EURALO Trip Assessment 1 DRAFT

CROP Funded Traveler – Wale Bakare

I was one of the EURALO members, and EURALO CROP funded participant that attended the 12^th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland.

This report highlights my participation and events involved in at the IGF in Geneva, 17 – 20 December 2017.

17 December - Day 0

ICANN session - DNS and Emerging Identifiers (Including DOA)

I attended the ICANN session on, the DNS and Emerging Identifiers. The discussions were interesting, those include the IoT devices/systems, the vulnerability of IoT devices. 

During question time, I raised a point about the management of the proprietary IoT devices. "How often do the IoT devices, like the one used in the session gets the firmware updated?”  

18 December -  Day 1

WS50 -  Data is the New Oil-Sharing the Digital Economy of MENA Session

I attended the WS50 – Data is the New Oil – Sharing the Digital Economy of MENA. The session was full of participants and focus was on the digital economy.

My contributions to the WS50 session by suggesting the following for, enterprises and others to effectively leveraging data as a key element for budget planning, sustainability, and growth etcetera:

Comment#1. A focused strategic plan that is ingrained in essential elements like resources and capability management for the enterprise of different size. 

Comment#2. Continuous innovative process: I suggested that attention and energy be channel towards a process which can optimize innovations. In addition, another approach – the democratization of the innovative process by involving the information disseminators the end users, data controllers and miners such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter.

IGF Opening Ceremony

Wale attended the opening ceremony of the IGF 2017.

19 December - Day 2

WS91 Policy Challenges for AI Development Session

I attended the Policy Challenges for Artificial Intelligence Development session. The discussions at the WS91 session were engaging and exciting.  

My question to the panelists of the WS91 session:

Question: “The underlined technology of AI is software systems, which rely heavily on the formalization and modeling for the verification and authenticity of the algorithms. 

Do you (panelists) think the processes and methodologies be enshrined in the policy frameworks of AI? Would that help to extenuate the concerns and challenges of AI?” 

Response from Satish Babu, a member of the panel: “He said most AI developers/vendors like big firms may not comply with such a policy”. 

 Response from another panelist: Thought the question may be difficult for the panelists to answer but, he said that AI is at the very early stage and any policy development process might come to fore as the development, deployment, and adoption progress. 

Following that, a representative of the IEEE in the room chipped and mentioned an initiative on AI's ethics and policy by IEEE. The At-Large members present at the WS91 session -  Glenn and Satish suggested that the question is directed to the team in charge of AI policy development at ISOC and IEEE.

19 December - Day 2

NRIs Collaborative Session: Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology

I was one of the attendees of Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology.

My contribution: question to one of the speakers to clarify why he thinks the emerging blockchain technology would be immune to governance and government control

19 December - Day 2

ICANN – Looking Ahead: Challenges and Opportunities (OF50)

Wale attended the interactive ICANN session where some of the contemporary issues were discussed.

19 December - Day 2

At-Large Booth

Wale volunteered at the At-Large Booth. I helped with At-Large outreach and engagement; got new potential and interested individual internet end users registered on At-Large paper. I assisted with At-Large brochures and other marketing items.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sIeZecgH7LeyUuPmT4Vo7Z5NoXePhfpnW9O4d0rqu_w/edit?ts=5a42899d

Other Events

·         IGF reception

·         Joint ICANN/ISOC reception

To build on the areas (questions raised) relevant to the ICANN’s mission such as, IoT governance, emerging DNS, and furtherance of the outreach for EURALO.

Those highlighted areas, as well as the questions, would be a continuous work within EURALO.