IGF 2022 WS #333 The future of the Web? A Global South perspective on Web3

Organizer 1: Diego Andre Cerqueira, Ceweb.br | NIC.br
Organizer 2: Hartmut Richard Glaser, Brazilian Internet Steering Committee - CGI.br
Organizer 3: Vagner Diniz, Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br)
Organizer 4: Luiza Mesquita, Network Inormation center

Speaker 1: Passeron Ezequiel, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 2: Miya Baratang, Technical Community, African Group
Speaker 3: Parminder Jeet Singh, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group

Moderator

Diego Andre Cerqueira, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)

Online Moderator

Luiza Mesquita, Technical Community, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)

Rapporteur

Diogo Cortiz da Silva, Technical Community, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)

Format

Round Table - U-shape - 90 Min

Policy Question(s)

This workshop aims to center the Global South into the discussion of what is Web3, hovering on its challenges and opportunities aligned within the IGF's discussion policy agenda, henceforth we pose the following policy questions:

(1) How can web3 be built, and we be forgetful over the burdens created by Web2? Are we being naive or omissive? Whereas the lack of meaningful access, and the digital skills, just to name a few, are required to be part of this discussion? Will it be a form of reducing inequalities or broaden it?

(2) How can we from the Global South, members of Latinx, black and Asian communities be heard and part of this discussion?

(3) Is decentralization and data sovereignty doable? Should we not be asking questions such as how these high level and complex technologies will be part of the developing nations? And to what extent?

Giving the Global South the spotlight, we propose a discussion from and by developing nations such as Brazil, South Africa, India, and what the impacts Web3 can have on its territories. Ready or not, it seems to be already happening.

Connection with previous Messages: This proposal is connected with many of the IGF's 2021 messages, especially 3 and 4.

The 3rd message connects with our desire to center people in the process of making technology not otherwise. We aim to create a space whereas people are included by default, nonetheless heard.

The 4th is when we put people, policy makers, researchers, academia and technical communities at the table to discuss the impact of such complex technology on countries that strive for meaningful connectivity and lack of digital skills. Also discussing with civil society how these new technologies can enact exclusion proxies, leaving people even more behind for the sake of innovation.

SDGs

3.1
5. Gender Equality
5.b
5.c
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
10.2
10.3
10.6
9.b


Targets: This workshop proposal is related to the following SDGs:
5.b, 5c,
Hovering on innovation perse, bringing a light to upcoming issues regarding technology advances, especially when the Global North model is being pushed to the Global South.
9b
Whenever we think about the innovation we must include and put our best foot forward to include developing countries in the discussion of how new technologies can affect their daily lives, puting policy makers, thinkers and researchers to the table in order to discuss multi stakeholder solutions to emerging problems.
10.2, 10.3 e 10.6
Are related with our efforts to bring social inclusion to the floor, giving developing countries space to externalize their visions on issues that may affect the ongoing work, focusing on bringing topics such as inequality, gender inclusion and race to the table, giving the policy makers food for thought.

Description:

Web3 or Web 3.0 is a term created to identify new applications built on the Web with the premise of decentralization, bringing with it several applications based on blockchain technologies, such as token economy and NFT. The claim is user data sovereignty.
The Web has gone through many changes from Web 1.0, or Static Web, with little or no interactivity and static pages, to Web 2.0, the Web we know and use everyday. Innovation was and will be key to transformation, responsible for what we are yet to witness regarding the Web evolution process, its expansion and improvement. But even so, we need to be critical and attentive to the possible impacts on the Web as we know today.
As Web3 has risen as a concept, leaving people with many unanswered questions such as: what is web3? Is Web3 really a thing? If so, for and by whom? The discussions and applications of Web3 are already happening nonetheless, and its implications on Global South need to be addressed. The web created by Tim Berners-Lee, transformed the world by being interactive, free and open. Will this new web be sculpted upon these principles?
How can we, in a multistakeholder, discuss the impacts of building a "new" web, and yet having problems, issues and inequalities inherited from the "old" one? Are the LGBTQIA+, Latinx, black people and Asian communities part of this? Are our bodies, history and identities being left out and tokenized?
We invite specialists to shed light into this topic, gathering researchers, artists, educators and policy makers, to discuss the topic, offering a Global South perspective on Web3 and its impacts.

Expected Outcomes

- Promote a discussion, based on global perspectives, on the challenges of implementing Web3
- Centralizing countries from the Global South in the discussion about the future of the Web;
- Highlight the risks and opportunities in creating a "new web", where the challenges of Web 2, the web of interaction, have not yet been overcome;
- We hope to initiate debate on a global stage, in a movement to look at the Web, from a Global South perspective, on how to overcome such challenges;
- Collect insights from different perspectives on the future of the web, combining the experiences of experts, activists and researchers from the Global South;
- This space will be used to start discussions about Web3 within the W3C Chapter São Paulo and Ceweb.br, which can later be transformed into research projects and seminars.

Hybrid Format:
The first half of the panel (45 minutes) will be dedicated to the panelists to introduce their vision and answers to the policy questions. After the exposure time, they will be moderated between online and in-person questions for the other half (45 minutes). The moderator will have a key role in inviting panelists and offering a good flow for the conversation.
The panelists will be provoked by the policy questions beforehand. Which will produce their interventions for the first half of the workshop. Ensuring the online and in-person presence will be equally fruitful for the participants and the viewers. Using our best abilities to take the advantage of the tools and space provided by IGF.

This session will be organized as follow:
First-half (45 minutes)
(1)General overview of the panel and Panelists and views (on site and remove) are presented with the Policy Questions; (5 minutes)
(2)Each Panelist will have a limited time to answer the asked policy questions in a 5-10 minute windows and briefly introduce themselves; (total: 40 minutes)
Second-half (45 minutes)
(3)Then we propose a Q&A from the online audiences (the online moderator will ask to the panel questions direct to one of the panelists)
(4)The Panelists interact with the audience (online and in-person): the audience they ask questions in a row up to 3 or 5 questions and panelists interact with them.
(5) Each panelist will have a limited time to answer their chosen questions – other panelists are free to jump in. The moderator may ask the panelists if they have anything to contribute to the topic, complementing or disagreeing on the given topic.

Online Participation



Usage of IGF Official Tool.