Parallel session 3A: OPEN SIF

At this year’s SIF we will be introducing OPEN SIF, a platform where you as a participant can present an idea, project or initiative. We have received many excellent proposals from all over the world and from a variety of different fields and perspectives. In the selection process, we have aimed for a wide diversity of topics and projects that we consider also are beneficial for as many as possible at the forum.

Please see the final list of OPEN-SIF sessions below. Each presentation can be no longer than 15 minutes. Facilitator for OPEN SIF is social entrepreneur TMS Ruge. All OPEN SIF presentations will be broadcasted live.

Twitter: #SIF17 together with #SIF3A
Location: Mässhallen

SLOT 1 9.30 – 9.50 Translating the Global Web: Reducing Language Barriers to Increase Access

Speaker: An Xiao Mina

Language barriers in technology are a well known challenge, but few discuss the compounding nature of barriers across the stack. From accessible fonts to the availability of keyboards to the very code in which our software is written, our experience of the internet depends greatly on how much our languages are supported in our digital toolkit. In this session, the speaker will present briefly on language barriers as observed in a refugee camp in Serbia and in the context of global digital journalism. A short discussion will follow on a framework for articulating the range of technological challenges to language access, specifically through the concept of the technology stack and many layers of unequal access.

SLOT 2 9.50- 10.10 The Tor Project – Anonymity Online

Tor is used daily by millions of users to access the Internet while retaining their privacy and anonymity. It is provided by the Tor Project, a non-profit organization with the mission to be the global resource for technology, advocacy, research and education in the ongoing pursuit of freedom of speech, privacy rights online, and censorship circumvention.

In this presentation the presenters will explain how Tor works and what challenges it faces. A focus will be on key differences to commonly used proxy or VPN systems and the importance of transparency both organization- and software-wise for building Tor.

SLOT 3 10.10 – 10.30 Ayitic Goes Global: Empowering Women through Digital Markets in Haiti

Speaker: Carolina Caeiro

LACNIC, the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry, and IDRC have partnered up to scale up LACNIC’s capacity building project for Internet Development in Haiti, Ayitic.

Starting 2017, Ayitic is being reconfigured as a component of a broader capacity building initiative. The goal of this broader initiative is to create the enabling conditions for young Haitians to find employment in the digital economy by addressing skills and infrastructure deficits in Haiti. The project targets primarily women. The project is unique in that it pools together Internet Community and Development actors to promote the growth of digital employment in Haiti.

SLOT 4 10.30 – 10.50 Building cybersecurity expertise in the AP

Speaker: Sylvia Cadena

Investing in the development of cybersecurity capacity strengthens the ability of communities and networks to respond to security attacks, threats and problems. This improved regional resilience provides an important flow-on benefit to the cyber security community, which is better informed and positioned to handle any attacks and problems. A more capable Internet security community improves the overall health of the Internet ecosystem and provides a valuable network of partners and contacts to help identify, mitigate, and respond to cyber threats.