[At-Large] (not really about) Travel Funding

[Evan Leibovitch]

Karl Auerbach wrote:

> I too do not understand why most of the discussion that occurs on this
> mailing list come from North America and Europe.
It is not surprising that so many Americans within ICANN just don't
grasp what they're dealing with in attempts to empower the global user
community. What comes naturally to ICANN old-timers (mostly Europeans
and North Americans)  is, literally, quite foreign to the very people
ICANN is trying to attract.

As Danny time after time after time rails against the perceived lack of
communications between ALS and RALO, or between ALS and ALS members, he
shows total ignorance of what could be a cultural deference to
leadership, or a difficulty to translate complex technical concepts well
beyond ICANN's official list of languages. There is a significant number
of people in the global community who find the direct and often personal
tone of email used by .... well, Europeans and North Americans ... to be
at worst highly offensive and at least highly intimidating. Many refuse
to take their first steps into our forums, knowing that if they say the
"wrong" thing they'll be at the receiving end of a nastygram the likes
of which are miles beyond the kind of discourse they're ready to have.

There's an assumption in the kinds of posts that Danny, Milton and Robyn
(and many others, including myself on occasion) have been making, that
the audience for these messages have thick virtual skins and are
supposed to appreciate direct (to the point of crude) speech.

That assumption is a mistake, which I believe is directly attributable
for the limits on the discussion you see.

Not every culture empowers individuals or encourages free thought (let
alone free speech).
In some cultures politeness and respect is the norm, and rudeness is
just shunned as vulgar and/or uneducated.
Not all NGOs operate in the communications style of what is generally
known as "civil society" (which more often than not is quite uncivil).
And ... guess what ... some people, and some cultures, simply
communicate better face to face, where eye contact and tone of voice
matter ... just imagine!!

What this means, of course, is that those who bemoan the lack of
participation actually help to cause it by belittling those who are
already here.
They complain that the system is useless as they actively work to _make_
it useless. Moaning incessantly about what hasn't been done but
withholding even faint praise for what has been done.
"No good deed goes unpunished" and all that...

But it's not just At-Large's own self-destructive elements. There is
also much .. for lack of a better term .. "cultural imperialism" reeking
from the way ICANN itself does things. Hasn't it ever bothered anyone
that, despite all the exotic locales ICANN meets in, it never lifts a
finger to assist local RALOs to engage in ALS recruitment at these
meetings? Does it not bother anyone that there's not a single ALS from
Russia? Are the existing volunteers supposed to burn their own cash to
make this happen?

The At-Large Community, for all its newly-perceived maturity, is still
treated as an incapable offspring. ICANN still distrusts the grassroots
enough to require that one-third of ALAC must be parachuted in. (During
the ALAC Review there were proposals to *increase* proportion of
unelected reps, but never did I see any proposals to make ALAC
all-elected taken seriously.) ALAC has _zero_ discretionary spending of
its own, every dollar it gets -- whether for travel or outreach or
research -- is accomplished through a process that's effectively just
refined begging. When ICANN adds staff on our behalf it doesn't ask what
*we* need staff to help with, those decisions are made on our behalf.
And don't even get me started on translation policies.

If you want to dig even deeper, let's not forget the basic difficulties
presented by ICANN's schizophrenic public-involvement face... if someone
from the "public" wants to get involved and doesn't know anything about
ICANN do they enter through At-Large, NCUC, or Kieren's office? The
lines and reasons that distinguish one from the others are vague and
confusing, especially to those not yet versed in ICANN culture. For
anyone with difficulty in English, forget it.

But dealing with ICANN's cultural impediments is a different and
longer-term issue. Being more welcoming is something we can do for
ourselves.

> It may well be that other areas and other people are aggregating,
> discussing, debating, and acting outside of the A-R-A (ALAC-RALO-ALS)
> mechanism.  I would not find that surprising.

I was saddened to read the exchange on "civility" being held over at the
Ombudsman's blog (https://omblog.icann.org/?p=192). On one side are
Frank and Kieren arguing that codes of conduct must be more strictly
applied; on the other Milton, Robyn and Avri assert that arbitrary
bounds of civil behaviour are unfair and stifle expression.

Neither side has it right. Treating this as a regulatory matter (i.e.,
codes of conduct) only encourages disobedience from those who already
see themselves as repressed. And those who defend the right to be
abusive just don't get that their style is severely *narrowing* their
intended audience.

People need to realize that being civil and positive in ICANN-related
conversation isn't just a good idea because of codes of conduct. Being
civil, polite and positive is an act of inclusion and welcoming. Maybe
it is more difficult to make a polite and assertive ALAC argument, just
as it's harder to tell a good clean joke. But the effort is not just
worthwhile, it's critical.

Being "mad as hell [...]" may work personally for some, and I'll agree
that in some circumstances it may even be the preferred style to enact
change. But not everyone works that way, or -- more importantly -- is
willing to work with those who work that way. Is your insistence on a
certain style worth alienating scores of others who may -- to you -- be
too meek or slow to act, but each deserve as much of a seat at the table
as you?

- Evan

Disclaimer: As a white male North American, I am likely not the best
observer of cultural imperialism on this list. But, as someone who has
had the fortune to travel extensively (pre-ICANN) and handle
negotiations in many different locales, I hope my perspective may be useful.

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: evan.vcf
Type: text/x-vcard
Size: 179 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/pipermail/at-large_atlarge-lists.icann.org/attachments/20090925/319a95b9/attachment.vcf>