My friends at Citizens for Global Solutions have started an online campaign to get the Senate to reject the nomination of the Bush Administration of John Bolton to be the next US ambassador to the United Nations. I had the displeasure of seeing John Bolton in action about 10 years ago in DC in a…
My talk at DPI NGO Briefing on WSIS
The following are my remarks to a bunch of non-governmental organization representatives last week organized by the UN Department of Public Information. These are my talking notes so there will probably be some questionable English in there, for which I apologize. My goal for the next few minutes is to bring you up to speed…
My talk at DPI NGO Briefing on WSIS
The following are my remarks to a bunch of non-governmental organization representatives last week organized by the UN Department of Public Information. These are my talking notes so there will probably be some questionable English in there, for which I apologize. My goal for the next few minutes is to bring you up to speed…
Building a community calendar for the UN
Every day there are amazing events organized by civil society organizations at the UN offices in New York, Geneva and Vienna that very few groups other than those in the know will ever find out about. Why? Because there is no central calendar of NGO events where folks can find out about what is happening….
Simputer is a failure (AP)
The AP has a story purporting that the Simputer project has largely failed in its goals to bring computers to the rural poor in India. The article notes that many local governments prefer to accept donations of computer equipment from Microsoft and other multinational hardware vendors rather than pay for new technology. It’s tough to…
SMS democracy in the Arab world
The Washington Post has an interesting article about political organizers and activists in the Persian Gulf using SMS cell phone text messaging to organize mass rallies and slam their opponents. This reminds me of the SMS uprisings in the Philippines that led to the ouster of President Joseph Estrada in 1991. When it comes down…
Cheap, Cool Digital Devices for the 3rd World
Just catching up on the status of cheap digital devices for the developing world. I have long been interested in the “Simputer” project, which was initiated several years ago with the goal of creating a viable, cheap device that the poor could use in the developing world to get access to a computer and the…
A New World of Chatty Devices
As a youngster, “ubiquitous” was one of my favorite words, even when I had only a dim understanding of what it meant. Now I am again challenged to understand the concept as the Japanese government sponsors a WSIS-related meeting on the “ubiquitous network society” on May 16. The Japanese government describes the “ubiquitous network society”…
Scrap the Commission on Human Rights
I have to say, that after reading several reports from this year’s UN Commission on Human Rights, I think the institution is ripe for reform. Having a smaller, more accountable body of governments responsible for overseeing the human rights work of the UN and the human rights situation throughout the world seems an essential part…
A community blog for the United Nations?
I got a brainstorm after having lunch with Bobson Wong, a cool web designer / activist guy. We were talking about the need for more public awareness and involvement in what is happening at the United Nations and on internet governance issues. Today it hit me: the UN needs a community blog. Ok, there already…