Government newsletter - Stockholm Internet Forum - for global social, economic and political growth
18 April 2012

Stockholm Internet Forum - for global social, economic and political growth

A girl sitting in a park at a computer. Photo: United Nations Development Programme

On 18-19 April some 350 invited decision-makers, activists, and representatives from civil society, the business sector and the tech community will gather in Stockholm to discuss different aspects of Internet freedom. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the .SE foundation and Sida are holding the two-day international conference Stockholm Internet Forum on Internet Freedom for Global Development.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt, Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson and Minister for Information Technology Anna-Karin Hatt will be representing the Swedish Government. Prominent participants include Frank La Rue, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression; Alec J Ross, Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Rebecca MacKinnon, one of the founders of Global Voices Online; Nicklas Lundblad, policy geek at Google; Suneet Singh, CEO of DataWind, which has launched the budget tablet Aakash; and Måns Adler, founder of the company and Internet service Bambuser for live broadcast of mobile phone videos.

Why a conference about online freedom and global development?

Stockholm Internet Forum 2012 is the latest concrete example of the Government's policy for Internet freedom. The conference aims to deepen discussions on how freedom and openness on the Internet promote global social, economic and political development. What conditions are necessary to enable the Internet to contribute to global development? What are the most important issues for freedom and development, in light of advances in technology, such as the increased mobility offered by mobile Internet and cloud services?

Many international fora deal with the Internet. It is hoped the discussions at the Stockholm Internet Forum will provide new perspectives and ideas for discussions at other coming international fora in 2012, such as EuroDIG, IGF and Budapest Cyber Conference, and inspire and energise international efforts for Internet freedom.

Digital curators for online participation

Seven sessions on different aspects of Internet freedom for global development form the main structure of the Stockholm Internet Forum programme. A number of side-events will take place in direct conjunction with the conference. All speeches and main sessions will be broadcast live on the Forum website 'stockholminternetforum.se' and a special Twitter account has been opened for the conference. Interest in participating on location at Stockholm Internet Forum was substantial during preparations.

A man loooking at the screen of his mobile phone. Foto: Gates Foundation

To broaden discussions at the conference and create engagement and interaction between the physical conference and online participation, four digital curators have been brought in. Before and during the conference, they will:

  • scan the Internet and involve their digital social networks, and identify and select relevant questions and comments on the forum's issues and topics (tweets, blog posts, videos, etc.);
  • gather questions and comments via the Internet and make them accessible in a flow on the Forum website;
  • help create interaction between the Internet and the physical Forum on site at the sessions.

In simple terms, the curators will be digital cohorts to the conference's traditional moderators.

This is the first time the Government Offices of Sweden will try working with external digital curators to more widely share participant-generated content on an open website. The organisers hope this will help to encourage engagement in the conference and give added value to the discussions - for both those physically on site and those participating online.

Presentation of the results from the discussions

Informal summaries of the session discussions will be published regularly during Stockholm Internet Forum. A full summary will be written at the close of the second conference day. All these summaries will be published on the Forum website.

On Friday 20 April, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will hold an open seminar where Stockholm Internet Forum will be summed up and discussed for those who are unable to participate at Stockholm Internet Forum, but who are interested in the results. Participating in the seminar will be the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, .SE foundation and Sida. Registration is open to all on a first come, first served basis. The number of places is limited.

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