Three years Central Asian Internet Development Forum

When the first Central Asian Internet Development Forum was held in Almaty in 2010, much of the talk was still about Internet development in the region being in its infancy. This May, when the OSCE-supported Forum convened for the third time, there was no longer any question of the Internet’s profound impact on the region. As one participant from Kyrgyzstan put it, among young people, a few years ago, the Internet was fashionable; today, it is a professional necessity and a personal way of life.

The change has been tectonic. In Kazakhstan, for instance, Internet use has increased six-fold in the past five years. In societies that until recently were relatively contained, voices from individuals across the planet about their political, social and private life have become readily accessible. Governments have participated in the trend, promoting e-business and investing in e-government. At the same time, worried about the influences sweeping in over the web, they have felt the need to regulate and filter.

About 100 web practitioners, journalists, lawyers, NGO representatives and government officials gathered in Almaty on 17 and 18 May for what is becoming an annual event. They came from Central Asian participating States – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan – and from beyond, from Georgia, Lithuania and Ukraine, and for two days engaged in an intense and open debate. They discussed trends and innovations, but also the challenges posed by the regulation of the net.

“The Internet and information technology are the fastest growing sector of the economy worldwide. And Central Asia is no exception in this regard. It must be noted, however, that there are also some problems in the region, including the blocking of sites and filtering of content, censorship and legislative barriers,” said Adil Jalilov, the Chair of the Media Alliance of Kazakhstan.

The problems that arise for freedom of expression when governments apply journalistic standards to Internet content was one of the issues participants considered. Treating web content – websites, portals or blogs – essentially like newspaper articles stifles communication, especially in countries where journalists can still be criminally charged for libel. When sites that are hosted outside the country’s jurisdiction are deemed in violation of media standards, they are sometimes filtered or blocked.

“The Internet is supposed to be a means for ordinary people to communicate freely across the globe, a way of overcoming boundaries and differences. The use of laws to regulate the Internet has the opposite effect, the denial of freedom of expression, because of the fear of being censored or, worse, prosecuted, abroad,” said Olga Didenko, a lawyer with the Internews Network in Kazakhstan.

But the liberating aspect of the Internet was also high on the Forum’s agenda. The innovative use of social networking in Kyrgyzstan, for instance in a charity campaign conducted over Twitter, was presented by Sabina Reingold, who writes for the online version of the Bishkek Evening Newspaper. Alia Sembay from Kazakhstan recounted how the web magazine Ekpin, which she launched in February, is bringing cultural content to young readers in the Kazakh language. 

Nicolas Journoud, a French freelance illustrator who has been living and working in Kazakhstan since 2006, told the story of how his encounter with a teenage boy suffering from cerebral palsy became the starting point for a project that opens the secluded world of persons with disabilities to the public imagination, mesqueunblog.kz.

“The name of the project, which means ‘more than a blog’, derives from the motto, ‘more than a club’, of the boy’s favourite football team, Barcelona,” he explained. “My blog presents the everyday family life of an 18-year old boy suffering from cerebral palsy. But actually, what it tries to present is a collective image of people with disabilities. Isolation is what people with disabilities feel to be their most pressing problem. If viewers start to perceive the hero of my blog not as a disabled person but as just another teenager, the main goal of the project will be achieved,” he said. 

Journoud’s project is implemented by the NGO International Journalism Centre MediaNet, which is also the OSCE Centre in Astana’s implementing partner for the Central Asian Internet Development Forum. The Forum is establishing itself as an annual event that promotes reflection and sows innovation as Central Asia assumes its place in the worldwide virtual forum that is the Internet. 

The OSCE Centre in Astana supports the development of Kazakhstan’s media sphere through monitoring, reporting, training, dialogue facilitation and legislative assistance. The Centre helps journalists enhance their professional skills through training courses. It also provides expertise and legal opinions to the government on draft laws related to the media. Its roundtables on media-related issues enjoy broad participation and stimulate discussion on topics such as new media tools for Kazakh language journalists, media legislation, Internet development trends in Central Asia, and freedom of speech and access to information principles.

This article was prepared on the basis of material provided by the OSCE Centre in Astana.