[At-Large] Why At-Large is not NCUC-Light

[Nick Ashton-Hart]

Dear Evan:

Thanks for your comments and see below:

On 14 Oct 2007, at 09:52, Evan Leibovitch wrote:

>
> It amazes me that ALAC -- at least, apparently, many non-elected  
> members
> as well as its staff support -- clearly continues to labour under the
> misconception that At-Large is "NCUC-Light".
>
> I have no idea how ALAC expects the ALSs to magically come into  
> working
> groups and be able to develop policy with next to ZERO education
> support. Unlike the NGOs that are part of NCUC, ALSs generally do not
> have policy advocacy or Internet governance as primary motivation.
>
> Remember that ICANN solicited us to join; we did not seek out  
> ICANN. If
> ALAC genuinely wants the point of view of the public at large,  
> there is
> a desperate need to engage in _two-way_ conversation, in which policy
> advice is the END of a process that starts with engagement and  
> awareness
> building which goes far further than "here's a summary draft policy to
> download". Sure, ask for policy, but also be prepared to produce the
> background, end-user context, and indeed the hand-holding, all  
> necessary
> to produce it.
>
> The ALSs are not, by and large, policy experts. It is insane to expect
> the general public -- the constituency At-Large is trying to  
> address --
> to understand ICANN's issues, with the kind of language found in  
> most of
> its current documents. Indeed, when producing background  
> information for
> the benefit of ALSs and their members, you cannot even assume they  
> know
> the answer to the question: "why should I care about this issue?".

FYI, for the edification of those who do not know, ICANN is well  
aware that there is a real need for information about ICANN, its  
processes, the issues being dealt with, and the like in a format that  
is friendly to the technical end-user and Internet-using consumer.

We are in fact working with several technical writers to produce just  
this kind of information. Since we have decided that the best way to  
do this is to have contract writers with a newsy background produce  
'articles' in a news-feature style, we have deliberately gone outside  
the company so that we are likely to get a result which makes things  
much more accessible, yet provides links to the more extensive  
information and longer reports and documents for those who want to  
learn more.

It is taking longer to get these done that we would like -  but we  
will are getting them done. I am hoping we will have the first few of  
them available for you all to review on or before the LA Meeting  
actually.

<snip>

>
>> We need input RIGHT NOW on the new gTLD document from the GNSO, we  
>> asked for
>> input on the RAA, we always need input on IDNs and the list goes  
>> on and on.
>
> It's all well and good to make such demands ... but what has been done
> to help that happen? What purpose is served by soliciting -- indeed
> DEMANDING -- uninformed opinion?
>

There is a good document which has recently been forwarded - and it  
is attached here again for convenience - that summarises much of the  
GTLD process as proposed. We are ordering translations for LA FWIW. I  
hope this helps with this particular issue.

> Demanding that the onus is on the ALSs to decipher ICANN policy into
> plain language is a recipe for failure; they'll simply give up  
> instead.
> And schemes to punish ALSs that don't add policy -- possibly because
> they're intimidated by the issues or don't feel qualified -- by
> withholding educational opportunities (such as participation in ICANN
> meetings), seem downright counter-productive.
>

I would note here that unlike any other community in ICANN, At-Large  
receives travel support for 105 fully-funded trips by community  
members to ICANN meetings throughout this year. There may be those  
who wish that this was 210, or any other (larger) number, but  
considering that no other constituency in ICANN receives any travel  
support at all, At-Large is certainly not being starved of support  
for attending meetings.