Echoing some of what Evan said a worthwhile role of at-large would be to act as a repository and producer of facts, data, and analyses about internet usage as pertains to ICANN's mission. These could range from literature surveys, surely there must be mountains of research out there, to sponsoring data collection and analyses by domain (in the general sense) experts where lacking. Otherwise it just becomes a talking club: people of varying capabilities spouting about what they believe to be true and debating those beliefs among themselves mostly with little or no result -- another social media outlet with no product and no persistence. I could imagine, for example, quarterly and annual, etc ("intelligencers"), summaries of the state of the world which is affected by ICANN's mission. I know, sounds too much like real work. -- -Barry Shein Software Tool & Die | bzs@TheWorld.com | http://www.TheWorld.com Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: +1 617-STD-WRLD | 800-THE-WRLD The World: Since 1989 | A Public Information Utility | *oo*