Virtual DiplomacyActivities & Highlights
Below is a chronological listing of major activities sponsored by the Virtual Diplomacy Initiative along with notations on additional resources available online. Some of the results of these activities are also featured in Virtual Diplomacy publications. 2005The Highlands Forum XXVI - Transition from Crisis The Highlands Forum Enrichment Session  2004
The Virtual Diplomacy Initiative participated in the Highlands Forum annual meeting, “Connectedness, Content and Security.”° The meeting kicked off with a briefing from Tom Barnett, author of New York Times Bestseller, The Pentagon's New Map. In both his book and his briefing, Barnett argued that countries fall into one of two categories: the “Functioning Core” group of countries or the "Non-Integrating Gap" countries. “The Functioning Core” countries are those connected to the global economy, while the “Non-Integrating Gap” countries are those isolated from the global economy. Those countries that are disconnected, Barnett posits, pose a significant threat to the global stability of the Functioning Core, a greater threat than religion (Islam) or region (the Middle-East). Participants explored the limits and explanatory power of Barnett’s argument. Aided by Peter Schwartz of the Global Business Network forum, they looked forward ten years and constructed three future scenarios using the Barnett paradigm. °The Highlands Forum is a private sector, cross-disciplinary forum comprised of leaders from academia, government, and industry to support high-level government policy and strategy development. 
Diplomacy and the Internet Virtual Diplomacy Initiative The Virtual Diplomacy Initiative participated as a panel member in an Oxford Internet Institute (OII)° seminar held at the Lancaster House in London on November 11, 2004. The seminar discussion was based on an OII research report on "Diplomacy and the Internet" by Richard Grant, High Commissioner for New Zealand in Singapore. The Virtual Diplomacy Initiative project and Grant’s paper both hold that the proliferation of global networks is changing the nature of international affairs and where power resides. Thus, the contexts, agents, practice, and even the agenda, or content, of diplomacy must alter to interact with global publics in a flattened, wired, and vociferous environment. Participants discussed the nature, challenges, and implications of this altered environment and posited possible and (some argue) necessary ways to adapt. °OII is a leading world center for the multidisciplinary study of the Internet and society. 
Second Annual Institute/Crisis Management Initiative Conference: Security-the Common Denominator for Connectivity The Virtual Diplomacy Initiative again partnered with former Finnish President Ahtisaari’s Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) to sponsor a conference on November 4-6, 2004. This year’s conference focused on how information management enhances public and organizational security during a crisis. In keeping with the focus of the conference, crisis management organizations explored ways to improve interoperability at the political, organizational and technical levels. The conference aimed to advance the policy debate on co-operation and information sharing in field operations and networking between the user and provider communities. Participants identified concrete measures that can enhance crisis management within and across responding organizations. These recommendations will form the basis for the action plan for 2005. For more information regarding the agenda, discussion, participants or conclusions of this conference, please see the conference report below. 
Strong Angel II The Virtual Diplomacy Initiative, invited by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, and Dr. Eric Rasmussen, Commander U.S. Navy, joined a diverse group of civilian and humanitarian organizations, IT developers, media, and ethics experts for a week-long “proof of concept” demonstration of how new, even very new, technologies can support a humanitarian response in an austere environment. The locale for this demonstration was a lava bed in Kona, Hawaii. While the immediate objective was to experiment with and display the capabilities of new technology in a challenging environment with ubiquitous obstacles, the ultimate goal was to perfect the ways in which technology and information flow can aid humanitarian and military workers facing challenging environments. 
