IT for Change (ITfC) is a non-profit organisation located in Bangalore, India.  IT for Change envisions a society capable of, and comfortable with, innovative and effective use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as a means to further the goals of progressive social change. We believe that the changes brought about by ICTs in our social milieu are far-reaching and of a structural nature, connoting the advent of what may be called an information society. Correspondingly, progressive engagements with this phenomenon have to adequately address structural and systemic issues at a deeper level.

IT for Change perceives its role as a catalyst of change, initiating and engaging in debates on the emerging information society and ICTD domains, and foregrounding social and political perspectives and realities that are currently sidelined. IT for Change strongly believes that an equitable information society can flourish only through inclusive and informed debate, involving not merely actors from the technology arena but all actors in the development arena, especially from the South. 

IT for Change champions change through its wide-ranging research and advocacy activities. In addition, the organisation demonstrates innovative ICT possibilities in actual developmental situations through its field projects, which involve partnerships with community-based organisations and grassroots NGOs.

Dr. Anja Kovacs is a Senior Research Associate with IT for Change (ITfC), an Indian-based NGO that has been deeply involved in WSIS as well as post-WSIS activities.  This includes the IGF, where ITfC has especially focused on promoting a rights-based approach to the Internet and on enhanced cooperation as a way to address democratic deficits in global Internet policy making.  In the context of the IGF, Anja herself has been mostly involved in ITfC's rights-related work , especially in the promotion of gender issues and Southern perspectives in IG and in work relating to the (threatened) openness and publicness of the Internet.  She is an active member of the Gender DC.

Prior to joining ITfC in September 2008, Anja worked as a researcher and activist in the field of gender, rights and vulnerability for fourteen years.  Active in research, teaching, advocacy and lobbying settings, she has particularly worked on issues relating to violence, political participation, employment and livelihoods, education and economic reform.  She has conducted extensive fieldwork throughout South Asia, has lectured in the field of development at the University of East Anglia in the UK, and has worked as an international consultant.  She has been based in India since 2001.

Where the work of the IPR DC is concerned, Anja is particularly keen on thinking through in greater depth the application of earlier rights in the Internet age, as well as the possible requirement for new rights.  As with her other work, she will bring to the table an approach that looks at these issues through a gendered and Southern lens specifically.

Anadolu University

My Ph.D thesis deals with freedomö of expression and internet. I am also lawyer

To contact collageuages.

The Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) is the research institute of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Barcelona. It is devoted to the study of the network society, and its research covers areas such as the knowledge economy or specific areas of software.  The IN3 also offers the Information and Knowledge Society Doctoral Program.

I am currently a PhD student at the Open University of Catalonia (Spain). I obtained my law degree at Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona, and I specialized in International Law at the University of Geneva (Switzerland). I returned to the Pompeu Fabra University, where I got a LLM, focusing on legal and political theory.

I am interested in the impact of ICTs, and of the Internet in particular, on constitutional and public international law.

I work for no organisation. 

Entertainment, Management Consulting. 

 Music.

Various NPO's

Senior emergency manager moved into IT during the mid nineties. Now working as aystems engineer/architect, network administrator. Roles have included the design and construction of community communications infrastructure with a focus on emergency service access and delivery. Managed a Telcentre and established one of Australia's first community Telecentre/ISP's (Coolah NSW). Established one of the first long-haul Wifi Links for rural business access to the 'net. Heavily involved in OSS developments and served a term as a Director on the SAHANA Humanitarian FOSS project. Formerly forum host for Techsoup.org providing assistance and support to NPO's on computing/Internet related issues and topics. Provided 'net training to the elderly and disadvantaged through BEC's and Telecentre's; provided Internet services to various Telecentre's throughout NSW. Established Australia's first Government online feedback forum specifically to gather feedback on proposed legislative change (RFS proposed Rural Fires Act 1995). Invited in 1999 to participate on the board of AUDA as the national rural representative (declined due to other commitments).

Activist for human rights and aware of pro's and cons of community technologies incl the Internet. Aware of the work of the coalition and believe I can learn from members and may have something to contribute.

project leader, Vox Internet II Research Programme (www.voxinternet.org).

Françoise Massit-Folléa holds the "agregation" in Modern Comparative Literature. She has been a Communication & Publishing Officer in the French Evaluation Committee for Higher Education. From 1995 to 2008, she has been a Professor in Information & Communication Sciences at the Ecole Normale Superieure of Literature & Human Sciences. She jointly served for 3 years (2003-2006) as a senior advisor to the Department "New Technologies for Society", French Ministry of Research & Higher Education. Up to now, she is the coordinator of the Vox Internet Research Programme (funded by the French National Agency for Research), currently located in the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Paris.

As an Associate Researcher in the "Culture Communication Society" Laboratory of ENS LSH, she devoted most of her works to the socio-political aspects of ICT : uses, e-democracy, technical and legal regulations, and Internet governance.

She was associated to the think-tank of the French Ambassador for the UN-WSIS. She is also a member of the Paris Advisory Committee for Private Radios in the Audiovisual Higher Council (CSA) and member of the Information & Communication Committee in the French Commission for UNESCO.

Some recently (co)published books and papers :

"La gouvernance Internet : un cas d'école pour la normativité contemporaine" (avec M-C Naves), revue online Governance, vol. 5 n° 1, Université d'Ottawa, 2008.

« Paroles publiques : communiquer dans la cité » (dir. avec Cécile Méadel), Revue Hermès n° 47, CNRS Paris, juin 2007

« Gouvernance de l'internet : l'état de fait et l'état de droit » / « Internet Governance : Common Facts and Rights », Rapport du séminaire Vox Internet I, online (www.voxinternet.org <http://www.voxinternet.org>), Editions MSH, Paris, automne 2005

« Internet : une utopie limitée. Nouvelles régulations, nouvelles solidarités» (dir. avec Bernard Conein et Serge Proulx), Presses Universitaires de Laval, Québec, automne 2/005

« Internet, nouvel espace public mondialisé ? » (avec Serge Proulx), Actes du Colloque COMMINT / Les Canadiens en Europe (Paris, novembre 2003), en ligne sur http://c2so.ens-lsh.fr/, été 2005

« Régulation et gouvernance de l'internet », Rapport Vox Internet I, op. cit., chapitre 7, 2005

« Gouvernance de l'internet », « Haut débit », « Société civile », « TIC », in « La 'société de l'information', glossaire critique », Commission nationale française pour l'UNESCO, La Documentation Française, Paris, 2005

« Information et démocratie, mutation du débat public » (dir. avec J. Mouchon), ENS Editions, Paris, 1997
 

Dealing with internet Governance as a research topic, a close following of WSIS & IGF as well as a sharp attention to economical and political developments in that field led us to shift from a procedural to a reflexive conception of Int. Gov. and to re-examine research works both in Law Sociology and Philosophy of Technology, e.g considering a "pragmatical ethical" approach.

Regarding some controversial issues (privacy, intellectual property, freedom of expression, access etc.) as well as legal framework (UDHR, Personal Data European Convention ...), we are insisting on COLLECTIVE  Rights and on Human Rights as a HORIZON (not a source) for Action to be built in Technological Society as a whole.

Last but not least, we are familiar with some of the prominent members of the previous coalition (J. Berleur, S. Rodota etc.)

.