Elon student-faculty team documents views of global Internet leaders at IGF2011.
*****
More than 500 video clips featuring interviews with nearly 80 global Internet leaders have been posted in a set of eight documentary player sets as a result of the latest Imagining the Internet Center international communications policy research.
A team from Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center conducted the interviews at the Global IGF in Nairobi, Kenya, in September to assess people’s attitudes about the future of the Internet in order to inform policy, identify key issues and provide a record of what people today think about the likely future of human networks.
Among those interviewed are current and former leaders at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN); leaders of the Internet Society; vice presidents from Google, Microsoft and Cisco; leaders of the Global Internet Governance Forum, including members of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group for the Internet Governance Forum, the Working Group for Improvements to the Internet Governance Forum, and the Internet Governance Caucus; directors of major non-profit organizations with global reach and expertise on information and communication technologies; members of parliament for several governments; Internet entrepreneurs; researchers in academia and government; representatives of the ministries of foreign affairs for several governments; and youth representatives from Kenya and global Internet organizations.
The home page for the team’s completed Global IGF 2011 Survey is here: http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/default.xhtml
Interviews were conducted by Elon seniors Samantha Baranowski and Kellye Coleman, sophomore Nicole Chadwick and former Elon students Taylor Foshee and Lee Hopcraft, under the supervision of Rich Landesberg, associate professor, and Janna Anderson, associate professor and director of the Imagining the Internet Center. Elon sophomores Elizabeth Kantlehner, Jeff Ackermann and Joe Bruno assisted with video editing.
The following links lead to the individual video survey pages, offering up a selection of representative answers to eight futures-thinking questions:
1 – ACCESS is a primary goal of IGF. <http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/access_to_internet.xhtml> How will doubling the number of people online from 2 billion to 4 billion change the world? – Discuss the opportunities and dangers. http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/access_to_internet.xhtml
2 – EVOLUTION TO ALWAYS-ON: With MOBILE CONNECTIVITY many of us are living a life that is “always on” or “hyperconnected.” <http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/mobile_hyperconnectivity.xhtml> Some people even say the Internet is an extension of our brains and we are becoming cyborgs – human-computer beings. How does being connected online all the time change us as humans? http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/mobile_hyperconnectivity.xhtml
3 – INTERNET GATEWAY? – SOCIAL NETWORKS and APPS vs. WEB: <http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/web_vs_apps_and_social_networks.xhtml> In 2015 will most people generally go DIRECTLY to the World Wide Web to do their work, shopping, socializing and other online activities – as they have the past 20 years – OR will most people generally be using apps or social networks as their gateways for doing everything? Which will dominate most people’s lives: the open Web or apps and social networks? http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/web_vs_apps_and_social_networks.xhtml
4 – CREATOR AND INTERMEDIARY ETHICS: <http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/creator_and_intermediary_ethics.xhtml> What responsibilities do technology innovators and designers and the organizations that produce our tools and access have to ethically serving the global public, and are they living up to them? http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/creator_and_intermediary_ethics.xhtml
5 – THE FUTURE of the Internet Governance Forum: <http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/will_igf_survive.xhtml> WILL IGF SURVIVE and still be relevant in 2015? Explain. http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/will_igf_survive.xhtml
6 – HOPE FOR THE FUTURE: <http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/greatest_hope_for_internet.xhtml> What is your greatest hope for the future of the Internet? http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/greatest_hope_for_internet.xhtml
7 – CONCERN FOR THE FUTURE: <http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/greatest_fear_for_internet.xhtml> What is your greatest fear or concern for the future of the Internet? http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/greatest_fear_for_internet.xhtml
8 – THE FUTURE IN A NUTSHELL: <http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/future_in_one_word.xhtml> Describe the future of the Internet in 10 seconds or less. http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/igf_2011/future_in_one_word.xhtml