Internet Governance Forum Nov. 15-18, 2009 Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

As I walk into the IGF venue in the fine conference center of the city of Sharm El Sheikh, I started to hit some familiar faces of good people who made a difference worldwide and at home in the areas of ICT4D.
I was hesitant to come to Sharm EL Sheikh cause I was too tired and have been travelling for a while. Now, I can confirm that I am happy that I didnt follow my body that was asking for rest and followed the mind who was seeking some learning experiences and networking.

Some of the world leaders have been walking around us and speacking to us today. The father of the World Wide Web; Time Berners-Lee the was speaking about the history of the web and how it developed since he first start thinking and working on it. he also launched the World Wide Web Foundation while on stage from his own cell phone/device.

Also spoke:
Mr. Hamdoun toure, ITU Secretary General,
Mr. Tarek Kamel Egypt Minister of Communication and Information Technology,
Lynn ST. Amour Head of Internet Society,
Jerry Yang founder of yahoo

Among many others. There was an agreement about helping people come to the Information then the Knowledge Societies. Stress has been put also about not only how to bring 1 billion more people to the internet but also what they will be doing there?
Access, freedom of expression, openness among other values have been highlighted heavily. Not much controversial issues were discussed in the first sessions of the opening; the ceremony and the opening session, however I am looking for the days to come to discuss more deeper into the issues and learn more.

I can not includ everything about the openning ceremony or the opening session here in one blog therefore, I invite you to follow the streaming of the sessions online through both the website of IGF and the youtube channel.

http://igf09.eg/