Introduction

The Internet is a fundamental component of economic, social, and political life around the world. It currently connects more than three billion people, and it is estimated that 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020. The stable and flexible functioning of the Internet is increasingly important for developed, emerging, and developing countries and their citizens.

The governance of this ecosystem has long been the concern of a selected group of stakeholders, but the number of interested parties, both state and non-state stakeholders, is increasing as global connectivity spreads. Internet Governance is a contested topic, where the Pakistan School on Internet Governance (pkSIG) will try to offer understanding, framing, and actions to be taken in this Internet governance current environment. It will offer potential governance scenarios and analyze its international, regional, and national political, economical, and technical implications.

Objectives

As part of the APNIC/ISOC/ICANN commitment to strengthen the understanding of Internet Governance within stakeholder groups, the organizations aim at developing and sponsoring outreach programs and initiatives in order to stimulate the Pakistani Internet community and ensure effective participation in regional and global Internet Governance fora.

The pkSIG will help individuals from Pakistan to better understand the global and regional Internet Governance issues, settings, and processes while gaining access to comprehensive and structured knowledge on the various aspects of Internet Governance, and the actors, issues and settings surrounding it.

Format

The pkSIG will offer a 4-day intensive learning course spanning several tracks. The course will cover the political, legal, economic, socio-cultural, technological and other dimensions of the Internet Governance within the context of the Pakistani national imperatives. The program is expected to carry practical oriented workshops, round tables, and case presentations.

Target Audience

The target audience will be comprised of students, practitioners, researchers and professionals from the following sectors:

1. Academia and Research
2. Civil Society and NGOs
3. Government and Public Sector
4. Technical Community
5. Private Sector and Business

Simple knowledge and understanding of the Internet is enough to attend this school.

Material

For further reading, folks are encouraged to read/watch content found at the following links:

• The History of Internet Governance (Video | 1 hrs 22 min)
• An Introduction to Internet Governance by Jovan Kurbalija (Several Languages)
• Governing the Internet by Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (EN)
• ICANN Handouts (EN)
• Exploring Multi-Stakeholder Internet Governance (EN)

Venue

Lecture Hall

Higher Education Commission (HEC)

Sector H-9, East Service Road

Islamabad, Pakistan

Google Map (here)

Agenda

The agenda can be found here [PDF]

Slides

• History of the Internet and its Evolution | Wolfgang Kleinwächter (Video | Slides)
• Internet Ecosystem in Pakistan | Zakir Bin Rehman (Slides)
• Introduction to Internet Governance | Fahd Batayneh (Slides)
• Three Layers Digital Governance (Infographic)
• Introduction to the Regional Internet Registries | Srinivas Chendi (Slides)
• Introduction to the Internet Society (ISOC) | Naveed ul Haq (Slides)
• Introduction to the IETF | Amir Qayyum (Slides)
• Introduction to ICANN | Rao Naveed BIn Rais and Fahd Batayneh (Slides)
• What Does ICANN Do (Infographic)
• The IANA Functions (Infographic)
• Role of Governments in the IG Ecosystem | Ahmed Bakhat Masood (Slides)
• TLDs, Domain Names, and IDNs | Fahd Batayneh and Sarmad Hussain (Slides)
• The Domain Name Industry Ecosystem (Infographic)
• Internationalized Domain Names (Infographic)