The sixth edition of the Internet Freedom Festival (IFF) will take place from April 20 to 24, 2020 in Valencia, Spain and will include a new format as well as exciting new activities, according to the organizers.
The IFF is one of the largest, most diverse, and most inclusive unconferences in the internet freedom community. It focuses on anti-surveillance and anti-censorship initiatives, creating a positive and inclusive space for hands-on, multidisciplinary collaboration between journalists, media organizations, on-the-ground activists, software developers, information security professionals, digital security trainers, designers, and many other internet freedom professionals.
The Festival creates an inclusive space and cultivates an atmosphere of trust for the internet freedom community to pool resources, share knowledge, and network.
It also increases the diversity of the internet freedom community by engaging perspectives from a variety of underrepresented groups.
The Festival is also meant to collectively improve the services, strategies, and tools offered to the most vulnerable individuals on the front lines by mapping censorship, surveillance, and obstacles to access in different regions of the world.
A number of project activities have been proposed for the Festival including the following four.
Networking, through which the IFF provides a chance for diverse actors from different disciplines to work together under the same roof. This produces synergies and collaborative endeavors between organizations and individuals.
Mapping of global problems and solutions, by which individuals learn about censorship, surveillance, and obstacles to access in different regions of the world. They also collectively brainstorm solutions.
Tapping the power of collaboration and diversity through which the IFF focuses on cross-pollinating information and knowledge among groups with the goal of improving the services, strategies, and tools offered to the most vulnerable individuals on the front lines. This happens through a hands-on, collaborative, in-person format.
Accommodating dynamic opportunities through flexible formats: The festival, with this project activity, divides its content into themes. Themes feature hackathons, workshops, security trainings, panel discussions, and social events. In addition, the festival also creates space for self-organized, spontaneous gatherings that allow diverse experts from around the world to share ideas.
Through facilitating community-led design, focused on diversity and inclusion, the festival’s organizers dedicate themselves to ensuring that the IFF receives session proposals from individuals who are not well represented in the internet freedom community. Each year, the IFF announces an open call for proposals. The IFF fellows review these proposals and select sessions based on criteria that include not only quality of information, but also the representation of diverse viewpoints
For further information, please visit https://twitter.com/InternetFF/status/1138814025830141953.
