THE PENDULUM

What does the Internet's future hold: Worldwide governmental controls, a realm of user friendly access or the creation of Internet islands where information is contained to predetermined sects?
These scenarios and other issues surrounding the future of the Internet were discussed at the Internet Governance Forum at the Georgetown Law Center in Washington, D.C.

Throughout the daylong conference a 10-member team from Elon University's Imagining the Internet provided real-time documentation of the events by blogging, tweeting and recording the sessions and workshops.

Two members of the group — senior Kirsten Bennett and alumnus Morgan Little — were chosen by IGF-USA as youth participants to speak during two panels.

Little was a panelist on the Best Practices Forum: Considerations on Youth Online Safety in an Always-Switched-On World.

"I was surprised because child safety, while something I am aware of and researched, it's not my expertise," Little said. "(I focus) more in media transition to the Internet and journalism related issues. But I appreciated the opportunity and gave it my best effort."

Imagining the Internet director and associate professor of communications Janna Anderson said IFG-USA is pushing for more youth representation and participation at the conferences.

Anderson was named to the steering committee of the IGF-USA in 2009 and has since helped to provide citizen journalism coverage at regional and international IGF conferences.

"I knew I would have students who would be excited about the opportunity to not only learn about Internet governance and document an historical event," she said, "but would like to practice real-time journalism."

Colin Donohue, coordinator of student media and adviser to The Pendulum, traveled to D.C. to oversee the students' work and help in the documentation of the conference.

The conference, he said, was a great place for the students to learn about Internet governance from experts in the field, academia and civil society.

"It was a lot of fun watching students engage in a multimedia real time reporting enterprise on a tight deadline," Donohue said. "It was challenging but exciting, and I think the students gain some great experience from a valuable opportunity."

Throughout the day, the students were paired together based on writing and video skills to capture all sides of sessions, panels and workshops.

"It was really nonstop action as soon as we got there," senior Camille DeMere said. "Writing, editing and filming didn't stop until an hour and half after the conference was over."

Representatives from the U.S. government, major communication companies, academia and civil society debated and engaged in the different sessions. After the initial welcome, the attendees chose between three scenarios, each with an alternative futuristic model of the Internet.

After a short break for lunch, attendees listened and debated with experts during workshops that covered cloud computing, Domain–Name Systems, privacy and child safety.