Civil Society Organisations and Internet Governance in Asia and India – Section Outlines
The Centre for Internet and Society has been invited to contribute two sections to the Asia Internet History - Third Decade (2001-2010) book edited by Dr. Kilnam Chon. The sections will discuss the activities and experiences of civil society organisations in Asia and India, respectively, in national, regional, and global Internet governance processes. The draft outlines of the sections are shared here. Comments and suggestions are invited.
In the (draft) Foreword to the Asia Internet History – Third Decade (2001-2010), Prof. David J. Farber writes:
One of the early attempts to extend the reach of the Internet to Asia was via the “Johnny Appleseed” approach. That is a set of people responded to queries by people in Asian countries asking how they could connect with the growing Internet by offering to supply tapes to key people in the requesting countries, often by physically going with the tapes, as well as providing access points to the USA Internet. The people that we, I was one of the seeders, worked, with became the leaders in their nation and founded the initial national networks that blossomed with time and often formed the basis of commercial Internets. The traditions that these network frontier pioneers established lead to the eventual spread of the benefits of Internet access to not only their nations but became models for the spread to the rest of Asia…
I am honoured to contribute to the pioneering series titled Asia Internet History, edited by Dr. Kilnam Chon, by foregrounding a range of other individuals and organisations that often worked outside but in engagement with the national governments, and technical and academic institutions that govern the connecting tapes of the Internet, to ensure mass access to and effective usages of Internet in Asia.
The two sections, to be authored me, provides an overview of ‘civil society organisations’ working across Asian countries that have played a critical role in the shaping of policy-making and discourse around Internet governance during 2000-2010, and then undertakes a closer look at the organisations working in India and their interventions at national, regional, and global levels.
Please read the draft outlines of the overview section and the section on Indian organisations, and share your comments. The comments can be posted on the GitHub page where the outlines are hosted, on this page, or over email: sumandro[at]cis-india[dot]org.
The outlines can also be directly downloaded as markdown files: the overview and the India section.
Asian Civil Society Organisations and Internet Governance
Here is a tentative list of key civil society organisations from Asia that have participated and intervened in Internet governance processes during 2001-2010. Please suggest organisations missing from the list.
Bangladesh
- Bangladesh Friendship Education Society (BFES)
- Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC)
- Bytes for All, Bangladesh
- Dnet
- Internet Society Dhaka Chapter
- VOICE
Cambodia
China
- China Association for Science and Technology (CAST)
- Internet Society Hong Kong
- Internet Society of China
- Internet Society Taiwan Chapter
- Knowledge Dialogues, Hong Kong
Indonesia
- EngageMedia, Australia and Indonesia
- ICT Laboratory for Social Change (iLab)
- Indonesian CSOs Network for Internet Governance
- Indonesian ICT Partnership Association (ICT Watch)
- Internet Society Indonesia Chapter [website is under construction]
India
- Bloggers Collective
- Centre for Internet and Society (CIS)
- Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS)
- Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF)
- Free Software Foundation India (FSFI)
- Free Software Movement of India (FSMI)
- Internet Democracy Project
- Internet Society Bangalore Chapter
- Internet Society Chennai Chapter
- Internet Society Delhi Chapter
- Internet Society Kolkata Chapter
- IT for Change
- ITU-APT Foundation of India (IAFI)
- Observer Research Foundation (ORF)
- Society for Knowledge Commons (Knowledge Commons)
- Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC)
Iran
- Iranian Civil Society Organizations Training and Research Centre (ICTRC) [URL is not working]
Japan
- Centre for Global Communications (GLOCOM) [Academia?]
- Internet Society Japan Chapter
- Japan Computer Access for Empowerment (JCAFE) [URL is not working]
- Japan Computer Access Network (JCA-NET)
Kuwait
Lebanon
Malaysia
Myanmar
Nepal
Pakistan
Philippines
- Democracy.Net.PH
- Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA) [URL not working
- Internet Society Philippines Chapter
Regional
- Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
- Developing Internet Safe Community (DISC) Foundation
- LIRNEasia
Singapore
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Thailand