While I am unsure whether this is the best list for doing so, I wanted to follow up on a point raised by Marilyn Cade, I believe, during the last session of the recent NCPH intersessional meeting in Washington. 

 

In 2009, the ICANN Board adopted a Document Publication Operational Policy for International Public Meetings.  This policy can be found at  https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/document-publication-operational-policy-30oct09-en.pdf .  If, like me, you continue to encounter serious access problems with the ICANN website for  the past several days, I attach a copy for ready reference. 

 

Basically the policy says that all documents for discussion at an ICANN international public meeting must be published three weeks in advance.  The policy also contains the following regarding the agendas for meetings: 

 

“The document deadline applies to meeting agendas.

Meeting agendas are defined as an overview of all public sessions taking place within the conference venue, both in the days before the official opening ceremony and after the final Board meeting.

That overview should include:

 

• a breakdown of topics to be discussed

• a list of speakers/panelists split up according to relevant subject

• an explanation of the session’s goals and expected outcomes

Hyperlinks to relevant documentation”

 

ICANN’s compliance with this policy over the years has been erratic at best.   For most meetings, most documents are published by (or near) the three-week advance deadline.   For some meetings, important documents do not appear until well after the deadline. (The upcoming Singapore meeting falls into the latter category, in my opinion.) 

 

The point that was raised at our intersessional was about agendas.  For this upcoming meeting, the “full schedule” was published right around the 3-week deadline (which was January 19, I believe).  But that schedule contained nothing beyond session titles, dates, times and venues.  None of the bulleted items above were provided for any session.  (By now, some material referenced in the bullets has been published for some sessions.)

 

I don’t think this is technical concern or a matter of nitpicking.   Without advance dissemination of key documents and meaningful scheduling information, it is impossible to prepare effectively for these meetings; to encourage others (especially newcomers) to attend the meetings; or to achieve at these meetings more than a fraction of what we should be seeking to achieve. 

 

I have raised this concern at several ICANN public meetings in the past and plan to do so in appropriate fora in Singapore.  I encourage others from both sides of our house to do so as well.     

 

Steve Metalitz, IPC Acting President