AboutMembers LoginContact Us

ISOC Member Newsletter Volume 8 Number 12 - December 2009

===========================================================
ISOC Member Newsletter
Volume 8 Number 12 - December 2009
Full online version http://isoc.org/wp/newsletter/?m=200912
===========================================================

Contents
--------

ISOC Updates & General News
----------------------------
- Internet Society Funds Projects to Expand Internet Access and Use
- Internet Society and World Wide Web Consortium Strengthen Relationship to Help Ensure Open Global Internet
- Call for Nominations for the Internet Society Board of Trustees
- Community Grants Programme Project Showcase: Internet-on-the-Move
- Asia Pacific regional grants program paying off


Chapter News
------------
- Australia
- Finland
- Mexico
- New York

===========================================================
ISOC Updates & General News
===========================================================

Internet Society Funds Projects to Expand Internet Access and Use
- Community Grants Programme's 10th round helps extend Internet's reach and promote key technologies

The Internet Society (ISOC) is funding community-based projects around the world to promote Internet access and education in underserved communities, to track and highlight the deployment of IPv6-the next generation protocol key to the Internet's continued growth, and to address issues such as online identity theft.

"These awards extend the Internet Society Community Grants Programme's five-year tradition of providing tangible support for efforts by the Internet Society's global community in realizing our shared vision that the Internet can be used to improve the life of people in all parts of the world," said Jon McNerney, Chief Operating Officer of the Internet Society. "As the Internet becomes a larger part of everyday life in many parts of the world, it is even more important that we enable its use by the billions of people on every continent who today are without access."

As part of the ISOC Community Grants Programme, each project will receive up to US$15,000 for efforts that promote the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world.

Projects funded in this round include those aiming to:

* Deploy self-contained, solar-powered Internet access kiosks to rural African areas,

* Provide Internet access to and training for virtual classrooms and educational material to underprivileged children in Pakistan,

* Propose a solution to the problem of identity theft and fraud relating to academic transcripts and diplomas, and

* Educate senior citizens and the disabled in Harlem, New York City.

Internet Society Community Grants are awarded twice each year. The next round of the programme will open on 1 March 2010.

Additional information is available about the Community Grants Programme and this round of award-winning projects:

http://www.isoc.org/isoc/chapters/projects/

http://www.isoc.org/isoc/chapters/projects/awards.php?id=10


-----------------------------------------------------------
Internet Society and World Wide Web Consortium Strengthen Relationship to Help Ensure Open Global Internet
- ISOC Donation to Support Evolution of W3C Organization

The Internet Society (ISOC) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announced a donation from ISOC for the purpose of advancing the evolution of W3C as an organization that creates open Web standards. Citing strongly aligned views on the value of an open global Internet and support for the current Internet governance and management model, the Internet Society pledged to support W3C efforts to implement a more agile, inclusive, and flexible organizational structure.

"ISOC and W3C have worked together for years in a number of areas, and have deeply shared values about the Internet's development," said Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO of the Internet Society. "Our support to the W3C in their transition efforts demonstrates ISOC's commitment to ensuring the Internet continues to be a global platform for innovation. What is at stake is the Internet's openness, which is a critical enabler of new products and services to billions of users worldwide."

The announcement reflects the two organizations' shared aim of ensuring the continued growth and accessibility of the global Internet and Web, and stewardship responsibilities to ensure they continue to benefit users worldwide.

"ISOC and W3C have a long history of cooperation and the Internet ecosystem has benefited from our shared yet independent voices," said Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. "The W3C staff, Members, and community continue to work on making W3C more relevant and valuable to the Web and Internet communities. ISOC support will allow W3C to evolve its structure to ensure we continue to forge solid working relationships with the increasing numbers of developers and users, worldwide."

The two organizations will continue to operate independently, and will maintain their long-standing, informal collaboration. ISOC's pledge of support is for three years, with both organizations working to ensure progress.

