17 May 2017, World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD 2017)

Today 17th of May 2017 marks the World Information Society Day, a day that was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly resolution, following the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis.

The main objective of the day is to raise awareness of societal changes brought about by the Internet and new technologies.It also aims to help reduce the digital divide.The theme for WTISD-17, "Big Data for Big Impact," focuses on the power of Big Data for development and aims to explore how to turn imperfect, complex, often unstructured data into actionable information in a development context.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is leading commerations and has produced a number of promotional materials.

The ITU Secretary- General has issued a statement to mark this year's edition. Read the full message here

About the World Telecommunications and Information Society Day (as adapted here)

17 May marks the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention and the creation of the International Telecommunication Union. 

 World Telecommunication Day

World Telecommunication Day has been celebrated annually on 17 May since 1969, marking the founding of ITU and the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention in 1865. It was instituted by the Plenipotentiary Conference in Malaga-Torremolinos in 1973.

World Information Society Day

In November 2005, the World Summit on the Information Society called upon the UN General Assembly to declare 17 May as World Information Society Day to focus on the importance of ICT and the wide range of issues related to the Information Society raised by WSIS. 
 
World Telecommunication and Information Society Day

In November 2006, the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya, Turkey, decided to celebrate both events on 17 May as World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. 

More information here