reflections on the Youth Summit

reflections by Peter Pfannes Let's get to the Summit...! This was perhaps one of the thoughts we had in mind, when we were asked whether we would like to organise a youth component to the XV.IFIP World Computer Congress. Without hesitating we said "of course". Then we had to sort out a plan what we wanted to do and in cooperation with Austrian and Hungarian IFIP organisers we had to find realistic ways to make our ideas come true.

And for all of us that was quite some work! We had less than 6 months to put together a conference, find sponsors, recruit participants and organise all those tiny details..! Wow!

But thanks to our motivated organisers on all sides this work was not in vain. And when it all finally started in Vienna on 28 August 1998, I could not quite believe that all the theoretical work was now just reality. Imagine you formulate an idea and suddenly it comes true!? Perhaps one of the most moving moments of our Youth Summit was the Global Village evening, when every participant brought some specialties of his/her country and we could experience so many fascinating cultures.
I will never forget having a Chinese student sitting next to a Brasilian, a Polish, a Kenyan or an American student. In such a moment nationalities disappear and noone is different.

So we started our week with getting to know each other and only then could we start committee work. It was our wish to contribute to the IFIP congress. So all the delegates worked hard towards the common goal. We wanted to hear and being heard. And I think this was achieved! Many scientist came to us and discussed with our committees or just simply listened to our presentations during poster sessions. And we always have to bear in mind that our Youth Summit was the first of its kind and therefore had no clear place in the IFIP programme and procedures. But nevertheless we could find ways of making ourselves heard.

I hope you will all read our resolutions and promote the ideas contained in them or even discuss them with us via e-mail. At the Opening Ceremony of the Conference in the beautiful Musikvereinssaal I said we were ready for the experiment and we hoped the scientists were as well. Now I can say that we made the best of it and for us students it was an incredible experience. We learned much about Information Processing, but on the other hand we learned that it all starts with the individual. If these individuals work together they can reach almost every goal!

So I don't know enough ways of thanking those who gave us this opportunity and helped us to make this dream come true. Let me just say that we are again ready for the experiment and if IFIP wishes, we would be more than motivated to continue this path even before the year 2000!

 

• reflections by Sebastian Brenner

  For the very first time...

  we, the "Future Forum for Europe", had a chance to organize a "Youth Summit" along with this year's World Computer Congress of IFIP. It was quite a challenge for our team and in the next few paragraphs, I'd like to tell you how I personally experienced it.
  My name is Sebastian Brenner, I am a 23-year old student of political sciences, Law, and Economics, and in organizing the "Youth Summit" I had both the functions of (1) an organizer and (2) being the chair of one of our committees. (3) thirdly, experiencing the summit was a valuable personal experience for me.

  (1) Preparing the summit was a completely new experience and very endowing for me. I got to know how sponsors should be contacted and I found out how difficult it is to recruit the participants (because they might declare their interest, and they might even sign up for their participations, but nevertheless some applicants turn out to be black sheeps/ "no shows". However most our participants did show up and turned out to be wonderful people, but that is for later).
  Moreover, I learned to manage both my studies and the organizational work for the summit, which was sometimes hard.

  (2) Actually travelling to Vienna to start the summit was more exciting.
  In the beginning, since we were all more or less beginners, many things turned out to be difficult.
  I had to adopt a position which I never held before. As the chair of the committee for political affairs, where the impact of the multimedia age on our societies was discussed, I was both responsible for (a) the output/result of our committee work, and (b) taking care of my committee members in organisational questions.

  (a) After listening to some speeches at the beginning of the congress, we had to decide our topic for the committee. The official topic which contained the question whether there was a need for a legal framework to protect the global citizen in the Internet led us to the question: Censorship or freedom of speech on the net. Our major concern was to protect the unique quality of the Internet as a forum for the free exchange of information. At the same time we realized the need to protect certain users from dangerous influences (see our resolution). Our solution was quite technical: Certain dedicated nets should be created to serve each users individual purposes.

  (b) Looking after my delegates tuned out to be quite a task. Every time I tried to gather them, they ran away or had something else to do in this very moment. Waking them up was also annoying: Either they were angry because I woke them up to early or because I woke them up to late.
  I felt like a human alarm clock! I learned that different people react differently in different situations (quite an insight, hum?) and I learned to assess these reactions. I appreciated the patience of some delegates and I disregarded the impatience of others. I think, as a participant one should never assume to much of a "I demand..."-attitude.
  I was, at one point, confronted with a strong critical remark regarding my work as the leader of this committee, and learned how to work out this conflict with the delegate (which led to understanding on both sides after a while).

