ISOC Wallonia welcomes Dr. Vinton Cerf,
One of the founders of the internet
Namur, July 5th, 2002
Vint Cerf surrounded by ISOC Wallonia's Executive committee : from left to right,
André Rombauts, president Jacques Berleur, Jean-Louis Dethier, Richard Delmas, Paul Ficheroulle, Eric Tomson and Marie-Anne Delahaut.
The Internet Society's support to the Wallonia Chapter
On Friday the 5th of July 2002, the Executive committee of the Wallonia Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC Wallonia) (1), under Jacques Berleur's presidency, received the Dr Vinton Cerf (2) in Namur. Considered as one of the founders of the internet and an important reference figure within the information society, Vinton Cerf is the co-inventor of the TCP/IP protocol and of the architecture of the internet. At the end of a trip which led him from Washington (INET (3) to Bucharest (ICANN (4)), by way of Catalonia (ISOC Catalonia (5)) and Luxemburg (ISOC Luxemburg (6)), Vint Cerf accepted the invitation of ISOC Wallonia's Executive committee, in preparation of its 2003 Workshop.
During the meeting, held in the Jules-Destrée Institute's office, Vint Cerf confirmed ISOC's support to ISOC Wallonia's actions, in particular in the domains related to the development of multilingualism within the information society, which opens gradually to cultural diversity. The technical management and the governance of the internet were also evoked, important subjects to the regulating authorities on the world plan, as they influence the conditions and access facilities to the internet.
A multicultural network of excellence for the French-speaking world and for Europe
Led in association with the European Coordination Council of ISOC (ECC (7)) and the French-speaking chapters (8), ISOC Wallonia's works concern access to the internet and citizens' appropriation of those new information and communication's technologies. Providing an access to the internet to most people is a priority goal, not only because everyone has the right to benefit from this communication tool, but also because the access to knowledge is valued by the world network. It will be much more so in the near future, if the internet is structured and regulated so as to favor its fair development.
ISOC Wallonia gathers experts and members of the civil society working, individually and collectively, to develop the internet for all citizens in Wallonia. It received the support of the Wallonia's Prime-minister Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe - member of ISOC Wallonia - through each of its activities (9).
For 2002-2003, the Chapter Wallonia works to facilitate the development of internet applications interesting the whole population, to create knowledge bases accessible to all and to support the creation of easy access points for those who have difficulties to connect to the internet - the old and young people, those who are excluded socially and\or professionally. The themes of eSolidarity (with regard to developing countries but also in the heart of our regions), eLearning (distance education) and eGovernment (administrative simplification) will be studied by ISOC Wallonia's think tanks, in preparation of the World Summit on the Information society which will be held in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunis in 2005 (10).
In conclusion of his visit to Namur, Vint Cerf proposed to report about these projects to ISOC headquarters, in order to strengthen the tools which favor the appropriation of the internet by a maximum of cultures and languages. The ISOC honorary president underlined how important it is to understand the uses every country wishes to develop for the internet according to its cultural characteristics, in order to secure the internet's sustainability in terms of citizenship. Vint Cerf agreed with ISOC Wallonia's proposal to strengthen its participation to a team of multilingual development of the internet. One of ISOC Wallonia's goal has been, since its creation in 1998, to promote and to reinforce languages diversity in the information and communication technologies, with French in particular, through the network LaFrancité, created with ISOC France and ISOC Quebec.
[1] Vinton Cerf was welcomed by Jacques Berleur (Computer Science Faculty of the University of Namur), Marie-Anne Delahaut (The Destree Institute), Richard Delmas (DG INFSO, European Commission), Jean-Louis Dethier (Deloitte & Touche), Paul Ficheroulle (Parliament of Wallonia), André Rombauts (French Teacher, Communauté française) et Eric Tomson (Siemens), members of ISOC Wallonia's Executive committee.
[2] Vinton Cerf is the founding president of the Internet Society, president of the Executive committee of ICANN, honorary president of the Forum IPv6.
[3] L'INET is the annual world congress of ISOC.
[4] The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
[7] ISOC Wallonia has been in charge of the ECC's presidency from July until December, 2001.
[8] ISOC Wallonie participated to ISOC Francophonie in June, 2002 and to its further projects of action.
[9] Workshop 2001 : eGouvernement and administrative simplification. - Workshop 2000 : Languages, Cultures and Internet; goals, strategies and sustainable development.
Information: ISOC Wallonie: http://www.wallonie-isoc.org/
Jacques Berleur, president - Marie-Anne Delahaut, delegate-administrator
