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

[Andrés Piazza]

The point that i was raising regarding cultural difference wasn't focused in this, but in other aspect which is individualism.

I believe that i'm prepared to personal rudeness and latins all are (if any of you saw lacralo list between february and  july would easily certify this). And also studied english since i was a kid.. As many ALS reps from my region. It makes things difficult but not impossible (doesn't mean that translations are not necessary, because are for the general public).    
The point is that 'free speech' is not the same when you represent an organization than when you are yourself alone. Developing consensus and making statements is harder (and much more valuable, at least is what ICANN seems to be looking for) that vomiting persona thoughts to the list. If American style is Danny's (individual who only represents himself) could be valuable but is one voice. 

And we need to hear and take in account to much more than that..

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-----Original Message-----
From: Evan Leibovitch <evan at telly.org>
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:03:02 
To: At-Large Worldwide<at-large at atlarge-lists.icann.org>
Subject: Re: [At-Large] (not really about) Travel Funding

Joe Baptista wrote:
> I got your point. And agree with it. But your insights will not alter the
> cultural differences discussed here. North Americans and Europeans are not
> going to change their ways because of a few cultural insights or complaints.
>
> Much simpler for those cultures to develop a thick skinned approach to debate.
>   

ICANN is not, on its own, going to solve the global cultural gaps
between global cultures. Requiring people to get used to rudeness and
personal attack simply in order to usefully participate here is, to me,
the status quo... and it is unacceptable. It simply results in people
staying away.

One fundamental principle of At-Large -- which, I personally find
differentiates it from NCUC -- is that ICANN needs the ALSs more than
the ALSs need ICANN. At-Large is not designed to be filled with Internet
experts and advocates, that does not accurately represent the public at
large. The public, generally, knows little that ICANN exists and even
less how it works. So for At-Large to really reach its potential, it
needs to convince members of the public to care enough to get involved.
And, globally, you don't convince people to participate in what you're
doing by forcing them to totally change their ways of communications to
suit you.

Folks like Karl and Danny and Joe and Milton will forever hover around
ICANN, regardless of what methods it uses to relate to the public.
Whether or not there are direct public Board elections, or At-Large as
we know it, or an Office of Public Participation, or something else,
they'll be here. ICANN need do *nothing* to solicit their advice, it'll
come anyway.

The challenge for ICANN, and the reason I think that the design of
At-Large is ingenious, is that ICANN knows that hearing from the
unsolicited "experts" is not nearly enough; it must attract the voice of
those who are otherwise disinterested. Danny frequently complains that
At-Large does this by bribing people with travel -- the original reason
for this thread. To me, the act of transporting At-Large people to each
ICANN meeting is the bare minimum that ICANN must do to understand the
needs and problems of the Internet-using public who are not already
Internet governance groupies. That these people get -- maybe -- a
half-day of tourism (out of nine days of airport queues and  hotel
conference rooms) is hardly compensation for the huge amount of work
involved and the benefit ICANN derives. And, as many have put forward,
funding travel but starving research and outreach is not a recipe for
success.

But that's enough amateur anthropology. I need to take my own advice,
that conversations here need to be forward thinking and positive. Is
there anything here that we in At-Large can do to address this? Every
option I can think of has drawbacks, but at least offers some
improvement over the status quo.

One possible option is having dual At-Large mailing lists, along with a
small group of "ambassadors" who copy ideas and opinions between them in
a style appropriate for the target audience. One list would have an
extremely low tolerance for aggressive speech and personal attack, and
another would have no limits at all (except slander laws). Those who
want unfettered free speech would have it, along with an audience that
is comfortable with it. And those who want a gentler, friendlier area
would also have it, with small committee of admins rejecting
inappropriate posts and a published set of rejection criteria. I suspect
that some (myself included) may be comfortable with both lists, but most
would gravitate to one or the other. If Joe is right, and some North
American and European speakers cannot control their aggression, they
will still have their outlet -- but not all who wish to participate in
ICANN will be required to be exposed to it.

Perhaps there are other solutions people may want to offer to address
some of the other cultural challenges. Perhaps, to address the shyness
of people in talking to strangers, we should encourage more individual
participants to post introductions to themselves at the ICANN website.
The ICANNWiki site personal profiles seems to look more like
professional resumes; I am thinking of something on a more personal
level -- an introduction that may make people more confortable in
starting a conversation with you.

I will be the first to admit that these proposals have flaws, but I
cannot myself think of a different solution that will preserve free
speech while offering a sheltered area to those who are uncomfortable
with the, shall we say,"freeist" speech. If others have ideas I would
really like to hear them.

The small but important goal here is to encourage the maximum possible
people and groups to engage within ICANN in a way they find comfortable.
Even the Internet governance groupies. :-)

- Evan


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