Thanks Olga. I like what you're suggesting. I would add that *outreach* is not best accomplished by holding one of three yearly ICANN meetings in such locations. Such meetings do little to advance connectivity or solve other roadblocks to participation that may exist. But ICANN could be involved in assessing the real issues and play a role in resolving them through facilitation and coordination in an effective manner depending on needs. Some of these developing areas need buy off and support from the Public and Private sectors in order to improve connectivity and encourage participation (not just for a week of an ICANN meeting). In many instances there are already activities, movements, efforts underway by various groups that ICANN could support in various ways. IMHO, that would be far more productive and would be a better use of funds. Tim -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [council] FW: [soac-discussion] Public Participation Committee public session, invitation for SO/AC leaders' participation From: Olga Cavalli <olgac@fibertel.com.ar> Date: Tue, March 02, 2010 10:56 am To: "Gomes, Chuck" <cgomes@verisign.com> Cc: GNSO Council List <council@gnso.icann.org> Hi, below are my comments, from a personal perspective. I am willing to add other GNSO views and oppinions if other SG or constituencies are interested. Regards Olga 2010/3/2 Gomes, Chuck <cgomes@verisign.com> Please see below a very late request for GNSO participation in a panel that will be discussing the following in Nairobi: "a) What are the three most important improvements ICANN can make to its public participation processes to facilitate greater engagement by developing world stakeholders? 1- Lower language barriers, a lot has been done in this sense but threre is still information available only in English. 2- Broaden the perspective of ICANN in the developing world, most of the activities done so far are usually ccTLD related, which is good but it does not reflect all the rest of ICANN processes and activities. These are not well know and they should be clearly communicated on a regular basis. 3- Contact local universities and institutions to explain ICANN mission and goals, provide them with info and also use those involved in ICANN process from developing countries to know where to provide this information. b) Should ICANN incorporate a greater focus on the developing world in its work and if so, how? Yes as it is the essence of ICANN becoming an institution with global representativity, it is also the ground of the Affirmation of Commitments. Some ideas on how to move forward are explained in the previous question. If ICANN gets more involved with the developing world some of the problems of these regions of the world will start to be part of the ICANN agenda, this will enhance participation. c) How can the work of ICANN be given greater relevance where there is low Internet density per capita - and what priority should be given to reaching stakeholders in countries with the lowest Internet connection density? (see the World Bank statistical link under "Materials and References" below to look up statistical information of the kind referenced)." The outreach towards developing countries can start with cities that are already connected, as a first stage. Then once this stage is already consolidated, a next step can be taken towards including those areas with lower connectivity, although there is a lot to be done in areas with Internet connectivity first. Once in contact witht the developing countries, all the proyects to broaden Internet connectiviy can be easliy reveiwed and accessed through local contacts and then a specific strategy can be developed to addrees the needs of these areas. These are only innitial ideas. I would be willing to give many examples on how to implement this in Latin America, if needed. Note that this conflicts with the "Registration Abuse Policies Initial Report Information Session" on Wednesday afternoon in Nairobi. Because of the late notice on this, it really is not possible to develop a GNSO position on the issues to be discussed, so I believe the best we can do is to identify a volunteer who would for the most part participate in a personal capacity and attempt to represent to the best of her/his ability what they understand to be views of GNSO community members. Is there anyone who would be interested and willing to participate on this panel in Nairobi? Please respond as soon as possible if you are interested. It might be helpful if any volunteers would provide brief personal answers to the three questions to allow other Councilors to comment between now and 10 March and thereby obtain a little broader GNSO input before the session. Chuck From: owner-soac-discussion@icann.org [mailto:owner-soac-discussion@icann.org] On Behalf Of Nick Ashton-Hart Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 10:32 AM To: soac-discussion@icann.org Subject: [soac-discussion] Public Participation Committee public session, invitation for SO/AC leaders' participation Dear SO and AC leaders: On Wednesday 10th from 1600-1730 local time in Nairobi, the Board's Public Participation Committee will hold its public meeting. The PPC has asked me to ask you if a representative from each of the ACs and SOs would care to be a part of the session by participating in a panel, alongside the members of the PPC, to lead the discussion of the various items on the agenda, and of course to participate in the discussion directly. If one of you, or someone you wish to nominate from your community, is unable to attend in-room we can arrange for you to be able to participate remotely via audio bridge. The full agenda may be found at http://nbo.icann.org/node/8950; I have not pasted it below since the hyperlinks would not be usable and as you will see when you browse the agenda the hyperlinks are quite integral to the whole. Finally, I hope you will accept my apologies in advance for posting the agenda assuming that some members of the SOs and ACs would be willing to participate as described. Given the subject, it seemed that I would be on safe ground to make that assumption. -- Regards, Nick Ashton-Hart Senior Director for Participation and Engagement Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Tel: +33 (450) 42 81 83 USA Tel: +1 (310) 301-8637 Fax: : +41 (22) 594-85-44 Mobile: (Switzerland): +41 79 595 5468 email: nick.ashton-hart@icann.org Win IM: ashtonhart@hotmail.com / AIM/iSight: nashtonhart@mac.com / Skype: nashtonhart Online Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonhart