Our NetMission Ambassador Jenna Fung (Class 2017-2018) and Hong Kong Youth IGF 2018 representatives Faith Lee and Angel Ng have attended the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Paris 2018 at UNESCO building from 12-14 December which marked our last event of 2018. Although it was a shorter IGF, consisting of 3 main conference days as opposed to the usual 5-day meeting, the takeaways are no lesser. This year the IGF was opened at a high with French President Macron delivering a 20-min long opening remark. While people may not always share the same viewpoints as him, his presence certainly made a strong note on the significance of IGF. As a first-timer of the IGF with an keen interest on refugee rights advocacy, Faith personally feels very encouraged by the commitment from the multi-stakeholders to take action on building digital skills of refugees at one of the related workshops that she attended. While digital skills are undeniably important nowadays, Angel echoed further on the Workshop #355 panel that achieving youth digital mobility will help eliminate disparity and develop global citizenship, and work towards global problems. Last but not least, we are motivated to hear from Jenna at the IGF closing plenary that this conference journey ignited further her sense of mission to continue speaking up for youth in Asia Pacific. Take a look at our ambassadors’ blog posts at http://www.netmission.asia/category/blog/.
Looking ahead, we are excited to welcome 30 new students onboard the NetMission 2019 family! Hailing from 16 economies including Australia, Bhutan, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, and even a Malian student currently studying in China, we have high hopes for our new cohort! Their training will span across Jan and Feb before they roll-up their sleeves and get busy in our community work.
This.Is.Asia Newsletter Issues
AAPI Heritage Month: Interview with Mou Mukherjee
In some ways, I abandoned my culture when I was young because I was trying so hard to fit in. My parents were, and still is very cultural. Growing up, there was always Indian music playing, our house was full of Bengali literature, my Dad’s hero was poet Rabindranath Tagore, and he also loved the films of Satyajit Ray. I was surrounded by culture and yet I couldn’t fully embrace it at the time.
AAPI Heritage Month: Interview with Zhou Fang
I am an immigrant from Guilin, China. In 2010, I moved to the U.S. for grad school. After graduating from Kansas State University (Go Cats!) I moved to Oregon and have been living in Portland for the last 9 years.
Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节快乐
中秋节与春节丶清明节丶端午节并称为中国四大传统节日。受中华文化的影响，中秋节也是东亚和东南亚一些国家尤其是当地的华人华侨的传统节日。 中秋节，农历八月十五，又称仲秋节丶拜月节丶女儿节或团圆节，是中国的传统文化节日，因其恰值三秋之半，故名中秋。中秋节始於唐朝初年，盛行於宋朝，至明清时，已成为与春节齐名的中国主要节日之一。 2006年5月20日，中国国务院在中央政府门户网上发出通知，批准文化部确定并公布中秋节例在第一批国家级非物质文化遗产名录。自2008年起中秋节被列为国家法定节假日。...
How I See It – Privacy Controversy: Trigger of largest digital migration in history
Technology giants, or Big Tech as they are called, have become intertwined extensively with our everyday lives. Early in 2021, Facebook decided to take a step ahead in monetising Whatsapp. This was to be enabled by the changes in the terms outlined in its updated privacy policy. One fine day, users woke up to the notification for the proposed changes in its Privacy Policy. This paved the way to an international conversation about privacy, and also triggered widespread adoption of alternatives to Whatsapp such as Signal and Telegram.