A reader in Nigeria who wants to follow the Africa Internet Governance Forum this week can start with its timetable for Accra. The fifteenth edition is scheduled for 2–5 November in Ghana, with access online as well as at the venue. The organisers updated the timetable late on 1 November, Accra time. It displays session times in GMT.
The programme separates activities that might otherwise be easy to confuse. It lists the Labadi Beach Hotel as the main venue. The youth programme for 2 November is listed at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, also in Accra. Other tracks include a programme for children, one for parliamentarians and a dialogue involving the judiciary.
For a first-time participant, the Internet Society lists an introductory session for Tuesday, 3 November, from 9:45 to 10:45 in Accra. That is 10:45 to 11:45 in Nigeria. A separate discussion of the impact of community grants is scheduled for the same hour. Check the session name as well as the start time when choosing what to follow.
Wednesday’s programme offers another way into the debate. The Internet Society lists a session about community participation in getting people connected from 10:30 to 11:30 in Accra on 4 November. That means 11:30 to 12:30 in Nigeria. Its focus is on what helps communities actually use internet services, a different question from whether a network reaches them.
The forum brings governments, civil society, technical specialists, companies and researchers into a policy discussion. Subjects on the agenda include online safety and digital identity. A scheduled discussion of these issues does not by itself introduce a new identity requirement for Nigerians or change the terms of their internet service.
What it means for you: use the organisers’ web programme to find the session and room, then check whether your calendar has already converted the time. They direct remote participants to registration links and list the forum’s YouTube channel for livestreams. The public registration route is UN Indico. The organisers describe participation as free.