An FAQ about the relationship between ISOC and the W3C is available here:

http://isoc.org/standards/isoc-w3c-faq.shtml

http://www.w3c.org/


-----------------------------------------------------------
Call for Nominations for the Internet Society Board of Trustees

The Internet Society's (ISOC) Nominations Committee has issued a call for nominations to the ISOC Board of Trustees:

http://isoc.org/isoc/general/trustees/

In 2010, three positions on the Board of Trustees are open for election. The Trustee positions are 3-year terms that start June 2010 and expire June 2013.

Nominations must be received by 11 January, 2010.

Additional details, including the nomination form, are available here:

http://isoc.org/isoc/general/trustees/elections/2010/call.shtml


-----------------------------------------------------------
Community Grants Programme Project Showcase: Internet-on-the-Move
- Contributed by Asim Zaheer, Pakistan (May 2009 grantee)

"Internet-on-the-Move," a three month mobile-workshop project, was executed in semi-urban areas, surrounding Lahore, Pakistan. The idea has been to maximise Internet access, usage and awareness amongst private schools being operated by NGOs in these areas - with regular visits by car/van with workshop lab equipment and technologies including laptops, CDMA based EvDO, and WIMAX based internet access.

Some highlights:

* Four schools - being run on a non-profit basis - in various districts of Punjab province (Manga Mandi, Sahiwal, Okara) were selected. The level of enthusiasm of school principals and teachers is worth mentioning. All were keen to take this opportunity long term and make computers and Internet teaching a permanent feature.

* Apart from learning computer and Internet basics and imparting further to kids (many school teachers and kids were using it for the first time), some of the fastest learners have plans to start automating their teaching material as well as office related work using word processing and spreadsheet softwares.

* Despite longer travels from the main city, Lahore, and in cases where road conditions were not good - Internet-on-the-Move trainers did their job pretty well. The enthusiastic response from the schools and eager students, have been key motivators.

Learn more about the Community Grants Programme here:

http://isoc.org/isoc/chapters/projects/


-----------------------------------------------------------
Asia Pacific regional grants program paying off
- Contributed by Sylvia Cadena, APNIC

The Asia Pacific region is already seeing the benefits of the small grants program, ISIF (the Information Society Innovation Fund). The 2009 round of funding has been a proven success with awarded projects already making their mark in the region.

http://isif.asia/

Pakistan's Jaroka Tele-healthcare teams' project on "Mobiles for Development: Enabling Low-Cost e-Applications for Rural and Remote Areas (e-health)" has achieved significant success by initiating a regular tele-health referral service with US-based specialists. A member of this team also recently won the 2009 ITU Cybersecurity and ICT Applications Essay Competition - Consultancy Program. This offered the opportunity of a three-month consultancy contract within the ITU Developments Sector's ICT Applications and Cybersecurity Division.

Another awarded project, Thailand's intERLab, AIT project on the "Development of emergency networks training and toolkits" recently held a workshop with the support of ISIF.asia, Internet Society (ISOC), NSRC, THNIC Foundation, and NetworkTheWorld.org. The workshop provided 22 participants from five countries hands-on experience using WiMAX technology to deploy mobile wireless networks on an ad hoc basis in emergency conditions. They all received copies of "Wireless Networking in the Developing World" and the "DUMBO Emergency Network Handbook".This workshop is a head start for AIT's intERLab. Going forward, it will act as a regional coordinating centre for disaster management and emergency response.

"These projects clearly illustrate the rewards that small grants programs like ISIF offer for developing economies. They not only showcase innovative solutions to ICT issues, but also enable developing economies to grow in all respects", said Paul Wilson, Director General of APNIC.

ISIF is a joint initiative between the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Internet Society (ISOC), and the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC). It aims to stimulate creative solutions to ICT development needs in the Asia Pacific region.

ISIF will provide grants of up to AUD 40,000 per project in 2010, to help advance local and regional projects aimed at introducing, improving, and applying Internet and other digital communication technologies for the benefit of Asia-Pacific users and communities.

