Please excuse my lateness in joining this thread, I have had zero connectivity since the Board resolution. Vittorio Bertola wrote:
Kleinwächter ha scritto:
To make the development sustainable one could already now start with the development of a five year project for At Large with an annual "October Summit" (linked to the regular ICANN meetings) rotating to the five continents (ATLAS I, November 2008 Africa, ATLAS II, October 2009 Europe, ATLAS III, October 2010 North America, ATLAS IV, October 2011 Latin America, ATLAS V, October 2012 Asia-Pacific). During the other two ICANN annual regular meetings we could have smaller PrepComs.
Ok, so now I am seriously confused again. It seems to me that there are two very different concepts of this At Large Summit on the table. The first is the one you are exposing, with a long term process and objectives, yearly meetings, PrepComs, all ALSes attending because they have a right to do so, high-level political discussions on the future role of the US Government etc. The other is the one Darlene is talking about, a one-time event focused on immediate policy objectives and deliverables, with pre-requisites on previous contributions before attendance is granted, and a very low profile outside of ICANN. The two approaches are not impossible to reconcile, but they are definitely different in spirit.
Hello Vittorio, [ Note: What follows is my sole opinion and does not represent the endorsed view of anyone else; however I do believe that it reflects my perception of the character of the Summit working group ] The current vision of the Summit by the WG is the way Darlene has described it -- as a one-time event. Certainly the Board resolution on the Summit does not see beyond the one specific event, and that is OK with us. There is an issue of maturity and credibility. As has been mentioned, the endorsement of the Summit is the first endorsement by the Board of a major project that is not only designed exclusively _for_ the At-Large community, but also one that was initiated by ALAC's grassroots. As such, this move involves risk, as ALAC has not yet demonstrated the capability or the capacity to execute such a proposal. ICANN's Board and constituencies have a legitimate interest in seeing that the At-Large Summits are not a waste of money, that they will deliver on their promise at least to a reasonable level. ICANN legitimately does not want to see this as either a one-week vacation for ALS reps nor simply a social/networking event. Within the Summit WG certainly exist some ideas of what an ongoing-regular series of Summits would look like. One vision is as a biennial event, working closely with the local-RALO "mini-summits" that are already a permanent part of every ICANN meeting. Other ideas have suggested better synchronization with IGF (and other) activities on policy issues of common interest such as a registrant's charter of rights. All of this is good to consider at a visionary level; however, it is _critical_ to understand that functionally, the WG is absolutely focused on making the first -- solitary -- Summit the best possible. There is no current plan to deliberately architect this Summit as the first of a series; its objectives will not be dependent on the ability to have future Summits. Having said this, if the Summit is executed well and meets the expectations of both At-Large and ICANN leadership, it is natural that followup events will be considered and probably supported. For now, we must demonstrate that we are able to walk before asking for track shoes. I -- and I suspect the board shares this view -- have no interest in talking about anything beyond the first Summit, until the community has demonstrated that it can actually *do* a first Summit. I hope this helps with your confusion, Vittorio. - Evan