IGF Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards

IGF 2006, Athens, Greece

What:
The IGF Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards (IGF DCOS) will frame and define the most urgent problems related to open technology standards and application interoperability and suggest straightforward, workable solutions that can be implemented by all stakeholders. In support of Paragraph 90j of the Tunis Agenda, which reaffirms the commitment of all WSIS stakeholders to "developing and implementing e-government applications based on open standards in order to enhance the growth and interoperability of e-government systems, at all levels, furthering access to government information .... thereby furthering access to government information and services and contributing to building ICT networks and developing services that are available anywhere and anytime, to anyone and on any device," IGF DCOS will focus on best practices in government policy and procurement practices for public documents and services.

IGF DCOS will pay particular attention to the needs of developing economies, including capacity building, technology transfer, access and other requirements.

The coalition will host an open mailing list and hold several meetings (location and dates to be determined) before presenting its progress at the 2007 IGF in Rio de Janeiro.

Who:
The IGF DCOS interim steering committee is tasked with some organizational details, but substantive work will be done by the IGF DCOS membership. The interim steering committee of the IGF DCOS includes representatives from key stakeholder groups.

Government
Brazil, Rogerio Santanna
South Africa, Natalie Sunker
Sri Lanka, Reshan Dewapura
Standards Organization
World Wide Web Consortium, Daniel Dardailler
Industry
Sun Microsystems, Susy Struble
Free Software Foundation Europe, Georg Greve
Civil Society
Consumer Project on Technology, Jamie Love
IP Justice, Robin Gross
Academia
Yale Information Society Project, Laura DeNardis
Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Professor Magdy Nagi

Other supporters and participants include the Library of Alexandria, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the South Centre Innovation, Access to Knowledge and Intellectual Property Programme (IAIPP).

Membership in the IGF DCOS is open. For more information and to join, please visit the Consumer Project for Technology web site: http://www.cptech.org/a2k/igf/athens110206/key_docs.html

The IGF DCOS mailing list is open. For details and to sign up, visit http://mailman.ctyme.com/listinfo/openstds

How:
The IGF DCOS work will be based on the core principles of the Internet itself and best practices established by the Internet's leading standards organizations, the IETF and W3C: openness, rough consensus, and when appropriate, Òrunning code,Ó meaning existing best practices.

Over the next few weeks, the interim steering committee will outline the lightweight processes by which the coalition's work will be done as well as participant responsibilities. As the IGF DCOS believes in transparency and knowledge sharing, it will publish its work in an open standard format and offer services based on open technology standards. Contributions to the IGF DCOS and discussions within the IGF DCOS are not confidential.

We expect the steering committee will have some quality control over the group's content and process, but divergent viewpoints on topics of study are welcomed. Should the IGF DCOS not be able to reach a rough consensus, our goal will be to provide clarity around the argument, the divergence and its origins (who has different views and why) so that more informed decisions can be made. and innovation in the Information Society.