  (3)Personally, I soon enjoyed the unique atmosphere of both working together and spending the spare time with talented people from all over the world, originated.
  To let you know, we had a participants from: Brazil, the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, the former Yugoslavia, China, etc. This international mixture made the whole thing so special.
  If you wanted to know how people from Kenya experienced the bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, you didn't have to read a newspaper. No, you just stepped to this guy and he would tell you. I think that this encounters with "foreigners" gave everybody a chance to think about the ideas they had about this country and change prejudices they might have had. Many new friendship developed and I can only hope that they last.

  Finally, it was just great that we had this chance and I can only encourage the responsibles to support a possible next "Youth Summit". The summit promoted international understanding and friendship and it "produced" new ideas of this very important group which will shape tomorrow's world, the youth. The resolutions are full of new and useful impulses for the computer world, and I hope and know that these fresh ideas triggered new patterns of thinking in the minds of many scientists which we could talk to and discuss with.

  So, I conclude: Let's go for Beijing in the year 2000!

   

reflections by the several committees

Aviv Barkai (Israel), Sebastian Brenner (Germany, Chair), Michal Luszczuk (Poland), Ewan MacPherson (United Kingdom), Joanna Modzelewska (Poland), Branden Moore (United Kingdom), Bin Ni (People’s Republic of China)

The Youth Summit "Information Society" in conjunction with the XV. World Computer Congress of the International Federation for Information Processing, Vienna and Budapest, 28 August – 6 September

1. Bearing in mind that the Internet is a chaotic, semi-regulated and partially anarchic environment;
2. Welcoming that the Internet gives its users the chance for worldwide exchange of information without regulation or actual control of what is being transferred;
3. Noting with regret that the question of veracity of the Internet’s contents remains open;
4. Alarmed by the fact that information being sent via the Internet can be and is being monitored and that there is a lack of user privacy and security during transfer of information;

1. Encourages that several physically separate dedicated nets (business, science, etc.) should be established.
2. Recommends that in these nets, providers agree on a set of policies covering issues such as security, contents, and authenticity as well as anonymity.
3. Hopes that the free and anarchic Internet should be preserved as one of many nets.

Kai Baumgarten (Germany), Stefan Brunner (Germany), Paulo Borges Oliva (Brasil), Jonathan Karanja (Kenya), Oleksandr (Sascha) Matvyi (Ukrania), John Murphy (United Kingdom), Serhiy Tymku (Ukrania), Col·n Walsh (Ireland, Chair)

The Youth Summit "Information Society" in conjunction with the XV. World Computer Congress of the International Federation for Information Processing, Vienna and Budapest, 28 August – 6 September

1. Calls upon governments and universities to promote awareness of retraining as both a possibility and inevitably for people in their working lives.
2. Requests that the United Nations or other supranational organization carry out a worldwide survey with the cooperation of national governments on the incidence of and attitudes to retraining.
3. Further requests that national governments actively pursue the improvement and expansion of adult-only education, particularly in degree courses, and technical areas.
4. Reminds national governments that adult retraining be taken into account in the planning of both education and employment policies.

 

Creation of Jobs

 

5. Recommends the establishment by the appropriate supranational body of a working group to produce, in conjunction with experienced technologists, a paper dealing with the creation and destruction of jobs in the future.
6. Further recommends the establishment of an ongoing teleconference, with the help of the Future Forum for Europe, between scientists from all over the globe, dealing with specialists’ areas of knowledge: e. g. cooperation between construction economists and global economists in different areas.
7. Recommends the creation of a working group at University level to examine the impact of specialization (as opposed to standardization) on the working lives and opportunities of graduate students.
8. Calls upon national government to encourage continuous retraining of employees within business organizations.
9. Supports and urges the expansion of work exchange programs between people from different countries, to promote the creation of an international pool of information about different cultures.
10. Calls upon national governments to promote timely release to the general public of new developments and discoveries, particularly those concerning the information highway.

 

Work Locations

 

11. Urges national governments to provide subventions to companies initiating homeworking and teleworking projects in the course of their business.
12. Calls upon universities and research institutes to investigate the possibility of further automation in office buildings.

 

Homeworking/Teleworking

 

13. Encourages national governments and telecommunications companies in different countries to promote the use of Internet and high-speed communications in their respective areas.
14. Calls upon governments and trade unions to improve legal protection given to teleworkers, including those with short-term contracts and "one project" contracts.
15. Calls upon UNESCO to produce and publish statistics showing relative costs o Internet access for users, and urges governments to continuously attempt to improve their record on this matter.
16. Invites the creation of a teleconferencing study, to show the relative importance of foreknowledge of teleconferencing partners, using for example teambuilding activities.

