IGF 2020 Pre-Event #17 We the Internet - Experiencing the Global Deliberation

---------------------- Goal of the Open Forum ----------------------

The Pre-event aims at:

1. Presenting Global Citizens’ Dialogue on the Future of Internet (http://www.wetheinternet.org).

2. Permitting vIGF participants to experience the Dialogue.

---------------------- Program ----------------------

The Day 0 event will be shaped as the Global Deliberation Day of the Global Dialogue (see below): Participants will experience a session of the Dialogue and will see the results produced by the citizens in comparison.

1. Opening (15’) Short presentation of project and process (Missions Publiques).

2. Break-out rooms (45’) Participants are randomly split into groups of 5 (maximum diversity). In each group, a facilitator and a note taker guide the discussion. They experience the session of the Dialogue on the Digital Public Sphere.

3. Presentation of results of the groups and conclusion (20’) Participants gather in plenary, note takers present the key results of their group.

Organizers: Nota Bene: The pre-event is coordinated by Missions Publiques with the backing of a global Coalition of Stakeholder and national partners. see wetheinternet.org

----------- Background: Internet Governance with and for the Citizens -----------

Humanity deserves and asks for better governance. Both citizens and decision-makers are ready to experiment with new approaches. Decisions taken on behalf of 7+ billion human beings require to augment the traditional expertise with the vision and experience of ordinary citizens that will enrich, legitimize, and strengthen the decisions. New forms of political non-partisan dialogue between citizens, decision-makers and experts are one of the most promising solutions to improve governance towards a more inclusive, more trustful, and less divided society, at all levels, from local to global. By relying on such processes, decisions become more in tune with the complexity of our age, more legitimate and more sustainable. Decision-makers gain in legitimacy, insights, and transparency. Citizens enter the realm of complexity of decision making and get the feeling of being respected and considered by the political sphere. Both are strengthened by this unique interaction. The recent global COVID crisis has shown that Internet and they way we govern it has an impact on all humanity. There is a profound need to discuss its future with everyone.

----------------- Bringing Citizens into Internet Governance -----------------------------------

The Global Citizens’ Dialogue on the future of Internet (https://www.wetheinternet.org) aims at addressing core questions of the future of Internet with ordinary citizens and stakeholder around the world. It supports the decision-making process on the future of this common good of Humanity. In 2018 and 2019, and with the support of a global coalition of partners, we prepared and tested the approach in 17 Dialogues around the world. In 2020, it’s time to scale the process:

We will consolidate and extend the coalition and work with the Advisory Board, the Scientific committee and the community in order to design the dialogues and how they will interact with policy making.

Deliberation Day: Together with a group of 60+ national partners we will implement a series of at least 50 Citizens’ Dialogues on October 10th, 2020. Citizens will address following topics: Internet and me, Building a strong Digital Identity, shaping the digital public sphere, governing artificial intelligence.