> Please excuse any cross‹postings due to multiple list subscription > New WSIS Forum 09 format offers remote web-participation > 15-05-2009 (Paris) > > http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=28624&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION > =201.html > > Critical knowledge societies issues will be addressed in six high-level panels > and 35 sessions with the participation of experts, practitioners, > representatives of governments, civil society and the private sector during > the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 09. > > More than 850 participants have already registered for next-weeks event, which > will be jointly organized by ITU, UNESCO and others in Geneva, Switzerland, > from 18 to 22 May 2009. > > ³It is good to see how the WSIS follow-up is evolving with the technological > and related social developments,² says Mr Khan, UNESCO¹s Assistant > Director-General for Communication and Information. ³Facebook, You Tube, > Twitter and blogging provide entirely new tools for putting many of the WSIS > visions into reality.² > > At the Geneva Forum next week, UNESCO will launch its WSIS community platform, > which includes blogging, Facebook-like features and the possibility to insert > your Twitter in your personalized online platform dashboard, etc. ³This > platform was requested by the WSIS community, has incredible potential and > will also make the follow-up process more inclusive,² says Miriam Nisbet, > Director of the Information Society Division. She adds: ³The platform will > facilitate our WSIS related discussions, networking and information sharing. > It is an Open Source product with great features and the possibility to evolve > with the WSIS community.² (Readers are invited to explore and take a sneak > preview at: www.wsis-community.org). > > In spite of this and other tools, UNESCO is concerned that the vision of > societies, in which the power of information and communication helps people > access the knowledge they need to improve their daily lives and achieve their > full potential, is still fare from being realized. ³This requires vision, > political will, institutional and individual capacities, considerable > resources, and of course good coordination among all actors,² says Mr Khan. > > This WSIS Forum unites an unprecedented number of high-level participants and > experts in a new format. It includes also a meeting of the representatives of > 28 international organizations, all members of the United Nations Group on the > Information Society (UNGIS), who will discuss ways to enhance coordination. > > For the international community, the main challenge is now to mainstream the > issue of information and communication for development in the agendas of the > various stakeholders in the WSIS process, and to keep the spirit of Geneva and > Tunis alive translating it into concrete actions. > > For the first time, the WSIS Forum will also offer access to the meetings > through remote web participation.