[IRPCoalition] Self-nomination to the IRPC SC

[Tapani Tarvainen]

Dear all,

I would also like to second Dennis' nomination.

All the best,

Tapani

On Mon, Jan 24, 2022 at 04:38:44PM +0100, Michael J. Oghia (mike.oghia at gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> Dear all,
> 
> It's always wonderful to see multiple great candidates come forward, and I
> sincerely thank Dennis for nominating himself. Like with Meri, I've worked
> closely with him as well, and fully support/endorse him (and gladly second
> his nomination). I'm grateful that, no matter the outcome, we'll have an
> even better Steering Committee!
> 
> Best,
> -Michael
> 
> 
> On Mon, Jan 24, 2022 at 3:55 PM Dennis Redeker <dennisredeker at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > Dear IRPC members,
> >
> > I hope you all had a great start to 2022! Like Meri, I toss my hat into
> > the ring for the vacant steering committee position of our Coalition.
> >
> > I am a political scientist (postdoc) at the University of Bremen, Germany.
> > My research and teaching takes place at the newly created Platform
> > Governance Lab at the Centre for Media, Communication and Information
> > Research (ZeMKI). A member of the IRPC since 2017, I now hope to contribute
> > to the coalition‘s work on a different level. What brought me to the IRPC
> > in the first place was a commitment to upholding human rights and my
> > research interest in the Charter. My PhD dissertation focused on the
> > internal organization and external advocacy of transnational Internet
> > rights networks - I interviewed a number of experienced IRPC members to
> > better understand how documents like the Charter can be used to realize
> > human rights online. Resulting papers (including on the IRPC) are to be
> > published later this year.
> >
> > Internet governance is both an academic and a practical passion of mine.
> > Since 2017, I have attended all global IGFs, several EuroDIG meetings, a
> > YouthDIG, and several national IGFs (Germany, USA). I co-organized IGF
> > workshops in 2018 and 2021 (Paris/Katowice), and attended other convenings
> > in the field, such as RightsCon (since 2018). I am also a member of GigaNET
> > - a network of IG scholars. In 2019, I co-founded the Digital
> > Constitutionalism Network (DCN), an interdisciplinary network of IG
> > scholars interested in human rights & the Internet, and dedicated to
> > outreach beyond the ivory tower. The DCN focusses on Internet rights
> > charters and declarations and has thus far collected more than 200 such
> > documents (the Charter being one of the most prominent examples), see
> > digitalconstitutionalism.org/database. As a DCN member, I co-organized
> > panels at conferences and summer schools in which IRPC members presented
> > the Charter and the work of the coalition.
> >
> > At the University of Bremen, my teaching portfolio includes classes such
> > as „Global Internet Governance“, „Global Governance of Digital Tech“,
> > „Actors and Institutions in Internet Governance“, and (most fittingly)
> > „Human Rights in the Digital Age“. In addition, I have been working on
> > topics such as digital skills in small island states (consulting for the
> > ITU) and researched various questions related to the Internet and human
> > rights (e.g, as a visiting researcher at New York University and Harvard‘s
> > Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, and a fellow at the
> > Bochum-based Center for Advanced Internet Studies).
> >
> > So much for the bio. Here are my plans for a steering committee term
> > 2022-2024:
> >
> >    - *Support IRPC sessions at IGF and beyond*: I want to focus my work
> >    on bringing the Charter to even more fora and communities, while defending
> >    (and contributing to) the Coalition‘s strong position within the IGF
> >    ecosystem. Specifically, I plan to initiate or support IRPC contributions
> >    to EuroDIG, and to support IRPC session submissions and organization for
> >    the IGF meetings in Ethiopia and Japan. In addition, I would support the
> >    role of IRCP in co-hosting of Internet human rights events in between
> >    larger IG meetings (but thematically focussed on the coalition's IGF
> >    session topics and priorities).
> >    - *Sustainability and human rights in IG*: I want to expand on the
> >    IRPC‘s strong role in championing environmental sustainability at the IGF.
> >    I would follow and contribute to the work of the Policy Network on
> >    Environment (PNE) and other relevant fora/groups. Article 4b of the Charter
> >    is more timely than ever.
> >    - *Translation of the Charter into Japanese*: With the 2023 IGF taking
> >    place in Japan, a focus of my work would be to get the Charter translated
> >    into Japanese in time. I would fundraise for this goal specifically and
> >    coordinate the translation process.
> >    - *More (stakeholder) diversity*: I would prioritize greater
> >    stakeholder diversity among active membership and in the official positions
> >    of the Coalition. The private sector, the technical community, and public
> >    institutions are important partners, who are pivotal in realizing the
> >    rights and principles outlined in the Charter. I would like to combine
> >    these efforts with fundraising for Charter translation projects (see above)
> >    and I would also aim at sub-national public stakeholders, e.g. building on
> >    the effective work of the IRPC in engaging cities through the partnership
> >    with the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights.
> >
> > I hope to be able to convince you that I would be a suitable member of our
> > Coalition's steering committee. It would be an honor to serve you in the
> > SC.
> >
> > Thank you for taking the time to read this candidate statement.
> >
> > Best wishes,
> > Dennis Redeker