Internet Governance Lab Faculty Director Dr. Derrick Cogburn, Professor at the AU School of International Service and Kogod School of Business, will participate in the 13th Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (#IGF2018) hosted by the Government of France at UNESCO headquarters in Paris from November 12-14, 2018. Dr. Cogburn will play a multifaceted role, including speaking at a Disco-tech event on disability and Internet accessibility; presenting at a DCAD workshop; and moderating a Giganet panel on Cybersecurity and Sovereignty.
Dr. Cogburn will kick off his IGF participation by speaking at the pre-conference Disco-tech event “Breaking through the walls of an inaccessible internet” on Sunday, November 11 from 7:30pm-10:00pm Paris time. Hosted by the Association for Progressive Communications and Digital Defenders Partnership, this Disco-tech focused on disability and Internet accessibility will provide opportunities to foreground the experiences, realities, needs, and concerns of Internet users with disabilities.
He will also participate in The GovTech Summit on Monday, November 12 as part of Paris Digital Week. The one-day summit organized by PUBLIC and supported by French President Emmanuel Macron, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, and the European Commission brings together entrepreneurship and technology to discuss how innovation can improve public services and transform democratic practices. Topics include transportation, healthcare, security, international development, e-government, and citizen engagement. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada will open the event.
On Tuesday, November 13 from 10:10am to 11:40am, Dr. Cogburn will speak at the workshop “1.3 Billion Reasons for Making Technology Accessible” as part of the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability (DCAD). Under the theme of digital inclusion and accessibility, this workshop addresses several country case studies in implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), facilitates understanding of current issues in disability and Internet accessibility, and discusses how to move forward toward a truly inclusive society.
On Thursday, November 15, Dr. Cogburn will moderate the Cybersecurity and Sovereignty panel from 2:15pm-4:15pm at the 13th Annual Giganet Symposium for internet governance scholars taking place at Sorbonne Université. He will be joined by Internet Governance Lab Global Scholar Dr. Francesca Musiani, who will be co-presenting “Governing What Wasn’t Meant To Be Governed: A Controversy-Based Approach to the Study of Bitcoin Governance” as part of the Technical Governance panel. Dr. Musiani’s presentation focuses on her co-authored chapter in the book Bitcoin and Beyond: Cryptocurrencies, Blockchains, and Global Governance, which is available open access. Longtime collaborators and colleagues including Dr. Meryem Marzouki, moderator of the Digital Constitutionalism panel, will also be in attendance.
Dr. Cogburn has participated in nearly all IGF Meetings and helped to co-found Giganet, the Global Internet Governance Academic Network. His recent book Transnational Advocacy Networks in the Information Society (2017) includes an analysis of IGF, along with its predecessor the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the co-created Global Alliance on ICTs and Development (GAID).