CircleID

I first heard about OneWebDay in the summer of 2006, when Susan Crawford, whom I have the utmost respect for, talked to me about the importance of having an equivalent of Earth Day for the Internet. Her explanation of the project made absolute sense to me then — and even more so today. And I couldn't think of a better and more passionate person to be leading this mission. Next month OneWebDay will be celebrated for the third time around the world and the level of participation is phenomenal!

I've been given the honor of being one of OneWebDay's ambassadors this year which includes taking a day to talk about this event and introducing it to new people. So, without further ado, here is an overview of OneWebDay and the theme for 2008:

OneWebDay is an Earth Day for the Internet that takes place each Sept. 22. This year is the third OneWebDay. Around the world, it's focusing attention on the importance of the internet to political participation — that's this year's theme. It's also encouraging people to talk about (and do something about) internet issues they're worried about — censorship, the digital divide, inadequate connectivity generally. The idea behind OneWebDay is to create a platform for a global constituency that cares about the future of the internet. We make progress when we make things visible, and with OneWebDay we're showing this global constituency that it exists.

As part my role at CircleID I've had the opportunity to closely monitor daily ongoing and evolving issues around the Internet infrastructure for several years now — issues such as privacy, censorship, accessibility, internet governance, security, network neutrality, and increasing cases of cyber attacks… I cannot think of a more relevant time in Internet's history to be part of a mission such as OneWebDay. Here are a number of suggestions on how to get involved and celebrate OneWebDay.

By Ali Farshchian, Founder, Editorial & Operations. Visit the blog maintained by Ali Farshchian here.

Related topics: Web