IGF 2014

Ever since the WSIS and WGIG a decade ago, many have argued that there is an important gap in the distributed institutional architecture of global IG. We lack ways to perform holistic, ongoing monitoring and analysis of policy-related developments, and to aggregate and disseminate information needed to make fully informed decisions. This is especially the case with so-called “orphaned” and multidimensional issues that do not fit neatly within any single organization. Where then can governments and stakeholders turn for accessibly formulated and usable information on policy, best practices, and lessons learned, and to connect with sources of experience and expertise in order to construct governance networks that can help identify forward-looking solutions?

Recently, there has been a number of proposals about this informational function. They vary not only in their details but even in how they label what is proposed, e.g. a clearing house, knowledge bank, observatory, policy network facilitator, IGF+, etc. While none of the labels fully capture the ideas in play, there is growing interest in moving forward, as is evidenced by the dialogues and initiatives in the IGF, WGEC, NETmundial, the High Level Panel, EC, ISOC, civil society, academic organizations, etc. Accordingly, the NonCommercial Users Constituency of ICANN (includes 94 organizations and 252 individuals in 81 countries) proposes this workshop to help advance and give shape to the discussion. The panelists and audience would brainstorm on such questions as: What, substantively and operationally, would be entailed by the function? What would be needed to institutionalize and perform it effectively? Which organizations would be involved, with what kinds of interrelationships?