[ALAC] Some thoughts on ALS Criteria & Expectations Taskforce

[Evan Leibovitch]

On 9 August 2015 at 19:15, Maureen Hilyard <maureen.hilyard at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Evan, what you are saying contradicts ICANN's stated commitment to the
> multistakeholder bottom-up approach.
>
​You'll have to tell me how I said that, because I can't make the
connection between my comment and your response.​

​But, just so my own PoV is clear, I now believe that what is generally
known as "multistakeholderism", especially ​in the ICANN context, is in the
eye of the beholder and variously manipulated to serve political needs.
There are multiple tiers of stakeholders; indeed some of the multi-class
categorizations are right in the ICANN bylaws. ACs versus SOs, to start
with.

> Volunteer contributions are ignored in favour of those in whom a heavy
> financial investment has been made to make decisions for the Board.
>
​I don't think I said anything to contradict that. In fact the above (to
me) is more demonstrable ​fact than opinion.

> Their presence at an ALAC meeting for 20 mins is hardly going to make any
> real impact on what they already propose to do.
>
​I would be the first to agree that the typical parade of talking heads and
Powerpoints at ICANN meetings is ineffective. This is why I ​explicitly put
forward the premise, in my original comment, that "maybe some of our most
important travel is NOT to ICANN meetings".

> Except for the meetings we have with David Olive and Steve Crocker which I
> enjoy because I think there is a mutual respect for honesty, I always view
> those other sessions with the hierarchy as top-down tokenism. What really
> changes that is of importance to the ALAC?
>
​You're right. Sometimes I think that, with five exceptions, everything
ALAC needs to do at ICANN meetings could be done as well virtually as in
person:

   1. The meetings with Steve, agreed fully
   2. The 50% of the meetings with the Board when they don't wake up grumpy
   3. Interactions with the GAC -- not common but very important when they
   happen
   4. The social interaction (that IMO indeed helps productivity)
   5. The public forum (when we have something to say; it's unfortunate but
   true that a three minute speech at the mike gets as much staff attention as
   a months-long process to create advice)

Except for the social interaction, none of the things above requires 27
people;
(15 ALAC + 5 RALO Chairs + 5 RALO Secretariats + 2 SO liaisons = 27)

I would also like to congratulate Glenn on his mentorship of his new ALS
> members at the GA.
>
​Agreed, but that's not really relevant to my comments.​

- Evan
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