On May 21, the XII Youth Forum “Ethical, Cultural and Civilizational Aspects of Working on the Internet” was held in Moscow, organized by the Russian Association for Networks and Services (RANS) with the support of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ and Moscow State Linguistic University (MSLU).
The forum was attended by experts from the Ministry of Digital Development of Russia, the Internet Development Institute, the Association of Documentary Telecommunications, Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF), Moscow State Linguistic University (MSLU), Garda Management Company and other organizations and companies.
“This year marks the 12th RANS Youth Forum, within the framework of which we traditionally discuss the ethical, cultural and civilizational aspects of the Internet. It’s not for nothing that we gathered today at Moscow State Linguistic University. Students-linguists, due to their specialization, can play an important role in shaping the cultural context of the Internet. Their knowledge and skills help create bridges between different languages and cultures in the virtual space, making the Internet more accessible and understandable for everyone,” Andrey Vorobyev, Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, said in his welcoming speech.
He also noted that the Coordination Center actively cooperates with Russian and foreign universities and educational organizations. “The Coordination Center and MSLU have a long-standing fruitful cooperation. Not only in terms of conferences and joint events, but also on the development of multilingualism on the Internet and Cyrillic domains,” Andrey Vorobyev said and invited MSLU students to take an active part in the youth projects of the Coordination Center.
Project manager Victoria Bunchuk spoke in detail about the youth initiatives of the Center. She emphasized that the center pays great attention to the involvement of students and young professionals in Internet Governance issues, implementing many projects in this area. Among them are the Summer School on Internet Governance, the Youth Council of the Center, a discussion club and the Digital Reality podcast.
Victoria drew the attention of young forum participants to the Summer School on Internet Governance, the next enrollment for which will begin in June. This year, the Internet Governance Summer School is being held for the fifth time; since 2020, 150 people have graduated from it and received certificates of completion of the additional education program from the school’s partner, St. Petersburg State University. The Internet Governance Summer School is part of the global Schools on Internet Governance (SIG) movement. Students, young researchers and teachers, and specialists who want to understand the topic of Internet governance are invited to participate.
