UN World Summit on the Information Society

Abstract

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is a United Nations (UN) conference led by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It has unique structural features. First, WSIS is comprised of two summit events: one in Geneva, Switzerland, December 10 to 12, 2003, and the other in Tunis, Tunisia, November 16 to 18, 2005. Second, WSIS is characterized by the so-called multistakeholder approach (Association for Progressive Communications [APC] & Campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society [CRIS], 2003; Hemmati, 2002; Raboy, 2004). In this approach, civil society and the private sector have an institutionalized basis in the summit process from which to engage with governments and inform the political deliberations. The goal set for WSIS is to develop a global consensus on the features that are to characterize the information society and on ways to bring this society about.