Two hundred and seven submissions were received from 25 economies, including Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Samoa, Rep. of Korea, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Pakistan, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Nepal, Myanmar, Maldives, Malaysia, Mongolia, Laos, Indonesia, India, Fiji, China, Cambodia, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Australia.

The Grants Evaluation Committee (GEC) has reviewed and evaluated the applications according to specific criteria and has shortlisted nine applications from the group for the full review process.

The ISIF Secretariat is in the process of providing the shortlisted applicants with the feedback produced by the GEC. The shortlisted applicants will submit their final proposals by 5 January 2010. The GEC will communicate the final list of projects approved for funding by 20 January 2010. After a brief set of administrative procedures, the 2010 grantees will be able to start their project activities no later than March 2010.

ISIF is actively seeking sponsorship to support innovation in the Asia Pacific region. For information about how to participate, please contact ISIF Secretariat at info@isif.asia


===========================================================
Chapter News
===========================================================
Australia
- Contributed by Tony Hill

The Australian Government recently held a forum to debate the benefits and structures from the planned AUD 40 billion plus investment in the National Broadband Network, in a session that took place on 10 and 11 December 2009.

ISOC-AU was been joint host of the Australian IPv6 Summit 2009 (http://www.ipv6.org.au/summit/) in the preceding days, where we have heard the point that IPv6 is imperative for continued growth of the open worldwide Internet. This included a presentation from Leslie Daigle of ISOC. Now we need to ensure that this principle is embodied in plans for Australia's National Broadband Network.

Online inputs into the Australian discussions are welcomed. You can submit ideas and view streaming of presentations here:

http://broadbandfuture.gov.au/

In line with discussions at the Australian IPv6 Summit, I have now submitted the following suggestion:

The National Broadband Network must be future proofed and as flexible as possible, incorporating and making available to users technologies such as IPv6 from day one, and fully available service enablers like high grade DNS (IPv6 of course).

I encourage all ISOC members and supporters to go to the web site and vote for this idea so that it comes to the top of the list:

http://www.google.com/moderator/?expr#16/e=402


-----------------------------------------------------------
Finland

- Contributed by Tommi Karttaavi

ISOC Finland held its member's meeting (annual general meeting part 2) on 10 December in Helsinki. The meeting selected the board for 2010:

* Mr. Tommi Karttaavi (Chair)
* Mr. Timo Kiravuo
* Mr. Tero Kivinen
* Mr. Markku Kojo
* Mr. Yrj^ L 0/00nsipuro
* Mr. Jorma Mellin
* Mr. Jyrki Soini
* Mr. Jonne Soininen.

Mr. Kari Mikkel 0/00 an Mr. Juuso Moisander were selected as alternate members.

Minutes of the meeting (in Finnish) are available here:

http://www.ttlry.fi/yhdistykset/siy/hallitus/poytakirjat/syyskokous2009

ISOC Finland will organize a seminar on youth and Internet on 10 February in Helsinki. The event is part of the National Safer Internet Day events.

More information (in Finnish) here:

http://www.ttlry.fi/koulutus/nuoret_ja_internet/

ISOC Finland Twitter account has now been opened:

http://twitter.com/isocfinland


-----------------------------------------------------------
Mexico
- Contributed by Alejandro Pisanty

The Internet Society Mexico Chapter recently had an extraodinary experience using social media.

In a campaign that was driven mostly through Twitter, the Chapter joined forces with other people and organizations and managed to partially repeal a tax law that would have imposed a 4% tax on transactions on all telecommunications services.

The campaign started as informational one, pointing out the contradictions of immposing this tax, which would have fallen in a category reserved for luxury goods and things like alcohol and tobacco, as well as the effects on the government's own programs, and other social needs. It started with a single tweet pointing to an entry in Alejandro Pisanty's blog, explaining this briefly on 19 October, 2009. An ISOC member retweeted this under the hashtag #InternetNecesario (short for "The Internet is Necessary"), which made a trending topic that night due to its viral expansion.

