[kictanet] Fwd: University of Toronto's Canada Centre and Citizen Lab Announce the Cyber Stewards Program

waudo siganga emailsignet at mailcan.com
Wed Jun 13 19:16:16 EAT 2012 

This could interest some colleagues, feel free to sambaza to your
other networks:


University of Toronto’s Canada Centre and Citizen Lab Announce
the Cyber Stewards Program
The Canada Centre for Global Security Studies (Canada Centre) and
the [1]Citizen Lab at the [2]Munk School of Global Affairs,
University of Toronto (with the support of the [3]International
Development Research Centre (IDRC)) are pleased to announce the
launch of the Cyber Stewards program.
The Cyber Stewards program is designed to address the urgent need
to support South-based cyber security scholars, advocates, and
practitioners to articulate a vision of cyber security in which
rights and openness are protected on the basis of shared research
and empirical knowledge.
Cyber Stewards will be selected from across the global South.
They will work locally while networking globally through the
auspices of the Canada Centre and Citizen Lab at the University
of Toronto.
Cyber Stewards will define their own scope of work and activities
based on their local context and pressing concerns. The
expectation will be that Cyber Stewards will map, analyze, and
ultimately impact the cyber security priorities of their own
countries and regions on the basis of shared knowledge and
practices.
“We are excited about this opportunity, and the prospects that
the Cyber Stewards network can accomplish,” says [4]Ron Deibert,
Director of the Canada Centre and Citizen Lab. “Working together,
we envision the Cyber Stewards will help contribute to a growing
global movement of citizens, scholars and practitioners - a
community of practice - whose aim is to protect cyberspace as a
secure but open commons of information in which human rights are
respected.”
Detailed Overview
As cyberspace expands and deepens in the global South, there are
growing concerns around how cyberspace will be governed and
constituted.  The security of cyberspace is now an urgent
concern. A cyber arms race among governments and non-state actors
has begun in earnest. Facing a growing number of threats, from
cyber crime to espionage and warfare, governments are developing
ambitious cyber security strategies, some of which include
far-reaching and potentially ominous censorship, surveillance,
and information operation components.
Unless proper checks and balances are instituted locally, there
will continue to be strong pressures to build “surveillance-by
design” into newly built infrastructure -- particularly the newly
emerging mobile and social media ecosystems.  These troubling
trends of information control and securitization portend the
gradual disintegration of an open and secure commons of
information on a global scale.
It is essential that the process of cyber securitization taking
place in the South includes local voices who can articulate a
vision of cyber security in which rights and openness are
protected on the basis of shared research and empirical
knowledge.
The aim of the Cyber Stewards project is to help support and
develop those local voices.
Why “Steward”? Stewardship is typically defined as an  ethic of
responsible behaviour in a situation  of shared resources,
typically with respect to the natural environment and the
commons, such  as the oceans and outer space.  Although
cyberspace is more of a mixed pooled resource that cuts across
public and private sector than a commons per se, the concept of
stewardship still carries considerable merit: it implies
behaviour that goes beyond self-interest to accomplish something
in the service of a wider public good.  It emphasizes the need
for balance and the appreciation of the complexity of the system.
 It carries with it a connotation of custodianship and
citizen-based monitoring, all of which mesh with the aims of the
network we are setting out to build.
Why should South-based scholars and practitioners link up with a
North-based institution, like the University of Toronto? Moving
forward, it is imperative that stewards of cyberspace include
representation from all stakeholders in the global communications
environment, and that bridges are built between communities
across North, South, East and West.  Although the challenges of
each locality are unique, together we live in a shared
communications space that is becoming increasingly dense and
interconnected. We have a shared responsibility to sustain that
space in a manner that supports everyone’s rights, while keeping
it secure. Networking South-based Cyber Stewards with the
University of Toronto’s Canada Centre and Citizen Lab’s already
existing network of collaborative partnerships will help
accomplish that goal and hopefully build a broad community of
global Cyber Stewards that empowers us all collectively.
Who will make up the Cyber Stewards program and how will it
operate? There will be a diversity in research topics and
methods, as well as regional and disciplinary backgrounds, in the
constitution of Cyber Stewards. We anticipate that the group will
form a network of peers, in which the Cyber Stewards regularly
interact with each other, engage in knowledge sharing and joint
research and development, and mutual mentorship.  Cyber Stewards
will interact virtually as well as through occasional joint
workshops and major conferences, facilitated by the Canada Centre
and Citizen Lab.
Interested parties from any of the following regions should send
a CV and a five page outline that details project ideas to
[5]cyberstewards at citizenlab.org (Central America, Caribbean,
South America, sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa,
and Asia).
About the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies
The[6]Canada Centre for Global Security Studies at the[7]Munk
School of Global Affairs is a centre of interdisciplinary
research, policy development, and other activities in emerging
security issues that are critical to Canada's future. Established
in spring 2010 with a grant from the Government of Canada, the
Canada Centre's areas of interdisciplinary study include cyber
security, global health, food security, and region-specific
concerns, such as the future of the Arctic, post-Soviet Europe,
the new Asian powers, and the changing face of the Americas.
About the Citizen Lab
The [8]Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at
the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto,
Canada focusing on advanced research and development at the
intersection of digital media, global security, and human rights.
We are a “hothouse” that combines the disciplines of political
science, sociology, law, computer science, engineering, and
graphic design. Our mission is to undertake advanced research and
engage in development that monitors, analyses, and impacts the
exercise of political power in cyberspace. We undertake this
mission through collaborative partnerships with leading edge
research centers, organizations, and individuals around the
world, and through a unique “mixed methods” approach that
combines technical analysis with intensive field research,
qualitative social science, and legal and policy analysis methods
undertaken by subject matter experts.
The Citizen Lab’s ongoing research network includes the
[9]OpenNet Initiative, OpenNet Eurasia, and Opennet.Asia as well
as the Cyber Security Stewards network. The Citizen Lab was a
founding partner of the [10]Information Warfare Monitor
(2002-2012). The Citizen Lab developed the original design of the
Psiphon censorship circumvention software, which spun out of the
lab into a private Canadian corporation (Psiphon Inc.) in 2008.


Ronald Deibert

Director, the Citizen Lab

and the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies

Munk School of Global Affairs

University of Toronto

(416) 946-8916

PGP: [11]http://deibert.citizenlab.org/pubkey.txt

[12]http://deibert.citizenlab.org/
[13]twitter.com/citizenlab
[14]r.deibert at utoronto.ca

References

1. http://citizenlab.org/
2. http://www.munkschool.utoronto.ca/
3. http://www.idrc.ca/
4. http://deibert.citizenlab.org/
5. mailto:cyberstewards at citizenlab.org
6. http://www.munkschool.utoronto.ca/canadacentre/
7. http://www.munkschool.utoronto.ca/
8. http://citizenlab.org/
9. http://opennet.net/
  10. http://www.infowar-monitor.net/
  11. http://deibert.citizenlab.org/pubkey.txt
  12. http://deibert.citizenlab.org/
  13. http://twitter.com/citizenlab
  14. mailto:r.deibert at utoronto.ca
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20120613/b671ba08/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.igcaucus.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2817 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20120613/b671ba08/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1020 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20120613/b671ba08/attachment-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 957 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20120613/b671ba08/attachment-0002.jpg>

More information about the KICTANet mailing list