The first speakers, who have commited to join re:publica 12, are Mark Kaigwa, Eben Moglen und Ivan Sigal.
We are pleased that we can welcome three such impressive speakers at re: publica 12. Therefore we would like to give you a brief overview of their impressive involvement:
Mark Kaigwa is a young creative and blogger from Nairobi, Kenya. When it comes to digital innovations, particularly mobile communication, he is one of the most reliable experts in East Africa. As award-winning creative and strategist, he worked for international clients such as Warner Bros. Interactive. & Animation., Nokia and Media Focus on Africa. As director and screenplay writer, he was active in the film industry and also contributs significantly to the acceptance of online communities in Africa. Nowadays he advises marketing agencies, brands and companies in target-group specific needs on the web and strengthen his role as an observer of the African Internet community, as you can read in his blog.
Eben Moglen is professor of law and history at Columbia University and a supporter of democratic and free society. He believes that all software, which a largely technic-based society needs to exist, should be easily accessible. In his opinion, this is the only way to spread the power among the people.
As a supporter of free software movement, Moglen published the Dot.Communist Manifesto in 2003 and predicted the demise of Microsoft’s monopoly in 2004. Besides his professorship Moglen is senior adviser of theFree Software Foundation and founded the Software Freedom Law Center in 2005.
Last year he applied to the Free Software FOSDEM conference in Brussels in order to present the Freedom Box Project, which contribute to the decentralization of the digital infrastructure and empower every single person to control his own data. We are looking forward to more news and are keen on his talk at the re:publica-track re:invent.
Ivan Sigal worked for the U.S. Institute of Peace and Internews Network, before he became Executive Director of Global Voices in 2008. Both institutions are committed to the nonviolent solution of international conflicts by including the media and freedom of information in conflict regions and encourage the civilian population in their freedom of expression.
With Internews, and later the U.S. Institute of Peace, Ivan worked on projects which focused on how increased media and information access and participation using new technologies affect conflict-prone areas in the former Soviet Union, Central Asia and Afghanistan. In over ten years, he gained experiences in the fields of media development, training of journalists and the promotion of media projects. In re:publica-track re:port, he will tell us about his experiences.