Some face-to-face interactions with Senators, an original physical demonstration involveing 140 people in a park spelling the tweet with small placards (a letter each), almost 110,000 tweets and retweets later - and a couple smart tactics which caught the press's attention and created a small media phenomenon (even internationally) - led to the repeal of the tax at least for Internet access (if not the whole package.)

http://www.isocmex.org.mx/

-----------------------------------------------------------
New York
- Contributed by Joly MacFie

The Internet Society New York Chapter is having its final members meeting for 2009 on Wednesday 9 December; there are a videos available of recent net neutrality events, and the recent WordCamp NYC; an ISOC-NY member's access project in Harlem has received funding; and the ISOC-NY website has an exciting new feature!

Members meeting
The Internet Society New York Chapter is holding its end-of-year members meeting on Wednesday 9 December at NYU.

* What: ISOC-NY Members meeting
* When: Wednesday 9 December 2009 6.30pm-8.30pm
* Where: Room 317, Warren Weaver Hall, 251 Mercer Street NYC (SW corner of West 4th) (Note: Use the entrance on the west side since construction blocks the Mercer Street entrance. Must bring ID.)

Agenda
Some tbd but:

1. Meet new members
2. Summary of year's activity
3. Finances
4. 2010 Event planning
5. ISOC-NY elections

More information:

* http://isoc-ny.org/wiki/Current_events
* http://internetpro.meetup.com/51/

Net Neutrality Videos

There have been two recent Network Neutrality related events in NYC.

1. Tech Debate - an "Oxford Style Debate" that coincided with the Web2.0 conference resulted in a resounding triumph for the 'pro' team! See video: http://www.isoc-ny.org/?p=1050

2. The NYC Technology in Government Committee held a public hearing on Resolution 712a, which endorses FCC Net Neutrality principles, and urges passing of Rep. Markey's "Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009" - here the pros again well outnumbered the cons, but you will, in panel 7, see that the Internet Society's official stand on this is that User Choice should be the prime objective. Regulators should be careful to consider the full impact of any restrictions, and work to increase choice in service providers. See video:

http://www.isoc-ny.org/?p=1037



WordCamp NYC 2009

This event, held over a weekend at Baruch College, attracted over 700 participants who gathered to exchange information on the popular Wordpress web publishing platform (as used by ISOC-NY). There were astonishing demos of how this free and open-source software has been used not just for blogs, but for complex content management and sophisticated websites such as, for example, http://wnet.org. We have gathered video, slides, and other material from the event, and it can be found on:

http://www.isoc-ny.org/?p=970



The Harlem Computer/Internet Access Programme

We would like to congratulate member Merle Bush on being the recipient of an ISOC Community Programme grant of $9,700 for the The Harlem Computer/Internet Access Programme. The money, along with funds granted by Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer, will provide an Internet Technology lab for the local underserved and aged community in Harlem. Read more about ISOC's Community Grants Programme:

http://www.isoc.org/isoc/chapters/projects/


ISOC-NY Notice Board

At the WordCamp there was a lot of excitement about P2, a new WordPress theme that some call "twitter in a box". It features a stripped down interface that gives logged-in users an input box where they can enter status updates, blog posts, links, or quotes, which instantly - through the wonders of AJAX - update the site. So it's as much a glorified chat room as a blog. What's more, every tag, and every user, gets its own RSS feed! The installation we have is the latest beta version, also running on the beta of the latest WordPress - please feel free to go and play with it:

http://isoc-ny.org/p2

Again to remind you, you can find ISOC-NY at the following:

http://twitter.com/isocny
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Internet-Society-New-York-Chapter-ISOC-NY/148919638537

That's it for now - wishing every one Happy Holidays.



===========================================================

If you have any questions regarding your membership please
contact the ISOC membership team at <membership@isoc.org>.

Copyright (c) 2009 Internet Society. Permission to duplicate
and redistribute in any form is granted as long as this
copyright and this notice remain intact.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Send any comments, questions, or suggestions to:

<newsletter@isoc.org>

Internet Society (ISOC) http://www.isoc.org
===========================================================