If you are not able to attend the Twelfth IGF meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, you can follow it remotely! Online participation, and specifically the hubs structure, has been successful in previous IGFs. This time again you can follow the discussions from home or office; watch the webcast of the event; follow real-time closed captioning ; and participate live. Or you can also expand the discussions and organize an IGF hub in your city!

Online participants/Remote hubs will be able to interact with the meeting by asking for the floor when the panel moderator opens it for questions from the audience, and sending text questions and/or video/audio interventions by using the online participation platform.

Hubs are local meetings that take place in parallel with the IGF. People can watch the webcast of IGF sessions together and send interventions (via text, audio or video) that can be answered by panelists in IGF. In addition, hub organizers can hold debates to discuss the themes introduced at the IGF from their local perspective. Several training sessions for Remote Panelists and Remote Hubs will be held during November-December 2017.

There are several advantages in creating a hub:

  • It helps to raise awareness about Internet Governance issues.
  • It fosters networking among participants and community building.
  • It encourages follow-up activities.

How to organize a hub?  The requirements are very simple:

  • A room or auditorium. It can be held in a university classroom or any other convenient place.
  • A computer with a broadband Internet connection and a projector equipment, to enable the hub participants to watch the video.
  • A hub moderator, who will plan the dynamics of the local discussions as well as transmit the hub participants’ questions or comments to the IGF through the remote participation channels.
  • A general call in lists, forums etc, to invite the interested local community.

Stakeholders interested in organizing a remote hub were invited to register online before 27 November 2017 with the following information:

Country / City
Institution hosting the hub.
Possible area(s) of interest.
Number of expected participants within the hub.
Planned pre-meeting activities.
Hub Coordinator.
Contact email.
Hub Technical coordinator (IT).
Technical coordinator contact email.

Please note that the local hub and technical coordinators have to be present at the hub site.