Piloting of UNESCO’s Internet Universality Indicators framework in Brazil (Brazil)
• Ms. Pirongrong Ramasoota, Vice-President of Chulalongkorn University, Member of the Content Board, Broadcast Section, National Broadcasting and Telecommunications (Thailand)
• Ms. Silvia Grundmann, Head of Media and Internet Division and Secretary to CDMSI, Council of Europe
• Closing remarks from Ms. Albana Shala, Chair of UNESCO's International Programme for Development of Communication (IPDC) Council, UNESCO
• Book launch by Mr. Guy Berger, UNESCO Director for Freedom of Expression and Media Development
• Ms. Julie Posetti, co-author of UNESCO’s Publication “Journalism, Fake News and Misinformation: Model Course for Journalism Educators and Trainers”, Senior Research Fellow, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford (UK)

Theme: Evolution of Internet Governance

Subtheme: Broadening Stakeholder Participation in Internet Governance

Key messages of the discussion: 

• Moez Chakchouk, UNESCO: “UNESCO has been fully committed to develop the Internet Universality Indicators. Over the last 2 years, the Organization has consulted with more than 2000 experts from all the stakeholders’ communities. The final product that will be presented to UNESCO’s IPDC Council aims to raise awareness, map Internet contexts and improve national Internet policies.”
• Silvia Grundmann, Council of Europe: “This project offers an opportunity for all stakeholders to voluntary measure their national Internet development and to defend an open Internet. At the Council of Europe, we fully support this initiative, which is complementary to our work. I will present this new tool to our Member States and will invite them to implement the Internet indicators.”
• Alexandre Barbosa, CETIC.br and João Brant, independent consultant (Brazil): “The ROAM framework and the proposed Internet indicators are of high policy-relevance since they constitute an excellent tool for countries to produce data that are relevant for advancing human rights on the Internet, as well as for the UN 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. What these indicators create is a common ground and an internationally validated framework the can – and must – be used as an advocacy tool.”

The discussion

UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, Moez Chakchouk gave opening remarks, insisting on the fact that “this project [UNESCO’s Internet Universality Indicators] will provide our Member States, and other stakeholders, an internationally-recognized tool to assess Internet policies towards enhancing democracy and its building knowledge societies engaged in sustainable Development”. This vision was shared by all the panelists, including David Souter, the leading author of the Internet Indicators, who then presented the project and its key elements.

A panel of 4 experts then shared their experiences regarding the pre-testing and piloting of the indicators in Senegal, Nigeria, Brazil, and Thailand. If each national assessment has been quite different (data available, contexts…), the 4 experts agreed on the fact that “this exercise was important not only to understand the feasibility of data collection in all four dimensions of the ROAM framework, but also to better understand the role and the capacity of different stakeholders in providing access to reliable data sources, both quantitative and qualitative.”

Silvia Grundmann from the Council of Europe and Albana Shala, Chair of UNESCO's IPDC Council fully supported the initiative and said they would present it to the Council of Europe as well as to the Member States of UNESCO’s IPDC Council.

During the final part of the session, Guy Berger from UNESCO and Julie Posetti (co-author of UNESCO’s Handbook on Journalism, Fake News and Misinformation) launched a new publication which explores the very nature of journalism with modules on why trust matters; thinking critically about how digital technology and social platforms are conduits of the information disorder; fighting back against disinformation and misinformation through media and information literacy; fact-checking 101; social media verification and combatting online abuse.

Policy recommendations or suggestions regarding the way forward

As mentioned by Moez Chakchouk, David Souter, and Albana Shala, the Internet Universality Indicators will be presented to UNESCO’s IPDC Council in November 2018 for possible endorsement. The Internet Indicators will then become an internationally-recognized tool to assess Internet policies.

Once presented to UNESCO’s IPDC Council, the Internet Indicators will be published along with an implementation guide. As suggested by the panel of experts who have conducted pre-tests and pilots of the indicators in various contexts, a shorter version of the framework (called the ‘core indicators’) will also be published. They will allow stakeholders to undertake national assessments where resources and data are very limited.

One participant asked whether the Indicators will allow for comparisons between countries and if the national assessments will be compulsory for the Member States. Moez Chakchouk answered that UNESCO has not developed the Indicators for comparisons and rankings between countries. They will be used on a voluntary basis, to help Member States and interested stakeholders to assess where there is room for improvements regarding national Internet policies.

Ideas with respect to how the IGF ecosystem might make progress

It was mentioned several times that UNESCO’s project to develop Internet Universality Indicators was based on the multistakeholder model and sought to bring stakeholders together to participate in the dialogue, decision making, and implementation of the framework.

Estimate number of participants: 120

Estimate percentage of women present: 50%

Gender issues

The session did not directly address issues related to gender. However, some speakers brought a number of gender issues to the table, inasmuch as they were related to the context of the discussion. This was especially the case when participants talked about the cross-cutting indicators which cover gender issues.