Talking about the internet in Salvador, Bahia
I’m in Salvador (BA) participating in the 15th Internet Forum in Brazil, FIB15. I came to present a new interview podcast (in pt_BR), Nós da Internet, and to fix a personal flaw: never having participated in a FIB before.
Here, I had the privilege of interviewing people who built and continue to build the Brazilian internet. And in a big fashion: in a beautiful aquarium-studio set up in the middle of the convention center. The one in the picture above.
I’ve already talked with Terezinha Alves Brito, Carlos Afonso (CA), Flávia Lefèvre, Renata Mielli, and Hartmut Glaser. This Thursday (29th) we’ll do the last two interviews, with Rodolfo Avelino and Demi Getschko.
Before embarking, for what I think are obvious reasons, I was apprehensive. The generosity of everyone I interviewed and the production team, behind the scenes, transformed nervousness into great satisfaction and joy.
Nós da Internet and, more broadly, FIB, are kind of an in-person version of various debates we have in the comments of this Manual do Usuário and that are very dear to me. The mere transposition from written text to spoken dialogue significantly affects the texture of discussions. I’m a written text person; it’s the format where I feel most comfortable, but it’s good to change the medium sometimes. It oxygenates ideas and generates new perspectives.
Another cool aspect of an event like this is being able to see, hear, and hug people who, until then, I only knew through email exchanges, messages, or video calls — that is, mediated by screens. Sources, colleagues, readers… I’ve lost count of how many “internet friends” I was able to meet in person. And also those from other events and contexts I was able to see again. Everyone here seems driven by the shared desire for a better, healthier, and more accessible internet.
I was amazed by all these contacts, as I’m introspective and without much social finesse. I’m living proof of the facilitating role that good events deliver to social connections/networking.
FIB is enormous. This edition, even bigger: it’s had the most participants (+1,400 registered attendees in person) so far. The event unfolds into workshops and some parallel activities, like the Internet Governance Research Network tables, on day zero. The podcast recording schedule and the Manual routine somewhat limited my movement through the official agenda activities. From the little I saw, I liked the themes and presentations. Tip for you, reminder for me: it’s all on YouTube.
Some more urgent themes permeated various talks, especially the defense of CGI.br’s multisectoral approach, which turns 30 this Saturday (31st), threatened by a legislative offensive that intends to subject it to Anatel (Brazilian analogue to the American FCC), and the launch of a public consultation and ten principles for social media regulation. More practical subjects, such as the impact of screens on children, the dangers of the misinformation ecosystem, and the challenge of balancing technological advances with environmental preservation, were at the center of debates in workshops.
Top photo: Rodrigo Ghedin/Manual do Usuário.