Evan: in some topics we are thinking like twin brothers, because our thoughts are similars, but you always write it first. I Agree,it`s impossible to ask public participation, when the hotel costs are very expensive. on the other side this issue deserve an statement for ALAC. Carlos Dionisio Aguirre abogado - Sarmiento 71 - 4to. 18 Cordoba - Argentina - * 54-351-424-2123 / 423-5423 www.sitioderecho.com.ar www.densi.com.ar > Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:57:45 -0500> From: evan@telly.org> To: alac@atlarge-lists.icann.org> Subject: [At-Large] Venue Accessibility> > Hello everyone,> > We've now found out that the hotels used for the Delhi ICANN meeting are> outlandishy expensive:> http://del.icann.org/hotels> > (BTW, the main conference location is IIRC the Taj Palace. Where is ALAC> being put?)> > This has raised a question that has been bothering me for a while...> > It's one thing for ICANN to claim to want public participation; but is> its process really accessible when locations are chosen that are so> expensive? When was the last time that "cost to attend" was a factor> when choosing an ICANN meeting venue? The Delhi venue may be inexpensive> to those who live within India, but seemingly prohibitive to anyone else> who's neither subsidized nor on an expense account. Even as a regional> venue, that seems unreasonable.> > I ask, in part, because of the Summit and the need to have a venue (or> perhaps ongoing ones) to which we can bring many people together for as> little cost as possible.> > It would serve ICANN's financial interests -- not to mention those of> attendees -- if at least one meeting per year was scheduled at a> location that had> a) a major air hub> b) somewhat reasonable hotel rates (ie, not $450/night!)> c) fairly flexible entry policies for attendees (preferably visa-free> from many countries)> > (Thankfully -- by coincidence of timing -- Paris seems close to meeting> those criteria. Arguably, LA was inexpensive and a major hub -- but as a> last-minute venue, advance planning for it was difficult, as was getting> visas for some.)> > As At-Large is the body charged with promoting public participation in> ICANN, perhaps this (financial accessibility of meetings) is an issue of> interest to us. Well, if it's not an issue to _us_, it certainly won't> be an issue to gold-card constituency reps, or those who go at ICANN's> expense to every meeting no matter how costly.> > In the case of the Summit, there is also a matter of keeping costs down> for ICANN. I would hope that in moving forward -- if there is eventual> wisdom seen in having the Summit as a biennial event -- that the target> city be chosen for its accessibility to travellers. We owe it to those> who are not completely subsidized -- as well as to potential outside> Summit sponsors -- to deliberately choose financially accessible venues> for these events.> > However, I don' t want to limit this as a Summit issue since the matter> of accessibility should not only be an occasional concern.> > What does anyone else here think? Is this an At-Large issue? I'm rather> surprised that it hasn't been raised before; perhaps one reason is> because ALAC itself is always shielded from the financial> inaccessibility of meetings. However, the ALSs and public that it> supposedly leads and represents, on the whole, have no such luxury.> > - Evan> > (And, yes, I'm aware of teleconferencing and other mass participation> mechanisms. But you all know that some of the real power brokering and> alliance-building doesn't happen at formal meetings. While podcasts and> such are important tools, they're no substitute for face-to-face.)> > > _______________________________________________> ALAC mailing list> ALAC@atlarge-lists.icann.org> http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac_atlarge-lists.icann.org> > At-Large Official Site: http://www.alac.icann.org> ALAC Independent: http://www.icannalac.org _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/