I think the point is that there is absolutely no need for this to become an argument. I am committed to making it possible for all people of all languages to interact and participate in ICANN. We are all going to come out of this process very much happier. We should really try to make it pleasant - dare I say it- even fun to get to the end point. Kieren -----Original Message----- From: "Roberto Gaetano" <roberto@icann.org> To: At-Large Worldwide <alac@atlarge-lists.icann.org> To: <kieren.mccarthy@icann.org> To: Evan Leibovitch <evan@telly.org> Sent: 2/13/2008 5:31:33 AM Subject: RE: [At-Large] ALAC, ICANN and translation Just a quick comment. I started my statement quoting the committee put in place by Stuart Lynn. That has nothing to do with ALAC, as that was when he was CEO and I was chair of the GA, early 2001. That effort aborted after few months of work. ALAC, since its inception, tries to do voluntary effort in translating, with mixed results. Latin america seems the region where things happen more regularly, and must be commended for doing so. But my point is that we have to rely on a basis that is provided by professionals, as we cannot rely on volounteers who do this on top of their volounteer job, on top of their day job. Just this. I did not mean at all to imply that the volounteer cannot provide additional help (although I would much better see ALAC producing policy statements than translating them), but only that we cannot base our strategy for translation on them. I did not get at all your point, it seems: what I had understood from your contribution, was that you wanted to rely on volounteers in ICANN to eliminate translation expenditures. Which is different from what you state below. If I have misunderstood your contribution at the meeting, I sincerely apologize. However, it seems to me that we are more in agreement than we thought at the meeting: we both say (unless I misunderstand again) that volounteer can provide additional help, but that to use, at least to some extent, professional translator is inescapable. Incidentally, reading carefully your proposal (which, I maintain, is different from what I understood in the meeting), it seems to me that what you say is perfectly reasonable, and I assume that Kieren, whom I have taken the liberty to put in copy, will take it into serious consideration. Cheers, Roberto

-----Original Message----- From: alac-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org [mailto:alac-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org] On Behalf Of Evan Leibovitch Sent: Wednesday, 13 February 2008 17:59 To: At-Large Worldwide Subject: [At-Large] ALAC, ICANN and translation

Hello all,

The New Delhi session on the ICANN translation program has just finished. And despite claims to be responsive to the community and eager to hear innovative approaches, in fact at the meeting just the opposite attitude was demonstrated.

We got to hear claims about the desire for high quality, about limited resources, about the difficulties, and about the experts hired to lift ICANN out of its multilingual nightmare. And yet -- when I tried to present a novel model I got blown off and told by Kieren to "bring it up at the (Board) public forum" (instead of the meeting designed specifically to discuss translation). And then, to add insult to injury, Roberto made a point of standing up to explicitly remind the audience that previous attempts to get ALAC involved in translations were failures.

So much for the claim to be looking for new ideas. (By the way, how many ALSs and RALOs were in play when Roberto made the botched effort to engage the community? How fair was it to bring up efforts that failed before ALAC even had a community to work with?)

What I am suggesting -- and what I think ALAC may want to investigate -- is a hybrid model that attempts to bring together the need for far more translation, high quality and the desire to have an active, involved public community.

I am recommending that ICANN consider, as a matter of policy, the priority contracting of qualified ALSs for "low stakes" translation services before sending such needs out to outsourcing tender.

I agree that "High stakes" documents -- legal and accounting documentation, bylaws, etc -- still need to be done by high-level professionals. However, the bulk of other materials -- news, brochures, briefing documents -- can and should be translated, for a fee, by the very organizations who need to spread this information to their communities in their own languages.

All ALSs had to sign a document indicating they would not be dependent on ICANN for funding. That¶ fine, but it does not preclude ICANN's ability to support the sustainability of its ALSs by funding (some of) them to do things that they often have to do anyway -- translate technical documents for the benefit of their constituents.

So far the only models considered (and reflected in V2.2 of the translation program as distributed) involve either contracting translation professionals or asking the community to do translations as a volunteer effort. The hybrid model -- of contracting community groups and paying them in return for a commitment to quality work -- has not yet even been considered. I believe that such a model offers multiple benefits:

1) It reduces cost of translation (vs professional translation services);

2) It offers a broad diversity of language support; indeed the community is probably best aware of the level of language support needed;

3) By paying community groups rather than depending on volunteer work, ICANN will have accountability on quality and timeliness of the results;

4) It benefits the sustainability of ALSs working on shoestring budgets, and helping to strengthen its own community.

I don't expect this to be considered immediately -- there are many other things on the plate here at the Delhi meeting -- but I believe that the ALAC may do great service to its constituent ALSs by recommending the above model (or some variation thereof).

Let's see, then, if the claim to be receptive to new ideas and models is genuine. Even if it is not adopted I at least ask that the above model be honestly considered.

- Evan

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