Balint Bassola (Hungary, Chair), Joseph Beck (United States), Eva Glasbrenner (Germany), Balint Juhasz (Hungary), Sabina Morkisz (Germanz/Poland), Sarah Reisinger (United States, co-Chair), Eszter Varga (Hungary)

The Youth Summit "Information Society" in conjunction with the XV. World Computer Congress of the International Federation for Information Processing, Vienna and Budapest, 28 August – 6 September

1. Declares that teleteaching and Net education is a viable and important method of education.
2. Urges the introduction of stand-alone computer use as well as networked units to children in the primary grades.
3. Encourages the communication of moral and responsible use of the Internet to primary aged children prior to their commencement access.
4. Recommends that teleteaching in the primary grades be used only as supplemental education except in cases where it is necessary by reason of
   I) physical disability
   II) traveling livelihood/lifestyle of family
   III) geographical distance from quality education
5. Calls for electronic mail and Internet access training of all University students.
6. Encourages Universities with telecourses and degrees to validate them among studentss and members of Industry through active promotion of the programs at their own and other centres of learning.
7. Further encourages the use of synchronous telelearning/- teachingwhenever possible – all students meeting together with instruction – as it provides for communication of stimulating ideas and dialogue thus promoting the full intellectual development of the individual.
8. Expresses its hope that Universities will require the on-site meeting of students in the teleteaching class at some point during the course to promote working and learning relationships.
9. Calls for the use of visual technology to exchange images of students and teachers during class time as it encourages accountability.
10. Emphasizes the responsibility of Universities to provide for secure information transmission for students and educators via Internet.
11. Draws attention to the lack of opportunities for older learners to obtain training and coursework regarding computer and Internet use.
12. Recommends the use of University computer sites and knowledgeable attendees for the training of such older learners, particularly during summer months at low cost to the learners.

Miryam Bak (Italy), Mark Handel (United States), Marion Kleinschmidt (Germany, Chair), Ivan Matavulj (Yugoslavia), Elena Melnichka (Bulgaria), Daniel Poelchau (Germanz), Agnieszka Soltys (Poland), Daniel Regnier (Canada), Magdalena Wolcerz (Poland)

The Youth Summit "Information Society" in conjunction with the XV. World Computer Congress of the International Federation for Information Processing, Vienna and Budapest, 28 August – 6 September

1. Recommends that the spreading of access to the Internet be a priority, but only where it is wished for and will allow people to profit from it, by

• beginning initiatives to provide access to the Internet at the lowest – local community – level, such as the model of the American Community Networking initiatives
• by implementing programs on the national level at the national level to assist the under-privileged regions, as well as international programs between the developed and developing nations.
• by attuning these programs to the socio-economic backgrounds and special needs of the regions in question and carrying them out in tandem with the appropriate specialists in the regions.
• by extending these on-going activities, which include close co-operation with business to those regions which do not zet enjoy the benefits of a modern Information Technology infrastructure.

1. Urges that teaching of Information Technology (IT) use in all the different learning environments shall not solely focus on the technical and systematic aspects. But should include instruction on how to integrate the use of IT into a balanced life, via such curriculums as:

• teaching people, especially children, to critically evaluate information that they encounter on the Internet, with respect to accuracy and bias.
• developing the ability to harmonize both virtual and real worlds, understanding the benefits and drawbacks of each.
• Providing tools to determine which information, and in what waz, can benefit the individuals and their community.

1. Encourages all Internet users to communicate in a respectful and courteous manner in order to create an inclusive and friendly on-line environment.
2. Further suggests that research explore the possibilities of creating social feedback mechanisms in the on-line environment.
3. Draws attention to the potentially adverse effects of shifts of interaction to homogenous groups in the on-line environment – "cyber-islands," groups of users who only associate with people with similar interests and backgrounds, the nature and significance of these changes still being highly controversial and requiring more research being done into these effects.
4. Points towards emerging research indicating that even moderate use of the Internet seems to increase depression and isolation for individuals, this work putting into new perspective the so far undoubted benefits of the Internet, and would be a fruitful area of inquiry.
5. Strongly suggests that the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) is the appropriate body to further these initiatives, and by drawing on its world-wide reach, and wide range of expertise substantially to narrow the gap between "information haves" and "information have-nots".