I attended the first ever #ICt4D Twitter Chat. Actually it was also my first twitter chat. Organized by ICTWorks/Inveneo, it was cool to connect with others interested in ICT4D on Twitter. Wow- it was a challenge keeping things to 140 characters, though! The official announcement is here, and here is a transcript of the chat. It was a first chat, so it was all over the place in terms of topics, but it was awesome to find others interested in the same area of work (though I'm still crying out to connect with others interested in ICT for Law!). ICTWorks is also asking for feedback and ideas on topics, so let them know!
wsis-community.org- Why pick the Elgg platform?
Following my previous post on WSIS-community.org as a social networking site running on the Elgg platform, I was curious about Elgg.
While Facebook and Linkin are social networking sites that allow some functionality for creating networks within networks, Elgg is like Ning, probably the most popular and well-known social networking platform, that allows you to create your very own social network. However, unlike Ning, Elgg is open source, allows more owner control - including the branding, the domain name, the features, the design, the community rule, or even the database, and lets you run your social network on your own server. Elgg operates on a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql and Php) environment and it is easy to install and configure. Elgg also won best open source social networking platform in InfoWorld's 2008 Best Of Open Source Awards, which might indicate why UNESCO used Elgg for the WSIS-community.org site.
makeuseof.com in 2008 chose these Elgg as the best open-source social networking software, followed by mahara, Loved by Less, Xoops with Yogurt social network extension, and AROUNDMe. Read more details here. Makeuseof selected Ning, Snappville and CollectiveX as the top three hosted social networking sites for non-geeks (details here).
While Facebook and Linkin are social networking sites that allow some functionality for creating networks within networks, Elgg is like Ning, probably the most popular and well-known social networking platform, that allows you to create your very own social network. However, unlike Ning, Elgg is open source, allows more owner control - including the branding, the domain name, the features, the design, the community rule, or even the database, and lets you run your social network on your own server. Elgg operates on a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql and Php) environment and it is easy to install and configure. Elgg also won best open source social networking platform in InfoWorld's 2008 Best Of Open Source Awards, which might indicate why UNESCO used Elgg for the WSIS-community.org site.
makeuseof.com in 2008 chose these Elgg as the best open-source social networking software, followed by mahara, Loved by Less, Xoops with Yogurt social network extension, and AROUNDMe. Read more details here. Makeuseof selected Ning, Snappville and CollectiveX as the top three hosted social networking sites for non-geeks (details here).
WSIS Community turns into a Web 2.0 Social Network (www.wsis-community.org)
I chanced upon a Web 2.0y community site for WSIS that is linked to the WSIS Forum 2010 announcement page on ITU's site. The site is called simply 'WSIS' community, is located at http://www.wsis-community.org, and powered by Elgg (an open source social networking platform). The site looks pretty new, with a few groups and very little content.
On further probing (there is no 'about' page on the site), I found out that it was created by UNESCO and launched earlier this year at the annual WSIS follow up meeting in May.
Pre-launch announcement from UNESCO's site:
“It is good to see how the WSIS follow-up is evolving with the technological and related social developments,” says Mr Khan, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information. “Facebook, You Tube, Twitter and blogging provide entirely new tools for putting many of the WSIS visions into reality.”
At the Geneva Forum next week, UNESCO will launch its WSIS community platform, which includes blogging, Facebook-like features and the possibility to insert your Twitter in your personalized online platform dashboard, etc. “This platform was requested by the WSIS community, has incredible potential and will also make the follow-up process more inclusive,” says Miriam Nisbet, Director of the Information Society Division. She adds: “The platform will facilitate our WSIS related discussions, networking and information sharing. It is an Open Source product with great features and the possibility to evolve with the WSIS community.” (Readers are invited to explore and take a sneak preview at: www.wsis-community.org)."
On further probing (there is no 'about' page on the site), I found out that it was created by UNESCO and launched earlier this year at the annual WSIS follow up meeting in May.
Pre-launch announcement from UNESCO's site:
“It is good to see how the WSIS follow-up is evolving with the technological and related social developments,” says Mr Khan, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information. “Facebook, You Tube, Twitter and blogging provide entirely new tools for putting many of the WSIS visions into reality.”
