Evan as a purely personal POV your experience with and complaint about the Toronto closed Industry meeting is a perfect example of why we needed to have the specific item of exploring better interaction at a Regional and local level between At-Large and 'ICANN' activities as the main focus of our chat with Rod Beckstrom earlier in the week, and of course it is my intention to use this as a shining example of what should be and indeed must be addressed and improved.. That said we do need to note Sebastien's specific response on the topic where he outlined where in a formal sense a call for exactly what you are asking support for is being made by ALAC... Re the Linked in Group great the more fora for discussion the better (as long as there is a conduit for the ruminations done on them to feed into the Regional and ALS policy work in WG's etc., and of course take its place in influencing ALAC advice and statements to the Board etc., but how do we get to join up are you sending invitations to people on Linked In first or what? as I'm already a linked in user I just searched and found the group here => http://tinyurl.com/mz85xm so I'm already in the list for acceptance as I asked to join the group but I assume there is a need to reach out to those Not currently in the Linked In network They also should note there is also another general ICANN Linked => LinkedICANN <http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=51000&trk=anet_ug_hm> CLO 2009/8/27 Evan Leibovitch <evan@telly.org>
While waiting for anyone at all to offer any insight into the existence of private forums for other constituencies, I've taken the liberty of creating a group on Linkedin for ICANN At-Large.
Right now this is a moderated group, meaning that it is closed to present and past members of ALSs, RALOs, ALAC and its liaisons.
I chose Linkedin rather than, say, Facebook exactly because this is not meant to be a public book. Most of the people involved in At-Large are professionals, and many already have a presence on Linkedin. So far nine people have accepted the original invitations after only a few hours.
If you think this is a bad idea, please say so... it can be taken down as quickly as it was created. But I think the value exists. ICANN has no moral justification to demand complete transparency from At-Large when it so aids other constituencies to operate by stealth. In any case, the Linkedin group is neither approved nor sanctioned by ICANN, and as such it's merely a place where people of like minds will gather to discuss... Formal discussions and decision-making will, of course, continue to be in open view, even if this is not the case everywhere in ICANN.
I have already been asked by another NARALO member to raise this issue at our next meeting, with a possible outcome of NARALO launching a formal Ombudsman complaint even if we don't receive broader support. I would like to get the feedback of others in At-Large before proceeding.
On one hand I would be complaining about the lack of response this issue has received since I raised it 13 hours ago. Then, having seen Cheryl's letter to the Board, I can fully understand the delay from ALAC. I do hope that eventually there will be more feedback, though.
- Evan
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