Reflections from Bianca Ho, the Outstanding NetMission Ambassadors of 2009 – 2010

Being part of this program is definitely something that has changed my life. Because of NetMission, I came into contact with the States Department of the United States, who then nominated me to attend the International Visitor Leadership Program, where Hilary Clinton was a guest speaker. This then led to a sharing session with think tanks, NGOs and State Department, where I had the opportunity to share my views about the Internet’s future development. There I met many people who have cleverly leveraged on the power of the internet to impact lives for the better. Their examples helped me realize the importance of embracing multi-stakeholderism among Netizens in decision-making, in order to foster effective cooperation on such a large scale.  And now, this is something I aspire to do in the future.

Through the international exposure NetMission has given me, I have come to realize that the Internet is ultimately a tool at our disposal. We can choose to play online games on it all day long, or we could learn how to harvest the best out of the tools we have. This is the core mission of the NetMission Programme-- to learn how to leverage the best out of this tool, and realize it is not to be taken for granted. The key is to listen, understand, and devise a working plan that works towards maximizing the pros, and minimizing the cons.

One sentence Markus Kummer (UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Secretariat), the IGF secretariat said has left an impression that will last forever in my mind. "The Internet is what you want to be in the future. You are the people who have a say in the future development of the Internet." I am therefore really thankful to NetMission and DotAsia for giving me so many opportunities to work and promote digital inclusion, and to learn about Internet Governance as a NetMission ambassador. I hope that the new generation of NMA will be able to carry this with them when they realize their own NetMission.

傑出使者何思穎感想

很感謝「网絡使命－青年使者」計劃及DotAsia給了我不同的機會去了解和認識數碼鴻溝和網絡管治的議題。它不但改變了我用互聯網的態度，更為我的人生帶來很大的改變。

在去年十一月，我以青年使者的身份擔任blogfest.asia的 司儀，機緣巧合下認識了美國國務部的同事。隨後，她推薦了我參加國際領袖交換計畫，難能可貴的是能夠參加美國國務卿希拉利的演講及與她會面，同時亦與各方 的公民社會代表傾談有關互聯網的發展。在討論中，我發現原來有不少參加者，都曾經以互聯網影響過別人的生命；這也是我想用互聯網達到的目標。

水能載舟亦能覆舟。歸根結底，互聯網只是一件工具。所以我們要明白如何有效地使用互聯網，去發揮它的好處，同時盡量減少它的壞處。對我來說，互聯網無疑是一個分享意見的平台。通過與不同文化背景的人分享交流，我看到了之前的不足之處，也得到許多改進我們未來計劃的靈感。如果我們可以有效地利用互聯網這個工具，就會有更多機會去瞭解其他人的想法，也可以藉這個了解的過程去找更多合作的機會。而要營造這個合作的氣氛，我們必須了解，各方的持分者的意見都是非常重要的。兼聽則明。

去年有幸跟Markus Kummer(聯合國網絡管治論壇秘書長)會面，他的一句話我一直都記住，“你想互聯網將來是什麼就會是什麼。”這令我們青年人的參與更重要，亦希望網絡使命青年的新一代可以謹記這個信念去影響更多人去明白互聯網發展對大眾的重要性。

 而我們所做的所有一切的最終受惠者，將是所有用互聯網的用戶。