Hi again, the question of accountability is - as Patrick argued - even more complex depending on levels of representation and accountability -- OR in what context and capacity you are doing a "job" or mandate (besides popularity, reputation, status and similar secondary considerations/factors): - when I was a professional (union or whatsoever functionary) working with volunteer communities or people, I had a strong and strict accountability and responsibility towards these people - simply due to the fact that I was paid for the "job" and they were not. - there may be a gradual difference between people at different ICANN constituencies like GAC, GNSO and others -- or whether people attending ICANN meetings can do this in the context of their regular jobs and during their working time stating over-time etc. (as usually GAC reps. and other business reps. do, according to my knowledge at least -- and how Patrick properly argued). - the most difficult and sensitive context are the jobs and mandates for ALAC and RALO functions from volunteers who have no organisation or structure in the back promoting this work. Even if you have a clear "job description", obvious expectations, set standards by previous performances or whatsoever ... on the ALAC and RALO level we have to deal with volunteers (who are “compensated” for meetings, as Patrick said) but do all the work during the mandate period normally during their spare time. And that makes the difference. You cannot measure professionals by the same standards of performance like volunteers. And therefore we have to discuss and find *appropriate standards* for time involvement, expectations, commitments, accountability and responsibility what fits to these people -- if we really want to enlarge, strengthen and to improve the bottom-up approach at ICANN, Best, Wolf Patrick Vande Walle wrote Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:25:
(...) At best, those statistics give a truncated image of the reality. It only covers quantity, not quality, or ALAC-related work outside the committee. If I were an ALS that needs to elect a returning ALAC member, I would be much more interested in what he/she voted in previous polls, to see if I share his/her opinion. I would check his/her blog posts, tweets, personal comments to consultations, etc. That seems to me more important that to know he/she physically present to a specific meeting (but was actually too jetlagged to contribute).
(...)
Yes, Darlene, you are right, to a certain extent, this is a popularity contest. People get elected because the voters think they will do a good job and represent their opinion. Just like in parliament/congress elections, there might be representatives that will under-perform. This is exactly why their term is limited and they need to stand for re-election every few years.
You may suggest to some people to step down, put pressure on them either directly or through their RALO. I can agree on this, while noting at the same time that the proposed statistical criteria do not give the whole picture. But I would not want to send out a message to the RALOs that their vote is ultimately not important, because we will have a group of people who will sovereignly decide who are the bad guys/girls and substitute themselves for the voters. This seems to me like a negation of the democratic process we have tried to set up within the At-Large.
I will stop here, because I think the ALAC spends too much time on its internal processes, when it could actually spend time on policy instead. Let us get these documents out to the community for review, integrate their input and have the ALAC vote on it.
Patrick
-- Blog: http://patrick.vande-walle.eu Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/patrickvw
_______________________________________________ ALAC mailing list ALAC@atlarge-lists.icann.org http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac_atlarge-lists.icann.org
At-Large Online: http://www.atlarge.icann.org ALAC Working Wiki: http://st.icann.org/alac
comunica-ch phone +41 79 204 83 87 Skype: Wolf-Ludwig www.comunica-ch.net Digitale Allmend http://blog.allmend.ch - EURALO - ICANN's Regional At-Large Organisation http://euralo.org