[Mmwg] Workshops in Athens

Thu Jun 8 13:55:26 BST 2006

Yes, your question is a bit complicated and you 
are asking about things that have not been 
decided. I've a feeling I will only confuse 
things more. But...

General background.  As mentioned during the last 
consultation by George Papadatos for the Greek 
hosts, the facility is called the Astir Palace, 
it's about 25 km from the center of Athens, about 
25 km from the main airport. Selected partly 
because it's a nice place and partly that it has 
some rooms available (George told us facilities 
of this size are booked up a long time in 
advance.)  The hosts have secured 4 rooms, one 
with a capacity of between 600-800 people, and 3 
that are somewhere between 100 and 200.  Hosts 
cover the costs of these rooms, have apparently 
arranged discount hotel rates (no details.)

I think this is the right website, but not been 
confirmed <http://www.astir-palace.com/en/> (I 
might be wrong!)

Your questions.

At 1:51 AM +0200 6/8/06, Bertrand de La Chapelle wrote:
>Dear Adam and Jeanette,
>
>I find this exchange interesting but this does 
>not answer my initial question regarding the 
>articulation between workshops and general 
>sessions as presented on the IGF site. Let me 
>repeat it :
>
>Do I understand well that each of the four 
>tracks would have a general session of three 
>hours in the main hall AND  workshops in smaller 
>rooms that should not overlap with the general 
>sessions. (quote : Workshops dealing with topics 
>being dealt with in the main meeting will not be 
>scheduled at the same time as the main meeting).
>

Yes, each of the 4 tracks will have a general 
session, whether that session will be 3 hours or 
split (90 minutes/90 minutes) is being discussed 
now. As a result the workshops and whether they 
should staggered or can be overlapping is also 
being discussed.

<http://www.intgovforum.org/table.htm>

Take the morning of day 2.  Main theme Openness 
(free flow of information, ideas, and access to 
knowledge.) If the session in the main hall is 
"Openness", and we avoid overlaps, there will be 
workshops on Security, Diversity and Access in 
the 3 smaller rooms plus opportunities for "off 
theme" workshops. Those workshops would most 
likely be 90 minutes. So, perhaps a 3 hour 
session plus 6 x 90 minute workshops: e.g. 
openness plus a couple of workshops looking at 
access issues, 1 on security, 1 on diversity and 
a couple on other subjects not related to the 4 
themes.

You can imagine the permutations of sessions and 
workshops being considered (clearer if you draw a 
matrix.)

>Or are the so-called general sessions only on the first and last day ?
>

In addition the the thematic sessions (day 2 & 3) 
on day 1 there will be an opening ceremony, 
followed by some scene setting (we have not got 
into detail of what this will be.)

The final day will be a wrap-up, how to move 
towards Brazil, and an emerging issues session 
organized by Youth (intended to be forward 
looking.) Youth = under 30 (with a bit of dye and 
botex I shall pass...)

There might be workshops on the first and last 
day.  I think (my personal opinion, not 
channeling any MAG decision) holding workshops 
against the opening ceremonies will be hard to 
get past protocol.  We aren't organizing a UN 
meeting, but it's convened by the secretary 
general and if senior people attend the 
organizers are likely to want some respect shown 
(if the Greek PM speaks, even for 5 minutes, what 
would the Greek hosts say if we tried to schedule 
a parallel workshop?)

I don't see why there shouldn't be workshops (or 
some kind of session to use the space available) 
parallel to all other sessions.

I think it would be a shame to leave space unused.

>If it is the later, what is this criteria of non-overlap about ?
>
>If it is the former, does that mean that 
>workshops on any of the four tracks should take 
>place in parallel with a main session on 
>another track ?  And if so, what happens for the 
>fourth track ?

Are the above 2 questions clearer now?

>Can there be a clear answer to thsi ? Or maybe it's in flux ?
>

I've a feeling I have probably confused things further!

Adam

>B.
>
>
>On 6/7/06, Jeanette Hofmann 
><<mailto:jeanette at wz-berlin.de>jeanette at wz-berlin.de> 
>wrote:
>
>One of the more or less obvious selection criteria for workshops is the
>multi stakeholder approach. Multi stakeholder in this context can or
>should be understood as diversity. The forum's specific feature will be
>the combination of people, opinions and interests coming together to
>discuss issues. So, it would be good if you and others think about
>proposals that take into consideration aspects such as practical
>relevance of the topic, diversity of views and, if possible, potential
>outcomes.
>
>Another aspect concerns the structure of the workshop. One of the things
>the MAG seems to agree upon is that we don't want lengthy presentations
>or talks. A workshop proposal could also give an idea of _how_ a given
>topic will be discussed.
>
>jeanette
>
>Adam Peake (<mailto:ajp at glocom.ac.jp> ajp at glocom.ac.jp) wrote:
>>  On 6/8/06, Vittorio Bertola 
>><<mailto:vb at bertola.eu.org>vb at bertola.eu.org> 
>>wrote:
>>>  Jeanette Hofmann ha scritto:
>>>  > Is it that you would like to see these topics addressed by someone or
>>>  > would you like to organize a workshop yourself or know of someone
>>>  who is
>>>  > interested? My guess is that we only get somewhere if we come up with
>>>  > concrete suggestions and concepts.
>>>
>>>  I would like to be more practical, but how can I organize anything, if
>>>  it is unclear what needs to be organized, where, when, how to submit
>>>  proposals, and even whether I would be allowed to make such proposals?
>>>
>>>  I think that the MAG needs to come up with a clearer framework for these
>>>  requests to be presented, possibly before discussing them :-)
>>
>>  That's what MAG is trying to do. Didn't I say as much last week and
>>  when replying to Milton -- we're trying to come up with a call for
>>  workshops.  But you asked a question so Jeanette tried to answer.
>>
>>  You asked "I'm not sure that they fit in any of the four tracks. I
>>  still have to understand whether it will be possible to discuss these
>>  things freely"  The best answer I can give is on the IGF website:
>>
>>  "Any subject on Internet governance can be scheduled for a workshop.
>>  While many workshops will be oriented within the specific daily
>>  themes, a number of workshops slots each day will be made available to
>>  deal with important topics that do not fit easily within the five main
>>  themes of the conference but which are nonetheless of importance to
>>  many of the stakeholders.  All workshops will be audiocast."
>>
>> 
>><<http://www.intgovforum.org/athens_outline.htm> 
>>http://www.intgovforum.org/athens_outline.htm>
>>
>>  As I said, we're working on a call for workshop proposals so obviously
>>  we can't answer your question definitively.
>>
>>  Adam
>>
>>
>>
>>>  --
>>>  vb.             [Vittorio Bertola - v.bertola 
>>>[a] 
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