At the Geneva Forum next week, UNESCO will launch its WSIS community platform, which includes blogging, Facebook-like features and the possibility to insert your Twitter in your personalized online platform dashboard, etc. “This platform was requested by the WSIS community, has incredible potential and will also make the follow-up process more inclusive,” says Miriam Nisbet, Director of the Information Society Division. She adds: “The platform will facilitate our WSIS related discussions, networking and information sharing. It is an Open Source product with great features and the possibility to evolve with the WSIS community.” (Readers are invited to explore and take a sneak preview at: www.wsis-community.org)."
Microjustice handbook by ILA
Micorjustice, now having the experiences of two (still ongoing) pilots in Bolivia and Peru, has published a pdf version of Microjustice handbook that summarizes a 'how to' and 'lessons learned' from the two pilots. The handbook is available in English and Spanish, and you can download it for free (with or without providing your information in a form). You can find the description of the book, as well as the book itself, via the link below
ASIL 104th Annual Meeting- International Law at a Time of Change, 24-27, 2010, Washington DC
Visit http://www.asil.org/am10/home.cfm for more conference details.
With over a century of tradition and experience behind it, ASIL's Annual Meeting has become the most important gathering in the field of international law. More than 1,000 practitioners, academics, and students travel to Washington, DC, each spring from all over the world to debate and discuss the latest developments in their field. ASIL's 104th Annual Meeting, which will reflect on the theme "International Law in a Time of Change" will be held March 24-27, 2010 at The Ritz Carlton in Washington, DC.
The current moment provides many challenges and opportunities for both international law and the international lawmaking process. Today's substantive issues - from armed conflict to climate change to the financial crisis to terrorism - have generated much new thinking about international legal rules and structures; at the same time, efforts to create new law implicate the interests of, and require the cooperation of, new and existing actors and institutions at many levels of governance. Our traditional models of international law are seeking to adapt to changing norms, approaches to governance, and governmental and nongovernmental actors - a process made more dynamic by the early approach the Obama Administration has adopted towards international problem-solving. For others, these new approaches pose problematic challenges to the existing international legal order.
The 2010 American Society of International Law Annual Meeting will grapple with these issues. Panels and other fora will present a broad range of perspectives on the remaking of international law through new modes of lawmaking, new methods of global governance, new actors engaging international and transnational problems, and new substantive rules to address evolving and complex problems.
Through this exploration, the 2010 Annual Meeting will consider the extent to which this time of change on so many fronts does and should impact the nature of international lawmaking. How, if at all, can the model of sovereign and equal nation states consenting to law encompass the increasing roles of subnational, nongovernmental, and corporate actors and the networks interconnecting them? In what ways should the making of treaties and customary international law include new actors and approaches? Which existing and new fora should be available to them? What new international institutions or institutional reforms do contemporary challenges demand? How will the embrace of new institutions and actors - or the failure to embrace them -affect the legitimacy of international law? What dangers or challenges to the international legal system do new approaches to international lawmaking present? Above all, what new substantive norms are required, and how should they be achieved?
The American Society of International Law, with its membership of leading scholars and practitioners of international law from around the world, is uniquely situated to provide an unparalleled exploration of international lawmaking in this time of change. We hope you will join this exciting conversation at the 2010 Annual Meeting.
March 24-27, 2010
The Ritz-Carlton
1150 22nd Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
The Ritz-Carlton
1150 22nd Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
Free Virtual Conference: "Practicing Law in a Virtual World"
The Second Life (SL) Bar Association is organizing the above virtual conference next week on 11/8/09. The SL Bar Association is an informal professional organization that helps members navigate the Second Life legal landscape. Meetings, lectures, and social events are held regularly. Attorneys, legal scholars, and other legal professionals are encouraged to join.
(There is an entire movement about this issue- you can start by join and/or read more at the SL Bar Association Ning Network at http://slbarassn.ning.com/)
Conference Agenda: "Practicing Law in a Virtual World"
Nov. 8, 2009On Saturday, Nov. 14, SLBA and the ABA-Young Lawyers Section are sponsoring "Practicing Law in a Virtual World" at the Fredric G. Levin College of Law, University of Florida Campus in the virtual world of Second Life. Attorneys and others are invited to attend. There will be two sessions and an informal mixer.
Session 1: Practice Issues Unique to the Virtual World Setting
Practicing law in an environment where either your client or the person they are dealing with are not in the same jurisdiction raises unique issues. The virtual environment also provides an opportunity for interaction of remotely located legal team members and clients. In addition, Second Life and other virtual worlds have their own local cultures and civil rights issues. This session discusses these and other practice issues unique to representing companies and individuals in a virtual world setting.
