[NA-Discuss] Proposal for Discussion on Tomorrow's Call

[Dharma Dailey]

Dear NARALO Colleagues,

Due to traveling I most likely won't be able to be on the call, but I  
would like to put an item on the table for your consideration.

I would like to propose that a working group of interested volunteers  
within NARALO draft an open document to help NA community networking /  
ICT4D groups identify policies or processes of ICANN that may effect  
them.   This, I think, would help one set of internet users in NA to  
flag policies that may be of interest to people developing, running,  
or using networks in under-served areas in NA.

  The document I have in mind would be analogous to  what planning  
boards use in NA to methodically narrow down possible environmental  
problems with proposed building development.       Planning boards are  
comprised of non-experts drawn from the locality.   A document known  
as the Negative Declaration, gives a series of questions organized  
thematically such as "Would development of this project lead to more  
than 50,000 gallons of flammable materials being on the premises?"   
that help non-experts to identify the generic areas of possible  
concern.  This allows for focused discussion of potential problems,  
setting of priorities.  Further, the "Neg Dec" helps identify the  
scope of the problem, by asking that anytime a "Yes" is found, the  
planning board must decide whether it is  a major impact or a minor  
impact.    Of course, I am proposing a non-binding working document,  
that would simply help those who don't "know the ropes" of ICANN to  
hone in on areas that need attention vis a vis the internet users that  
they represent.

I think its a project that we- NARALO- has the capacity to do well,  
does not require extensive resources- beyond for the *precious* time  
of us volunteers! -- and would be a step forward in educating more  
folks on ICANN policies within the NA context.

It would be great if we could work with ARIN on this to-- they are  
resourced for education, have excellent people, and are friendly to  
the mandate of educating people on internet governence.    Most  
likely, 99.9% of such a document in the ICANN context would work for  
ARIN policy land as well.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Dharma Dailey
Emerging Futures Network