[IGFmaglist] Virtual meeting good ideas

Thu Jun 18 08:43:59 EDT 2020

Dear MAG colleagues,

I hope you would entertain a comment from a former MAG member. I've been
following this thread with a lot of interest. I'm wondering (and I'm just
thinking out loud here) if a 24h IGF would increase diversity, or would
actually decrease it. First of all, most sessions (I hope) have speakers of
diverse geographical representations, so which time zone would a session
fit in? Can the MAG/Secretariat accommodate requests in this regard, and
how much of a logistical nightmare would that be? Also, if a session is
dominated let's say by folks in Japan or New Zealand for example, and is
done at an appropriate time for them, would this mean that the audience is
likely to be only from this part of the world (thus decreasing diversity),
or would folks from other time zones disrupt their sleep to listen in to
the Zoom (or whatever software) call? Is it likely that the audience tuning
in to any particular session will be only from the area of the Earth when
the time is convenient?

I would also think that an IGF stretched over more than 5 days or so would
be very difficult to follow. It's possible to flip one's day to accommodate
a function of 3-4 days, it's much harder to do that for an event that lasts
a week or longer. It's also much more difficult to maintain a focus on the
event if it stretches for that long even if you don't have to flip your day
(and therefore only catch sessions at times convenient for you).

I'm more inclined to go with the suggestion put forward by Raquel (I was
actually going to email yesterday to suggest something along the same
lines), to have a central time zone be the main zone (perhaps Poland/Geneva
time), and then have minor variations possibly by request. Another
suggestion is to have the IGF strictly in Poland/Geneva time zone, record
all sessions (which I guess would be happening anyway), and have them
available on demand 24/7, or re-broadcast them at a time suggested by the
session organizer(s).

Good luck with this interesting challenge.
All the best.
Rasha

Rasha A. Abdulla, Ph.D.
Professor and Graduate Director
Journalism and Mass Communication
The American University in Cairo
www.rashaabdulla.com
Twitter: @RashaAbdulla
<http://twitter.com/rashaabdulla>

On Thu, Jun 18, 2020 at 2:04 PM Anriette Esterhuysen <anriette at apc.org>
wrote:

