[ALAC] What do users want?

[Alan Greenberg]

I am taking advantage of my new "freedom" to do some long overdue 
cleanup. I found a short handwritten document I wrote about 10 years 
ago (after I had been involved with the ALAC for a year or two) on 
what Internet users want.

Note that a lot of this is far beyond the remit of ICANN, but other 
parts are not.

=================

Users want an experience that is:

-Satisfying
-Safe
-Predictable
-Easy to access and fast

In a bit more detail, this means:

- Pages display properly
- No SPAM
- No Phishing
- Reproducible
- Mail gets delivered
- Fast enough that speed is not an issue.

Another was of looking at is as an embodiment of the Principle of 
Least Astonishment 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_astonishment).

They have no desire to know anything about Internet Governance. And 
most have no interest in how the Internet actually works. A classic 
quote from Arthur C. Clarke is "Any sufficiently advanced technology 
is indistinguishable from magic." It doesn't matter how or why it 
works, as long as it works.


 From my personal experience, I have been involved in the Internet 
for about 30 years. Due to the travel I have done, or other times it 
comes up in conversation, I have often been asked what I am doing. If 
I try to explain, the most common result is that their eyes glaze 
over, they say "oh, that's interesting" and they try to find a way to 
change the subject.