Connecting New Zealand to Oceania and Asia in a hybrid and virtual way

There seems little doubt about it —  the joint meeting of the Pacific Internet Governance Forum and the Asia Pacific Top Level Domain Name Association could change the way domain name industry and internet governance forums work in the future. 

The decision was made earlier this year, because of COVID-19, to make Fiji’s hosting of the joint forum into a virtual and hybrid experience. Supported by New Zealand, the forum connected more than 600 registered participants from 36 member countries and 11 time zones.

The event 

Because of poor connectivity, distance and online conference fatigue, it sounded like an impossible task to link up people from around the world. Nevertheless the novel hybrid event got off the ground with the sheer determination from the facilitators in country hubs across Tonga, Solomons, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Samoa and Tuvalu. 

A complex web of meeting streams, training days, 5 hour session blocks, panels, and country hubs connected us across the Pacific. It was strung together to create a bespoke event showcasing the best of the Pacific.

It was great to see Oceania return to a Pacific Internet Governance forum and with the support of ConferenceNZ, the University of South Pacific and various organising committees.   

The meeting technology of choice — Zoom and ConferenceNZ’s platform —ensured smooth transitions and  ease of access through a simple web browser. There were also novel ways to stay connected through chat, booking 1:1 catch ups, networking rooms and online quizzes.  

This was the first time the two events had come together as a joint APTLD and Pacific IGF forum. Our team and InternetNZ staff were pleased to take a role in organising this inaugural event; and I am currently the Vice Chair of the Asia Pacific Top Level Domain Name Association, so was actively involved in the governance of the event.

A special thank you to the Pacific Internet Governance Forum Committee, University of South Pacific hubs and in-country hub facilitators. 

.nz activities

My colleague, Ann Ibrahim, Business Analyst / Implementation Manager, presented at the event on two topics. Ann’s first talk had a Technical/Security angle regarding how big data can mitigate domain name system abuse. Ann was able to highlight some of the techniques the Commission adopts, including using our clean dns system to combat domain name abuse. In her second presentation Ann showcased some of the governance arrangements she has been working on in her capacity as a Board member of Blockchain New Zealand.

I joined fellow Pacific internet governance leaders to talk about ideas for how we can support the local community of Oceania  for a better, safer and more robust Internet. Brent discussed the multistakeholder approach to internet governance and the capacity of Oceania to attend and participate in various forums. A key discussion point was about ensuring that Oceania could self determine their approaches for a safer internet and how critical it was that international and regional organisations create equitable opportunities for Oceania to participate in internet governance forums. 

Some key takeaways from others presentations 

International presenters introduced their work on internet governance and domain name administration with topics ranging from trust and transparency, data stewardship, and domain name abuse; to futuristic visions of DNS systems via blockchain technology; to academic perspectives on digital connectivity and the digital divide and digital sovereignty; and views on commerce and the domain names including marketing and added value initiatives.

The panel discussions across the three days delivered many insights including:

• A walk down memory lane to the the beginnings of Pacific internet and events in the 1990s and beyond promoting accessibility and women in tech
• Perspectives on enhancing security in the Pacific with data breach notifications, and better understanding operating environments and ways to stop fraud and social engineering programs seeking to trick people into parting with their personal information or cash
• Emerging technologies in the fisheries management space such as TraSeable’s use of blockchain technology
• COVID-19 lessons for different sectors
• DNS Abuse and sharing of preventative measures being used and data sources, including sharing definitions and ways of classifying abuse 
• Marketing initiatives for registries such as multi-year pricing, channel expansion, incentives and branding

APTLD will be sharing many of the presentations in the coming weeks through its youtube channel.  

Reflections

So, thank you to APTLD and the Pacific Internet Governance Forum organising Committees, sponsors, speakers and volunteers and to the host country Fiji  for setting the bar so high.  

Bringing the largest, and arguably one of the most diverse  regions of the world  together online in a hybrid way has been a great success and hugely rewarding to those involved.

This joint Pacific IGF and APTLD could lead the way in how other Internet governance forums run in the future as we progress into a post COVID world. There was a healthy balance of options allowing people to attend whilst juggling working from home, to sign in from their couches, the  Office,  and to join up in the country hubs in person with their fellow nationals. Importantly, it was free and easily accessible in a centralised Singaporean 9am time zone, which encouraged the broadest participation and saved a great deal of carbon emissions. 

A triumph two years in the making and a great way to build on the relationships between the Pacific chapter of the Internet Society and the Asia Pacific Top Level Domain Name Association.

APTLD80 and PacificIGF by the numbers 

Average Carbon miles saved: 257 participants from 36 countries  not  doing a round trip between Singapore (midpoint of the region) to Fiji: 257 x 2.7 tonne = 693.7 tonne of carbon emissions saved

Busiest session: 87 participants concurrently viewing including 7 hub participants who had more than 100 in-person country  attendees 

Number of registrations: 637

Number of countries: 36 

Number of speakers: 124

Minutes of content produced: 2,041

Most Geographically Diverse Panel: Australia, Kyrgyzstan, India, Tuvalu, Vietnam, Korea

Types of sessions run: panels, keynotes, streams, training days, coffee catch-ups, quizzes, networking, chat, polling

Training Day attendance: Day 1 - 55, Day 2 - 45

Average cost per registration to stage the event on the conference platform: $28 USD 

Number of sponsors: 8  

Max concurrent views: 

Total count of unique viewers: 

Blog author: Brent Carey, Domain Name Commissioner