e-G8 Forum report (2011)

“Fittingly, this e-book is a virtual incarnation of an event whose physical existence was fleeting, but whose impact will endure. Opened on May 24, 2011 in Paris by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the e-G8 Forum gathered together the finest minds and most skillful operators of the Internet for just two days. But the Forum’s effect as a catalyst—on participants, on the G8 Summit that succeeded it, and on public policy by governments worldwide—was, and will continue to be, far more meaningful.

The Forum was an intense and ambitious gathering of 1500 participants from more than 30 countries. It culminated in a delegation to the G8 Summit of Heads and State and governments, where questions regarding
the Internet were on the agenda for the first time in the history of international summit meetings. The delegation was led by Maurice Lévy, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, and comprised Hiroski Mikitani, the CEO of Rakuten; Yuri Milner, CEO of Digital Sky Technologies; Stéphane Richard, CEO of France Telecom-Orange; Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google; and Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook.” (from Preface)

Edited by Ruth Marshall
Produced by PublicisLive
Published in June 2011
76 pages

authors
wikipedia
protest site

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Freedom on the Net 2011: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media Freedom (2011)

In order to illuminate the emerging threats to internet freedom and identify areas of opportunity, Freedom House created a unique methodology to assess the full range of elements that comprise digital media freedom. This report examines internet freedom in 37 countries around the globe. The study’s findings indicate that the threats to internet freedom are growing and have become more diverse. Cyber attacks, politically-motivated censorship, and government control over internet infrastructure have emerged as especially prominent threats.

Editors: Sanja Kelly, Sarah Cook
Published by Freedom House, Washington DC, 18 April 2011
410 pages

publisher

PDF (full report)
PDF (booklet of key findings)

Amy Sun: Jalalabad Fab Lab, Afghanistan: Annual Report (2009)

In May 2008 a Fab Lab was installed in the village of Bagrami near Jalalabad, Nangarhar Province, in eastern Afghanistan with funding from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) program. This fab lab is a continuation of a program started in 2002 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA). Currently there are nearly 40 such labs in 11 countries interconnected by internet and broadband videoconference.

The goal of the Jalalabad Fab Lab was to investigate post-war and disaster recovery applications of digital fabrication to see how communities might benefit from access to on-demand, local, custom production capabilities rather than relying on long, slow, and expensive supply chains. The Jalalabad lab anticipated special emphasis on health care needs that require on-site customization for individuals.

We have established a fab lab that has become a community resource. After 8 months this resource show positive signs of becoming self-sustaining. There are community members that are learning basic economic and business principles by creating product in the lab for sale in local markets. In this informal setting, through hands-on projects and peer-to-peer learning structure, people are gaining technical knowledge and experience using state-of-the-art digital fabrication tools. This experience stimulates motivation to learn more deeply about science, math and engineering and develop skills that are valued around the world. Additionally we have established educational infrastructure that extend learning beyond what a fab lab can teach. We have also created a wireless network throughout the community that gives access to the internet, for free, opening up the vast knowldege resources that the internet offers, and providing a gateway to the rest of the world.

Fielding a fab lab in Jalalabad has shown that prototyping tools for digital fabrication can function in a post-war, community-stressed setting like Afghanistan and have significant, immediate applications. We’ve identified applications in Information Communications Technology (ICT), civil engineering, and first line health care that can benefit enormously from the capabilities in a fab lab.

Report written for National Science Foundation, April 2009
Center for Bits and Atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

authors

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