Ep 69: Creating a Free & Open Internet for All | Nnenna Nwakanma (Chief Web Advocate, World Wide Web Foundation)

Nnenna Nwakanma is the Chief Web Advocate at the World Wide Web
Foundation. 


She is also a Nigerian FOSS activist, community organiser,
co-founder of the Free Software and Open Source Foundation for
Africa. In 2018, she was chosen as one of the 100 most
influential people in the world in the field of digital
government and has over 15 years of experience working with the
UN in areas such as the information society, gender and digital
equality.


In this episode, we learn about what it was like growing up in
Nigeria - and why she wasn’t even given a name for the first 3
months of her life because of her gender! - how she became one of
the very first to use the internet in Africa, why she views the
internet as a tool for social justice, how she has learned to
walk with her adversaries (as Mandela used to say), and what
drives her to create an internet that is free and open to
all.  


Highlights:


2:40 Why Nnenna was born & not given a name for the first
3 months of her life

4:43 Being human is enough

7:21 “Nnenna from the Internet”

8:57 Being one of the first Africans to be exposed to the
internet

12:08 Use of the internet in African villages

16:44 Being a FOSS activist & walking with your
adversaries

18:31 Attitudes are like ass holes

22:39 The mission of the World Wide Web Foundation

25:01 Running the global coalition, the Web We Want

28:39 Backstory to Brazil’s Internet Bill of Rights (first in
the world)

32:56 How close are we to an open and free internet for all?






Show notes:
www.sothisismywhy.com/69              





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