[At-Large] RES: Venue Accessibility

Mon Jan 7 22:18:02 EST 2008

I never said the online participation site would be a replacement for the
physical meeting. I think we are still far off from that kind of technology.

But at the same time, it's not going to just be the high cost of hotel rooms
that prevent people in future from being able to attend events. And so it
makes sense to take this opportunity where people are saying they may not go
to improve the online side of participation.

Plus of course there are possibilities that an online site provides that a
physical meeting does not.

It can act as a store of information for quick review. Decisions may not
necessarily need to be made just by those that turn up - either physically
or virtually. 

The use of new Internet technologies to allow for greatly expanded and
reflective collaboration is in fact a strength, if done properly. It can
result in *better* policy since more people can spot more potential
problems. Since a greater number of people are *able* to have their say they
are more likely to a) be aware of something and b) feel as if they have
contributed to it and so be more likely to accept it.

The other great advantage to an online participation site is precisely the
opposite of what you are arguing. Even ICANN insiders agree that the degree
of insidership is sometimes unhealthy. If too few people make decisions, and
are allowed to make decisions, it is inevitable that the decision-making
process itself will become political and unduly influenced by deal-making
and bartering. 

An outside, reflective, intelligent review makes the very human practice of
horse-trading less relevant - to everyone's wider advantage.

But we're not going to get to the point where the valuable outside-the-room
review is taken seriously unless we work on improving and integrating online
participation with real-world discussions.

Apart from all that, the two are not mutually exclusive. You can improve
online participation and still attend events. And good online participation
is unlikely to have any impact on the quality of a physical meeting.

If, on the other hand, reviewing the online participation site and coming up
with new ideas and approaches is too time-consuming, you need only say so. 

Kieren

----------------------

Kieren McCarthy

----------------------

General manager of public participation, ICANN

http://www.icann.org

Cell: +1 310 806 1451

Mobile: +44 (0)7932 783686

-----Original Message-----
From: alac-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org
[mailto:alac-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Roessler
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2008 3:25 PM
To: Kieren McCarthy
Cc: alac at atlarge-lists.icann.org
Subject: Re: [At-Large] RES: Venue Accessibility

Not that these efforts aren't laudable and important -- but these
mechanisms are ultimately no replacement for attending meetings in
person.  

The ability to meet people directly and talk over dinners, during
receptions, or in the hallways, is usually the biggest value of a
face-to-face, and I haven't seen this emulated online so far.
Backchannel chats are valuable, but don't have the same effect.

That means, in particular, that even good online participation
technology doesn't make holding meetings in expensive and
inaccessible places acceptable.

(As long as that happens only occasionally, it's a one-off screw-up.
Just don't make a habit out of it.)

Regards,
-- 
Thomas Roessler   <roessler at does-not-exist.org>

On 2008-01-03 10:47:11 -0800, Kieren McCarthy wrote:
> From: Kieren McCarthy <Kieren.McCarthy at icann.org>
> To: jsalgueiro at cantv.net, roessler at does-not-exist.org
> Cc: alac at atlarge-lists.icann.org
> Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2008 10:47:11 -0800
> Subject: Re: [At-Large] RES:  Venue Accessibility
> X-Spam-Level: 
> X-Greylist: delayed 1743 seconds by postgrey-1.27 at s15252719; Thu, 03
Jan 2008 19:16:25 UTC
> X-Bogosity: Ham, tests=bogofilter, spamicity=0.000000, version=1.1.6
> 
> May I mention again the online meeting participation website for the Delhi
meeting, found at http://del.icann.org.
> 
> If people have suggestions for improvement over previous sites, please
raise them now as time gets very tight just prior to a meeting.
> 
> If you go to the main participation site at http://public.icann.org you
will see I have set up a discussion forum where you can thrash about ideas.
> 
> Kieren
> 
>   
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Thomas Roessler <roessler at does-not-exist.org> 
> Cc: At-Large Worldwide <alac at atlarge-lists.icann.org> 
> To:  <jsalgueiro at cantv.net> 
>  
> Sent: 1/3/2008 6:22:04 AM 
> Subject: Re: [At-Large] RES:  Venue Accessibility 
>  
> On 2007-12-30 11:01:14 -0400, Josè Ovidio Salgueiro A. wrote: 
>  
> > This is true. But when everyone of us was appointed to their 
> > possitions we already new the time we had to devote to ICANN so I 
> > don`t see why we should complaint now 
>  
> Because this isn't just about your precious time, but about the 
> possibility to bring a broader public into these meetings. The 
> Internet at large, you know... 
>  
> Sure, ICANN staff will ultimately take care of travel arrangements 
> for ALAC members and other appointees, modulo the usual little 
> signals such as not being put into the same hotel as the board 
> members. 
>  
> But what do you do about others who are members of this community, 
> might have valuable insights to contribute, and for sure won't cough 
> up $500 per night in terms of hotel expenses -- either out of their 
> own pocket, or out of an expense account? 
>  
> --  
> Thomas Roessler   <roessler at does-not-exist.org> 
>  
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>
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>  
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>  
> 
> 

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