Artificial Intelligence 4 Information Accessibility (AI4IA)

The IFAP Working Group on Information Accessibility (WGIA), is hosting an online one-day conference on 28 September 2020. This event is hosted in collaboration with the Kule Institute for Advanced Studies (KIAS), University of Alberta, Canada, and the International Centre for Information Ethics (ICIE). It is organised under the auspices of the UNESCO Cluster Office for the Caribbean, Kingston, Jamaica and the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe. The theme of the conference will be Inclusive AI with topics addressing information accessibility.

Recognizing the significance of access to information, the 74th UN General Assembly proclaimed 28 September as the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) in October 2019. The specific theme for the IDUAI 2020 is “Saving Lives, Building Trust, Bringing Hope”. The aim of the UNESCO IDUAI 2020 Commemoration is:

• To advocate for the adoption and implementation of sound constitutional, statutory and/or policy guarantees for access to information in times of crisis;
• To endorse principles of the right to information in times of crisis and underline the role of multiple stakeholders in that view;
• To highlight the impact of proactive sharing of information on health and education, as well as of inclusive and gender-sensitive initiatives, focusing on vulnerable groups, for prosperity and sustainable development.

The aim of this specific event is on promoting, but also understanding the barriers to, inclusive artificial intelligence. AI can be very beneficial to society but if abused it can also be very harmful. It is therefore necessary to understand how AI can be made

inclusive, thereby enabling the widest cross-section of society.

This event will provide a platform for open discourse involving participants from academia, civil society, private sector and government.For more information on the IDUAI, please visit:

• Access to information in times of crisis: https://en.unesco.org/news/access-information-times-crisis
• The official page of the IDUAI 2020: https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/accesstoinformationday

Organising committee:

• Cordel Green, Chairperson, IFAP Working Group on Information Accessibility (WGIA), Jamaica
• Rachel Fischer, Member, IFAP Working Group on Information Accessibility (WGIA) & Co-Chair: International Centre for Information Ethics (ICIE), South Africa
• Erin Klazar, Member, IFAP Working Group on Information Accessibility (WGIA), South Africa
• Jared Bielby, Chair: International Centre for Information Ethics (ICIE), Canada
• Geoffrey Rockwell, Director, Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), University of Alberta, Canada
• Casey Germain, Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), University of Alberta, Canada