Thanks James and Siva for volunteering. My understanding is that the group participants were selected as to have both an adequate coverage of all AC/SOs and regions, without favouring one or another. It was also meant to be rather limited so as to move forward fast. Hence, I am afraid there is no possibility to add participants. I note however, that the WG still misses a member from Africa. However, as I said, I would be happy to relay your concerns. Patrick On Mon, 9 Nov 2009 20:13:11 +0800, James Seng <james@seng.sg> wrote:
I also volunteer myself for the working group but not in my ALAC capacity.
james
On Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 7:59 PM, Patrick Vande Walle <patrick@vande-walle.eu>wrote:
I am forwarding this e-mail from Antony Van Couvering regarding the Expression of Interest working group.
In summary, there is a proposal to the ICANN board to allow potential new gTLD applicants to formally
notify
ICANN of their interest to apply for a new gTLD.
The goal is that it will allow ICANN to figure out the exact number of applications they will get. Figures from 100 to 10.000 have been commonly heard. But no one know for sure right now. It will allow ICANN to size their operations accordingly.
For the applicants, it will allow them to see if there are multiple applications for the same string, allowing them to either start possible partnerships ahead of the formal call for applications or to throw the towel right away, potentially saving them a lot of money by avoiding and expensive application process and auctions. In the end, we all know that the costs will be passed on to registrants one way or another.
I have joined this working group in an individual capacity, with no mandate from the ALAC. However, I was approached to participate because it was thought I could bring some "At-large flavour" to the discussion. Hence, I look forward to receive your comments and will relay them to the group.
Note that the deadline is pretty tight. We already have a teleconference tonight (Monday) and a final call next Friday.
Looking forward to your comments,
Patrick