participating in internet governance
Jeremy's question regarding global governance is a good one, a lot has been written about it, and a number of public interest advocacy groups are actively pursuing the problem. But it should be noted that several of the key groups require an ability to cope with engineering, and social scientists and those in the humanities often choose to exclude themselves from such conversations as if the technical matters aren't also political. Robin Mansell, of the London School of Economics, has provided a role model in her acquisition of an engineering degree on top of all she knows about the social sciences, in order to sit on pertinent committees, etc. Sandra Braman
yes, i can see that some engineering knowledge is important to some discussions, but for isoc and some parts of ietf, it isn't necessary at all, and if you are interested, the more you participate the more you learn. but take for instance the Intellectual Property Rights working group of the ietf http://news.com.com/2100-1013-996351.html?tag=fd_top lets just wonder what might happen if various internet standards were to be privatized... what would this mean for the digital divide? what would it mean for internationalization of the internet? I have my theories, but what if members of air-l were able to join the ietf-ipr and provide good evidence that this line is highly problematic, which several people have, including myself, but were summarily voted against. What would happen if enough people took the evidence and said 'if the internet is to be for everyone, as isoc says, then given what we know, you should not allow for the privatization of standards'? and if they voted then, maybe it would go the other way.... maybe.... but there are always a few committees where the social scientist, legal, and humanities and everyone else have an interest if nothing else than as a member of the public. On Thursday, April 10, 2003, at 12:22 PM, Sandra Braman wrote:
Jeremy's question regarding global governance is a good one, a lot has been written about it, and a number of public interest advocacy groups are actively pursuing the problem.
But it should be noted that several of the key groups require an ability to cope with engineering, and social scientists and those in the humanities often choose to exclude themselves from such conversations as if the technical matters aren't also political. Robin Mansell, of the London School of Economics, has provided a role model in her acquisition of an engineering degree on top of all she knows about the social sciences, in order to sit on pertinent committees, etc.
Sandra Braman
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Jeremy Hunsinger Center for Digital Discourse and Culture
Dear AIR'ers - I do agree with the major premise here that to get more educated about the 'Net means getting more involved with governance. Academics are here, aren't we? to make sure that governments don't go off the rails (well,per recent events, this isn't a very strong argument!!!!!!) After working for 15 years in IT, I also note that the engineers, like the army, are there very much to 'get the job done' and engineers usually work to the specs that are delivered by these advisory boards . . . and it's important to remember that the social impact research that's recently been done will help us deliver our opinions with credibility . . . FWIW, Denise ===== "Stupidity is not just a lack of content; it's also a process" Denise N. Rall, Sustainable Forestry Mentoring Coordinator & PhD student, School of Education, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW, 2480 Australia Phone +61-2-6624-8627 Fax +61-2-6624-8637 Office (Tuesdays) (02) 6620 3577 Mob 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/edu/research/deniserall/index.html __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - File online, calculators, forms, and more http://tax.yahoo.com
participants (3)
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Denise N. Rall -
jeremy hunsinger -
Sandra Braman