> Yes, excellent points Chengetai. This thread is very useful. Let's keep it
> going for a bit and then to summarise what has come out of it.
>
> Anriette
>
> *Anriette Esterhuysen*
> Senior advisor on internet governance
> Association for Progressive Communicationswww.apc.org//afrisig.org//anriette at apc.org
>
> On 2020/06/18 12:53, Charlton, Paul (IC) wrote:
>
> Very good points Chengetai.
>
>
>
> *From:* Chengetai Masango <chengetai.masango at un.org>
> <chengetai.masango at un.org>
> *Sent:* June 18, 2020 3:25 AM
> *To:* Amado Espinosa <aespinosa at medisist.com.mx>
> <aespinosa at medisist.com.mx>; Jennifer Chung <jrchung at gmail.com>
> <jrchung at gmail.com>; María Paz Canales <mariapaz at derechosdigitales.org>
> <mariapaz at derechosdigitales.org>
> *Cc:* Ben Wallis via Igfmaglist (CELA) <igfmaglist at intgovforum.org>
> <igfmaglist at intgovforum.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [IGFmaglist] Virtual meeting good ideas
>
>
>
> Echoing the sentiments below.
>
>
>
> One thing also take note of is that as the meeting is virtual we will be
> able to get very accurate attendance statistics including stakeholder
> spread and regional balance down to a per session level if need be.
>
>
>
> We should be mindful  not to create conditions that spread the audience
> too thin (either by having too many sessions, too many concurrent sessions
> etc..) that we inadvertently get a very low  average attendance rate per
> session or stack the attendance in favour of one particular time zone.
>
>
>
> Apart from stakeholder feedback these statistics will be a primary measure
> of rating the success of the IGF2020 annual virtual meeting.
>
>
>
> Best
>
>
>
> Chengetai
>
>
>
> *From: *Amado Espinosa <aespinosa at medisist.com.mx>
> *Date: *Thursday, 18 June 2020 at 06:11
> *To: *Jennifer Chung <jrchung at gmail.com>, María Paz Canales <
> mariapaz at derechosdigitales.org>
> *Cc: *"Ben Wallis (CELA) via Igfmaglist" <igfmaglist at intgovforum.org>
> *Subject: *Re: [IGFmaglist] Virtual meeting good ideas
>
>
>
> I only add to Jennifer’s recommendations that we define properly who our
> final audience is. If it is a wide base of participants from the different
> regions, then the program should be organized according to that priority.
>
> If it is giving proposals the opportunity to present, no matter how large
> the audience is, then we can align the final layout for that purpose.
>
> If it is for UNDESA to support further conclusions from the presentations
> in order to come up with technical recommendations on public policies, then
> the selection of the content should be classified with this objective in
> mind.
>
> If it a combination of al the above, a special task force has to be
> organized to find the best solution to the equation.
>
> Regards
>
> A Espinosa
>
>
>
> *From: *Jennifer Chung <jrchung at gmail.com>
> *Date: *Wednesday, 17June, 2020 at 6:59 PM
> *To: *María Paz Canales <mariapaz at derechosdigitales.org>
> *Cc: *"Ben Wallis (CELA) via Igfmaglist" <igfmaglist at intgovforum.org>
> *Subject: *Re: [IGFmaglist] Virtual meeting good ideas
>
>
>
> Very valuable points from Raquel that I would whole-heartedly endorse.
> IGF 2020 will have the luxury of being able to learn from all the meetings
> that precede it, adopting the successful elements and avoiding the ones
> where it did not work as well.
>
>
>
> In particular I would like to support Raquel's idea of having a 'backbone'
> timezone and flexible moving parts with short recap sessions to keep
> participants in the loop.  This is one of things that is extremely
> difficult to achieve at the physical meeting where tracks are always held
> simultaneously and participants have to choose to attend one workshop over
> another.  We can use the new flexibility of time to allow us to improve
> this.
>
>
>
> APrIGF has put together a Virtual Programming Committee precisely to
> address this physical-virtual conversion (logistics, technical
> requirements, participation engagement, social event coordination), we
> would be happy to share what we have learned and add to the base of
> knowledge our colleagues from EuroDIG, ICANN have started. I'm sure LACIGF,
> RightsCon as well as other upcoming large scale meetings will also have
> valuable insights for us to consider.
>
>
>
> Echoing Raquel, I would also like to volunteer if the MAG decides to start
> a dedicated WG to further develop this.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 7:29 PM María Paz Canales <
> mariapaz at derechosdigitales.org> wrote:
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
>
>
> I think that Raquel proposal: "Thinking creatively a compromise version
> could be to keep a “backbone” track at UTC timezone + different blocks of
> workshops in flexible 24 hours schedule" is a balanced one that provides
> the best of the two options.
>
>
>
> For the "moving parts" I strongly suggest the RightsCon approach asking
> the WS organisers self-identify time slots availabilities according time
> zones. They will contact their speakers and collectively agree what is
> manageable for them.
>
> I also agree with Susan and Jutta that in this process we cannot undermine
> all the work already done in WS selection.
>
>
>
> A whole 24/7 IGF it will imply a huge operational burden for the
> Secretariat, the technical staff and the MAG members heavily involved with
> the organisation of the four tracks. The only way to overcome that
> difficulty it will be to have a strengthened participation with shifts by
> tracks in each one of the proposed time zones allocation. I am not sure if
> that will be possible to achieve for the three key groups here identified.
>
>
>
> Looking forward to continue the conversation tomorrow.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
>
>
> --
>
>   María Paz Canales
>
>   Directora Ejecutiva
>
>   Derechos Digitales
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>
> On Wed, Jun 17, 2020, at 6:12 PM, Afia Faith wrote:
>
> The idea of 24h IGF sounds great. Maybe we can ask Workshops organisers
> the time zones they will feel comfortable to work with...
>
> Then we can distribute the workshops through those times zones, and in
> case where they will be no live sessions for some slots of time,
>
> We can broadcast the pressions session or prerecorded messages with 2 or 3
