IGF 2018 Report
“Local content: a unique opportunity for underserved regions”
- Session Title: Local content: a unique opportunity for underserved regions
- Date: 14 November 2018
- Time: 10:10 – 11:40
- Session Organizer:
Emmanuel ADJOVI , International Organization of La Francphonie
khouloud Dawahi, UN MYCG (Civil Society)
- Chair/Moderator:
In-person moderator: Christine Arida, NTRA, Egypt
Remote moderator: Komi Nuga, Academia
- Rapporteur/Notetaker: Rachida Fakhri, OIF
- List of Speakers and their institutional affiliations:
Since the session format was “ Birds of Feather ”, there weren’t “Speakers, but experts who contributed in the discussion giving their lightning and/or the result of their findings to frame the debate. They were:
- Betty Fausta, CEO, IPEOS I-Solutions (Technical Community)
- Tijani Ben Jemaa, Executive Director, Mediterranean Federation of Internet Associations (Civil Society)
- Mona Al Ashkar, Professor, University of Beirut (Academia)
- Destiny Tchehouali, Quebec University, Montreal (Academia)
- Key Issues raised (1 sentence per issue):
- Underserved regions don’t produce local content in local languages for the use of the population at the grassroots’ level.
- Lack of reliable and affordable connection in these regions is a barrier for the development and the use of local content.
- Insufficient national public policy support to the production and the dissemination of the local content
- If there were presentations during the session, please provide a 1-paragraph summary for each presentation:
There were no presentations during the session (birds of feather format).
- Please describe the Discussions that took place during the workshop session (3 paragraphs):
The moderator made a short introduction and then open the discussion that highlighted 4 aspects of the local content in local language for underserved regions and communities:
- The need for local content created by the recent evolution of the Internet such as IPV6, new gTLDs, IDNs, that represent a unique opportunity for the underserved regions to develop local content in local languages conceived for the need of the populations.
- Success stories from Lebanon concerning the production of local content that improves the quality of life of the citizens such as:
- Beirut Electricity: Alerts for regular breaks in Beirut
- Zawarib: a mapping application that helps Lebanese find addresses
- The game « Birdy Nam Nam »
- Dermandar: a photographique application
- Ya Maalem: to find artisans
- Eyes of Lebanon: real-time traffic around the capital
- Sukleen: the application of the group Averda to arrange the garbage collection
- Applications of gastronomy and tourism
- Open Source Software for the development of local content:
- How Open Source can help local technical communities access cutting-edge tools in tight markets to produce local content. Open source promotes local expertise and makes technologies available to local pro communities
- the constraints of the Caribbean small island regions in Digitally enclaved environments (Broad Band is a scarce commodity). The professionals of these zones must be ingenious and erase the differences with the big cities of the world
- The role that global digital platforms (Netflix, Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, etc.) play
- Concentration and lack of diversity in the global cultural offer
- issues and challenges related to the regulation of digital platforms, their business models, the transparency of their algorithms but also to the consideration of international cooperation and national public policies to support production and distribution of local content.
- Adaptation and renewal of cultural policies in the digital age.
- financing the production and dissemination of local / national content (especially digital cultural products),
- Regulatory or legislative measures to impose local content quotas on international VoD or VoD subscription platforms whose catalogs are dominated by foreign content, etc.).
- Need for an Internet governance that favors the emergence and development of cultural and linguistic diversity).
Unfortunately, the remote participation didn’t work due to a technical failure.
- Please describe any Participant suggestions regarding the way forward/potential next steps /key takeaways (3 paragraphs):
- A participant suggested that Governments and private sector support financially the development and dissemination / distribution of local content in local languages by local youth.
- Another highlighted the need for national strategies for digital transformation providing an enabling environment for the production of local content that eases the daily life of the local populations
- An expert noted that the the Open Source can help local technical communities access cutting-edge tools to produce local content, and that it promotes local expertise and makes technologies available to local pro communities. She suggested that a special effort of capacity building be made for these local communities on the use of open source software in the development of local content.
- A participant proposed that regulatory or legislative measures be taken to impose local content quotas on international VoD or VoD subscription platforms.
Gender Reporting
- Estimate the overall number of the participants present at the session:
There were approximately 40 participants in the room and at least 20 in the corridor (Small number of seats in the room and UNESCO staff prevent people from entering and stand around by the walls).
- Estimate the overall number of women present at the session:
Approximately 15 participants in the room were women. The panel itself was gender balanced, with 2 women and 2 men.
- To what extent did the session discuss gender equality and/or women’s empowerment?
- If the session addressed issues related to gender equality and/or women’s empowerment, please provide a brief summary of the discussion:
The session did not directly address issues related to gender equality and/or women’s empowerment.