V International Conference “Tangible and Intangible Impact of Information and Communication in the Digital Age” has finished its work

 

On June 6-8, 2023, Khanty-Mansiysk hosted the V International Conference “Tangible and Intangible Impact of Information and Communication in the Digital Age” within the framework of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Information for All Programme and the XIV International IT-Forum.

 

The conference was traditionally organised by the Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Programme, the Interregional Library Cooperation Centre and the Government of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area - Ugra with the support of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, the Permanent Delegation of the Russian Federation to UNESCO and the Intergovernmental Council of the UNESCO Information for All Programme.

 

The event was attended by about 150 experts from 47 countries – representatives of intergovernmental, international, regional and national non-governmental organisations, public authorities, prominent Russian and foreign specialists in the field of communication, IT, information security, creative industries, management, international relations, sociology, political science, psychology, linguistics, pedagogy.

 

Within the framework of the V anniversary conference in a hybrid (offline/online) format experts discussed the most acute and significant issues related to the rapid and continuous changes in the field of information and communication, which are currently exacerbated by the ongoing global socio-cultural crisis.

 

The conference key goal was to contribute to shaping a more adequate perception by the international expert community of the ongoing global developments, as well as to the improvement of international and national policy in the field of building information society and knowledge societies.

 

Conference participants focused their attention on the most significant and relevant topics related to the development of the information society in the digital age:

• the impact of breakthrough information technologies on society, decision-making and everyday life,
• cybersecurity and the use of information technologies for public welfare,
• specific features of public administration in the Digital Universe
• safe usage of generative networks,
• ethical basis of actions and decisions of AI systems,
• copyright protection and management of intellectual property objects in the context of digital transformations,
• new challenges fostered by AI use for creative works,
• IT in intellectual creative products,
• regional experience in the development of creative industries, existing and potential measures of their support,
• world’s best practices of developing digital language resources and other ways of using IT to preserve and promote languages in the digital world.

 

At the Conference Opening Gala at the State Art Museum the participants were welcomed by:

• Natalya KOMAROVA, Governor of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area – Ugra,
• Dorothy GORDON, Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Council of the UNESCO Information for All Programme (IFAP); Head of the UNESCO IFAP Working Group on Information Literacy; member of the Governing Board of the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (Ghana),
• Tatiana DOVGALENKO, Executive Secretary of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO,
• Adama SAMASSEKOU, Founding Executive Secretary of the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN); President of the MAAYA World Network for Linguistic Diversity; President of the World Humanities Conference; Former Minister of Education of Mali (Mali).

 

Greetings to the Conference were also sent by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey VERSHINININ and the Permanent Delegate of the Russian Federation to UNESCO Rinat ALYAUTDINOV.

 

The agenda of the first conference day included plenary sessions “Digital Universe: Challenges and Ways of Development” and “Information and Communication in the Digital Age: Technological Forecasts”, where key speeches were delivered by leading world experts and representatives of Russian and foreign organisations working in the field of information and communication, science, education and culture.

 

Conference work continued in the format of thematic sections “Cutting-Edge Information Technologies: Unprecedented Opportunities and Implicit Dangers”, “Copyright and Intellectual Property in the Digital Universe”, “Creative Industries and Information Technologies”.

 

A special plenary session “Multilingualism in the Digital Age: Problems and Prospects” and a thematic session “Information Technology as a Tool to Preserve Indigenous Languages and Culture” have become Ugra and Russia’s contribution to the implementation of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032).

 

The results of the conference were summarised at the closing plenary session by Adama SAMASSEKOU, Deputy Governors of Ugra Elena SHUMAKOVA and Alexei ZABOZLAEV, and Anastasia PARSHAKOVA, Deputy Chairperson of the Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Programme, Deputy Director of the Interregional Library Cooperation Centre.

 

Conference Programme

 

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The first four international conferences under the general title “Tangible and Intangible Impact of Information and Communication in the Digital Age” were successfully held in Khanty-Mansiysk in 2018-2022 with the support of the Government of the Russian Federation within the framework of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Information for All Programme and the International IT Forum. These events resonated widely and led to the adoption of important final documents: the Ugra Declaration (2018), the Ugra Resolution (2019), the Ugra Memorandum (2021) and the Ugra Communiqué (2022), which set the context for further discussions.

The main objective of the V International Conference was to ensure further comprehension of:

• global, regional and local socio-cultural transformations generated by the development of information technologies,
• impact of changes in the sphere of information and communications on the functioning of states and societies;
• sociocultural and political consequences of information overproduction, introduction of automated social algorithms, introduction of tools of shaping post-reality into political and media culture;
• issues of balancing freedom of expression in the digital environment with information and psychological safety.