AUSTIN, Texas — Vint Cerf — one of the fathers of the internet and now “chief internet evangelist” at Google — drew a massive crowd at South by Southwest this week for his talk on “An Internet For And By The People.” He traveled to the festival in Austin, Texas, in part because he wanted to hear new ideas on ways to connect the unconnected — the 4 billion people worldwide who have never been online.
But he also provided a few ideas of his own. Cerf talked primarily about the work of the People Centered Internet, a group he co-founded that works with global development organizations including the World Bank on internet infrastructure projects.
Devex asked Cerf and his People Centered Internet co-founder Mei Lin Fung about the road ahead for connectivity. Here are takeaways from the conversation.
About the author
Catherine Cheneycatherinecheney
Catherine Cheney is the Senior Editor for Special Coverage at Devex. She leads the editorial vision of Devex’s news events and editorial coverage of key moments on the global development calendar. Catherine joined Devex as a reporter, focusing on technology and innovation in making progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to joining Devex, Catherine earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Yale University, and worked as a web producer for POLITICO, a reporter for World Politics Review, and special projects editor at NationSwell. She has reported domestically and internationally for outlets including The Atlantic and the Washington Post. Catherine also works for the Solutions Journalism Network, a non profit organization that supports journalists and news organizations to report on responses to problems.