Communicating with the Muslim World: Arab Media Series In collaboration with the Institute’s Muslim World Initiative, the Virtual Diplomacy Initiative participated in a six-month workshop series analyzing the Arab media (March – July, 2004). It was chaired by Institute senior fellow Mamoun Fandy, and co-chaired by Virtual Diplomacy Director Sheryl Brown. The Arab Media Working Group was part of a comprehensive Institute project focusing on improving U.S. communication efforts with the Muslim world. The working group on the Arab media consisted of experts both from within and outside Arab societies to discuss and analyze the media climate among Arab populations as well as within diaspora communities. The goal of the series was to move toward a better understanding of how published and broadcast information shapes and contributes to Arab Muslim attitudes and perceptions about the West, especially about the United States. Even more, the series highlighted self-perceptions of the Arab publics and how the media may contribute to tensions between the West and the United States. Achieving Peace in Liberia The Institute hosted a special Virtual Town Hall Meeting featuring Gyude Bryant, chairman of the National Transitional Government of Liberia, as a part of the Virtual Diplomacy Lecture Series. Bryant engaged the Liberian diaspora in a web-based conversation about prospects for maintaining the peace n their war-weary homeland and what they can do to support it. Institute Africa specialist Michael Southwick and Harry Grieves, economic adviser to Chairman Bryant, moderated the event. 2003Towards Interoperability in Crisis Management A September 2003 conference co-hosted with the Helsinki-based Crisis Management Initiative explored practical steps toward improving information sharing, coordination, and cooperation from headquarters to the field, and among the various organizations responding to humanitarian crises. Conference participants included high-level representatives of international organizations, expert practitioners involved in humanitarian assistance and crisis management, and technologists who understand the nature of field operations. 2002A Balancing Act: The Role of the Fourth Estate in New Democracies Led by former CNN anchor and Virtual Diplomacy Advisory Board member Ralph Begleiter, veteran journalists Veran Matic and Andrei Sitov examined the competing demands on media as they try to strike the balance between watchdog and participant in the reform process from an "on the ground" perspective. This presentation was webcast live and followed by questions from the floor and the Internet. 2001Information Sharing in Complex Emergencies On December 4, 2001, the Virtual Diplomacy Initiative hosted an inaugural meeting of the Center for Humanitarian Cooperation (CHC), with creator Roy Williams, long-time Virtual Diplomacy Initiative advisor and former director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) of the U.S. Agency for International Development. CHC is a not-for-profit organization established to assist the international humanitarian community in developing models for greater cooperation. Humanitarian Cooperation On September 14, 2001, the first advisory meeting of the Good Practices Project reviewed progress made to date in researching case studies of information-sharing structures in complex emergencies, and established priorities for 2001-2002. Good Practices: Information Sharing in Complex Emergencies With the office of the assistant Secretary of defense for special operations and low intensity conflict (SOLIC), Virtual Diplomacy Initiative cosponsored the Worldwide Civil Affairs conference in NYC on June 28-30, 2001. This conference initiated a new, bold discussion of civil affairs doctrine in peacekeeping operations. The Institute organized a session featuring international humanitarian experts responding to the question of how civil affairs could help enhance security for relief operations and increasingly, for personal security, through improved information sharing in the field. Tampere Conference on Disaster Communications During the Second Tampere Conference on Disaster Communications in late May 28-30, 2001 in Finland, Virtual Diplomacy Initiative Co-Director Sheryl Brown reviewed U.S. Institute of Peace efforts in promoting information sharing in complex emergencies. Sizing up the Fourth Estate in Bosnia On May 15, 2001, Bosnian journalists Senad Pecanin from Dani magazine and Natasa Tesanovic from ATV Banja Luka in a special brown-bag roundtable, Sizing up the Fourth Estate in Bosnia, graded efforts by regional media, politicians, and the international community in fostering an authentically independent press in Bosnia. Goodenough-Chevening Conference Sheryl Brown, co-director of the Virtual Diplomacy Initiative, spoke about the initiative's support of Internet use in empowerment and reconciliation activities as part of the U.S. Institute of Peace's work in the Balkans at the May 3, 2001 Goodenough-Chevening Conference in London. Information Technology and the Practice of Diplomacy At the Information Technology and the Practice of Diplomacy conference held at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs in April 20, 2001, U.S. Institute of Peace President Richard H. Solomon moderated a panel that considered the impact of information and communications technologies on public diplomacy. Information Age Diplomacy U.S. Institute of Peace President Richard H. Solomon spoke about the context for State Department reform and the future of diplomacy at the Information Age Diplomacy Symposium organized by the National Defense University, Fort McNair, on April 6, 2001. 