By Michael J. Oghia

Internet governance (IG) refers to all of the policies and processes that are shaping the evolution of the Internet. Given the increased reliance of journalists and media outlets on digital technologies, the overall success of media development is now inextricably linked to decisions made at the diverse set of Internet governance bodies. This includes a broad array of topics, such as safeguarding security and privacy online, ensuring content regulation policies uphold human rights, creating effective digital media literacy strategies, and finding responses to digital disinformation campaigns to name a few. These discussions all inform the media development community’s broader goal of ensuring that citizens have access to objective, high-quality information.

Yet, in my experience, media development stakeholders are severely underrepresented within most Internet-related debates Luckily, how to change this will be the topic of a multistakeholder gathering organized by CIMA, International Media Support (IMS), ARTICLE 19, and the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) on 17 December 2017 immediately preceding the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Geneva, Switzerland. I strongly encourage those who are attending the IGF to sign up to join us for this important conversation. But even if you can’t make it to this meeting, there are still numerous other ways for people to get involved.

Over the past two years, I have participated in as well as organized several Internet governance capacity building events. One recurrent point I heard is that there are not clear instructions for how to get involved in the various Internet governance debates and processes. Given the myriad stakeholders involved, the amount of topics Internet governance encompasses, and the fora available to discuss them, how does one get engaged? This led me to put together a guide to help someone interested in getting. Note that this list is not meant to be exhaustive, but rather, it features some of the easier ways to get involved.

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­Internet Governance Forum (IGF)

The IGF is an annual, multistakeholder event held each year under the auspices of the United Nations. The IGF also hosts IGFs at the country, subregional, and regional levels, which feed into the global IGF. For more information, see: https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/

• Join a Dynamic Coalition (DC) (they range from a DC regarding youth (YCIG), to one about the Internet of Things (IoT), public access and the right to information (“Publicness”), or community connectivity (DC3)
• Join the DC mailing list
• Participate in the Best Practice Forums (BPFs), such as on gender and accessor cybersecurity
• Contribute to the Policy Options for Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion(s) (CENB) initiative
• Attend the global meeting or participate remotely: http://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/igf-2017-remote-hubs
• Join one of the local, national, subregional, or regional IGF initiatives (NRIs): http://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/igf-regional-and-national-initiatives
• Join the IGF newcomers trackand mailing list
• Check out the IGF ABCs intro guide by the Youth Coalition on Internet Governance (YCIG): http://www.igf-abc.info/

Internet Society (ISOC)

ISOC is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet-related standards, education, access, and policy. It features chapters all over the world, and ISOC members are involved in every aspect of Internet governance. For more information, see: https://www.internetsociety.org/

• Become a global member (for free): https://www.isoc.org/membership/rules.shtml
• Join a chapter: https://www.internetsociety.org/who-we-are/chapters
• Join the ISOC Policy or other mailing lists: https://portal.isoc.org/membership/interests
• Apply for an ambassadorship to the IGF (when the call opens each summer): http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/education-and-leadership-programmes/next-generation-leaders/igf-ambassadors-programme
• Apply for a fellowship to attend one of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) meetings: http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/education-and-leadership-programmes/ietf-and-ois-programmes
• Participate in the e-Learning course as part of the Next Generation Leaders program (NGL): http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/leadership-programmes/next-generation-leaders-ngl-programme/elearning

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

ICANN is the organization responsible for operating the Domain Name System (DNS), which is essentially the equivalent of the Internet’s phone book – holding the registry of all Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and domain names. It is governed by an international, multistakeholder community. For more information, see: https://www.icann.org/

• Check out the beginners guide: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/beginners-guides-2012-03-06-en
• Visit ICANN Learn and take a free course: http://learn.icann.org/
• Submit a public comment: https://www.icann.org/public-comments
• Join a group or constituency: https://www.icann.org/community#groups
  • Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) (website | how to participate)
  • Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) (website)
  • At-large Advisory Committee: https://atlarge.icann.org/

• Join a working group (I am a member of the Middle East and Adjoining Countries Strategy Working Group (MEAC-SWG), for instance)
• Apply for the NextGen program (if you’re a student): https://www.icann.org/development-and-public-responsibility/nextgen
• Apply for the ICANN Fellowship program (if you’d like to be introduced to ICANN and want to take part in its work): https://www.icann.org/fellowshipprogram
• If you’re a member of the government, join the Government Advisory Committee (GAC): https://gac.icann.org/
• Participate in meetings remotely: https://meetings.icann.org/en/remote-participation
• Check out ICANNWiki: https://icannwiki.org/

DiploFoundation & Geneva Internet Platform (GIP) Digital Watch observatory

The GIP Digital Watch observatory, an initiative of DiploFoundation, is a comprehensive Internet governance and digital policy observatory that provides monthly updates about digital policy as well as tracks issues and policy developments. For more information, see: https://dig.watch

• See how to get involved: https://www.diplomacy.edu/digitalwatch
• Take part in the monthly briefings: https://dig.watch/briefings
• Stay updated with upcoming events: https://dig.watch/upcoming-events
• Subscribe to the newsletter: https://dig.watch/newsletter
• Sign up for one of their online courses, such as the Introduction to Internet Governance: https://www.diplomacy.edu/courses/IGcourses
• Join their team of Digital Watch assistant curators: https://dig.watch/call-assistant-curators
• Contribute to the Diplo blog: https://www.diplomacy.edu/blog/
• Read the Introduction to Internet Governance (7^th edition) e-book for free: https://www.diplomacy.edu/resources/books/introduction-internet-governance

European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG)

EuroDIG is the regional IGF for Europe, and addresses various policy, content, and development-related issues. For more information, see: https://www.eurodig.org.

