No. 21 Open Source: A Key Enabler on the Path to the Next Billion

1. Primary Contact Information

Mr. Satish Babu

Organizational Affiliation: ISOC-TRV

2. Secondary Contact Information

Ms. Judy Okite

Organizational Affiliation: FOSS Foundation for Africa

3. Workshop Format. Please click here for a description of available Workshop Session Formats.

4. Panel format background paper

No background paper provided

5. Duration of proposed session

90 minutes

6. Title

Open Source: A Key Enabler on the Path to the Next Billion

7. Description of workshop

Connecting the Next Billion is a key milestone for the Internet Community. Primary factors being addressed towards this objective include infrastructure, capacity building, policy coherence, access devices (such as mobile phones) and technology. Of secondary enabling factors, an important one is Open Source, both in technology (Free/Open Source Software, FOSS), as well as in terms of approach.

FOSS provides many advantages, including:

- Low-cost, robust, cost-effective, customizable, public software
- Liberal licensing
- No-cost community support
- Enables building of group/community applications
- Enables privacy, anonymity and confidentiality
- Provides the software 'community' model, combining developers, maintainers and users

There lurks numerous risks when a large number of first-generation Internet neo-literates--ordinary users, children, girls/women, differntly-abled, and the aged, civil society activists--join the network, including cyberstalking, surveillance, loss of confidential information, lack of anonymity, cyberbullying, malware, spam, scams, identity theft and more.

FOSS provides numerous technolgy tools & social models that helps building resilience in commmunities to become empowered users. These include general applications such as browsers, messengers, media players and office suites, to specialized software such as ToR, Freenet or I2P.

The BoF session will focus on ways in which communities can deploy FOSS and build capacity within the community to meet the challenges arising out of joining the Internet. The speakers are drawn from IGF participants from previous meetings. There exists a distinct group of IGF participants--judging by previous workshops on similar topics--who are interested in FOSS, who will constitute the audience.

8. Tags

Tag1: Internet Technologies

Tag2: FOSS

Tag3: Enhancing Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities

9. Name, stakeholder group, and organizational affiliation of workshop proposal co-organizer(s)

Judy Okite, FOSS Foundation for Africa
Satish Babu, Civil Society, ISOC India Trivandrum Chapter

10. Has the proposer, or any of the co-organizers, organized an IGF workshop before?

yes

The link to the workshop report

https://www.intgovforum.org/cms/wks2015/index.php/proposal/view_private/10

11. Description of the plan to facilitate discussion amongst speakers, audience members and remote participants

This is a BoF session drawing from the FOSS community members who are part of the IGF participants, as well as those that want to learn more about the role of FOSS as an enabler in the journey towards the Next Billion.

The BoF Session will be structured on the broad theme of the Role of FOSS in preparing communities and empowering them on the road towards the Next Billion, as follows:

a. Intro to the Session (5 minutes) - Moderators
b. Adoption of Discussion Themes (10 minutes) - Discussion (including remote participant inputs) to identify about 6 thematic areas. Each speaker will present on one theme.
c. Discussions (60 minutes - 10 min per theme)
d. Summing up and conclusion (15 min) - Moderators

12. Proposed Speakers

Abraham, Sunil
Choudhary, Mishi
Abraham, Sunil
Crépin-Leblond, Olivier M.J.
Hellerstein, Judith
Rayamajhi, Shreedeep
Vardanyan, Siranush
Astbrink, Gunela
Datta, Bishakha
Abou-Zahra, Shadi
Abdulla, Rasha
Botelho, Fernando
Ojedeji, Seun

Speakers provisionally confirmed:

Abraham, Sunil
Astbrink, Gunela
Botelho, Fernando
Choudhary, Mishi
Crépin-Leblond, Olivier M.J.
Datta, Bishakha
Hellerstein, Judith
Ojedeji, Seun
Rayamajhi, Shreedeep
Vardanyan, Siranush

13. Reasons for Speakers and/or description of how stakeholder views will be represented

We have proposed a set of speakers cutting across geography, gender and stakeholder group, with a distinct tilt towards speakers from Civil Society background. This is because the BoF session looks at the issue of Digital Inclusion of the Next Billion from the perspective of Civil Society. It is Civil Society where the overwhelming majority of the Next Billion come from, and also the stakeholder group that requires the most support and hand-holding.

The speaker group has been selected based on their prior work with Free/Open Source Software and related areas in Internet Governance. Several speakers are also associated with ISOC Chapters and ICANN, which would impact a technical-social perspective to the discussions.

14. Name of in-person Moderator(s)

Judy Okite

15. Name of Remote Moderator(s)

Siranush Vardanyan

16. Name of Rapporteur(s)

Satish Babu

17. Description of the proposer's plans for remote participation

The session will bring in participation from the large communities of FOSS and ICT4D advocates around the world, but particularly from the Developing World.

Since BoF sessions have a fluid structure (in terms of remote participation facilities), it may not be possible to provide the conventional remote participation facilities. If it can be arranged, then participants will use the facilities.

Remote participation for the session is planned largely around Twitter (hashtag: #FOSS4NextBillion) and to a lesser extent, email. The hashtag and email IDs will be given publicity through community channels as well as through IGF. The remote moderator will ensure that (a) the theme suggestions received through Twitter is passed on to the discussion; (b) Final themes shortlisted in the discussions will be communicated back to the community through Twitter; and (c) questions raised through Twitter/Email for a given theme is taken up during discussions.

The Session Report (summary of discussions) will be communicated back to the community through the IGF Website.

18. Based on which Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

No information provided

19. Background paper

No additional background paper provided

20. Agenda

The focus of this BoF Session is how the new users of the Next Billion, many of whom are under-informed or uninformed of the right and wrong ways to use the Internet, are enabled and helped to become empowered users.

The Agenda proposed is as follows:

a. Intro to the Session (5 minutes) - Moderators
b. Adoption of Discussion Themes (10 minutes) - Discussion (including remote participant inputs) to identify about 6 thematic areas. Each speaker will present on one theme. Proposed themes include:
- The nature of the Next Billion new users (less educated, neo-techno-literates, linguistic and cultural minorities, young people, first-time users etc)
- Risks faced by new users
- Possibilities provided by Free and Open Source Software:
c. Short interventions by speakers
d. Open discussions
e. Summarization and conclusion