Thanks, Roberto. This is what we actually started some time ago mapping relevant European events at our "EURALO Regional Events" page which became a bit "abandoned" now. The problem is: If this is always a sort of "one-man-show" and not understood as a broader community effort to check and care for updates ..., then good ideas and initiatives are bogging down with the time. Listing potential target groups and reflecting how they can be approached is another continuous effort. The suggested cooperation with ccTLD operators can offer new opportunities but it took me years here in Switzerland to make this happen, and in other countries it is still difficult. I support your ideas and it is quite useful to continue with mapping of key issues. But at the end it becomes a question of capacities in each region, on how many people and supporters you can count on and systematic outreach without funding (for physically attending various conferences and events) is highly demanding for volunteers. I do have the privilege now that I can often combine my current EuroDIG work with EURALO duties what makes certain things easier. Best, Wolf Roberto Gaetano wrote Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:31:
Folks,
We spoke about outreach opportunities.
Would it be worth compiling a calendar of the events that we could attend (somebody mentioned the national IGFs, for instance)?
Also, it would be good to discuss ideas on how and where to address our outreach efforts. Which communities, organizations, media, are we targeting?
Years ago I have proposed to ALAC a tight collaboration with ccTLD operators, in particular in the countries where the ccTLDs are tightly connected with the users. This did work out to some extent (for instance, we had a ccTLD operator joining ALAC) but did not turn out in a permanent collaboration, except for the good work of our liaisons. I wonder whether there is more we can do in this direction.
Actually, collaboration should not be limited to ccTLDs. Do we have (or can we establish) relationships with geographic TLD applicants or other community-related TLDs to bring the voice of the user community also through ALAC? I am sure that in many cases we do, maybe it could be good to have a map of these relationships to see where there is still work to do.
As I mentioned during the call, ALAC had the objective of having (at least) one ALS in every country. If this is still an objective, can we draw a map of what are the areas of the world where we lack presence? I am not neglecting the efforts of improving our presence where we are already there, by involving different parts of the (potential) At-Large community, but just wondering where our strategic priorities are. I am under the impression that, once we have a foot in some place (i.e. an ALS in one country), this ALS should be tasked with outreach within the country. At Large Structures, the way we define them, have probably a good sense of the reality of the country where they operate, and can suggest and even execute outreach activities. In simple words, while we are for the time being the focal point on outreach, a clear message we need ot give to the whole organization is that outreach cannot be delegated to few individuals, but that it has to be the task of the whole community. We can discuss methodologies and techniques, but then all ALSes have to take active part in recruiting new members.
Last but not least, media. Back to the famous At Large elections of 2000, at least in Europe a huge role has been played by the media. Germany has been the most active country, with Der Spiegel (if I remember correctly) publishing articles that resulted in a participation in the election that was by far the highest in the region. Can we think of a way of involving media in support of the growth of ALAC? For instance, there is a lot of discussion right now about the multistakeholder model, in particular in relation to the WCIT discussions and results. Can we push the idea that a real multistakeholder model needs wide participation from the users to be successful?
Cheers,
Roberto
EuroDIG Secretariat http://www.eurodig.org/ mobile +41 79 204 83 87 Skype: Wolf-Ludwig EURALO - ICANN's Regional At-Large Organisation http://euralo.org Profile on LinkedIn http://ch.linkedin.com/in/wolfludwig