• Join the EuroDIG consultation process and join an organizing team: https://www.eurodig.org/index.php?id=154
• Join the YOUthDIG program: https://www.eurodig.org/index.php?id=714
• Check out other IG-related events in Europe: https://www.eurodig.org/index.php?id=558

Southeastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance (SEEDIG)

A subregional IGF initiative connected to EuroDIG, this event focuses on Southeastern Europe – including the Balkans and Caucasus. For more information, see: http://www.seedig.net/.

• Participate in the annual consultation process, and join an organizing team: http://www.seedig.net/get-involved/
• Check out the monthly SEE summary of IG events/news: http://www.seedig.net/ig-summary/
• Join the SEEHub monthly briefing: http://www.seedig.net/see-hub-for-ig-briefings/
• Join the SEEDIG mailing list: http://www.seedig.net/mailing-list/

Asia-Pacific Resources

These resources are specific to those living and working in the Asia-Pacific region.

• Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF): https://aprigf.asia/
• Be part of the Multistakeholder Steering Group (MSG) and help organize the annual meetings: http://aprigf.asia/msg.html
• Join the Asia Pacific community to discuss Internet Governance issues: http://aprigf.asia/contact.html
• Join the APrIGF sessions remotely: http://remote.aprigf.asia
• If you are interested in establishing an NRIs within Asia Pacific, join the community for information sharing at: nri@aprigf.asia

Other Conferences and Events

• RightsCon: https://www.rightscon.org/
• Internet Freedom Festival (IFF) – https://internetfreedomfestival.org/
• IETF: https://www.ietf.org/
• Peering (Internet exchange point) conferences, such as Central and Eastern Europe Peering Days
• World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum: https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/forum/2017/
• European Summer School on Internet Governance (EuroSSIG): eu/eurossig/
• Digital-Born Media Carnival (SHARE Foundation): http://www.shareconference.net/carnival/
• Host a CryptoParty: https://www.cryptoparty.in/organize/howto
• Annenberg-Oxford Summer Media Policy Institute: http://www.global.asc.upenn.edu/projects/annenberg-oxford-media-policy-summer-institute-2/
• Media and Digital Literacy Academy of Beirut (MDLAB): http://mdlab.center
• Balkan School on Internet Governance (BSIG): https://bsig.center

Mailing Lists to Join

• Best Bits: http://lists.bestbits.net/subscribe/bestbits
• Internet Governance Caucus: http://lists.igcaucus.org/sympa/subscribe/governance
• Information and Communications Technology for Sustainability (ICT4S): https://lists.ifi.uzh.ch/listinfo/ict4s
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) email list: Subscribe
• Media Development Forum (FoME) email list: https://listi.jpberlin.de/mailman/listinfo/fome
• Global Forum for Media Development newsletter: https://gfmd.info/en/site/Newsletter/

Other Ways to Get Involved

• Join a regional Internet registry (RIR), such as the RIPE community: https://www.ripe.net/participate/member-support/lir-basics/getting-involved-with-ripe-and-the-ripe-ncc(mailing lists)
• Join the community of Open Internet for Democracy community: https://openinternet.global 
• Host a RIPE Atlas probe: https://atlas.ripe.net/landing/get-involved/
• Read articles on RIPE Labs: https://labs.ripe.net/
• Join the IG Hub on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/InternetGovernanceHub/
• Join a network operators group (NOG): https://labs.ripe.net/nogs(and this Wikipedia list)
• If you’re an academic, join the Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet): http://giga-net.org/
• For academics and researchers looking to get involved in the RIPE community, you can also apply for the RIPE Academic Cooperation Initiative (RACI): https://www.ripe.net/participate/ripe/raci

Other Useful Resources

• Media Development in the Digital Age: Five Ways to Engage in Internet Governance (Center for International Media Assistance ­­– CIMA): http://www.cima.ned.org/publication/media-development-digital-age-five-ways-engage-internet-governance/
• DiploFoundation’s IG acronym glossary: https://www.diplomacy.edu/resources/books/internet-governance-acronym-glossary
• Global Internet Policy Observatory (GIPO): http://www.giponet.org/en
• WSIS Tunis Agenda for the Information Society: https://www.itu.int/net/wsis/docs2/tunis/off/6rev1.html
• Why the multistakeholder model works (ISOC): internetsociety.org/doc/internet-governance-why-multistakeholder-approach-works
• Internet Governance Project (IGP): http://www.internetgovernance.org/
• CircleID: circleid.com
• Internet & Jurisdiction Project: https://www.internetjurisdiction.net/
• WSIS: https://www.itu.int/net/wsis/
• UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD): http://unctad.org/en/Pages/CSTD.aspx
• Sustainable Development Goals: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs

Michael J. Oghia is a Belgrade, Serbia-based independent consultant, researcher, and editor working within the Internet governance ecosystem. Follow him on  Twitter @mikeoghia.