Attending Internet Governance Forum 2023
Last month, Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2023,took place in Kyoto, from 8th October to 12th October. The event was hosted by the Government of Japan under theme was “The Internet We Want- Empowering All People”. Checking the statistics on the IGF 2023 website, the hybrid event has attracted around 9000 participants from 175 countries! It was an excellent opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals from around the world and to be part of a movement that is shaping the future of the Internet.
AI and associated risks and opportunities were dominating discussions in Kyoto and the IGF was a perfect platform to bring people together from various stakeholder groups as equals, in discussions on public policy issues relating to the Internet and AI. However, accessibility and inclusion has also been part of the agenda.
I had incredible opportunity to participate in person in Kyoto courtesy of the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability (DCAD) Fellowship Program funded by Vint Cerf through Google. I have been involved in DCAD since starting to participate in the International Communication Union standardisation work. So far, I have participated in the IGF remotely and for the first time attending in person allowed me to network with participants in the way that is not possible remotely.
DCAD, one of the first Dynamic Coalitions formed at the beginning of the IGF, facilitates involvement of Person with Disabilities in interactions and ensures that ICT accessibility is included in the key debates around Internet Governance in order to build a future where all sectors of the global community, including Persons with Disabilities, have equal access to the Interned and ICTs. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) provided secretariat for the DCAD from beginning until 2019 and currently, DCAD is supported by the Internet Society.
DCAD has organized a workshop at IGF23: Re-envisioning DCAD for the Future. The workshop facilitated discussions with speakers and participants focused on barriers to online participation and efforts to improve accessibility of online events, ensuring that persons with disabilities, no matter where they live, can actively participate in online meetings. The session facilitated accessibility with International Sign and real time captioning in English. There were many sessions that I attended at IGF23, which gave me chance to connect and network with fellow attendees. It was empowering to bring experiences of persons with hearing loss directly during networking and participation in different sessions.
The main plenary events were accessible with audio system facilitating UN official languages translation with participants provided with headphones, which were not the best solution for hearing aids or cochlear implant users. I used my personal audio streaming device as a substitute for headphones and it worked a trick. However, provision of a personal neckloop as a substitute for standard headphones would be much more suitable in future. All sessions and workshops were supported with real time captioning in English. International Sign was provided during opening, closing ceremonies and important plenary sessions such as Dynamic Coalitions Main Sessions, thanks to DCAD advocating for full inclusion for those sessions.
The IGF Secretariat has put up all the sessions recordings on their websites, you can visit them and learn more about the role of IGF, why it is important and how you can get involved in the multistakeholder process following the link https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/igf-2023-videos
The highlight? DCAD members meeting with Vint Cerf! Despite having incredible busy schedule, Vint has found time to meeting with members of DCAD. Vint and I have also something in common, we are both experiencing hearing loss and use hearing technologies to help us hear 🙂 We all shared our observations and suggestions on accessibility and participation of persons with disabilities at IGF and discussed different projects we are currently involved in.
I enjoyed immensely the time at the IGF23 and in Japan as the host country. The organisers made sure the participants get to enjoy the Japanese culture with Tea Ceremony and Kimono experience available to us all during the event.
As the Hard of Hearing and Deafened advocates, we need to be involved in the process that IGF facilitates and the discussions around accessibility of the Internet and its applications. We should ask ourselves the question “Is digital space, applications, the Internet fully accessible to us? The IGF and it’s Dynamic Coalitions are the first step towards holding those discussions in the spirit of “Nothing about us without us”.
With thanks to Vint Cerf , Google and DCAD Fellowship Program.
SeeHearInclusion 