The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is the latest in a long series of world summits organized by the United Nations that deal with central questions of humanity like the environment, women's rights, development, climate change, etc. At the WSIS, information and communication are on the agenda for the first time. The summit is organized in two phases. The first part just took place in Geneva in early December, the second summit gathering will be in Tunisia in 2005.

During the preparations and the summit itself, civil society groups from a diverse spectrum - including hackers, human rights activists, community media journalists, Free Software advocates, or people working on development and global justice - have played an active role inside and outside the official process.

They have achieved a lot. They have built new global, regional and national networks, have held important debates and have built links between diverse groups and themes, and last not least have gained considerable influence on the official process - both in terms of content and process. But these small successes still are far from enough.

In this panel we want to present the work done so far and discuss the lessons learned. What was and is going on globally and which positions do the different players have? What were the campains and activities of the global civil society? How do we continue or change our work in the second phase? How can you get involved? The panel will start with an illustrated presentation of "the good, the bad, and the ugly of the summit".