Session
Organizer 1: Dudley Stephen Wyber, IFLA
Organizer 2: Damilare Oyedele, Library Aid Africa
Speaker 1: Justus Dreyling, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Helena Assamoah-Hassan, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 3: Ben White, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Sarah Kaddu, Government, African Group
Damilare Oyedele, Civil Society, African Group
Dudley Stephen Wyber, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Dudley Stephen Wyber, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Birds of a Feather - Classroom - 60 Min
What are the costs of an approach focused only on curing symptoms of dysfunction?
What would it mean to take a positive approach to promoting the creation, sharing and use of knowledge digitally?
Where should our priorities lie?
Connection with previous Messages: The session builds on the lessons of the Economic and Social Inclusion and Human Rights pillar of the IGF 2021, which called generally for agile frameworks and consideration of rights in internet governance, but did not dig far into the question of rights to education and research in particular. The proposal is also, in part, intended to ensure that other initiatives - such as the fight against harmful content etc - do not inadvertently come at the expense of public interest research and education.
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
16.10
17. Partnerships for the Goals
17.6
Targets: This proposal picks up on the fact that the importance of access to information - in particular for research - is mentioned, implicitly or explicitly, across a variety of SDGs. In the light of the emphasis, in the goals, on coordinated approaches, this session looks at the interlinkages, and how these can be built on most effectively.
Description:
The potential of the internet to accelerate the process of generation, sharing, application and further generation of knowledge is immense. By overcoming barriers linked to distance and cost of dissemination, as well as enabling new analytical techniques, the internet and wider digital technologies could and should be a game-changer for research.
However, we are still far from realising this potential. Not all have meaningful access to the internet, the possibility to use the channels necessary to share and read research, or the skills to make effective use of these. Relevant laws remain in many respects stuck in a pre-digital age. Key research-supporting organisations such as libraries may not have the resources needed to fulfil their role in a digital world.
Addressing these issues requires a comprehensive, positive approach to digital knowledge, yet too often, a piecemeal approach is taken. Moreover, there can be a stronger focus on addressing (perceived) negatives rather than building the positive. This can even lead to unintended consequences, whereby research is made harder by well-meaning efforts to address other issues.
This session will therefore look to take a step back, and start a discussion about what such a comprehensive, positive approach to promoting digital research and knowledge could look like. It will draw on the insights of those at the intersection of research and internet governance, and look to define a set of key principles which could in future become a manifesto for use in advocacy at the global, national and local levels.
We will use the outcomes of the session to produce a discussion paper on what a positive approach to digital knowledge looks like, for publication on the Knowledge Rights 21 site. This will accompany the issues paper that we will prepare in advance of the IGF as a basis for discussion.
Hybrid Format: The session will start with polling of how well current laws and frameworks facilitate the production, sharing and use of knowledge through digital means.
This will be followed by short pitches by speakers setting out key issues that they think need to be approached in taking a more positive and comprehensive approach to digital knowledge. This will include issues from promoting public access, to inclusive open access, copyright reforms, and principles of reflecting on the impacts of internet governance decision-making on education and research.
Following a Q&A session for clarity, the audience will then brainstorm similar issues, ideally in smaller groups, in order to come up with a complementary list of ingredients of a comprehensive strategy for digital knowledge, in particular in the research space.
These ideas will then be brought together, and polling organised in order to make it possible to prioritise amongst issues, and so produce a discussion paper.
Usage of IGF Official Tool.