Dutch pre-Tunis meeting

On Thursday there was a pre-Tunis meeting in The Hague, Fill the Gap III, organised by Hivos. There was a conference and a fair. The event attracted some 130 people and 20 exhibitors. I was there, telling about the World Summit Award and handing out the WSA catalogue. The catalogue was much liked.

The meeting existed of four parts: two keynotes, a discussion on the exhibition floor and a panel discussion. The theme centered around internet governance and more specific about the freedom of speech through internet. That freedom of speech through internet is not a right for everyone was demonstrated at the meeting, as flyers were distributed protesting against censorship in Tunesia.

The discussion on the exhibition floor did not sparkle. The Dutch internet journalist Peter Olsthoorn, chairman of the Dutch section of internet journalists, was asked what irritated him most on Internet. He indicated that he hated anonymity the most on internet; the fact that people did not show a face. When the audience was questioned on this position, only a five people agreed with him. The ensuing discussion went into details and eventually petered out without a real conclusion.

At the meeting I met also the people of Incommunicado 05. They had produced a book on their conference. The Incommunicado Reader is a compilation of lectures and discussions. The reader has been edited by Geert Lovink and Soenke Zehle. The reader, including CD-ROM, can be ordered by sending an e-mail to: info@networkcultures.org.


Cover of the reader