Roberto, It's a good thing that is being done here. I noted from the January Board minutes that MOUs signed to date include CITEL and UNESQA, and there are others being considered. The Global Partnerships team is to be commended for their efforts to facilitate outreach and collaboration. With that said, it appears that ICANN is pursuing a new model, a model in which engagement with key entities is accomplished by way of MOU arrangements. At issue is why ICANN has chosen not to bring these entities into the fold by way of the constructs already established. One would think that a University would find a natural home in the NCUC. Instead, we have a separate MOU arrangement. Not that I'm complaining; I actually think its a valid approach that serves to enhance the appearance of ICANN legitimacy. But it does raise the question of what this might portend for those organizations still ensconced in models that are under review. Doubtless they will be asking if their needs may better be served by forging direct MOU arrangements instead of working in the aggregate (such as within a RALO). --- Roberto Gaetano <roberto@icann.org> wrote:
Danny:
One wonders how much of the At-Large budget will
be set aside
for IISI activities... Just guessing, but I suppose that neither Paul Twomey nor Veni Markovski recommended to the IISI that they join the EURALO.
If I were you, I would not bet hard money on it. FYI, I have been in Moscow the previous week, as Vice-Chair of the Board, to talk about potential collaboration. And, yes, I spoke about the at large, insisting on the fact that we (ICANN) need to have the voice of the users from everywhere, but in particular from the areas that are less represented (in geographical, or cultural, or whatever else terms). Veni was there, in the same roundtable, and in the same meetings, and supported very much the idea of a higher engagement of the Russian community in ICANN, including AtLarge. And was much more successful than myself, also because of his deep knowledge of the Eastern European world, in explaining the win-win situation of a larger collaboration between the Russian internet community and ICANN.
Things are moving, in case somebody hadn't noticed, or pretends not to notice.
Regards, Roberto
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