WSIS / SMSI

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) consisted of two United Nations-sponsored conferences about information, communication and, in broad terms, the "information society" that took place on 2003/12/10-12 in Geneva, Switzerland and on 2005/11/16-18 in Tunis, Tunisia. One of its chief aims was to bridge the so-called global digital divide separating rich countries from poor countries by spreading access to the Internet in less-advantaged parts of the world. (Wikipedia, with modifications)

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) led the organisation of the events. UNESCO facilitated some aspects.

There were preparatory conferences before WSIS and there have also been some follow-up events.

Civil society

There were parallel events organised by civil society organisations, under the banner of Citizens' Summit on the Information Society (CSIS) and WSIS-CS.

Language & localisation

The topics of languages and localisation of ICT did arise at these events. [need more info]

Links

• WSIS main site http://www.itu.int/wsis/
• UNESCO site on WSIS http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1543&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
• CSIS site http://www.citizens-summit.org/(approve sites)
• WSIS-CS site http://www.wsis-cs.org/(approve sites)
• Wikipedia
  • AR ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/القمة العالمية حول مجتمع المعلومات
  • EN http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Summit_on_the_Information_Society
  • FR http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sommet_mondial_sur_la_soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9_de_l%27information

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