Breakout session: 1:30 p.m. – 2:40 p.m.
This is an interactive session which aims to bring together students, activists, artists, government, industry leaders, and others to discuss whether or not digitization is building a more inclusive and equitable future. It will consider questions about education, the future of work, digital rights, civic engagement, and other domains where digital technologies and the Internet may either empower or inhibit people. We will discuss how digitization is changing the world around us and how these changes are manifesting in our communities, cities, relationships, ideas, and interactions. Importantly, we will reflect on the unique challenges and opportunities young people have to help shape our digital future.
Speakers:
Kate Kalcevich, Government of Ontario
Joe Catapano, ICANN
Nasma Ahmed, Digital Justice Lab
Raman Dang, Microsoft Canada
Honey Dacanay, Government of Ontario
Kate Kalcevich
Government of Ontario
Kate Kalcevich has championed accessibility since the launch of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act in 2001. She created the Ontario Government’s first User Experience team, the Inclusive Design Toolkit, inclusive design training for the Ontario Digital Service, the design of and supporting style guide for Ontario.ca with an emphasis on accessible web components, and a role-based digital accessibility training and resource guide.
Joe Catapano
ICANN
Joe is part of ICANN’s Global Stakeholder Engagement team, coordinating ICANN’s engagement with regional stakeholders in the private sector, technical community, academia and public interest organizations. Joe works closely with the Communications and Policy teams to draft position papers and outreach materials to be used in furtherance of the GSE team’s mission and objectives in North America.
Prior to his association with ICANN, Joe was a Communications Officer at the United Nations Foundation. He also has held communications positions previously at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) and Pfizer, Inc. Joe obtained his MA in Government from American University and his BA in Communications from Quinnipiac University.
Nasma Ahmed
Digital Justice Lab
Nasma Ahmed is a technologist and community organizer that works within the intersections of social justice, technology and policy. She is currently Director of the Digital Justice Lab, an organization that focuses on building a more just and equitable digital future. Nasma was the Ford-Mozilla Open Web Fellow in 2017-2018 where she focused on organizational digital security and building better literacy around privacy for youth.
Honey Dacanay
Government of Ontario
Honey was a founding member of the Ontario Digital Service and is currently the Senior Manager/Executive Lead responsible for Ontario’s Digital Service Standard. Her focus in the past two years has been on making the standard the new way to do public service in the digital age.
Within the Ontario Public Service, Honey is known as a “Bureaucracy Hacker/Whisperer”, due to her innate understanding of government decision-making which comes from her experience working in the provincial government’s central agencies (Cabinet Office, Treasury Board Secretariat). Honey also teaches Technology and Policy in a Digital Age at the University of Toronto Munk School of Public Policy.
Raman Dang
Microsoft Canada
Raman leads the national Philanthropies portfolio for Microsoft Canada, including the Digital Skills and Employability programs and AI for Good, and she is Chairperson for the Diversity and Inclusion Employee Resource Group for People of Colour. Leveraging her background in academia and the nonprofit sector, Raman specializes in developing programs and partnerships that create opportunities for coding and computer science in underserved communities and for under-represented youth.