The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was a two-phase United Nations-sponsored summit on information, communication and, in broad terms, the information society that took place in 2003 in Geneva and in 2005 in Tunis. WSIS Forums have taken place periodically since then. One of the Summit's chief aims is to bridge the global digital divide separating rich countries from poor countries by increasing internet accessibility in the developing world. The conferences established 17 May as World Information Society Day.
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is an international network of organizations that was founded in 1990 to provide communication infrastructure, including Internet-based applications, to groups and individuals who work for peace, human rights, protection of the environment, and sustainability. Pioneering the use of ICTs for civil society, especially in developing countries, APC were often the first providers of Internet in their member countries.
The global digital divide describes global disparities, primarily between developed and developing countries, in regards to access to computing and information resources such as the Internet and the opportunities derived from such access. As with a smaller unit of analysis, this gap describes an inequality that exists, referencing a global scale.
Community informatics (CI) is an interdisciplinary field that is concerned with using information and communication technology (ICT) to empower members of communities and support their social, cultural, and economic development. Community informatics may contribute to enhancing democracy, supporting the development of social capital, and building well connected communities; moreover, it is probable that such similar actions may let people experience new positive social change. In community informatics, there are several considerations which are the social context, shared values, distinct processes that are taken by members in a community, and social and technical systems. It is formally located as an academic discipline within a variety of academic faculties including information science, information systems, computer science, planning, development studies, and library science among others and draws on insights on community development from a range of backgrounds and disciplines. It is an interdisciplinary approach interested in using ICTs for different forms of community action, as distinct from pure academic study about ICT effects.
Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, indigenous, and traditional knowledge; freedom of information, building of open knowledge resources, including open Internet and open standards, and open access and availability of data; preservation of digital heritage; respect for cultural and linguistic diversity, such as fostering access to local content in accessible languages; quality education for all, including lifelong and e-learning; diffusion of new media and information literacy and skills, and social inclusion online, including addressing inequalities based on skills, education, gender, age, race, ethnicity, and accessibility by those with disabilities; and the development of connectivity and affordable ICTs, including mobile, the Internet, and broadband infrastructures".
Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications and computers, as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage and audiovisual, that enable users to access, store, transmit, understand and manipulate information.
Nancy Jane Hafkin is a pioneer of networking and development information and electronic communications in Africa, spurring the Pan African Development Information System (PADIS) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) from 1987 until 1997. She also played a role in facilitating the Association for Progressive Communications's work to enable email connectivity in more than 10 countries during the early 1990s, before full Internet connectivity became a reality in most of Africa.
Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) is Ugandan non-governmental organization dedicated to aiding women and women's organizations in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as tools to share information and address issues collectively. WOUGNET is a member of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) since January 2005, Girls Not Brides since 25 March 2012, The Global Network Initiative (GNI) since 2019 and Digital Human Rights Lab since 2019.
Take Back The Tech is a collaborative global campaign that connects the issue of violence against women and information and communications technology (ICT). It aims to raise awareness on the way violence against women is occurring on ICT platforms such as the Internet and mobile phones, and to call for people to use ICT in activism to end violence against women.
The digital divide in the United States refers to inequalities between individuals, households, and other groups of different demographic and socioeconomic levels in access to information and communication technologies ("ICTs") and in the knowledge and skills needed to effectively use the information gained from connecting.
The African Gender Institute (AGI) is a feminist research and teaching group that studies issues related to gender in Africa. It has become a department at the University of Cape Town (UCT), administered within the School of African and Gender Studies, Social Anthropology and Linguistics. The AGI has its own dedicated staff and has a unique degree of independence from UCT.
Jac sm Kee is a feminist activist, writer and researcher from Malaysia. She led the Association for Progressive Communications Women's Rights Programme, which works to address online violence against women, advocates for feminist digital security, supports research on the intersection of digital technology and gender justice, and facilitates network and movement building on feminism and technology.
Anriette Esterhuysen is a human rights defender and computer networking pioneer from South Africa. She has pioneered the use of Internet and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to promote social justice in South Africa and throughout the world, focusing on affordable Internet access. She was the Executive Director of the Association for Progressive Communications from 2000 until April 2017, when she became APC's Director of Policy and Strategy. In November 2019 United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Esterhuysen to Chair the Internet Governance Forum’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group.
The digital divide is a term used to describe the disadvantage in access to information which people without access to ICT suffer. Nigeria's digital divide refers to the inequality of Nigerian individuals, groups, or organizations with regard to access to Information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure or to the internet for daily activities. The digital divide has been attributed to many factors among which is the high cost of computer equipment, lack of ICT skill and poor knowledge of available search engines. Lack of access to ICT makes it difficult for people to access information. The benefits of having access to ICT are numerous. ICT has the potential to promote other sectors of the economy such as agriculture, education, health, bank, defence etc. In times of emergency, ICT becomes an indispensable tool for overcoming the barriers of time and distance. Education, lack of electrical infrastructure, income, urban drift, and a variety of other social and political factors contribute to Nigeria's growing digital divide.
The digital divide in Ethiopia refers to inequalities between individuals, households, and other groups of different demographic and socioeconomic levels in Ethiopia in access to information and communication technologies ("ICTs") and in the knowledge and skills needed to effectively use the information gained from connecting.
The digital divide is an economic and social inequality with regard to access to, use of, or impact of information and communication technologies (ICT). Factors causing the divide can vary depending on the country and culture, as can the potential solutions for minimizing or closing the divide.
Valentina Hvale Pellizzer is a sexual rights human rights activist and feminist internet writer. She facilitated seminars, conferences and workshops on ICT, technology, digital storytelling, citizen journalism, digital security and privacy throughout the world. She is known for connecting women's rights, sexual rights, the internet politically and practically and as an advocate for a feminist internet in Bosnia and Herzegovina and wider. She is also known for having founded the alternative feminist portal zenskaposla.ba in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Chat Garcia Ramilo is a feminist activist. She has over twenty years experience in different activities with Information and communications technology (ICT). Since April 2017, she leads the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). She is the Board Chair of the Center for Migrant Advocacy in the Philippines and a Board Member of the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID).
Online gender-based violence is targeted harassment and prejudice through technology against people, disproportionately women, based on their gender. The term is also similar to online harassment, cyberbullying and cybersexism, but the latter terms are not gender-specific. Gender-based violence differs from these because of the attention it draws to discrimination and online violence targeted specifically because of their gender, most frequently those who identify as female. Online gender-based violence can include unwanted sexual remarks, non-consensual posting of sexual media, threats, doxing, cyberstalking and harassment, and gender-based discriminatory memes and posts among other things. Online gender-based violence derives from gender-based violence but it is perpetuated through electronic means. The vulnerable groups include the asexual, bisexual, gay, intersex, trans, intersex, queer, and lesbian. Online gender-based violence may occur through various ways. These include impersonation, hacking, spamming, tracking and surveillance, malicious sharing of intimate messages and photos.
The African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF) is a multistakeholder forum that facilitates dialogue on Internet governance issues. It is one of the 19 regional IGF initiatives and aims to address and discuss the issues of all 54 nations in Africa.
