Daylight Cracks on World Information Society Day
Daylight Cracks on World Information Society Day
May 17, 2007: Today is World Information Society Day and this year, the International Telecommunciation Union (ITU) is exploring ways to ensure the digital revolution reaches young people everywhere.
It’s a move that recognises youth as the earliest adopters of ICT and an important, emerging workforce. At the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, leaders expressed their commitment to ensuring youth all over the world can explore the opportunities of ICT-based development programmes and determined today’s theme to be ‘Connecting the Young.’
Today also marks the anniversary of ITU’s establishment, way back in 1865 - a year after Samuel Morse publicly sent his first telegraph message. While the ITU is recognised as one of the oldest international organisations, it’s also a specialised agency of the United Nations working to develop standards around the world’s access to leading innovations and technologies.
In his World Information Society Day message, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged both industry and policy makers to work cooperatively with youth to produce applications, services and technologies facilitating access to ICT.
According the Ban Li-moon, with the right technologies available, young people can excel in their quest for knowledge and possibly ‘leapfrog’ communication barriers with considerable ease.
Dr Hamadoun Toure, ITU Secretary General said in his message that this year’s theme was considerably important for ITU as it’s often youth who drive the latest innovations and practices. “The key to achieving the development aspirations of the world’s inhabitants lies in investing in the future generation, especially by improving access to communication among today’s children and enhancing their capabilities,” he said.
This year’s ITU World Information Society Award will be presented by Mitchell Baker on behalf on Mozilla Corporation and Professor Mark Krivocheev, on behalf of the Russian Federation. The award honours individuals who’ve made a significant contribution towards building the information society.
Other activities include the launch of a new website for monitoring progress on building the information society. The site already includes a number of programmes of which Australia is involved, as well as other initiatives occurring across the globe.