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iHub By Patrick Munyi / October 8, 2011

iHub at the IGF

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In the just concluded Internet Governance Forum (IGF) whose theme; Internet as a catalyst for change: access, development, freedoms and innovation, one could not fail to spot a member from the iHub in the UN Office at Gigiri.

With innovation playing a very dominant role in the Kenya’s technology sector, iHub members in their respective roles as individuals and teams, contributed their experiences and sagacity in various workshops.

Erik Hersman sat as a panelist in workshops 108 and 212 dealing with topics ranging from mobile, cloud computing, privacy and security in the real time connected world. He shares his involvement in his post .

Juliana Rotich from Ushahidi was invited to participate as a panel member in workshop 75: Putting users first-How can privacy be protected in today’s complex mobile ecosystem.

Paul Muchene an Internet Society (ISOC) ambassador was remotely moderating workshops touching on themes from cyber crime, mitigating DNS attacks, freedom of expression on the Net and youth participation in Internet Governance.

Back at the iHub, the atmosphere was abuzz with activity and excitement as Internet and cyber luminaries shared with the community their intimate insights in the technologies they helped to forge and develop. The most notable eminence was Vint Cerf one of the Fathers of the Internet  and Google’s Chief technology evangelist who gave anecdotes of his work from the hey days of ARPANET to the modern Internet.

From left: Jessica Colaço (iHub, Nairobi); Vinton Cerf (Google); Adel El Zaïm (IDRC) and James Rege (Member of Parliament, Kenya).

Indeed the iHub community was galvanised during the IGF either as participants, workshop contributors or moderators. Being the very first IGF in Sub Saharan Africa, the iHub left an indelible positive impression to the many delegates who were in attendance.

Author : Patrick Munyi