The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was a product of the WSIS-Tunis Agenda and was given a fairly open-ended and ambiguous mandate. It operates under the aegis of the Secretary-General of the UN, who has asked for a "process aimed at enhancing cooperation on international public policy issues related to the Internet." In comparison to other intergovernmental organizations, the IGF is indeed a new paradigm as it is a "multi-stakeholder policy dialogue," where civil society NGOs, business interests, international organizations, and governments will interact in contours that as yet have to be clearly defined.
As the IGF process bears the impramatur of the UN Secretary-General, the IGF is a platform to discuss and build consensus between like-minded stakeholders (civil society, governments, industry, IGOs) on the decentralization of ICANN functions, open standards for information technologies, internet spam, promotion and adoption of free and open source software, freedom of speech and access to knowledge (A2K).
The Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards (DCOS) was created at the Athens Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in November 2006. DCOS's mission is to provide government policy makers and other stakeholders with useful tooks to make informed decisions to preserve the current open architecture of the Internet and the World Wide Web,which together provide a knowledge ecosystem that has strongly shaped the multiplier effect of global public goods and improved economic and social welfare.
6 December 2008. 3rd IGF, Hyderabad, India. Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards (DCOS) Statement on Procurement in Support of Interoperability and Open Standards.
IGF 2006: Athens, Greece, 30 October – 2 November 2006
Workshop: “Open Standards, Interoperability, and Government Procurement”
9:30-11:00am, November 2, Kleoniki Room, Divani Apollon Palace & Spa
Organized by CPTech, Sun Microsystems, the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C), the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the South Centre Innovation, Access to Knowledge and Intellectual Property Programme (IAIPP), the Yale Information Society Project (Yale ISP) and IP Justice, the workshop presented the relationship between the "openness" of ICT standards, economic and social development, and government policy making, with a focus on procurement policies. The discussion focused on how to help governments better understand the inherent tension between intellectual property rights (IPR) holders in ICT standards and the public. The workshop used the example of the OpenDocument Format standard to highlight the positive impact open ICT standards can have on information access. This workshop aimed to create a dynamic coalition of multi-stakeholders to endorse a declaration on open standards and present a draft government procurement protocol to governments.
IGF 2007 : Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 12-15 November 2007
The Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards hosted two workshops at the second IGF meeting:
Open Workshop: “The Intersection of Open ICT Standards, Development, and Public Policy”
3:30-5:00pm, November 12, Pardo I, Windsor Barra Hotel
Best Practice Workshop: “Open ICT Standards for Greater Citizen Access: Best Practices in Government Policy and Procurement Practices”
4:30-6:00pm, November 13, Versailles II, Windsor Barra Hotel
IGF 2008: Hyderabad, India, 3-6 December 2008
Workshop 21 : “Knowledge as a Global Public Good: How Fair Use, Open Source and ICT Standards Can Expand Digital Inclusion"
4:30-6:00pm, December 3, Room 5
Workshop 24 : “Reforming the International ICT Standardization System"
2:00-3:30pm, December 6, Room 2