> online volunteers to assist viewers.
>
>
>
> On Wed, 17 Jun 2020, 20:19 Raquel Gatto, <raquel.gatto at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Anriette, all,
>
>
>
> It is great to see such a rich discussion on remote participation tools
> and online events as we face the opportunity for this IGF.
>
>
>
> If I may jump in with few comments:
>
> - There are certainly good experiences coming up from the NRIs that are
> going virtual too. EURODIG and its “studios” has been mentioned already,
> but looking ahead others like LACIGF and APRIGF might have good examples
> too.
>
> - Regarding the accomodation with different timezones, I completely agree
> we should not rule out options yet. Thinking creatively a compromise
> version could be to keep a “backbone” track at UTC timezone + different
> blocks of workshops in fexible 24 hours schedule. That could accomodate the
> workshop organizers preferences, and at the same time allow to keep a
> common timezone with main sessions and reporting sessions to catch up with
> moving parts (eg 5mim WS reports per track?).
>
> - In addition, we could think creatively on how to boost the f2f
> participation impact through the remote hubs, assuming the health situation
> will be better in few months and at least local gatherings will be easier.
>
> - Having worked in the past with many people to build the remote
> participation features at the IGF, I would also add a piece in my
> experience there is to not be constraint by the tools and logistics just
> yet. Once there is a certain wishlist and vision, it is much easier to
> assess implementation or hire external service that can get it done.
>
>
>
>
>
> I do hope those suggestions are somewhat useful :) And happy to join if
> there is a team/wg working on it further.
>
>
>
> Thanks!
>
> Raquel
>
>
>
> Em qua, 17 de jun de 2020 às 13:57, Anriette Esterhuysen <anriette at apc.org>
> escreveu:
>
> Thanks for this valuable input, Jeremy. I do think we should seriously
> consider the 24-hour programme option, or something close to it.
>
> I have a call scheduled with the RightsCon team next week to learn more
> about their approach. Both RightsCon and ICANN have used surveys of their
> prospective participants to help them refine design options. We could do
> that too.
>
> Anriette
>
> *Anriette Esterhuysen*
>
> Senior advisor on internet governance
>
> Association for Progressive Communications
>
> www.apc.org//afrisig.org//anriette at apc.org <http://www.apc.org/afrisig.org/anriette@apc.org>
>
> On 2020/06/17 18:16, Jeremy Malcolm wrote:
>
> A counter-example is RightsCon, which is this year using 24 hour
> programming. People who are paid to attend meetings might adapt their sleep
> schedules to attend a conference for work, but many people who attend the
> IGF are not in that category. Diversity of the attendees will take a real
> hit if they are forced to drag themselves out of bed to join Zoom. I think
> the RightsCon approach is the better one.
>
>
>
> --
>
> Jeremy Malcolm
>
> https://jere.my
>
>
>
> On Jun 17, 2020, at 3:40 AM, Jutta <jcroll at digitale-chancen.de> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi all,
>
>
>
> I’m not sure about the 24v hour scheme. I’ve learned from colleagues from
> around the world taking part in the complete virtual ICANN meetings they
> adapt their working hours schedule to the time zone the meeting ist held
> in, just like they must do when they travel to another time zone for f2f
> meetings.
>
>
>
> Also I think a 24/7 IGF might be too huge a burden for the secretariat and
> technical staff in doing all the organisational and background work, which
> is incredible complex
>
>
>
> Eventually like in a f2f meeting we do need a concise and comprehensive
> programme fore the IGF, not one that tries to cover everything. I think we
> have already taken a major step in this regard with the outcomes of the
> working groups on our 4 tracks. Lets see how we get further with this
> approach in the next days to come.
>
>
>
> Kind regards
>
>
>
> Jutta
>
>
>
>
>
> **********************************
>
>
>
> Jutta Croll M. A.
>
> Stiftung Digitale Chancen
>
> - Projektleitung Kinderschutz und Kinderrechte in der digitalen Welt -
>
> - Vorsitzende des Vorstands / Chairwoman of the board -
>
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>
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>
> Am 17.06.2020 um 11:20 schrieb June Parris <parrisjune51 at gmail.com>:
>
>
>
> Dear All,
>
>
>
> Good idea to have a 24 hour meeting that participants can join in their
> time zones, however some things will need to be repeated. Those that
> involve the MAG and other important issues will still need to take place at
> a reasonable time.
>
>
>
> Regards
>
>
>
> June Parris
>
>
>
> Get Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
> ------------------------------
>
>
>
> *From:* Anriette Esterhuysen <anriette at apc.org>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, June 17, 2020 4:20:25 AM
> *To:* MAG-public <Igfmaglist at intgovforum.org>
> *Subject:* [IGFmaglist] Virtual meeting good ideas
>
>
>
> A contribution on scheduling from Carsten Schiefner.
>
>
>
> Anriette
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> From: Carsten Schiefner <carsten at schiefner.berlin> Sent: Wednesday, 17
>
> June, 2020 8:45 AM
>
> To: Anja Gengo <anja.gengo at un.org>
>
> Subject: A virtual IGF‘s schedule
>
>
>
> Good morning, Anja -
>
>
>
> it’s Carsten from Berlin.
>
>
>
> One thing that came to my mind wrt. scheduling slots for the upcoming
>
> vIGF: why not turning a perceived disadvantage into a (maybe...) real
>
> advantage?
>
>
>
> A virtual meeting is first and foremost unbound and detached from any
>
> physical location.
>
> So, whenever you schedule a certain meeting it’s always inconvenient for
>
> somebody, be it super early in the morning or super late in the evening.
>
>
>
> So, to equally equally distribute this inconvenience across all
>
> participants from all parts of the world: why not having the IGF 24
>
> hours a day? The additional advantage is that its “capacity” would be
>
> tripled: from (nominal) eight to 24 hours.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Carsten
>
>
>
>
>
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