2000Mitigating the South China Sea Disputes Through Cooperative Monitoring: Conflict Prevention in the Age of Global Transparency A December 12, 2000 workshop jointly organized by the U.S. Institute of Peace's Virtual Diplomacy Initiative and the Research and Studies Program, assessed opportunities for reducing the risks of armed conflict over the disputed Spratly Islands through the use of cooperative monitoring utilizing high-resolution commercial observation satellites. "News" versus "Snooze" How the Media Covers International Crises & Conflict Led by former Institute Senior Fellow and Deputy Foreign Affairs Editor for Knight Ridder Newspapers Joyce Davis, a panel of current and former journalists examined the challenges of selecting which international crises and conflicts merit coverage and why. Taking it to the Next Level: Civil Military Cooperation in Complex Emergencies The Virtual Diplomacy Initiative supported the participation of representatives from international non-governmental organizations at a conference co-sponsored with the 353rd Civil Affairs Command on civilian-military cooperation in complex emergencies, April 6-9, 2000 in San Antonio, Texas. The purpose of the conference was to facilitate the development of information-sharing mechanisms that support advance planning and implementation by international entities involved in complex emergencies (See concept paper). The conference participants were divided into two separate working groups, one focusing on advance planning and the other on implementation. Partners or Partisans? NATO and the Media in Kosovo Held as part of the Institute's Media & Conflict Series, the discussion featured NATO Spokesman Jamie Shea and a panel of distinguished journalists examining the continuing challenges to governments and international organizations posed by global real-time media. 1999The GIS Edge in Post-Conflict Rebuilding Held in November 1999, the session examined how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have supported elections, refugee resettlement, land distribution, and resources management. Open Eyes 99 Remote-Sensing Operations in Humanitarian Emergencies In April 1999, the Institute hosted "Open Eyes 99," a meeting designed to continue promoting data-sharing and collaboration between UN agencies, nongovernmental organizations, U.S. government agencies, and private enterprises in humanitarian operations, with a particular emphasis on using remote-sensing and geographical information systems applications. Managing Information Chaos A March 1999 workshop, "Managing Information Chaos", explored how a primary aspect of the Information Age-real-time and open-source information access and global communications-is complicating not only decision making processes among international affairs practitioners but such fundamental activities as discerning valuable from useless, misleading, or deliberately distorted information. Revolution in Diplomatic Affairs: Theory and Practice The Virtual Diplomacy Initiative organized two panel discussions during the International Studies Association Annual Conference in February 1999 in Washington, D.C. The panels considered the theory and the practice, respectively, supporting a "Revolution in Diplomatic Affairs," a concept derived from the 1997 Virtual Diplomacy conference. Most of the papers presented at the panels have been published as monographs in the Virtual Diplomacy Series. Preserving the Free Flow of Information on the Internet: Serbs Thwart Milosevic's Censorship, Round Two A Current Issues Briefing, the event addressed the challenges and role of independent media, including the Internet, in democracy; the numerous legal and extralegal restrictions imposed by the regime of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milosevic on freedom of expression in Serbia; and responses to various attempts to curtail the operations of OpenNet, Radio B92's Internet site. OpenNet was the first Internet service provider and until early 1996, the only one in Serbia. 1997ICTs and Expanding the Capacity of the Legal System in Rwanda A 1997 seminar, the event explored the use of ICTs to expand the capacity of the legal system in Rwanda and identified the following as critical needs: trilingual web site on Rwandan law, distance-learning program in law, dissemination of court decisions the country, information sharing and networking between relevant institutions and organizations country-wide, and global access to expert legal consultation. Kosovar Albanian and Serb Internet Assistance In collaboration with the U.S. Institute of Peace's Balkans Initiative, in 2000-2001, the Virtual Diplomacy Initiative arranged Internet training, troubleshooting and support for forty Kosovo Albanian and Serb community leaders who in the July 2000 "Airlie Declaration Against Violence" had agreed upon joint steps towards a better future for Kosovo. RADARSAT Team In November 1997, the Institute formed a "virtual team" composed of members of 19 organizations on three continents to analyze flood damage in Juba and Shabelle river watershed using GIS with data from Canada's RADARSAT. Broadcasting to People in Conflict: the Role of Radio in Conflicts and Conflict Resolution As part of the its Media and Conflict Project, in 1997, the Institute, with the co-sponsorship of Voice of America, organized a special conference that highlighted the potential use of radio broadcasts enhanced by satellite communications and the Internet to stem, moderate, and reconcile civil and international violence. Virtual Diplomacy: The Global Communications Revolution and International Conflict Management Held in April 1997, the event considered the impact of ICTs on nation-states, global relations, and international conflict. Speakers included Walter Wriston, George Shultz, Ismail Serageldin, Francis Fukuyama, Arno Penzias, Robert Kahn, John Gage, David Gergen, and nearly 1,000 participants discussed the effect of tools that collect, process, transmit and/or represent data for decisionmaking and action; networks, partnerships, and communities for information exchange and resource sharing; and means for integrating ICTs into the practice of diplomacy. An exhibit hall featured products that showcased the far-reaching effects of ICTs in international relations. 1996Managing Communications: Lessons from Interventions in Africa A 1996 conference jointly sponsored by the Institute and the National Defense University, the event illustrated that ICTs can increase the effectiveness of humanitarian and peacekeeping operations by supporting communication and cooperation among military and civilian organizations. Over 200 participants drew lessons from complex humanitarian operations in Somalia, Rwanda and Liberia. |
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