IGF 2014

This year, 2014, has been declared the United Nations (UN) International Year of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) celebrating their ‘vibrant and distinct cultures, diversity and heritage’ and recognising their people being ‘at the forefront of efforts to address pressing global issues through ingenuity, innovation and use of traditional knowledge’.

The data that results from Internet access and mobile connectivity can aid better policy and programmes, to help SIDS improve Internet governance, cybersecurity and resiliency in their countries. The development of a rich technological ecosystem for SIDS, which connects them with continents and the world is therefore important and data and access to information and technology which the Internet facilitates can help to support this. SIDS must provide timely context-appropriate data directly to policy makers; data to software developers; and promote the generation and dissemination of data by the public and diaspora; and data-centric applications to consumers and development agencies. It follows that there is a direct link between the development of data infrastructure and Internet governance mechanisms.

In addition, given privacy and ethical concerns and the vulnerability of these regions to information security breaches it is important that ways that these threats can be avoided through better Internet governance mechanisms is addressed.

This workshop brings together a variety of stakeholders to discuss ways that Internet Governance frameworks relating to open data and big data can help to connect these unique states with each other, their diaspora communities and the rest of the world.