19th Internet Week - April 11-24, 2016 - Call for Active Participation

The Turkish Internet will celebrate its 23rd anniversary on April 12th. We call on the Turkish Internet Public Opinion to celebrate the 23rd anniversary of the Internet across the country in a festive atmosphere during the 19th Internet Week, which will take place on April 11-24. From all sectors; Universities, Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Farmers' Associations, Chambers of Agriculture, Chambers of Engineers, Bar Associations, Medical Chambers, Banks Association, Union of Notaries, Organized Industrial Zones, Local Administrations, Internet Cafes, Schools, Ministries, District Governorships, Governorships, all public administration, private sector, internet companies, Information/Information/Communication NGOs, Democratic Mass Organizations, We call on Informatics Clubs, Free Software Communities, All Media Organizations, Individuals to turn this Internet Week into an Internet and Informatics Storm where the concepts of Information Society, e-transformation, e-Turkey, e-government, R&D, innovation, coding/software are introduced to the masses and the Internet is widely discussed.

The Internet has become an integral part of life for 3.4 billion people around the world; and it is constantly changing our lives. We see the Internet as representative of the tools and concepts that make up the Information Society, which we believe is the new form of human society. The industrial revolution multiplied man's arm power and made its effective use possible. The revolution represented by the Internet, on the other hand, multiplies man's brain power and facilitates the sharing and reproduction of his products. The Internet is the carrier, the preliminary model, the catalyst of the Information Society. Life increasingly revolves around information and knowledge. The main element of creating added value is knowledge, R&D, innovation, i.e. the cerebral products of educated people. The internet liberates and empowers the individual. It provides the masses with the means to organize and empowers them. It begins to break down hyarchical structures. Just as the industrial revolution was painful, the transformation to the Information Society will be long and painful. The Internet is an environment of sharing, learning, production and entertainment in which billions of people around the world participate. As a society, we don't realize it when we fight on social media, but the Internet is a revolutionary development that restructures sectors, changes professions, redefines public administration, democracy, services and trade. People who have never seen each other are developing products for the common property of humanity; they are realizing projects such as free software, open access, open course materials, open science, open medicine, open biology. In this context, the Internet is a more important development than the Industrial Revolution. The former EU Digital Summit Commissioner said that the Internet was more important than electricity, telegraph and printing press in terms of restructuring society. Today, the 4th Industrial Revolution is a development triggered by the Internet.

Internet Week aims to spread internet culture in the society, create internet awareness, promote and grow the internet, initiate new projects, discuss problems and solutions, in short, to place the internet on the agenda of Turkey. An important goal we have chosen for this Internet Week is to discuss the problems on the agenda of the Turkish Internet, especially to bring up the dimensions of governance, legal regulations, liberalization, development of the Internet and telecom sector, business life, education, culture and democracy; to introduce the whole society to the concepts of individual security, safe use of the Internet, privacy, information security, social networks, and the Information Society. In this context, we expect all the above-mentioned institutions, organizations, companies, local governments and individuals to contribute to these activities. We want to spread these activities all over Turkey. We want an event to be held in all districts, all schools, all municipalities, chambers of agriculture, chambers of commerce and industry, organized industrial zones, public libraries. We call on every person and institution that believes in the importance of the Internet to contribute to this soup to the extent of their means.