OneWebDay
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

One Web Day is an annual day of Internet celebration and awareness held on September 22. The stated goal of founder Susan P. Crawford 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, who was an
ICANN The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is a global multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization headquartered in the United States responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several dat ...
board member at the time, in association with other Internet figures such as Doc Searls,
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 an American 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 Colleg ...
,
Mary Hodder Mary J. Hodder (April 5, 1945 – January 26, 2025) was a Canadian politician. She represented the riding of Burin-Placentia West in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly from 1996 to 2003 as a member of the Liberal Party.
, and David Isenberg, 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 ...
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. Before founding Craigslist, he worked as a computer programmer for IBM, Bank ...
,
Scott Heiferman Scott Heiferman is an American community organizer and entrepreneur. Heiferman co-founded Meetup.com, Meetup and was CEO from 2002 to 2018. Early life Scott Heiferman was born in 1972 in Homewood, Illinois. Heiferman has four siblings. While atte ...
, and Drew Schutte in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
's
Battery Park The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan#Manhattan Island, Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. The park is bounded by Battery Place on the north, with Bowling ...
. 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. It is an icon as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity. The park is operated by the New York City Department o ...
, 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 cyber law, 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 co ...
,
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. Before founding Craigslist, he worked as a computer programmer for IBM, Bank ...
, and
Lawrence Lessig Lester Lawrence "Larry" Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American legal scholar 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 Harvar ...
. In May 2009, after founder Crawford had joined the
Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...
,
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 Software, Lotus, where he was instr ...
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 $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...
. A ning-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 is an American non-profit organization that exists to support and collectively lead the Open-source software, 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 language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
,
Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
,
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, and
Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...
. 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 Frankst ...
– "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 the island of Delos. The name has been in use in the Anglosphere since the 17th century. There are various spellings for this name, and it can be abbreviated to Cindy, ...
, 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 Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...
talk by Dave Moskowitz, "The Internet Belongs to Everyone" from the
United States State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the 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 o ...
, 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 pri ...
. 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. 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 non-profit advocacy organization founded in 1992 with local chapters around the world. It has offices in Reston, Virginia, United States, and Geneva, Switzerland. Organization The Internet Society ...
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 dedicated to the mobile communications industry. The event is held in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain, at the Fira de Barcelona Gran ...
in Shanghai. In 2018 the theme was, in co-ordination with the
Global People's Summit Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...
, "Reimagine Humanity: Changing the Status Quo" and promoted participation in a global conversation about ways of achieving the
Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...
.


References

{{reflist, 30em


External links


OneWebDay.org
– official site Web-related events Unofficial observances September observances