Day 2 Daily Recap

Today marked the second day of Internet Week Guyana, and it was another engaging day! Below is a recap of some highlights.

Internet Governance Day

This was a day hosted by the Internet Society. Shernon Osepa, Manager of Regional Affairs for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Internet Society, was first up to present.

See Internet Governance Day agenda.

Shernon outlined a broad spectrum of components of the global Internet Governance ecosystem, describing some technical aspects but also legal, economic, sociocultural, human rights aspects. He also touched on the impact of the new country-code top-level domain (CC TLD) and generic top-level domain (GTLD) programs.

Then Kevon Swift, Head of Strategic Relations and Integration at the Latin America and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC), gave some insight into the history of the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF), and outlined the IGF’s role in the multi-stakeholder approach to decision-making.

Shernon returned to the microphone to discuss the Internet of Things, showing the potential of these interconnected devices to enhance human productivity but also cause cybersecurity challenges, such as privacy and regulatory complications.

After a morning coffee break, Nancy Quiros, Internet Society Chapter Development Manager for Latin America and Caribbean Region, discussed the important role played by local chapters in the development of national policy. Then Lenanadlar Singh, a member of the newly launched Internet Society Guyana Chapter, shared some practical tips on getting involved with Internet Society local chapters.

After lunch, Shernon outlined the work being done by a number of Internet Society chapters in the region (Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Panama, Puerto Rico, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad) which are involved in the Community Networks project. Malisa Richards, a Board member of the Internet Society Guyana Chapter, shared some information  on the Community Network project being undertaken by that Chapter.

Before the last liquid break of the day, Bevil Wooding, Co-Founder of CaribNOG moderated a very lively and interactive panel discussion on Network Neutrality. Panelists were Lance Hinds, Ministry of Public Telecommunications; Valmikki Singh, National Frequency Management Authority; Gregory Dean, Digicel; and Lester Garcia, Facebook. Panelists discussed the implications of net neutrality policies in countries like Guyana, and agreed that concerns of the regulatory (government) bodies, corporations, and consumers must be balanced.

The day’s final segment was a presentation by Julius Simon, a Guyanese digital entrepreneur, whose Innovative Systems team recently launched Farmersmarket.gy. Julius walked us through the Farmers Market mobile app and demonstrated how it could change the way that farmers operate in the agribusiness sector. The app was the winning entry for the Guyana Ministry of Public Telecommunications 2017 Codesprint.

Another significant meeting! Thank you to all who participated in the Internet Governance Day, both at the Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown, Guyana and via our online livestream.

If you want to refer to anything you’ve seen so far, the slides from the meeting have been posted online. In the coming days, full webcasts from the meeting will be made available as well.