The Foreign Service Journal, September 2014

16 SEPTEMBER 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL dent Fadi Chehadé has actively involved civil society, Internet groups and other organizations, as well as governments, in the transition to the new governance model. Agenda items for the most recent of the organization’s quarterly confer- ences, ICANN 50, held in London in June, included Internet Governance, the IANA Transition and Stewardship, and ICANN Transparency and Accountabil- ity. (ICANN 51 will be held in Los Angeles from Oct. 12-16.) Another venue for debate about these issues was the April NETmundial conference in São Paulo, which brought together more than 1,200 government officials, technical experts and represen- tatives of nongovernmental organizations and businesses from 97 countries. As The Economist noted in its detailed readout, for all the grandiose talk of “a new beginning” in Internet governance, most participants expressed the view that the Web works rather well as things stand. Rafal Trzaskowski, Poland’s minister in charge of information technology, warned his colleagues: “Any changes must pre- serve the principle of ‘do no harm.’” Milton Mueller, a noted Internet scholar at Syracuse University, quipped that replacing the Commerce Department with some “multistakeholder commit- tee,” itself in need of supervision lest it be captured by vested interests, would be a step toward “an infinite regress.” Vinton Cerf, one of the Internet’s founders and now the vice president of Google, was more blunt: “Don’t screw it up,” he implored the high-level commit- tee that drafted the summit’s concluding document on the basis of hundreds of submissions received prior to and during the proceedings. The final NETmundial declaration, a non-binding document, stipulates that human rights must be observed online as much as off, but that the properties which have let the Web blossom must be preserved. It gives a nod to some con- crete ideas, such as separating ICANN’s policymaking role from the day-to-day J ust in time for the United Nations General Assembly’s annual convocation later this month, the organiza- tion has launched the new website of the Yearbook of the United Nations (http://unyearbook.un.org ), the main reference work on UN activities. Since 1946, the Yearbook has served as the authoritative source of information on the United Nations system, offering comprehensive coverage of political and security matters, human rights issues, and economic and social questions, as well as assorted legal, institutional, administrative and budgetary matters. The website made its debut in 2008. The new and improved version boasts a powerful search engine and enhanced readability across all platforms and mobile devices. A scrolling gallery of Yearbook cover art provides clickable access to each of the 63 published Yearbook volumes. “Yearbook Pre-press,” a new feature, offers a look at Yearbooks currently in production, with draft Yearbook chapters and detailed chapter research outlines added regularly. Another feature is “Yearbook Express,” an online- only publication comprising all Yearbook chapter intro- ductions as well as the annual secretary-general’s report on the work of the organization, in the six official United Nations languages. You’ll also find an expanded “Yearbook News” section with background on Year- book stories. This complements the live feed from the Yearbook Twitter account, with its historical perspective on current United Nations issues. Finally, an “About the Yearbook” section provides an overview of the latest published edition, as well as a look back at the past 68 cover designs. The new website was developed jointly by the Knowledge Solutions and Design Section and the Yearbook Unit of the U.N.’s Department of Public Information. The web-development team built the site using open-source software, providing improved functionality at substantial savings to the organization. Readers and researchers are encouraged to visit the new website and to use the “Contact” function to provide feedback about their experience. —Steven Alan Honley, Contributing Editor SITE OF THE MONTH: Yearbook of the United Nations