[NA-Discuss] [At-Large] ALAC Draft Accountability Framework andConflicts of Interest Policy

[Jacqueline A. Morris]

Danny
Again and again, you are confusing the audience! At Large isn't the 
Registrants constituency. It's the PUBLIC.

And gTLD Registrants aren't the whole of AtLarge general public.  They are a 
part of the billions who form the Internet using public.

Registrants spend time getting up to speed, reacting and posting and sending 
emails because it affects them directly, in the pocket, in most cases, and 
hence they have something pushing them to go to the website, read up etc. 
Unfortunately the general public doesn't have those drivers. So the ALS 
members are trying to help bring the issues to them.

They are also not Internet professionals.  They are volunteers trying to 
help. They are trying to get up to speed in a reasonably short time, with 
way too much information almost only in English on a very confusing website.

BUT they don't have the time to go through a full education on ICANN, in 
English,  or spend funds they don't have developing materials and 
translating them to help the users understand what the ALSes are asked by 
ICANN to explain to them. So I think that if ICANN wants the PUBLIC 
involved, as opposed to REGISTRANTS (who are, like Registrars, registries 
etc, internet professionals or semi-professionals), asking for some 
technical assistance in reaching out to the public, in creating 
backgrounders, brochures, etc isn't too much of a stretch. If ICANN tried to 
educate/reach out to the general public in other ways, that would probably 
be would be way way more resource-hungry, and they'd almost certainly  have 
to create the same documents.

Jacqueline

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Danny Younger" <dannyyounger at yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2008 10:31 AM
To: "Thompson, Darlene" <DThompson at GOV.NU.CA>; "Jacqueline A. Morris" 
<jam at jacquelinemorris.com>; "Evan Leibovitch" <evan at telly.org>; "Nick 
Ashton-Hart" <Nick.Ashton-Hart at icann.org>
Cc: "NA Discuss" <na-discuss at atlarge-lists.icann.org>
Subject: Re: [NA-Discuss] [At-Large] ALAC Draft Accountability Framework 
andConflicts of Interest Policy

> Re:  "How can we punish or even expect anything at all
> out of ALSs that haven't been educated?"
>
> When these organizations signed up they agreed to
> (1) distribute information on ICANN activities and
> issues,
> (2) enable discussions among their members on the
> issues; and
> (3) involve their members in relevant ICANN policy
> development, discussions and decisions.
>
> The ICANN website currently contains information on:
> a.  accountability and transparency
> b.  idn fast-track discussions
> c.  mid-term review considerations
> d.  the 2007 Annual report
> e.  root-server agreements
> f.  new gtlds
> g.  independent reviews
> h.  compliance initiatives
> i.  whois issues
> j.  the registrar accreditation agreement
> k.  nominating committee activities
> l.  iPV6
>
> There are also links to the GNSO Improvements
> discussion, the ICANN travel policy considerations,
> the translation program, and to a host of other
> subjects.
>
> So I guess what you're saying is we first need to
> teach ALSs how to read.  Apparently, they are only
> capable of reading an ALS application form, but
> nothing else.
>
> Funny, how registrants that encounter a problem manage
> to read everything under the sun about an issue and
> know where to send their complaints and concerns, yet
> ALSs remain clueless.
>
> Odd that registrants in droves managed to find their
> way to the ICANN blog and to the public participation
> sites when the Registerfly mess unfolded, yet ALSs
> were absolutely silent.
>
> The problem isn't that ALSs aren't being properly
> educated; the problem is that ALSs are not the
> at-large.  The real At-Large cares, reacts and
> responds; they don't.
>
>
>
>
> 
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