New subject: All you wanted to know about the Decolonizing the Internet conference and didn't know whom to ask

8 Jun 2018

Hi everyone,

Thank you for asking about the Decolonizing the Internet conference. We had
thought to write a little note of explanation just before Wikimania begins,
but are happy to provide some overview information now that the buzz has
already begun - somewhat inadvertently but usefully, as sometimes happens
on our maillists. ;-)

What is the Decolonizing the Internet conference, and who’s behind it?

The Decolonizing the Internet conference
<https://whoseknowledge.org/decolonizing-the-internet-conference/> (DTI) is
being convened by Whose Knowledge? <http://whoseknowledge.org>, a global
multi-lingual campaign to center marginalized knowledges online. We
launched in September 2016, and are also a Wikimedia user group
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Whose_Knowledge%3F>. All of us leading it
- Siko, Adele and Anasuya <https://whoseknowledge.org/about-us/who/> - have
been part of the Wikimedia movement for many years in different capacities,
including as volunteer contributors.

Decolonizing the Internet is meant to bring together a group of folks from
around the world (about 75-100) from different domains of expertise and
experience - including those from marginalized communities (women, people
of colour, LGBTQI folks, indigenous communities, and others from the global
South). Participants include Wikimedians, librarians, archivists, techies,
and internet policy folks.

Why is it invite-only?

As we say on our website, 75% of the world’s online population is from the
global South <http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm>, and nearly half
is projected to be women
<https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ICTFactsFigures2017.pdf>.
Yet while global access to the internet may be within our grasp (despite
the persistence of uneven connections), research
<http://geonet.oii.ox.ac.uk/blog/new-paper-towards-a-study-of-information-geographiesimmutable-augmentations-and-a-mapping-of-thegeographies-of-information/>
shows that content online remains heavily skewed towards rich, Western
countries.

Decolonizing the Internet is invite-only because this is the first time
such a conference has been held: explicitly to discuss issues of power and
privilege involved in the design, architecture, content and experience of
the internet; and to center the leadership of marginalized communities -
the majority of the world - in changing and re-designing the internet to be
for and from us all.

We don’t have the answers; we’re asking lots of questions! And in order to
do so in a spirit of shared ease and generosity, we decided to make this
inaugural effort invite-only as we learn from each other, and perhaps
collaboratively and creatively craft some ideas and action plans.

Why is it being called a Wikimania pre-conference?

We are “co-locating” with Wikimania for a reason: we hope to have at least
half of our DTI participants stay on for Wikimania to learn from
Wikimedians, and for Wikimedians to learn from them. This feels
particularly appropriate given the theme of this year’s Wikimania
<https://wikimania2018.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania> - Bridging Knowledge
Gaps: The Ubuntu Way Forward.

In order to do this easily, we’re registered as a Wikimania
“pre-conference”, so that invited participants - including Wikimedians -
can easily opt for both the DTI conference as well as Wikimania.

...also, about a third of the invitees are Wikimedians from around the
world, and we’re hoping there will much learning about the Wikimedia
movement at DTI, just as Wikimedians may learn about other communities and
movements.

How are Wikimedia South Africa and the Wikimedia Foundation involved?

Wikimedia South Africa and the Wikimedia Foundation - as core Wikimania
planning team - have been enormously helpful (ngiyabonga, enkosi, thank
you!) in helping us with the logistics of making the move between the DTI
conference and Wikimania as seamless as possible for our participants. In
turn, we’re hoping that the DTI participants will infuse our movement with
new energy and possibility, while we entice them into becoming Wikimedians
for life. :-)

Looking forward to seeing you all in Cape Town!

Warmly,

Anasuya, Siko, Adele and the Whose Knowledge? team

-- 
*Anasuya Sengupta*
*Reimagining and reconstructing the internet to be for and from us all*
http://whoseknowledge.org