Last month’s launch of Pakistan’s first School on Internet Governance (pkSIG) was a great experience to be part of.
pkSIG was established to educate and encourage scholars, IT specialists, and professionals from different walks of life to discuss the complex nature of Internet governance (IG), legal and regulatory challenges, IG capacity building, infrastructure development and Internet public policy making.
Around 40 participants attended the four-day workshop, held from 5 to 8 October 2015 in Islamabad, which was organized by the National Textile University and the Higher Education Commission with support from APNIC, ICANN, and ISOC.
Participants were introduced to the different stakeholders from government entities like Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, academia, Internet Service Providers, business community and civil society.
Domain experts were also invited to provide extensive details of the history of the Internet, the Internet ecosystem, top-level domains, Regional Internet Registries, Internet public policy, national laws and cross-border jurisdiction, gender and IG, mobile Internet, Internet of Things, and the digital economy.
One of the highlights was an interactive exercise where all participants were given the opportunity to propose possible solutions to major Internet concerns in Pakistan. At the end of the session, the proposal was presented to the Ministry of IT, Pakistan.
pkSIG proved to be a valuable source of information for participants on IG, and managed to put the pieces of the puzzle together of how different international organizations such as ICANN, IANA, ISOC, APNIC, and IETF, along with their local counterparts, contribute and collaborate on Internet governance. It has also proved to be a successful platform for networking, collaboration, and information sharing.
The initiative’s success has fast-tracked plans for more IG School programs across Pakistan. All in all, pkSIG is a great start to discovering a way forward for better Internet governance in Pakistan.
pkSIG in the news
- Pakistan School on Internet Governance – ISOC
- Internet governance: Senator for task force to monitor functions – The Express Tribune
- HEC’s pkSIG Workshop Recommends Measures for Internet Governance – Education Times
Afsheen Saadat is a Technical Analyst at COMSATS Internet Services, Pakistan with a career spanning 11 years in the IT sector.
The views expressed by the authors of this blog are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of APNIC. Please note a Code of Conduct applies to this blog.
Great Initiative, see it working and sustaining.
It was a great experience to attend this first of its kind workshop held in Pakistan. This initiative will be of a good help to the groups working on Internet Governance in Pakistan.