OneWebDay is an annual day of Internet celebration and awareness held on September 22. The stated goal of founder
Susan P. Crawford
Susan P. Crawford (born February 27, 1963) is the John A. Reilly Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She served as President Barack Obama's Special Assistant for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (2009) and is a columnist f ...
is for OneWebDay to foster and make visible a global constituency that cares about the future of the Internet.
History
The first OneWebDay was held on September 22, 2006. The idea was created by
Susan P. Crawford
Susan P. Crawford (born February 27, 1963) is the John A. Reilly Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She served as President Barack Obama's Special Assistant for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (2009) and is a columnist f ...
, who was an
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is an American multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespac ...
board member at the time, in association with other Internet figures such as
Doc Searls
David "Doc" Searls (born July 29, 1947), is an American journalist, columnist, and a widely read weblog, blogger. He is the host of FLOSS Weekly, a free and open-source software (FLOSS) themed netcast from the TWiT Network, a co-author of ''The ...
,
David Weinberger
David Weinberger (born 1950) is an American author, technologist, and speaker. Trained as a philosopher, Weinberger's work focuses on how technology — particularly the internet and machine learning — is changing our ideas, with books about the ...
,
David R. Johnson
David R. Johnson is lawyer specializing in computer communications. He is a senior fellow at Center for Democracy and Technology, and a former chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Career
Johnson graduated from Yale College with a B. ...
,
Mary Hodder
Mary J. Hodder (born April 5, 1945) is a Canadian former politician. She represented the riding of Burin-Placentia West in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly
The Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly is the unicameral de ...
, and
David Isenberg
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
, who would all join the board of what would eventually become a
501(c)3
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of t ...
corporation – OneWebDay Inc. A website was established and a global network of events promoted. The 2006 OneWebDay's anchor celebration featured speakers
Craig Newmark
Craig Alexander Newmark (born December 6, 1952) is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist best known as the founder of the classifieds website Craigslist. Prior to founding Craigslist, he worked as a computer programmer for companie ...
,
Scott Heiferman
Scott Heiferman is an American community organizer, businessperson and internet entrepreneur. Heiferman co-founded Meetup and is the company's Chairman.
Early life
Scott Heiferman was born in 1972 in Homewood, Illinois. Heiferman has four siblings ...
, and
Drew Schutte
Drew may refer to:
__NOTOC__ Places
;In the United States
* Drew, Georgia, an unincorporated community
* Drew, Mississippi, a city
* Drew, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Drew, Oregon, an unincorporated community
* Drew County, Arkansas
* ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
's
Battery Park
The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. It is bounded by Battery Place on the north, State Street on the east, New York Harbor to ...
.
By 2008 OneWebDay had grown to more than 30 international events. In
Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park is a public park in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. One of the best known of New York City's public parks, it is an icon as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity. ...
, New York City, speakers included Crawford,
John Perry Barlow
John Perry Barlow (October 3, 1947February 7, 2018) was an American poet, essayist, cattle rancher, and cyberlibertarian political activist who had been associated with both the Democratic and Republican parties. He was also a lyricist for th ...
,
Jonathan Zittrain
Jonathan L. Zittrain (born December 24, 1969) is an American professor of Internet law and the George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School. He is also a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, a professor of computer sci ...
,
Craig Newmark
Craig Alexander Newmark (born December 6, 1952) is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist best known as the founder of the classifieds website Craigslist. Prior to founding Craigslist, he worked as a computer programmer for companie ...
, and
Lawrence Lessig
Lester Lawrence Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American academic, attorney, and political activist. He is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the former director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard ...
.
In May 2009, after founder Crawford had joined the
Obama administration,
Mitch Kapor
Mitchell David Kapor ( ; born November 1, 1950) is an American entrepreneur best known for his work as an application developer in the early days of the personal computer software industry, later founding Lotus, where he was instrumental in devel ...
took over chairmanship of OneWebDay. It was also announced that funding had been granted by the
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the dea ...
. A
ning Ning may refer to:
Places
* Ning County, county in Gansu, China
* Ning River, tributary of Mei River, originating and running through Xingning, China
* Ningxia, abbreviated as Ning, Hui autonomous region of China
* Nanjing, abbreviated as Ning, cap ...
-based organizing network was set up.
In April 2010, it was announced that OneWebDay would "retire its brand" and be folded into a new
Mozilla Foundation
The Mozilla Foundation (stylized as moz://a) is an American non-profit organization that exists to support and collectively lead the open source Mozilla project. Founded in July 2003, the organization sets the policies that govern development, ...
year-round initiative called Drumbeat.
In August 2010, a number of veterans took over organizing the 2010 event on a volunteer basis. A new website and network was established. Events took place in several cities including New York City,
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...
,
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
,
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, and
Pachuca
Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whi ...
.
In 2011, the main event was a presentation in New York City by
Bob Frankston
Robert M. Frankston (born June 14, 1949) is an American software engineer and businessman who co-created, with Dan Bricklin, the VisiCalc spreadsheet program. Frankston is also the co-founder of Software Arts.
Early life and education
Frankston ...
– "Infrastructure commons – the future of connectivity".
In 2012 the theme of OneWebDay was advancing local content.
In 2013 the theme was
accessibility, particularly in remembrance of web-accessibility advocate
Cynthia Waddell
Cynthia is a feminine given name of Greek origin: , , "from Mount Cynthus" on Delos island. The name has been in use in the Anglosphere since the 1600s. There are various spellings for this name, and it can be abbreviated to Cindy, Cyndi, Cyndy ...
, who died in April 2013.
In 2014 the OneWebDay theme was ''Recognizing Core Internet Values'', and promoted the viewing of three videos: a
TEDx
TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...
talk by
Dave Moskowitz Dave may refer to:
Film, television, and theater
* ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver
* ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film
* Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...
, "The Internet Belongs to Everyone" from the
United States State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
, and the Dynamic Coalition on Core Internet Values at the 2014
Internet Governance Forum
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a multistakeholder governance group for policy dialogue on issues of Internet governance. It brings together all stakeholders in the Internet governance debate, whether they represent governments, the priv ...
.
In 2015 the theme is ''Connecting the Next Billion'', aligned with the current IGF Intersessional Program,
and promotes the viewing of a speech by
Catherine Novelli
Catherine Ann Novelli (born 1957) is president of Listening for America, a non-profit organization in international trade policy. She was formerly a U.S. diplomat who served as Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environ ...
– 'Connecting The World' at the USA-IGF in July 2015.
In 2016 the theme was again ''Connecting the Next Billion'', this time highlighting a speech by United States Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment
Catherine A. Novelli
Catherine Ann Novelli (born 1957) is president of Listening for America, a non-profit organization in international trade policy. She was formerly a U.S. diplomat who served as Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environ ...
.
In 2017 the theme was ''Open The Pipes'', about the need for connectivity for Community Networks, and highlights a speech by
Internet Society
The Internet Society (ISOC) is an American nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1992 with local chapters around the world. Its mission is "to promote the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people ...
CEO/President Kathy Brown at
Mobile World Congress
MWC Barcelona (formerly but still commonly referred to as Mobile World Congress) is an annual trade show organised by GSMA, dedicated primarily to the mobile communications industry.
The event is held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain at the ...
in Shanghai.
In 2018 the theme is, in co-ordination with the
Global People's Summit
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
, "Reimagine Humanity: Changing the Status Quo" and promotes participation in a global conversation about ways of achieving the
Sustainable Development Goals.
References
{{reflist, 30em
External links
OneWebDay.org– official site
Web-related events
Unofficial observances
September observances