Want to shape the future of the Net? Click here

The Internet Governance Forum is going to be held in just over a week’s time in Athens, and I’m not entirely sure how to make this clear enough but: if you have any interest whatsoever in the future of the Internet, you should take time out to review what happens there.

And you can do precisely that thanks to a new website I have been building with Australian academic Jeremy Malcolm. It can be found at IGF2006.INFO – that’s www.igf2006.info – and it allows for what we think is the maximum amount of useful interaction you can currently get over the Net.

You can review everything that is happening at the IGF clearly and simply. And you will be able to read whatever anyone else decides to post up there. And if you register – a very, very simple process where you will get a password emailed to you, and that’s it – you will be able to immediately interact with others.

That includes your own instant blog, which you can start typing into straight away, plus the ability to add comments to pages, add your own pages, your own wikis, your own chatrooms. As soon as we have the links for webcasting, they will put into pages, and you will be able to instantly interact with others both in Athens and around the world about what is being discussed.

All in all, if you don’t use it then you can have little to complain about further down the line.

What is the IGF?

It is the first meeting of the IGF and it represents an extraordinary experiment in Internet democracy. Democracy in the true sense that all those wish to get involved, can – and they can help form the thinking for how the big decision-makers the world over see the Internet.

The people that actually make decisions, and inform perceptions; the people you despair of when you see a bad new law, or a daft quote; the people that are able to make sure that the Net is used and constrained in ways that aid rather than hinder the Internet and its users — all these people will be in one room in Athens and it is your chance to make your points known.

What will be discussed?

All the pertinent Net issues of the day: access to information, the problem of privacy on the Internet, security, spam, phishing. Access to the Net across the world. Open source software. Use of different languages online. How to get people to work together on the Web.

Whatever it is, the world’s experts will be there, listening and talking. Even if you don’t want to interact, you will be able to find out what the best minds in the business think. And it is all out there, all for free, and all possible because of the Internet.

Content, content, content

I am announcing the site now because I want people to have a look and get used to the site. Plus, of course, start interacting with it. I am still posting content to the site, but there is absolutely nothing to stop others doing the same.

Those going can put up what they are doing in Athens, plus add details of any meetings they are having, plus put up small biographies and pictures of themselves so others know who they are. Those in the rest of the world, if you have something – a report, or a comment, or a future meeting, or a great example or plan, you can post this information up. How else are you going to let people know about it?

So, please if you read this, do have a look. And tell anyone who you think might be interested about it too. Stick it on a mailing list. Add it to your email signature. Get it carved into your hair, I don’t care, just so long as no one is wondering how they could have interacted with the IGF and didn’t know how.

If anyone has any problems with it, please get back to me. We have designed the site to hopefully be as easy to use as possible to encourage the maximum amount of interaction. The rest is up to you.