Session 2: Substantive Issues in a Virtual World
Copyright violation is a common complaint in a virtual world setting, but there are many interesting topics that are unique to practicing in a virtual world. How can I have an enforceable contract in a world with no “law”? If another person’s avatar attacks my avatar in a non-warring world, is it a crime? Find out what issues virtual worlds attorneys and their clients face in this session on substantive issues in a virtual world.
Mixer: Panelists and conference attendees will have a chance to talk with each other informally.
Please RSVP with your Avatar name to receive your pass and with any questions to: slbaconference@gmail.com or in-world IM: Michele Jigsaw.
More info - http://slbarassn.ning.com
Best ICT4D Conferences?
ICTWorks, an online resource and network for ICT4D professionals, has requested for folks to post their recommended ICT4D conferences here. If you have a suggestion, please let them know! Either way, it will be interesting to follow the responses.
Conference Announcement- China and India: The End of Development Models?- 12-13 April 2010, Wellington, NZ
A conference examining the correlation of 'development' and economic growth, "to revisit some of the long-troubling issues in post-War development research and debate: Is the developmental state essential for economic growth? Is export concentration inevitable? Are corporate groupings necessary? Does law matter? How do cultural and social relations contribute to economic and social development?"
Dates: 12 - 13 April 2010
Call for Proposals Deadline: 30 January 2010
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Website: The Wellington Conference on Contemporary China 2010
Over the last thirty years, the impressive growth performance of China and India has caused a new wave of global anxiety about the rise of power and wealth outside the developed world. More pointedly, scholarly interests and debates have focused on how the rising China and India would change the international political and economic structure, and whether India or China would outperform the other in a long run.
What is missing amidst the anxieties and fanfare about the two new “giants” is a genuine scholarly interest in an understanding of how the impressive growth and social transformation has been achieved in these two unique countries. With “Japan as No 1” in the 1950s and 1960s, the “four little dragons” in the 1960s and 1970s, the extension of the “East Asian miracle” to the rest of the Pacific Asia in the 1980s and 1990s, and now China and India, scholars must have enough empirical evidence to revisit some of the long-troubling issues in post-War development research and debate: Is the developmental state essential for economic growth? Is export concentration inevitable? Are corporate groupings necessary? Does law matter? How do cultural and social relations contribute to economic and social development?
Moreover, China and India are two major world civilizations that have taken very different paths in modern development. Modern state building started in each of these countries under a set of very different conditions. China and India have been problematic cases in modern development. With the two countries reaching a new historical phase of their modern development, it would be useful to revisit the scholarly debate on modern development again and hopefully to lift it to a new level: how colonial experiences, nationalism, communism and socialism affect a nation’s modern development? How traditional social structure, values and relations transform or persist in modern development and how these shape the emergent modern state? Are there different types of modernity or different models of modern developments?
The conference is designed to bring leading scholars in the field to address these issues. We are very pleased to have Professor Wing Thye Woo of UC Davis; Professor Pranab Bardhan, UC Berkeley; Professor Zhenglai Deng of Fudan University; Professor Prasenjit Duara of National University of Singapore; Professor B. Sudhakara Reddy of Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research; Professor Fu Jun of Peking University; Professor Sun Shihai of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Dr John Alexander Michael of University of Madras, Professor Sheng Kaiyan of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences; Professor Guo Sujian of Fudan University; Professor Dilip K. Das, of Conestoga College; Professor Heng Quan of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences
Moreover, China and India are two major world civilizations that have taken very different paths in modern development. Modern state building started in each of these countries under a set of very different conditions. China and India have been problematic cases in modern development. With the two countries reaching a new historical phase of their modern development, it would be useful to revisit the scholarly debate on modern development again and hopefully to lift it to a new level: how colonial experiences, nationalism, communism and socialism affect a nation’s modern development? How traditional social structure, values and relations transform or persist in modern development and how these shape the emergent modern state? Are there different types of modernity or different models of modern developments?
The conference is designed to bring leading scholars in the field to address these issues. We are very pleased to have Professor Wing Thye Woo of UC Davis; Professor Pranab Bardhan, UC Berkeley; Professor Zhenglai Deng of Fudan University; Professor Prasenjit Duara of National University of Singapore; Professor B. Sudhakara Reddy of Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research; Professor Fu Jun of Peking University; Professor Sun Shihai of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Dr John Alexander Michael of University of Madras, Professor Sheng Kaiyan of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences; Professor Guo Sujian of Fudan University; Professor Dilip K. Das, of Conestoga College; Professor Heng Quan of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences
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